Here's the next chapter. This is where it starts to get interesting.

- 2. Changed -

If I though the other dragons were big, they were nothing compared to Alloran. Even Teek would have looked tiny beside him. I saw him at the far end of a narrow clearing when Maagnis stopped and let me off.

"This is where I leave you, Gary." she said. I didn't like hearing that. If this Alloran got angry over something, I would be toast, no pun intended. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. I'll go hunting and find something to eat. Khamûl, you stay with Gary for now." Khamûl was only too happy to do that. He was perched on my left shoulder, his back legs holding on to the back of my neck and the top of my back. His tail was draped over my right shoulder, one of his little wings patting the back of my head. Before I could protest, maagnis took off in a rush of wings and disappeared over the treetops. With a sigh, I turned and walked to the end of the clearing. Khamûl's tail brushed my chest and I squeezed the end. Khamûl gave a soft yelp and nipped at my hand.

"Sorry." I said, patting him on his head, "Guess I'm a little nervous."

"Don't be." came a deep male voice. I looked up and saw the huge dragon looking down at me.

"You're Alloran." I stated. The dragon nodded.

"Gary LeVox." Alloran looked me up and down. "At last we've found you. I've been waiting for you."

"Why? I mean, why me?"

"You don't know? Hmm. Well, Gary, have you ever heard of what your kind call 'dragon-men?"

"Yeah. They're half man and half dragon. What about them?" I asked.

"The first dragon-men, or 'onnicks' as we call them, were born from dragons who assumed human forms and...mated...with humans. They were able to switch between full human, onnick, and full dragon forms. In onnick form, they looked like ordinary men from their waist up, except for their wings. They had dragon legs and tails, as well as the ability to breathe fire. Thus, they were said to have a 'flame' within them. Do you understand?" I nodded, and he continued, "As you can imagine, these onnicks in turn married and passed their dragon blood on to their descendents. Now here's where it can get confusing. Every descendent carried the 'flame' but it only showed itself in every other descendent."

"So, it would show itself in that onnick's grandchildren instead of their children." I said.

"Yes, that's exactly right. And because of that, only those grandchildren would be able to become onnicks. The carriers would remain ordinary humans."

"With all due respect, while this is very intriguing, what does any of this have to do with me?" I raised my hands from my sides for emphasis. The rhinestones on my stage shirt glittered in the thin shafts of sunlight that made it through the forest canopy.

"Well, long ago, a dragon king fell for a woman from a Celtic tribe. As you can imagine, the two had a child, who inherited, carried, and passed on a flame. This cycle continued, even as the family moved and changed. Since we dragons can live almost forever, the dragon king followed his descendents and watched the progress of the flame. Many onnicks were born, but sadly, most were killed in human battles, or by servants of the dragon king's greatest enemy, Morzana. She and her rebel clan despised onnicks, and did whatever they could to eliminate them, even killing off the carriers.. The dragon king fought hard alongside his own clan to protect his family and other onnick families that were threatened. Eventually, the king moved his family to this land, known then as New France and New England. Several generations later, they settled in the region humans called Ohio, in a city called Columbus. While there, the line continued, until one carrier's husband was killed in a fire before they could have a child. So, the dragon king assumed a human form, a man named Gerald W. Vernon."

"Gerald W. Vernon! That's my father's name!" I cried, almost throwing Khamûl off his perch. Alloran took no notice of my outburst and continued.

"Gerald married the carrier, Judith Fuller, and had a son, who, since Judith was the carrier of the flame, was an onnick, though they never told him what he was. The boy went on to become a very talented singer. They changed his last name, so it would be harder for Morzana's scouts to find him. His name was-"

"Gary LeVox. Wasn't it." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yes. Gary, you are that child. You are an onnick." I took a moment to let that sink in. I was half dragon! How could I not have noticed anything strange about myself! And...

"How do you know all this?" I asked. Alloran lowered his head so his eye was at the same level as my eyes.

