Four travelers stumble up an egg, which hatches into a strange, winged lizard. They think they found themselves the chance of a lifetime. Unfortunately, for them, their new pet has other plans for them.




“Oh my, it’s hatching!” spoke a gentle voice, soft and smooth as silk, a woman’s tone.


“We can all see that,” said a gruffer tone, more rugged tone, likely belonging to a bold man.


“I can’t wait to see it!” shouted another woman, her voice full of cheer.


“Well, there goes dinner...” said another man, his tone dour.

Between them all, a single scaly egg twisted and popped, a tiny snout poking out of the gooey shell. The men and women around bend down to peer at the creature inside as it made its escape.


“Push, push!” cheered the meeker woman. “You can do it!”

The egg shook some more, the shell collapsing in itself and falling to pieces, getting torn into two as the opening the creature made inside grew wider. One more stab and the eggshell was undone, nothing more than a soft vessel falling in itself. Inside, a small creature, something like a little lizard with wings on its back poked out, blinking its slitted eyes over to those who stood over it, four people, two men, two women, yet each was different in their own way.


“There you go!” The closest to it, the cheery woman spoke to it, wiping away the last of its former home. Alexia’s mane was something of a red frizz, her body tall, yet a toned in a way that most men simply couldn’t ignore, accented further by her flowing and smooth dress. It was not exactly suited for travel, but decent enough for movement on the move and was sure to catch the eye.


“Heh, it’s like some overgrown lizard. Look at it, it’s the size of some fattened hen!” laughed the rough man, getting between Alexia and the little creature. Georg was built like a cabinet, his chest strong and fit. Dressed in mostly light armor, he was the group’s muscle. He bent down and eye the little creature, as it turned its wide and open gaze towards him with a weak and tired seeming movement. “Heh, I think it likes me.”


“I believe it’s imprinting,” said the other woman, adjusting her large spectacle glasses as she turned to look at the creature. Enaria the Scholar was well versed in many things, particularly the arcanes and the subjects of life. She examined the small thing with a delicate and clear understanding. “Many animals, especially the egg born ones, do that so the children always know to seek their parents.”


The little creature was like that for a few moments but as soon as the fire in the background started to crackle, it turned its gaze towards the source of heat. Its first moments were in some camp by the roadside, a dark lit sky contrasted against by an orange glow on the earth.


The last man in the group, Denar was the group’s pathfinder, an experienced explorer of both urban and wild. His stubble was barely kept from turning into an outright beard through what apparently had been crude implements and the crossbow on his back had been tested against many a foe. He bent down in front of the creature, blocking its line of sight to the flames. “Don’t think about getting away from us…”


“It won’t,” said Enaria. “It thinks we’re its parents… and is going to act accordingly…”


“Uh… what are we supposed to do with it?” Georg said.


“It’s so cute!” cheered Alexia. “We can keep it as a pet!” She reached down at tried to touch the thing, only to reel back as the little whelpling bit her finger. “Ow!”


Denar rolled his eyes. “Amateurs.” he casually approached the little creature and approached it with a single and quick motion, scooping the reptile and depositing it in a small woven basket. It scurries around inside, although not in any desperation. Maybe amusement from being sent from one container into another. “That’ll keep it tied up for now. You better find it something to eat, because I’m not giving it any of my fingers…”


“So… what do we call it?” Georg said. “I mean, if we’re gonna keep it, what’s its name gonna be?”

Alexia was still flexing her fingers, reeling from the bite, blowing on the small nip. “Well… maybe we can call her Ember?”


“Her?” questioned Enaria. “How do you know that? It’s not mature yet, so you can’t just tell its sex.”


Alexia shrugged. “I dunno. I just… feel it…”


The entire group just seemed to silently decide to go along with it. Fine, Ember it was, as far as anyone was concerned.


Georg lifted the tiny basket with the little beast inside of it, peeking a look, but careful not to get bitten as well. “Well, I guess at the very least, this thing might be worth something once we get back to the Capital.”


Alexia nods in agreement. She had a different idea of value for the thing that mere gold. “She’ll be the talk around town if I have anything to say about it… and I think I can probably get an invitation to that fancy manor party a few months down the line if I show up with an exotic pet…”


“A lizard with wings,” Denar said dismissively. “Well, I can’t say I’ve seen one of those…”


Enaria steps in and takes the creature. “Which is all the more reason why I should catalogue the little thing while I can. It reminds me of those descriptions from some old books in the college. ‘Dragons’, I heard they were called.”


“Dragons…” the group mused together. Had they just ran into a rare and once thought to be mythical creature? If that was the case, making sure the thing was well cared for while in their custody was going to be a top priority. Worth all the gold they would spend.


“Right, I think I can get us something quick. Some deer were nearby and I can get something within the hour.”


“Yeah, and I’ll go keep watch as always,” said Georg, hefting a spear up to his side.


Alexia looked depressed. She wanted to grab the creature and coddle it, but the group’s scholar did essentially have a point. And well, she wasn’t a good study aide. “Yeah and I’ll… practice my routine.”


