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Rise of Dragons

This is a story about a man named Geoffrey. Age 32, owner of a small corner store, and resident of the Titan colony. Like most of his kind, he was tall and slender, thanks to the low surface gravity. He wore the same heavy clothing that everyone else did to help keep their bodies healthy in the light weight landscape, but it didn't stop some changes to human physiology after a few generations of living on the converted moon.

Humans had lived on Titan for over 75 tears now, but only recently had they been able to exist outside with no special equipment. In its natural state, Titan was a hydrocarbon rich frozen ball of rock, covered by thick clouds of nitrogen and methane. Like many other colony worlds, humanity managed to survive here in sealed off pressure domes, to keep the nasty atmosphere out, and a more comfortable one inside where everyone could enjoy it. But several decades back, advances in terraforming technology had enabled all the colony worlds to rapidly build up breathable atmospheres, have comfortable surface temperatures, and generally become quite lovely places to live.

The hydrocarbon rich climate had provided ample fuel for the conversion, as well as atmosphere generation around other moons in the Saturn system. Here on Titan, in the summer of the year 2300 CE, it was a lovely sunny day. Sure the sun wasn't nearly as close here as it was further into the system, but the light it provided was still more than enough to light up the sky, warm up the oceans, and heat up the ground. Thanks of course to the thick atmosphere, kept in check by still operational terraforming engines.

On this fine day, Geoffrey was getting ready for work. After all, his shop was not going to run itself. This was of course because he'd opted not to switch the inventory system over to an automated one, but such was his choice. Like many others in the town of Borden, he lived in a highly efficient mass occupancy structure. Namely, a row house. It was 100 square metres of domestic comfort, made of durable materials likely as much to last longer than he himself did. Fetching his summer jacket and stuffing his pants pockets with any items he thought he'd need over the course of the day, he walked outside and let the house lock itself up behind him.

As there were no personal vehicles below the size of an orbital shuttle available on the colony world, he walked up to a public bike rack and extracted one of the pedal powered conveyances and headed off down the road. Even if there were ground vehicles on the planet like moon, there really wasn't a need for them. All the towns and cities shared one thing in common, namely being built with walk-ability and mass transit in mind. Nothing was more than a 10 minute walk from a transit station, and from there you could go anywhere. As such, most people either used their own two feet to get around, or rode a bike.

Today, Geoffrey decided he'd take a little detour on his way to work, and ride past the greenhouses and parkland forming the border of town. It would have been much faster to simply cut straight through town to get to his shop, but he liked the scenery. The firm paths of the town gave way to dirt and grass in the parkland, lined with large shrubs and gigantic trees. He pondered potential new inventory and various other facts and figures as he rode along, not paying too close attention to the path ahead.

It was little surprise to anyone but Geoffrey when his bicycle tire hit something or another sticking up out of the grass, causing him to lose control and go flying off the bike entirely. It is important to note that thanks to the low gravity, one can fall for a longer period and cover more distance while doing so.

As such, he tumbled in a slightly upwards arc before coming to a bouncing rest against the trunk of a tree, no worse for wear. Dusting off his clothes, he spent a moment checking for injuries. Finding none, he stormed off to the object in the path that had so fouled his morning ride, only to find a strange golden object lodged in the ground. Bending down, he found it took some doing to extract it from the grass and dirt, and lift the oddly heavy object up for further inspection.

It was a palm sized golden dragon statue, mildly dirty, but nothing a good wash wouldn't fix. The dragon itself was rather rotund in nature, and looked like the product of some animated adventure within one of the simulation domes. Still, it was eye catching, and would likely fetch a high price if he cleaned it up and put it in his shop. He'd no sooner moved to begin walking back to his fallen bike, when a booming voice began to echo from nowhere.

"You have been given a great source of power. Use it wisely, and unlock a new reality you never thought possible. Join us, it is time to mend the bonds that were once broken, and expand your horizons in ways you can only begin to imagine..."

A wind was picking up as the voice carried on, and a very faint cloying purple mist began to appear here and there around Geoffrey and the foliage. Looking up, he blinked to himself, and released the statue into mid air, not even watching as it fell back down into the dirt.

