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This isn't possible. This can't be...

Even as I come to slowly accept my new appearance, I and my mind cannot hope to understand this new development. As I look over my new form, I'm a mix of my former human self, but draconic influence has slowly overridden my body, leaving me a half-dragon: creatures fabled to be shunned by both their adopted race and their former. My body is coated in shimmering, metallic scales, a vibrant green hue gleaming across them. Only my face, under-arms, and palms lack this natural armor. My arms, still mostly human, are now capped in vicious claws. I test them out, gripping at the floorboard, and see that they allow me incredible traction. The same can be said of my legs, which have become mildly digitigrade, ending in raptor-like feet, three claw-capped toes to the front, one in back. My body ripples with a masculine build, muscles growing and slowly sculpting my body as inhuman vitality surges from my core. My body still retains a fairly human shape, save for other peculiar features, such as my lack of ears, instead replaced with hard, peg-like nubs at either side, which allows me almost supernatural levels of hearing. Even now, I can hear the birds of the distant forest, and the winds of the northern mountains; I can even hear my own blood flowing through my veins. Long, ivory horns grow, longer still, on the sides of my head, sweeping back then jutting forward, looking downright menacing. My face is still very human, save for my glowing, blue reptillian eyes; and my teeth, having elongated and sharpened to a fine point, each and every one of them looking like they can bite a steel blade in two. Finally, the monstrous addition to me that, for the longest, I've stared at with utter horror and shock: A huge, segmented dragon-cock, at least a good 12 inches, as thick as 4, staring back at me from its slit, dripping with pre and the need to impregnate others. Oh god, the urges! The urges are the most horrifying part of this, my mind constantly distracted and entranced by the thoughts of breeding others with my future children. Completing my look is a long, prehensile tail that I can move freely, much like a third arm, and small, but functional wings growing from my back.

I stare into the mirror still, my reflection returning my surreal appearance to my sight, as I let out a scream of panic. I need to find Tana! She'll know what's happened to me! I stumble across the creaking floorboard, still getting used to my new feet, as I make my way to the door, unlocking the top bolt. I ponder in fear of what my father will think when he sees what I've become. He loves and cares for you deeply, I think to myself. He'll understand. He'll help. You have to believe that. I steel myself for the worst to come, and open the door to the dining area.

Not here?

I take a look around, observing my surroundings. Father seems to not be here, and niether is his shortsword. nor my traveling gear. Could he have gone out? Ridiculous, he's never out this late, and his traveling days are long behind him. Still, his absense presents me with a much easier time reaching Tana! But what does that leave me with? I rummage through my things, searching for something of worthy substitute. I finally come across an old, ragged cloak and hood, once belonging to an old friend who met an untimely death in the Sea of Dunes (May gods preserve his soul). It's worn, unfitting, but it will have to do for now. I don the old cloak, concealing my face underneath its cowl, and head for my door.

---

I keep my extra-sensitive ear...holes...listening to every single sound around me. The streets are quiet, save for some talk amongst the guards, and a few passersby. I can hear faint sounds from inside the nearby homes, including one such pair of noises that I'd rather not go into with context; suffice to say, it appears the neighbors are having fun together. The idea gets me a little bothered, but I keep it together, lest my dragonhood tip me off to the nearest...

"You there!"

I tense up as I hear the guard behind me. Even my tail freezes in its tracks. I keep my face shadowed, the dark of the night sky aiding me in this task. I say sheepishly, "Y-yes?"

"Fine night for a stroll, hmm?" The rabbit-man says to me. Rare to see a Laporian in the city of Sol, let alone in a guard job. "I don't see many Lizans here in this city."

Lizan? He must be mistaking me for one of the lizard folk from the Marshlands. This could work to my advantage. "Well, not many of us find reason to come."

The Laporian chuckles. "Bah. Way I see it, who wouldn't? Sol is a lovely city, capitol of all of Valora! The human settlements are truly a sight to behold."