Enaria adjusted her glass and took the basket towards the band’s carriage. The group had plenty of things it wanted to carry on the road and it made sense that they should use a roofed transported while they used the roads. It especially made it easier to keep hold of new research materials and papers, invaluable for a scholar, especially since the thing drove itself as long as the sun was up and there was a writing desk in the middle. It was a prize won by Alexia in a previous day, certainly better than having a horse drawn affair. “Well, looks like I have you all to myself little beastie…” She went inside and set the creature down on her desk, opposite the side of the inkwell.


The little dragon poked her head from the basket and looked curious to see what the scholar was doing. She seemed more active, perhaps a bit stronger than before, not the helpless and incapable thing she was a moment before. She saw a pen flicking forth, making all sorts of lines and circles and curves that held no meaning… So strange really, but maybe if she knew how to read, those words might have been understood…


Ember stirred in her little holding basket, growing impatient. Enaria casually flicked a few kindly motions in her general direction, casually assuring her that she was there, and for a while that worked. Little Ember was contained and only causing a minimum of ruckus. “Majoris Draconis. Order of True Dragons,” said the scholar, flipping a book. “Hm, there’s so many different kinds… but what kind are you? How did you get here?”


And that was when little Ember took her chance. She nipped Enaria’s scribing hand, causing the woman to jump and stumble out of her seat, falling and losing her spectacles in the process.
Ember rolled out of her basket and nipped on the woman a bit more, playfully attacking her surrogate mother.


It took a few moments of concentration and annoyance, but Enaria eventually managed to grab hold of the creature and find her belongings. “.. If you weren’t worth me getting a shot at an Award this year… I’d I’d….” she fumed, unable to find the right words.


Ember whimpered, sensing her anger.


The sight was enough for the learned woman to settle down. “How could she stay mad at such a timid little thing? “Don’t do that again,” she said half heartedly. She wasn’t bleeding, her clothes weren’t torn, maybe oozing with lizard spit, overall no harm done. Well, aside from breaking her inkwell and pride.


Of course, she didn’t realize what the little nips had done. She hardly noticed the slightly greater weight the little dragon now held, and how Ember wasn’t has as easy a time fitting in her tiny basket. She also didn’t notice the shade of yellow her eyes were turning or the scales forming on her ears, or how her pants how were a whole two inches further down than normal. She didn’t notice the power the little dragon had… she didn’t know of the danger the little pet actually posed…


Enaria went back to work, wanting to pretend the last for moments were just a mistake. She went back to writing notes in her journal, adding an entry under behavior.


Annoying, overly playful, yet ultimately a child…at least the gist of it. Ember looked at the drawings, her little wings flapping up and down with satisfaction.


“That perfectly describes you…” said the scholar, pretending for a moment that the little dragon could read. She didn’t know how close to the truth she was.


Ember licked her lips. She wanted more.


As the scholar went back to focusing on her writing, Ember casually rolled back into her basket. Her little nips had slowly took effect, leaving her to relax.


Enaria was too engrossed in her writing to notice what was happening to her. The scales on her ears were slowly moving down her neck. She didn’t feel them go down her forehead, didn’t feel her teeth warping, or even the little horns growing at the back of her spike.. She was too focused, too dedicated to her work… and ultimately getting frustrated at her own writing as her own workings slowly became less and less understandable to her. She didn’t understand these large words, these technical terms that she prided herself on. It bothered her to no end.


All the while, little Ember grew just a little bit larger, her small basket progressively getting ever so slightly cramped. Enaria held great knowledge and that was now becoming Ember’s one bit at a time. Still, she couldn’t stay here, not for too long.


As Enaria was still trying to read through her own paper, Ember slipped out of her basket, unseen and unnoticed in the scholar’s maddened scrawl. She climbed up the open carriage windows and though her still underdeveloped wings weren’t suited for real flight, gliding to safety was well within her limits. She leapt out and landed in the dirt.


Ember let out a happy squeal and then with a new curiosity wandered closer to the firelight in the distance. The darkness was scary and threatening, but the light in front of her was tantalizing. Though how was she going to reach it? It was so high up, maybe three feet in the air!


She wandered closer, but then slipped in something and tumbled down into the pool of mud, dizzy. When she opened her eyes, she came face to face with a strange creature. A frog, she knew. Yet, it was disturbing… and in one action, the creature’s tongue lanced out from nowhere and struck the air right over her head.


Ember ran and hid behind a log, making frightened noises as the terrifying creature stood in front of her. She however, wasn’t unnoticed.


Georg, hearing the little whelp’s cries bent down and picked her up. “Now how did you get there?” he laughed.


Ember made a frightened whimper and looked at Georg pleadingly. The little whelp was cleaned with a cloth and the man took a seat on a nearby stump, letting the small dragon stare longingly at his lamp. The warrior was amused by it. “It’s like having a dog.” he mused. “I could get used this. Want to stick around for a while?”


Ember turned her head at the man’s words. And as if to answer gently rested her head against the man’s abdomen.