"Nope"

That's all he bothered to say, dusting off his hands and returning to the bike. The voice stuttered mid sentence, and tried to coax him back.

"But this could be the next step in your evolution as a species..."

Shaking his head, the lone human picked the bike up and rode off, immediately putting the ridiculous scene out of his mind.

"Nooooooope."

And that was that. He rode back into town and left the statue where he found it. The wind stopped and all returned to normal, leaving a somewhat dejected disembodied voice sputtering like a balloon losing all its air. Geoffrey meanwhile arrived at work and put on a pot of tea, while washing off the remaining dirt from his hands. He opened his shop on time, and prepared to greet his regular customers. In his mind, the statue was already forgotten. It was entirely too silly, anyways. He had no time for such nonsense.

. . .

This is a story about a man named Simon.

Like many within the colony town of Borden, Simon was a slim and tall example of humanity. He worked in the greenhouses outside of town, and lived in a small block of apartments that overlooked the gardens and hydroponics bays where he worked. It was a pleasant view, one he enjoyed looking at while drinking coffee on his small balcony. He could walk to work in just a few minutes, which suited him fine. From his home, he could also walk into town with relative ease, and fetch supplies at the market. From there he was mere minutes to anywhere, thanks to the well built mass transportation network. Why, just the weekend before he'd been out to visit a friend in another town, via sub-surface high speed train.

Today he was up to his elbows in nutrient fluid, fixing machines that stirred up the hydroponic tanks. It was an easy enough fix, and before long the machine was purring away like it always did. Next up was transferring half grown heads of lettuce from one pond to the other. This task was also largely automated, but people were always on hand for quality control, and to move any precious plants the machines missed.

Simon often found he spent most of his days simply making sure the plants were healthy, fixing the odd machine, and inputting new commands and planning notes in the computer system. He had heard once that back on Earth, well before space travel kicked off, farming was considered unskilled work by many. In the colonies, it was one of the most important jobs, and one that needed a masters degree in agriculture. Simon could happily work in the hydroponics gardens, an aeroponics greenhouse, a combination aquaponics fish farm and produce factory, or even a dirt farm if one were inclined to be that wasteful with available surface area. Education on the subject was very sound, as it had to be.

As hours passed, it soon became time to wrap things up for the day and head on home. The concept of "day" on Titan was a strange one, as it orbited around Saturn roughly every 17 standard days. Many of these days were in total darkness, when the moon passed behind the huge gas giant. The citizens managed with plentiful electrical power and artificial lighting. This combined with polarizing windows that could block out the light, people found it easy to sleep in the "day" or be up and productive at "night".

Grabbing his personal effects from his locker, Simon was soon waving goodbye to fellow employees, and heading out into the nearby park to walk on home. Something hidden in the shadows of some dirt and grass caught his foot, and nearly sent him tripping over himself. Fortunately he was the agile sort, and swiftly recovered. Looking down, he saw something golden, shining faintly in the light. It looked like it had been disturbed recently, possibly multiple times, but left where it was on the ground.

Picking the oddly heavy item up, he admired what turned out to be a festively plump golden dragon statue. Smiling at the discovered treasure, he began wiping some of the dirt from it with a rag from his pocket. He'd barely had it out of the ground for more than a minute when a breeze picked up, followed by a thundering voice booming at him from somewhere high above.

"Great source of power. Yours now. Use it in good health. No take backs!"

Simon could only blink at the strange meaning, and uttered a suitable reply.

"... What?"

"You heard me!" Was all the reply he got, booming with enough volume to cause the leaves on nearby bushes to rattle around.

Simon briefly saw a purple haze gather around himself and the statue, then it was gone after he blinked to clear his vision. Further attempts to call out to the curious voice left him only talking to himself, there on the path in the park.

Most curious.

With nothing better to do, the somewhat bewildered farmer continued on his way, hugging the statue up against his dirt stained jacket.

