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The apartment was strangely empty since Sam Jun-Hoon left for North America almost six weeks ago. The stipend from his mysterious benefactor, Drake Mason, lasted us well past the month that it was meant to and another batch just arrived two weeks ago. Beyond that, we had no contact from SamSyte. The rest of Upw4rd and I kept streaming, kept trying to earn money and we made it work. Didn’t let the sudden influx of cash get to our heads. I will admit that getting the room to myself was nice - especially since SamSyte snored very loudly. At the same time, I still missed his company.

He and I were the biggest boys of Upw4rd. Both of us had big bellies and weren’t what you’d call ‘fit’. The other two members were arguably far healthier. Gwok Sang-Ook better known as B1tBr34ker was just naturally skinny. Deung Chang-He or Deu2much to our hundred collective followers went on runs every morning to maintain a modicum of fitness. But me and SamSyte…? Well… I guess you could say we had the ‘typical gamers build’. Me more than him.

I rolled out of my little bed and looked at the similarly small and cramped mattress on the other side of the room. A shelf stood between SamSyte’s side of the room and mine clearly marking a divide. His desk sat beside his bed and, more often than not, he just sat on his bed while playing games and streaming. Mine sat at the foot of my bed so that when we were collectively streaming, we were not in each other’s view.

Barely eight in the morning and already the lights from the holograms and screens was streaming into my eyes from the window. Some makeup company was showing off some male influencer they had recently signed up. Though our windows did face the inner courtyard of the complex, these displays were positioned so far up that they still blared past our blinds like the morning sun. The sounds from the advertisement somehow made it through the glass and walls acting more like an alarm clock than my body clock ever could.

Makeup for men.

Only in Jaejanbaek.

I got up, the sweat from my sleep leaving my skin feeling sticky and disgusting. Since SamSyte wasn’t here, I had taken to sleeping in the nude. It wasn’t something Koreans really did but I’m not fully Korean. My dad was American. Apart from my almond-shaped eyes, I inherited most of my physical qualities from my dad. Something I was reminded of as I turned slightly and regarded my reflection in the mirror we had placed in the corner. Just to help and make our small living quarters seem bigger.

You could never mistake me for a full South Korean boy. Apart from being maybe 50 or 60 pounds overweight, I was hairy. My friends often joked I looked like a bear and I guess I could see that but when you grew up in South Korean where bears - both of the animal kind and human - were not common, it wasn’t a flattering comment to receive. Apart from my saggy man boobs that I constantly tried to hide with loose fitting shirts, I absolutely hated my huge, pink nipples. They looked like the kind of mammary glands that belonged on bodybuilders but whose pecs made such things look trivial. I guess it was because I was over six feet tall. Dad’s genes at play again.

I slapped the sleep from my rounded cheeks, feeling the thick beard that I easily grew and maintained well. Using a beard to keep your face looking less flabby was actually something I taught SamSyte. Though he never could grow a mustache like I could to complete the look. He was so shy when he first started growing it out.

Running my meaty hand through my hair, it ruffled the curly mop that sat atop my head. I kept the sides and back short. ‘Broccoli cut’ some might call it but I made sure there was a decent fade and it blended well with my beard. Doing so made my arm brush against the warm metal of the dog tags that hung around my neck by a silvery chain. As was my ritual, I ran my thumb down the chain and appraised the well-worn name and serial number on them.

‘Jonas Kind’.

“Love you, dad,” I said in English. “Wish you were here.”

Extracting myself from memory, I went to work getting dressed. Nothing fancy. Underwear, that loose shirt I mentioned previously, socks and a pair of long, olive green camouflage pants. Yeah, I leaned a lot into the military persona but that was my heritage. The son of an American sergeant who had been deploy to South Korea and a local woman who died a childbirth. Like I said, I’m a big boy and even as a baby, I took my toll on my mom. Dad never blamed me and did everything he could for me until he passed. Military life came with its dangers. One of the reasons he never wanted me to go into the military.

Swiping my phone from where it sat on a wireless charger on my table, I headed out of the room. With how small our apartment was, I walked out into a puny hallway. Right ahead of me would have been the bathroom for Sam and I. To my left was a beeline to the kitchen and ‘living room’. Beyond that was what would have been the ‘master bedroom’. B1tBr34ker and Deu2much shared that one but Deu had his gaming rig and desk set up in the living room instead.

So really, we only had the kitchen as a common area.

Following my demanding stomach, I moved to the kitchen and began boiling some water in our kettle. I always made breakfast. Most of the time I woke up first. Military discipline maybe. Dad always made sure I got up early and did my chores. That translated even here in Jaejanbaek. Although breakfasts usually just consisted of some instant noodles and an fried egg. The money SamSyte got from his potential sponsor was great and could have ensured we would have eaten pretty well for a month but we all felt that this wasn’t really our money to spend.

When you live in Jaejanbaek, you are constantly fighting. It was a war zone. Your enemies are countless people on the internet looking for their fix and your weapon was the content you could produce. The more engaging, the better off you would be. The more ground you could cover. Even that prim and proper, smooth guy with perfect complexion that was advertising his brand of makeup across the street from our apartment being displayed on the huge screen was still fighting. The JBS came in whether or not your content was good but you only got real comfortable money when you had a tonne of engagement. And even then, one slip-up, one bad post, one wrong comment and suddenly, everything you had was taken away.

That was why we didn’t spend all SamSyte’s money even though we could. Most of it was still in storage. If Sam lost it all, he’d need somewhere to fall back on. And that money would help keep us afloat until he joined us again.

It would still have been nice if he kept in contact with us.

I tried to push the thought away as I peeled open the cups of instant noodles. One of the cups was dented. I leaned in to examine the breach in the packaging and as I pulled open the lid, I recoiled. Inside, sitting atop the packages of flavor packaging was this tiny little, dead bug. Revulsion was my instantaneous reaction and I tossed the package directly into the trash.

Jaejanbaek liked to promote this image of being perfect, pristine and clean but that was all on the surface. Someone had to take out the trash. Rodents and pests had to go somewhere. The city kept the streets clean but that just meant the unsavory stuff was pushed under the surface.

Looking towards our pantry, I grimaced. That was our last instant noodle cup. Maybe I could go without breakfast today. A rumble from my stomach told me that was a stupid idea.

With a sigh, I quickly grabbed my keys from where they rested beside my rig and slipped on the pair of big, black, steel-toed combat boots that I always wore. My dad gave them to me a long time ago and it had become my default footwear. They were sturdy. Why would I need the latest pair of sneakers or kicks when these would last twice as long?

I headed out of the apartment, locking the door behind me, and headed down a few flights of stairs. Just before the receptionist area was an in-built convenience store that was open to the residents. Something different from apartment complexes in the US. A family related to the owners of the building ran the store but it was only ever open to the residents. No one from the outside could just come in and make a purchase. The entrance was even blocked behind a security door that only residents could pass through.

The old lady at the front gave me a greeting and I nodded back with a forced smile. I saw her quietly shuffle behind a console and tap on the keys. Likely to make a post about the ‘fat resident’ who came in early in the morning searching for food. We all knew she had a nasty habit of posting such stuff online. No one called her out on it. That was just life here in JJBC. Unless you were famous and had the funds to file defamation lawsuits, you don’t care what people post. It would just go into the heaps of trash that flooded the internet.

I found a few packets of cup noodles and blanched at the price. Definitely had gone up since I last bought from this store. A genuine grocery store was maybe a ten minute drive away but then that would mean getting into one of the automated cabs and paying the fare to get there and back. No one except the wealthy drove their own cars in the city.

Another growl from an empty stomach reminded me that nourishment was needed. On a whim, I whipped out my phone and quickly took a picture of this packet of noodles and another. Both were posted with a poll.

‘Morning noodle run. What should I get? Beef or chicken?’

With that posted, I grabbed the beef flavored noodles and brought it to the counter. The old lady rang up the purchase without even bothering to make small talk. A quick wave of my phone in front of the reader and funds were transfered. Then, I was heading back upstairs with six, neatly packaged cups of beef flavored instant noodles. By the time I reached my apartment door, I got about twelve votes on my feed. Not bad for this early in the morning. Could offset some of the cost for morning purchase. Majority were voting for chicken, though.

Damn.

Who knows? Maybe it would turn out differently after twenty-four hours when the poll closed. I wouldn’t see the fruits of the poll for at least a few days. Such was the economy of the Content Capital of the World. You don’t get paid immediately after making a post. It would take a few days before engagement stopped being counted and you were paid based on how many people saw, liked, flagged or shared your content. Different platforms had different pricing models and, naturally, you could pay for extended periods before the cut-off.

It was brutal. A war zone.

The rest of the noodles were put away and I peeled open one of the new ones. The water from the kettle was still hot so I poured some into the three cups that sat before me. While they were heating, I took out a frying pan and began frying some eggs. Out of pure instinct, I had reached for a fourth egg. But I wouldn’t need it as SamSyte wasn’t here.

Fuck… Just can’t stop thinking about him.

I think the thing that worries me the most is that we haven’t even seen him post anything. If he was meant to be the secret project of Drake Mason, surely by now - six weeks after he left - he would have started producing content and posting it online. It seemed ridiculous to go for that long without doing anything. Bizarre and sometimes dark scenarios played through my head more often than I’d like.

Thankfully, the others were there to bring my mind out of it.

Like clockwork, the remaining members of Upw4rd heard the kettle boil and just five minutes later, they were shuffling out of their room. Sang-Ook always looked tired. He was the shortest out of us. 5’4’’, maybe. And skinny like a twig. His skin was darker than anyone else’s though. Easily mistaken for a South East Asian. He came out wearing a black shirt with the emblem of some Korean metal band I had never heard of and a pair of shorts that hung down past his knees. B1tBr34ker’s eyes were perpetually sunken and he had this awful slouch that came from being on the computer from an early age.

I remember when we first met and SamSyte recognized him. Apparently, Sang-Ook had been part of this fourteen-member youth influencer group when he was younger. Fourteen kids in their preteens that reviewed products, went to restaurants, traveled all over the place and generally made a decent amount of money. Such exploitation, however, led to crippling burnout. He quit that group and met up with us. Now, barely past his mid-twenties, and he looked like a walking skeleton.

I made sure to give him the biggest egg.

Right behind B1tBr34ker was Deu2much and, like his name suggested, he was too much. This early in the morning and he was full of energy.

“Wassup my brothers!” Chang-He exclaimed, pumping his fists into the air. He was taller than B1tBr34ker by about three inches and probably the second tallest in the group. Certainly the fittest. Now, he wasn’t an Olympic athlete by any stretch of the term but you could see a little bulge of his biceps when he moved a certain way and his chest poked out a little past that bright yellow tank top he always wore. Somehow, and don’t ask me how he managed this, he was always wearing this similarly bright yellow baseball cap, the bill facing forward. I theorize it has something to do with the fact that the tips of his black hair were silver. He insisted that he dyed it for the aesthetics but I think he’s just prematurely graying.

Chang-He had always been the most laid back out of all of us. His casual attitude and extroverted friendliness is actually what brought the four of us together. It was his idea to form Upw4rd, to pool our resources together and get a modicum of privacy while living in Jaejanbaek. We could actually sleep without filming ourselves for clicks and likes. But maintaining that kind of personality must be exhausting. Honestly don’t know how he could keep it up.

I had his coffee prepared alongside his noodles.

“Have you heard from SamSyte?” B1tBr34ker yawned in Korean, taking his noddles and hot tea.

Back to SamSyte. Just can’t forget about our fourth member.

“No,” I answered, reaching for my phone. “I have not checked, though.” I was both disappointed but not surprised that there were no messages from my roommate. A quick search for his gamer handle and even his full name revealed no recent hits. Absolute silence for six whole weeks.

“Do you think it’s a little scary that we haven’t heard from him?” I ventured. “What if he’s been kidnapped? What if this Drake Mason has him chained up somewhere or forcing him to be his slave and is buying our silence.”

Deu2much snorted loudly and rolled his eyes. “Come on, man. You’re being paranoid!”

“I’ve done my research on Drake Mason,” I countered tersely. “He is a recluse. Most people don’t know where he lives. He’s got this… compound that his family built in Wyoming. Near the base of the Rocky Mountains. He hasn’t been in the news and doesn’t even have an account online anywhere.” I brought my instant noodles to the kitchen counter where we all began to eat. “I think he’s suspicious.”

“The money is good, though,” B1tBr34ker mumbled.

“It’s not about the money. This is about our friend.”

Deu2much rolled his eyes at me. “Why don’t you call him, then?”

I frowned at him. “He could be busy…”

Both of my teammates gave me a pointed look.

“So you’re worried about him because he hasn’t reached out to us in over a month,” B1tBr34ker mocked.

“… and you’re also afraid that if you do reach out, you’ll be interrupting him and make him angry,” finished Deu2much.

If those two weren’t dating, I’d be surprised. They seemed to share the same braincell sometimes.

I took the time to slurp up some noodles before speaking. Mostly to collect my own thoughts. “I’m just worried.”

“Just call him,” insisted Deu2much. “Or text him. Whatever. Send him a message! You’ll never know if anything is wrong unless you try.”

“He could be having fun with his new life,” sighed B1tBr34ker. “Might have forgotten about us.”

Damnit. Never thought about that. Drake Mason was supposed to be ridiculously wealthy. What if he’s showering SamSyte with wealth and riches. Not as part of some malicious plot but just… because? What if Drake was genuinely one of SamSyte’s fans and wanted to do something nice for him?

“Well it’s not right,” I spat.

B1tB34ker lifted an eyebrow at me. “It’s not right that he’s having a good time?”

I mentally backpedaled. “It’s not right that he’s been gone for six weeks,” I said. “His visitor’s visa only lasts for thirty days. It’s been over that. Immigration could catch him and then he’d be in trouble.”

“So text him,” insisted Deu2much. “Tell him that he should be back by now. That the government will be after him if he doesn’t return.” He scooped up his noodles and started heading for his desk. “I’m going to log on and post my daily workout advice. You take the first shower, B1t. I’ll go for my run afterwards so you can get showered N4tural. I’ll shower when we get back.”

“Then we can play.” B1tBr34ker was suddenly full of energy. Just the thought of playing a videogame together with his friends, genuinely having fun, excited him and injected the energy that coffee would never fulfill. “Sounds like a plan.” Then he locked gazes with me. “That means you’ve got about an hour and a half to call SamSyte. And don’t throw any excuses that it might be too early for him. You know he’s still awake.”

No arguing there. It was probably early in the evening where SamSyte was.

Upw4rd broke away to do their own thing leaving me with this gurgling in my gut. I rested a hand on my round, hairy belly and sighed. Really, there was no excuse anymore. It had been six weeks. And I had to know. If I didn’t, I’d be waking up every morning to a reminder that something bad could be happening to my best friend.

Taking a deep breath, I grabbed my half-eaten breakfast and brought it to my room. I sat down on my desk, brought up my phone and quickly sent my roommate - former roommate? - a quick text.

‘Hey SamSyte. Been six weeks. You okay over there in the good ol’ USA?’