“Well, that settles it then,” Georg laughed, rubbing his rough beard. “You can stick around while I watch camp tonight.”


As a soldier, Georg was trained in the art of keeping watch in the army. It wasn’t a glamorous job and soul crushingly boring when alone, but the man had been in this for long enough to make a game out of this. Especially on the travels. He paid attention to the night air, the ambient noise of creatures that lurked just outside of the roadways filling the ears. Insect chirping, bird caws, the occasional emerald green flares from the ponds.


All of these things however, were new to the little dragon and each one bothered her immensely. Her first run in with a toad had her head over heels afraid and in need of rescue. If only she was brave… Maybe she could be.


Georg was spending his time counting the stars, looking up every now and again. He knew how to tell the time and after all as long as he wasn’t….


“Hoo-hoot!”


The warrior’s hand quickly jolted to his spear whilst his head moved into the direction of the noise It was only because of a second’s delay and hesitation to realize… he was looking at a small owl with big beady eyes. “Oh… just an owl.” He then realized there was something on his foot trying to climb up to his leg.


Ember, apparently dropped by the man’s surge of action pawed at the warrior for his attention.


Georg bent down and took the little lizard and coddled her. “Nothing’s wrong,” he said… yet he didn't sound so certain about that.


He sat down again, resuming his watch, but kept his lantern lit with as much oil as he could. More than normal, in fact He felt ever more afraid of the woods with each passing moment. Every scene, the darkness, the unsettling background of noises threatened to claw ever more at the man’s resolve, each a threat of violence. Maybe brigands were hiding out in there, he reasoned… but little did he realize there was already a thief in his midst.


Little Ember raised her head at each new sound, each new stimuli with curiosity, unhindered by terrors of the night. It was all so exciting, so wonderful to not be afraid. She squirmed in Georg’s lap, all the while taking just a bit more from the warrior, growing just a bit heavier, just a bit larger.


For Georg, change was happening in more than just the emotional. The man, once brave and bold and tested couldn’t feel his changes, not when his fear took hold of him. His body etched in battlescars and the prizes of victory slowly ebbed away, muscle and tough skin slowly diminishing. Instead, something else of his grew, a small, stub of a tail, a shrivelled up and tiny thing slowly poked ever more out of his rear. It was so slow, so minor, he couldn’t notice, especially not when his mind was in other matters. It wasn’t like it was bothering him or distracting him through his armor. If he had the mind to take notice it, in fact, he might have even wondered why such an opening existed in his armor to let his new tail through….


Still, Ember had more pressing matters to deal with than merely sitting down. She smelled something, off in the distance that made her mouth water and drip. In a way, she had already eaten, but her body craved for something more. She leapt off of Georg’s lap and darted off towards the camp fire in the heart of the campground.


“Uh, sure… uh, go ahead… … I’ll… stay here…” murmured the frightened man.


Ember scampered off and wandered by the campfire. She saw something cooking just above the flames, the shank off of some beast, the meat sizzling as fat dripped out. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth in a hungry motion.


However, before she could steal a bite, large hands lifted of off the ground and put her in a basket, very similar to the one she had been just a moment before. This time, the conditions were cramped enough that it barely held her, though Denar didn’t seem to have trouble putting her inside. “I thought Erania had you under control!” snarled Denar.


Ember wasn’t afraid to see him. She gave a happy yip at seeing the man. Maybe he could feed her?


Denar clearly knew his way around animals and simply gave a sigh. “It’s not time yet.” he picked up the little dragon’s basket and placed her on the table. “Wait for dinner…”


Ember whimpered. She hadn’t eaten, she hadn’t eaten at all. Not anything solid at any rate. She was hungry and didn’t know how to deal with it.


Denar sighed, raising a hand. “No… Not right now. Be patient.” He sat down and looked the little dragon in the eye. “Because I’ve been waiting to eat too, but that was before you hatched out of that egg… If I can wait, so can you.”


Ember’s little head swam in funny thoughts. The man in front of him was planning on eating her? That’s what she thought she heard. And what was that all about being patient? How can she wait though? Maybe if she had some help.


Ember lifted her head out of the basket and rubbed it against the larger man’s knuckles.


“Don’t play cute with me,” said the hunter, rolling his eyes.


She stuck her jaws over the man’s wrist. Denar didn’t react, he figured that allowing the young lizard to do as it pleased for a while might have been in his best interests. Maybe later some training could be done, he had the patience for it. The intent of course wasn’t to please the man. It was merely what she knew she needed to do.


In that moment of contact, substances that were immaterial were transferred, taken and exchanged. She took something of theirs and in return they got something of hers. It was not an equal exchange, either. It was something of a talent of hers, a unique power that she didn’t quite understand where it came from, only that she could do it. And through it, she had grown strong, far more than she would have in a few years had she the patience to wait. Of course, she didn’t have the patience, not yet, but very soon. All that was needed was a few bites, some close contact, and waiting for the effects to take hold.


