Chapter I

A young girl, the nineteen-year-old Ailia, raced along the fire-lit
streets of The Kozowa, a town in the slums of Ohhalador. The hood of her cloak blowing
carelessly behind her head. She looked behind her to her best friend, Skyler.

"Ok, maybe stealing in front of a guard wasn't the best
idea." She said, adrenaline filled smile showing bright on her face.
Skylar was an arm's length behind her. They were a tall, skinny, blond-headed eighteen-year-old with dark brown eyes and a record player in hand. Ailia squeezed the strap of
her newly filled satchel closer to her as she ran.

"No, really?" Skylar retorted sarcastically. They continued running, making
sure not to drop anything or run into anyone. They hopped over a discarded cart
and climbed an old, rusted ladder leaning against a small nearby building.
Ailia climbed first, then Skylar tossed the stollen goods up to her. For the
brief moment they were up there, they had the best view in The Kozowa, their
hometown. From atop that house, they could see it all. The volcanic geysers,
the rope bridges connecting almost every part of town, and even a bit of the
high up castle that housed the royal family. The two jumped down, landed on an
abandoned sales tent, rolled off, and continued running.

Even when they knew they were far ahead of the guard, they continued fleeing. That
was until Ailia ran into someone, falling to the ground and knocking them both
over in the process.

"Hey, watch it!" Shouted the young girl, who looked about nineteen. She was in a
fancy dress, a far cry from the fanciest thing Ailia owned, but what caught
Ailia’s attention was her lightning-like yellow eyes. For a moment, Ailia
didn’t move, looking her in the eye with a face that read confusion, as well as
a hint of curiosity. Ailia was sure she mirrored a similar look in her eyes. Ailia
soon scrambled to her feet and checked her satchel. She helped the fallen girl
to her feet, then continued running.

"Sorry," Ailia called over her shoulder as she ran with Skylar. But for a reason Ailia
didn’t know, the guard had stopped.

They ran. Far and fast. They had long lost the guard, but they continued until they
reached their destination. An old building. The same as every other building in
The Kozowa, save for it being burned and hardly livable; a product of being
built too close to one of the geysers. Ailia took a deep breath in and sighed before
walking in. There was no smell quite like old, burnt Krackelwood. Ailia and Sky
walked in and were greeted by a face both were happy to see. That face belonged
to none other than Unakite; a lanky, stupidly tall, and slightly muscular nineteen-year-old with long, scruffy, black hair and blue eyes. He walked up to Sky, greeting
them with a hug.

“Are you OK? It took longer for you to get back today.” Unakite said to Sky.

“I’m fine, love. You worry too much.” They responded. Unakite leaned down to kiss
Sky’s forehead.

“OK you two. Save some hope of love for the single of us.” Ailia said with a
chuckle.

“I’m going to be more romantic towards Unakite to spite you.” Sky said before
pulling him down to kiss them on the cheek, causing him to flush with a squeak.
The small sound made Ailia and Sky burst with laughter.

“You love on Sky all the time, but when they do it back you implode?” Ailia said
with a raised eyebrow.

