Written by Jon Scholz
“Many moons ago, the first king came into power, named NitWing. He was a ruthless and powerful dragon that was depended on by all the weaker dragons. He was the first one who brought peace to our land and created order and laws. Everyone felt happy with their new king, they felt safe under his ruling. However one day, a powerful alien race called the Robanians. Attempted to invade the land we owned for themselves.
“Our king didn’t like this sudden intruder. So, he trained and rounded up dragons of various races to fight against these intruders. At first, the war was a bloodbath. The undertrained dragons were falling like flies. This was the first real war they have ever had to fight in. The king was growing worried for his citizens, as the effects of the war was causing citizens to starve.
“The king realized that he was going to need help. So, he decided to enforce a new rule. Any dragons with similar adaptable skills like himself, were declared royalty and must lead the Azorians to victory. He appointed several new leaders with different roles to take part in. There were two second highest generals that worked alongside him. One helped the defense, and the other assisted the king with offense strategies.
“The third in power was separated amongst twelve loyal servants. They helped decide the rules and were responsible for citizens' freedom. After this change of royal power in the Azorian hierarchy. This helped the king feel less distressed and overpressured by everyone below him. Which allowed me to heavily focus on the intruders attacking the land.
“The king quickly overturned the war, and was capable of pushing back the invading forces. Coming into the last two years of the war, the Robanians had claimed more territory than lost. Although, the Robanians didn’t want to give up just yet. They decided to try meeting in person with the Azorians to embark on a deal. Although, secretly both sides wanted to use this opportunity to kill the leader of their enemy force.
“The king met up with the leader of the Robanians, known as the Grandmaster. He looked just like all of the other Robanians, but this one was larger and more powerful. The meeting fell short when the Robanians attempted to attack the king. Luckily, he survived and fought the Grandmaster to the death. He would come victorious when he ripped the head off the Grandmaster’s body.
“The Robanians would retreat, and the remaining leaders of the Robanian army struggled to continue fighting. Only a few months later, the Robanian army had given up and retreated. The king returned home to the rest of the Azorians, and gave a speech of their victorious battle. As well as the newly claimed territory they have obtained. On that same day and the same speech, he would declare the name of their territory as, ‘The Untouchable Zone.’
“The Azorians quickly grew their technological advances with the new spaceships and technology they have obtained from the opposing forces. Allowing them to create a bubble area their territory, and spread out tons of dirt and gas outside it. Which would hide their territory from further attempted invasions. However, despite their massive growth and technological advances. The king was dying from a disease, and needed to appoint a new leader.
“He decided before he passed away that the new king would be Azmorphius (Present day he is 102 years old). He made the speech to the whole Azorian kingdom, and would meet Azmorphius in person. Then, a week after the new king was appointed. NitWing would pass away at the age, 236 years old. Azmorphius would continue ruling to this day, and would continue doing what NitWing was known for. Ensuring to keep peace and safety amongst the Azorian kingdom.
“Despite Azmophius still being quite young. He is aware that someday, a new king would need to replace him. Who that would be, no dragon knows. However, the new king would have to be royalty and interest him just enough to consider his decision. Azorians continue to ponder and guess who would be perfect for the role. Though, it’s believed that Azmorphius hasn’t come to the decision just yet. Unfortunately, Azmorphius has remained to himself and refuses to meet with the public face to face. Due to him being very busy and watching the Robanian forces carefully in case they return. Not many dragons beside those in charge have met him and know what he looks like today.”
My mother stared down at me in the eyes as she smiled happily. I laid in bed looking up to her, a mutual facial expression. Though, my heart was pounding slightly faster than normal as I listened to her story. I finally spoke up, my tone was with clear indications that I was exhausted. “Who do you think will be king, mom?” My mother took a second to think to herself, before shrugging.
“I’m not sure, but it would have to be a good dragon with a good heart.” Hearing those words, it got me wondering about myself.
“Do you think I can be a good king?” She grinned and chuckled to herself as she lowered down to give me a kiss on the forehead.
“I think you would be a wonderful king, my little furball.” I smiled widely as I felt her lips place against my forehead. Then, she wrapped the blanket more neatly around my body before getting up onto her four paws. “Now, get some sleep. You have a big day tomorrow, honey.” I continued to smile as I watched her go over to the doorway of the bedroom. I fold my body up while still remaining under the covers. Placing my snout against my stomach and closing my eyes. Mother flips the switch that turns off the light in the bedroom. She closes the door and quietly walks away. Within minutes, I fell asleep and entered the dreamworld.
Thirty years later
I wake up to my alarm clock going off in a shaggy run down apartment. My paw turning into a fist slamming down onto the alarm clock with force, it shatters into pieces. I groaned and stretched as I arose from my bed. It takes me several minutes to realize I broke another alarm clock. I groan again in irritation as I lean over and dump it into the trash bin. Which was also filled with several other alarm clocks that have been shattered from the past week. I open the drawer of the bedside table, taking out a newly packaged alarm clock.
I plug it in and set it up, before getting out of bed. My facial expression wasn’t just irritation, it was also filled with complete exhaustion. Bagged eyelids and some slight red in my eye from irritation. I yawn out loud and stretch, which vibrates against the walls. Within seconds, I hear the sounds of banging upstairs against the flooring. I knew instantly that it was the upstairs neighbor using a stick to shut me up. I heard the familiar old lady voice, telling me to keep it down. Despite me not even being that loud. Though, I will admit that dragons have loud yawns as they roar.
Not to mention, sometimes the old lady’s own roar is loud enough that it catches me off guard. So, her complaining makes no sense. Though, considering she does this more often than it seems to be. I just toss it off as being external noise at this point. I head straight into the bathroom and do my average morning business. Then, head straight into the kitchen and grab myself some breakfast to start the day.
I go back into the bathroom and look at myself in the mirror. Deciding to take the time to put water into my eyes to wake myself up. It sort of works, but I end up staring at myself. My mother never told me what kind of dragon I was. I tried asking her whenever I see various other kinds of dragons. However, she always said that I was a mixture of different species. Never told me a name for what that might be.