Denar eyed the cooking meat, tapping his foot at each sizzle the meat did. However, as he did, he barely noticed his worn boots shift and skate, turning into sandals as dark talons escaped from his feet. He hardly noticed himself pacing back and forth, waiting for the food to be done so that he could take his share….


Meanwhile, Ember let out a happy purr. It wasn’t “real” food, no, but it was enough to tide her over… for now.


“Damn, this is taking too long…” Denar lost his grit and then moved towards the spit. He took a chunk of the creature’s hind-leg and tore into it. The meat wasn’t fully cooked though and watery juices spilled from his mouth, red and raw.


Ember let out a contented sigh. The temptation to feed her flesh was great, but now that she had the ability to wait and the knowledge to understand it, there was one more thing for her to taste from before then she could feed, just some other thing to feast on.


She moved into the last place that had lights she hadn’t seen, seeking her last “parent”. It was a tent hidden just out of sight. She waddled right in.


There Alexia was looking at herself, reciting something into a mirror. It must have been some sort of speech or maybe social cue that only those in the social elite understood. Who knew? Certainly not the little dragon born just today.


Alexia was tidying her hair up, pulling in a bun. Ember realized a little that it seemed a little odd for her to do so this night and so far away from those who could seen it. It might have been the knowledge she had that told her this. She must have been practicing, reciting something important.


“And this little creature here is…” Alexia looked down, surprise. “Oh my, how did you get here?” she laughed and brought the creature to her shoulder and placed her on it. “Hm… Maybe you can help me, you’re gonna be the star attraction once we arrive back in the city!”


Ember brushed her wings against the woman’s hair, sneezing as the strands all covered her face. She didn’t know the larger woman’s intentions, at least, not fully. Was she important?


Alexia laughed. “So cute.” She then began to recite the opening lines to some sort of greeting, every so often gesturing to Ember as if to present the shoulder mounted lizard as some sort of prize.


The young dragon understood enough to be excited about that. She wondered what it must be like, being in the city, attracting attention. On the other hand, she knew enough to realize that she wasn’t some pet… she was more than that… She sought to prove it, to be like one of them, like Alexia here.


She bit the red haired woman’s ear and took from her a small bite.


“Hey stop that!” protested the woman. She pushed the little dragon gently off and began to fix her hair, yet again. Yet try as she might, she could never get the knot correctly, that talent was simply no longer hers. She however apparently decided to forgo that and let forth a howl of frustration. Apparently unsatisfied with her appearance. “Ugh. I’ll… I’ll do it later!”


Ember, satisfied with her taking, looked at herself in the mirror. Oh yes, her scales were so clean and exquisite. She was going to dazzle onlookers and hold their attention… especially later once she was complete. Oh yes. She wondered about dressing herself, grooming her scales so that they shown. All things one such as her should have had no business doing.


She was then surprised to find herself lifted by Alexia once more. “... My you’re so heavy; have you been eating?”


“A-alexia!” shouted a man’s voice… quavering with fear.


“Georg?” she muttered to herself. She got out of her tent, taking the little dragon with her. “What’s the meaning of this?” she spoke.


Georg was pale with fear, the suffering of having to watch for dangers lurking everyone. He raised his weapon high and directed it at the dragon. “Get away from it, Alexia! It’s dangerous!”


The red haired woman blinked an eye, patting the small dragon on the head as if to reassure her. Ember, to her credit rolled up tight in an effort to hide her weak points.


Denar, came over, crossbow in hand. “That thing’s been taking from us… and… I don’t know what it’s doing!”


“They’re right!” said another voice. Enaria, the Scholar stood forward.


Alexia let out a gasp, witnessing her companion’s complexion a hard snout we “Enaria… your face!”


The scholarly woman adjusted her glasses, her eyes golden and reptilian. Her face was covered in a layer of scales, a shade bluer than she would have liked. “And that… pest is to blame I’m sure!” she shouted.


Ember sensed the woman’s anger and immediately did what her instincts told her to do… She bit into Alexia’s hand. She screamed and the little dragon landed on the ground, rear first and darted off into the brush.


“Ow! Ow!” yelped the red haired woman, gently caressing her wounds. Her companions all moved closer to her, taking up defensive positions as their former pet scurried away. “... She has teeth…That hurt!”


Enaria moved over and quickly checked her friend’s injury. “And she didn’t, until just now. She’s grown at least several centimeters since she came into our custody, and definitely grown stronger.”


“But how…?” asked the stunned woman. She wasn’t bleeding, the pain wasn’t severe, but it still hurt enough. “Ugh, I think I’ll get a bruise!”


“... Uh,you just got shorter...” spoke Georg, his tone hesitant, fearful. “And…I think it’s eating… us…” He didn’t know a better way to put it.


“Us?” said the woman.


“Us!” agreed Denar, crossbow in hand. He picked up his sandaled feet, revealing a bunch of hard talons underneath. “It’s like… as she bites us, we lose a bit of ourselves and become like her…and I am pretty sure I didn’t bring sandals with me on the way out… yet lo and behold, all of my boots in the wagon are now sandals for these… claws!” He muttered under her breath some sort of curse, wishing to get his hands on that little whelpling as soon as he could. “On top of that, she’s made us shorter… for what reason?”


