Note, I like dramatics. Now, this was inspired by the book Talon, but is my own version, and not like the original, so I am qualifying it under Misc. Books. Now, I hope you enjoy, please do not skip the info about my type of dragons, or you will be helplessly lost. R&R!
***SUMMARY***
Dragons have lived on the earth since the beginning of time. When humans appeared soon after, the dragons became pressed to survive. The easiest method was to hide, but humans sought them out and slaughtered them. The dragon race then turned to the next option, shifting into an animal that represents their personality and abilities.
Slowly, the dragon race rebuilt themselves, laying no more than two eggs, but even when two were laid, they rarely hatched. So far, no dragons have shifted into a human, but when the rarest clutch is laid, a clutch of three eggs, and they survive, they become endangerments to the dragon race. Cast out and on their own in the world, the three hatchlings are human shifters.
Taught from hatching by their mothers group of same shifter-bloods, they fear humans and have next to no knowledge of how to survive with out help from other dragon-shifters. The three hatchlings, unnamed, frightened and in danger, must learn how to survive on their own, or they must go to the enemy, the human race, to live.
The young hatchlings, not knowing much better, choose to go to the humans. Soon after they are found, unable to control their shifting, they become dragon hatchlings again. As they grow up, the dragon race realizes their mistake of casting out dragon-shifters and begin to panic, fighting to find the hatchlings.
The world becomes chaos, as the dragons rise again, ready to fight for the hatchlings lives.
***SUMMARY OVER***
***INFO ABOUT MY DRAGONS***
They can become anything except humans, and it depends on their temperament and abilities, much like the sorting hat from Harry Potter. Most dragons shift for the first time around 9 months old; mine shift around 14 months. Imagine the shape however you want(PS, I give more details to create a mental image through out the story, along with hints to clue you in), but they have no wings when under a year old. Most wings begin to sprout around a year old. They can breath fire once their wings begin to sprout, but for my dragons, they've fully developed because it's been a few months since when most wings open. They aren't considered an adolescent until wings and fire have come to them. They are considered adults at the age of 12 in their shifted state, so about 4 in dragon form. They don't have much control over their shifting for about 3 months after they shift, but until they are adults, they can shift by accident because of temper. They eat only meat and water until their wings begin to emerge, and then they will crave things they could find in their dragon form, like grass, twigs, wild flowers, tree bark, leaves, dirt and fruit/veggies. Most clutches have one to two eggs, although the latter is rarer. After the first shift, they are sent to live with the group of their same shifter-blood.
***INFO OVER***
-Female Hatchling-
Where is Mama-snake? Mama-snake left us, but why? All I did was shift, even though it was later than other clutches. But for us, that would be normal, to find our alternate form later, since we are a clutch of three. What did we become? The other clutches have been split up and sent to their groups. Are we to be picked up here by our group? My clutch-mates and I can only wait.
Days have passed. We now know why no one came. My clutch-brother shifted after we got here. He became a human. Our alternate forms are humans. We took off after both my clutch-brothers shifted, running as dragons.
A human dwelling is ahead. I won't be able to survive much longer, not without food or shelter. I have to protect my clutch-brothers, I have to care for them.
"Come on clutch-brothers! We can live as humans until we can catch prey by ourselves!" I growl into the wind, the wind taking my words to my clutch-brothers.
"I'm tired, thirsty and hungry, clutch-sister." One of my clutch-brothers yells back.
"It isn't much farther. We can find shelter, food and water in the human dwelling!" I argue. I look back at my clutch-brothers and they lower their heads and move faster as a response. I lengthen my leg movements, staying in the lead.
We are almost at the human dwelling. I slow to a walk, going in circles to help my muscles cool off. After we are calm and ready to shift our forms, we do so, appearing as three-year old humans. I stand up, finding that my human form has some sort of hide coverings. I stand on the two human legs and find I can keep my balance. My clutch-brothers stand with me and we hold hands, running towards the human dwelling.
In the human dwelling, a female elder sees us, then takes us to a nest where 'police officers' reside during the day. The 'police officers' ask us questions,
"Where are your parents?" A friendly looking elder asks.
"We do not know where our sire is, and our mother left us in the woods, days away from here." I say, finding my human voice strange, and my clutch-brothers dare not speak.
"What are your parents names?" The same elder asks.
"We never heard their names mentioned." I say.
"What are your names?"
"None of us have one. We were referred to as one, two and three." The elder gives us some white liquid, maybe milk, like the female dragon-deer-shifters make before laying, and some circular food. He the leaves the room, leaving us with the food. I pick up one of the strange circular pieces and nibble on it, but when it touches my tongue, I spit it out.
"Don't eat those clutch-brothers." I say, pointing to the circular pieces of so-called food. Instead, I pick up the white liquid and take a sip. It isn't bad, but it isn't good.
