His entire body felt hot, his books fell off the bed and his limbs felt unmovable.
He was locked in a tight embrace by a large dragon who was sleeping peacefully. His little Azul flame seemed to glow less and less, it started worrying him.
He extended his hand out of the warm bed to have Azul rest on it but even then it barely got up to move.
"Azul." Kemal whispered, sparking the flame for a second before it dulled again.
I wonder what he's going through in there..
He moved the flame closer to his chest and let him rest there with his heart.
When did I fall asleep?
Kemal tried to adjust his hips but a tail was tightly wrapped around it keeping him in place.
"This is pretty comfortable.." Kemal mumbled before adjusting himself back into the man's embrace with a content sigh.
Anomalies came in many shapes and forms, whether it's physical, mentally, or magical.
Some anomalies require you to possess a second source of magic to unlock your full potential, while others attempt to control your body to force an awakening, which ends up in the destruction of the owners entire magical abilities if they weren't ready nor capable of one in the first place.
Apparently for beastmen their abnormalities happen mostly physically and mentally, not magically. A split personality… Or sometimes a severe lack of emotional capabilities.
Beastman magic and regular magic seemed to be entirely different things, they get born with theirs and it can only be destroyed through killing them or a special amulet.
Other people's magic evolve and grow, sometimes coming from outside sources even.
So there's two different ways to be powerful.
Kemal turned his head to the sleeping dragons.
I wonder what he counts as, a hybrid? Just a dragon? A beastman? I doubt a beastman.. But I have never seen too many reptile beastmen.
The longer he looked at the man's face the more attracted he could feel himself become. He had rougher features but they were sexy features.
I wonder who's side it is from..
Realisation dawned on him when he noticed he was in bed with another man. Let alone their captain!!
Kemal slowly tried to shift himself to get off but the dragon pulled him back closer.
"Why are you moving.." His lazy morning voice echoed through Kemal's entire body all the way down to his groin.
I can't… Believe this…. What a sexy voice! It was sexy before but this really takes the cake!
"Cuddling with another man?" Kemal asked while feeling his hips get slightly released for some movement.
"Not any man.." He yawned while wrapping his arms tightly around Kemal's chest, shoving aside the little flame while securing the boy's legs between his own.
"You won't let me go..?" "Do you want me to?"
Kier rested his head on Kemals, perfectly securing him in place.
This reminds me…
Of home.
Two faces flashed through his mind, so blurry yet so close.
"Shut up.." Kemal cursed under his breath. He didn't know why he felt the need to.
"Understood." Kier responded with a content hum before taking a whiff of Kemal's hair.
Kemal extended his hand to catch Azul's little flame and admired it for just a bit longer before shutting his eyes once more.
When he woke back up it was because the large man began shifting back and forth while carrying Kemal along.
The smaller man grumbled a few incoherent sentences before finally speaking up. "Why are you lifting me up.."
He didn't get a response and was only shifted comfortably into a cradle-like hold. "I can't catch your little fire boy." He responded with a growl.
Kemal opened his eyes to look around and there the fire was swishing back and forth ready to dodge the dragon's grasp.
"Like this." Kemal explained while holding out his hand. Azul immediately floated onto the palm of Kemal's hand while the dragon frowned in displeasure.
Kemal chuckled before leaning back into the man's arms.
"Where are we going.." He asked.
"Food."
"Breakfast? Dinner?" He questioned for clarity.
"Food.." Kier shook his head unsure why Kemal is adding extra steps.
"Food then.." The boy resigned while being carried out the room towards the dining area.
Kemal immediately felt a surge of regret when he saw a bunch of men in the area either half asleep or wide awake eating.
I shouldn't have let him carry me..
Avoiding their eyes Kemal suddenly felt himself descend onto the bench. Kier immediately sat down beside him while his tail moved back to grab onto the other's waist.
What's with this dude's clinginess? Didn't he avoid me during the day! But these are different shipmates.. Maybe he acts differently in each ship.
He decided not to mind it when suddenly a dish got placed before him. "Oh I don't-" Kemal was about to reject the meal but the man who brought it already walked off.
He swallowed hard before looking at the dish before him. He couldn't tell what kind of meat it was nor if he liked the fruits or veggies. When he was alone he could at least feed everything to Azul that he disliked.
I wouldn't call this an audience but I don't want people to know I'm picky..
He used his fork to pick and poke at a few things on his plate without taking a bite.
"You don't like hog?" Kier asked when suddenly everyone jumped up when Kemal shoved the plate away while stumbling back.
"Hog!?" Kemal seemed horrified while the dragon's tail perked up in surprise.
"Yes, hog." He insisted.
I'm gonna be sick!
Kemal grabbed Azul's flame while running out the kitchen with a queasy expression. He booked it out the door and ran across the plank onto the other ship taking a few ship mates by surprise.
Gross gross gross gross!!
Kemal was about to run to Azul's room but when he turned a corner he bumped head first into a wall sending him flying back.
A low hum reached his ears and a dominating smell filled his nostrils. When he raised his head he saw the captain extending his hand to help Kemal Back Up.
"You should really use your abilities for something other than harassing me." He commented with a scoff before getting up by himself.
"Hm." The dragon hummed once again before retracting his hand. "You didn't come to see me last night."
Is he serious…
Kemal frowned before something caught his eye. A black scaled tail was swaying lazily left to right.
Black? Wasn't it white earlier?
"You wanted me to?" Kemal smiled at the man.
Taken aback by the sudden change of demeanor his tail began swishing at a slightly quicker pace.