Everyone say Alexia slowly losing height and stature, small winglets springing forth from the back of her dress, her arms became covered in a faint layer of red brownish scale, all the while, the endowments she once prized simply diminished, no where near their former selves, her theft having take from her more than the others. “That’s… that’s not normal.” She said, once she realized what the others were paying attention to. She was not the tallest member of the group before, but the gap between her and the others was


Enaria nodded. “I never heard of anything having a power like this, but each time Ember fed on us, she grew, just a bit. Once we realized what was happening, we had to confront her...”


“... But now,” Georg said, voice shivering. “She’s out there… somewhere.”


Several dozens of feet away, the little dragon was silently making her moves. She was still so hungry… but her last feeding had rewarded her greatly. Ember grew in size and stature, not too much, but greater than all of her previous bites had taken her. She was maybe the size of a fox or a dog now and her wings moved, truly developed and ready for flight. She licked her lips, moving through the brush, seeing her … prey with renewed vigor and hearing them and understanding theirs words. She was now independent of them, truly… yet she couldn’t merely ignore them… not when they were nearby and easily taken from.


“Imagine what she could do if she gets away!” Denar spoke. “We have to find her!”


The others nodded in compliance. Alexia took some curved daggers from her tent and strapped them onto her side. She tried to juggle them in the air, seemingly to practice a trick or a movement she liked to pull off… only to jump back at the last moment, losing control. Erania it seemed had no weapon, or more accurately, no need of one. She lifted a hand and a light shone from her fingertips. She clearly had power.


Ember smiled. Oh, how she was going to enjoy this.


She leapt up and climbed above the trees, wings catching the wind for the first time and achieving true flight only to rest in the branches. She was going to enjoy this.


“Did you hear that!” Georg snapped, turning his spear and lantern to the lights above.


Ember leapt out of the tree branches as the light shone on her, leaving a cloud of falling leaves in her wake.


“There!” shouted Enaria. She lead the way forward, snarling all the while.


Denar and Alexia flanked her, whilst Georg took the back and kept watch. He was the one who seemed the most reluctant to do this, the once brave warrior was little more than a coward and easy prey.


Ember enjoyed this. They were chasing her, mistaken in the belief that she was on the run. The mistake will cost them dearly.


She whipped her tail and threw a branch several feet away. The braver of the three humans all went to check out her bait, leaving one of them, Georg, the fearful, trailing behind… alone and vulnerable.


The man, once was a brave one, had it coming. That was taken away from him, leaving him a frightened wreck. It was only downhill from here. Ember leapt down behind and began her work. He screamed and howled in fright as his tail went hard as something bit into it “Ow!!” he screamed and tried to fight off the little predator.


Ember leapt away, darting off into the brush as the man struggled, what she needed to do having been done. The rest of the party went back after him, alerted and ready.


“Georg!” said Denar, moving towards the other man.


Enaria had her outstretched hand open, lights flickering from her fingertips..


“Uh… wow…” said Alexia. “Uh Georg…”


“Uh… what?” said said the other man, but instead of a roughened, albeit frightened voice, came the halfhearted yelp and cracking voice of a man who was still untrained and definitely had more to grow into.. He closed his mouth in disbelief, noting the staining pattern of scale growing on him. The damage was done. Georg could feel the muscle he spent much of his life developing withering away, his beard falling to shreds as his face turned scaled. He had prided himself on being a soldier, but now he barely looked like he would be admitted to join the army at all.. In fact, he didn’t feel like he even remembered those days training in the barracks. “I think… I’m…. I’m getting younger!” he felt so scared, ashamed to say that. He realized the full extent of what the dragon’s predations were about.


Denar pounded his hands against the ground. “Damn! Is that what she wanted from us?”


“... I don’t know,” admitted Enaria. “It might be. She’s getting larger every time she takes from us…but if I knew anything about her before… I don’t know anymore.”


Denar pounded his fist into a tree, taking up his crossbow and readying a stance. “Come out from there!” he demanded. He was tired of this little whelp’s games playing them for a fool. He readied his shot and struck out at the nearest noise that set him off… feeling a pigeon instead of his intended prey. Another loosed shot lead to a different fox.


Alexia kept Georg close by… helping the startled… well, he was getting close to needing to be called child at this rate, offering her hand in support. “Guys… can we… just go?” said the younger man, his chest slowly covering itself in more scale as he went down. His clothes thankfully continued to fit him, though where he had a protective gambeson, it was now just normal tunic and trousers. He might have been older than Denar before this, but whatever Ember did to him, that was no longer true.


Alexia sighed. “Don’t be a big baby…”


Georg frowned. “Don’t say that…” That possibility was… something he felt he was better off not thinking about.


Enaria however still had a level head and marched forward. Her face might have been nearly a snout and her head was no longer her own, but she knew a thing or two. She set forth orbs of light in every direction, removing darkness.


Denar took advantage and launched quick shots everywhere.