There. Text sent. Now I could -

… and he was suddenly typing.

Damn those three fucking dots.

My heart was suddenly racing in my chest. I didn’t expect him to respond so soon! Maybe I’d get a response tomorrow or the day after but not right now. I was not emotionally ready!

‘Yo, yo, yo! It’s ma boi! How you goin N4tural?’

That was definitely him. He hadn’t quite gotten down the actual cadence of ‘street speak’ vocally but when he was writing, it came through perfectly.

‘Just waking up. Are you having fun there with Mr. Mason?’

And he was texting back immediately. Didn’t he have anything better to do?

‘Hell yeah! This place is fucking dooooope! I’m learning a shit tonne from Drake.’

I guess he was okay and busy with his… studies?

‘Oh yeah? Like what?’

This time, his response took a little longer than usual. Those dots appeared and reappeared a few times.

‘Ya know. This and that.’

That was far too short for how long it took. He was hiding something.

‘Tell me. If you tell me you’ve been there for six week and didn’t learn shit, I’m going to fly over there and steal your spot. You know I learn faster than you.’

Statistically speaking, it was true. I don’t know what it was. Maybe mixed blood? But I always seem to pick up things faster than SamSyte. He was good at putting up a front and acting but when it came to actual skill? I was way better.

Not bragging. Just fact.

‘Ease up, bro!’ he responded followed by a few laughing emojis. ‘I got a lot to learn and it’s hard to send it all by text!’

I narrowed my eyes. No way he was getting off that easily.

‘So tell me over the phone. You want to get on a call?’

He responded immediately.

‘No.’

Then, a second later, he deleted the message.

Oh no you don’t. I saw that shit. What are you hiding, SamSyte?

‘It’s all boring shit and locked up legally,’ he tried to explain. ‘I really can’t explain it to you. Not yet.’

I was not buying it.

‘Come on man. You can’t seriously think I’m that dumb. If you’re being forced to do shit you shouldn’t be, you can tell me. Blink once for yes, blink twice for no.’

He sent me a laughing emoji as an initial response.

‘I promise to tell you soon, okay?’ he insisted. ‘Just not right now. I’m still trying to wrap my head around all this fuckery.’

Damn, good pivot. But I was not going to give up.

‘Well, you better get your visa sorted then.’

It took a minute before he responded. ‘My visa? What’s wrong with it?’

Got him.

‘Dude, you’re only allowed in the US for thirty days. You’re not a natural born American. You’ve overstayed your visa.’

And there was no denying that he had forgotten either. His words pretty much confirmed that. I had it in writing.

‘Oh. Right. Drake took care of that for me.’

‘He can’t take care of it,’ I responded, smiling a little. ‘You can’t just extend a visitor’s visa to something else while in the country. I know he’s rich and all but that’s also illegal.’

This time, he didn’t respond. I had him now. Or whoever was pretending to text as him. When no text came back after a few minutes, I smugly set my phone down, booted up my rig and began searching for flights to Wyoming. Good thing we had saved up the money Drake Mason had sent us because I could easily purchase a ticket with it and find my friend.

I had gotten pretty much to the point of booking a hotel when SamSyte finally responded.

‘You’re right. It’s hard to explain.’ A pause before he sent another text. ‘Why don’t you come here? I can explain in person.’

That caught me off-guard and I regarded those words for a full minute. He sent something else afterwards.

‘Just talked to Drake. He’ll pay for the flights. First class. Everything. Bring B1t and Deu too. I need to talk to you guys. I miss you all.’

That was… not like him. The street speak was gone. It was honest. Genuine. It was exactly what I was hoping for but at the same time… I was scared with how vulnerable he was being. Still… the truth was within my grasp. It was just a short flight away… a short flight over the Pacific Ocean… in first class.

Fuck it. Why not?

‘Sure. I’m in.’

Reunion with a Dragon

Being a dual citizen of South Korea and the United States had its advantages. It meant that arranging for a flight to Wyoming had much less paperwork. Drake Mason had initially intended for me to fly out with both B1t and Deu but apparently, both of them would need to jump through a few more hoops. I wasn’t clear on the details but I did know that my other two roommates had more to their backgrounds that may have made international flight slightly difficult. I knew some details but it was one of those things where as you were answering the questionnaire on immigration, instead of selecting ‘no’ on some of the more intrusive security-related questions, you had to say ‘yes’. Drake was working with them on it but, again, it would take a few weeks before they were clear to visit. The fact that they were reluctant to make the trip in the first place added to the delay.

As for me, however, I was flying to the home country of my father within a few days.

SamSyte was not lying either. His sponsor had sprung for first class tickets. I had never flown first class. It was certainly an experience. Never could have afforded it without help. Not even in my wildest dreams. It made the long flight so much better.

Though I think what really made me smile was that SamSyte was actually talking to me again. He was being very talkative and his usual enthusiastic self as he reminded me about taking advantage of the airline lounges while waiting for my connecting flights. I sent him pictures at major milestones and he commented eagerly, repeating over and over again how he was looking forward to seeing me again after all this time.

I shared the sentiment but I was also scared. There was still something SamSyte was hiding from us. Something he couldn’t share via text. The medium he was most comfortable with.

The esteemed Drake Mason was there to greet me when I finally landed in Wyoming. He was even holding a little digital sign with my name flashing in both English and Korean. All the articles that I read about him and even SamSyte’s own accounting of his appearance did him no justice. Dressed in the black sports jacket, dark slacks and shirt of his, he would have looked like a bodyguard. Standing at what had to be more than seven feet tall, he was simply huge and incredibly hard to miss especially with that burst of golden blond hair he wore in a casual disarray; the kind of look that was clearly styled to look like he had just gotten out of bed. Short but long enough to appear ‘messy’

He held out his massive, meaty hand towards me as I approached.

“Jin Dong-Sun?” he asked in perfect Korean. “I am Drake Mason. Nice to meet you.”

I answered in English as I shook his hand. “Nice to meet you too, Mr. Mason. Thank you for picking me up.”

Likewise, he switched dialects without missing a beat. “Really, it’s my pleasure. Anything for a friend of SamSyte’s.” Tucking the digital sign under his armpit, he gestured towards the exit. “Follow me to the car. It’ll be a long drive so if you need to use the restroom, you better do it now.”

He was not joking.

With the prospect of meeting my roommate and friend on the horizon, every minute seemed to stretch on for eternity as we jumped into his luxury car and peeled away from the airport. It took about an hour or so just to get to the town closest to his residence - Eaglebend. He offered to stop so we can get something to eat but I insisted we hurry along. It took another two hours before we started approaching his mansion.

“I’ve got to ask,” I began as we approached the home stretch. The mountains around us were starting to look the same. Still stunning but after winding through them for the past hour or so, it was all starting to blend together. “Why do you live so far away from civilization? Doesn’t it take a long time to get groceries or anything?”

“It would if I needed anything,” he answered. “My home is completely self-sustaining. I’ve got a farm. I generate my own electricity. Even got a private connection to the internet through some deals my family made a long time ago. I could live completely off the grid with the only exception being that I pay my taxes.”

So a doomsday prepper that somehow managed to get enough money to genuinely survive the apocalypse.

“Doesn’t it get lonely?”

His lips twitched very slightly. “You’d think so but being around people sort of left a bitter experience. Especially after how some greedy, old men and women kicked my grandfather out of his own company a while back. Even my dad who went into manual labor eventually got sick of people.” He shrugged absently. “I guess I just grew up isolated and I never really saw the need to interact with people.”

And now he showed interest in streamers. It was plausible that he got enamored by SamSyte. His ‘street gangster personality’ was based on an American stereotype. Maybe he was attracted to SamSyte since it was the first familiar thing he encountered in a foreign country.

But I’m no psychologist. Could be all manner of things.

I trusted my roommate and friend. I did not trust Drake Mason.

There was time for one more question before we rounded the bend that would show his manor. I knew because I was secretly keeping an eye on our route with my phone just in case he decided to veer off somewhere and shoot me in the back of the head. We were in America, after all.

“Why did you decide to sponsor Sam Jun-Hoon?”

A genuine smile entered Drake’s expression, his chiseled jaw relaxing a little his lips curled upwards. There was a twinkle in his blue eyes as he spoke and his voice became softer, less professional and filled with authenticity.

“When I first saw his videos, I was enamored by his dedication to drive home his identity. To be his own person in this sea of life-sized dolls that were plastered everywhere.” He waved a hand absently through the air. “Jaejanbaek is a fantastic city. Innovative and colorful. But all the people there are very…”

“Same-y?” I offered.

Drake chuckled lightly. “Exactly. Everyone has perfect complexion. Shiny hair. No facial hair. Dressed neatly but in this… sort of way where they’re trying to look casual but it’s very forced.”

I knew the look. Guys were dressed in sports jackets without any sort of prints with collared shirts underneath that had the top buttons undone. They were wearing slacks and dress shoes with designer belts that glimmered at just the perfect light. The most anyone ever got to customize their look was an earring or maybe a ring. Women had a little more variety but it was very clear that everything they wore was highly artificial. You could replace them with an animatronic mannequin and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

“You know there are other streamers and influencers that are dressed and act like him, right?” I asked. I didn’t do it to disparage SamSyte but it was the truth. He would hardly be the first South Korean guy to try and appeal to a more western audience. Certainly not the most successful.

“I know,” Drake answered, still wearing that smile. “But there was this… authenticity in him. His reactions were genuine. Unfiltered. What he said and did was purely him. None of the dressing up and editing we see in most videos these days.”

That was because we couldn’t afford editors or had the skills to put animations in what we posted. When you only got paid two or three days after you posted something, you couldn’t afford to delay uploading content.

The car rolled around a mountain and slowly began a descent towards the Mason compound. No amount of articles or satellite imagery could ever do the facility justice. The closer we got, the bigger it seemed to get. A little bit of jealousy pumped through my veins as I reflected on just how much money would have gone into building this place or even buying the land. The US Government was not likely to just let the Mason family purchase such a massive slab of Wyoming property without some exorbitant taxes. Then again, it wasn’t like this was park of some national park or government property.

It begged the question of how the infrastructure was maintained. How was power supplied to the huge campus? Who maintained the roads? What about pipes and water? I didn’t see any rivers running through the property and yet there was this massive water fountain at the front courtyard that was constantly spewing crystal-clear water.

And how did the Masons get any supplies at all to this place? Drake mentioned that he was self-sustaining but that couldn’t be entirely true. He couldn’t possibly be making his own toilet paper. Made me grateful that I had the foresight to bring my own flushable wet wipes. They were common in Korea but here in the States, the idea of using anything but regular toilet paper was almost seen as heresy.

My questions could wait. All my energy was being pooled into finally seeing my friend again after almost two months. Proof of life. That’s what they called it. I needed proof of life.

Drake drove the car into an underground parking garage. Not surprising that someone as wealthy as him had more than one car. Since everything was self-driving and automated in Jaejanbaek, it had been a very long time since I had actually been in a car driven by a human being. Seeing so many cars that needed drivers was surreal.

With my back wheeling behind me, we headed up to the mansion proper.

“So where is SamSyte?” I asked impatiently as we entered the kitchen. The entire room was bigger than my apartment back in Jaejanbaek. Three times as big, in fact. Spacious and with a lot of stainless steel furniture. There was a strong modern aesthetic to the entire mansion. The cabinets were similarly made of metal but had a coating of paint that made them look more like glossy, white stone like a cloudy quartz. The kitchen countertop was a black and white marble and the floor was covered in milky white tiles with little, rosy-red veins running through it. A few plants were dotted here and there to offer a degree of greenery and life into what would otherwise have been a very cold and unwelcoming space.

“He is -” Drake began.

“N4tural!”

The cry made my heart skip a beat and immediately feel the rush of relief. There was my proof of life. I turned to my right where the voice came from… and my heart went back to freezing. The huge man barreling towards me was not the Sam Jun-Hoon I remembered. This beast was enormous. Almost as wide as Drake but no less in mass. The titan’s thick, muscular arms scooped me up from the ground and gave me a tight hug, pressing me against his plump, square pectorals. His chest was soft at first but I could feel the strong muscle beneath. His belly didn’t lead his silhouette anymore. It was still there but I could feel the wall of abdominal muscles through his thin, white tanktop and the soft layer of chunk there.

I was too stunned to react as he suddenly pressed his cheeks against mine, rubbing his thick, dense and well-groomed chinstrap beard against mine. His facial hair was no longer patchy. But he still couldn’t grow a mustache. Barring the friction of our facial hair rubbing against one another, that realization started triggering my senses; taking in all the other parts of this man that would have belonged to SamSyte.

The rose tattoo on his left forearm was exactly the same but was dwarfed against the mass of his flesh and muscles there. That gold necklace with at the rockets was undoubtedly his. Taken objectively as well, his facial structure was exactly the same as well just… beefier. More masculine and proportionate with his new body.

It was like someone had taken my best friend and packed him with testosterone and muscle.

“Jun-Hoon!?” I exclaimed in Korean, pushing myself away from him. “What happened to you?”

He beamed brightly at me, absently rubbing the back of his head. His hair was still dyed blond at the top while the sides retained his natural dark brown coloration. As he was showing embarrassment, he also flexed that same arm and I watched veins crisscross the mountain of his biceps like big, blue-green glaciers on rounded slopes.

“Amazing, right?” he responded in Korean. His voice was a little deeper but the cadence, intonation and rhythm were still SamSyte’s. “It is all thanks to my training with Drake.”

Training? Training could not give an extra foot and a half of height! SamSyte sat in the middle of our group in terms of height. Now he towered over me!

“What kind of drugs did he put you on!?” I demanded. “That cannot be safe!”

Drake let out a cough. “I can understand you, you know,” he said in Korean.

I spun around angrily at him, pointing at my mutated friend. “What have you done to him!? What have you done to SamSyte?”

SamSyte gripped my shoulder lightly, trying to turn me back around but I refused to keep my eyes off Drake. “N4tural, please let us explain. It is not what you think.” He let out a little laugh. “Trust me, I do not think you could ever guess what ‘it’ is in a thousand years.”

I shrugged off his hand. “What I know is that this is impossible,” I snarled. “A fully grown man cannot grow a foot in the span of six weeks. He cannot put on all of this muscle and mass in such a short amount of time.” I pointed an accusing finger at him. “What are you doing to him? Is there some sort of secret underground laboratory where you are performing inhuman experiments to make some sort of wonder drug? Are you pumping it into your own produce? Is that what the whole fitness center is for? You test your ‘super soldiers’ there? Are you secretly working for the government on some human evolutionary project?”

Drake didn’t say anything at first. He quirked an eyebrow at me. Then his eyes darted briefly towards SamSyte. “You were right. He does have an active imagination.”

Grimacing, I spun around to face my friend. “Please, Jun-Hoon,” I pleaded. “You have to stop this. Come back to Korea. We can fix this.”

SamSyte returned the grimace and took a step back. “I’m sorry, N4tural. I can’t. It’s already done. You see, I’m -”

“Back up!” Drake suddenly shouted, making me turn back around. “Let’s give him time to calm down first, SamSyte. We need cooler heads to prevail here.”

