**BOOK 1 IN THE TALES FROM DROMISSE SERIES**
Silvia considers herself the luckiest woman in all Dromisse. Her soon-to-be fiancé, Duncan Ora, is a candidate for Light Within, the greatest gift that the Almighty Gale can bestow upon someone. Then a ra...
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Duncan isn't only corrupted. In the light of the morning, he recognizes what's happening. Though he tries to box his thoughts in the darkest part of his mind, he provides them with plentiful air holes through which they breathe and grow. If this is going to happen to anyone, it is obviously him. He's Rimis the Serpent, punished by Gale with scales and wings.
He's becoming a dragon.
He peels himself out of bed like reanimated bones crawling from a coffin. He's hardly slept a minute, and the scales on his arms have only increased. He finds the same shirt he wore yesterday and pulls it on, peering out into the dim morning. He pokes the lumpy sleeves that cover his forearms, but the bumps aren't terribly noticeable.
Duncan trudges down the creaky stairs. He steps through the back door and looks for one of his family members. He needs a job, so he can build up savings and give Silvia her child support. Though, she may not even need it. She's likely being showered in the riches of the Church, all for being the mother of Meyora. Still, he gave her his word.
Laurie, Morissa, and Jack are mucking around in the mud behind the house. "Heave!" Morissa shouts as she and her children haul around hay. A horse whinnies, and she says, "Henrietta! Quit bellyachin'! We're gettin' your breakfast!"
Duncan's eyes sparkle with magic as he watches his family from the raised porch. He extends his hand, and the hay flies into the air, dispersing across the immediate barn stalls and pastures.
Jackson screams and drops to a crouch. "Ghost!" Then he catches sight of Duncan and uncurls himself. "Oh ..."
Morissa busts into hysterics. "Jack, you hooligan, that's your cousin!" She squelches over to Duncan, mud clinging to a thick pair of jeans. "Didn't think y'all city folk still got up at times like this. What're you up to?"
"I always get up early," Duncan says. "I was needin' to look for a job." He sweeps his hands across his face and through his long hair, his appearance morphing at the motion. His hair shortens to the slick, blue style of Elton Sparks, his features narrowing, and his clothes shrinking to fit his slightly altered body. "Know anyone hirin'?"
Jackson jogs over. "Holy beans." His jaw drops, and he cranes his neck like a furiously curious swan, searching Duncan up and down. "That is the gosh darned craziest magic I ever seen."
Duncan's lips curl upward. "It's not even the best I can do." He spies Laurie staring; she plucks her eyes away before her gaze becomes too interested like her brother.
Morissa taps her chin, leaving a smudge of mud behind. "Y'all remember Tucker? That old codger down West Center Street."
"The librarian?" Duncan's eyes crinkle. "Of course I remember him. I basically lived at the library. He's still alive?"
"Barely. And he ain't even retired," Morissa says. "He's still runnin' that shack by himself, like he always has. Not sure how. He was old when you were a kid. Thought he might be in Gale's arms, now. Reckon he could still use some help."