* * *

As was usual after his shift, Simon set to work preparing dinner. It was always a good time to refill the tank, or so he often said. He paused long enough to gently set his new golden prize down on the counter, then got started washing up. Fresh vegetables of various sorts were rinsed, chopped, and set to steam. A hearty helping of synthetic chicken meat was put in the warmer, followed by a nice sauce packet. Thanks to the wonder of modern machinery, cooking was a snap, even with fresh ingredients.

Setting a timer for a few minutes, he gathered his jacket and personal effects, and set them on the various hooks and pegs bolted near the door of his residence. It was a simple place, one bedroom with a large open combination kitchen and living room. The bathroom had a full sized shower, that could be sealed off a tad to provide a foot or two of standing water to soak in, if one wished to sit down. The bed was big enough for two, or one bachelor and a few stuffed toys.

It suited him.

Turning his attention back to the little statue, he smiled and went to go pick it up. A quick dip in the sink with some soap got most of the dirt off, and a few minutes with a wash cloth got rid of any stains or stuck on grime. A dry and fluffy towel finished the job, and Simon set his new ornament on the coffee table. Flopping down on the over-stuffed bean bag couch that took up a portion of the living room, the farmer flicked on his entertainment unit, and settled in to enjoy a movie of some sort while his meal continued to warm.

The faintest movement caught his attention, and he glanced down at the little statue once more. What appeared to be a puff of purple smoke had risen up out of the sculpted nostrils, only to disperse into the air. Curious, he reached out to see what could be causing the odd effect. Perhaps the little statue had hidden electronics? Turning it this way and that, he missed a few more spurts of the gas coming from here and there on the statue.

Before he found anything, a chime announced that his meal was almost finished. Shrugging, he set the statue down, and hefted himself off the couch and back to the kitchen. The warmed faux chicken cutlet was carefully sliced up, and set on a plate with the veggies. Sauce was added, a fork was fetched, and with that he returned to his eat. Perching on the bag, he selected a random film to play, and set about the fine art of transferring food from plate to face.

One of the modern computer animated adventures stored in the colony databases began to play, featuring all sorts of creatures big and small, with cartoonishly distorted features. Sure they could make things look so real you couldn't tell the difference, but people by and large still enjoyed their cartoons. As he watched the program, he swiftly made his meal disappear, and lounged back in the well padded bag-couch to let digestion begin.

Belching softly, he scratched at his slim and trim stomach, and lost himself for a while in the fun filled antics of some adorable cartoon characters. Smirking as a rather rotund cartoon dragon appeared on screen, he glanced down at the statue and grinned all the more.

"Careful little guy, looks like you've got come competition in the cuteness department."

Weather the statue agreed or not was a subject of endless debate. In either case, Simon rewarded for his commentary by seeing the golden eyes light up and flash, plus the resumption of the purple smoke spewing forth from mouth and nostrils.

The smoke gathered like a fog on the ground, and in the span of time it took for the farmer to lurch forwards and grab at the statue, it was already several inches thick. His sock-clad feet began to feel as if they'd fallen asleep within the mist, as he held up the statue and tried in vain to turn what could only be a concealed smoke machine off. Evidently it was anything but, as the firm and heavy statue seemed to explode into even more mist, vanishing entirely in his grip.

The smoke gained volume and filled the whole room right to the ceiling, blocking his view of what was going on. The pins and needles sensation flashed over his entire frame, and his sense of self vanished for a moment. All senses failed him for a moment, and Simon was suddenly alone in his own mind. The mist gathered in on itself, becoming a fast moving sphere that glowed and pulsed, boiling here and there as something or another thrashed around within.

Rising a foot or so off the floor, the purple sphere of mist seemed to collapse further on itself for the briefest of moments, then exploded outwards with enough force to send small objects clattering around the room. A creature emerged in mid air from the burst of smoke, and fell down onto its back upon the bean bag couch. The large bit of furniture held the creatures weight well, and that was that.

Silence filled the room for a few short lived seconds, before the creature took a deep ragged breath, eyes springing open displaying quite a lot of shock. Thick hands slapped over itself as sensation returned, and the newly emerged being could only yelp with fear and surprise at the flood of sensory information. It tried to stand, only to flop back down on the bag with a thump, panting and shaking from the stress of it all. Curling up tight, all it could do was lay there shaking, fighting off the urge to go to sleep or wake up from a confusing dream.