My fur was dark blue, with some small hints of light red on my stomach and the tip of my ears. My pupils were round, but the iris was red and not very visible, but the sclera was yellow. It reminded me heavily of small lizards. With the exception being that my pupil was larger than a typical lizard. I can see in the dark better than any dragon I know, maybe with the exception of royal dragons. Though, I’ve never met any royal dragons before so I’m unsure.
My paws were dark blue, with small hints of red near the tips of my claws. My tail on the other hand was my favorite part about myself. It has more flexible muscles in it than an average dragon. Allowing me to do extra things with it like hanging off a tree or picking objects up with it if need be. Not only that, but at the tip of my tail. At will, I can light it on fire and it won’t spread to the rest of my body or hurt me at all. It’s very helpful for lighting up areas if other dragons beside me need light. I will say though, that the fire can hurt other dragons. So, it can also serve as a defense mechanism.
There is one more thing that my tail can do. Which is its cool lighting pattern. The whole tail is the same color as the rest of my body. Though, there is a marking pattern on it that can simulate my emotions. If I’m angry, the pattern turns red, if I’m sad, it’ll turn blue, and so on and so forth. My tail is so unique to other dragons in the kingdom, that my mom had to tell other dragons to be nice to me. However, in school I never got bullied for my tail. This was because other dragons thought I was the coolest in the block. It actually comforted me to know that they didn’t think I was a freak. Despite me being more different than them.
While in school, I actually took some extra time to study other species. Attempting to figure out what species I was mixes of. Apparently, I am a mixture of a fire dragon, a poison ivory dragon, forestry devil dragons, and a nightclaw. The tip flame is obviously from the fire dragons, my bendy tail is from the poison ivory dragons, I got my emotional tone pattern from forestry devils, and my dark blue appearance is from nightclaws. Though, if I wanted to blend into environments. The thing that forestry devil dragons actually do is change their bodily colors to blend easier in environments.
The markings on my tail can change as well if I tell it to. So, if I need to hide myself in any way. I just tell it to blend in along with the rest of my body, and it will. So, yes I can shapeshift all of the colors on my body at will as well. It’s weird that I have so many talents that I was born with. However, I actually don’t mind at all having them. I don’t feel overly powerful, just a little unique is all. Hell, even the other students loved my cloaking abilities. It made hide and seek very difficult for the other dragons to find me. Sometimes, they had to resort to throwing objects around to get a reaction in the environment.
Anyways, I stop looking into the mirror and start leaving the apartment. As soon as I lock the door behind me. I take a deep breath for the day ahead of me. Then, I begin heading to work. I work at a tech company called Acute Computers. My boss can be rude at times, and other times he can be nice. It usually depends on what side of the bed he wakes up on.
Now to introduce a couple co-workers that work in our department. There is SidWind, who was a bright yellow dragon with small hints of lime green on some parts of her body. She is a Sky dragon, who’s species specializes heavily with the wind and storms. She doesn’t enjoy flying too often, but is the fastest flier in the group. Then there are the two earthly dragons, who are the strongest dragons in the kingdom, with the only exception being royalties. They also tend to grow the largest as well out of any dragon. Popal and Yutel are the names of the two earth dragons.
Popal is mixed with green and brown, and can easily blend in grassy fields. He stands two feet taller than me when standing on both hind legs. Yutel is Popal’s sister, and is only two inches shorter than me when standing on two hind legs. She is very similar to Popal in terms of color scheme and that she can blend into grassy plains. The only other difference with her is the eye color being blue, while Popal’s is brown. I don’t enjoy being around Popal or Yutel as they tend to be the most aggressive.
My best friend and the only one I get along with well, is Julley. Her species of dragon is very closely related to rocks and metals. She has diamonds within her chest and tail, and can shine brightly in light. Sometimes, even reflecting light off of them and onto nearby walls. She doesn’t know what species she is based from, but I think she might be a mixture of two species. A earth dragon and a stone dragon. Stone dragons, despite them being made up of heavy materials which make them more resistant. Earth dragons can easily beat them up with their massive strength.
Stone dragons are resistant to fire, but can be heavily injured by lava. They usually only live in caves and tend to come out as blind most of the time. Luckily for Julley, she isn’t blind. Possibly because she isn’t fully a stone dragon. What makes her such a great friend is that she always enjoys getting to know me. Possibly the only one that wants to know as much about me as possible. I always believed she had a crush on me. However, I came to the realization that it was just a part of her personality. She loves socializing with other dragons, especially her best friends.
Our most fun and exciting activities were exploring and solving long lost riddles. Though, a lot of the time the riddles we tried solving had already been answered. Most of the time, from nearby dragons that we knew. It was very frustrating, and Julley thought of just going several miles out and solving a riddle ourselves. The problem was, is the job restricting us from going too far out and missing a workday. Possibly risking our jobs and our ability to afford rent and food.
I live east of the Acute Computers workplace, while Julley lives out west from it. She lives about a mile further than I do, but regardless it only takes a few minutes to arrive at her place. The final dragon to talk about is our boss, Clortius. He was part of the poison ivory dragon species, colored green with a few flower patterns all over his body. Like I’ve said earlier, they can use their tails to hang upside down or move objects. Clortius can do those things, but he doesn’t have as much of a flexible tail as mine. Apparently, poison ivory dragons can get between an extra five to ten muscles. For me, I have the full extra ten muscles. Clortius only has an extra four muscles, so he can only hang from a tree or pick up certain sized objects.
It really says a lot about me if a poison ivory dragon can’t do as much with their tail as mine. I know, it sounds like I have a jerkish ego for just a tail. However, I always thought that I was too different from regular dragons. Always thought that I wouldn’t fit in, or sometimes even believing I was some sort of mutant. My mother tried her absolute best to make me feel welcomed by other dragons. Lots of dragons around me don’t care about my uniqueness. Though, I’ve had those few who’d say things behind my back, but never to my face. My mom said they’re just jealous or too afraid to say it to my face, because they know I’d beat them up.
