(((This is a repost from my main account @-AutumnNight- :) more chapters will release soon!! Even if you’ve already read from the first project consider interacting w it, it would mean a lot <3))) Chapter 1 - Pyro’s Jayden "Ugh…" I sighed and stared out the Pyro store window from the store clerk’s desk where I worked. It was, unfortunately, very sunny outside. It had been this way all August. I was expecting the usual rainy-ness of late summer in Impian Kekal, (a refreshing change from the usual drought in the earlier summer months) though this time the weather decided to betray me. I was stuck inside this stuffy, dusty store. I looked around at the store. I saw shelves crammed with food inside cans, tins and plastic wrapping. I glanced at the endless amount of posters on the wall of famous flyers. Dozens of poster-bound dragons stared back down at me. The small television in the corner of the room was blaring an ad for some sort of cereal. I buried my face in my hands and let the other two hang off the side of the chair I was sitting on. Having four arms was a bit difficult to be positioned comfortably in a chair. (Or anything for that matter.) Same thing went for my two ash-gray tails, which were shifted uncomfortably to both sides of me. I mean, it’s not that I look extremely out of place with the other dragons when they’re in their human forms. I look almost indistinguishable from them, if you ignored my extra limbs and eyes. People will often stare at you if you have five eyes on your face, I’ve learned. Who would've guessed. I grabbed the small round mirror on the desk and stared at myself. A 17 year old boy with an extra brown eye under each normal one, and one on his forehead. I studied my narrow nose and curly brown hair and ran my fingers through it, hitting my backwards-pointing gray horns as I did. I looked sad with eye bags under my “normal” set of eyes. Though, in reality, I was just tired. Working here for the summer was so lonely, as nobody really wants to buy from an old corner store except the occasional local grabbing something to eat. Sometimes they would even be people I sort of knew from school, like the shop keeper’s son, Rowan. It’s not like the two of us were friends though. I don’t really have any of those. I mean, who needs friends when you've got the news reporters on the dusty old tv, right??? I slumped back in my chair and glanced back up at it, zoning out. “Don’t forget to grab those jars from the storage room.” The voice of an older man came up behind me. The “Pyro” Heartwell, owner of the Pyro Corner Store. Though he prefers people to call him by his first name, August. “We don’t want those getting broken like last time-” “Yeah, I know. It won’t happen again”, I assured him. Last time we’d gotten a case of glass jars, I had dropped all of them on the floor because I tripped. Every last one of them had shattered. “I’ll do it soon, I just gotta… count the money in the cash register…” I didn’t trust myself with glass. Too breakable. And I really hadn’t counted the money yet today, so it wasn’t completely an excuse. “Yeah, okay”, August grumbled. I kept my eye on him for a bit. He walked back into the storage room and lifted a box off the floor with a grunt and heaved it onto a shelf. Though he was older, he had impressive strength. I had heard story after story from classmates and even the man himself about how “back in his day”, he’d been one of the strongest sprites some people had ever seen around the neighborhood. Rowan swears August carried him out of the fire that burned down his first shop. Which would be epic, but Rowan says a lot of crazy things. I think he's full of sxxt. I’d just barely set to work mindlessly counting, when I heard a crash and a sound of glass breaking. I jumped. The sound of heavy footsteps followed. (continue in the notes and credits!!) vvvv
“Hey, Jayden!” My thoughts were interrupted once again by August’s husky voice behind me, though this time he sounded scared and nervous. I turned in my chair to find him standing in the doorway of the storage room, which was located behind the front desk. His eyes were filled with urgency. “Uh- yeah?” “I’m gonna need you to uh, watch over the shop for, something like… I don’t know, a few hours?” His voice was shaky, as were his hands, which were gripping his red beanie, and his eyes were wide. August ran his hands through his hair, which had lightened and grayed with age over the last few years, making his once dirty blonde hair look white. “A few hours? Are you okay?” I gripped my seat, narrowing my eyes. Was he having a medical emergency? “I’m fine, Jayden. I just…” He glanced around paranoidly. “Have some things to do.” He was a fairly heavyset man, creaking each of the boards that made up the floor behind the desk until he made his way to the tile that covered the rest of the store. “Okay, well, have a good day-” I called after him. He nodded briskly to me, but before he put his hand on the door said, “Don’t forget to restock those jars.” He winked hurriedly, opened the big glass door, and after putting his beanie loosely on his head, set off. The door closed with a soft thud. I remember a feeling of distraught wash over me after that moment, one that never went away. That was the very last time I ever saw August. That was it :p Anyone hooked? I’d love to hear y’all’s opinions on it <3 This is one chapter I’ve rewritten.. only 90 more pages to rewrite and THEN write the rest.. (yes my first draft was in fact 90 pages) btw yes Jayden's character design HAS changed, get over it. And this will be the account I post chapters on! #story #writing
