The water was nice and cool while I swam in my lake for the last time. For a very, very long time, these waters had been my home. Hidden in the vast jungle I was born in, I had a simple life. I've spent most of my time under water, because that was my territory. My safe place. My name is Gealium and I am what you'd call a Serpentine Dragon. I don't have wings, like all those European dragons. Instead I two very long whiskers, which tell me more about my environment then my nose, tongue, eyes and ears do. A long silver-colored beard at the tip of my jaw which has been there ever since I hatched. My scales are colored between gold and bronze, depends on the light. My head is wreathed with golden flames that burn the moment my head pokes out of the water. As I am a serpentine dragon, my body is long. Very long. Even though this lake I was in was quite large, it starts to get to small for me. I have two paws, complete with claws, nails and all that. But all I use those for, is holding my shinies. These shinies are large mothers of pearls. I have always had them and they grew with my body. They are part of my body, just as my whiskers and scales are. The blade-leaf tip of my tail and the spines along my back are silver, just like my beard. These spines change when I am in the water or open air. In the water, they are soft and work like fins on a fish. In the open air, they become hard as diamond and sharper then the sharpest knife. But my pride and joy are my horns. Long, thick, strong branches made of pure gold. They are, without any doubt, the most beautiful part of my body. Call me vain, but I am a dragon and I am proud of my body. Like a true dragon should be.
I have been alone for a long time, ever since the Mayans disappeared. They were silly creatures, those humans. Every once in a while, they would come to the shores of my lake, to ask for wisdom, bringing a large number of animals with them as an offering. I liked the food well enough for me to tell them my thoughts on their question. By that time, food was more like a luxury then necessary, but I didn't tell them that. At that time, I had never thought about other dragons or moving away from my lake. I did not need to. It was my home and I had everything I needed there. Until I outgrew it. And that was why I was swimming in that like for the last time. After I had looked around for the last time, I would leave. Time to explore the world. Or find a new a bigger lake for me to stay in. But just as I was about to exit the water, I sensed someone standing on the shore of my soon to be ownerless home. I sensed fire, smoke and blood. And then a small pulse of magic. Shapeshifting. A dragon was on my shore and had shifted into a new form. I was curious, so I made my way to the dragon. Just before the shore, I rose out of the water with my neck, my claws on the muddy floor of the lake. The rest of my body waved through the water behind me, sometimes out of the water, sometimes in the water, in an endless motion. On the shore stood the dragon, in human form. He was wearing a black suit with a white shirt underneath it. A strange outfit, in my eyes, but it did look quite good on the human/dragon. The dragon turned and gaped at me. He looked small compared to me. Had I really grown that much since the last time I saw a human? He was about as large as my eye. Last time I saw a human they were as big as my entire paw. Still, not very large, but never the less. "Why are you here, young one?", I said in Draconic, a language spoken by every dragon on instinct. The dragon-human did not reply, but just stood there with his mouth open. Patiently I waited for a response. "Come on, young one. Don't stand there like you have never seen a dragon.", I said grinning. The dragon-human shook his head and answered: "Forgive me, Ancient One. I had not expected you to be real. Or this large.". I cocked my head. The young one flinched. "I came here, thinking I had to be wrong. Please, Elder, allow me to tell my story.". I nodded and he started talking. He told me that he was a hatchling, not more than 21 years old, with a love for ancient cultures. He had been studying all kinds of Mayan ruins and texts found more than 50 miles away from this lake. He had flown over this lake several times, without paying attention to it. But when he had found an ancient text about an ancient creature in a lake who could be asked for advise, he had remembered this lake. Not believing his translation he had flown to this lake to see for himself.
I pondered what he said for some time. "Tell me, youngster. When have the Mayans gone extinct?". "About 300 years ago.", was the instant reply. "And how old was that text you had found?"
"At least 500 years old.". I sighed. Had it really been that long? "I liked those silly humans. I started to miss them. They had good food.", I said, shaking my head. The dragon-human's eyes widened. "So, you are that creature?", he said eagerly. "Yes.".
"May I ask how old you are, Elder?", he asked. I shook my head. "You can ask, but I don't know. I have been here a very long time. This is my birthplace, my home. And I have been at the bottom of this lake a lot and often dozing in its cool waters.", I replied. "But, I have outgrown this lake and I was about to leave my place of birth, my nest, to fly out and explore this world.", I continued. The young one fidgeted. "Ancient one? I must warn you. This world is not as peaceful as this little paradise. Humans are unaware of the fact that our race is real and not a legend. If they knew, they would hunt us down. In fact, one group of humans already does just that. Trying to prevent us dragons to become the dominant species. Or just simply killing us dragons for being dragons. So, we are in hiding, hidden in plain sight. Our magic allows us to change into humans and that is where we hide. We are everywhere, hidden among the humans. If we would start roaming the skies in our true forms, all hell would break loose. So, are you able to shift into a human?", he explained. I nodded. "But it has been a long time since I have seen humans and I can't shift into a copy of you, that would just be strange. So, would an animal suffice?".