I was never for violence, but I would if it was necessary. Possibly bite either Popal or Yutel if they don’t shut up. Anyways, I finally arrived at Acute Computers safe and sound. Landing onto the platform that was right outside the floor of the workplace. Immediately seeing Clortius standing beside the doorway, presumingly waiting for me and any others coming. “Ah, you’ve finally arrived MitWig, good morning!” I nod to him as I walk through the doorway. Popal and Yutel were already at their desks, laughing silently to themselves as they gossip about other dragons. I roll my eyes as I’ve gotten used to their behavior by now. I noticed that Julley hadn't arrived yet, which was normal for her. She doesn’t arrive until usually five minutes after work starts.
SidWInd was in the small employee lounge off to the side. It had no door, so it was easily accessible within the office. I could tell that she was grabbing some coffee and eating some snacks to start her day. Not sure why she doesn’t bring her own instead of using the workplace’s supply. Though, I don’t really bother asking or worrying about it. If Clortius doesn’t see a problem with it, then it must be perfectly free for all employees to do.
I sat down at my desk as per usual, starting up the computer and signing in. I continue to hear Popal and Yutel gossip at their desk. That’s when I heard a familiar name pop up in their silent conversation. “SidWind killing herself with coffee, such a pathetic way to go. My mom would slap her wrist if she ever saw her drink that stuff.”
Yutel responds quickly with a remark to him, “Oh please, you drink soda half of the time.”
“Coffee is more dangerous than soda, Yutel. She drinks coffee so much, she will get a heart attack. Besides, doesn’t it stunt your growth as they say?”
Yutel rolls her eyes, before grinning and responding to him. “If it does, then you would be tinier than me. I could step on you if I really could.” Popal used his elbow to playfully bump her as she says that.
“Shut up! No I wouldn’t.” Yutel laughs to herself as she faces her computer. Popal chuckles a little to himself, before starting to play with something out of view. Considering they are a table away from me, and that their size was huge. I didn’t want to stick up for SidWind in case they pin me down. Besides, I don’t know SidWing all that well. She usually remains alone and sits away from everyone else. She even asked Clortius if she could have her own private space so nobody could bother her. I kind of feel bad because it might be mostly because of Popal and Yutel’s gossiping.
Yutel doesn’t usually gossip about others, but instead brings back the things Popal talks crap about him. Though, she will occasionally join in and talk crap about others. I’ve seen her do it all the time with various management members and co-workers that have came and gone. The only one they don’t gossip about is Clortius. He threatened them that he would fire them on the spot if they said anything bad about him. So, what Popal would do is talk nicely about him. Even when Clortius is out of the room, he wouldn’t even dare gossip about him. Just in case Clortius somehow hears him.
They have gossiped about me before, but for some reason not a lot. I’ve only heard things like, “Idiot” and “dork.” However, I don’t usually hear them talking about me. They do talk crap about Julley, and that deeply upsets me. I have twice by now told them to stop and they would when I do stand up for her. Though, they never actually stop it in the long term. I feel bad for Julley having to deal with them everyday. Though, when I asked her about it. She didn’t appear to care because she usually listens to music while working. That helps her tune out all of the background sounds and lets her focus.
Finally, the time ticks for the start of the workday. Clortius walks inside with still no sign of Julley. Which was still common for her, so it didn’t concern me at all. Clortius clears his throat and walks to his office to grab the papers for the day. Usually, the papers contained all of the necessary job assignments for everyone. I believe Popal and Yutel do design work, they were very good at it. Probably the only good thing I know about them. Julley does contract work for the company, keeping orders fulfilled. I don’t know what SidWing does, but I heard from Clortius that it’s very similar to mine. Speaking of which, I do a mixture of layouts, coding and contract work like Julley.
Several minutes pass, and Clortius walks out in front of the room. Popal and Yutel finally stop talking and whatever else they’re doing to face him. SidWing finally sits down at her desk with a small meat sandwich and coffee. Clortius looks through the papers in his paws, before starting to pass them out to everyone in the room. “Alright guys, I was very pleased with the results yesterday. I hope to see that same amount of effort today.” When he walks over beside Popal, I hear a disappointing sigh from Clortius. “Even you Popal.” I hear an excited cheer come from Popal as he takes his assignment from Clortius.
Yutel takes hers without saying a single word. Then, goes over to SidWing and hands over her assignments. When he got over to my side, he placed Julley's onto her desk which was right beside mine. Then, hands me my assignment which was a list of in detail assignments of various tasks I was meant to do. Before he walked away, he looked down at me. “Is Julley coming in today?”
“She should be, you know her.” Clortius just nods and starts heading back to his office. “If you guys need me for anything, or have questions. I’ll be in my office. I expect all of those assignments to be done by the end of today. No slacking off!” His eyes glance over to Popal, his expression said it all. Then, he walks into his office and closes the door behind him. Only a few minutes pass before finally Julley opens the door from the platform area. Popal and Yutel glance back from the sudden light appearing behind them. When they notice that it was Julley, Popal nudges Yutel and begins whispering to her.
I decide to ignore them and watch Julley come over beside me and sit down. “I almost got worried you were going to be late.” I silently whisper to her, though with a grin. Showing I was happy to be seeing her again.
“Sorry about that, I had to feed my cats and dogs and let them out. They are such buggy little things.” I chuckle to myself as I start opening the necessary programs on the computer.
“I should help you install a doggy door so they stop asking you to go out.” She shakes her head and her expression says, “Hell no!” Though, she still had a wide smile on her face. “Why not? It’d help you, wouldn’t it?”
“Then, if I’m not there. They will use that chance to leave my yard. I’m not taking that chance.” I roll my eyes and begin working on the first assignment on the list. Julley would join in on her assignments shortly afterwards once she settled in. She takes out her MP3 player, plugs in headphones and puts them over her ears. She had officially blocked out all noises now, but because her headphones wrapped around her head and ears. I could hear the music leaking out from them, but it kind of made things soothing. It felt like I was listening along with her as I worked, despite me not wearing headphones to listen along.