I glared at the blond titan in front of me, baring my teeth like a feral dog. “I would love to hear your explanation over what you did to my friend!”

Holding up his hands, Drake maintained a calm tone. “Look, I know this is all a shock to you and trust me, I sympathize. But I am a proponent of honesty. Hiding or concealing the truth would only lead to further complications. One of the reasons I decided we should contact you.”

I frowned, the fire in my heart doused a little. “What? I contacted SamSyte first.”

“Yes but I had told him to reach out two weeks ago,” Drake responded. “Right about when I was going to send you another month’s worth of JBS. I wanted to bring you guys here sooner and explain what was going on before you got worried.” His features softened. “He really cares about you, Jin, and I knew that we needed to tie up loose ends before…”

I heard a tearing noise from behind me and Drake’s eyes widened.

“SamSyte!” he exclaimed. “No!”

I turned around, following his gaze…

… just in time to see the last vestiges of my friend vanishing behind a huge, reptilian visage. Blue and white scales tore right through the the already tight tank top. Cargo shorts that I only just realized were barely concealing a huge bulge peeled away to reveal a massive cock that was rapidly rising to full erection.

“N4tural,” this monster growled in Korean, towering over me now at well past seven feet tall. Then he switched to English as he reached towards me with both of his, clawed hands, ivory talons flashing. “I want to fuck you!”

I lifted my hands to defend myself instinctively. I never heard Drake tear off his clothes or transform but next thing I knew, I was being swept up in a pair of huge, scaly arms while a huge pair of black wings draped over me protectively. As the cocoon of leather wrapped around me, I saw Drake’s thick, muscular tail slap SamSyte across the muzzle, sending the other beast reeling.

Drake took a few long leaps away from SamSyte before unfurling his wings again around me. “Are you alright?” he rumbled.

My jaw was wide open in shock. I couldn’t utter a word. It was at that point that pain finally began to register as adrenaline’s effect couldn’t dull everything. Stinging came from my left shoulder and I glanced over to it. There were a few gashes there. A little bit of blood seeped through the wound in my shirt. They didn’t come from Drake’s claws. He was holding my flanks and seemed to be careful about making sure he didn’t cut my flesh. The cuts came from SamSyte.

Speaking of my roommate and former friend, I turned my head towards the lumbering wingless reptile. Piercing, glowing, blue reptilian eyes flashed towards Drake, a snarl on his lips. Saliva was oozing out of his fangs and he was crouched in a feral stance. His long tail was whipping back and forth behind him, ready to pounce.

“Samsyte Digitus,” Drake rumbled evenly. “Go to sleep.”

Suddenly, all the primal fury in SamSyte’s face suddenly faded. The snarl of his features slackened and his tongue slipped out from between his sharp fangs. His scaly eyelids fluttered, his thick, brown eyebrows lifting up in confusion. Big, strong, vascular arms slacked by his side and his stance wavered. He took a lumbering step forward, trying to reach out to me.

“N… N… N4tural…” he groaned then he slumped forward and crashed into the kitchen floor with an audible boom that reverberated throughout the mansion. The deep snoring that I had become familiar with over years of sleeping in the same room as him emanated from his huge body a few moments later.

Drake visibly exhaled and relaxed a little. He gently lowered me back onto the floor. I looked between him and the creature that had become my friend. Conspiracy theories were flooding my brain. Scenarios from videogames and movies meshing together to find some logical explanation for all of this.

“What -” I began but Drake immediately raised a finger towards his lips, pleading for silence. Lowering my voice to a growl, I said, “What the fuck just happened here?”

Drake flicked an ear towards one of the exits of the kitchen and began padding towards there, his clawed feet gently tapping against the tiles. Keeping my gaze on SamSyte, I backed away and followed him out of the kitchen.

Only once we were a reasonable distance away did he begin to speak.

“To make a long story short, I am a dragon from an alternate dimension,” he said. “I was exiled here five hundred years ago for committing a crime against my own kind. I will be allowed to return to Aether if I can turn humans into dragons. Samsyte is a candidate for the transformation and I turned him into one over the course of several weeks.”

“But what was that!?” I demanded, gesturing back the way we came. “Why did he… Why did he want to…” I dropped my voice to an even lower whisper. “… fuck me.”

Drake groaned softly, shutting his eyes and rubbing his eyelids carefully with his fingers. “Draconic instincts taking over,” he sighed as if that explained everything. “I warned him that he wasn’t ready to be exposed to other people yet. He’s a freshly transformed human. He’s got this hunger in him. Everything to a dragon is sharper and more intense. Our senses are better than humans. Our emotions are magnified. It’s only through practice and adherence to our Duty and Roles do we temper ourselves.” He dropped his arms by his side and rolled his head in annoyance. “But no. He insisted he was ready and that we bring you over. It’d be easier to explain in person, he said. He could keep himself from transforming back into his draconic form, he said.” He slapped his own forehead with the heel of his palm. “I should’ve listened to my own instincts, damnit! He just learned flesh crafting. Should’ve forced him to reach out to you two weeks ago to allay your concerns and organize the in-person meeting at the end of the month!”

I threw my hands up in annoyance. “Please start making sense!”

Drake took a deep breath and turned towards me. Fuck he’s so tall. Even taller than SamSyte.

“Okay, Jin Dong-Sun.” He lifted a finger. “I’ll level with you.” Then he pointed that finger at me. “I want to turn you into a dragon.”

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“You want me to become a mindless, horny monster like that!?”

It felt wrong spitting those words gesturing behind me at where we had left SamSyte. All the tropes would say that my friend was still in there. He did talk to me, hug me and even try to have a conversation with me before he tried to… to fuck me. But I had seen way too many movies, series and read way too many comics to fall into that trap. The only thing keeping me from running away right now was the fact that I was trapped by this hulking dragon in an enormous mansion nestled inside an even bigger compound in the middle of nowhere.

And Drake Mason just came out and said that he wanted to turn me into a dragon.

Villains only do that when they are monologuing. Part of me was genuinely curious what he had to say.

After such a long flight - admittedly in relative comfort - and hours in a car, I was already exhausted. Add to that the adrenaline that was shot through my veins a few moments ago when my best friend and roommate tried to attack me and I was barely standing. Sometimes I wished I had at least stuck to the discipline of my dad tried to instill into me when he was around and gotten into fitness.

“It’s not like that,” Drake responded. “Just…” He paused, pursing his lips for a moment. “Please. Just be patient as I try to explain. It is a long story.”

On the one hand, sticking around to hear the exposition was a surefire way to get distracted and fall into a trap. On the other, I really wanted to know what the fuck was going on.

“Fine,” I sneered, folding my arms more to keep my heart from bursting out of my chest than to look intimidating. How do you intimidate an eight-foot tall magical reptile with wings that could breathe fire!

Could he breathe fire?

“Thanks,” Drake answered, seemingly to relax a little. Hard to read his features. Reptiles aren’t exactly known for being very expressive and though his draconic face had more range than your average lizard or snake, I was not hardwired to interpret mystical fantasy creature body language.

His expression and tone seemed genuine as he explained what had happened over the past six months. Everything was fantastical and went against everything I knew about reality. If he or Sam Jun-Hoon had tried to text me about how dragons once lived with humans and were born when humans self-actualized, I would not have believed either of them. Credit to them both for making this an in-person confrontation. If I hadn’t seen SamSyte’s transformation for myself or have a hulking bipedal dragon standing right in front of me, I would never have believed either of them.

There were bits and pieces I did not understand. What attracted Drake to SamSyte in the first place seemed so… arbitrary. Honestly, it sounded like he was just trying to check off a list to get his parole officer off his back. That let a bitter taste in my mouth. My friend’s very life was being drastically altered just so that this murderer could either live here on Earth for another decade or so without being bothered by some bureaucrat on Aether or so he can go back home.

Though when he talked about training Jun-Hoon and SamSyte’s transcendence from Sam Jun-Hoon to Samsyte Digitus the Dragon of Digital Content, he spoke with this authenticity that was almost… childlike. A kid who was discovering the joys of computer games or the internet for the first time.

That you just could not fake.

“Which brings us to the here and now,” Drake concluded, waving his clawed hands. “Samsyte confessed to me shortly after he transformed that he cares so deeply about you and the rest of Upw4rd that he wants to turn you into dragons as well. All so he can free you from the gilded neon cage that is Jaejanbaek.”

Funny how Samsyte had managed to hold this ancient dragon who was over five hundred years old hostage all for our sake. Drake could easily have just thrown him to Aether or kicked him out but there was a weight and gravitas to his achievement of becoming a dragon. After five centuries of exile on Earth, Drake had finally managed to turn one man into a dragon and now that dragon was demanding he turn three others - his closest friends - as well or he wouldn’t leave.

It was just like Samsyte to risk it all for us.

My stance softened, my arms inadvertently unwinding from where they were pressed against my chest. Amongst us, Jun-Hoon had been the most vocally opposed to the lifestyles in Jaejanbaek. Growing up being used as a tool and a prop by his parents for their brand would do that to him. Honestly, I didn’t mind it. There was a degree of discipline about it that brought me back to being a military brat. Not to mention it brought me closer to my mom.

Not that I could really do much beyond being a piddling streamer. I barely graduated high school. Being fat, half-Korean and bouncing around from place to place based on my dad’s assignment fucked up my social life. No college degree. No real job experience. Jaejanbaek was the best way I could make money and survive. Would’ve been nice to thrive but at the moment, I could just survive.

And honestly, I was content with that.

But Sam Jun-Hoon wasn’t.

“SamSyte always had big dreams,” I admitted. “He would always say that if we ever made it big, we would form our own conglomerate and make a streaming and social media platform that was that was independent, unbiased and celebrated positive engagement.”

Drake snorted and looked away, rubbing the back of his golden made and running his clawed fingers through the blond strands. “He briefly told me about those dreams as well. Highly unlikely in this world. Even with all his capabilities and my wealth. The volatility of humanity is guaranteed to find some way to corrupt that dream. I should know. I once owned a multi-billion dollar, international corporation until the Board of Directors voted me out.”

I gave him a little smirk. “Your mistake was getting a Board in the first place.”

He lifted a finger. “No. My mistake was thinking that I could find potential dragons amongst the so called ‘elite’.” Another derisive snort from his nostrils. “The only thing ‘elite’ about them is how they think of themselves.”

Seemed some of our views aligned in that regard. I was relaxing and my arms had fully unfolded. “So what now?”

Drake gestured towards me. “That will be up to you and the rest of Upw4rd. Do you want to be immortal dragons with incredible magic and infinite potential for growth but at the cost of leaving your human lives behind? Or would you rather stay here and watch as Samsyte leaves for Aether?”

“Who say’s he’ll leave us?” I asked defiantly. “You just said that we are part of his being. He could just stay here like you.”

A sad, almost pitying smile appeared on Drake’s features, his eyebrows lifted slightly. “Oh… You don’t get it. He’s ageless now, Dong-Sun. Barring some fatal wound from sources only dragons can inflict, he is never going to die. There is no human weapon that’ll kill him. Not even a nuclear explosion.”

He didn’t need to finish that thought. SamSyte was now a dragon. There was no going back. That meant that I could spend maybe… another fifty, sixty years - hopefully more - with him but I would eventually die of old age. He wouldn’t. He would watch all of us die like that.

Unless I became a dragon.

Balling my hands into fists, I lifted my gaze back up to Drake. “So you win either way, don’t you?”

The black and gold dragon shrugged. “Pretty much. Either you join him in becoming a dragon and you all leave for Aether, optimistically, in six months or in less than a century, you all die and SamSyte leaves as the last of his ties are severed.” Lifting a finger, he said, “And I have considered the possibility that any of you could have families and he could be that uncle that’s really close to everyone but eventually, even that tie will have to be cut. Not by me. Not by him. But by time.”

Time. Fucking time. I could pump out multiple kids and they could have their own but eventually, someone is going to have to ask why Uncle Jun-Hoon wasn’t aging or why, for some reason, a guy there was always this uncle that looked the same in every generation. I could stand defiant, argue that I could make it work but…

… then I would be a goddamn burden on my friend. I’d be the reason he would never leave to become the best dragon he could be.

“Fuck…” I growled, clenching my teeth and fighting back tears. “This is just so fucked up!”

“I’ll leave you to think about it,” Drake said, gesturing that I follow him. “I’ve prepared a room for you. It’s on the opposite side of mine to Samsyte’s. That way, he can’t go sneaking off into your room without me knowing.”

I slowly padded after him, dragging my feet. I was kicking myself mentally as I realized I had left my luggage back at the kitchen.

“If I agree to being a dragon, am I going to be a sex-crazed monster like him?”

Drake paused mid-step and glanced over his shoulder. “That’s what you’re worried about?”

I scowled at him. “Is free will and agency not a thing where you’re from?”

He blinked at me a few times. Then he threw his head back and let out a bright, mirthful laugh. “Oh fuck… I totally forgot to explain, didn’t I?”

Explain what? That in exchange for becoming immortal and infused with magic, we’d want to suck cock, get fucked up the ass and worship our ‘dragon daddy’? That we’d contribute to the return of a murderer back to his home? Were we going to be his army of hypermasculine, indestructible dragons that would extract revenge upon those that cast him out in the first place?

“Samsyte is still totally new to being a dragon,” Drake explained, still chuckling a little. “He only picked up flesh crafting magic recently and even then it’s not perfect. He’s still in what we on Aether call his ‘newborn rut’.”

I lifted my eyebrows. “His what?” I asked with a deadpan tone.

“Like I said, everything to a dragon is more intense. Tastes are more prominent. We hear sounds sharper. Smells are clearer. Colors are brighter. We have scales to protect us because the flesh underneath is really sensitive. All of that kind of leads to sensory overload. Without proper training and some magic, dragons can get overwhelmed. This is especially true for newer dragons.” He grinned brightly at me and pointed upwards. “Think about it. You’ve spent twenty years of your life memorizing what certain things smell, feel, look, sound and taste like.” He made an exploding gesture with his fingers. “Then suddenly, everything is different. Better. More…”

“Intense?” I provided.

He pointed at me and winked. “Right. Add to that the fact that draconic emotions are also magnified. The chemicals in our brains are way more potent making feelings of pleasure, affection and even pain more powerful. Then on top of that he is just learning how to tap and channel into his chosen form of magic. He only transformed about three weeks ago. He’s channeling a constant amount of magic and that supercharges him. Dragons metabolize magic into themselves and that makes them want to cum. A lot. He hasn’t properly learned how to properly manage his influx of magical energies yet. Every dragon needs a period of time to get used to their powers and bodies. Get a little desensitized before he can really focus and learn to control it.”

“Desensitized?” I repeated. “So that means…?”

“Yeah. Samsyte and I have been fucking pretty much non-stop since he transformed.” Drake reached back and massaged his shapely ass a little. “Haven’t had this much dragon-on-dragon sex in over five hundred years. He’s been getting better. I foolishly trusted that he could control himself but maybe introducing a third party was a little too much stimulation for him too soon.”

