Elimination

"Orange lace lines the sleeves of the gods," hummed a blacksmith. He was pale, looked human, and had bright blue eyes that seemed unnatural. "Silver bones destroy the demons, and save fair maidens from their despair."

He walked down the road with a hammer slung over his shoulder. Not many people seemed to mind, besides the few that kept on glancing at him or giving him shocked expressions. The real reason was because not everyone could see him. He smiled to himself as he passed a young girl with purple hair, "An angel, so lovely, and so lost."

She blinked and turned  back to him, "Excuse me?"

She blinked again, he was gone.

All right, that was just plain weird.

***

He was five years old. His mother was in a pool of blood, and he was still hiding under the bed when the maid walked in to clean the room. She shrieked, but he stayed under the bed. His eyes remained locked on his dead mother until an army guard coaxed him out from under the bed. Cairo had no living family, he was all alone in the world.

The guard was a nice man, single, and living in an apartment with his pet tiger. He was a plant-air elemental, and he was a good cook. However, Cairo still couldn't sleep at night. The guard, Aries, sat on the loveseat besides him. "You can stay with me as long as you like, the government approved it."

"Thank you," he whispered.

Aries placed his hand on the young boy's head. Five years old and without any family. The man stood up and smile at the boy, "Mary will be around in about an hour, until then please don't go outside and keep all the doors locked."

Cairo nodded.

The man left to go to work, another job, another chance of him not coming home. The little boy laid down on the love seat. He was tired, but every time he tried to sleep the image of his mother burned itself into his eyelids. He had stopped crying, at least. It had been three weeks, not enough time for anything, but he knew he had to move on.

He felt a silent pull in the back of head. In the hour of sleep he got every once in a while he had a dream about a beautiful dragon the color of the brightest gold, besides him (that was Cairo's assumption, he wasn't quite sure if it was female or male) was another dragon about the same size, slightly bigger. They looked completely different, one was like the dragons of local legend that his mother told him about and the other was hard to describe. Softer was the only thing he could think of.

The soft one had an egg sitting at its feet. It was white with a green tint, and odd outlined spots. Every time he got close to the egg would wake up suddenly with the image of his dead mother's eyes. A cold and sightless stare...

He hugged the pillow as tears started flowing down his face. He heard click of the lock and creaking of the door. Aries had probably left something behind again. The door closed softly, and the lock clicked again. That was strange, maybe it was Mary? Had it already been an hour?

"You, kid," the voice whispered.

Cairo froze.

"You," the voice whispered, "you need to do something very important."

The boy shot up in his seat and looked around frantically. He saw nothing, no one was in the room with him. Frightened, the boy's wings flared  out of reflex.

"Don't be scared, I'm not going to hurt you," said the voice. It was male, that was all he could tell.

The room seemed to shimmer for a splint second, and an image faded into the room. One that looked like a dragon, like the soft one with the egg, but not really. He was the color of stone, with one spiral horn, and gray eyes. With him was a small white egg with a green shine to it, it had been their the whole time, but Cairo hadn't noticed it.

The boy had no understanding of what he was seeing, but he knew it was important.

"What's your proper name boy?"

"Cairo," he said obediently.

"Is that your full name."

"It's... it's tradition not to be given your surname by your parents until sixteen," he muttered.

"What would it be if you were sixteen?"

"I don't know..." he looked down at the loveseat pillow. Why was he even talking to this dragon? Was he even real?

The dragon sighed. "Very well. I'm a messenger from the goddess Gratira. Since the child of this egg has no family, like you, she wants a brave soul like you to take care of him. He's newly laid, so be careful. I... I know it's a lot of responsibility for someone so...why am I talking like this to a child?"

"I... I understand."

The dragon gave him a soft look and slide the egg closer, towards the boy's feet. "You will be his family, and he will be yours."

Cairo touched the egg lightly. It was warm to the touch, like some sandwich Mary had warmed up for him. It wasn't something he expected. "What's the funny mark?"

"A blessing from his goddess, Gratira."

"Gra...tira?"

The dragon nodded, "And I'm her messenger, Mae."

"Well your name is a lot easier."

The dragon smiled, "Heh. I can already see why she wanted you to protect him. I must take my leave, protect him and he will protect you."

The boy watched the dragon fade out of existence.

He sat silently staring at the egg. It made no sounds, no movements of life. He had to wait for the dragon to hatch. However he was so tired now, and he could feel his eyelids protest. He could do nothing about it, as he hugged the egg on the love seat he smiled. The song "Orange Lace and Silver Bones" drifted through his head. It was his mother singing... she had such a beautiful voice.

The boy would never understand how many people were plotting his demise that day.