Dream of Tomorrow

The sudden gust of wind was powerful enough to send Jett sliding back a few feet. He caught his balance and dusted off his pants. It was the first time that Shaina had managed to land a hit on him since they had started practicing. She grinned at him and her dark skin caused her white teeth to look even brighter in the moonlight.

"I think that's enough for tonight," Jett said. "It's getting late and you need to take a bath and go to bed. You'll get an earful from Desiree if she sees how filthy you are."

"Like I care what the beauty queen has to say," Shaina replied. "She's probably too busy blowing kisses to herself in the mirror to notice me."

Jett let out a laugh. It was funny how different his two younger sisters were in both appearance and personality. Desiree was prim and proper while Shaina was wild and adventurous. "Well, you're probably right about her, but it's still getting late."

"Fine," she sighed. "Let's go in..."

The made their way into the large stone house that had been their home for the last seven years. Only hours ago, Jett was excited to finally leave it, but as the night went on, he realized that the safety and security of his uncle's home would soon be a distant memory.

"Can I ask you something?" Shaina said, interrupting his thoughts.

"What is it?" he asked curiously.

"Are you scared?" She looked up at him; her warm brown eyes met his cool green ones. He let out a deep breath before nodding his head.

"I'll admit it," Jett told her. "I am a bit scared. Circron Cloud may be boring at times, but it's safe. I know everyone here; I have you and Desiree and Felix. The only beings who live here are harpies and there's only a few of them left. The Capital is the opposite of everything. I don't know anyone other than Alexa, Marcell, and Lamar and I've heard how dangerous certain sections of the Capital are. Humans, vampires, werewolves, sorcerers, and all sorts of creatures live there and-"

"And you don't have any powers?"

Jett grinned at her and opened his gloved hands. "I don't, but that doesn't mean I'm going to go down without a fight if someone tries to take me on. Now, enough stalling. Bathe and then go to bed."

"Okay already!" Shaina groaned. She stuck her tongue out at him before she scampered down the hallway. When she disappeared from sight, Jett headed for his room. He noticed the large pile of fancy clothing on the center of his bed and arched an eyebrow.

"It took you long enough!" Desiree remarked. "It's late and we haven't even picked out your best clothes."

"Does it really matter what I wear?" he asked.

"Of course!" Desiree chirped. "Once you leave here, you'll be representing our entire family. You have to look like you have some sort of style. By the time I'm through with you, every siren in Circron will be lining up at the palace to see you. All you need to do is try on a few things. It won't take long."

Jett spent over an hour trying on different clothes. Desiree had found something wrong with everything he put on. The first outfit had too much green, the fourth one didn't go with his eyes, the sixth one was too baggy and so forth. It took three more outfits before they had finally found something that Desiree liked. She shoved Jett towards the full-length mirror on the opposite side of his room.

"What do you think?" she asked with a smile on her face. "I was stuck between harpy clothing and wind sorcerer clothing. In the end, I just decided to give you a mixture of both and make it more casual. You know, to fit in with the humans since there are more of them than any supernatural race."

Jett gazed at his reflection. He was dressed in the signature dark blue and gray colors of the wind sorcerers. Instead of wearing the standard cape that most of the sorcerers preferred, he donned a long gray jacket with the current Ciel family symbol; a golden talon surrounded by a gust of wind. Alexa had made it official after she was made Queen of Circron. Underneath the jacket was a stylish dark blue button down shirt and gray windpants. However, it was the boots that had captured Jett's attention. They were mostly ordinary except for one small detail. The front had thin protrusions that resembled sharpened harpy claws.

"Well, at least you'll look pretty when you arrive at Circron Capital..."

The sound of his uncle's sarcastic voice interrupted Jett's thoughts and sent him spiraling back into reality. In truth, he did like the outfit, but he figured it would be best to keep his mouth shut. He turned to face the man that had entered the room. He had the long, thin face and lean body of the harpies as well as the slightly unkempt nails and the shaggy brown hair.

"It's the best he's ever looked..." Desiree remarked. Jett shot her a glare and she grinned back at him. "Don't you agree Uncle Crandel?"