I frowned and glanced back towards the kitchen. “So you’re saying that after a bit of time he’ll be back to how he was.”

“Of sorts. You can’t deny that he’s changed. But you saw a glimpse of the real SamSyte. The man he was always meant to be. And you can be that too if you wanted.”

I could not help but snort - maybe mirroring him a little - and glanced back at the dragon. “Couldn’t help makes the sales pitch, huh?”

Drake offered a sheepish grin and shrugged. “Hey. I have an interest in this as well. If you and the rest of your buddies become dragons, I could ship you all off to Aether in a couple of months. I’d have four hundred years taken off my sentence instead of one.”

I tilted my head slightly at him. “How many dragons to do you have to make before you’re welcome back?”

There, his features darkened and he averted his gaze. For a long, awkward moment, he was silent. Then he turned around, waving at me to follow. “I’d rather not think about it. But I’ll at least tell you that I definitely don’t have to turn every man on Earth into a dragon to get back home.”

A pang of pity jumped into my chest and, purely out of instinct, I hurried forward and grabbed the closest part of him… which just so happens to be his tail. He stopped and glanced over his shoulder, eyebrow raised.

“I’ll do it.”

Another long pause.

“Excuse me?”

“I’ll do it,” I repeated. “I’ll become a dragon.”

Drake slid his tail out of my grip - I wasn’t holding on very hard - and turned to face me completely. “Are you sure? You can back out of the process at any time before your full transformation. And my magic is… primal, let’s call it.” A grin that was halfway to being sheepish and halfway to being prideful crossed his muzzle. “I’ll make you cum. A lot. Samsyte called it ‘horny dragon magic’. Not the worst it’s been named but that’s what it’ll do to you.”

“I remember you recounting it for me,” I said bitterly. “And my decision is still the same. I want to become a dragon.”

His eyes narrowed upon me. “Dong-Sun.” His tone was severe. Serious. “Don’t do this just because of your friend. Yes, that plays a factor but the tipping point into transforming into a dragon is being who you are. Actualizing yourself. No dragon has ever been born because their actual self was dedicated to others. Sounds selfish but the truth is when you define yourself by the whimsy of others, you become a confused mess that has no coherence. At best, you’re a dark mirror to a single individual.”

Those words hit hard. This entire trip was to make sure that SamSyte was safe. I effectively put myself in danger because of him. Sure, he also predicated his transformation somewhat on transforming the rest of us but it wasn’t the only reason. Looking down at my hands, at the soft, sausage fingers and smooth palms and then at my big, hairy belly that I hid beneath a loose fitting shirt I could not help but wonder…

Could I do the same?

I nodded at Drake Mason.

“I’m sure. Turn me into a dragon. Final answer.”

There was a glimmer in Drake’s golden eyes. His tail lashed excitedly through the air and he turned back towards the hallway. I wonder if he got vertigo or if centrifugal forces messed with his balance considering how many times he spun around in such short succession and his huge weight.

“Great. I’ll show you to your room and as we walk, I’ll give you a briefing.” He tilted his head slightly. “I’ve been told that my methods can be… jarring. Particularly for the unaware.”

To transform into a dragon, I needed to be exposed to magic and my body would need to get used to it. Since this was Drake’s magic I was being exposed to, it was his preference in men that would change me. That also meant that I would sort of transform based on his whims. Considering the absolute beast that Sam Jun-Hoon turned into, it honestly wasn’t bad. Though if he could get rid of a few pounds from my waist, I wouldn’t mind.

Once my body was used to the magic, I would then need to start producing it. To find that thing that I would draw power from. Samsyte apparently was connected to digital content. Actual content. Not likes, subscribes or even comments. Stuff that contributed to the conversation. Difficult in this day and age and yet he had an immense amount of power already.

Upon tapping into that power, I would need to find my Role and Duty, my place in Aether society that would not only temper any abuse of magic but also help me fit in with the dragons a little more.

“Samsyte has the Role of the Performing Producer,” Drake explained. “His Role is still to be defined based on where he fits into Aetherese society.”

Ideally, once I had achieved all three stages, I would change into a dragon. Usually, the last two steps came in rapid succession. For Samsyte, Drake had literally left the room after ‘cursing’ him with some magic and by the time he came back, he found a handsome dragon covered in cum radiating with magic. Really, it was his fault for building such a huge fucking mansion. It took us a whole fifteen minutes to get from the kitchen to my room. It should not take fifteen minutes to get from your bed to the goddamn refrigerator. Even hotels had a shorter trip from the top floor to the buffet.

Drake opened the door to my room as he explained how he was going to activate the same spells that had helped transform Sam Jun-Hoon into SamSyte Digitus. I had to be ready tomorrow because he found it was an effective way to spur on the transformation outside of a orchestrated setting. That didn’t bother me. Dad always told me to be ready for anything and he would play pranks on me all the time just to keep me on edge. The kind of stupid shit like hanging up water balloons everywhere and then sniping them from across the room as I entered.

The room Drake gave me was… Well, it was a room.

There was a big, corner desk with what looked like a very expensive desktop setup. SamSyte had advised him what I would like. A few shelves were perched everywhere, the kind of ones I liked; black and arranged into asymmetrical geometric shapes. The shelf that divided my side of the room with Jun-Hoon’s was filled with collectibles from both our hobbies. These ones just sat there empty and made the room feel even more… hollow. Apart from the bed, there was a bedside table on each side of the enormous bed and the door into the personal bathroom. Apparently, each of the rooms he had build for his guests had a bathroom each.

“I know it feels empty,” Drake admitted as I strode past him to enter the space. “But I thought if it starts putting up posters or statues of stuff you liked, it’d be a little too creepy.”

“Good call,” I agreed, testing the bed. “Though I suppose that’s because SamSyte told you what I liked.” I sat on the mattress. It was the softest thing I had ever felt. Like a cloud.

Suddenly, all the weariness from the travel, the adrenaline and the mental gymnastics that had been crammed down my throat in less than an hour came crashing down upon me all at once. I toppled back onto the bed, my eyelids feelings heavy.

Drake gave me a gentle smile. “He does care for you guys. He wants to make sure that you get the opportunity to be happy.”

“I get that,” I yawned. “And when he doesn’t want to fuck me silly, I’ll thank him.”

“That’s fair.” I heard his heavy footfalls as he began to retreat. “I’ll go grab your things. The spell I put on him will keep him out for a few more hours but I still wouldn’t recommend seeking him out.”

Somehow, I managed to find the strength to straighten up. “Wait.”

He stopped about halfway to closing the door.

“Can you shoot some magic my way?” I asked. “I just want to know what I’m getting into.”

Drake tilted his head, a uncertain grimace on his face. “Are you sure? It’s been a long day and I’m sure you could get some rest.”

I beat my chest with a fist. “I’m tougher than that.”

The dragon widened his eyes for a moment and inhaled sharply. I could almost hear him mentally saying, ‘This kid has no idea what he’s in for’. Even then, he dragon entered the room again, shut the door and locked it. He approached me but not in a threatening way. In fact, his wings were folded over his shoulders like a webbed cape to make him as small as possible. He was still an eight-foot tall dragon but at least he was an eight-foot tall dragon without a wingspan that could eclipse the sky.

He knelt in front of me, our eyes level.

“Okay, now I told Samsyte this when we first me. You might want to remove your pants.”

“No way!” I immediately said.

“Yeah, he said the same,” Drake sighed. Then his eyes scanned me. Slowly, he reached over to my side. The side that Samsyte’s claws had actually scratched. The bleeding had stopped but there was still some irritation there. Silvery threads sprung from the tips of his talons, reaching for my wound and stroking the damaged flesh slowly. A delicate warmth washed over my body like someone had just breathed really nice, spring air through my veins.

“You’re ticklish, right?” he asked.

“A little bit…” I answered warily. “Why…?”

He gave me a little smirk. “Tickling tends to dull the effect of my magic. Unless you’re into that. So…”

A shot of heat suddenly injected itself into my wounded side. A thick, throbbing, invisible lump that beat like a second heart just under my skin. Each pulse sent an rapidly dulling tickling sensation through my flanks. Yes, that was where I was most sensitive but this sudden pressure took a rapid U-turn. It audible gurgled against my ample stomach and rolled beneath my skin. It felt like there was a softball rolling through my guts, bouncing against the walls of my gut.

My hands immediately seized my stomach, trying to hold the pressure in. There was no physical effects but every inch that force roiled in my gut sent a radiating heat through any adjacent limbs. It didn’t feel bad. Far from it. Vibrations shook my body, an earthquake of motion that began focusing on one place - my cock.

I was not prepared for this. Nothing could have prepared me for this. I immediately regretted not taking off my pants because at that moment, my cock throbbed to erection and formed tent against my groin. My camouflage pants were loose for two reasons; first because I was overweight and having something loose just helped keep my thighs from chaffing and second… well, my size didn’t really do my manhood any favors in terms of size. I’m not small nor do I have I micropenis but when your dick and balls are overshadowed by an overhanging belly, it makes it look way smaller.

But holy fuck! The way my cock was ready to explode, it almost felt like my dick could reach my goddamn chin!

Rivulets of sweat streamed down my forehead and I grit my teeth as the pressure just kept building and building. That softball of magic bounced from one side of my gut wall to the other, rumbling all the way and gaining more and more momentum. The growls grew louder and louder and with it, my dick grew harder and harder. I wanted to move, wanted to fall back onto the bed for some modicum of relief or even just pull my pants down but I was paralyzed by this alien and overwhelming power crashing throughout my body.

A new kind of pressure pushed against my member. Up until that point, all the force had been from within; cum churning in my balls and blood pumping up from my heart to my dick. But this was different. It was a force pushing back against my dick; this barrier that my member was trying to break through in vain. Too late did I realize it was actually the opposite.

It was manhood pushing up against the fabric of my pants because it was still growing. I couldn’t even fathom how that could happen before I felt the tip of my dick brush up against the band of my pants. The textured and harder edges of the garment sent a lightning bolt of sensations through my body and that gurgling ball in my gut seemed to swivel around like a predator having found its prey.

“Oh no…” I whimpered. “Oh no, no, no-no-no!”

All that magic just rocketed towards my dick with the force of a charging bull. Ironically, it seemed to comically overshoot the base of my member and slam straight into my balls. My left nut took the brunt of the blow, inflating into a huge, softball-sized organ that forced my legs apart with enough force that both legs snapped out straight. It then whipped around, attacking my right testicle and causing it to inflate just like its brother. Both organs immediately went to producing cum at a rate I could never have imagined. I fucking felt them filling with my seed like someone filling up a goddamn water balloon! The two orbs bulged against my pants, visible even past my belly.

With nowhere else to go, Drake’s curse barreled up the length of my dick. The sensitive flesh surged past rim of my pants, forcing an opening past my briefs and following the curve of my belly. I watched with a mix of horror, amazement and a little bit of pride as my dick widened to the size of my fist and crested the mount of my hairy belly, surged past my belly button, slipped past my man-boobs and came to a screeching halt right in front of my face. Yes, I was bent over, still clutching my stomach but my cock was still just an inch away from my nose.

“Damn,” Drake chortled. “Big boy.”

I never got to respond.

My balls surged, sending gallons of cum rocketing up this monster of a cock right into my face. Reflexes saved me from shooting myself in my eyes but the force of the blast still knocked me back, sending me crashing into the bedsheets. I bucked, I thrust and I writhed but there was barely any pleasure from the sensation. My body just wanted it all out, to get it over with and eject this foreign force that had invaded my me.

It was strong, violent and I think the discomfort that came from ejecting so much seed at once was dulled by the dopamine that my brain was rapidly producing for doing the same. I was nearly blinded by the clashing sensations and not just from the wave of gooey, white liquid that washed over my like a milky tsunami.

When the last drop of my magically induced orgasm faded, my body immediately collapsed against the cum-soaked sheets. It rapidly began to recover, pumping me with feel-good chemicals so that I wouldn’t go into shock for suddenly expelling so much liquid. Through it all, however, I was somehow able to grip my huge, pulsing dick just a little. A pang of disappointment filled me as it began to shrink back in both size and girth, slipping back into the sweaty, cum-stained cave of my camouflage pants.

Strangely, it’s size felt right in my hands. It felt right that I could barely hold it in both of my palms.

What felt wrong was how small my hands were.

I lay there, soaked in my own ejaculate, pondering at this strange sensation. The bed shifted slightly beside me. I caught Drake’s figure from the corner of my eye, sitting next to me.

“You just got a taste of what my magic will do to you,” he said. “You’ll be experiencing that at unexpected moments until you discover your Role and Duty.” He looked over to him, his features grave. “You still up for it?”

I tried to say something but it was at that moment that the exhaustion hit me. This wasn’t just the afterglow from an orgasm. This was the hours worth of travel, the information dump and adrenaline all crashing at me. Still, I fought through it enough to say one thing before I passed out.”

“Fuck yes.”

Food for Thought and Growth

Crystal clear waters lapped against the sides of the enormous Olympic-sized pool. The surface was barely disturbed by the enormous dragon that glided quietly beneath the waves. Samsyte’s sky-blue scales almost made him invisible in the blue waters. Perhaps that was the intention behind his design. Some subconscious desire to get him in the water.

He took to it well. Drake had taught him a draconic way to swim. The ‘Shuilong Style’ he called it. Apparently it was modeled after how Eastern Dragons move in popular media. To me, it made him look like an iguana swimming. Or how Godzilla is portrayed under water. You know style. Big reptile that’s pinned his arms and legs to his side, making himself as streamlined as possible and then wiggling his body and tail to propel himself through the water. Samsyte moved under the water ridiculously fast for someone his size… and with his girth and genitals.

I tore my gaze away from my friend as he swam towards the far end of the pool and out of sight. My eyes wandered the warehouse-like gymnasium that Drake had erected on the eastern side of his compound. Big enough to not only fit one of these pools complete with diving board but also an indoor basketball court. This was on top of the two floors of workout equipment.

Upw4rd was never a fitness-centric group. Half of us were overweight. One member - B1tBr34ker - was underweight. Deu2much was the only one that had started working out and that was fairly recently. Part of his image and brand.

It was a surprise that Samsyte had taken to swimming so well. Drake told me that he had packed on more muscle naturally as part of transforming into a dragon and because his ‘progenitor’ had a preference for big, beefy guys. But like anyone, it was up to the Dragon of Digital Content to maintain his physique.

And he chose to swim.

It was part of their daily routine.

Drake only got up at around eight in the morning but Samsyte was usually up by seven - about the time we would get up back in Jaejanbaek. However, because of all the excess magic he would have built up during the night, he needed to… ‘relieve himself’ for an hour before he was ready to make a public appearance. They would have breakfast before a ‘cleaning spell’ would come sweeping through the mansion at nine.

After that, they would spend some time doing mental and magic exercises to help Samsyte not only focus his magic but tap into his chosen energy source without storing it, turning it into cum and being compelled to jerk off. He was getting better, apparently, but he faltered when it came to managing multiple spells at once. A single spell he could maintain concentration on but more than one? That’s where he faltered. Especially if there were distractions.

