FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Awakening of Dragons

Chapter Nine

Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by NomexGlove

One good thing over the coming week, those that had been there already allowed through, was that it looked like not everyone that entered their territory, the magic zone, transformed. There were a few slip-ups, especially when the media tried to get in on things before their designated "interview" time, as Arya called it, but they seemed to get away scot-free. That was something, at least, for it could have led to more negative attention than positive and, frankly, they could use all the positive they could get at that time.

If people were allowed in, however, sitting down in the cool dark of the caves, Alan had a theory, Anniyah and Sarah taking their time with her, different groups of dragons coming together with different things.

"I think...this shows..." She muttered, working through her thoughts as she traced a pattern on the wall, an inscription. "That those that transform into other sexes do so for a ratio between male and female. That's easy enough, but why others don't transform, even when they've been stumbling around in here for a while is another question."

Tilsa had been curious about that, wanting to know if her friend could transform, though she had not gone into detail, specifically, as to how the friend that had not yet made it there would even think about that. Perhaps it was a conversation for another day, another time. Or maybe her friend had a reason to want to become another creature, or even another sex. There were people from all walks of life on the earth and all manners of gender identification and sexualities too, to put it very broadly. If the dragons could help people with such issues find themselves safely and comfortably, it would be one more good thing that they could do for the world. Those that wanted to come and were informed about what was going to happen could do so.

They would have liked, however, to see more people coming, though Alan buried herself in the caverns after her friends, from outside, became too spooked to visit her again. Her family had not been by for a while, growing concern about military presences in the area ramping up tensions, her tail flicking back and forth anxiously. She slept unsoundly and researched as much as she did, but not even excavating another cavern had brought many new answers. After the wealth of information she had gained in the early weeks and months after her transformation, the trickle of information had slowed for the moment.

She didn't want to be as frustrated by that as she was, but it was difficult. That the ratio of dragon sexes had to be maintained by magic, somehow, the dragons as much a part of the land around them as the land was linked to them too. It went both ways and it was, at the very least, something that Alan could explain to Sebastian, helping her through her change the best she could.

"I know this will be strange for you, at least you have Santino to help, even with the pregnancy... You can see us care for our hatchlings first and we will all, of course, be here to help with yours too," Alan explained, showing her what she had understood from the markings on clay tablets, all carefully stored and preserved when she had dug them out of a pit. "These are precious... But, here, you see, it's meant to happen, all of this. The caves tell the tale, but I have not learned to read all of it, not yet."

Sebastian blinked at her and shook her head slowly while Santino sat quietly, there as support. She had been quieter still since Seb had come, choosing her words more carefully, more wisely, though a little as if she was unsure too when everything would deign to implode around her. Sometimes, others caught her nuzzling Sebastian's flank while she slept, as if she was tenderly soothing the hatchlings inside.

"So... You think I want to be a female? A dragoness?" Seb said, screwing up her muzzle. "I dunno... I don't think so, never thought about dragons like that before, really, I swear."

Alan splayed her wings out softly, a smile on her lips.

"I know, but...I don't think that's it. I just meant to say that there's a reason for us all to be here, even if there may not be a reason that we could be happy with, something logical, for us to become drakes or dragonesses. But there may be a reason for you to find, something to settle your heart and your mind. I'm happy to help, but I think with each of us so far, though not everyone has come to terms, that notion and purpose has to come from you. You must find your peace with it. Truthfully, we still are, some of us further along than others."

For as much as Alan wanted to help, she could only lead the way and guide her charges in knowledge, understanding and accepting that she could not know everything. That was harder for her to take in than expected, yet she softened the blow a little bit by telling herself that at least she was at the forefront of dragon research in the world. That had to count for something and, truly, the only way it had to count for something was with her.

If a transformation was not desired, however, it seemed that simply staying out of the zone of magic would be enough to prevent it from happening: if one did not enter the area where the magic was present, it would not occur. A transformation that had already begun, however, would not be prevented, regardless of how they roamed, which had been the case for Julie, even if they could slow. That, however, was unconfirmed, as much as they would have liked to find more information on it. With no flexibility for such accidents in the future, others that did not understand the transformations stepping into their zone of magic, they increased their patrols, which was helped at least a little with the greater number of dragons there to conduct them and a tighter zone to manage.

In theory, the site of the caverns could continue to transform people into dragons whenever there was a "need" in the world for them, though that was as personal as Alan anticipated it was for the individual people and dragons. She anticipated that the magical influence could be heightened if a life breath, as an example, was spread through it, though that was one notion that she kept to herself after Santino had accidentally sped up Sebastian's transformation. If things came to a head, however, it was a soft strategy that they could use to let the magic of the caves and dragons do its work. In a way, if the life and healing breath, as she thought, could extend the power of the caverns, it would be like nature taking its true course, transforming those that were in need and leaving any that were not to be.