"The white liquid is fine." I say, implying that they try it. My clutch-brothers pick up the container holding it and drink some. When nothing happens, we drink more.
Some time later, the elder renters, and I am fighting down the urge to shift. My clutch-brothers seem to be having the same sort of trouble, and the urge is becoming stronger. The elder approaches me, and begins to kneel in front of me to look me in the eyes, but the urge becomes too much, and the dragon begins to take over.
"Get out fool!" I manage to growl, barely forming words. The elder, sensing something is wrong, but not knowing what, stands quickly and leaves the room, closing the door and locking it, but watching through the window in the door. The dragon fights me, my resolve weakening, and my clutch-brothers shift before I do, weakening my resolve more. The elder sees what has happened, and he yells in surprise down the hall, getting attention of more 'police officers'.
Soon, at least ten are at the small window in the door, and my clutch-brothers are pulling at my human hide-covers. I fall to my side and my human hides disappear, and I become my dragon side. My scales glitter and throw what light is in the room all over. I heave myself to my talons, my scales shimmering more, shifting colours in sync with my clutch-brothers. We are all colour-shifters, such is the curse of being laid with two other eggs, instead of having solid-colour scales.
I lose all focus of my surroundings except my clutch-brothers, and one whams me with his tail on my back, knocking me to the floor. I pick myself up and charge at him, engaging him in a play-fight, while my other clutch-brother circles us, looking for an opening to attack one of us. He pounces on our other clutch-brother, and I pounce on the both of them. The door to the room opens, and I whip around, facing the same human who gave us the white liquid. My clutch-brothers, still tussling, don't notice anything until I whip my head at them and roar. As far as I can tell, my roar brings more 'police officers' to the door.
"What do we do? They're giant lizards! And they're dangerous!" One cries out, directing his statement at the elder in the room with us. The elder waves his hand at the man, telling him to step back. My dragon, telling me to defend myself, is canceled by my human side, and I manage to get my thoughts under control, along with my emotions. I focus on how I felt as a human, and I feel my talons tingle, the way they feel when I shift. Soon, I know I have managed to return to my human form, and I sit up. My clutch-brothers, still in dragon form, walk towards me and lay on the floor, heads on my legs, submitting to me as leader. I stroke my clutch-brothers head-scales, letting them lay beside me. The elder cautiously approaches me, then sits in front of me.
"What are you?" The elder asks.
"Dragon-human-shifters." I state, obvious that what I say is true.
"Why are you three so alike?"
"We are the only clutch of three laid since the beginning of time. It is a curse and a blessing."
"Why did you come to this town?"
"We had nowhere else to go. We are hatchlings. Our mothers dragon-snake-shifter group threw us out after we shifted into humans."
"What else can dragons shift into?"
"Any living thing. Deer, wolves, dogs, cats of all types, snakes, reptiles, birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, anything except humans. We are the only dragon-human-shifters." I glance at my brothers, "And probably the only ones ever to exist, past, present or future. They see us as a threat. The dragon race. We look like the ones who slaughtered our elders when humans first walked the lands, after the dragons existed." The elder looks to be in thought, then asks,
"How do you plan to live? If you are what you say, you have been cast out by your own race, because of your shifted side, but if you are young, they didn't expect you to survive, not expecting you to go to their enemy. Which means that they will begin to look for you when they can't find your bodies."
"We do not know. The shift can come at anytime, and when we are young, we have little to no control. We came in hopes of finding food and shelter, even if we had to live in the streets." My clutch-brother on my right has fallen asleep, and my other clutch-brother is on the brink of sleep too. "I had to find somewhere to hide us. They'll hunt us. They'll kill us. They don't care, and our mother would kill us herself if told to by her groups leader. Same goes for our sire." I say, serious, grim voiced. Now both of my clutch-brothers have fallen into sleep, and I yawn widely.
"You are tired. You can rest in here, and I will ensure no one comes in here, and no one will speak of this. Would you like something to eat later?" The old man asks, a twinkle in his eye. "And my name is Jonathan, but you can call me whatever you want."
"Thank you Mr. Jonathan. All we need is raw meat. We consume mostly meat and water until our wings begin to grow." I feel the urge to shift again and say, "You must leave now. Don't come back in unless we are all awake. Otherwise, you might end up with more scars than you wish to reveal." With that parting statement, I move my clutch-brothers heads off of my legs and I let myself shift, and I lay between my clutch-brothers and sleep.
I wake to the sound of my clutch-brothers moving around, their talons clicking quietly on the floor. Their clicking circles me, and I know my clutch-brothers are going to pounce on me. I tense, waiting for them to jump, and when they do, I jump up, and both bonk their heads on the floor. Rumbling growls and huffs come out of my mouth, sounding like a human laughing, except more feral. In turn, I jump on one of my clutch-brothers, making him start and buck to try to remove me. I let out another laughing-growl and I feel a weight on my back, adding to my clutch-brothers weight on his back, since my other clutch-brother is on top of me.