The session would usually end in them fucking again. Over the past week, I had learned when a lesson would devolve into sex and leave before I got caught in the crossfire.

After they were done having fun, it would be time for lunch. Right after that, they would go through some civics lessons to help the dragon candidate adapt to life in Aether. The history of the place was really fascinating. Samsyte got confused when Drake mentioned how each dragon is like the president of their own island but all the islands were interconnected and formed a single nation. That resonated with me a little more. Individual but part of a collective.

Before either of our brains got fried from Drake trying to cram thousands of years worth of history down our throats from an alien and immortal species, we would head out to the gym where it came time for the more physical side of our training. This served a dual purpose. Just because Samsyte now had a body of a dragon, didn’t mean he was fully used to every aspect of it. Drake taught him - and me - about draconic hygiene, moving with his new body and exercise. The Carnal Entertainer had gotten into fitness a long time ago and apparently got hooked on the bodybuilding bug.

Honestly, I think it was just something for him to do and occupy his time while showing some degree of progress. Everyone needed that little hit of dopamine from achieving something. Seeing as Drake had spent the past five hundred years without committing anything to his sentence, I could see why he needed something like bodybuilding to keep him sane.

My arms burned from the barbell I was gripping. Preacher curls were fairly easy for me. I was sitting down, minimal movement and I could still feel the burn. Whether or not I made progress was a different matter entirely. Biceps were burning but they weren’t showing.

Free weights were positioned on the second floor and had a balcony overlooking the pool on one side and the basketball court on the other. As much as I hated the idea of working out, I didn’t want to just sit around for two hours while Drake and Samsyte exercised. It started out with a few light weights but as Drake’s magic worked through me - and I kept having surprise orgasms - I was starting to change. Muscles I had long forgotten were being activated. I was growing stronger and yes, even a little taller. My belly was still there but it wasn’t my only defining feature anymore. Other things were starting to overshadow it.

Like my dick.

Not going to lie. Getting a bigger dick is a great benefit to the changes. The fact that it feels good was even better.

I guess I just didn’t want to let all this growth go to waste. If I became as big as Samsyte or in the unlikely event that I transformed into a dragon as lean and ripped as Drake, I didn’t want to lose it all because I got lazy and fat. That would just reflect poorly on me if I spent my immortal life as a dragon as an obese slob.

So yeah, I began working out. A little.

Down on the pool, Samsyte came swimming back towards my side, having just finished a lap. The magnificent dragon emerged from beneath the water, barely disrupting the crystal surface as he pulled himself out of the water and sat onto the ledge, back towards me. The water glistened off his scales, giving them a sheen that looked absolutely gorgeous against the soft pinks and oranges of the nearby setting sun. He shook his head a little much like how a dog would shake water off their body. Droplets of the glacial water flung from his chestnut-brown mane and the tight beard he wore around his square, draconic jaw.

I lost count of however many reps I had done and racked the barbell.

“He’s getting better.”

How anyone of Drake’s size could sneak around without making a noise was beyond me. He swore he didn’t use any magic but I call bullshit on that. One second I was leaning against the preacher curl, watching Samsyte just kick his feet absently into the water and the next, I was stifling a cry because Drake was suddenly standing right beside me. I tried not to look at his dick but seeing how I was seated and the dragons went around naked, the first thing I saw was his package. Thankfully, he wasn’t actually hard or he would’ve gouged my eye out with his erection.

“It looks like he’s mastered swimming,” I answered, looking back towards Samsyte. He couldn’t hear us as he still had those earphones in his sharp, pointed ears. They were a special, waterproof kind of earphones that blasted music while being especially built for his draconic frame.

“He’s better than most dragons his age,” Drake agreed. “But he’s still sticking way too close too the surface. It’s affecting his speed. When he takes a breath as well, he has this habit of ‘humping’.”

The Shuilong Style was designed for long-term marathon bouts of swimming so was focused on conserving as much energy as possible while maximizing power and speed. Breaking the water’s surface caused drag. Of course he still needed to breathe and the Style emphasized sticking your nose out of the water in such a way that only the nostrils were out to take a quick exhale and inhale before diving back under. Pretty much how alligators would drift under the water’s surface and only have the tips of their noses out to keep breathing while staying camouflaged.

“The problem is when he dives back under the surface to continue swimming,” Drake explained. “Because he likes to stay close to the surface, he curves his whole body to dive back down and that causes his back and tail to briefly breach the surface. It slows him down.”

“It’s not like he’s going to be swimming competitively,” I countered. “Why does it matter?”

Drake gave me a pointed look. “It’s not about the competition. It’s about the technique and discipline. Controlling his base instincts so his techniques are tempered by his Role and Duty.”

The dual principles of Role and Duty in Aetherese society. Drake would constantly explain its importance. Samsyte, despite having turned into a dragon, had identified his Role; a set of personal rules of how he would use his magic. But the guidelines of when he would use his magic which would be his Duty was still being defined. A dragon’s Duty best described how they would fit into Aether. Having not been in Aether at all, all Drake could do was train him as best as he could.

In my mind, a ‘Role’ was how you defined yourself.

A Duty was how you fit in to the rest of the world.

I guess it was fitting that I would turn into a dragon eventually and we would form our own little community. It’d be a good way to prepare ourselves for the chaos that would be Aether.

“Something I’ve been wondering about,” I began. “Samsyte is meant to be the Dragon of Digital Content, right?” Drake nodded in affirmation. “So that would mean his source of power is meaningful content on the internet.” I made a circular motion with my hand. “Does Aether even have the internet?”

An amused smirk touched the dragon’s lips. “What? Did you assume that we dragons live in primitive castles where everything is magical and we look at all technology like it’s some sort of monstrous heretical beast?”

Thinking about it now, it seemed a little stupid to assume that. Dragons were poking their heads to Earth every now and then. It made sense that they at least had the same level of technology as we did.

“We’ve got a form of internet,” Drake confirmed. “It’s different, mind you. Runs on magic instead of electricity. Data is expressed in draconic constants instead of bits. Nothing you have to worry about unless you want to get into magical engineering.” He flicked an ear. “And yes, we do have social media and platforms that would show of digital content. But you see far less discourse than you do here on Earth.”

That made me scoff. “I find that hard to believe. If you’re around enough people, you’re bound to piss someone off.”

“No arguments here,” huffed the big, black dragon. “I wouldn’t be here if that were the case.” He shrugged his enormous shoulders. “But you’re comparing apples to oranges here. There are a lot of differences between dragons and humans.”

“You mean apart from the scales, size, wings, magic and immortality.”

He gently smacked my shoulder with the tip of his tail, a gesture I was quickly learning was akin to a playful punch to the shoulder. “I like how snarky you are but let’s be serious for a second. Humanity’s numbers are in the billions. There are barely ten million dragons when I left Aether.”

Ten million!? Entire states had bigger populations that than. Jaejanbaek had over 11 million alone! The entire dragon population was less than the town that I left. No wonder they treasured each and every one of their number. I remember hearing somewhere that to repopulate Earth, you needed at least 160 people. Ten million was well over that but when you could not repopulate your own species without another, that was tenuous.

“Shit…” I muttered, my eyes drifting away from the winged dragon. “Didn’t think there was that much of a difference.”

“Yeah,” Drake sighed, his voice becoming softer and wistful. “Even if you are immortal, that number is… depressingly small. It goes back to how we work magic into our technology.” Holding up two fingers, he said, “On Earth, computing is basically broken down into binary code. On and off. Ones and zeroes. For Aether, you can think of every dragon as a different on-and-off switch. If you decide to use their magic, you can consider them on. If not, it’s off. Combine all ten million into a single sequence and you’ve got a string of data.” His ears folded back and he scratched his cheek. “Then you’ve got to consider the degrees and fractional application of each dragon and it becomes even more complicated.”

My head was spinning just thinking about it. “I… Don’t get it.”

He smirk at me. “I thought you South Koreans were really good at math.”

I gave him a similarly sour look. “I barely graduated high school. I was mostly educated here in the States.”

“That explains it,” Drake snickered. “Suffice to say that, in terms of computing, every dragon contributes to the overall possibilities. When you add a dragon to the equation, the entire civilization expands. Like adding a new dimension to modeling. One dragon is the X-Axis, a second is the Y-Axis. Add a third and you’ve got a Z-Axis. When you draw a line against all three, you get different shapes than if you just drew it on two axises. When you add more dragons, it becomes more complicated but the shape is entirely different.”

What he didn’t say was that just as many, if not more, possibilities were lost when a dragon died. Knowing that he killed one of his own kind gave that thought a lot more weight. I was tempted to ask what led to the circumstances of him committing murder but I decided to hold my tongue.

The mood was definitely getting darker so I decided to steer us back to the topic.

“So if you’ve got social media and the internet, does that mean that Samsyte isn’t the first Dragon of Digital Content?”

Drake shook his head. “No. There’s never any ‘duplicate’ dragons. Every dragon taps into a unique phenomenon in the world and facilitates our ability to convert it into usable energy. Just because it exists, doesn’t mean there’s a dragon that lets you use it for magic.” Tee big, black dragon let out a little laugh. “There are even Atherese philosophers who theorize that a dragon is born on Earth because there is a need in Aether. Duty defines. And we oblige.”

There was that mantra again. With a little more context, there was a heavy gravitas to those words that made the air around us feel so much heavier and not just because my heart was pounding in my chest from the workout.

“But just because you’re born with that magic, doesn’t mean you have to stick with it your whole eternal life, right?” I ventured. “Isn’t that what you dragons say? ‘For our Roles and thereafter?’”

Drake turned his smile towards me. “You’re learning.”

Guess that also meant that even though Drake was the only dragon that could turn physical, sensual pleasure into energy, there were probably other dragons that do something similar. Though I suppose with ten million other dragons out there, one - or maybe in this case two - dragons lost wouldn’t be that crippling.

Maybe.

Made me wonder what form of energy I would represent.

“So when he goes to Aether, he’d be the dragon that lets you convert the junk people post on the internet into magic, huh?”

“A tragic loss for Earth,” Drake rumbled sarcastically. “Sometimes I think humans need someone to filter out the shit and turn it into something useful. All the time and energy wasted on some of the stuff out there is mind boggling.” He flicked his ears up. “Though I suppose there’s something to be said if any particular post causes a reaction that blows up.”

“You mean if something goes viral?” I laughed, wondering if he knew of the term or was just trying to sounds smart.

He gave my a sidelong glance as if to tell me not to underestimate his intelligence. “Yes. Exactly. When you think about it, when something like that happens, it is one person doing something that explodes in popularity and generates millions in terms of engagement. That’s incredible returns.”

I lifted an eyebrow at him. That was incredibly media savvy for a hermit.

“Don’t look at me like that,” grunted Drake, turning away. “Blame humanity for putting such an exploitive idea in my head.”

A little smile touched my lips as I leaned forward against the preacher curl. “You know, just because companies and governments abuse hot and trending topics doesn’t mean that everything to do with them is bad. There are some viral content out there that actually benefit people.”

Drake snorted and shook his head. “Perhaps for a blink of an eye. But I can guarantee you that someone somewhere is going to find a way to twist the message. They’ll make it political. They’ll make it about themselves. They’ll weave some form of conspiracy into it. Something.” He was speaking in low growls, fangs bared. “You can’t escape it. Anything that humans put out there will be corrupted into some form of messaging.”

Can’t fault him for that. Living in Jaejanbaek and having grown up abroad really gave this perspective of how exploitive the Content Capital of the World really was. Crime was down and cleanliness world-class but when everything was on display and privacy was at a minimum, it was amazing how anything could be colored to find someone’s agenda. And yet, despite it all, there were people like me and the rest of Upw4rd that sort of just… got lost in the deluge. Weirdly enough, you could argue that our stuff is the raw shit. The ones that are honest and authentic. And that made those few people that genuinely interacted with us all the more special.

Something weird struck me at that moment. Like I blinked for a little too long and I had grown comfortable in that darkness until I realized I was keeping my eyes shut. It was brief. A fleeting moment where everything just felt… wrong and my senses seemed to have disassociated from the rest of my body. Almost like deja vu.

“Hey!”

The Samsyte’s cry from the pool brought me back to reality, jarring me back to the present. The big, blue dragon was standing on the edge of the pool, facing us and with his hands on his hips.

“Are you two just going to sit there talking shit about me?” he joked.

“We weren’t talking about you,” I called back, unable to fight the grin on my face. Casual teasing was just part of our dynamic. Just like we had never left the apartment. “We were discussing the mechanics about draconic computing languages.”

“Bullshit.”

Drake snorted, managing to turn his growl and disdain for humanity into a grin. “Trust me, Samsyte, when you get your hands on an Aetherese computer, everything you know about videogames is going to pale in comparison.”

“Yeah?” quipped Samsyte. Then he drew a finger into the air and seemed to scribble something. Where his claw traced, bright, blue lines followed. Once he was done, he closed both hands around the letters before tossing it towards us. A glowing blue bird came fluttering over to us. It sat on the railings for a moment before it unfolded itself into the very same words that the dragon had written.

‘Then get over here and fuck me so we can go to Aether.’

All in Korean.

Drake rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. “Duty calls,” he rumbled with an unconvincing groan. He spread his wings, approaching the edge of the balcony.

As he did so, I got up from where I was seated. By the time these two had finished exorcising Samsyte’s arousal, it would be about time for dinner. Having just spent the past few hours working out, everyone was hungry. As I had done every day since I got here, I was going to prepare dinner.

“You know you’re always welcome to watch.”

I didn’t pause at Drake’s offer and just waved a hand over my shoulder. “I get enough of you ‘in me’ from your magic traps,” I said. “When I’m big enough to take your dick up my ass, I’ll do more than watch.”

The comment was made in passing. I didn’t really mean anything by it but to be clever. The sort of shit you throw at your buddies during a heated match or on the street while joking idly. As I walked away, though, FOMO hit me really hard. It wasn’t the first time since coming here that this loneliness hit. The entire reason I came here in the first place was to reconnect with Samsyte and here I was walking away from a very intimate moment with him. It wasn’t about the sex. Not really. It was the lack of interaction.

Drake was keeping us apart for my safety. Samsyte couldn’t control his own strength. Not yet. If he got a little too aggressive or impassioned, he could break me before I could become a dragon like him. Blaming the process or Drake was counterproductive. Samsyte chose this and sure the mechanics weren’t exactly explained to him at the very beginning but it wasn’t like he told Drake everything from the beginning as well.

Exacerbating that feeling was the fact that I neither B1tBr34ker or Deu2much were here with me. I had Drake to talk to but it just wasn’t the same. I don’t think I had ever gone so long without some form of interaction even if it was just digital.

Spending a single second with someone I genuinely knew would satiate this gnawing hunger in me.

As I stepped out of the gym and greeted the cool mountain air, I came to a rather depressing conclusion.

I could not be left alone with my thoughts.