Still, she hoped not to. She'd much rather see people transformed, going forward, if they chose it for themselves, even if the choice would be ultimately up to the inquisitive tug of the magic reaching for them. But the dragons had all found something there to make their own, even if they were still in the process of uncovering it.

*

Santino and Sebastian... Well, they dated. As much as dragons could, taking a flight together, laughing and reminiscing, sitting before a private fire on their own, as if they were out camping. It could have been just camping, if not for all the scales and the wings and the teeth, but it was comforting for them to simply be together. Perhaps a reconnection of sorts should have been more difficult for them, but it was easier than they could have expected to slip back into softening old patterns and ways of being, everything that made them feel whole again, as if they had been back together for years, or that they had never left.

"Come on, I think we should try it," Santino said with a giggle that sounded a little more girlish than intended. "It won't be bad... Come on!"

Sebastian laughed along with her, though the shake of her head was more dubious than what Santino was proposing.

"It's not going to work! Our lips don't move like that anymore!"

Yet she obliged her partner and, dare she say, her lover too, pressing her lips to Santino's and feeling out just how kissing might work between them. Truth be told, she was correct in assuming that it was too much of a human construct to work for them, but flickering their tongues out against one another's muzzles was nice too, exploring each other. It was different, like they were getting to know how their bodies fit together all over again, but in a good way, an exciting way.

They laughed into the "kiss" if it could even be called that. It was more a lapping of each other's muzzles, tongues flickering over scales, lips and even the tongue of the other too. Whereas they could move their lips a little over their teeth, there was not enough flexibility there for them to purse them into a kiss, though that was not something that was all that important to them. Being together was of far greater importance than anything else, they were both sure of it.

Being on the same page helped them come together, softly, kindly, lovingly, knowing one another. They had changed, physically, and their minds had changed too, been forced to change to cope with the physical transformation, but they were still themselves underneath all that. Their personalities and who they were had not been lost, not by any means, and it was a relief to press in close to each other, feeling the other under the heat of their scales.

Day and night, they grew closer and closer, hardly noticing the slip into three days to the meeting, their hearts full of one another, besotted, intermittently shy. Meeting the other's eyes and looking away, embarrassed to be caught looking - it was a good thing that the other dragons (perhaps bar Darius) found it amusing rather than annoying, but they would have done it all anyway. It was not as if falling in love, let alone falling in love with the same being for a second time, could be controlled.

The others felt themselves shifting, seeing themselves differently, even though the change in them had been coming over time. Slowly but surely, with the introduction of new dragons, the elders had taken their role as the leaders, though their hierarchy was fluid, a little like a herd of horses. While there was no alpha leading them all absolutely, they would all step forward, from the line of first-generation dragons, to lead where they were the most skilled, all having something to offer.

Where they were matriarchs of the new world society, the first generation were protectors and matriarchs of their own kind too,

Darius, however, took a moment to investigate himself, settling down alone before a craggy outcrop, nothing of beauty there, but that was what he hoped to change. Whereas the others, including Santino, had been playing with the development of their life breath (and hoping there were more powers that they could uncover in time), he had been more interested in fire, a bit more like Brent and Arya. Some seemed able to play with different breaths, but some only one. Things like that didn't seem to have a reason behind them, though he was as interested as Alan to know the reasoning that was actually there. Hopefully, he could help Alan uncover it. But his calling was clearly not in making things grow, regardless of how pretty the elegant flowers were that Santino grew just for Sebastian, the dragoness warping them into more and more elaborate shapes and colours, things that would not be found naturally. In a way, she was envious. But maybe that meant that he could do something too.

Maybe.

Darius could only try.

But settling down with a pile of rocks between his front feet, he took his time, his scales ending up blackened and a little smoky around the edges (well, dragons weren't fire-proof then, not completely, who knew?) he had what he wanted. A jewel-like substance, blasting away the rock and baking it both under intense heat and pressure, forcing the stone to form to his will.

Of course, Darius' failed attempts were scattered around him. There was only one beautiful, roughly faceted stone that would draw any eyes there, the blue and red firestone, for he could not possibly call it anything else, born from fire itself. At first, the dragon thought that he was stripping away the outer layers to bring life to the gemstone beneath, but it was not that. It was something new.

It was cut off-centre, not perfect, but perfectly imperfect. It shone as if a dragon's fire was flickering in the centre, about the size of a child's fist. It was small but it was perfect, exactly the way it was.

Darius ducked his head, a low croon rising. He knew exactly the dragoness that he was to give it to.