Calm. It spread over every cell of its being like a warm blanket. The creature snapped back to reality, as everything began sorting itself out. He was a he, that was a start. He was also named Simon, and worked in the greenhouse. He'd been eating dinner, and watching the cartoon that was still playing. Glancing down, he saw his discarded cutlery and plate, and shook his head. Hefting himself up on unsteady feet, he took a few steps forward and bent down to retrieve the fallen flatware.

His hand was a giant orange thing with three fat fingers and a thumb. Finding himself so shocked again was of course a shock in and of itself, which just didn't go over so well in his mind. Feeling as if his mind was struggling to make sense of all this, he leaned back on his ample tail to avoid falling over. It was at this point he realized that he not only had a tail, but it was apparently quite the full figured adornment to his anatomy. Passing his orange hand over his face, and finding a snout instead of the nose he used to be equipped with, he felt his eyelid begin to twitch.

Inhaling and exhaling firmly, trying to restore some measure of calm, he tried to re-order his thoughts. Just what had he been doing? He started at his other hand, which still clutched the plate and fork. Nodding to himself, he marched over to the kitchen, and disposed of the used items. They'd be incinerated with the rest of the trash before long. That done, he cleaned his hands in the sink, and found that they were still quite large and orange. For that matter, so were the wrists and lower arms they were attached to. Clutching the side of the sink for strength, he looked over his shoulder to the washroom door, and decided to check on the extent of the damage.

He could see the shadow of a strange figure indeed approaching in his large mirror, and felt his jaw drop as he flicked on the light. Naturally the jaw of the creature he saw in the mirror dropped as well, and great golden eyes blinked with worried confusion. Simon the farmer of old was gone entirely, replaced with something... else.

He had a snout now. Fang filled, but not sharp at all by the feel of it. His tongue was thick and long, and the inside of his mouth was a darker shade of orange than the rest of his hide. He had several horns atop his head, that were firm to the touch, but yielded curiously to pressure. His neck had elongated somewhat, his shoulders were broader than they were before, and his arms were thick but round. His torso was stretched and wide, yet still trim looking up front. He did indeed have a very thick and long tail, which was currently flopped up against one of his equally thick legs. His feet had become two-toed pontoons with claws on the end, which he could wiggle up and down. He did a little turn, and saw that he even had a row of little spines going down the back of his head, spine, and all the way to the end of his tail. They were a golden brown, compared to his bright orange skin.

As his hands roamed around, he unclasped the now stretched out and completely ruined shorts he'd been wearing, discarding them in the trash. His plain white shirt was equally distorted and torn in places, and felt oddly tight around the back. Tugging it off, it too joined the trash pile. Blinking, he turned around again to stare at his back once more, noting that he'd revealed a neatly folded pair of wings. They seemed somewhat small for a dragon, he felt. Where the idea had come from, he wasn't quite sure, but there it was. Rolling it over in his mind, as the shock of the situation rapidly cleared, he agreed that he was most definitely a dragon. Facing the mirror once more, he looked down and quickly noticed two things. First, he had a thick plastic valve where his belly button used to be, and it was popped out. Second, he was very well equipped for a dragon, if he was any judge.

Blushing at the latter, he reached down to investigate the former first, and found himself blushing even more-so. Despite being a soft plastic cap and valve stem, he could feel it. Not only that, it felt delightful. He found himself blushing beet red as he fumbled with the thing, tail thumping into the shower and toilet as it swished around. Huffing out warm steamy air, he pressed on the cap and felt the whole thing collapse down flush with his front. Glancing back at his swishing tail, something caught his eye, and he reached out to grab at the wriggling appendage. Oddly enough it came to meet him halfway, and he realized that he could move it around like any other limb.

There at the end of his tail was another equally large plastic cap, sealed up tight. It too was quite sensitive to the touch, and he shivered as he fumbled with it. Feeling a pleasant warmth grow in his exposed loins, he collapsed the second plug down, and wriggled all over. This all deserved further attention, but later. Taking one last look at himself in the mirror, he estimated that his height had remained the same, at the least. Somehow, that was reassuring.

