The Morning Song (UWOC)

Prologue

**Author's Note: If you have read Upon Wings of Change or any of my other dragonet stories, you may skip this prologue. This is a stand-alone to explain the world and has no bearing on the story.**

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POV of a young wild dragonet

I knew the dream images weren't mine, but that didn't stop the terror that ran through me, as I felt every moment.

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I was an academic nerd, not a jock. It made little difference as I did my best to fight off the men surrounding me. I felt the needle going into my arm, and the quick-acting drugs stopped my actions within seconds. My last thought was-why me?

I awakened several times because it was uncomfortably warm, but my body refused to listen to my mind, and I would drift back asleep within moments. Finally, I awoke fully, realizing the air was stagnant and I needed to escape my tight confinement. My fear of suffocating gave me strength. I pushed hard against the tiny box I was in repeatedly with no luck.

The crack I finally heard was deafening but welcomed. My hope rose higher and higher as I continued to make that crack bigger, and I could breathe clean air. It took longer than I thought my stamina would last, but I finally busted out of my confinement and landed on the cold floor, gasping for breath.

"It's okay. Just breathe."

The soft female voice was inside my head. I could hear machines running out loud and could easily tell the difference. I tried to turn my head and realized immediately that my body was moving oddly.

When I blinked my eyes open, what I saw made my heart beat hard.

I was in a glass cage, and several more were around me. Each occupant was a dragon from myth and legend, but solid colored and the same size as me. The cages protected me from them.

I pushed myself up to look around better, and when I saw a blue-clawed foot, I thought my heart would stop. Not wanting to believe what was happening, I closed my eyes and slowly checked every muscle in my body, noticing the different ways I could now move. I also felt something on my back that I could not identify but could move.

My eyes flew back open as I spun my head around to see my back, something a human could not do, and what I saw sent me into uncontrollable shivers, morphing rapidly into a full-blown panic attack.

I was a blue dragon.

Tiny scales covered my entire body, and I had a long, thin tail-not to mention wings. Wings!

"Just try to breathe. I know it's a lot to take in, but just try to breathe," the calm female voice said repeatedly.

I followed her advice and just breathed for a few minutes. Once I had a grip on my body change, I turned toward where I believed the female dragon was. I didn't understand how I knew which dragon was speaking. She was a golden color, and her eyes were a dark brown.

"Before I try to teach you to talk, there is something more important you need to know," she said quickly. "If you show any intelligence to the scientists who did this to you, they will kill you-and maybe us, too. If they show up, please act like a cat. Just hiss and swat at them."

When I tried to answer her, all that came out were chirps and whistles. But I could understand what I said, even though it was just sounds.

"This is the dragonet language. We can all use it," she said, also making weird sounds. "But it's better to talk this way. Just focus on me and send a thought," she continued in my mind.