I looked ahead to Popal and Yutel, and they were finally focused on their job assignments. They didn’t appear to be talking at all, which finally meant that the office was completely silent. With the only exception being the music coming from Julley’s headphones. Besides that though, it was comforting being inside the office. The room had a nice temperature, the smell was as you expected in an office workplace. The ceiling lights were dim, and the windows were blocked by the windowblinds. It was probably by far the best environment to help with headaches if you had one. With the environment comforting and allowing me to focus, I begin to lose track of time as I start working.
Several hours later
Once the workday came to the end, I instantly left. Surprisingly, Julley followed me out excitedly. “MitWig! I want to show you something that arrived last night.”
“What is it?” Before Julley could explain what she was referring to, she started flying straight to her house. With no other choice, my wings lifted me off the ground and started to follow her. Like I’ve mentioned before, her house is a mile further than mine is to work. So it would take slightly longer to get there. On the way to her place, I saw the wonderful sight of several familiar restaurants and offices throughout the city. Flying over the city and seeing the wonderful view from above, actually soothes my brain.
It takes us about an extra two minutes to arrive at her place. Which was within a small suburban town with small houses and backyards. A wooden fence wraps around her backyard, with also a dog house in the corner. Julley lands at the front door, with me landing right behind her. She opens the door for me, with a happy facial expression. I could just read her face that she was very excited to show me whatever she’s leading me to.
I hear the sounds of small, tiny pawsteps approaching us from further inside the house. Not only that, but also adorable meows from nearby. Julley quickly closes the door behind me. That’s when I was greeted by the pouncing of two dogs, one being a german shepherd, and the other was a golden retriever. The golden retriever was only six years old, named Honey Lemons. Possibly my most favorite dog as she is such a sweetheart to the cats. The german shepherd is named, Bullet and was only four years old. He loves to play so much that he will rip the couch to get our attention, if she doesn’t get enough of it.
Then there was Gilbert the cat (Yeah, I know. Such a typical name for a cat.) He can be pretty feisty, but whenever he wants attention, he will be all over the nearest dragon. Honey leapt onto me, her mouth was fully open with her tongue sticking out. She was excited like no other, panting and licking my paws adorably. Bullet was also going nuts, panting with his mouth fully open and tongue sticking out. Though, he was rushing around the room and looking at me. Sort of leading me straight to the backyard door in hopes to play with him. Meanwhile, Gilbert jumps onto the nearest table and meows loudly at me and Julley.
Gilbert appeared to be asking for food, since Julley started heading toward the food bowl. Gilbert jumped down and followed her closely behind. He didn’t really care about my presence. I start to check out the rest of the house while I wait for Julley. Eventually, I decided to sit down on the couch and stretch my paws. Honey joins me on the couch, sitting beside me. I start petting Honey, while Bullet walks up in front of me and stares into my eyes. I try to ignore her begging eyes and look towards where Julley went. I couldn’t see her, but I knew she was either in the kitchen or her bedroom.
Eventually, she would walk out of the kitchen with a large box in her paws. “Guess what I got!” Her tone was filled with excitement, I chuckled to myself as I examined the box for a second. It appeared to be just big enough to fit inside a musical instrument. That’s when it occurred to me, this had to be the flute that she’s been talking about for weeks now. I felt myself grow excited when I came to the realization of what it might be. She places the box down onto the table, and carefully opens it up. Though, the way she was opening it was forceful and fast.
As soon as she saw the flute wrapped in paper within the box. She squeaked from just seeing it in front of her. It was a western concert flute, colored white and was about two feet long. She took it out of the box and held it in her paws. She couldn’t believe her eyes as she held it up close to herself. “I can’t believe it. . . I finally got what I’ve always wanted.” I chuckled to myself, watching her take it to the kitchen to wash it out. “Do you think I can still play it?”
I shrug, “Maybe, I’d love to hear what you can do.” When she returned back to the living room, getting into the middle of the room, and holding the mouthpiece up to her mouth. She doesn’t play it though, I can notice her nervous shiver. “What’s wrong?” I ask her. She shakes her head, before starting to blow into it. User her other paw to control the notes of the flute. She starts playing a basic song that she remembers called, “The Forest Gnomes.” It was a song that I heard my mom hum and sing to me before I fell to sleep. Julley knew the song as well, it was one of her most memorable songs.
Unfortunately, the next song she started playing was unfamiliar to me. She misses a couple notes, but for the most part she succeeds in playing it. The song lasted about a minute, before pulling her mouth away from the flute. “What do you think?”
“I don’t know what song that was, but you did amazing.” I can see her blushing a little as she scratched the back of her neck. She places the flute back into the box and closes it. She takes it back into the bedroom and packs it up for the evening. “I should probably continue practicing in my off time.” I nod in agreement as I continue petting Honey beside me. I wasn’t in the mood to play with Bullet at the moment. Luckily, he realized I was ignoring him and walked away. I yawn in exhaustion as Julley comes back into the living room. My yawn was almost a roar, which nearly vibrated the walls heavily from it. “You know what we should do? We should watch a movie together.”
The next day
I woke up from the sound of the alarm clock again. I growl loudly as I arose, my paw turning into a fist. Slamming down onto the bedside table, only for me to realize that no alarm clock was there. It takes me several minutes to come to the realization that I wasn’t home. In fact, I wasn’t even in my own bed. My eyes widened as I turned around to Julley lying beside me. In that very second, I blush deep red once I notice the bottles of wine. Julley wakes up and turns off the alarm clock finally, rubbing her eyes with a groggy tone.
I was still blushing, beginning to remember the events from last night. Pouring straight into my head like a waterfall. I couldn’t believe it, did we really-? No! We couldn’t have! We are just best friends! Julley grunts and moans as she closes her eyes again, still facing away from me. I didn’t want to move in case she woke up from my sudden movements. I turn and look down at her, still with closed eyes. However, she did have a large smile on her face. Almost as though she was deeply satisfied with something.