"Because I am Alloran, King of Dragons, the king I spoke of. And you, Gary, are my son."

Wow. Whatever I'd been expecting, it sure wasn't that. Me, the little old lead singer of Rascal Flatts, was actually the prince of the dragons, and therefore heir to Alloran's throne, should he ever leave it.

"So...why come looking for me now? I mean, you left me alone for a while, and now this."

"Two reasons. The first reason is that the flame has become dormant from not being used since the Celtic times, so in order for you to have your onnick abilities, I must 'ignite' your flame by proclaiming you a member of my clan. The second is that Morzana's scouts are hot on your trail. Morzana believes you have inside information about me and my clan that she wants so she can destroy us. I know you do not have what she wants, but she will try to torture it out of you, an ordeal you couldn't possibly survive without your onnick abilities. Even then, it could still leave you incapacitated for quite some time. Also, she wishes you dead for being an onnick. So, I guess you could say I brought you here to protect you." Oh. Wow. I'm a dragon prince with dragons who want to kill me. Yeah, just another day in my life.

"Of course, I will understand if you choose not to ignite your flame and join the clan. We will still protect you either way."

"As nice as that sounds, I'd like to live longer than this week. And I want to be able to fight back if one of those...uh..."

"Morzanites, as we call them." Alloran filled in.

"...Morzanites finds me and you guys can't help. I guess what I'm saying is that I'll do it. Ignite my my flame. Make me an onnick."

Alloran would have smiled if his face was built for it.

"Very well then. Remove one side of your shirt." I shifted Khamûl to my other shoulder and exposed my left shoulder. Alloran lowered his head and pressed his snout to my bare skin. I immediately felt a tingling throughout my whole body, and it seemed as though I rose and floated in the air for a bit. Alloran opened his mouth and I was engulfed in blue flame. Strangely, though, I wasn't burning.

Of course I'm not burning! I'm half dragon! Dragons are immune to fire! I thought. I could feel the bones of my legs lengthening and rearranging themselves, and a strange itching on my back. When I tried to turn around and look at it, I found I couldn't move. All the while, I could feel new strength like I'd never had before coursing through me, as though my blood was liquid fire inside me. It was like being woken up after a very long sleep. Something inside me had stirred an awakened. This was me, the real me. This was who I truly was. Who and what I was meant to be.

As quickly as it started, the flames around me disappeared. and I felt my fet touch the ground. As soon as they did, I could feel a difference. My weight was more spread out on each foot. Something lashed around behind me at the base of my spine. There was a slight aditional weight on my back. I could feel that I now had new muscles that I'd never had before. I flexed the new muscles in my back. and watched, astonished, as my huge wings were raised high over my head. Yes, I now had a pair of enormous black leathery dragon wings. I tried the muscles in my lower back. A blade-ended tail whipped around in front of me. I looked down and saw my new dragon legs. My feet, like Alloran's, had long slender toes that ended in deadly sharp claws. On my left shoulder, as I pulled my stage shirt back on, I saw a mark that looked like a slash from som three-clawed animal.

"The mark of our clan." Alloran stated. I finished pulling the shirt on and carefully walked on my talon/paw feet over to a nearby pool of water and looked in. I could see that my teeth had gotten sharper, and my eyes were a bit larger. Somehow, if I turned my head just the right way, the water was like a mirror. I could see that my eyes were still blue, but now there were flecks of silver mixed in. Somehow, I didn't think I looked strange at all, even with the wings and tail.

"Is...is that really me?" I asked. Alloran nodded.

"It is now." he said, "This is you, Gary. As you were meant to be."

"So, can I reaaly..."

"Fly? Of course! Just follow what your instincts tell you." I went back to the center of the clearing. Khamûl, who had fallen off when Alloran ignited my flame, eagerly clambered up onto my back.

"So, you wanna go for a ride, huh?" The baby dragon tossed his head excitedly.