Things stirred in the brush up ahead, still in darkness, but the emboldening light gave him the courage he needed to make a move. “I’ll get you!” he snarled and dove into the dark.


However, instead of a victorious cry, Denar howled and the sound of something thumping against wood was heard in the distance.


“What did that fool do?” shouted Alexia. “He’s normally more cautious than this!”


“Regardless, we have to save him.”


“Can we not?” begged Georg. He was shorter, maybe ten years old now and some mix between a dragon and a boy. His wooden spear had basically become a big stick nearby him, his tail sticking from the back of his pants. Wings were inching out of his back, tiny things.


Both girls nodded to each other and made their moves. Georg was clearly not going to be helpful any more.


Enaria moved forward, hand raised to conjure hellfire if need be.


Alexia might not had the strength to carry Georg, but she could easily overpower the much younger… boy and force him to come along. “Come on, you’ll be safe with me.” she assured him.


Georg hesitated, but it wasn’t like he had much choice.


Enaria caught up to Denar and his captor. Ember had grown again, this time becoming the size of some sort of large wolf. She launched a bright glow that startled the dragon and sent her running.


“Denar, are you okay?”


“No!” protested the young man. Ember had taken a lot from the hunter this time. He was barely old enough to be a teenager, and it didn’t seem like he was going to be much like he’d be much older than him at the rate things were going. He picked up his bow, but the thing had evidently shattered in his struggle against the dragon. He picked up Georg’s stick and looked like he was going to use it as a weapon, only to find Alexia, larger than him, taking it away..


“Not now, you’ll only get yourself hurt!” Alexia placed Georg close to the other boy, both gave each other disapproving looks. Georg clearly lost whatever courage he had and was now basically a frightened child. Meanwhile, Denar was the other kind of problem, a boy that was clearly too daring to avoid danger.


Meanwhile, the group heard a terrifying roar, a beast that none of them had ever heard of stalked them.


Now that the women were the only ones left, and effectively forced to keep watch over two children who were faced in a situation they shouldn’t be in… things looked dire. But they knew better than to stay outside.


“We… we have to make it to the carriage,” said Enaria. “Safer that way.”


Alexia nodded. “Right. Once we’re inside… maybe we can find a way to undo this.”


Georg clearly liked the idea of going for safety; Denar… didn’t.


Still, it wasn’t their choice. Alexia took hold of both of them. “We gotta get going!” she said taking them along with her.


Enaria brought up the front, holding her spell fire at both hands. They made a short dash through the foliage and the darkened woods. The carriage wasn’t too far from the road but the brush in this part of the region never stopped growing.


Things rapidly got complicated. Alexia tripped and fell into the mud, both boys sent sprawling with her. And that was when the hungry predator came forth again. Ember came forward between them all, separating the younger members of the party from the older ones.


Alexia quickly drew her daggers, but they fell to the ground in a heap, easily knocked aside by Ember’s tail.


Georg ran for the wagon and Denar was still eager to fight, despite now barely being old enough to hold a training sword.


Enaria quickly shut down any of those plans and dragged the boy to safety. “Stay safe!” she said to Alexia. She hated to sacrifice a friend, but there was no other choices.


“I’ll be fine!” joked Alexia, laughing. She made a dash for her daggers, Ember constantly trying to keep her away from them.


And that was the last Enaria saw of her.


The scholar took both boys with her into the wooden device and closed the door. Locking it shut. She flicked her wrist and closed the windows and locked the driver’s part of the cabin shut.


Enaria breathed a sigh as she lead the two boys to the opposite end of the cabin. There however was only so much room they had. At best, the carriage could house everyone and their equipment, but that didn’t mean they could run around inside of it and it wasn’t meant to stand or fight against a dragon.


Still, it was safer than being out there with the beast. At least unless those rumors of dragons breathing fire were true.


Both boys complained about their state. “It’s too dark here,” cried Georg.


“And I’ve got to be here with you!” Denar grumbled.


They not only sounded like children, but for all intents and purposes were. Gone were the two strong fighting men that formed the group’s muscle. Now they were just boys, greenish scale covered boys with slowly forming snouts, wings, and tails.


Then there came a knock on the door and all was silent.


Enaria readied another spell and slowly edged the door open. Her will ready to blast her opponent with a furious gale. Instead of an ever growing beast, however, there was a small girl, her dress a soft and delicate pink, hiding a frail and weak body. She seemed to be bleeding on one her arms, not much, but it was clearly causing her much.. “Owie Enny….” she murmured.


Enaria lowered her wand, immediately recognizing her. “Alexia?” She shook her head. This had been her tall, dashing and charming companion, a little girl?


“I fell!” she cried. The girl looked like she was about the same age as the other boys… and she’d only been out there for what, two minutes or so? It was like as the dragon grew, the faster her victims were taken apart and the more they lost.


Whatever, it didn’t matter. She had to take her friend away from the monster outside the door. She motioned Alexia to come side by her side, so she could protect her when that dragon returned. She took out a cloth and bandaged her arm, soaking up the blood. Her eyes stung.