Some part of me played around with this nihilistic world view that I had become so codependent on others that I was nothing without them. Hell, I was even willing to turn myself into a dragon because Samsyte did so first. That was exactly the kind of thought processes that needed to be pushed back. Focusing on finding my way across the compound grounds back to the kitchen was a good distraction. The fact that it took ten minutes just to get from the gym to the room provided ample stimulation. That and the way my inner thighs were burning from rubbing together. Even with my changes and the camouflage pants and briefs I wore, my fat ass still couldn’t walk too long before I felt some sort of discomfort.

“Fuck, I hope I don’t get friction burn from rubbing scales together,” I grumbled, as entered the kitchen. Drake had been kind enough to start using his magic to conjure all sorts of food. The supplies from his farm were great and all but he didn’t keep livestock except for some fish and chickens. No pigs or cows. And I was not going to slaughter a chicken or clean out a fish. Not to mention you couldn’t make genuine kimchi without some time for the cabbage to ferment.

I rummaged through the large walk-in pantry and gathered some ingredients. The refrigerator had the proteins I had taken out earlier in the day and marinated so it was just a matter of cooking everything up. Of course, the rice would take the longest. After I cleaned the rice and plugged up the rice cooker, I took a step back and considered what else I needed to prepare.

That’s when I was reminded why I should never get to comfortable in Drake’s house.

The surge of magical energies hit me and because I was completely unprepared for it, it shot straight towards my crotch. All strength left my legs and I barely had the time to catch myself against the marble countertop before his dick was throbbing against my pants. In the back of my mind, I was grateful I hadn’t actually started cooking anything but at the forefront was constant mantra of just how good this felt. You would think after being forced to ejaculate over and over again over a week, I’d have gotten used to this but each time was more intense than the last, each moment different and bringing the dragon within me closer and closer to awakening.

I grit my teeth together as the pressure in my cock grew in a very familiar fashion. Each throbbing pulse coursed through the entire length of my dick. I had grown familiar with the limits of my cock over the past week. That also meant I knew exactly when my human cock would reach its conceivable limit and then the dragon dick would start coming out. When the pulses in my cock would do more than just bring my length to erection but also add an inch or two in length and girth.

Maybe I’m a little bit of a masochist because I let the tip of my cock press up against the fabric of my pants, stretching my briefs to its limit. The tent became very visible but it only added to the amazing sensation as the garment pressed back against the emerging dragon. A sort of mix of resistance and submission. Sort of brings me back to my days under the military discipline of my dad.

God, I miss him.

Though it’s terrible to be thinking of my dad while I’m literally about to cum. Or is it…?

Don’t really know.

That stray thought cost me. The sound of tearing fabric brought me back to the present and I looked down in horror as a little rip appeared against the tent in my crotch.

“Fuck!” I spat. “These are my only pants!”

Mustering my strength, I pushed off the kitchen counter and fumbled for my belt. As if sensing the proximity of my hands, Drake’s magic surged through me, pushing my dick further out and widening the gap in my pants. The white cloth of my briefs was clearly visible now as was the thick wad of precum that had soaked it. All sense of balance was instantly shot and I stumbled backwards as I just managed to undo the buckle of my belt.

I stumbled back and slammed my ass against the cold metal of the refrigerator. Completely out of instinct, I spun around and backed away. Again, Drake’s magic had some sort of pornographic timing because the moment I did, it pulsed and my cock pushed further out, now clearly a ten-inch, fat length that was stretching my briefs out of my pants. Motor control over my legs was lost. I was sent stumbling back and crashed against the kitchen counter. Physics be damned because I tumbled over the damn thing and lay flat on my back against the cool stone.

“Fuck it…” I growled to myself, gritting my teeth together. My hands gripped the edges of the counter while my cock stood straight upwards, a volcano pushing out of my pants ready to break free.

Like many times before, I watched as the length of my dick grew and grew, cresting past the mountain of my belly. The fabric of my briefs provided a valiant defense against the draconic magic but it eventually had to give out and tore right down the middle. The head of my cock, finally free, shot a jet of precum into the air. The salty rain splattered across of sweat-soaked shirt.

It was fucking hot.

A moan left my lips and I rolled my head in a feeble display of resistance. The length of my member fell down against my belly, pulled back down by the weight of its own mass by gravity. A hot log of meat slapped against my belly just beneath my bellybutton, oozing precum like a salivating snake. It continued to grow. Pure mass pumped up from my balls, pulsing through the veins along its length. Hot marbles of magic and growth rolled up the underside of my dick, reaching up to the tip of my cock where it another half-inch was added to the total length. My cock followed a very familiar path up my torso, snaking its way past my bellybutton towards my pectorals, thickening with every two inches it grew.

The heavy pulses suddenly reversed course and slammed against my balls. Huge wrecking balls of magic slammed against the interior walls of my sac, causing my left testicle to balloon out and press against my ruined pants and underwear. The tear in my garment only grew bigger as the second spasm of growth blasted my right testicle and forced my legs apart.

Why was it always my left testicle first?

I let out a grunt, inadvertently thrusting my hips into the air. My cock rose up briefly from the moment and came back down against my diaphragm with a wet slap. Was it smaller than before? Running my hand along its sensitive length, I shuddered and quietly bemoaned the lack of some measuring tape. I’m pretty sure it was exactly the same length as every other time I was inflicted by Drake’s magic.

Maybe I just grew a little taller.

That thought brought a little grin to my lips but it was short lived.

A new sensation began from the tip of my cock. An electric prickle. Faint at first. Like a little mosquito jabbed at the head of my dick and injected the sensitive flesh with bit of lightning. It started off with a pinch and quickly transformed into a radiating wave that sent commands to my cock to get even harder even thought it physically couldn’t.

Then the feeling came again.

And again.

And again with quickening frequency.

The rapid influx of these strangely arousing blasts caused me to start bucking my hips and in doing so, I lifted my head a little just enough to see what was happening. The constant prickling turned the head of my cock a bright red, almost pink really. But as the sensations began spreading down my length, I watched the dark skin start lightening, fading into a pale flesh that I could not recognize. This was not the pale skin of an All-American Boy-Next-Door that never saw the sun or even an albino. It was almost like porcelain.

My jaw dropped open but before I could let out a gasp of shock, a wave of heat and arousal washed out from my erect and mutated cock. It was like lightning had struck my cock and it was now shooting straight down my legs. Every vein and artery around my thighs screamed in blissful ecstasy but the electric power seemed to fade as it crawled further and further down my legs, dissipating before they could reach my feet.

I squirmed and, on complete instinct, I clawed at my pants. My fingers found purchase on the tear my cock had made through my pants and I immediately tore at it. With a deafening - at least to me - ripping noise, I peeled away the remnants of my pants and briefs away from my groin. There, I watched as the porcelain-like coloration around my skin spread over my heft balls… and then spread towards my inner thighs. Muscles immediately bulged beneath the touch of the discoloration. I saw striations of my quads bulge against my smooth thighs, momentarily giving me a perfect anatomical reference of what my muscles looked like beneath my skin. Then, that very same skin turned white, hardening into layers of smooth, soft scales.

My heart was racing in my chest. All I could do was watch even as my hips bucked constantly, egging on the changes. The white flesh reached the limits of what would be considered my ‘inner thighs’. My skin abruptly turned a dark, navy blue. Weirdly, my first thought was…

“Dad wasn’t part of the Navy…”

But that thought was was bypassed by another shock of arousal from my dick as the dark blue flesh hardened into visibly diamond-shaped scales The mass from my thighs ballooned out further. With the already weakened integrity of my pants, it was an easy matter for the exploding mass to surge past my thighs, actually tearing the fabric from my grip as my legs pulled further and further away from my. The soles of my feet dangled past the edge of the kitchen counter because of the extra height.

Another bolt of lightning-like pleasure blasted through my body, sending my nerves on fire. I bit my lip in pleasure, biting back a moan as I felt the fiery arousal ripple down from my thighs, roll past my knees, shoot through my calves and…

… just hit my feet.

My eyes immediately widened in terror.

My feet were covered in steel-toed boots.

Boots that I had cared for and carried with me for most of my adult life.

If they were destroyed in the throes of my passionate transformation… I don’t think I would have be able to live an eternity with the guilt. My back was arched and frozen, the waves of lightning coursing through my veins paralyzing me from the waist up. I tried raising my legs but another pulse cause it to spasm and stretch back out.

“N - N - Noooo!” I cried.

The pulses reached my ankles and the warmth that followed radiated towards my toes. I squeezed my eyes shut, praying for this overwhelming pleasure not to stop. My dick throbbed and a spark of inspiration hit my just as the electric sensations rippled throughout my entire body. I seized my dick with both hands and rapidly began stroking it. Whether it was the upward motions of my hands or just the way the changes were progressing, the waves of ecstasy began rushing upwards instead of down towards my legs.

A tightness wrapped around my stomach like someone was sucking in my belly from the inside. Itching began crawling up from my crotch. Through the haze of my arousal, I could see the softer, white flesh that had covered my dick and inner thighs creeping up my belly, cresting the summit of my bellybutton and spreading up my torso. Pools of precum poured out from my cock and leaked down stomach. Against my glistening, hairy belly, I could just barely make out the shape of abdominal muscles pushing past my fat. Speaking of hair, the curly strands of dark brown hair that covered my belly soaked up my precum greedily. Warm, slime seeped into my pores and nourished the roots like grass starved of water just getting a spring rain. The strands thickened, lengthened and rapidly multiplied.

“Shit…” I gasped. “Fuuuuuuck!”

All the pressure suddenly came rocketing up from my balls, a dam bursting without warning. Hot cum blasted out of my dick with enough force that it shot past my pectorals and splashed my face. Shock and surprise made arch my back and lay back down against the warm countertop, the back of my head pressing against the marble. Thick globs of my dragon-magic-infused seed rained down on my face. Each blast was just as powerful as the last and I desperately gripped my dick with both hands trying to stem the flow to little avail.

That said, with my fingers wrapped tightly around my member, I could feel it when my dick began to receded and shrink with every eruption. Each burst of hot ecstasy was followed up by a sense of longing only to be overridden by the next ejaculation. Inch by inch, my cock shrank in my hands, the arches of fiery cum losing their arc as the distance to my face grew bigger.

A feeling like someone had just applied lotion to my dehydrated skin and was slowly massaging it worked its way up my legs. Even without looking, I knew it was my scales receding back into my human skin. I wiggled my toes and was grateful not to feel the cool air of the kitchen against them. They were still firmly contained in my army boots.

A sigh of relief left my lips. All the tension in my body left as the torrent of cum faded. My sweaty back lay against the cool marble. The weight of what just happened lifted from my shoulders. The taste of my own salty seed seeped between my lips from that small gesture and I reached up to wipe the slime from my face. My fingers brushed up against tough stubble. A itching feeling similar to what I felt against my belly crawled over my face. Pressing my hand against my cheeks, I felt the hairs there growing thicker by the second.

Guess my changes weren’t quite done yet.

Though… I will admit. I think I’d look damn good with a beard.

Going Viral

BAM!

Samsyte’s desk shook with the impact of his fist.

“How the fuck are you better at this than I am!?” he snarled. “I’ve been a dragon longer than you have!”

Drake stepped up beside him and ruffled his hair with one big, clawed hand, expertly making the gesture while avoiding his horns and pointed ears. “Being a dragon has nothing to do with innate magical talent or understanding,” said the ancient dragon. “While the presence of a dragon allows us to harness their aspect into magic, it means anyone can use that magic. Not just that dragon.”

From where I sat with a respectable distance between the big, blue dragon and at my own desk, I wove the magic through the air. Streams of sky-blue light like the wind given physical shape danced between my fingers. With slow, methodical movements, I wove the streams together to form a little ball. The light dissipated from the sphere as dust blown into the wind to reveal a simple, rubber ball that I threw into the air and caught. On my desk were some other simple shapes that I had created. A stick that was far too cylindrical to be natural. A rock that looked too generic and appeared painted gray. A flat steel panel about the size of my palm. A flat circle of glass.

They were all far too ‘perfect’ like I had just plucked them from the background of a videogame. Still more than Samsyte had managed. He hadn’t even managed to create the stick.

Like I said, I picked up on things faster than he did.

We sat in Drake’s study, a room positioned in the west wing just past his library. In the time I had been here, I was starting to really get the layout of the place. The west wing of the mansion - the wing facing the gym - was the more ‘personal’ side of the mansion. The east wing was built more for when Drake entertained wealthy elites and had a conference room, theater and entertainment room. Places where you would go to network and make connections. In short, east wing was all business and the west was for leisure. The upper levels had the bedrooms and other leisure activities. I learned Drake even had a whole server room up there.

Drake had this large U-shaped desk at the far end of the study where he had three large monitors and a powerful desktop that ran on his magic. Behind him were shelves filled with some collectibles from various franchises. There was a wall to our left. He had set up two smaller desks in front of his where we sat practicing our magic. Naturally, Samsyte’s desk was much bigger than mine given he was a full dragon but at the moment, I felt like I was miles taller.

In these moments, we were back in school.

“So if I wanted to use your magic…?” Samsyte asked, a lewd expression crossing his features.

It had been three weeks since I arrived. Samsyte’s ‘Draconic Heat’ had been on a downward trend. I could actually hold conversations with him without his cock suddenly springing to attention and every other words he uttered being an innuendo or outright declaring he wanted to fuck me. Drake could leave us alone for a few hours without having to rein him in.

Which was good because having to constantly babysit me and him had delayed progress in getting Gwok Sang-Ook and Deun Chang-He over to the States. Those two remained patiently in Jaejanbaek but I was aware that creating content with half of Upw4rd indisposed was not good for their metrics. We were coming up to three full months without everyone being there. While our numbers were never spectacular, I could already imagine what few people we had following us would start abandoning ship. The internet had a way of detecting when things were on a downward spiral.

But I had to be patient.

Drake gently slapped Samsyte’s shoulder with his tail as he moved towards his desk. “We don’t have to fuck to access my magic. It’ll be easier to because you won’t have to reach so far to get to the source but given how this world has become saturated with carnal pleasures and, in your case, digital content, you won’t have to really reach that far. Distance does play a factor. That’s why humans can’t access most forms of magic. Dragons are physically separated from them so even if the concept, action or resource is present on Earth, without a dragon, it’s impossible to turn it into magic.”

I raised my hand. “Does that mean without you on Aether, dragons can’t turn sex into magic?”

He chuckled. “I’m not the only dragon that uses sex as his source of magic. My magic is specifically derived from physical carnal pleasure. There are dragons that derive energy from ejaculation, anal sex, oral, orgies or even specific positions. I can draw magic from anything that makes someone feel good. It doesn’t have to be through sex. In fact, you could say that right now in Aether, dragons don’t have to go through the motions of foreplay just to access magic.”

That made Drake’s Role quite powerful. Just as long as you physically felt good, he could draw power from that. Little wonder he had such an abundance of energy on Earth. Humans were driven to feel good. Even now, as I looked down at my biceps that and the thick vein that ran down their length, it felt good how they pressed against my plump, hairy pectorals.

Running around the mansion naked most of the time had triggered some deep-seated shame and embarrassment given how I looked but since I had tripped my pants after one particular heated transformation, I found little alternative. Drake did offer to conjure me up more clothing but after a few more moments when his magic would catch me off-guard, it was just easier to go around naked.