"Alright, then. Hold on!" I raised my wings and bent my knees. Then I thrust downward with my wings and jumped up. The mighty downbeat from my wings sent us rocketing skyward. I beat my wings harder until we were above the treetops. Then I felt the warm breeze blow up from beneath and fill my wings. I stopped flapping and spread my wings to their full enormous thirty-foot span and let the wind carry me higher still. I soon figured out that my bladed tail doubled as a rudder. I curled my tail so the blade pointed off to my right. At the same time, I raised my left wing and lowered my right wing, banking evenly into a gentle right-hand turn. I did a full circle an leveled out, only to bank into a left-hand turn and do another circle. Khamûl squealed with delight, as this was probably his first time in the air. I loosed a loud yell of my own, which turned into a large tongue of blue flame. If someone asked me what I loved most about being an onnick, I'd say, without hesitation, flying. This wasn't just parasailing or hang-gliding. I was actually flying. With real wings. It's an impossible feeling to put into words. The sheer joy and freedom of it took my breath away. I could see everything! The river, an interstate bridge a little ways up the river, other birds. The birds didn't seem to fear me, at least a group of hawks didn't. To them, I was just another bird of prey, albeit a giant one that looked nothing like a bird. I easily fell into their flight patterns, mimicking their turns and wing movements as best I could, joining the aerial dance as though I had been born there. I closed my eyes, the wind in my face lulling me into sweet bliss.

A piercing shriek brought me back to reality. I turned around to see Khamûl plummeting earthward, flapping his not-yet-formed wings in an effort to not fall. I gasped and folded my wings in, dipping into a steep nosedive straight toward him. I shot like an arrow toward the ground, my arms stretching out as I neared Khamûl. Time seemed to slow as I reached him, my arms wrapping around the little body. Time sped up again as I saw the ground racing toward us. I snapped open my wings and gave a hard downbeat, reversing our direction and sending us up again. Khamûl buried his entire face in my shirt, whimpering loudly.

"You're okay. I gotcha." I said reassuringly, stroking the smooth scales on his back. I wheeled around and headed back to the clearing, where I landed gracefully, as if I'd done it all my life.

Maagnis was waiting there with Alloran when I landed.

"That was quite an impressive rescue, Gary." Alloran complimented.

"Meh, it was nothin'. Just bein' a good person."

"Well, whatever you want to call it, you saved Khamûl's life." Maagnis said, "I'm gald it was a young one like you this happened with. An elder like me would never have been able to move fast enough."

"Well, I just figured his mother wouldn't like it too well if he died when he was with me." The two dragons stared at me in silence, "What?" I asked.

"Gary..."Maagnis spoke slowly, shakily, "Khamûl doesn't have a mother. Or a father. They were slain by Morzanites." Jeez, as if their vendetta against me wasn't enough reason to hate those guys.

"Oh. So...who takes care of him?" I asked.

"Whoever he begs first." Maagnis answered solemnly, "I wish we could find someone who would be willing to take him on."

"Hmm...Hey! Why don't I do it? He's already pretty comfortable with me!" Maagnis' and Alloran's eyes widened.

"You would do that, Gary?" she asked.

"Well, it's not looking like I have much choice." I said with a laugh as I gestured to the sleeping baby in my arms. Not that I minded. I'd actually, in the short time I'd known him, come to like the energetic little dragon.

"Then it's settled. Gary is now Khamûl's caretaker." Alloran stated, "Now that my business here is done, I must rejoin the search."

"As must I." said Maagnis.

"Search? For what?" I asked.

"You aren't the only one. We're going to find the other two onnicks spawned by dragons in this clan." And with a rush of wings, they were gone.

XxxxxxxxxxxX

Hmm, other onnicks will enter soon. Who will they be? Friends or foes? And will Gary ever see Jay and Joe Don again? You'll find out later, but for now, you know what to do. Click that button that says "Review"

P. S. Has anyone (after reading this one) figured out what I'm doing with the chapter neames yet?