On the television screen appeared a red, blue, and gold
logo intertwined with various interspersed video snippets.
Subsequently the screen shifted to a smartly dressed woman with
shoulder length auburn hair and a warm smiling face. At first
the broadcast was of her looking at her papers, then on cue she
looked up and addressed the camera in front of her.
"Welcome back to the second hour of our show," greeted the
woman in a pleasant voice. "Today marks the two hundredth day
of the arrival of the dragons," she read off the teleprompter in
front of her while a graphic appeared next to her head showing a
huge red dragon flying through the air. "Authorities are
puzzled as to explain what is causing the appearance of the
dragons. So far we have had reports of people all around the
world being killed and eaten by these creatures. That a myriad
of reports claim to have seen human sized versions of these
dragons who subsequently grow into mammoth proportions. On top
of that any attempt to stop these dragons while they are growing
haven't succeeded."
The female news anchor then shifted to a different camera
view while a video began playing next to her head. It showed a
scene from a long distance airplane of various shaped dragons
all flying around the Rocky Mountains. "The air force reports
numerous sightings of dragons among the high peaks of the Rocky
Mountain range. These sightings go from Chile all the way north
into Canada. There the dragons seemed to be congregating around
the peaks as if they now was their home. Various eye witnesses
suggest that dragons from all around the American continents are
congregating within these mountains. While the European and
Asian authorities are reporting that even more dragons have been
seen flying above the Alps."
The news anchor paused to let the video shift to full
screen before continuing on. "So far no one has been able to
approach these dragons to find out who they are or what they
want. The president has suggested that as a nation we take no
aggressive action against the dragons that might provoke them
into attacking and destroying any chance for a peaceful
resolution."
The broadcast then shifted to other major news happening
around the world. Once the video had shifted from the unreal
scene of the dragons to one more mundane, a woman sitting in a
kitchen chair sipping a steaming cup of coffee, looked up to the
digital clock built in her microwave. Seeing the time and not
hearing any movement upstairs, she leaned towards the main
staircase to yell, "Brad time to get up, otherwise you'll be
late for school."
Her voice echoed up the stairs and managed to pass through
the closed bedroom door. Past the door lay a typical teenage
boy's messy room. Clothes lay strewn about various pieces of
furniture, myriad computer game posters, movies, and a few sport
players, were pinned to the walls. Off against one wall was a
rather high tech computer system that lay dormant on his desk.
Opposite the computer tucked in one corner, lay a small twin
sized bed. A blue and white comforter lay strewn over the bed
showing Brad's sleeping outline laying on his stomach with one
of his legs poking out from under the cover.
Upon hearing his mother yelling for him to wake up, the
young teenager began to groan. Stirring within his bed told him
he felt like road kill. His head hurt and his body ached badly.
Unsteadily he swung up into an upright position with his bare
feet thudding heavily on the room's cold wooden floor.
Rubbing his painful eyes and brushing a bit of his semi
long dark brown hair out of his face, Brad blearily peered at
his alarm clock. Seeing the time, he sighed and achingly pushed
himself up out of his bed.
Adjusting the sport shorts he liked to sleep in, Brad
sleepily thumped out of his room, down the hall, and into the
bathroom. Closing the door behind him, sounds of both the
toilet being flushed and shower running could be heard about the
house.
A short bit later, a slightly cleaner but still sleepy Brad
lurched out of the steamy bathroom back to his bedroom. He had
hoped the hot shower would clear his head, but it didn't seem to
do the trick. He really didn't want to go to school feeling as
bad as he did. Especially with some of the more forceful
students there waiting to continue their attacks on his
character.
Shortly he emerged downstairs and heavily plunked himself
down in a kitchen chair. Still feeling bad, all he could do was
to cross his arms on the table top then flop his head down on
top of them.
Seeing her son, his mother asked him to lift his head.
Beholding his feverish look, she put her head against his
forehead. "You're burning up," Brad's mother exclaimed with
concern. "You're not going to school like that, go back
upstairs and get some rest."
Brad didn't want to argue and did as she told him.
Painfully, he undressed and got back into bed. There he tried
to go back to sleep, but between the shower and how bad he felt,
he wasn't going to get much sleep. Instead he reached over to
his bed stand and grabbed a small square remote. Aiming it at
his computer, he caused one of his computer's dual screens to
come alive with what looked like a movie.
There he tried to get comfortable while mindlessly watching
the movie's action scenes.
After a short bit, his mother came upstairs and placed a
steaming mug of what looked like tea by his bed. She also
handed him some pills to swallow. Then he washed them down with
some sort of orange fizzy anti cold drink she asked him to drink
down. Chugging the savory drink, his mother told him that she
had to go to work. That if things got worse that he should call
her.
Taking the empty glass with her, Brad's mother left the
room to headed back downstairs. Shortly he could hear the front
door open and close followed by his mother's car starting.
