For weeks on end they monitored Mark's body. Every day they started by feeding him large amounts of organic and inorganic material, then waited and studied. They had to teach him a lot as they went along, as he had been living thousands of years behind them technologically. They confirmed to him that he did have three hearts, three kinds of lungs, and a split digestive system, but they also told him things he didn't know. They revealed that he had a pair of wings embedded under the skin of his back and, as the weeks progressed, a second row of teeth.
As the weeks went on he noticed a tail beginning to grow, and an extra layer of skin grew allowing his wings to separate from his back. He also began to notice the overall change to his physical shape. His neck was becoming longer, the ratios of his limbs were changing, and after a while it became easier for him to walk on his hands and feet than on his feet alone. Eventually he sprouted horns, claws, and scales. After a three month long process, Mark had fully transformed into a dragon.
There were also several other things he learned during those three months. The main thing he learned was that a little over five hundred years had passed since he had gone to the pedestal for healing. He was surprised when they told him this, but they explained that dragons could potentially live for millions of years under the right circumstances. He also learned that his hair, which he did not ever think of dragons as having, was not only present but also a type of scale that dragons had for protective and aesthetic purposes.
Upon confirming that Mark was really a dragon, the Outerlans began the preparations needed to fully incorporate the humans into their society. During that time he was further studied as he got used to his dragon form. After all of the tests were completed he took another three months to turn back into his normal form.
He then spent the next three thousand years learning as much as he could from the Outerlans and from ancient tablets left behind by the dragons. He learned more about dragons, their culture, their magic, and their science. He learned, from the tablets, about higher dimensions and other universes. At the time though, he had no interest in leaving his universe.
One day though, he was using his dragon magic to view events of the past. He learned more about his family line, and how many of his ancestors had come from other universes. He also learned that Alice's parents and grandmother were not from that universe.
There were also things he learned that he would have been much happier not knowing. He learned that his dislike of long hair, that had been subconsciously suppressed until the outburst in his tower, had been magically passed down to him from an ancestor that was an almost entirely insane wizard. He learned that the pranks he pulled on girls as a kid had been because of this dislike, and Alice had not been pranked because she kept her hair short. But worst of all, he learned what truly happened the day before Alice had been found dead.
He watched the events of that day, reminiscing on the good times, until he came to the conversation they had at the tree. He felt a wave of disgust wash over him as he watched Alice reveal her hair, disgust which was directed at the hair and the wizard ancestor that caused his dislike of it, and watched as his past self doubled over from the headache. But then he began to see things he didn't remember happening. His past self stood up straight once more and said in a low voice dripping with anger, "Why have you been hiding this from me?"
"What do you-" she had started to say as she turned around. She then gasped in fear and shock, shock that easily rivaled his own as he watched, when she saw how angry his past self looked. Mark wanted to look away, but his own shock kept him frozen and watching.
"Why have you been hiding this from me!?" His past self screamed, causing both him and Alice to flinch.
"I... my grandmother..." she stammered.
"Don't dodge the question. Answer me!"
"I... I knew you wouldn't like it, b-but both my grandmother and my mother asked me not to cut it."
"You were right, I don't like it. In fact, I HATE IT!" Mark's past self covered his face with his hand and began cursing under his breath. He then looked up and said, "Because I love you, I will give you until the time of the wedding to cut your hair. If it isn't cut short by then, then the marriage is off." At that Alice fell to her knees sobbing. Mark didn't know how to process what he saw. It almost didn't seem real to him, but he knew this had happened.
After a minute or two Alice calmed down enough to stand again. She turned away from Mark and said, "I'll do it. I'll go cut it right now."
"Good." As his past self said this, a gust of wind blew past again causing him to double over once more.
Alice pulled up her hood and said, "I'll see you tomorrow." and she walked away.
Mark was stunned. Given what he learned the reactions his past self had were not surprising, but he had no idea it had happened. Were there other thoughts and events his subconscious was keeping from him? As soon as he thought that though, he felt a knot in his stomach as he remembered that he had two of those headaches that day. He quickly shifted the focus of the spell to the side of the ravine where he had the other headache.
Only a few hours after the incident at the tree, Alice was sitting on the side of the ravine. She was holding the knife she had just used to cut her hair and was looking down into the ravine. After a few moments Mark's past self could be seen on his usual route back home. Once again his past self experienced the headache and once again recovered from it. His past self then began walking toward Alice. He then had a sinking feeling in his gut as he guessed what was coming, but hoping that it wasn't the case.
When studying dragon culture Mark had learned about something dragon children did when learning to fly. Typically they jumped off of high places in order to learn how to fly, if the height was great enough their instincts would kick in and save them. Sometimes though, a dragon child would hesitate jumping off. This would lead their nest mates to push them off so their instincts could take over. The dragons had speculated that it was hereditary and subconscious. It made sense for dragons doing it, but not humans.
Mark watched in horror as his guess proved true and his past self pushed Alice off the side of the ravine shouting, "Trust your instincts!" He tried to reach out and save her with his magic, but quickly remembered that he was watching the past. What he did not expect was to see a pair of wings with ripped and bloody skin burst from underneath her cloak as she fell. In their damaged condition the wings were unable to help her as she fell. She hit the ground and Mark's past self turned and walked back to his path. At the bottom of the ravine Alice tried to stand, the fall not being great enough to kill her, but was unable to in her weakened condition. She soon passed out and later died from the loss of blood.
Mark ended his spell and sat in silence for an hour. Feelings of rage and despair filled him as he realized that all of this had happened because he and Alice were both half dragon. He surrounded his tower with a barrier and raged inside for days, spouting his growing hatred for the dragons. With the dragons as a culture having disappeared numberless eons ago, he decided to take his hatred of dragons out on himself and end his life. He tried everything within his power from magic to science to in between, but was unable to die.
Having exhausted everything, Mark collapsed to the ground and wept. He then remembered what Alice's mother had told him, and came to the conclusion that her curse was keeping him from dying. Until he broke the curse, he would have to live in misery. He didn't even know what it was that he was supposed to do, so there was a real possibility that he would continue to live for all eternity. With that revelation he was overcome with grief and slid into a mourning coma, as typically happened to dragons faced with extreme and uncontrollable despair. And thus he slept for thousands of years.