Wandering back into the main room, he glanced back at the still running program, and once more caught sight of a cartoon dragon ambling about. He couldn't help but smirk and shake his head, wondering what to do with himself now. Frankly, he was surprised he hadn't started screaming so loud that the neighbours had come running. Instead he flopped down on his bean-bag couch, and switched from the movie to his work station. There he set up a search about himself, trying to figure out if something like this had happened before. Surely he wasn't the first curious looking dragon to emerge out of purple mist.

Running his hands over himself absently while the search ran, he was surprised to hear his hide squeak somewhat. It was as if his skin was made of some form of rubber. Well, it wouldn't be the strangest part of his day, that much was certain. It would explain why he felt so squishy, and somewhat light on his feet. Tail thumping against the legs of the coffee table, he hauled it up onto the couch with him, and cuddled it like one of his body-pillow sized stuffed animals. It was definitely just as comfortable, was was the rest of him, if he was any judge.

"You know, I could get used to this..."

He smiled to himself, finding that his voice was largely unchanged as well, just the slightest bit deeper. Perhaps being a rubber dragon wouldn't be so bad, provided they let him keep working in the greenhouses... The thought hit him hard, and he flopped back against his wings, just wondering what the next few days would bring? He had to work the next day, and his appearance would be a shock to many, that much was sure. He likely couldn't pass it off as a costume, at least not for long.

A deep rumble in his belly brought his attention back to the present, and he glanced down at it only to have it rumble firmly in protest once more. Apparently being turned into a dragon was hungry work. He'd always been a reasonably practical person, and as he'd often said, never pass up an opportunity to fill the tank up again. Soon he was busy in the kitchen once more, fixing up a second dinner for himself, with extra portions and a few servings of desert.

At least his appetite hadn't changed. Familiarity can be a comforting thing.

* * *

It was late into the evening when a much rounder orange dragon once more flopped on his couch, belching loudly and blushing over his bloat. His gut was sticking out at least a foot from where it used to be, packed to the brim with a second dinner and plenty of desert. He'd have to get more food at this rate. Scratching at his soft hide with blunted finger claws, Simon relaxed and decided to see if his information search had turned up any results.

Sure enough, there were a few hits, on old internet pages. They had been faithfully transferred over to the newer and higher speed systems as humanity spread out farther and farther into space, and archived just in-case. Several decades back there had been an outbreak of something or another at a lab back on Earth, and there had been reports of strange purple smoke. There was also sightings of unusual creatures, and rumours of a government cover up. Most of this was logged on unofficial sites however, so there was very little in the way of source citing.

There was also plenty of old footage and photographs of a travelling carnival, that roamed Earth well over a century back, and put on early virtual reality entertainment in inflatable domes. Several pictures had been taken of a large grey dragon, rumoured to be a combination of costume and special effects, whom was apparently the owner of the carnival. Similar unofficial sites listed the actors and effects within the carnival as being too real to be mere simulations, but they were the vocal majority.

Everything else was even less fact checked than the last, and devolved into just another hunt for monsters in the shadows. Keeping the more detailed records in mind for now, he shut the system off and relaxed, putting his arms behind his head. Something caught his attention as he became relaxed to the silence of the room, and he flicked one fin-like ear around to try and hear it better. It sounded like a faint hissing, coming from somewhere or another. At the same time, he started to feel warm in his mid-section, and the warmth began to set off feelings of pleasure.

Feeling flustered, and blushing bright red, he leaned up to find out what was happening to him now. Placing both hands on his ample gut, he gasped as he felt it getting softer, and apparently expanding too. The hissing noise was getting louder too, as his stomach distended larger, filling with gas. Moaning, tongue hanging out from one side of his snout, he found that wasn't the only thing growing. His formerly dangling equipment was starting to balloon out longer and thicker as well, pressing up against his legs. His hips were swelling out to either side, and his tail was getting fatter by the moment. Grunting, and feeling terribly aroused, he lumbered to the washroom, trying his best not to stain the carpet from the sheer pleasure of it all.