For a short bit he contemplated the realization that he had
the house all to himself. In the past he would have tried to
enjoy not being at school. Yet, he felt downright terrible.
Instead, Brad reluctantly chose to lay in bed and watch the
movies he had on his computer. At least it was something to
keep his mind off whatever he had caught. Though, for a brief
moment Brad did wish he could have gone to school only so that
he could pass it on to his bullies. That would have been some
sweet payback!
Soon enough Brad passed out.
He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep. But when Brad
awoke, he noticed things had changed. The ache and pain from
that flu or whatever had passed. He wasn't certain if it had
been from the stuff his mother gave him or from something else.
Either way he felt far better then before.
Pulling himself out of bed, still in his pajama shorts,
Brad hurried downstairs to grab something to drink. While
inattentively chugging down a glass of water he began to
absentmindedly scratch his arm.
Getting himself another glass of water, Brad's attention
was brought to the incessant burning itching on his arm.
Looking down he nearly dropped the glass of water he was
drinking. Putting the thing down, he stared in disbelief as he
beheld what looked like blue scales growing out of his skin. He
probed the strange scaly area until he noticed other spots along
his body had begun itching. Checking them out showed him that
even more blue scales were growing all over his body.
Rapidly, Brad's hair fell out in huge clumps as more scales
grew out over his skull.
"What the hell's going on with me," Brad exclaimed in
horror as he watched the blue scales grow in. It seemed to him
that along his back arms and legs the scales were bluer and
tougher. While the scales along his chest and stomach were
almost white and softer.
Brad remembered how Dragons were appearing all over the
world. Seeing the scales made him realize that he was turning
into one himself. While everyone around the world had no idea
where these dragons were coming from, Brad finally grasped the
answer. It was because they had been humans like him. People
who had transformed into dragons!
Before his mind could dwell on the realization any farther,
he noticed that the tips of his fingers and toes began to hurt.
Brad peered at the digits as large thick sharp claws erupt from
the tip of all ten of his fingertips. Brad realized they might
be sharp enough to slash just about anything he wanted too.
Abruptly, Brad's stomach began to rumble. He had to eat
and eat as soon as possible. Rushing over to his mother's
refrigerator, he began to seize everything he could and wolf it
all down. Within a short bit his stomach felt bloated and
sated.
With his hunger abated, all sorts of things began to
hastily happen to him. His face began to push out as his nose
and mouth. They were reforming into a long reptile like snout.
While his eyes changed into two sky blue reptile like eyes and
his teeth quickly altered into long dagger like fangs. Two nubs
began to form along his back next to his shoulder blades. These
nubs swiftly pushed out into two small weak arms. Yet, they
didn't stay that way as the those limbs began to push out and
form into two huge blue bat like wings. Finally, he felt a
pushing along the back of his shorts. Pulling them down
revealed that a nub of tail was pushing out from his butt.
Shortly even that had grown out to over four feet to a tapered
end.
As quickly as those changes hit him, Brad's hunger came
back even more fiercely then before. Raiding the refrigerator
and just about every other spot he knew food was, his hunger
went away again. This time his existing limbs began to change.
His legs became rear legs while his arms shifted to allow him to
walk in a four legged gate, though he still retained his hands.
On top of that, his tail grew longer while his neck pushed out a
couple feet.
Swinging his head and neck around told Brad that he now
looked like a human sized blue dragon. However, remembering the
news stories about the other dragons, he knew he still had some
more growing to occur.
The thing was, was that Brad wasn't horrified by this.
Instead he was more fascinated by it. Slinking around the
kitchen with his four legs felt right to him now. Flexing his
new wings made him ache to go fly right now.
Why couldn't he fly right then?
Following the thought, Brad went over to the back door and
opened it. Going out, he briefly beheld the fall scene before
him. He didn't care who saw him just that he wanted to fly!
Reaching out his wide wings, Brad flapped hard while
jumping at the same time. The powerful motion was enough to
launch himself up into the air. The gust of wind from his wings
was strong enough to tip over some of the deck chairs closest to
him.
Climbing up into the clear air, Brad began to sail around
surveying his neighborhood from the air. The higher he went the
more he was able to perceive. Soon he could see from the lake
beside his town all the way over to one of the great lakes fifty
miles away.
Being so high seemed to relax him. Made him feel good.
This was far better than going to school and learning. Much
better than getting beaten or humiliated by bullies every single
day. Even better then surfing the internet and gaming with his
friends.
Thinking about it, Brad realized that his new existence was
enjoyable enough that he didn't want to go home anymore. Yet
something was tugging at him in the back of his mind. As much
as he didn't want to live in his old home anymore, he wondered
if he should leave his mother hanging? Something, maybe his
conscience, urged him to leave a note for his mother. Letting
her know what had happened to him.