"R-right..." I'm slowly backing away from the guard, hoping to make my leave before he notices anything out of the ordinary. Sadly, my fears are realized as I'm stopped short by him.

"That cloak of yours. I recognize the cut." He observes my ragged cloak, and rubs his chin. "You're from the Sea of Dunes?"

"I, er...that's correct!" I nod enthusiastically, but not enough to reveal my face to him. "Ever since I was, er...a hatchling, yes!"

"Is that so? Your kind don't usually live there. Hmm..." He furrows his brow, looking at me with his beady, red eyes. He directs a white-furred digit towards my face. "Take that hood off. I want to see your face."

I'm visibly tense at this point, my cover potentially about to be blown. "I, er, don't really think that would be ne-"

The guard brandishes a halberd to my face, the sharp, gleaming edge threatening death to me. "I'll ask again. Take it off."

My heart stops altogether, my blood running cold. There's no getting out of this through trickery. But perhaps if I'm calm..."Please, I don't want any trouble. I you would just le...l-le-uuugh...uuuugh" I could feel a sneeze coming along, and as I do, a gout of flame erupts from my mouth! the fire shoots up, incinerating the polearm's bladed point. The Laporian's eyes widen in sheer panic, and I knew, at that point, my secret was blown.

"DRAGON! Sound the bell!"

The belltower sounds, and it's like every guard in all of Valora storms into the streets, wielding longswords and battleaxes and flaming arrows galore. Well shit. I immediately push past the Laporian and dash forth, sprinting my way through the city with guards swinging blades and shooting arrows at me all along the way. One arrow strikes me in the back, burning my cloak to a crisp, but not having pierced my scaly hide. Ducking and weaving across archways and rooftops, I believe myself to have finally lost them, before being knocked swiftly off by a guard blindsiding me with a warhammer. I plummet to the streets below, guards surrounding me on all fronts.

"It's a dragon!" "No, it's one of those freakish half-breeds!" "Kill the damn thing!" "Show it no mercy!"

The spectacle gets the attention of others in the city, crowding around me in awe, fear, and most of all, anger. I'm terrified, alone, without any hope of escaping my persuers. I plead with them to spare me, that I mean no harm. But the deep-seeded hatred within these men and women made my cries fall upon deaf ears.

"Kill the monster!" "Rip out its heart!" " Justice!"

"P-please! I'm begging you!" Tears run down my face as the crowd grows nearer, prodding and swinging at me with blades, torches, and riding crops. I let out a cry for help, drowned by the approaching mob, before a blast of smoke envelops me and the entire crowd. A figure pushes through the crowd and grabs me, pulling me out of the smoke. When my eyes open, I'm thankful for the mysterious figure being, in fact, my friend Loren! I hug the gryphon tight before he shoves me off of him.

"No time for that! C'mon!" Loren instructs as he pulls at my arm and takes flight. My own wings start to get into the motion, and before long, I'm soaring alongside him. He turns towards me as we fly, with a very inquisitive look. "Why didn't you tell us, Jarrod!?"

"You know? How?!" I say with a look of surprise as we fly towards the eastern forest.

"Nevermind that! Just follow me!" He dives down into the forest, and I follow closely. We head into the caves, and I take the lead from there. I know the caves like the back of my hand now, and I swerve through passageway after passageway, determined to see my Tana once again. I'm coming, Tana. And when I do...I've got questions.

I finally reach tana's cavern, and coming to land, I do so very ungracefully, tumbling across the stone floor. I shake my head, and when my vision clears, I see that Katrina, Reed, and my own father are already here with her! Father helps me to my feet, giving me the look again. "So, wanna tell me what you found in this cave?"

---

I relay the entire details to my father, Katrina, and Loren, Reed simply nodding his head along as I explain everything that's happened over the past month. Tana can't bring herself to look at me, seemingly ashamed of herself, it appears.

"And what possessed you not to tell me or your friends this?" My father asked me.