The young one gaped again. "You can change into an animal?". "Just as easily as you can turn into a human. I sensed your shapeshifting. I know.".
"What animal can you change in?"
"Several. But I prefer the creature called snake. Since it resembles my own body."
"About that. Could you show me what you look like in full? I have never met a dragon like you, so I am very interested.", he said with a gleam in his eyes. I gave him a small grin. I looked up into the skies and slowly swam into the skies. Unlike most dragons, I don't have wings, so my movement in the air is the same as in the water. It took me a while, but finally my body left the water completely. The young one had shifted into dragon-form and flew towards me. I looked at him with interest. Four legs, curved horns and wings. But he lacked a beard, shinies and whiskers. His muzzle was a different shape as well. All in all a nice strong dragon, but not as beautiful as I am. And he was small. I could swallow him whole, if I wanted to. His small wings flapped hard while he flew around me. After a while he flew towards my head and hovered in front of me. "Ancient one….", he said with awe in his voice and on his muzzle. "I am amazed beyond believe that there is someone from my race that is so enormous. I have met Elderwyrms, the oldest dragons known to us, but you are at least twice as long as they are, o Ancient One. I am humbled to be around you. Please, let this humble hatchling serve you.". I hummed. Dragons always like compliments and this one was quite skilled at complimenting me. I liked the little one. "Then, young hatchling, tell me your name.", I responded. The hatchling bowed his head and said: "My name is Paix.". "And my name is Gealium, my young Paix. Gealium Goldenhorn. Serve me well.", I said dignified. Even though I was stunned that someone would like to serve me. Suddenly I had the urge to go. It was time. Time to leave. "I wish to leave this place. If what you say is true, I should travel through the water as much as I can, to avoid detection. Let us travel to the closest body of water that is big enough and then we will go to your United States of America.". Paix dipped in the air, and flew in front of me, guiding me.
Together we flew over the jungle for a while. It was a sight to see for sure. But soon we saw the scars of humans on nature. Which meant that it was time to shift. I was reluctant to do so, because I did not want to give up my beautiful form for that of a lesser creature, but that was the price for travel. That was, until I realized something important. Language. Until now I was able to talk with Paix in Draconic. But I had absolutely no idea how to talk to humans. I had learned the Mayans language, and that language died 300 years ago. So that was no help.
"Paix. Come here. I wish to learn your language.", I said. The young dragon flew towards me eagerly. I stopped in mid-air and hovered there. I twisted my body, so the leaf-like tip of my tail was in front of my face, horizontally. "Land on my tailblade. This is going to be strange for you.". Paix did as I asked and landed carefully on my tailblade. "I am going to touch you with one of my whiskers. The moment I touch you with it, I will absorb all knowledge that you consider common knowledge. This includes the language you speak in the United States. That way, I will be able to blend in way more easily.", I explained. Paix only nodded and waited. My whisker moved towards him and with the tip of my whisker, I touched him between the eyes. A few minutes later, all Paix his common knowledge, was known to me. In his mind's eye, I had also seen a lot of humans and formed in my own mind a picture of what I wanted to look like in human form. I took some animal shapes as well, ones that were common to find in the human world. With that, I withdrew my whisker and grunted approvingly. "Thank you, young one. Are you alright?", I said. "Yes, master. I am. This was… Interesting.", he replied. He spread his wings and flew to the ground. "Ancient One? We are very close to the spot where I changed into my real form. We are close to the humans now and can no longer spend our time in the air. See that tree-less spot? Please land there.", he said as he winged his way toward the place he mentioned.