Finally, he resolved that was the right thing to do before
leaving her permanently.
Ignoring the gnawing hunger in the core of his being, Brad
swooped around in the air and headed back to his old home. He
didn't care if anyone had seen him or not, just that he had to
do this one last thing before going away.
Thumping down onto his old deck, Brad went to the back door
and pushed the door open again. Briefly he looked around at the
mess he had made while gorging himself earlier. An old urge
suggested he had to clean up. Ignoring it, he went over to the
table and sat up onto his hind legs and tail. There he reached
out and grabbed for a piece of paper and a pen. Taking a moment
to figure out how to handle the pen in his newly transformed
hands, he soon was wrote his mother a note.
Brad explained that something in him had changed and that
he wasn't coming home anymore. That she shouldn't come looking
for him. That she should remember him the way he was, not what
he changed into.
Satisfied, Brad left the note on the kitchen table and left
the same way he came in. Taking a moment to close the door
behind him, he turned around and leaped back up into the air.
Finally paying attention to his hunger, he began looking for
something to eat.
Cruising around he peered at the streets below him looking
for something tasty. It dawned on Brad that he was hunting.
In a short time, he spotted an old woman walking her dog.
Ignoring the lady, Brad swooped down through the air at a high
rate of speed at the pair. With all four eager limbs stretched
out, he ignored the screaming lady and slammed his claws deeply
into the snapping beast's back. Then with a heavy flap from his
wings, he yanked the canine up into the air ripping it's leash
from the woman's hands.
The beast squirmed in his tight grip, but no matter what it
did, the thing couldn't get free. It then tried snapping at him
but its teeth were nothing against his draconic hide. What he
needed was to find somewhere to devour it in peace.
Flying north a bit, he soon came across a deserted section
of large forest. He knew there were many of these areas around
his old home where he could hide out in.
Spotting an opening in the forest large enough for him to
pass through, Brad soon touched down on his hind legs. Once
safely on the ground he quickly grabbed the dogs head in his
powerful jaws and snapped its neck. Dragging the limp body
behind him, he went deeper into the forest until he found a nice
comfortable spot. There he began to rip into the still warm
dead dog.
After a bit, his belly felt full and he felt groggy.
Moving over to an inviting dip in the forest floor, Brad curled
up in it for some shut eye.
When Brad woke back up, he wasn't sure what time it was.
It felt like it was deep in the middle of the night.
Getting up from the spot he slept in, Brad began to stretch
his limbs out. Doing so told him that the area around him had
gotten a bit smaller or more likely he had gotten a bit bigger.
Another thing he quickly noticed, was that while it was dark out
he could easily see around him like it was bright as day.
Navigating his way back to the spot he landed in Brad soon
leaped up into the air. Flying around, he began to hunt for
more food. Angling westward a bit he soon found himself flying
over a large dark farm field. By the look of the stubble still
poking out of the bare ground, the farmer had recently harvested
this year's corn crop. It made peering at the field much
easier. Scanning from one end to another, he didn't see
anything. However something in him told him to wait. Silently,
he began to climb higher up into the air and circled over the
area.
His patience was awarded when three deer slowly made their
way hesitantly out into the open. By the amount he had grown,
Brad realized that the deer was small enough that he might be
able to grab one in each of his hands.
Tracking his prey for a bit, Brad waited for the right
moment. Seeing an opening, he quickly dove through the air with
his two clawed hands outstretched in front of him. Then out of
pure luck, he slammed a hand into each deer and sunk his claws
deeply into their hides. So deep that he had a good hold on
their spines.
Flapping back up into the air with his prey, Brad winged
his way back towards the same spot he slept in before. There he
dispatched both beasts and hungrily wolfed down as much of their
flesh as he could. Happily sated, he again curled up again to
sleep some more.
Brad awoke with the rise of the sun. Getting up and
stretching again told him he had grown much larger. So big that
the forest around him seemed much tighter and more confining.
Carefully making his way to an opening, Brad flew out of
there. He was now a huge blue dragon roaring out the fall
colored forest. As he flew along, he guessed that he had to be
the size of a large truck. Maybe even a bus. So large that the
humans he saw below him looked as small as the dog did the day
before.
Peering at those people he wondered something. Could he
snack on them as he did with those other animals? It wasn't
like they could do anything to him with his huge size. His hide
felt thick and hard enough that a bullet might even bounce off
it.
Brad resolved to try it out. Seemingly coming silently out
of nowhere, Brad began to grab one human after another. He
grabbed an adult in one hand, then transferred them to his other
hand so he could grab more. Soon he had a small handful.
Enough that as soon as he found a wide enough field to land in,
he began to hungrily dig into each. To his viewpoint, they were
the same size as a candy bar and tasted like nice meaty snacks!