"He's just embarassed we know about his girlfrie-" I stamp reed's foot with my own clawed one. "OW, FUCK!"

"This is serious, Reed!" I bark at him. "I'm being hunted by the entire damn city now!" I grit my teeth, staring down Tana. For as much as I love her, she's still betrayed my trust. "And it's your fault."

Tana mopes in the corner of the cave, not bringing herself to make eye contact with me. I can feel it in her soul, she feels shattered, heartbroken, guilt-ridden. Katrina growls at me, looking like she's about to deck me where I stand. "Fuck you, Jarrod! You come and hit on some fucking beast without any of us knowing? And you're saying it's her fault!?"

Loren looks deeply dissapointed in me as well. "You're just as much to blame for this as anyone."

"What the hell did I do!? I'm not the reason I'm...this!" I flail my arms, pointing at my entire body. "You don't get it, none of you get it! This is why I never told you all! Because I knew you wouldn't understand why I'm here! Why I'm with her!"

Loren looks as equally hurt as Tana, as all of them are. He clenches his paws together, and the gryphon speaks with a softness to his voice. "We are your friends, your family. We could've helped. Instead, you pushed us away, thinking us insignficant. It doesn't matter what your reasoning was, or if you thought what you did was right. In the end, you chose a creature you barely know over us. Is that all we are to you? Second-hand?" Loren looks away from me, as does Katrina and Reed. I want to say something, but what can I say in this? Loren was right, I haven't put enough trust into them. Only my father seems to be the one left that can stomach looking at me.

"N-no, I just....I was worried. About her, about myself. We all agreed we wouldn't come back here, but...I had to see her again!" I clench up, feeling ashamed of myself now. "And I know...that I lied, and that I shoved you guys off, but I did it because I wanted to protect her." I sigh, trying to put on a calm smile for them. "Yes, I didn't trust you enough to tell you guys; it just seemed...so crazy, I didn't think anyone would ever listen to me. I just..."

"Son, I know you feel that you're alone on this, and I know that you have strong feelings for this Tana of yours." My father speaks calmly, placing his hand on my shoulder. "She's told us about how you've come to give her your company, and how you care for one another. Perhaps you felt the need for a companion. Perhaps I've been a little cold. Maybe that's why you never told me, but what of your friends? Why couldn't you trust them? Or me?" My father's words melt at my heart. He's right. They're all right. I should've given a little more faith in them than I have. There wasn't so much need for secrecy, I realize that now. They're the closest people in my life for a reason, they would never betray my trust. Even Reed, as much of an ass as he is, still warned me this would end badly.

"I'm...sorry. To all of you." I face Tana, seeing that she finally comes to look me in the eyes, our two reptillian gazes meeting one another. "Especially you, Tana."

She turns away from me, and I can tell why. She's not angry at me, but rather guilty. She speaks through my head, to which I've grown accustomed. No, Jarrod. You needn't apologize to me, my love. Your plight is mine own doing.

I look down at the circular mark on my chest. It's definitely Tana's doing, but, the question being..."What exactly did you do?"

"Perhaps I can explain." My father opens up. He seems to have a small bound book in his hand. It's a little larger than his journal, but much more crudely strewn-together. "This here is all I wrote down about dragons. Years of studying them, wherever they rest."

I blink for a second. "W-wait...you said you had studied their markings, you never said..."

"I never said a lot of things. To you or your mother." He flips through the large book, page by page of illustrations and sketches in a mix of both ink and charcoal. "Our going from place to place...was never about trade." He says with a crestfallen expression on his face. "Our constant traveling was actually in study of dragons; their habits, their social interaction, I've spent the last 30 years of my life studying these majestic creatures."

It was my turn to be questioning my dad. "Wait, you mean to tell me, that for 19 years of my life, I had to go without ever having a place to call home, few to any people to call friends...why didn't you just tell us?!"