Was it because of last night? No way! There’s no way she had feelings for me this entire time. I carefully and cautiously arose from the bed and checked the clock beside her. It read that it was about time to get ready for work. This sets me off instantly, I never went home last night! I quickly rush out of the bedroom, also quietly and into the kitchen. I start pacing back and forth from the fridge to the backdoor. My thoughts rush through my brain as I try to process what happened last night.
I attempt to retrace my steps, alluding back to the wine. Only for the memory to get fuzzy and struggle to get a clear idea what happened afterwards. We were just planning to watch a movie. I shouldn’t have ever agreed to the wine. Did I use protection? Did anything like that even happen? I’m so concerned and worried about the consequences that would occur from that. I check the bedroom door, with still no sign of Julley. I decided to take the chance to leave the house and begin heading straight to work.
I didn’t know if Julley was going to be upset with me leaving or not. My emotions meanwhile, were filled with both confusion and disappointment in myself. I don’t know what Julley will say to me, and I didn’t want to know. That’s when my eyes caught a glimpse of a familiar restaurant that I enjoyed. I didn’t know what time it was, but I need time to think before I arrive at work. I rotated my wings and body just enough to glide me downwards to the restaurant building. I check my surroundings just in case any other dragons will fly into me.
Luckily, I landed in front of the restaurant and I took a deep breath. Then, I look upwards to the building I stood in front of. It goes by the name Classy Wings Diner. It was fairly small in size, a tall size out front with the name of the building. It had an outside porch with seats and tables throughout the front. You could easily see the interior of the diner from outside from the windows. The bright yellow lights illuminating from the lighting. It had red and white stripe coverings above each window. It was like your typical small diner in an unpopulated town.
I walk up to the front door and open it, walking inside. Instantly greeted by the wonderful smell of pancakes and eggs. Two other dragons sat at the end of the diner, minding their own business with their heads slightly lowered. As the door closes behind me, another dragon from within the kitchen walks into view. “Hello!” They politely call out to me with a large grin. A kitchen was behind the counter, chairs were lined up along the counter. I decided to sit at the counter instead of the couches lined up along the wall with the door.
The waitress dragon comes up to me, “Good morning! How are you doing today?” She places a menu down in front of me. I didn’t know if the waitress could tell my distress or not and was just trying to pretend she didn’t recognize it. Though, I decided to still mention it.
“Just feeling a little conflicted. Do you guys have anything that can refresh you from a long night of wine?” The waitress thinks to herself for a second, then gets an idea.
“How about some water? That usually always helps after a hangover.” I nod in agreement, then take the menu and begin looking through it. As I checked through the menu, I came to the realization that I was going to need something small and soft. Something that can fill me up, but not overdo my stomach. Looking through the menu, there were things like homemade french toast. That could do it, but my eyes locked onto another option, “The Toastic Special.” I figured by just the name of it, that it was going to be homemade toast. That seemed good enough to help me feel better.
The waitress returned with a glass of water with ice in it. I did enjoy eating the ice after drinking the water. So, that cheered me up a little bit. “Alright, have you decided what you’d like?” I nodded in response. She takes out her notepad with a pen, “What would you like?”
“I think the toast special will do fine.” She nods as she writes that down.
“Alright, that’ll be five B-coins.” I didn’t have change with me, due to me leaving it at home. Though, I did have my card. So, I took out my wallet and pulled out my card and handed it over to her. She takes it and starts putting it into the machine. Once she finishes, she heads to the back to tell the chef my order. While I waited, I took a long sip of water before beginning to munch on the ice. The ice cooled me off and made me feel more relaxed. I was definitely distracted now, and that’s all that I needed.
I heard the front door of the diner open, but I didn’t look back to see who it was. It didn’t matter though, because I heard a familiar voice of Julley calling my name. I turn to look at her, but not into her eyes. Her facial expression appeared to be worry and concern for me. “MitWig? What are you doing here?” I shrug and shake my head as I continue munching on the ice. She sits down in the chair beside me and puts a paw on me. She was beginning to notice my mood as I felt too embarrassed to look at her. “Are you okay?”
I shivered when I felt her paw on my shoulder, but didn’t push off. “I’m. . . I’m fine.” I felt her eyes fully on me, observing my actions.
“No you aren’t, I know you MitWig. You never do this unless something is the matter.” I struggled to mutter the words of what I was feeling. The guilt and confusion returned back to me as I was reminded of last night again. I didn’t want to ask her in public. If I do, I can get answers about what happened. I turned and looked straight into her eyes, where I looked very distressed. When she saw my face, she only got more worried. “WitWig?” I could tell she wanted to hug me, but she wasn’t going to make any moves.
“I’m. . . I’m sorry. I’m just so. . .” I tried to finish the sentence as my paws came up to my face and rubbed my eyes. I also began to sob as I felt myself crumble, before my entire body fell into her grasp. She reaches her paws out and holds me tightly into her chest. “I’m so sorry. . .”
“Why?” She places her head on mine, but still slightly confused from my sudden collapse into tears. “Why are you sorry?” I still couldn’t mutter the full words, I was too focused on the tears. She started to pet me down my neck and back, trying to comfort me.
I was finally capable of muttering the words out. “Last night. . . I’m so sorry.” That’s when Julley pulled away from me laying on her. She lifted my chin up to look her in the eyes. She didn’t appear to be upset, only surprised.
“But. . . You did nothing wrong?” I lifted a paw up to my snout and eyes and wiped the tears. Then, our eyes fully met as I tried to figure out what she meant.
“I. . . I didn’t?”
“Absolutely not! Last night-.” She stops herself as she begins to remember the events from last night. “You were such a mushy and huge sweetheart last night. You told me feelings that I’ve been wanting to hear for months.” When I heard this coming from her mouth, I didn’t know what to think. I was confuzzled, but also slightly flattered that she was taking this so well. Did she really mean that? Did she really have feelings for me? I was drunk, so I had no idea what I was doing. I wonder if she knows that, or if she really does believe my inner self came out last night.