The spot Paix mentioned was a clearing in the middle of the jungle, next to a small side-river. In the water was a small motorboat, bound to a tree. I flew towards the boat and transformed just few feet off the ground. What I turned into was a young girl of about 18 years old with silvery hair and two gold streaks. The eyes were platinum. Both my ears were pierced with a pearl earring. Yes, even my shinies had shapeshifted. I emerged fully clothed wearing some simple jeans and a white t-shirt. Next to me, Paix landed in his suit. It was a sort of magic/modern technology suit that melted into his body, the moment he transformed into his real form and remerged the moment he changed into a human. The young dragon looked at me and gaped again. A strange habit, to open your mouth when you are surprised. Seriously, was I that strange? "What is it? Is this form not acceptable?", I asked. Paix shook his head. "That is not it, master… I just thought you were a male dragon. "I am not. But neither am I female. I am genderless. But I chose this form because it was pleasing to me. I also have a male form ready I can use without a problem. To show that I did, I quickly shifted into the male version, which is very similar, but with a white ring beard and strong, visible muscles. Paix shook his head. "If you'd follow me, Ancient One.", and walked to the boat. A few minutes we were speeding to the Amazone river. We were just a small boat on a big river and progress was slow. And the water! Yuck! It was disgusting! It was muddy brown! How could all the fish survive in this filthy water? Just the color of the water made it clear for me that I did not want my beautiful real form even touching that water. Seriously! What did humans do with it? Furious, I turned to Paix. "What is this filth you call a river? What has humankind done to make it this… disgusting?", I growled. My hair started to float up, like the flames on my head would do in my real form. "And what have the dragons been doing? Allowing this? This… This is absolutely disgusting. I can't even see what happens in it! I am not even going to put one scale in this water."
But, just as those words left my mouth, I saw one of the reasons why. A few humans, white, skinny and way too loud, were standing in hazard-suits next to the water. They emptied all kinds of bottles and cans in the river. I could smell the foul odors coming out of those containers.
"Filthy humans…", were the only words I said before I exploded into my real form. I bellowed in rage, shooting white-hot flames into the sky. The humans screamed their lungs out in fear. I did not allow them to see my real form any longer. The last thing those rats saw, was a warm, bright light. I blasted them with the fire of my belly until they were nothing more than ashes and heaps of molten plastic. I burned everything they had with them. I was about to turn towards their boat, to chop it in two with my tailblade, when Paix called my name. With bright platinum eyes, I looked at him in my wrath, my blade hovering over the boat. "Master Gealium. Please calm down. You are attracting attention this way. My ears are still ringing from your mighty roar."
"Calm down? Are you asking me to calm down Paix?", I raged. "CALM DOWN? THEY WERE RUINING THIS ALREADY FILTHY RIVER! MAKING IT WORSE! I can sense all the death those chemicals are bringing to the creatures in the river. So I destroyed them. I torched those worthless humans. So what. They are responsible for destroying this nature.". The flames on my head started to grow bigger. "This has to change.", I snarled. Paix bowed his head, "Master. Please. I know what you feel. I have seen your home. It is a paradise. So peaceful, clean and beautiful. But the humans have changed this world from a paradise into… Whatever they thought was they needed. They are slowly destroying their home. But burning down a few humans because of that, is as effective as tapping one of your scales in the hope to kill you. Please, come with me first. We should try to find a new home for you first, before we can do anything about it.", he said calmly. I sighed. I could agree with his reasoning. As soon as I found myself place I could call home, I would think about this again. "Can we use this boat to go faster?", I asked calmly. Paix looked up in surprise. "Yes, we can. Please, enter the boat and I will get us out of here as soon as we can.", he replied.
A few hours later, I saw changes in the landscape. I had already calmed down enough that I would not incinerate every human in sight, so now I could observe my surroundings with a calm mind. These waters, even though they were too filthy for life, in my opinion, were full of life. Fish, reptiles, smaller creatures and more. Above the water as well. Countless insects, birds, mammals and of course, humans. Had every creature adapted to this environment? Was it really so bad? I would have to think about that in my new home. For now, I just wanted to look at this world and see what was going on. With that resolve, I sat down and just observed. The next day we left the Amazone river and arrived at the ocean. I was in complete awe. I had never seen so much water! My human form itched. I itched. I wanted to get into this water and swim in my real form, enjoying the water, explore and be free. Paix looked at my eager expression and smiled. "Go, master. I would not be able to stop you anyway. But please, stay close to the boat. I have no way of finding you otherwise.", he said. I thought about this for a bit and come up with a simple solution. I jumped into the water and changed into my real form as soon as I was submerged. I closed my third eyelids, the moment the salty water hit my eyes. They stung. But I remembered Paix and looked at my shinies. With a sigh, I withdrew a bit of essence from one of my shinies and turned that into a small shiny. A pearl earring. I grabbed the shiny with a whisker and put that above the water, near where I knew Paix would be. I felt his tiny hands grab hold of the earring. The moment he did touched it, a bond was made. 'As long as you touch this shiny, you will know where I am and are able to communicate with me. Right now, I am forcing the communication. But if you want to reach me, think this: "Gealium Goldenhorn, please allow me in your mind". And I will... Pick up? As you humans do with telephones. And I will do the same with you. You will know what to do the moment I… Call you.', I told my young dragon. I felt him approve and he thanked me for this. 'Then I will take my leave, young one. Go to your United States. I will catch up with you.', I said in goodbye. With that, I broke the contact and swam away.