Inspired by How To Train Your Dragon (Nothing is the same however. . .) I want all thoughts. ***
They never tell you explicitly why you must keep away from dragons. Oh, sure they’ll probably decapitate you on the spot and leave your remains for the vultures, horrid things they are, or if you’re lucky they’ll singe away your skin and leave a burnt never-healing scar as a reminder of your fateful encounter.
This makes them seem rather like doom bringers. Actually, if that is the view people have of them, it would explain why they’re nicknamed the Devil’s Pets. However, the nitty gritty of the matter is that I am now a dragon. Perhaps, you’re quite sharp and you’ve noticed the “now”. No? Well, I’ll bring your attention to it anyway, about a sentence back, third to last word.
I was once a human, most likely such as yourself, an avid scholar with a bright literature filled future, not suited to the out world living of farming, soldiering or even ruling. Well, “suited” might be a bit of a strong word. Honestly, I could hardly lift a sword, or harvesting scythe and for the life of me I would never be able to give a commanding order.
Perhaps, being transformed into a dragon was what was best. The thing is, dragons aren’t what we think they are. They don’t eat people and they don’t… well, the main thing which deters humans is the whole “man-eating” business. Being one myself, I can vouch for this; all we consume are larger amounts of what humans consider “normal” food. Anyway, even if we were so hungry as to look at a human as meat, dragons have morals.
Eating lesser-sentinel beings is repulsing. Oh god, that just shows how long I’ve been a dragon for; about six moon-tides to be all nice and rounded. I’ve begun thinking of humans as “lesser sentinels”. Aureus is a horrible partner, and thus a bad influence on me.
Oh, yes, back to the reason why humans or just females in general should keep away from dragons. Dragons are a single gendered race. Getting the picture? They are all male. It’s almost embarrassing to explain how I ended up here, being male myself. I’ve explained my weak nature and stature, right? Need I say more? Yes? Oh, for the life of me.
They thought I was female. Actually, correct that, Aureus thought I was a woman. The almost amusing thing is that if I had been a female I would’ve been home already, none the wiser of a forced mating, forced pregnancy and would've been a forced clutch-mother all in the same night.
A single clutch usually has about five dragon eggs. When they hatch the next morning it has been found two will die from the sudden and unusual intake of foreign air, one will die when it is a dragonet being too curious and one more will die from the over-use of… let’s call it, skills.
They caught me in a primitive, vine-woven net and not bothering to check, turned me. Dragon-turning is a simple business. I’ve learnt the secret from Aureus. Let’s just say dragon blood is much, much, much more complicated than human blood. It has magical properties. When mixed with dragon saliva it becomes a potent potion. For six hours, the female consumer is transformed into a dragoness for the founder dragon to have his way. Unrespectable as they seem for capturing women like this, they do however have some morals about the raping of the human dragoness. Only the founder dragon, the one who either found her or beat the one which did, can mate with the dragoness.
Doesn’t makes sense in my case, does it? Being a male, a man… well, I was a near man anyway. They only found this out when, still knocked out, I wasn’t conceiving.
Thank the Gods, I was unconscious. Just imagining Aureus and… that line of thought stops there. After discovering their first mistake, they waited for me to become human again. I regained consciousness and realised I had four legs. Needless to say, I fainted from shock.
I never turned back.
They had never made a mistake like me in their entire history. Their cave spring of recollections was completely blank on advice about what to do with me. I was dragon, yet a human. King Talum, our resident ruler, commanded Aureus to claim me, seeing as… well, he had once already. There is a code that dragons follow, as a single gendered race.
Once a dragon has mated with a human, they are allowed to take a partner. Partner, as in same-sexed lover. Oh, yes, when I said that Aureus was my partner, it doesn’t mean we’ve… gone back into more close quarters like the first time when I was out cold.
Aureus and I have a mutual understanding. He doesn’t want to be partnered with some crazy dragon aiming for the throne, and well, I didn’t want to be partnered with some insane sex-deficient dragon. So, we stuck together. On the throne part that I mentioned – Aureus is Talum’s youngest son of the surviving oldest clutch. In front of him was Gare, a skill-abuser. It looked like he was going to be one for the statistics. Everyone knew he was going to end up dead, but a memory in the cave-spring of recollections.
As a dragon, I’ve discovered many things. Like how complicated dragon politics are. As Aureus' “partner”, I’m expected to become a prince. In general, everyone treats me with disdain.
A human, as the next Prince? What has this world come to?
I’m beginning to share their concerns. How can I, me – the sword un-wielder, become a prince?
For some reason that was at the top of my worries. Down at the very bottom of them were my family. I didn’t really care about them, they loved Garcia more anyway. Garcia was my older brother with arms the size of canons and the wit of an unlit wick. Oh, but he was their “promising” son; the one with the big soldiering future.
I was but a skinny, pale, tall boy with a crooked smile, freckles, and drab dead black hair.