Soon Brad was back for more, grabbing anyone he could
catch. He didn't care who they were or what they were doing,
just that he was hungry and they were tasty. After a short bit
of gorging himself, he flew off.
As he flew through the air, he could feel his body getting
larger. Eventually he felt hungry again and went to snag some
more human food. Except this time, he had grown large enough
that when he got one, he could simply eat them in one bite while
still flying.
Untold humans later Brad began to feel strange. The
feeling wasn't that he was getting larger, but that other things
were happening. Enough as such that he had to land. Soon he
spotted a barren field deep within the countryside where he
wouldn't be bothered.
Landing on the barren tilled land, Brad began to shudder.
The first thing he noticed was that long horns began sprouting
out along his head. Peering about, he began to see other horns
growing in about his body at various locations. Yet the horns
weren't the only changes.
Soon he began to feel a strange dividing sensation along
his jaw. It felt as if the long bone structure was splitting in
half. Along with that more muscles and other things began to
grown within the split.
By the feeling of the structures growing in, Brad realized
that he was developing a second mouth right under his first one.
Using his newly grown second tongue, he felt around that mouth
to feel similar fangs as he had in his first mouth. To him, it
felt so strange have two separate tongues in two different
mouths. Opening both jaws up wide, he could taste the air with
both highly flexible tongues.
However, his attention was ripped away from his newly
formed second mouth to two strange growths by his shoulders.
While those growths began to grow in, his shoulders grew wider
and his body grew even more bulky. Peering at both growths they
began to push their way out while something was growing at each
of their ends. Rapidly Brad realized that they were two new
necks with a head forming on each neck. these heads had the
same horns, eyes, and even double jaws.
But what shocked him even more was when those two new heads
finished growing, they opened their eyes. When that happened
Brad became disoriented for a moment. Once he regained his
balance, he realized that he was looking out all three heads at
the same time. That he could hear out of all three sets of
ears. Breath out of all their mouths.
He was so fascinated by the fact that not only was he
looking at his wings with one head, but also peering at the
ground with another, and the sky with the third. Using all
three points of view, Brad realized that his body had grown even
larger to counter balance his newly grown heads. That his wings
were wider and longer than a short bit ago.
Before he could contemplate his changes any farther, he
began to feel something growing in his middle head. His
original head. Whatever it was, it was growing within his upper
jaw underneath his first tongue. While it didn't feel like a
hard object, it did feel solid enough. Plus, whatever it was,
it seemed to be forming within its own fleshy sheath.
After he was sure it had stopped forming, Brad felt the
urge to push it out of his middle head's upper jaw. Upon doing
so, he felt a sort of rushing shift with his consciousness. To
him it felt as if his mind had shifted from his three heads to
this newly grown piece of him.
Even more, he felt as if there was a head on it. Opening
the head's eyes, Brad was presented with what looked like his
original teenage body. It had the same skin, arms and hands,
head and hair, and so on. Yet instead of legs, his waist was
connected to what looked like a fleshy tongue like tentacle that
went into the pouch inside his upper jaw.
From the vantage point of his newly grown human torso, his
dragon body looked absolutely huge. Large enough to dwarf a
large two story home. Yet, as much as he was looking at his
transformed body with his human torso, Brad realized he could
still see out of his dragon eyes. Using them he saw his small
human torso poking out of his upper jaw as if he was sticking
out his dragon tongue.
For some fun, Brad stuck out the tongue in his center head
upper jaw. He let it play over his small human body. He could
not only feel the slobbering tongue with his human skin, but at
the same time he could also feel the torso with his dragon
tongue. Then for even more fun, he pushed out his lower jaw's
tongue and used both to bath his human half with his own saliva.
After the enjoyment wore off, Brad felt as if he had
finished growing and changing. That this was what he was going
to be from now on. Not that he minded it as this new strange
body felt great.
Contemplating his changes, Brad realized he felt something
tugging at his mind. That he had somewhere to go. It felt as
if there was a huge beacon out there calling him to it.
Withdrawing his human torso back into his mouth, Brad
jumped back into the air and began to fly westward. Rapidly the
land passed underneath him. While he made his way across
America, he remembered something from back when he was a human.
How the humans had realized that there were dragons hanging out
along the rocky mountains. Putting it all together he realized
that was where he was heading towards.
After a day of flying, Brad felt he was coming home. Up
ahead he spied all sorts of dragons flittering around those huge
snow capped peaks. Using all three heads he spotted many
different dragons. Some he saw had three heads like him, some
with two heads, and many with only one head.
The huge group all welcomed him to their gathering. Brad
soon found out each one had a human torso poking out of their
mouths like him. That they all had abruptly changed into
dragons. Also like him, they felt this was the spot they needed
to be.
Brad was home. He had no urge to go back to his old house
or see his mother anymore. He didn't care what had happened to
her or what his disappearance had done to her.
These were his people now. His dragons.