I jump backwards, landing on my back, squishing my clutch-brother on my back, while the clutch-brother that I fell off of attempts to attack my stomach, but I move and he instead attacks my clutch-brother who is out of breath, on the floor. I let out more chuckles, and my clutch-brothers stare at me with their slitted, reptilian, yellow eyes. The door creaks open and our attention turns to the elder who is the only one permitted in here. I notice that the small window in the door has been covered from both sides, and that there is other 'police officers' out there, trying to get a glimpse of the dragon-human-shifters.
My clutch-brothers immediately run to the corner farthest from the door, but I sit calmly in the middle of the room, my attention on the door.
"Get up here clutch-brothers. You're being cowards, and cowards are for other animals, not dragons!" I growl at my clutch-brothers, after whipping my head around at them. My clutch-brothers hesitantly approach, then they sit on both of my sides, still hesitant. I turn my head to both of them in turn, and they bow theirs, submitting to me as their leader. The elder man has what I requested earlier in his hands, raw meat and water. My clutch-brothers, tempted by the smell, lunge towards the elder, only to be stopped by my tail and teeth. My clutch-brothers back down, fearing my anger and capabilities to hurt them if I chose to do so. I shift into my human form, and my brothers follow suit, still wary of me, even in my human form.
The elder sits down in front of me, placing the food beside him.
"How are you?" He asks us all. I glare at my brothers, and they get the hint.
"I am… Fine." One says, his voice deep.
"I am… Okay." The other says, voice the same as his clutch-brother.
"I'm great, Mr. Jonathan!" I say, happy he isn't scared of us. "How are you?" Jonathan chuckles, then smiles.
"I am fine. What have you been doing?"
"Beating my clutch-brothers up." I look at them, and they lift their lips in a snarl-like gesture, "But they almost got me when I was asleep, but I'm too smart and too fast." Again, looking at them, they have a snarl-like expression on their face, but I let out a throaty growl and lift my lips at them, and they back down, lowering their heads to me. The elder notices this and asks me,
"What are you doing? Why do your brothers lower their heads to you?"
"There's dominant and submissive dragons. Most clutches of 2 have two of one type, but in this case, I am more dominant than my almost-submissive clutch-brothers, so they lower their heads to me as a sign of respect, because in this position, they will not know if I move to hurt, kill, or allow them to live." I look at my clutch-brothers, and they raise their eyes to meet mine, and I stare back, and they break the eye contact first, but not looking down. I nod my head and they go back to their original positions. "Only clutch-mates can challenge each other for control of their clutch, and only dominant dragons can challenge each other. No submissive can challenge a dominant." Jonathan seems to think it over, then he stands.
"I will leave you to your meal. I trust you will not try to break out, but we lock it so no one else can enter. If anyone comes in, chase them out, then tell me what they looked like when I come by next time." I nod in understanding, and Jonathan leaves.
I fall back into my dragon form and I take the meat. I rip off two pieces, making it into three equal pieces, and I give one to each of my clutch-brothers. We rip into the meat, tearing it to pieces within seconds and eating it within moments. The water is in a big bowl, and I sniff it, when I find nothing is wrong with it, I drink, followed by my brothers. After the bowl has no water left, and the meat is gone, I find myself craving something else. I look around, and I see the wooden chairs and table in the corner, and my clutch-brothers and I sniff at it. My clutch-brothers gnaw on one of the chairs, destroying a leg quickly. I know what is happening; our wings are going to show soon. I gather my voice and roar at my clutch-brothers, effectively stopping them from chewing on the chair.
-Police Officer POV-
Last night was… different. What were those three things? They aren't pure human, and they seem to be able to stay as a reptile if some sort. I went home, and I was talking to my wife, and my dog was in the room. I woke up, and he was gone. I spent an hour looking for him, but he's disappeared into thin air, or so it seems. I came to work today, and I heard that dragons can be anything; including dogs and animals that live among us. I wonder if my dog is a dragon in disguise. If they do live among us, they'll know that three of them are here, and that they're human shifters. I do hope that they do not destroy us, to find the three that they cast out. It is then that I hear the roars, outside and inside.
-Female Hatchling-
My roar stops my clutch-brothers from destroying the chair, but the roar from outside confirms my hidden fear. They found us. A sharp burst of pain runs along my back, and I expect to see my back ripped open, but instead I see two fully developed wings, wet with blood and other liquids. I beat them, the liquid flying everywhere, and I rise off the ground. I let out a second roar, except this one challenges the other dragons. My brothers, obviously scared, hide in the corner, like that will protect them.
"COME AND GET US! IF YOU DARE! FOOLS!" I roar, louder than my last two.
