Chapter One

Man, dying sucks. Zero out of five stars on my Yelp review of death so far.

I opened my eyes upon feeling… well… feeling once more, and had to do a double take at what was around me.

There, looking rather amused and entertained, were about two dozen absolutely massive draconic forms. And when I say "draconic", I actually mean dragons. As in, full on scales, four legs, leathery wings folded against their sides and all.

Dragons.

"Am I seeing things?" I wondered aloud, folding an arm across my chest while my other arm let my chin rest on my hand. "Is this some sick joke for my afterlife? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm pretty messed up mentally, but this is a bit much. Even for me."

Loud rumbles notified me of them laughing and several lips turned upward into fanged grins. A feminine voice, filled with mirth, spoke in my head.

Ah- hahaha, no. You are not imagining what you are seeing here, young one. We are here because you are currently what is commonly referred to as "limbo". The before afterlife plane of existence.

"I see… still not giving me a clear answer here." I pressed, letting it be known in my tone that I am patient but not overly so.

I like this one. That was a male's voice. Deep like an earthquake yet calmer than the seas. He isn't outwardly rude or demanding yet sets immediate undertone boundaries. There were rumbles of agreement before the same voice spoke again. I think he would be the perfect match for our plan. Shall we vo-

"Now hold on a minute." I interrupted, blatantly ignoring the growls of clear displeasure at the dragon being cut off during his speech. "What plan and what am I to you? If you have a plan in mind that involves me, shouldn't you do something respectful and ask me before just making a decision for me?" I received silence as my answer before continuing. "I get it, you're not used to someone speaking out against you in fear of your anger and you killing them. I will tell you now: I am not that. I will speak my mind and make myself known. I will make my own decisions for myself and forge my own fate, not one that is predetermined by someone else."

I met each glare with one of my own, making some flinch or avert their gaze as they looked away, almost ashamed.

'Good going Justin. You probably just screwed everything up as usual.' I thought to myself.

A pure black dragoness stepped forward and looked down at me, lowering her head to be at my eye level. One brilliant, amber colored eye met my pair of hazel eyes and I could see the wisdom born from centuries of life within that single orb. From pain to joy, they were all swirling within her eye and her voice held a musical hint to it as she spoke.

I can tell you are truthful in what you say- I snorted at that- and you will not back down from you stand in your morals. I nodded in confirmation before she hummed, clearly pleased. We mean to transfer your soul and consciousness into that of a dragon's body. There were many voices that erupted at her telling me this information, the cacophony giving me a slight headache, but she continued and talked over them. But seeing as you will not bend, break or otherwise be told what to do, you may make your own choice. After all… she swung her head around, glaring at each dragon around me as they went quiet before looking at me once more. You are correct. You should forge your own path so I will give you two options. One, you can leave this place and enter your afterlife as if nothing happened. Or two, we can reincarnate you into a dragon in a world you know much about. Alagaësia.

I raised an eyebrow at that, making the dragoness before me chuckle.

And yes, you will partake in the adventure alongside those whom you already know. A glint of mischief appeared in her eye. Who knows? Maybe you'll find something you weren't looking for in that time as well.

I rolled my eyes, knowing what she was hinting at, before turning my back to her and walking a dozen or so yards away. I could feel the multitude of eyes on me as I paced around, knowing that if I went through with this idea, this plan of theirs, I would be leaving everything behind. I wouldn't even see the family members or close friends I've lost in the recent years. I froze as that thought hit me harder than a roundhouse kick to the head in martial arts when I was growing up. Then I thought about what my life had been like before I died. It wasn't glamorous, but I wasn't exactly unhappy… was I?

I knew my answer.

I turned around and addressed the black scaled dragoness who hadn't moved from her previous position. "Alright, I'll bite-" At those words, many voices started yammering in my head before I silenced them by raising my voice. "-BUT, I have a couple requests."

And what would these requests be? The dragon before me asked out of curiosity.

I smiled and raised my index finger. "One, I do not want to breathe fire, but instead harness lightning and manipulate the weather around the location of my body as I deem fit. Tw-" I rolled my eyes as the dragons started arguing again before I simply started walking away and into the mist surrounding them.

One of the males spoke up. And just where do you think you're going? We aren't finished here.

Without turning around I replied. "Well I am. Seeing as you all can't even hear me out, I'm choosing to simply move on. By all means though, keep arguing amongst yourselves at my first request. I'm just the dead guy."

Justin, please come back. A red colored dragon stepped forward. We give our word we will not interrupt you again. We are being inconsiderate towards you and you have our apologies.

"Very well." I walked back into the circle within the ring of dragons. "My second request, to balance this obvious boost of power, is to have my scales be more fragile and glass-like than the normal scales you have."

Many dragons seemed to ponder this idea and then the black dragoness before me spoke. I say these are reasonable requests. He has asked for less defense in exchange for a harder hitting offense. I say we move this to a vote. All in agreement say "Aye". I vote aye.

Aye.

Aye.

A female, this one a sky blue color, stepped forward. I vote nay. I do not see why he would want this and thus deem it unnecessary and ridiculous.

I could almost feel several dragons want to pounce on her, but I chose to speak up. "I choose this… power if you want to call it, because it is what got me killed. I was blinded by a flash of lightning, causing me to lose my sight and crash, resulting in my death." I gave an evil smirk. "What better way of turning my cause of death into that of my enemies'?"

Every single dragon stared at me in admiration, and then a male spoke after glancing at the others.

I think we have all come to a decision now and will agree with these terms.

The dragons nodded their massive heads and my body began to glow bright blue and purple. The black dragoness before me bowed her head.

You must choose a name before we create your new form. What shall you be called?

I pondered it for a while, and then a memory of me being obsessed with stars and constellations came to my mind. I smiled as I thought of the perfect name.

"Stargazer."

As I uttered my new name, a searing white light blinded me and then I felt my body begin to burn. The last thing I heard was that of the voices of the dragons speaking softly as one.

Good luck, Storm Bringer.

And then everything went black.

Again.