"Are you truly going to ask me that question?" He says to me, thick with an undertone that was unlike him. "As you must already know, dragons and all things contributed to them are considered taboo in these lands, as is many others. I needed a cover for my actions, lest I be strung up for what they would consider treason; sympathizing with the 'enemy,' as they put it."

"Wh-what? But what of the trade?" I ask, feeling slightly betrayed. "What about these people we've met?"

"I'm not the only one who does this, Jarrod." He says, solemnly. "It's a dangerous profession, a secretive one; many people, like myself, have wanted to study those like Tana. They really are magnificent beings."

"Y-you..." I let out a groan of frustration. "I'm being treated like the criminal for having kept this secret, but you felt it necessary to keep that from me for 20 fucking YEARS of my life! What makes what you've done any better than what I've done!?"

Reed mutters under his breath, "Seems secrets and deciet run in the family."

My father hangs his head towards the ground, a solemn expression of regret on his face. "I can't expect you to understand what I've done. I sometimes don't comprehend it. But I want you to know I have my reasons. As one-sided as this appears, I have my reasons."

Something deep in me wants to scream out at him, tell him how wrong it was to compromise my own life for his persuits. But I know it won't fix anything, it won't solve years of regret. I recollect my wits, steeling myself. I can't let my anger overcloud judgement here, not when everyone is on edge; not when we're all at threat. "I'm sorry, but I won't accept that. Why did you do it?"

Father shakes his head. "Isn't it obvious? People are so terrified, so consumedly hateful towards dragons. This is born out of prejudice; from the actions of one, their whole race was subjected to the idea that they are inherently evil. Even after the years, centuries, they spent helping the races, all it took was a single dragon to spark a near genocide of their race. I wanted to show people that dragons aren't what we think, and the way I came to this plan of action was by using hard facts."

"And just how do you think that'd help? Why would anyone listen to you?"

"Think of it as this: people believe dragons to be vile, corrupt creatures, unable to care, or feel. Seeing those like that dragon that's burned down several of the local villages, tends to set the stereotype.

I cut my father short. "You mean Hra'Kul?"

He rubs his chin. "Very few know that name, few less can pronounce it. I presume Tana told you?" As I nod, he smiles. "Right then. As I was saying, I firmly believed that, even if just one...one person, other than myself, could see that they don't want to harm us...someone important. Then maybe, just maybe, we could've repaired that which those like Hra'Kul have damaged: trust between the races."

This comes as surprising, especially from my father. I hadn't expected him to be the virtuous type, merely a man whose seen his share of adventures, and simply wishes to rest easy. While I still think that what he did was wrong, his goal, something I would easily rally behind, was one that seemed quite worth fighting for. Perhaps father's more understanding of this than I had imagined. Which lead me to a final question: "Why did you stop?"

This inquiry stops my father in his tracks. His amber eyes stare out in a sort of trance, lost in deep thought. "Y-your mother had followed me one day, whilst I was out studying rumors of a sighting near Hearthsfield. When I had found the dragon in its nest, he had awoken, not knowing my intentions, or if I meant harm. He was terrified for his life, and I tried my hardest to calm him down, but he would have none of it. She had been observing the spectacle, and as the dragon planned to swallow me whole and be done with it, she...she knocked me out of the way." Tears start to well up in my father's eyes, as he stares distantly, his mind in another place, another time. "I watched as the dragon snapped her up, and, seeing what he did, hurriedly unlatched his jaw. But the deed was done. Your mother, my sweet Ria, she was gone from me. The dragon had apologized, realizing what he had done, but it wouldn't bring her back, would it? I had went to the local guard, and the Vanguard charged into the cave, and slaughtered the dragon. I am almost ashamed to say that...I felt satisfied."

Watching what I had known to be the most strong-willed person in my life breaking down in front of me tears my soul asunder. What hurts me more is how devestated he appears, blaming himself for mother's sacrifice. He had always told me mother had died of an accident, but he never told me it was this. I wrap an arm around my father, as he vents his anger, his sadness. "Shh, it's fine, father. You couldn't have anticipated that. Mother's death wasn't your fault."

