20XX, before the war

One of the inciting incidents were the Juice factories: places where non-immortal dragons are taken to have their liquids extracted and sold.

Shell Grey, a human detective, was assigned to the case that was plastered all over Italian news:

10 Non-Mort dragons were taken from a single apartment

Shell's tip mentioned black market Juice trade, and a factory hidden under Aosta Valley in Toscana. Illegal extraction of juice was considered black market.

Human-dragons and the like were captured and sometimes murdered for the sweet juice they produce. Shell went undercover and witnessed this cruelty first hand.

She posed as a worker to gain access into the Juice factories. She met the lady boss in her office at her request. Blonde, wore a tan suit, had an aura of sickening authority about her. Sitting in the desk was her second-in-command, Grik.

Judging by his looks, She'll would've thought he was in charge. He smoked a cigar, worse a suit that barely fits, and had a graying moustache on his face. His name was Grik. The first thing he asked was, "who are you?"

"I'm Shell Wanderban," She lied, "I am a transfer from Perch-Tech Industries. What's my first task at hand, sir?"

"You report to Wendell down in B-Sector for your tasks." Said Grik.

"Don't forget to attend orientation," said the lady boss.

She went to her desk and skimmed her hand along the ridged edges of a porcelain dragon statue.

"These creatures have been hiding things from us." She said. Her eyes were entranced by the magnificent statue.

"Like what?" asked Shell.

"Their bodies produce such amazing materials. The Juice, as they call it, is a real money maker. You can do a lot with it. Make your own drugs, make your own makeup, put it in food, keep 'em coming for more, keep 'em spending. I'll never be poor again."

Shell was starting to feel concerned, "ma'am?"

The boss lady took her eyes of the statue and said, "go, go. Go see Wendell. I have no use for you right now."

Shell complied and bowed before leaving. She always bowed, like how her Mother used to do.

Down in B-sector, there was the chaos of loud voices. Shell and a group of newer workers were being given a tour of the place by a short haired guy in a suit and glasses. He introduced himself as "The Teacher."

Human-dragons were forced in orderly lines. They were escorted to rooms, and without anesthesia they were cut open.

"Why not give them anesthesia?" Asked Shell.

"Good question. We used to give them that, but the prices were too high. We kept getting more and more strong dragons, which require more anesthesia, unlike the weak ones," The Teacher points at a giant poster on the wall; a chart of dragon species and different levels of anesthesia to use for them.

Meanwhile...

Ashuton Karrucci, our prince mostly responsible for initiating the war, was in this factory and had taken the form of a little boy. Guards had forced the dragon-humans into tubs where they were cleaned—Everywhere. Then they were laid onto beds, where tubes were hooked into them to extract Juice. Guards were placed at the door of every room. Doctors monitored health statuses. Scientists watched eagerly. Some of the captives were forced to drink gallons of water to flush out the juice.

Once the juice was extracted, the captives were sent back to their rooms, except Ashuton. He remained on the bed. His process wasn't done yet.

People in yellow hazmat suits entered the scene while the doctors departed. Their arrival was announced over intercom, "Cleaners are on the floor."

"Ah," The Teacher leans on the rail, "this is the part where we're told to shut up."

The Cleaners examined the dragon juice for anything...strange. There were some bottles, orange-colored, that were placed on a tray table without checking.

"Guess what orange means?" The Teacher looked back at Shell, his right eyebrow raised. Curious.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

"Its clean?" Shell said with confidence, but her tone still twisted with unsurity.

"Correct."

One scientist had found large amounts of orange-colored juice in the canister. (God forbid if it belongs to Ashuton).

"We haven't had a haul this clean in ages," said one Cleaner.

"Where did it come from?" asked another.

'The shortest among them raised a hand. Nobody noticed, at first. They kept their hand raised. Ashuton scoffed under his breath. He flinched back, eyes looking left, right—the guards were looking right at him.

Ashuton's gaze returns to the Cleaner.

Finally, they break their silence, "I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I I can't say his name, but it's him."

The Cleaners take notice now, withdrawing their heads from their work and their attention 100% on Ashuton.

One Cleaner spoke, "we must preserve him."

His words were like a trigger. The guards acted fast; sticking a syringe into Ashuton just as he made his first move off the bed.

This forced the guards to drug him with a syringe. He felt like he was swimming in the sea, then he blacked out. A bacterial-killing medicine was injected inside him, but his body rejected it. It hated every drop of the medicated liquid.

and then?

quarantine.

Shell had the pleasure of meeting Ashuton when the group came through B-Sector. She snuck away from the group and found his cell. She was surprised to see a child being kept here, but she hadn't a clue he was not a child. She walked over to him and spoke, "hello, little one."