However, as the girl sat by her, Enaria realized something else. Why did the dragon leave Alexia to come here? What could that mean?


“So you could see her, silly,” said a voice.


Enaria and the children froze.


“Surprised?” laughed the voice.


Enaria’s head turned towards the carriage door and she opened the blinders. The dragon had returned: Ember was the size of a horse now, her body strong, her great wings folded on her back… she was wearing some sort of gown that was white as snow, something that appeared more suited towards the upper end of the social spectrum. She smiled at Enaria, amused.


Enaria pushed the children back behind her. “You can’t get in here! Stay back!” shouted the scholar.


Instead, Ember walked around the carriage, seemingly amused. Enaria moved the children over to her other side as the dragon moved towards the other window. “Now, now, don’t be rude. Mother will not hurt her children.”


Enaria narrowed her eyes. “Mother? You’re not! You hurt Alexia!” she snapped.


Ember let out an audible sigh. “No. She hurt herself… honestly, children shouldn’t be allowed near daggers, especially not her. She doesn’t have the grace or poise to wield one just yet. But the pain will all be gone soon, wouldn’t you like that, little one?”


Alexia seemed to cry a bit, poking at her injured hand. Enaria couldn’t tell what that meant.

The scholar wasn’t impressed. “They’re not… yours. And they aren’t children!” Although… they certainly acted like it. Georg was crying in fright and stubborn Denar was anxious to go outside.


Ember seemed perplexed, ever amused. “Oh? Are you sure? Tell me… do you remember them as being anything but?”


Enaria was confused by the question. Of course she had. She had known her traveling companions for some time now. They formed this band to earn prestige and status among the urban elite, wealth, fame, and more came because they traveled the lands. Yet at the same time… Enaria couldn’t deny that in those memories, her friends appeared as they did now, as small children. “What… what did you do? How are you doing this?”


“It is something of a mystery myself as well, but it is a… defense my ancestors instill upon us. When we are not with parents, we can accelerate our growth by taking it from others, the first creatures we see that aren’t our kind. And if we are so inclined, we may opt to change the would be predators, into our young, ensuring that there is always parents with the offspring. ”


Enaria blinked. That was surprising. What kind of beings were powerful enough to instill their young with power like that? Then again, dragons were only a rumor, a long dead specie that they knew nothing about. “...Predators?” Which begged the question. What could have been powerful enough to make such a people fear enough to do that in the first place?


“Like you,” Ember seemed to be a bit angry, though her tone was suppressed. “I understood, at least, now I do.. what you all had designed of me and I was not going to let myself be exploited.”


Enaria froze. The dragon clearly was opposed to being treated as a pet as they had designed earlier that night. She saw this as her taking her vengence?


Ember moved just an inch closer, her snout, long and hiding powerful teeth, just an inch away from the windows.“As a side effect of the process, it… alters events, undoes history, ensuring that the new children would be just that and nothing more. Things that are important get explained by some other happening, and small things, little things, like this carriage here… they fade away.”


Enaria had only enough time to realize that since Alexia was essentially just a child on her lap now… she couldn’t have obtained the carriage in the first place. She fell through the disappearing floor and landed with a thump. The kids also landed on top of her, barely weighing anything, but still painful. “Ow…” she groaned.


But before they could do anything else, the children scurried away. Ember the dragoness towered over the scholar with menace.


Enaria raised her hand in defense and blasted out a gust of air in panic… only for such a thing to fail and her hands to get pinned to the ground. Ember’s tongue was wiped against her cheek in a quick motion, painless, the slobber intensifying.


She struggled free and raised her hands one more time. An orange light glowed in her palms and she spoke words that on the last syllable... she forgot. The spell fizzled and dispersed, sending a crackle of energy in the air and making an audible whimper.


Ember smiled. “Oh silly, girl, don’t do that… you’ll only hurt yourself.”


“No….No!” Enaria wailed, but ceased as soon as she noted the change in tone for her voice. She raised up her hands seeing a clawed hand instead. She was wearing a small dress, similar to what Alexia was wearing and by the look of her scale clad body and the wings and tail that were sprouting from her back, she was almost like her… twin. That wasn’t.


She scurried away and ran towards the other children, her friends…. Or was it something else? They knew that all of them were afraid now, not just Georg.


They felt beaten, ashamed, their captor stood over them, far larger than they had been even the hours before, like a great titan of a bear... or more. They were weakened now and they knew now in their hearts that any resistance they would put up now would only weaken as time went on as they slowly kept shrinking away, the while their foe only continued to grow.


Ember simply hovered over them, even larger and more imposing just from presence alone. “Almost done…” she murmured expectantly.


Their clothes fell to pieces and mild shame filled the hearts before strange ideas and instincts took root in their minds. They felt weak, tired, hungry. Cloth and fibers turned into broken and gooey eggshell fragments scattered in a heap around them,as if to imply that their old selves were merely the “shells” for their new existence. Their bodies already small and frail and weak grew more so, far faster than before, as if the last of their experiences and years retreated away.