"It won't matter how good he looks if he's not smart enough to keep himself alive once he leaves here," Crandel retorted. "Come with me."

"It's a bit late and-"

"That wasn't a request," Crandel cut him off. "Come."

Jett groaned as he reluctantly complied with his uncle and followed him out of the room. He had been acting a bit different for the past few months, becoming more strict and slightly distant. Jett guessed that it was all to prepare him for his departure. After all, he had remained his normal complacent self when he interacted with Desiree, Shaina, and Felix.

They stopped in one of the training rooms that was frequently used by Jett. Crandel motioned for him to take a seat on one of the benches as he went to retrieve a small metal box inside one of the cases. He brought the case over to the bench and sat it down beside his nephew.

"What is it?" the boy asked curiously.

"Open it..." Crandel told him.

Jett lifted the small latch on the box and stuck his hand inside. Almost immediately, he shrieked in pain and dropped the box on the floor. There was a burning sensation that had overcome his body; it was certainly the worst pain he had ever felt.

"W-what was that?!" he yelled.

"Brass," his uncle replied calmly. "As you know, harpies are extremely weak to it. Do not think that just because you have no obvious powers and are only half harpy that it will not affect you. True, your father's wind sorcerer blood makes it a bit less painful for you. I can barely stand."

Crandel took a few steps back before sending a powerful bolt of white energy at the box, disintegrating the brass within it on the spot. Without warning, he sent another bolt directly at Jett. The young man stuck his gloved hands out and deflected the bolt towards the wall.

"Good," Crandel said. "It looks like you've learned how to utilize those gloves that your father gave you."

"They are my main weapon," Jett stated as a grin formed on his face. "Aside from the gloves, I'm no different than an unarmed human."

"Is that what you think?" Crandel countered. He let out a laugh. "Humans are always discounted. No supernatural being ever likes to admit that they have human blood somewhere in their family tree, but almost everyone alive today does. The funny thing is that without that one drop of human blood, most of us would still be like the first of our beings, savage and stupid. Do I need to remind you of our ancestors, the original harpies?"

Jett shook his head. He knew all about the original harpies who hatched from eggs and looked positively hideous. They were as bloodthirsty as they were ugly and definitely not very intelligent. During the Dark Years of Circron, many supernatural beings had begun dying out and had resorted to breeding with other species. By the time of Zenith's War, most everyone were either a human or a hybrid.

"Can I ask you something?" Jett started. "Alexa is Queen of Circron. Why did everyone make her queen? I know she was the one who killed Zenith's demon, but she had help. I mean Marcell killed Zenith himself, but he wasn't made king. Why Alexa?"

"Your sister has a way of inspiring followers," Crandel answered. "She was basically the face of the forces against Zenith and caused everyone to stop squabbling and band together to save Circron. Even when your father and mother were still alive, everyone deferred to Alexa as the leader. Yes, the Storm Goddess helped us all get through those dark times. As for your brother, well he just loves to show off and fight. He's not really interested in the responsibility that comes with being a ruler. Now, you need to get some rest. I have a gift that I will be giving you tomorrow that I believe will be of use."

"A gift?" Jett questioned. "What is it?"

"You'll find out when you wake up," Crandel said. "Go to bed..."

Jett sighed as he began wandering back to his room. He had no idea what gift he was receiving since his uncle was almost impossible to predict. He quickly changed out of his clothes and put them on the dresser before crawling into bed. It would be the last time he slept in it for a long time and he could not imagine what it would be like waking up in a different bed. He would miss hearing the soothing sounds of Desiree singing, watching Shaina picking fights with the much larger harpies on the Cloud, and listening to Felix planning some sort of mischievous prank on their sisters. Things would certainly change for Jett when he woke up the next morning and he felt nervous and excited at the same time. His thoughts drifted to his older siblings.

"I wonder what they're doing...?" he asked himself.

It had been a long time since he had seen Alexa, Marcell, or Lamar and he wondered how much they had change since the last time he had seen them. After a few more minutes of various thoughts, Jett decided that he had better get some rest. Tomorrow would be the start of his new life.