I still kept wearing my boots though.

And my transforming frame did help wash away some of that fear and shame. Samsyte leering at me like he wanted to suck my dick or run his tongue down my biceps helped too. It was nice being thought of that way sexually.

“So let’s focus again,” Drake instructed, spinning a clawed finger through the air. “Reach for the magic.”

He made it sound so simple but it was very complicated. After you lived your life based on one level of understanding, rewiring yourself to embrace a new concept was extremely difficult. But somehow I managed. The way Drake explained it, every form of magic was a different kind of energy and therefore offered a different way of thinking. A new lens from which to see the world. Of course, the problem was that this was entirely conceptual. Every person and every dragon had to view this energy through their perspective and understanding. The whole point of sharing magic in Aether was to take the magic a dragon offered and make it your own to improve the understanding of that magic.

So he purposefully avoided telling us how the magic felt to him. Just advised us how to sense it. Maybe it was because I come from mixed heritage and have lived in both the United States and South Korea but this was a little easier for me.

Since I was far more familiar with Samsyte, Drake advised us to use the Dragon of Digital Content’s magic as our first attempt to ‘reach for the magic’. It took a few attempts. Trying to conceptualize ‘digital content’ as a form of energy made my brain hurt. But to me, I imagined every piece of information flowing through the internet like these rivers of sky-blue water that was constantly moving through the air. I drew inspiration from the color of Samsyte’s scales and how smoothly he moved through the water while swimming.

That worked for me and I could use that energy to conjure up objects.

I don’t know what Samsyte did to manifest that small ‘message’ a week ago but he couldn’t do the same. Those missives came to him naturally and he could use the raw energies of his magic for similar displays. But taking it a step further to make something?

Well, that’s where I excelled.

I couldn’t help but smile as I wove the streams of energy into a piece of rope. By far the most complicated geometry I had created so far. A swell of pride filled me and I turned towards Samsyte, holding up the rope. My friend’s face was contorted in a look of utter focus. He had his hands cupped together and swirls of the blue energy were gathering there like a little spiral galaxy.

I held my breath, quietly praying and hoping that he would succeed. Any sound would break his concentration. That was how it always was when we were playing games together. One of the reasons why I never went with a mechanical keyboard because the sound of clacking would distract him and since we were in the same room, it was hard to avoid.

Suddenly, the energy abruptly dissipated and -

BAM!

“Fucking damnit!” he swore, slamming his fists into the table again. “Shit! Fuck! Hell!”

“Easy, easy,” Drake soothed, holding up his hands. “I know it’s hard. It always is. You’ve got be patient with yourself.”

“Oh yeah?” Samsyte rumbled. “Why don’t you use my magic then?”

There, Drake gave him a lopsided smirk. “Well, it’s a lot easier for me.”

“Why? Because of your experience?”

“No. Because you’ve fucked me constantly for the past few weeks.”

A light blush touched my cheeks and the image of Samsyte bending Drake over that table invaded my thoughts. Blood began rushing towards my dick. I happily allowed the two to continue so that they wouldn’t notice my burgeoning erection.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Samsyte snapped.

I decided to keep my mouth shut even though I knew the answer. We had gone over it many times before. Dragons metabolized their chosen energy into their very biology. Consuming or ingesting any form of that magic allowed a modicum of use of that magic for those that were sensitive to it. There was truth in Drake’s words about it being easier for him to use Samsyte’s magic. I had seen the big dragon bottom more often than not. Not that I was watching. But at the same time, Drake had more experience with life as a dragon so it definitely was more than him just being fucked by Samsyte.

To demonstrate, Drake held up a hand. Those wisps of blue light coalesced between his claws like cartoonish waves coming together to form a sphere. A moment later, the sphere shook off its glow, revealing itself to be a complicated icosahedron. “I’ve got a good taste of your magic. Knowing your Role has given me a good context of how to harness your magic. It’s sort of like how I transformed you. Every time we fucked and I got a taste of ‘you’, I got a little more comfortable with the energy you embody.”

Samsyte blew out his cheeks in frustration. “You’d think the guy that embodies the magic would be better at manipulating it.”

“There’s a difference between talent and knowledge,” Drake warned, holding up a finger. “Just because you have the talent for something, doesn’t mean that you know everything about that something. Raw instincts can only get you so far.” He tapped the side of his head with a claw. “You’ve got to get it out of your head that your magic belongs to only you. Yes, you are the key to harnessing that energy but it’s not just your energy. You still need other people to generate the concept.”

“Sounds like communism to me,” Samsyte grunted.

I let out a little chuckle and that brought their attention to me. Their reptilian eyes unnerved me a little as the only human in the room so I quickly came up with a question.

“You mentioned that knowing Samsyte’s role helped you figure out how to use his magic,” I began. “Does that mean that dragons hide their Roles from one another? Their Duties?”

Drake tilted his head a little, flicking an ear. “Good catch. Aether isn’t some perfect utopia. We get into arguments. We fight. Hell, I’m not the only exile to ever be thrown out. But you don’t know what you don’t know. A dragon can try to explain their Role to you but you will never be as close to their magic as they are. At least not on an instinctual level.” He threw the last sentence at Samsyte with a smile. Turning back to me, he said, “We don’t hide our Roles. Hard to really especially when you fuck around. It’s just that not everyone might understand someone else’s Role.”

He clapped his large hands together. “Doesn’t mean we can’t try, though. So Samsyte, let’s try again…”

Samsyte groaned and slumped into his chair. “Can’t I just suck your dick so I can try using your magic instead?”

A lecherous grin crossed Drake’s features and I could already see his big, black dick starting to swell with excitement. “Well, it would be good for you to get a little bit more exposure to other draconic magic…”

Seeing fully where this was going, I got up from my desk and informed them that I was going to go to my room until they were done. Drake was already standing in front of Samsyte and rubbing his rapidly hardening dick into the younger dragon’s muzzle by the time I had reached the door to leave the study.

How long would it take before they stopped finding every excuse to have sex? Then again, I also wondered if that was just something that was embedded into Aetherese culture. Like Drake said, dragons’ very biology was infused with their magic. They learned about one another’s Roles by exchanging bodily fluids. Made me think of how dogs sniffed each other’s asses to learn about one another.

I made it to my room and appraised the personal space that Drake had made for me. Even though I had filled it with all sorts of stuff, it still felt empty. Graduating from the cramped room that I shared with one another guy to my own room was still a bit of a culture shock. It felt weird having to take more than two steps to get to the corner desk with the gamer chair.

I sat down, booted up the rig that Drake had gotten for me and was once again amazed by how quickly it had spun up. There was barely enough time to look at my reflection in the blackness of the screens before I was staring at my desktop. My hands inadvertently went up towards my chest, my fingers roving the thick forest of curly chest hair there. Strange how, throughout my transformation, my chest hair had only grown thicker and thicker. Before, the bush of body hair barely covered the underside of my moobs but as I grew bigger, stronger and leaner, it spread like wildfire. Now, my entire torso was completely covered in it, encompassing my pectorals - yes, I can proudly call them pecs now - and my entire belly. If it weren’t for my wide lats or broad shoulders, I would have looked like a solid wall of hair. But with the definition and increased muscle mass, I could proudly declare that I had a significant ‘Y’ shaped torso covered in fuzz.

The weirdest part was that disturbing my chest hair was actually… erotic. It made my lips water thinking about someone else running their hands through my fur.

I was getting hard just thinking about it and shook the thought away as I began going through my routine of checking my emails and socials. Something caught my attention on my private messages. DMs from Gwok Sang-Ook and Deung Chang-He. A whole second passed before I recalled why they would be sending me a DM and not just knocking on my door and speaking to me in person.

“Shit… I wonder what’s happening with them now…?”

The messages were polite and excited at the same time.

Deung - Deu2much - was the one that was most excited. He reported that their visas were approved. Drake had managed to smooth things over with Gwok’s prior record. As it turned out, B1tBr34ker had been accused of job abandonment and dereliction of duty when he left his former band of streamers. They had a contract and that led to legal troubles. While everything was settled out of court, there were some… conditions that limited his mobility. Drake somehow managed to lift those conditions and B1tBr34ker was now free to travel.

None of that I was aware of. Yes, I knew B1tBr34ker had a falling out with his former friends but I didn’t know there was a contract involved and that he had some legal obligation to not only stay in the country but also in Jeujanbaek. That was what took the majority of time to get them here. Deu2much decided to stick around to give support to his - to our - friend.

Fuck… I felt guilty abandoning them while I was here turning into a dragon and having my every need and want provided for. It would turn out for the best, though. Knowing all this meant that B1tBr34ker was more likely to accept being turned into a dragon. Who wouldn’t want to leave it all behind and become powerful, magical and immortal that had been subjected to the world’s legal system?

I typed a quick message, congratulating them on their success and telling them how I was excited to see them again. Their flights would be a week from now which fit well. SamSyte would hopefully have enough sense to not go full-on-dragon on them the minute they stepped through the door so we could smooth over our transformation and situation a little easier than my introduction to this world.

Once I hit send, I imagined what the meeting would be like.

They were probably going to be shocked and terrified when they first see Samsyte. And me, no doubt. There was no guarantee that Samsyte would have full control of his mental faculties by the time they arrive. Might be better if I actually greeted them first. A month of growth like mine would still be shocking and unbelievable but they would know me. All those years of hanging out with them and prompting them to speak on their streams and videos came with the added benefit of knowing some stuff about them that no one else would know.

It really is quite funny that I, of all our group, was the most social. Deu2much was pretty extroverted and shared workout routines on his streams but when we were gaming, he was usually very silent until I prompted him to say something. Sometimes I honestly felt like I was the social lubricant of the team. If it weren’t for me, they wouldn’t actually engage with their viewers or, you know, be charming.

The itch to play a game crawled up from the depths of my soul and I reached out to the noise-canceling headphones that Drake had created for me. Two things happened at the same time. As I was starting to slip the headphones over my ears and had switched them on, I mused how I had been almost like a Public Relations manager for Upw4rd; guiding and steering the team to interacting with our viewers, few as they were. My vision immediately unfocused and I was suddenly in the depths of the strangely familiar and comforting darkness. Samsyte had described this feeling as being on the cusp of his awakening. Many times in the past week, I had felt it but I could never fully grasp what my soul, the Role, was trying to tell me.

What was it about thinking that I was somehow responsible for my public face of Upw4rd that brought me closer to my Role?

At the same time, the familiar tingling feeling of Drake’s magic coursing through my system struck me. His magical energies ran through my fingers, it’s origin being the very same headsets that I had just activated. His horny dragon magic sped down my forearms, rippled up my biceps, shot down my chest causing every hair on my torso to stand on end an immediately made a beeline for my cock and balls.

“Son-of-a…” I groaned, gritting my teeth together as the transformation took its hold on me. Part of me wanted to stay in the darkness, to try and figure out what this fleeing flame of my Role was but at the same time, the call of my own cock was too strong. I dropped my headset, letting it rest around my neck as I leaned back in my chair and seized my rapidly hardening dick. The rush of energy that pumped through my member as it plumped up to what was now a very familiar size only spurred me further.

As I was just starting to wiggle out of my combat boots, very aware that I still did not want to break them as part of my transformation, my eyes locked gazes with my screen. A lewd little smile crossed my features and I lifted an arm, flexing it a little while sticking out my tongue in an open-mouthed cry like I was shouting ‘wassup’.

Damn. Bet I’d get a lot of fucking engagement if the internet saw me jacking off and transforming into a dragon.

I was plunged into the dark of my personal cave immediately. Even though the demand from my dick was still pumping, somehow, that one thought had balanced out my needs. My Role was fighting back against the urges of my body, begging me to continue the thought.

How could I refuse?

Heart pumping with adrenaline and excitement in my chest, I quickly ran through what had triggered my changes in the past few days. The first time it happened was at the gym. When I marveled at how, even though we had few viewers, those few were very special to me. On and off, it would happen but the darkness would be all-consuming and no correlation seemed to occur between the thoughts. Even now, when I thought about how hot it would be to stream my transformation, I couldn’t draw any similarities.

The gloom was closing around my mind again and I was feeling the call of my genitals drawing me back to the physical pleasures of my partial transformation. My dick had reached its optimum height and I could feel the warm waterfall of my precum oozing onto my chest hair.

On a whim, I wondered aloud one last thought.

“Should I record this? Send it to my buds?”

A spark flickered in the dark and my aching dick went rigid, suddenly very attentive to me. Almost like it turned to me. Even it could sense that I was on to something.

My eyes widened. Well, not really. More like my ‘mind’s eyes’. The image of myself in that dark cave widened his eyes. In reality, my eyes were shut tight, I was biting my lower lip and my hands were stroking my cock even as it began to change and scales began spreading down my inner thighs.

“Special viewers… streaming… sending shit to my friends…” I mumbled. A burbling noise seeped down my thighs, veins pressing against my skin as flesh hardened into familiar navy blue scales. Thinking about the scales reminded me how ironic it was that I grew up with a father in the army but I was getting navy colors. If the rest of the world were dragons too, I wondered what they would say. Do scale colors mean anything? Maybe I should put up a poll.

That spark flared up.

A… a poll? Was that what my Role was trying to tell me? Was I to be the Dragon of Online Polls?

Nothing from the light illuminating the cave.

Of course not. That would be stupid.

But what was a poll except a way to engage with the audience? To make it seem like they had a hand in the story or influence on me?

My draconic spark brightened. Suddenly, I could see my way through the cave and it all became clear. The exit unveiled itself before me, my heart racing in excitement as my Role was laid out.

It was so obvious now.

My propensity to interact with others. To do things for them to remain connected. Even if in this digital age, I yearned for that connection. Numbers did not matter. It was all about the quality of the contacts I maintained. A smile crossed my lips and it wasn’t just because my balls were gurgling in excitement. My eyes roiled beneath my eyelids, my hands stroking my immense dick back and forth robotically. Each lap urged me to finalize my transformation, to admit to myself what my Role was.

But I took a second to glance over my shoulder back into the dark cave. At Deu2much and B1tBr34ker that still remained in the shadows. A choice sat before me. Hold off on completing my transformation to help them bridge the gap into dragonhood or transform now and embrace the man I was always meant to be.

In the end, I trusted the connection we had.

After all, true engagement isn’t about how often you react or interact with one another. It is the quality of the time you spend together.

I should know as the Dragon of Online Engagement.

Light from outside the cave washed over me. My eyes immediately snapped open and, for the briefest of moments, I caught sight of the glowing blue irises that reptilian pupils in my reflection on my screen. The same eyes that Samsyte possessed. Knots and twisting energies crawled immediately down my thighs, serpents of power pumping through my veins and feeding my muscles with mass and strength.

Familiar, navy blue scales spread all over my thighs while my inner thighs were left covered in the white, leathery flesh. My balls ballooned out, forcing my legs apart. Growing bones pressed my knees up against the armrests of the gaming chair. I instinctively lifted my leg, setting my foot on the chair in an attempt to give myself room. My huge cock slapped against my thigh, drooling precum against the shiny, dark blue scales.