"Oh, but it was. I've accepted this fact." He's quick to gather his willpower, returning to his straight-faced self. "And I didn't want the same happening to you, not because of my foolish pursuits. I had, at one point, wanted to tell you both; tell you about my misdeeds, my lie. But after we lost your mother, I...I couldn't let you become fueled by rage or vengeance. Not like I was, even if it was merely a short time. That is why I had settled here, in Sol. I had given up on my fool's errand, to try to convince a world too lost in its own self-pity that these creatures are still beings of good. I'd never known that my past would be catching up to me, not here."

"It's okay, we were both wrong." I pull father in for a good, strong hug. He coughs briefly, which makes me worry I don't know my own strength. "No more secrets, okay? between either of us." I was never the most reassuring person in the world. Katrina and the others simply watch my father and me talk, and I felt it was time to return to the most urgent topic at hand. "Now, what about this, on my chest?"

Father flips through his research book, finding the right page. "Ah, here. What Tana did was she placed on you what is known, in draconic culture, as a Mate's Crest." He continues, "These are marks given to potential mates of the dragon who marked them. They're the equivilant to engagement rings." He rubs the circular mark on my chest, hmming. "The marks vary, but almost all of them are placed directly over the heart of the dragon's mate-to-be. To non-dragons, this causes some unusual effects, generally strange cravings, odd dreams, and, on the rarest of occasions..."

"This?" I say as I point towards my body.

"Precisely. It's said that this effect is the sign of a strong bond. As for the mark itself...amongst dragons, this would simply mean that the male or female is 'taken,' but for non-dragons, it offers a choice. Should they decline, the mark fades away, albeit with some residual effects, perhaps a stronger craving for meat. Should they accept, they become dragons themselves, allowing the two new mates to breed and live with one another."

Tana stares at the ground, not saying a word. I walk towards her, stroking at her head, speaking softly. "Tana, is this true?"

Y-yes, Jarrod, _Tana says to my mind, slowly bringing her head back up to meet mine. _I had acted selfishly, and left the crest upon you without your permission. You've been...so kind to me, my love. It's left me with so much to think about, and I had come to the conclusion...I truly love you, more than anyone, and I wanted you as my mate.

I stand in awe for a minute. She really does love me. I joyously squeeze her neck, hugging her tight. "Next time, just ask me. I would've said yes."

You're...not angry?

"Are you kidding? I'm furious! I got chased down the city streets, nearly killed, and I-" Tana looks very upset as I rant, nearly to the point of tears, and I stop myself short. "S-sorry..." I rub my head against her, kissing the dragoness' neck softly. "I'm just glad you're safe, and I'm happy you feel like this. I do too. Tana, I-"

Loren soars back through the caves, a look of terror in his eyes. "I'm sorry to inturrupt your intimate moment, but I just saw movement outside the cave!"

Everyone stirs to new life. It's obvious the city guards have found us. We're all looking to each other, unsure.

Jarrod...I'm scared.

I break from my hug, parting one last kiss upon Tana's scales before I return to the others. They all seem to look to me, looking for a response, a plan. I knew that this would fall upon me, come the worst to happen. Sadly, I have niether of the things they hope for. But I know one thing for certain: I started this, and I intend to finish it. I walk briskly towards the throat of the cave, parting no final words to the others. What is there to say? There's nothing that can be said that can make our problems better, nothing to say that can make us any more prepared. I forge onwards, with one final thought that consumes my mind:

They will never hurt her; hurt any of them.

---

I leave the cave to the presence of a battalion of soldiers, all well-equipped with intricately-crafted armor, and a vicious array of weaponry. I can see that there's a sigil carved across their armors, one I don't recognize. They don't look like Sol's city guard, nor the king's guard. Realization dawns upon me, as a battle-clad man steps forth from the group of menacing militia, staring at me through a visor strewn from bone. Dragon bone.

The vanguard have arrived.