“I just wasn’t expecting it!” He defended. This just made the two laugh harder,
Unakite eventually joining in.

~~~~~

“So, Sky, why did you steal an old record player?” Ailia eventually asked as she
removed her satchel. “You’ve never taken anything like that.”

“I know I just,” They paused. “My mom has a bunch of old records that she and Mama
use to listen to all the time, but their player broke a few years ago. I saw
this one and knew she would love it. It looks just like the one she used to
have. Plus, it’s her birthday tomorrow.” They responded, fidgeting with their
hands.

“That’s a really risky move, you know. Those things are worth big bucks.” Unakite
chimed in, putting his arms around Sky from behind. “I know you two miss her,
but it’ll be ok. I promise.” Skyler tilted their head back and kissed Unakite’s
cheek again, causing him to blush again.

“Thanks, Love.” Sky said, melting into the embrace, Unakite lowering their head to rest on Sky’s, closing his eyes.

“Well look at you two being cute,” said Kie as he hopped through a broken window by
the front door. He was a scrawny boy with short, scraggly, brown hair and eyes,
and the final friend of the group. “So, what’d I miss?”

“Oh, you know, just some romantic heart-to-hearts between our favorite couple,”
Ailia said, motioning toward their friends who were lost in their own world.
“But in all seriousness, where were you? You’re way late.”

“Yeah, sorry, had to hide for a bit so I wouldn't get caught, no biggie.” He shrugged
and plopped down beside Ailia, emptying his bag and pockets of snacks.

“You’ve been taking a lot of risks lately; I think you should probably lay low for a
while.” Ailia put her hand on Kie’s shoulder with a worried expression. His
face grew red, and he cleared his throat before responding. Unakite and Sky
joined the normal world to share a knowing look.

“I’m fine, I'm fine. I can handle it,” Kie said after clearing his throat. He lifted
his arm and flexed his ‘muscles.’ “I’m strong enough to take on five of those
guys.” He continued to flex in different positions until everyone was laughing.
Himself included.

“I would pay to see that,” Unakite said through laughs. Once they all settled,
they took stock of everything they had and stored the things they weren't
planning on taking home.

“Hey, do we have any wrapping paper or something?” Sky asked the room.

“We’ve got some old newspapers and duct tape?” Kie responded, holding up said items.

“Perfect,” Sky said before taking it from him. They placed the record player in an old box before crudely wrapping it in the newspaper, finishing it with a generous layer
of tape. Unakite walked behind them and put an arm around their shoulder.

“It looks great, she’ll love it.” He spoke.

“I hope so, it’d be a shame if I stole it for nothing,” Sky responded with a small
smile.

“Not to break up the heartwarming moment or anything, but someone’s coming,” Kie
said, looking out the window he had come in from.

“Damn,” Ailia said. “Can you tell if it’s a guard or not?” she asked, ready to hide or
run. He squinted his eyes and leaned slightly forward. The person was wearing a
dark dragon leather vest and walked slowly, head down while writing something
in an official-looking notebook.

“It looks like a volcanist or something. They’re probably coming to look at the
house and how it burned.” He jumped down off the windowsill and gathered the
discarded snack wrappers. “Which means it’s our cue to leave.” Everyone
gathered what they planned to take home and hid what they hadn’t already in
cabinets and under floorboards. They all put on their hooded cloaks and hid
what they could in the inner pockets. Skyler debated for a moment whether they
should take home the record player. They knew if their mom saw it early it
would ruin the surprise, but they’d rather have the surprise ruined than the
whole thing being taken away. They grabbed the box, stumbled at its weight,
then went to a back window.

“We meeting here at the usual time tomorrow?” Unakite said before everyone left.

“Sounds like a plan,” Ailia said, Kie and Sky nodding along. They all split off in the
direction of each of their homes.

~~~~~

After a bit of walking, Ailia reached her house. It was relatively the same as every
other building in the town. Old, a bit rundown, and probably built too close to
the lava geysers. She slowly and carefully walked in, not wanting to wake her
father. He could be pretty grumpy when woken up. She slowly made her way to her
room, avoiding any squeaky floorboards she could, and cursing those she
couldn’t. When she got to her room, she carefully hid her goods and laid on her
bed. Her room was small but had enough room to hold what it needed. She had her
bed, her closet, and her posters. She admired the posters on her walls, famous
dragon racers and trainers. Her favorite was always the one right beside her
bed. It showed a woman, short with dark orange hair and yellow glasses covering
her blue eyes, a dragon that was black and orange, and SPITFIRE AND ARIDYNE written under them in big, orange, and yellow letters. It was her mom, the dragon rider. Ailia looked at the old poster with a smile and soon fell asleep.