“Wh-Wait. . . Really?” She smiled brightly at my blushing appearing on my face. “But I. . .”
“I’ve had a crush on you for months, and hearing and doing the things we did last night. Meant so much to me.” She was about to lean in and smooch me on the cheek. Although, I pulled away from her as soon as the plate with the toast was placed in front of me. I didn’t know what to feel, and wasn’t feeling ready for a relationship.
“I. . . I don’t know Julley. I never expected myself to ever do the things last night. None of that was what I wanted.” Without realizing, I was tapping my claw against the plate as I had my head turned to her.
“But MitWig, if you never wanted to then why did you?”
“I was drunk Julley, I couldn’t contain myself.” I begin to sadly lift the toasted bread off the plate and begin munching on it. “I’ve always thought we would just be. . . You know, friends? Best friends.” Julley felt her heart sink like a boat. It was like I just hurt her feelings. That wasn’t my intent at all, but I had no other way to explain what I was feeling at that moment. I place the toasted bread down onto the plate, as I watch her turn away with eyes filled with tears. I never saw her hurt before. What was I thinking? I just hurt my best friend’s feelings.
“Julley I-.” She raised a paw up in front of me, telling me to shop. I stop at the sight of it, my ears lowered above my head. My eyebrows and eyes grew sad as I looked up to her.
“Don’t say anything. . .” She tells me as her voice was a little weak. “I-I understand. . .” She gets up from the chair and begins walking away. Before she walks through the door, she glances back at me. “I’ll see you at work MitWig. . .” She tells me with still signs of sadness and a little bit of disappointment. I didn’t know what to say or do at that moment. I felt like a jerk, was I? I never wanted any of this to happen. I mean, I know I didn’t feel ready for a relationship. Though, if it’s true from what she said and that I opened up last night. Maybe, I’m wrong for thinking I’m not ready.
I stared down at my toast laying on the plate. A few bites were taken out of it, but I felt terrible. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to finish it after that conversation. Silence filled the room as I continued to stare down at the plate. However, that is when a loud scream was heard from outside. Not just any scream, it was Julley’s scream. As soon as I heard it, it took me a minute to process. Though, I got up quicker than I ever had before. Instantly rushing through the front door and panically searching for any sign of Julley.
A few seconds passed before I heard another scream from her. Luckily, it didn’t appear to be far. Somewhere down the street toward the left. I use every force and muscle in my legs to run to her. I glanced down each alleyway as I ran down the sidewalk. Then, I saw her within an alleyway with two other dragons slightly larger than her. One of them appeared to be a fire dragon, with scales all over his body. He was mostly red and orange, and appeared to be guarding the alleyway while his partner pins Julley up against a wall.
The other dragon was a forestry devil dragon, he had a fade in of green into blue from his legs to his body. He also had small flowers along his neck and tail. “What’s wrong little miss rock dragon? Afraid?” The forestry devil dragon asks her with a large smile across his face.
I rush up to the fire dragon with an angry and demanding expression. “Let her go bimbo’s!” Both of the dragons turn to me and notice me. The fire dragon turns around and looks down upon me with an evil grin.
“Oh! Look at that, a hero coming to rescue her queen.” He laughs to himself, which the forestry dragon did as well from his comment. Afterwards, the fire dragon closely examines my body and its details. “Interesting design we got here of a dragon. Where did you come from? The circus?” He began laughing again evilly as he continued to block my way toward Julley.
“Maybe I am, would you like to see a party trick?” The fire dragon stopped laughing and leaned his face toward mine.
“You know what? Yeah, I’d like to see what you can do.” I growl as I look deep into his eyes with rage. “Make a move. . .” He continues to grin widely down at me.
“You first.” When I say this, he takes both of his claws and pops them. Then, his entire tail bursts into flame before swinging it toward me. I jump upwards then leap onto him. My claws come out from my paws and I dig them straight into his neck. Despite him having scales, they weren’t strong enough to handle my sharp claws. He growls and yells in anger as his entire body forms into fire. I felt the fire make contact with my fur, but strangely it didn't hurt me.
“MitWig!!” Julley screams out to me, but the forestry devil dragon puts his paw up to her mouth to shut it.
“Quiet you!” He tells her, keeping her pinned up against the wall.
Eventually, the fire dragon used as much force as he could to yank me off of him. I let go and slam against the wall. My eyes look up toward my claw marks and notice the blood dripping down his neck. “You pest!” I get on all fours and lower my head a little with my eyes showing flaming rage. He uses his other claw and wraps around my neck, pinning me to the wall just like Julley.
As the rage flowed through my body, I felt something coming up. It wasn’t anything I’ve ever felt before, but it did feel good. Within seconds, a large burst of ice engulfs around my body. This causes the fire dragon to let go of me and stumble backwards on all fours. He struggled to process what just happened, blinking his eyes multiple times as ice got into his eyes. He attempted to use his paw to dig out the ice from his eye. Although, I took this chance to jump on him from the front and use my claws to dig out his eyes.
Not only that, but a burst of acid bursts out of my body and claws. The acid and my claws make contact with his face and eyes and begin to burn through his scales and skin. He screamed out in pain as he fell back onto his back, whimpering and growling. I jump onto the ground and turn toward the forestry devil dragon. His jaw dropped in pure shock and terror. He lets go of Julley and begins to back away slowly. Then, starts sprinting down the alleyway. Although, the anger was still flowing through my body that I didn’t want to let him get away.
My entire body turns invisible and I begin to follow him quickly using my wings. Before he could turn around a corner, I dive down onto him and get above him. Making him faceplant against the ground. He squirms in panic and fear as I roll him over onto his back. “Please! Don’t kill me! I’m so sorry! I-.” I interrupted him before he could continue.
“You’re not going anywhere! Do you hear me? I want to kill you right here and now for hurting my girlfriend!” Before I could raise a claw up, Julley comes over and stops me with her paws. In shock, I looked at her. My anger started to fade away as our eyes met. Her other paw lifts up and points over to a small black spherical camera sitting above the doorway. That’s when I started to calm myself down, not only because of the camera, but because of her stopping me before it’s too late.