"Hi." He responded quietly.

"What's wrong?" she asked innocently.

Something in him clicked. He looked up at her with a disgusted look on his face.

"What's wrong? You see nothing wrong about this?"

Shell leaned in closer to him, "I know this is very wrong but—"

"But nothing!" he shouted, "You will all fucking pay for killing my children. We've done nothing to you! But for years I sat back and watched as you became more malignant towards us, and no more will I let further harm come to my family!"

Shell fell back as he came closer. She stumbled to her feet to away from him. As she ran she looked back, and saw his eyes glow bright green.

A security escort soldier wearing a gas mask came to get him out of his cell.

"Keep going, we don't have all day."

Shell watched the boy until he was out of sight.

I've met him...I met the dragon god!

As he was being escorted back to those labs, Ashuton saw a little black dragon that wore a spiked dog collar. Three men were pulling the creature by its leash and forced it to eject juice from its fangs. Once used up, they returned it to its cage. It kept its sad gaze on the Cleaner responsible for locking it up. For a moment they stared at each other, but the Cleaner turned away. They would not relent.

Other groups of people were taking bodies from a massive pile and throwing them into a dump truck. At the base of the pile were dragons, in human form and in draconic forms, pulling chunks off the bodies and swallowing.

The refined juice was put into jars, packaged in boxes and shipped off; possibly to supermarkets, companies and restaurant. The juice was a moneymaker.

Ashuton was taken to a special chamber with a single machine and tube big enough to hold a horse-sized dragon.

"What is this?" He asks.

"Stasis," says one of the guards.

Ashuton's words tumble over each other, "Stasis? Stasis why? Why stasis?"

He hears their weapons switch to stun mode

"Wai—"

Ashuton is hit in the abdomen by the high voltage of the weapons, but—he isn't knocked out. He's on his knees, panting.

"Fucking humans..."

Ashuton rises to his feet, and his eyes turn bright green. With a wave of his arm, he throws a guard to the right side of the room. With a wave of his left arm, he throws another guard out of his way.

Ashuton steps outside, where the other guards are waiting. They shoot him as soon as he exists that door.

One of them, possibly a lead guard, steps forward. He kicks Ashuton twice. There was no response, so they assumed the boy was dead.

...but there was a tug at the guard's leg

He looks down

The dragon was staring him dead in the eyes

That piercing stare was all the Warden could remember as he was hit with a telepathic force that sent him flying.

The guards saw the boy's body shift, growing taller and the human body morphing away as draconic genetics take center stage.

In moments, no more was that a human before them—but a dragon, the size of a ranch house.

The two guards drop their weapons, taking steps back. The guard on the right completely falls onto his back, but he daren't take his gaze off a dragon.

Their pupils meet draconic slits.

Ashuton spares them, jumping over them and running back to the factory.

'He goes back inside with a vengeance, setting fire to the orange-colored canisters, preventing any human from getting ahold of anything.

"My body is not for your progression. My inner body is for dragons, alone."

He sniffs the air—something is amiss

he squints.

Quickly, his body shifts back down into his kid form

He walks up the stairs to Boss Lady, and Shell happened to be standing in front of her

he sniffs the air around them—sickening.

His eyes widen and his eyebrows furrow

In a loud voice he commands them.

"GIVE IT TO ME."

Boss Lady and Shell look away

clank

Their gazes are upturned, to see what made that sound

hisses, low snarls, deep growls, feral

Walking in unison, all expressing their anger at the humans for defying their god, are the captives

Empowered by Ashuton's presence and set free by him, they come to his aid

They block the left and right of the stairs

The Teacher steps back with his arms up, "Ah, this isn't my fight. I'm just contracted here. I'm freelance."

He tries to exit via the right side stairs, but the split second he passes by Ashuton's peripheral vision, their eyes meet and Ashuton sends a wave of emotions to The Teacher's head.

The Teacher gasps, and subsequently falls to the ground.

"I must not fear, I must not fear. I must not fear. I must not fear," over and over he says, in a shaky voice, "I must not fear. I must not fear. Fear decorates the dragons' roost."

Ashuton bends down so he is eye-to-eye with the teacher. He hands his hand to The Teacher's chin, and smiles. In a gentle voice, he asks, "does it now?"

Within that same moment, the crowd came closer until they were able to pin the two ladies and search them for the canisters.

One of them announced, "Found it," and gave it to Ashuton. He threw those canisters at a wall, and shifted back into his dragonself. He opened his maw and burned that wall down. Ashuton shifts back to his human form and assembles his gang.

"Come now, we are leaving."

A couple of dragons grab The Teacher by his arms and take him with them.