Alexia and Denar wanted to run out, but they couldn’t go two steps before having to collapse onto four to keep going and even that was short lived before they were forced into a weakened crawl.


They whimpered frightened little noises, confused and perplexed. Memories of their previous lives still filled their minds, fighting for control and to escape, but more confused and powerful infantile worries and simple thoughts bubbled to their minds. Georg was scared, like before, but this time, of everything around him, unsure of how to react. Meanwhile, Enaria couldn’t help but be in awe of the world around her, everything was new again.


The larger dragoness came over by them, hauling some sort of thing… the word escaped them. It smelled like that made their mouths water, but before they could investigate it further, their... parent stood over them.


All four whelps turned their gazes, looking up at their new mother unable to look away as her image was burned right into their minds. Vaguely, they had a feeling of what was happening… they seen their elder having done that only moments before… the imprinting… they were now imprinting her to their memories and it terrified them as their minds faded.


Ember continued to enjoy her work. She was already making plans to rename them and herself. “Ember” was such a… human name. Something more proper and suiting her was needed. Exceresta, or maybe Elezara? She wasn’t some random egg found by travelers looking for fortune… that never happened to her. Not any more at any rate. She was a powerful dragoness, a mother of four, beautiful, powerful, strong, and patient. And it was time to rename them all. She looked at her children one last time, sifting through the lives they once had… and would no longer have.


She looked upon her first child. In her human life, Alexia had been a gorgeous and charming woman, full of grace poise, and knowing the right places to meet just the right people. She prided herself on her looks and was looking to get ahead in life, to go to the very top. And her mother was determined to make that true once again, albeit, the little dragon was now a clumsy thing, frail, weak, and in a serious need of… maturing. Azera no longer cared much of anything of social clubs, of fashion, or of even stopping the drool escaping her lips. It didn’t matter though, mother was there to groom her with a satisfying lick.


Denar was once a ranger, a pathfinder, and an overall decent navigator. It came from a life of constant poverty. He had learned at a young age to fend for himself, to be patient for long periods of time, and that he was going through life alone. He hunted for food and it was only in recent years that he had ever bothered to do more than survive. Mother wasn’t going to let that happen to her child… especially now that Denar had the makings of an impulsive streak given his tantrums and desire for attention and feeding made him cry out in audible need. Daxis was going to have them sated. His mother dragged over a fresh deer carcass, one only moments ago had been cooked in a warm fire, back when Daxis had been able to cook it at all. She took a large bite of meat and chewed it for the hatchling, giving him his first meal as he no longer fought back. Oh, the irony wasn’t lost on her.


Enaria had been a scholar, a learned woman in a time when men dominated academia. She had spent her whole life learning, studying, and climbing her way to the top. The expeditions, the journeys, the quests; she was in this to broaden her horizons, using the secrets and power she gained from her expensive education as a tool. That woman was no more, rendered into an impotent and clueless whelpling. She saw the world around her with new eyes, no longer comprehending why the sky was brightening as the sun rose, no longer knowing the strange new sensations that wafted up her nostrils. She let out a sneeze and a small spark of flame sputtered out of her mouth before fading away. Evina was going to need to be taught once again. And who better to do that than her mother. The older dragoness bent down and gave her young one a quiet lick, the first lesson of course was who was in charge. Evina let out a giggle.

Georg went through the burning cauldron that was war. A soldier of fortune who left when the nation he served no longer had need of him. He was hardened by the brutality that was expected of him, his nerves hammered into steel and a will cast in iron. He was taught to live and die by the sword and spear, and these lessons served him well until he no longer had them. Now he was a frail and fragile newborn, scared of the world around him crying frightened tears at being so cold and alone. Of course, Geron didn’t need to be scared too long. Mother’s large wings were so much bigger than him, easily able to hold all of him and his siblings at once, but they were so soft and gentle, yet strong and supple. His fears vanished and was replaced by a renewed security, the knowledge that mother was there enough for him.


The former “Ember” took her children towards her and one by one, their old lives disappeared without a trace or memory. The mementos they held nearby faded away into dust, the campsite they created now never having been. They would not be missed either, for there was never any a group like them to miss. Maybe she’d tell them and they’d remember, but that won’t be until they’re at least a little bit older, a century or two from now, when they no longer need to be in the next. The only care they had were the longings of children for their parent.


She smiled, licking them one by one, removing the eggshell that had once been their clothes. She loved them. They were so sweet, so innocent, and certainly not going to treat her as some prize to be spent.


Of course, she wasn’t opposed to being a show off… and it wasn’t like she had received a home to take her new young towards. Instead, the mother dragon looked at the road and decided to make plans. Oh yes, they were right about one thing; she was going to be the talk of the town alright. She wasn’t a mere beast, after all. She was much better than that.


Her young ones gave up a frightened whimper, as if the last vestiges of their former selves were aware of her intentions of where she was going to go and were still capable of struggle.


She smiled, licking the small dragons. Oh yes. How could she forget? Today was their birthday after all. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure that you’ll be seen by everyone.”