I was with my new family at the marina.

In the evening, after dinner, Oum was on the 2-seater sofa with me, her head lying on her lap.

Milo and Maya were on the other couch, leaning against each other, watching a movie on TV. There were chips and sweets on the table laid out on a carpet.

I fell asleep moaning “mama” and soon started purring.

The room was simple, made of white wood with a few pieces of furniture and a dining room table, the living room and dining room being side by side.

A window looked out onto the harbor, and the masts of the few fishing boats bobbed with the small waves in the private (village) marina.

Maya got up and laid a blanket over me and Oum, who had just fallen asleep in turn. It had been a busy day.

A teapot sat on the coffee table and the smell of fresh minty tea gave the room a cool ambience. All was silent, except for the occasional dialogue from the old Hindi film, which I couldn't understand anyway.

My dragon senses allowed me to understand the intention of the sentences, but not the writing or the voices on TV.

I remembered my old life in Belgium, my white cat Fifi who had spoken to me during my first transformation. Then the dramas that followed, my tormentor and the man responsible for my misfortunes, the terrible Gray Man with his eternal dark blue suit, black tie and briefcase, and above all his face cut with a knife.

Then my salute to the Vatican and my training as a knight reborn.

I may have lost all my leviathan powers, but my faith never deserted me and neither did my powers as a Paladin knight.

Then my consciousness sank and I began to cross the floor and the ground and quickly fell as if into the mouth of a volcano.

Above me, I could see a point of white light, and below me, an approaching furnace and a voice calling to me.

“Daathrr, Daathrr... My child... Mommy's waiting for you...” Then, all of a sudden, I found myself in a huge cave with a lake at the bottom and a lava waterfall behind it, ending in a chasm and probably a lava tunnel.

The light was that of fire and, in the middle of the lake, probably of sulfuric acid, stood a kind of island in the shape of a chalice, and in the middle of this chalice stood an immense five-headed dragon.

The ceiling was dark and showed like stars, as if the sky were touching the top of the cavern, but they weren't stars but eyes. There were 16 in all. An even bigger hydra, bigger than the world, looked down.

Only her eyes could be seen, for she was darkness among darkness, and every now and then a crack of green light faded slightly, probably one or other of the 8 dragon mouths. One of the heads possessed an artifact, a sort of golden crown, and its presence overwhelmed gravity. And, with horror, our world revolved around the hydra, like a sun without a glow. Like a black hole. It judged us. It judged Tiamat.

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It judged me. I wanted to be anywhere but here. I didn't want to know anything, I wanted to run. I wanted to run away from this “thing”. I wanted to run away from Tiamat, even if it was mother...

“Daathr.. Help me... My body.... Come back into me!..”

Then, in an instant, a light dazzled us and L'hydre had raised a greenhouse. Tiamat disappeared and in its place was a crystal dome over the chalice and... and.... I had 5 heads.

The hydra pointed at me with its claw and I knew instantly that I was the new Tiamat. It was a horror... It was a nightmare... Yes... I dreamed... Then I began to pray and sing the Hail Mary and, as I put my paws together, the Hydra hissed and I was dazzled...by the sun.

The whistling of the kettle roused me from my slumber and I knew that breakfast awaited us. I hadn't even woken up when Milo took me in his arms and laid me on Oum's bed.

He too had been carried to bed after an exhausting day.

“OUA OUA OUA.” Tok said, knocking on the door with his sea lion flippers.

I got the hang of it and managed to say “Oum..” more easily... Something had changed in me last night.

It was 6 a.m. and the smell of bread, eggs, coffee and jam was a treat. Oum brought me to the table after getting dressed and asked, “Mom, A-AArr, should he or she have clothes?”

Maya held her chin and pondered the question.

“No, it's not necessary, AAAR is not a mammal and nothing daring appears. We could put some sort of poncho on him, to hide his nature from the others, yes... maybe that should do the trick. Whether it's a boy or a girl remains to be seen...”.

Then we greeted the ancestors and began our meal. They could see that I was trying to pick up the cutlery as best I could and that I was imitating Oum. Then I said“ MMiloo”....

“MAyYYAAA”

“OOUUUMM” and pointed to “Daaaathrrrrrr”.

Everyone laughed. Then, with the meal finished, Milo put his elbows on the table and cupped his hands into fists and rested his chin on his two clasped hands.

“Oum, Daathrr... we need to talk...”

I frightened them and snuggled up to Oum and looked with my most beautiful kitten eyes at Maya... which drew a smile from her. Milo “The 3 eggs will hatch and I imagine we'll have 4 Daaathrs dragonnets at home... But the house is small, and so is your room, Oum...” Maya took another sip of coffee to clear her throat.

“Oum, you're growing up, the vacations are over and you have to go back to school in the village and learn our culture too. M'AH, our tribe's elder and Sage, still has to teach you the rituals Milo had to go through when he was your age to prepare him to become chief.” “But,

Mom, I'm afraid of the ritual and I have enough tattoos...”

“The spirits can only pass on their knowledge and help through these ancestral tattoos.”

Oum: “And Daathrr? Where will he go?”

Maya: “He's the big brother or sister, but he'll have to look after the little dragonets. They'll be safe in the Village and we'll teach them to become a Hunter but also a protector of our community.”

Oum: “Will I be a Hunter too?”

“Yes, you too, and only when you're a skilled hunter can you be a candidate leader.”

Oum: “And Tok? What about the marina, the boats, the sales, the animals?”

Maya: “M'AH will tell you what to do. You're a man now.”

Then Maya turned to me. “Kid, do you understand what I'm saying?”

I was afraid to answer and hid behind Oum. Maya could see I'd understood everything. Then I cried: “Daathr love Oum...Daathr with Oum..”

The problem was that I'd said all that in French... and the message had gotten through all the same. Maya remained puzzled by the innate powers of dragons...

“Yes, Daatrh... we'll see what M'AH says... but Oum can stay with you if you want..”

Then a beep from Maya's smartphone. She looked at us.

“It's time, the eggs are hatching!”

We all headed for the marina's laboratory, which also served as a veterinary infirmary, but above all was used to prepare drugs for animals to be exported, to reduce the stress of travel and avoid potentially fatal complications.