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With a sigh I resorted to my favorite past-time, surfing the World Wide Weird, as I called it. Better than a local yard sale, you can find ANYTHING online. Except the answers I've been seeking.
My memories only go back one year. The very first thing I can remember is staring up at a neon sign. The felling of an ache somewhere in my body that I don't have is also there. The only clue I have are the letters: "DROLNOGARD" down my back. And an all-consuming fixation with the creatures of myth--Dragons.
"If you would turn to page 135 we can begin."
I quickly tuned the teacher out, we were studying ancient China and their calendar. I was not interested. My gaze wandered to the window. I watched a flight of birds wing across the sky, as I watched them, I seemed to move across time. I felt the joy of open flight, the wind on my face, and a warm thermal under my wings.
I was jolted out of my daydream by the teacher's presence hovering over me. "So, Mr. Paulson. Are you going to respond, or do I need to move your desk once more?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Peterson. Um, What was the question?"
He rolled his eyes at me. "I asked you what the Chinese considered this year according to there calendar of animals."
Oh, crap... I thought for a moment, then went with the obvious, "Dragon?"
"Yes, the year of the Dragon will start tomorrow on the Chinese New Year. This class will practice a..." I zoned out, thinking about what had been said.
According to someone, dragons were real. But they interbred with many other races, eventually breeding themselves in to extension, however they live on, within about 15% of the humans, and various other species.
The legend states that with the coming of the year of the dragon, after the witnessing of the three signs by someone of draconic descent, dragons will once again walk the earth.
Humm... They won't say what the signs are.
As the days went on, I noticed some oddities, first I had gained almost 20 pounds. And gotten 3 in taller. Plus, my teeth were hurting and my butt itched all the time. It got to the point that I couldn't sit still in class. I was sent to the nurses office to "see what my excuse was this time."
The nurse was no help. She refused to even here my case, instead giving me an aspirin and telling me to lie down in the other room.
Humm... Maybe it is all in my head. I thought, the aspirin seems to be helping.
I soon was fast asleep.
"You are different from the others." She said.
"What do you mean?" I was curious about her. As she seemed to be about me.
"The other dragons, all they want to do is eat, destroy and kill. You were looking for something."
She was right, I had been looking for something, and I had been very close to finding it. Yet, something was wrong. Something told me that I didn't want to find whatever I had been looking for.
All of a sudden, everything shifted. I became aware of the dream, the little girl looked at me and smiled. "You have found it."
The pain jarred be back. It had spread down to my butt. I heard more than saw my tail form. It too splattered blood everywhere. At this point, I passed out.
The changes continued, however. My hands kept there basic shape, but I gained wicked half-inch claws on my fingers. Scales grew over my forearms, forming a light blue but quickly darkening to a deep purple. A purple so dark it looks black until you shine a light on it.
My feet changed drastically. My toes lengthened until they were almost as long as my fingers, with the same half-inch claws, by bone structure rearranged so I would be standing on the pads of my feet, with four toes in front and the fifth back and to one side, in the manner of dogs. The same scales on my hands formed on my feet, reaching up to my knees.
My wings and tail thicken and filled out to their full size. Also becoming covered with the same scales as my other limbs. At some point during this, the nurse came in and panicked. I awoke in a hospital.
Movemet drew my attention, someone, a doctor, had opened the door and stepped inside.
Standing well out of reach he watched me. "What do you want?" I demanded.
He appered startled, "Oh, so you're awake. Good, perhaps you can explan what's going on here."
"That's what your job is." I retorted.
He made a note on a clipboard he was holding and walked out of the room.
In a fit of rage at being ignored, I straned at the restrants, pulling them from the table. In a few moments I was free. I took a moment to take stock of my new body.
I stood 7'6" tall, according to the tape mesure on the wall. Streching out my wings I guessed they were about 14 feet wide. Add a four foot tail, and that's quite a creature.
As the door opened once more, I launched myself at the window. Shattering it and leaping for freedom. As I cleared the sill, instinct took over and I found myself soaring high above the city. As I flew away in to the woods I thought about the changes this would cause.
And what fun I could have.
The End.