As a dragon, I seemed to share a few similarities. I was dead black with a thin and long tapering body the length of two trade-ships. In fact, I was ridiculously long compared to others. Some were a quarter of my length. But not Aureus. He was not only longer than me by about half a carriage; he was also packed with muscle. And his shelling, oh, it was a sight.
Every time I saw him in the sun it dazzled me anew. While I was stuck with a dull and lifeless shelling with average white wings, Aureus was the sky and sunshine itself. With cobalt upper top and golden yellow on his belly he as the most stunning thing I have ever seen. The most amazing thing about him, which he hated, were his wings, a pure red crimson, dappled by dots of orange. By far his colouring was second to none, though some dragons swear King Talum still has the most exotic.
I’ve never had the honour of seeing the majesty in the open air, but if he was even was half as majestic as Aureus was, with the king in the sky the world would be a more beautiful place.
Aureus’ shelling was vastly contradictory to his actual nature. He was a silent, cruel, judgemental, and witty dragon with a strange, soft yet harsh thought voice. Thought voice? Oh, didn’t I tell you? Dragons can’t speak. We think to each other. It took me a while to get the hang of. Projections of images are the simplest means of communication. I’ve begun delving into their actual language. Gosh, is it complicated.
There is an endless list of ways to introduce yourself, all of which will have an impact on your political life. And that is why I let Aureus introduce me. I’ll give you an example in human tongue. If I were to say, “I am Azrael,” they would laugh. For this is claiming that I am the only Azrael and that other “Azrael”s are fake. Even if I were to say, “My name is Azrael,” they would project disappointment. Which Azrael was I? Where did I come from?
The thought introduction of a single dragon was along these lines, “My name is Aureus the Fifth. I am the Sun-Dappled Prince, second in line to the Sky Throne of Clan Sun. My partner is Azrael, the human night-dragon, and I’ve no interest in triads.”
Triads, a three partner system. Officially, partnering number systems are limitless; they can be broken, reformed and broken again. There is no law regarding this, however, the thing which you must do to prove your partnership isn’t just for pleasure is the sky-drop. The sky-drop is just that. To legally become partners you must pass the sky-drop commitment test. Once each, you and your partner(s) must fly as high as possible, once there noble dragons will assist you by bounding your wings and then dropping you head first to plummet to the floor.
If your partner(s) does not catch you, your life is forfeit.
Sky-drops are almost as ceremonial as weddings; all the living relatives come and watch. Aureus and my own sky-drop had only two noble dragons and the ceremonial watcher; the one who inscribed our sky-drop commitments. The ceremonial watcher must listen closely to the thought screams as one is falling to his death. These thoughts are considered the commitments and are carved into an adult scale under the left front leg.
Aureus’ commitment was, “I will be”, as mysterious as always, and mine was, “Do better.” I swear, I am so lame. Do better? What kind of a stupid thought is that while hurtling to my death? Was I mentally skewered?
It does little good to think on it now, though.
It’s strange, because sometimes I forget I used to be human. It seems almost natural these days to follow Aureus around as we hunt together. To rip a cow apart, limb from limb, still alive and to feel all the sweet warm natural juices flowing down my chin.
If I were to ever turn back, “if” being the keyword, there would be two things I would miss. The ability to fly, oh, it is heavenly. The wind gushing over and around your body, the heady, nauseous heights and the heart hammering air acrobatics will always be number one. Number two will be the intelligent conversation between other dragons and myself. Though we were limited to images, due to me, I’ve had the delight of discussing the meaning of life several times and science even more so.
Dragons are higher life-forms than humans, I would have to be hard pressed to admit it, but it’s true. For once, I should fit in. I’m a prince, I have all the intelligent conversation status can buy, but I can’t help feeling as if I’m missing something. Not emotionally, but as if theirs is this big circle and I’m on the outside. It was the same when I was human.
I felt excluded.
This, in turn, brings me to this exact moment. I’ve run away. I’m hiding in an ancient tree; I can hear it creaking under my weight. It must be so old, because it is at least twice as tall as I am long. The sound of livid roars echo in the distance. I am familiar with most of them. It’s the Clan Sun. Aureus’ is the loudest, the angriest.
A feeling of guilt seeps into the pit of my stomach. Perhaps, I shouldn’t have left.
It takes me only second to realise my mistake. I’ve underestimated both dragons’ sense of smell as well as their flight speed. I’m not far enough away, as it turns out. Not far enough at all. They’re right above me now. Circling, trying to figure out a way to land.
They’ve got me, I have to admit. I can just feel their claws tearing into my betraying self. A sharp pain ignites on the side of my head and an object skitters to the floor, speckled with red. Things begin to get blurry. My eyes don’t focus. My legs and claws lose grip on the tree. I’m falling. Leaves are flying. I’m spiralling to the ground. The floor is glowing. Up above is a distant shape. The colours are so exotic they seem almost clear. It is my last sight.
The last sound I hear is a soft, yet harsh thought voice screaming through my mind, “Partner!”
Everything goes black.