I got off of the forestry devil dragon, but kept my paw on him to prevent him from leaving. I turn toward Julley again, “Go get the Plociers.” She nods and rushes over to the sidewalk outside the alleyway. Me and the forestry devil dragon meet eyes again. I could see the utter fear and guilt in his eyes. “I would kill you right now, but I’m no monster. So instead, you are serving justly.” He nods fast, showing me he more than understands my demands. “Good. . .”
It takes the Plociers a couple minutes to arrive. They arrest the forestry devil dragon for, “Unethical Physical Assault.” They also called the medical services to check up on the fire dragon. Unfortunately, he was dead on scene. As a result, they had to start wrapping his corpse up and get the necessary tools to fly him out of here. Me and Julley talked with three of the Plociers about the situation. Julley pointed over to the camera above the door that looked into the alleyway. One of the Plociers went inside the corresponding building to check on the camera footage.
We waited patiently within the alleyway as one of the Plocier dragons waited beside us. The third one helped two other Plocier dragons to take care of the suspect. After about thirty minutes, the Plocier returns to us. “Alright, we checked the footage and it appears to be ethical murder, also known as self defense. As a result, you’re free to go.” Then he turns to Julley, “Would you like to press charges on the forestry dragon?” Julley nods in agreement, then he pulls her with him to the side away from me.
I waited patiently, breathing a sigh of relief from the events that had happened. I pick up a small stone and toss it playfully to distract myself. After a few minutes, Julley returns back to me and hugs me. I accepted the hug and smiled happily, knowing that she was safe and sound comforted me. It made me feel relaxed to know she was perfectly fine. I face her and our eyes meet. “I’m so relieved that you’re okay. . .”
She chuckled, but then a frown appeared. “Did you mean what you said?” I was a little confused from the question, raising an eyebrow. “When you were on top of that dragon, you said I was your girlfriend. Did you really mean that?” I think back to those events. I didn’t even realize I said that. I must’ve been so angry that it slipped out. You know what? The way I flew out of my chair and rescued her from those thieves, even nearly killed two dragons. I think it’s safe to say I really do have feelings for her.
I mean, my entire life that I’ve known her. I’ve been lonely, nobody else dared to talk to me. My mother did love me, but she was too focused on keeping me secret from others. Luckily, she couldn’t keep me away from Julley because I always find ways to her. I never got to meet my father, he was absent for most of it. With the only reasonable exception being when I first hatched. This is heavily proven by my mother who keeps referencing him on that night. I had no brothers or sisters, and even the people in school never considered me a real friend. They just liked me because I was cooler than them. Besides Julley, who had stuck with me since then. She enjoyed talking to me and making me laugh. Maybe those things I said last night were true. If I went this far to protect her, then that means I have feelings for her.
I look at her in the eyes with affection and happiness. My paws hold onto her eyes tightly. Then, I lean in and kiss her fully on the lips. She was slightly shocked by this, but she quickly accepted it. She wrapped her paws around mine and held me in her grasp. I pulled away from the kiss and smiled brightly at her, a light blush on my cheeks. “You know what? Let’s go out this Tursda for a movie.” Her eyes sparkled when she heard that. She couldn’t speak, she could only look away and lower her ears above her head in embarrassment.
Eventually, she was capable of muttering out the words she’s been hoping to say for a long time. “I’d love that.”
Plocier Investigation Center
Another investigation completed with a reasonable murder case. It did feel good to know that no court case was needed to determine what happened was ethical. It helped keep things to a minimum, especially when the murdered suspect was a mentally ill dragon with murderous rampage. Let’s just hope that the one that killed him doesn’t end up like him. It would be bad if we had to lock up someone who did a heroic thing before. However, one thing was still nagging at the Plocier guard.
The camera footage showed him as having more than one adaptable trait, even his physical appearance showed this. He has never seen dragons like him before. So, that made him very skeptical about who he is and where he came from. He tried searching through archives and files about the name of the dragon. The one he was referring to, said that his name was MitWig. However, there are no dragons under that name. One dragon in particular with a similar description as him is named Asmethius.
A dragon capable of adapting himself however he desires with any element. Shapeshifting his body to not only absorb various elements, but also terraform its body to fit its surroundings. Various other DNA’s in his body appear to be mixtures of different kinds of dragon races. With all of the details about him coming to one possible solution. He’s part of the royal family. Nobody seems to have ever met him or knows that he exists. Which might explain why he isn’t in power by now.
“DoagWiff, what are you doing?” I heard the voice of my superior named Bogs. behind me in the doorway of my office. I was standing beside a board with two pictures of MitWig’s mother, and various possible father figures that might be related. There didn’t appear to be a picture of MitWig on the board, but he wrote his name down below the other images.
“I’m just trying to figure something out that I discovered today in a recent case.” Now with curiosity, my superior walks into the room and beside me. He faces the board and examines it. When his eyes met with mine, I sighed.
“I think I might’ve found one of those lost royal family children.” Bogs’s face lit up with both excitement and worry.
“Really?” He asked, looking down to the name I wrote on the board. “Is that dragon named MitWig?”
“That’s his alias I think, his actual name is Asmethius.”
“Wait a second. . . I’ve heard of that name before.” I turn to him in slight confusion. “If I remember correctly, Asmethius was the name of a long lost third in power's son.”
That instantly took me by surprise as I looked at the board. Each of the images were from various dragons, but two in particular sparked my interest. I walk over to the board and take down all of the pictures that don’t fit the bill. I glance back to Bog, who nods slowly. “That seems right.” I smirk. “But which one do you think fits?”
I lift my paw up to my chin and begin to think to myself. “Don’t you have an idea? You were the one that heard it.” He shakes his head disappointingly.
“Unfortunately no, that is as much as I know. I heard from various dragons around town that they have a theory that a third in power’s son was stolen from its father by its mother.“
“Do they still know if the father is alive?” Bogs shrugs.