"YOU AREN'T ANYTHING BUT HATCHLINGS! FOOLISH ONES TOO! YOU GO TO THE HUMANS? YOU WILL BE TAKEN BACK TO YOUR DAMS TRIBE AND YOU WILL NOT LEAVE! SUCH IS THE RULING OF THE ELDERS!" A unknown voice roars back. I snort.
"I DON'T THINK SO, FOOLISH DRAGON! I THINK THAT THIS IS YOUR OWN GOAL, NOT THE ELDERS! THE ELDERS PROBABLY DON'T EVEN KNOW THAT WE ARE HUMAN SHIFTERS!" I roar back. I hear small clicks on the roof above us, I drop to the ground and run to the corner of the room. Right after I got out of the way, the centre of the roof collapsed in on itself, and a pitch black dragon with slitted grey eyes stares at me. I lift my head and stare him in the eye, and the dragon lowers his head to me.
"You're a submissive." I state. "Why would you attack a dominant and two borderline submissives if you knew that you would have to submit to one of them?" The dragon raises his head in surprise.
"You're a dominant?!" He yells, shocked.
"Yes I am. I thought that the dragons knew that."
"No, ma'am. Everyone believes that you and your clutch-mates are very weak submissives." I nod in thought and he takes that as a sign to raise his head. As his head begins to move, I growl harshly,
"When did I say you could raise your head, submissive?" He stops his head and lowers it further than before.
"Sorry, ma'am. I shall wait for your spoken permission to raise my head." He says, eyes downcast.
"What is your other shape, submissive? And what is your name?" I ask.
"My form is a small black bear, and my name is Rawtin, ma'am." He says, raising his head the smallest fraction.
"Raise your head Rawtin." He raises his head, still keeping his eyes downcast, "Stay in this room, and do not leave. Clutch-brothers, watch him." I turn my back on the submissive, Rawtin, and I face the door. I step back a few steps, then I run, head down, and knock the door down with my horns that face my neck and back, a protective layer, and the door falls out into the hall. There are many 'police officers' out in the hall, and their attention is drawn by my knocking down the door. They point their metal L-shaped things at me, but I become my shifted side, a little human female.
"Stop it, foolish humans. Where is Jonathan? I must talk to him."
"What was going on in there, girl?" The one at the front asks suspiciously.
"Fools. All of you. It was a dragon, smart-ass." I glare at the leader. "Take me to Jonathan."
"A dragon? And how would you subdue a dragon, when you are naught but a little girl?" One asks. I whip my head at him and I let out a feral growl, lifting my lips into a snarl.
"You think that I cannot subdue a submissive? I am a dominant, and my clutch-brothers are borderlines. The submissive has to obey us. Fools." I look at them in a mixture of disgust and a look that suggests that they are crazy, "You obviously have not been told anything about my race. Idiots, thinking only about themselves. I think I will find Jonathan myself." I lift my head in the air and breath deeply. I find Jonathan's scent easily and I follow it, allowing it to lead me to where he is.
I follow Jonathan's scent to a door. I find no other scents leading into the room, so I open the door, and I see Jonathan on a device, talking into it. He looks up and motions for me to be quiet, and then for me to close the door. I wait while he talks to the device, and not much later, he puts it down.
"What do you want dear?" He asks.
"You to follow me. I'm afraid someone broke in." I say, turning to the door and walking out, back the way I came. I hear his footsteps hurry to catch up to me, and soon he is only a step or so behind me. The urge to shift comes, and I drop to all fours and shift, continuing to walk as though nothing happened. Jonathan looks a little surprised at me walking in this form, but he still follows. When I arrive in the hall to the room, I hear the submissive arguing with my brothers. I lift my lips in a snarl and growl in frustration.
I run ahead of Jonathan and burst into the room, where the submissive is calling my clutch-brothers weak. I stand near the doorway, and since they don't notice me, I roar. Loud and clear, they hear,
"STOP BICKERING!" I glare at all of them and they all lower their heads. "Raise your heads, clutch-brothers. Submissive, you will treat me and my clutch-mates with respect. Understand?" I turn my glare on him and he murmurs an affirmative. "Clutch-brothers, you should know better." I snarl and beat my wings, becoming more intimidating, demanding that they submit. My wings are powerful, even only minutes old, and they have chaotic wind currents swirling around the room in next to no time.
"Shift now clutch-brothers. Rawtin, stay in your dragon form unless I tell you otherwise, or else." I shift back into a human, finding my shape a bit bigger than before. Jonathan enters the room a moment later, and I say,
"Ah. You caught up. Good to see. This is Rawtin, a black bear-dragon-shifter. This is who broke in, and he tried to scare us with talk of the Elders declaring our capture, but you can take him into your care, or you could leave him here, and I will ensure he remains in line. Your choice."