A smile of satisfaction spread across my face at that sight. My calf muscles tensed almost like I had suffered from a cramp. The moment of pain vanished a second later as those same calves inflated into huge, meaty hams filled with raw power and might.

My smile vanished a second later when I watched the blue scales sink beneath the covers of my combat boots. I could already feel the magic crawling down my ankles, seeping over my toes and reaching the soles of my feet. Curling my toes momentarily held it back but there was no stopping it now.

I was a dragon.

I wanted to be a dragon.

These boots… these memorabilia from my dad… A reminder of the discipline and foundations he had set for me. There was no time to take them off and within seconds, I knew I would burst through them and shed the last parts of my past to embrace my new draconic future.

And that was what true engagement was about, wasn’t it? Not just what you pumped out in the future but also the quality of the past interactions. How could you retain loyal followers on shitty content if you didn’t have a solid foundation?

Besides, I don’t think dad would want me to hold back on his account.

So I uncurled my toes and felt them push up against the metal tips of my steel-toed boots. Steel creaked and bent, pressure building up against my bones as the fought against the restraints of my only article of clothing.

The magic seemed to back up as it hit a wall of my footwear. It coursed up towards my belly, inflating and hardening the mass there. Even the hair on my torso absorbed every drop of my burgeoning magic and grew even thicker to the point where the white, leathery flesh that covered my torso was completely covered by the dense pelt. Each follicle was as sensitive as my aching cock. As precum soaked into them, electric bolts of arousal set my nerves on fire and had me shaking in my seat, letting out soft, choking noises. The dogtags that hung around my neck jostled and clinked together as my entire body vibrated, their cool metal ran through the dense fur all over my chest adding to my stimulation. They sank between my pectorals and I could not help but tense my chest a little just to feel the strength of my muscle against metal.

Fuck, it was hot.

My senses were completely overwhelmed and my new draconic eyes fluttered beneath my eyelids. Magic pumped through my pectorals, inflating them but maintaining the density of my chest hair. Perhaps the only thing that poked through the dense bush was the two, bright pink points that were my nipples.

Leather and fabric audibly began to tear as my boots started to give way. The laces lashed out with whipping noises as they snapped and were forced apart. Bands of blue scales began poking out between the leather but most of it stubbornly held on. My feet were aching for release.

Another pulse of magic shot through my arms. A tension built in my shoulders, the individual bands of muscles tightening like taut rubber bands being stretched to their limit. But instead of snapping, they grew bigger, thicker and became coated in heavy, dark-blue scales. This same sensation followed the twin balls of magical pressure rolling its way down my biceps like someone had taken a golf ball was rubbing it against my muscles from the inside. Each bicep bulged and rippled into sizes I never imagined myself having. Fat levels remained the same but the mass beneath it tripled in size. One single vein crawled its way over my biceps, a blue-green glacier working its way down the mountain to the valley between my upper arm and my forearms.

I gnashed my teeth instinctively. Those balls of magical pressure doubled back and slammed into my throat. The moan I let out was a whole octave deeper and reverberated throughout the entire room. My neck was forced to grow bigger by these two lumps that caused my traps to swell up. When I leaned my head back, I could feel muscle cushioning against the back of my neck.

Magic poured up from my throat up into my skull, forcing me to shut completely in anticipation. The powerful lightning that was all of these blasts of stimulation ebbed and the urge to cum faded slightly. Not enough to stop the flood. My clawed hands were moving of their own accord, bringing me closer and closer to ejaculation as they stroked my shaft. The creaking of leather grew louder and louder as my feet continued to grow, my soles bursting out of the frame and beginning the final parts of my transformation.

Drake’s magic alongside my own ran up my jawline. Those two tight balls anchored the corners of my lips, holding them in place even as my nose and lips were pushed forward away from my skull. A long, deep moan rose from my throat, my tongue lashing back and forth to fill the widening gap of my emerging maw. My nostrils flared and my tongue brushed up against my sharp fangs.

Powerful forces pulled at the tips of my ears, dragging them up the sides of my shifting skull. Once they found their base, that tugging sensation grew stronger, morphing them into the pointed elf-like appendages that was familiar with dragons. A dull throbbing pulsed just beside their base. Just as the weight of my emerging muzzle was pulling my face down, two, white horns pushed out of my skull and rebalanced my head. Between them was thick, brown hair that curled down my jawline to form a fluffy chinstrap beard including dense sideburns.

Rrrrrrrrip!

The one article of clothing on me tore. Instincts took over. I lifted my arms above my head, flexing my arms and exposing the thick, brown hairs sprouting from my armpits to the air. My cock continued to pulse and vibrate without my constant stroking. My heaving body needed oxygen and I was barely fitting the quota by panting heavily, my tongue hanging out past my fangs.

My eyes sprang open and like lightning, everything just came together.

Clawed toes burst out from the tips of my combat boots, tearing right through metal. The remnants of the magic in my veins exploded out of throat in a tremendous roar that shook the walls. Muscles all over my body tensed in one mighty flex and, in that moment, my draconic body seemed to remember it was still missing one last thing; my tail. But there was no stopping the immanent release from my aching cock and balls.

Cum churned out of my testicles and shot up my shaft. Just as the last drops of precum oozed from the tip of my cock, a new sensation exploded from the base of my spine, a little volcano of release that was just starting to emerge.

Then came the first blast of semen from my orgasm.

My whole body rocked upwards, lifting partially off my gamer chair. Hot, sticky, white seed exploded from the tip of my dick. My eyes were fully open so I watched it sail a good distance into the air before arcing back downwards. A brief, flickering thought was given to how my cum would get stuck between the keyboards when that little burst of an emerging tail suddenly surged out, a counterbalance to my orgasms. Flesh, bone and scales erupted from the base of my spine, pulling me back down onto my seat with enough force to cause the chair to squeak in protest, warning me not to do that again.

That was not going to happen.

My cock refused to be outdone and it shot another jet of seed up into the air before the first even hit my desk. Again, I was lifted up into the air by the sheer force of the orgasm only to be brought back down by another surge of mass from my tail. The chair groaned in protest but that was all it could manage. I felt it actually sink back down.

Another blast came, stronger than the last. My whole body was arching into the air and my dick was pointing straight upwards, sending my payload on a path to fall directly onto me once gravity kicked in. Before that, my tail burst out its final inches of length and dragged me back to the ground…

CRASH!

… and sent me slamming into my chair, completely shattering it beneath me.

The impact only sent bolts of energy throughout my entire body. My cock spewed cum over and over, shooting it straight upwards. Creamy rain fell down all over me, coating me in proof of my emergence as a dragon. My balls jostled happily, shooting load after load and emptying themselves with promises to be filled once more as I ‘plugged in’ to the world’s internet interactions.

I could not help but grin as I allowed my muscles to relax, finally releasing that flex that I had held for what seemed like an eternity. As I lay there atop the shattered remains of my gamer chair, my body and balls were already starting to metabolize the magic around me.

“Fuck… I totally get it.”

Little wonder Samsyte had been so horny all the time.

“Holy shit!”

Samsyte was standing at the door of my room, his jaw wide open. Drake loomed right behind him, looking similarly as shocked. My friend clearly had just finished his own orgasm judging by the state of his dick but as he stood there staring at me, his cock was already starting to rise up in a salute. I grinned at him and slowly pulled myself up. He scrambled into the room.

We stood in front of one another, our bellies almost touching while his hands hovered over my flanks. Clearly he wanted to touch me but he held back. I was about half a head taller than him. Not quite as tall as Drake but certainly taller than Samsyte. My fellow blue dragon’s glowing eyes roved over my body, appraising me. Those same eyes just kept flicking back to my torso which was completely consumed by the thick fuzz there.

He wanted to touch it so badly.

“Go on,” I rumbled. “Touch it.”

I definitely wasn’t talking about my still-erect cock.

Samsyte pushed his hands against my belly, his fingers sinking about halfway their size into the thick fur there. I let out a sound that was unfamiliar to me. Halfway through a purr and a growl. Like a distant rumble of thunder. I recognized it as a similar sound that Drake let out whenever he was pleased. Samsyte ran his hands through my chest fur, every inch he covered causing my cock to jostle with joy and leak precum.

It felt so fucking good.

On pure instinct, I grabbed the back of his head and pushed his muzzle right into my chest, instinctively flexing them. He mumbled in approval, his warm breath stimulating my fur all the more.

“Fuck that feels good…” I groaned.

I caught Drake approaching and the large black and gold dragon gently wrapped an arm around my shoulder, his huge wings following shortly after.

I looked up to him with a smile.

“I think I promised you something, didn’t I?” I growled at him, flashing my fangs lustfully. Drake raised an eyebrow at me but didn’t say anything. I reached towards his dick which was now very hard. “I told you that when I’m big enough, I’ll do more than watch.”

He chuckled lightly. “You’ve just finished transforming. I think perhaps you should rest.”

I squeezed his cock harder, making his eyes boggle.

“Fuck that. I’ve watched you fuck and be fucked for weeks now.” I pulled Samsyte’s head out from my pecs, looking at these two very sexy men one at a time.

“It’s my turn.”

Positive Interaction

A soft chiming rang through the air.

It was an unusual noise especially this early in the morning. After spending a month in Drake’s mansion, I had gotten used to what the mansion sounded like just as the sun was rising. The sound did not fit into the category of of fucking or even just cute pillow talk. It was a noise akin to wind chimes ringing together.

I slowly rolled onto my back, my arm still pinned under Drake’s large mass. I was facing his back so I caught sight of his wings ruffling lightly indicating that he was just stirring awake. Samsyte, who was currently curled up against the dragon’s front, rumbled softly as he nuzzled my palm. Drake’s tail lifted up from where it was resting against my flanks and slowly stroked my belly. His scales against my body hair caused my erect cock to leak like a faucet.

Draconic morning wood was an event that couldn’t be ignored for long.

Something I’ve learned over the past week since I transformed.

As tempting as it was to go right into fucking one of the men I had grown to adore, I had a routine and discipline was in my blood. Drake’s tail brushing against the modified combat boots to fit my draconic feet was further testament to this. Yes, I went to bed with these open-toed combat boots. Yes they were designed such a way because claws scraping up against the insides of footwear was uncomfortable. Yes it was a sexual thing.

No more questions.

Before I went right back to fucking the other two awake, I reached over to the bedside table just to check the time on my phone. As with every day, that would tell me exactly how much time I had before we all had to get up and have breakfast before Drake’s cleaning spell swept through us.

7:59.

Fuck.

I gently slapped Samsyte’s muzzle a few times before pulling my arm out from under Drake. “Come on boys,” I rumbled, sitting up and stretching. “Almost eight. We’ve got to eat something before the cleaning spell gets to us.”

Drake’s wings ruffled in agitation. “You know I could always modify the spell to come a little later.”

We had this conversation almost every day.

I leaned down and nibbled lightly on Drake’s neck, just where his meaty traps met his neck. “And you know I won’t let you get lazy just because we’re all fucking horny.” Just to prove my point, I rubbed my very erect cock against the underside of his tail. He loved that. It also left him a little vulnerable so I could slap his ass.

Smack!

The sound and Drake’s following yelp brought both dragons away from the threshold of going back to sleep.

“Now get up,” I chastised, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed. Which wasn’t that far. Most beds couldn’t fit three fully grown dragons of our size and Drake’s magic could only do so much before the rest of the room just became one big bed. “We can fuck around after we eat.”

“Awww dad, do we have to?” whined Samsyte playfully. “Can’t we just lie in bed and fuck around now?”

I threw my friend a fierce look over my shoulder as I got up. There was a sexy comeback I had prepared but my thoughts were interrupted by that chiming noise again. Perking my ears, I glanced upwards and followed the frame of the ceiling.

“What is that noise?” Looking back down at Drake who was similarly rousing, I asked, “Did you install wind chimes last night?”

“Out here in the mountains?” answered the Carnal Entertainer. “Those things would be blown clear off and lost in the slopes.” Drake sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. “The only thing that could be is…”

Then Drake’s eyes widened.

“What day is it?”

I shrugged and looked down at my phone. “Thursday. Why?”

The dragon’s golden eyes turned to me. “Fuck! That’s your friends!”

I tilted my head in confusion. “What?”

“Gwok Sang-Ook and Deung Chang-He! They’re here!”

I blinked a few times in surprise and Samsyte immediately sat up like a rocket had been shoved up his ass.

“What!?” cried my fellow blue dragon. “They were arriving today!?”

Drake pounced off the bed, moving faster than anything his size reasonably should. Standing at the foot of the bed, he weaved a spell through the air. That chiming noise grew louder. A shimmering disc of light appeared in front of him. Within the disc I could see B1tBr34ker and Deu2much just getting off an airplane.

They were at the airport.

This early in the morning.

“Shit!” Samsyte cried. “They’re here!?”

“Fuck!” I exclaimed, immediately patting myself down. “They weren’t supposed to arrive for a week!”

Drake growled at himself, slapping his forehead. “Goddamnit… It’s been a week, Naturnal.”

That shocked me. I looked back down towards my phone. Sure enough, a whole week had passed since I had transformed. Time had just sped past me completely. The past seven days had been a whirlwind of sex with dragon lessons dispersed between fucking sessions. Drake was not kidding. Freshly transformed dragons really needed to fuck a lot.

And I was ashamed to admit that as we stood there, I couldn’t help but stroke my dick and lick my lips at the thought of having another two dragons join us.

I wondered what they would taste like.

“Naturnal!” Samsyte hissed.

“What?” I replied. “I’m hard.”

He gave me an exasperated stare. “And I know you’re thinking about what sex with B1t and Deu would be like. I felt the same when I first changed.” Surprisingly, the Dragon of Digital Content was only semi-hard. Drake was rapidly going flaccid. They were certainly more experienced in controlling themselves and curbing their instincts.

Bet I could get them hard again in thirty seconds.

I shook my head of the thought and tried to focus on the problem at hand.

“I’m not ready,” I growled through gnashed fangs. “I haven’t practiced flesh crafting a lot and I’m still pretty fucking horny all the time.”

“We know,” Drake rumbled. “But they’re already here.” With a wave of his hand, the shimmering image of the other half of Upw4rd vanished and he turned to us. “So we need to come up with a plan. We can’t turn them away and it’ll be impossible to keep you away for a month or so until you get yourself fully under control.”

“A month!?”

“That’s about how long it took me to learn korvarg, remember?” Samsyte said, referring to the practice of regulating one’s magical intake so as not to literally suffer from the draconic equivalent of blue balls. “And to be honest, I haven’t mastered it.”

I could boast that I learn things faster than Samsyte but even I couldn’t master that technique in a few hours.

“Alright,” Drake said, holding up his hands. “Calm down. We can do this.”

Though I feared some sort of cartoony scenario where Drake and Samsyte were simultaneously trying to keep the others occupied while keeping me away from them, I realized we had no choice. Our friends were here and we all wanted them to join us on Aether.

We just had to be honest.

Simple. Right?