"Yes." He spoke firmly.
"You can have me come now." Kemal suggested with a wink but the man only stared back at him.
Is now a bad time to say I was joking?
Kemal shrugged it off while rubbing his face.
"Anything else?" He asked with a wince.
"I need Azul." The large dragon tilted his head to analyse the little fireball.
After the beasts demand Kemal grabbed onto the flame and extended it to the captain.
"Is this Azul enough for you?" He joked while the dragon picked up the flame just to hiss and drop it onto the ground.
"AZUL!" Kemal missed the catch and quickly knelt down to pick up the little flame.
Jeez! It got seriously hot in this room right now!
"Why did you drop him!?" Kemal accused while glaring at the man before him.
"HOLD YOUR HAND OUT!" Despite the command he already snatched his wrist to position it accordingly. When his hand was held out properly Kemal gently placed the flame onto his palm.
He didn't hiss nor pull back this time while the other shut his palm.
Despite the focus on Azul the dragon's eyes were instead fully locked in on the gentle caress he's never felt before.
Azul gets that treatment all the time?
The captain's eyes suddenly shot wide open when the smell of his brother was all over the younger man before him.
"Were you-"
"Where does Azul have to go?" Without realising Kemal interrupted.
"His parents came to visit him, they have been told about his flame situation." The dragon quickly dropped his question having to focus back on the main topic
Crap.
Kemal was now pacing back and forth in Azul's room chewing on his nails in frustration.
"He's gonna tell.. Maybe they'll kick me off of the ship.. I can't even listen in on it.."
With each word that left his lips he grew more and more unnerved.
Has it been hours? How many? He doesn't know. There was no clock to look at and there was no window to stare out of.
The door suddenly burst open, Yasing breathing heavily.
"COME HE-" Yasing extended his arm to grab onto a boy who was multiple steps away until a large chunk of flame pushed past him charging directly towards Kemal.
Everything seemed to slow down as both a crow covered in burn marks and even burnt feathers, versus a flame that likely caused those reaching towards a scrawny little beggar.
He wasn't sure who to grasp or where to go but just as he was taken to the ship he was taken out.
A large explosion came out of the side of the ship, a burst of flame growing the longer it flew.
It desperately flung back, forth, left, and right, occasionally even losing control, almost falling into the water beneath it.
On top, or rather carried by the flame was a boy who could barely hang on, his limbs flying.
"AZUL!!!!!!!" A man with stunning blue hair yelled out while attempting to steady themselves on a man with hair so black it could swallow the sun.
His parents? Kemal was taken aback, Azul really told him the truth.
Before he could even get a better look at either of them he got dizzy when the flame uncontrollably started spinning and blasting flames at anyone who attempted to approach closer.
"RELAX!" Kemal screamed which seemed to calm down the flame for a minute.
Just as he thought he could take a breather Azul's father yelled at him to come down.
The flame contorted into all sorts of things as if unable to figure out what it's supposed to be.
Is he having a crisis?! Now!?
"Azul-" Kemal was about to comfort him but a voice cut him off.
"PAL!! ARE YOU OKAY!" A familiar black wolf screamed, catching the other off guard.
Right! I'm in a bad position!
Azul's father burst into a familiar set of flames and before Kemal could tell him off Azul shot flames not at the people but at the ship instead.
SMART!
Kemal praised internally but the flame suddenly shot away escaping into the vast distance.
Before it could get far one large shadow suddenly loomed over them and the moment Kemal looked up his heart stood still.
Is that… A dragon?
A large white scaled dragon blocked out the entire sun charging towards Azul with Eyes burning in fury.
Its jaw unhinged, seemingly moving to grab Kemal out of the cloud of flame but something in the boy's heart took over, fear.
Instinctively his hand raised, colliding with the dragon's snout with a hard slap, his breath heavy, heart pounding and his eyes wide in horror, it was an expression Kier had never seen on Kema before.
That thing was huge, unnaturally enormous. It scared him, more than this fire cloud ever could. Maybe it was a normal size for a dragon, that was even more horrific to think about.
It was a weak slap for a giant reptile like that but Kier stopped in his tracks nonetheless.
His red eyes met the frightened expression of the man he tried to save, his heart ached when he noticed the bruise across Kemal's palm from slapping his sharp scales while he was unscathed.
Kier was reluctant to approach any closer; the horror in the smaller man's eyes left him feeling empty. He's never seen such an expression aimed at him before, let alone from someone he wanted to save.
Azul's flame began to fade into the distance as the dragon's motivation of pursuit lessened bit by bit until he transformed back in the air and fell into the large ocean beneath him.
He closed his eyes while his heavy body began sinking and his crewmates scrambled to save him.
Kemal shut his eyes tightly once he was far enough from the large creature. He buried his face into the flames, unable to look down anymore.
"Azul.." He called out with a timid whisper.
The flame slowed its pace and its form shifted many times after.
Why does it keep changing…
Kemal gathered the courage to open one of his eyes only to realise he wasn't flying, he never was.
He was throwing, flinging, and landing on little flame platforms.
He was in constant motion because if he wasn't he could only levitate so high.
Now that there wasn't anyone anymore the flames began shifting and dropping itself towards a direction Kemal couldn't recognise.
You must've been so scared.
His eyes softened as he gave Azul's little mess cloud a few gentle strokes.
"Did you burn your captain on purpose…" He asked knowing there would be no response.
The flames began wrapping around Kemal's slender frame while the rest remained unspoken.