“I haven’t heard of the theories and rumors since it happened. So, I can’t say if that same father is alive or not still. Besides, I don’t even know what he looks like or what his name was.” I begin to scratch my chin, thinking heavily to myself about the best possible candidate that fits Asmethius. Bogs also think for a couple minutes, before sighing. “How about you take a break? You’ve been staring at that board since you returned.”
“I don’t know if I can sir, this is quite important.” Bogs nods as he walks over to the doorway of the office.
“I know it is DoagWiff, but even the best detectives need a break. Besides, you have plenty of time to figure it out. Now that you have the correct information to match him, it should only take you a bit more detective work. Now come on, I got donuts for everyone. You don’t want them to take your most favorite donut now, do you?” I stare at the board for a few minutes longer, until Bogs’s words convince me enough to stop. He was right, I needed a break. I can wait to figure this out. I follow Bogs out the door and to the employee lounge to grab a few donuts and a drink.
As soon as I returned back to the office. I studied the board carefully and closely as I munched on the blueberry filling donut. That’s when he got an idea in his head. He remembered the female stone dragon that was with him. Her name was Julley Stonedozer, and she could answer the question I was having. I pulled out the file about Julley from the cabinet and started looking through the file. After a while, he eventually discovered a familiar location. A location that suited only one of the candidates on the board. “Aha!” I cheered out loud, probably just loud enough that the other co-workers would hear me.
I go over to the board and pull off the image of the final suspect. Placing it off to the side and looking at the board fully now. He finally knows who he was connected to, and it made so much more sense now. I stared at the board with a delighted expression. The final image on the board, the one he was very delighted to look at. Was that of a male dragon, colored light blue fur and orange eyes. His name was Amono and he was the father of Asmethius, the third in power of the twelfth district.
Acute Computers
The workday had ended like it usually did. My boss called me into his office like normal, but I was able to tell him about what happened at the diner. He appeared to understand fully and let him off the hook. Julley even appeared to back me up when he asked her about the situation. He seemed to be more happy to see them alright than worried about their work performance. That was the first time I saw my boss worry about me like that. Though, that might just be because that’s part of their typical management policy when treating employee’s. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe they can worry about their employees without sounding too uncaring.
Regardless, Julley and I finished all of our typical assignments by the end of the day. Julley told me that she wanted to head home alone for the day. Not really because she didn't want me to come. Rather, she appeared to just want to have the day practicing and enjoying some reading. She usually did this to relax herself after a stressful situation. I’m pretty sure I could comfort her if I really tried. Though, he wanted to give her the necessary space as she requested. I hope she won't be spacing because of the date soon. Gosh, I really hope I didn’t do or say anything terrible.
When I returned back to my apartment, the door still locked as I left it. Inside the lights were off and I just belly flopped onto the couch. A huge gasp released from my mouth and nose as I felt the comfort of the couch make contact with my fur. It felt really good to be home finally. Despite the apartment not being overly exciting in terms of decoration. I suppose the feeling of just returning back to your safe haven comforted you more. I still did enjoy being at Julley’s place, it was more lively than here. I don’t know, I guess the silence can be a good thing at times.
I was about to pass out on the couch, closing my eyes and relaxing my body. When I heard a knock at the door and a calling of my name from an unfamiliar voice from the other side. “Plocier, anyone home?” I arose from the couch and hopped off the couch and landed on all fours. Instantly beginning to head toward the front door. Why would the Plocier be here? I thought I already told them everything? I thought to myself as I reached my talon out to the doorknob, twisting it and pulling it open.
Instantly revealing one of the same Plocier’s from before, along with another that was unfamiliar to me. “Um, hello?” I say to them softly as I hold the door open. “I thought I already told you guys everything?”
“Oh, don’t you worry! We are not here about that. You’re perfectly fine.” The Plocier from before told me with a comforting tone. “We are actually here because of something else that was quite important.” I glanced inside the apartment, before stepping fully out. Closing the door behind me and fully giving them my attention.
“Okay, I’m listening.”
“MitWig, are you also familiar with the name Asmethius?” When I heard that name, I shivered as my thoughts returned back to my mother. She used to call me that a long time ago. However, she stopped calling me that as we kept moving around.
“Um, yeah. Why?” The Plocier grinned widely. He glanced over to his partner, before they both bowed to me.
“Our majesty, it’s lovely to finally see you in good health.” I was instantly confused and puzzled by the interaction.
“Uh, what?” I stared at them both in complete confusion. “What do you mean, majesty?”
The Plocier’s lifted their heads up to look me in the eyes. “It appears neither of your parents had mentioned.” The Plocier mentioned. “You’re part of the royal heir, and you have been instantly summoned to come into office of the twelfth district.” Wait a second. . . I thought to myself, I was a royal?! My mom never told me about this! But why did – Was she keeping this a secret from me? But why?! I glanced between both of their exchanges, both of their expressions were filled with excitement and happiness. Like they’ve been waiting for him to arrive for years. Which, I suppose, is true in this situation.
“My majesty, we request you come with us immediately.” One of the Plocier’s mentions with a delightful expression, both of them turning their bodies to allow him to go past them, their talons both extending outwards.
“N-Now? But I – “
“Do not worry my majesty, we will explain everything on the way. However, we must go now before it gets too late.” I didn’t say anything else as I decided to listen to them. I didn’t want to upset them of course, but I was deeply confused. I wanted answers now, but I also was curious about where they were going to take him. Prison? Maybe this was some sort of trick or joke they were playing on me. The other Plocier took out a key and locked the apartment door. I was familiar with the key they used, it was a key that could lock any door in the world. This allowed them to assess situations better without the need of owning a key to various areas.
The two Plocier’s started to lead the way. I started following them shortly after they flew into the air. They would occasionally look back toward me to ensure I was still following them. Which I was, I didn’t want to protest against this or get into any sort of trouble. If I did cause trouble, would they stop and not consider me reliable? Or do royal family members get exceptions to the rules? That sounded a bit unfair and very corrupted if you ask me. This was moving too fast. Though, I didn’t want to stop following them until I see this for myself and I get answers from them.