Loins dripping as it all expanded, the ballooning dragon felt his belly nozzle pop out, and he couldn't help but rub his fingers against it, panting all the while. It was easy enough to crawl into the combined shower and tub to sit down, and play with his stretching features. His rump and hips swelled to an impressive size, squishing against the plastic sides of the tub. His tail became extra large and then some, squishing up behind him like the best back rest one could ask for, its tip flopping over one shoulder. Finally his belly ballooned up to a very fat and round size indeed, held up by a stiffening pole of light orange dragon meat, which had easily gotten thicker than one of his legs.

Grunting, he made an effort to rub at it all with fat paws, dribbling everywhere with every little movement. It was all too much for his pleasure flooded mind before long, and he came with the force of a burst water balloon. His sticky seed spurted forth and splashed off the ceiling of the shower stall, raining back down all over himself, leaving him a very messy dragon indeed. Groaning, the well-rounded orange blimp could only lay there against his own immense tail, hugging his belly and somewhat distended chest, with thicker arms than he remembered having moments before. Drifting in the afterglow, he had enough presence of mind to reach up and flick on the shower, letting the warm water rinse him clean.

There he stayed for several minutes, as the drain struggled to deal with the sticky globs of dragon seed. No doubt the engineers at the plant would register the sudden influx of unknown substances into the grey-water supply with interest. Grunting after coming around once more, he stood up with a squeak, and fetched his trusty brush and soap. His hide squeaked and deformed as he brushed it down, and it lathered up well. Amidst the brush and the bubbles, his claw-tipped hands roamed over his newly rounded surface, finding it very sensitive and pleasant to touch. He most definitely felt like a balloon, and if his sudden expansion was any indication, he was exactly that.

Leaning up against the stall, and enjoying being frothed up like a giant puff-ball for a few moments, his giant pontoon of a tail caught his attention. It was still squished up against him, the tip easily flopping up over one shoulder. One flick of a finger against the nozzle located upon the very end was enough to make him shiver with delight, and he tugged the tail closer to his own snout with barely constrained curiosity. The cap popped open with ease, and an experimental puff of warm air sent a burst of pleasure through his entire being.

A few more puffs caused him to round out even larger than he already was, though apparently mostly in the tail section. Having such a huge thick appendage strapped to his hind end was quite an unexpected joy, and he all too happily gave it a few more puffs for good measure. Feeling like he was about to spring a leak down south again, and blushing bright red, he capped himself off again and pushed down on the nozzle until it lay flat against the tip of his tail once more. Grunting, and having to reach quite a ways to get at his fat stomach, he managed to collapse and secure his belly valve as well.

It took some moments longer to finish getting clean, and longer still to fully dry off, but eventually he felt ready to exit the washroom. As he left, he caught sight of himself once more in the mirror, and couldn't help but whistle. His belly was a puffed out sphere, sticking several feet in-front of him. His hips and rump stuck out quite a ways as well, tapering down to thick legs and oversized feet. Under his puffed up gut, his still rather engorged dragon equipment could be seen, wobbling around with every movement, and squishing against his ballooned stomach. His pear-shaped figure tapered off a tad to his inflated chest, ending off with somewhat thick arms, a long neck, and a chunky face.

There was no doubt about it, he was certainly quite a lot of balloon dragon.

Smirking at himself, he suddenly yawned wide, and blinked sleep from his eyes. It was "night" time after all, and it was getting late. Plus suddenly changing species really took a lot out of a guy. Grunting, he stumbled and squeaked his way out of the washroom, massive hips catching on the door frame. Several squeaks and a good shove got him through alright, and before long he was repeating the process on his bedroom door.

Simon paused only to stare at his bed, suddenly thinking that it didn't look all that large anymore. Still, it was the only game in town at the moment. He collapsed on it without too much more thought, and quickly found that his own soft frame made the thing even more comfortable than it already was. Curling up, he tugged his massive tail around and cuddled up with it like a body pillow.

The next day was going to be interesting, that much was sure. But for now, it was time for rest. Within moments, he was softly snoring, like so many others living on the Titan colony.

To be continued, in part 2.

-Tombfyre, 2014.