Oum was at the village school and I was at the back of the class.

I listened attentively to the lessons given by the padre, who acted as teacher, party organiser, scout organiser and, of course, priest.

I'd been given a schoolbag with big pencils and bamboo with elastic bands to put a pen or pencil in to fit my hands.

Of course, in maths I was unbeatable and I was bored because I still had the knowledge of an engineer from my previous life as well as my mystical and monster knowledge.

I could feel my mana core getting bigger by the hour and all Tiamat's magical knowledge was being added to my magical knowledge.

But I put that aside because my slightly communist convictions made me remember certain things Mao said. Speaking of communism, as immigrants to Arcadia we had no choice but to join forces to survive the elf empire. But that's all in the past, another life, another story and I really wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of a new life and a new identity. I was on Earth, maybe not my homeland but at least its clone, and I really wanted to fulfil my unfulfilled dreams.

I wanted to see my father and mother again, my cousin and my wife and my children more than anything. Savannah also wanted to see her mum and her aunt again and to stop her making the tragic plane journey to the other side of the world.

I had to talk to the Padre about it.

As I wasn't paying attention to the maths lesson, he asked me a question and in a split second I was holding up my tablet with the answer.

He tried harder, then more complicated algebra formulas.

All the same.

My dragon brain was a thousand times more powerful than my human self and he stopped bothering me.

On the other hand, I listened to everything about culture, religion and history.

It was incredible how similar everything was except for the Twin Towers, which were not destroyed in this world. There were a few small differences, but not major ones.

Some listed buildings in my world were destroyed here and others were saved.

JFK was assassinated in both worlds and nobody knows who did it either.

Then came the story of the tribe, the ancestors and the taboo places on the island.

These places were sacred and only the initiated could go there and practise ancestral worship.

Legend had it that disobedient children had disappeared.

But the priest-teacher was quite pragmatic and let the legends be told by M'AH, the chief and guardian of the traditions.

Then the priest repeated, as if it wasn't enough, not to make contact with strangers, especially those who did 'trade on the sly', basically smugglers of all kinds.

"Don't forget that you are unique and that our cousins on the other island are just like you. A child would soon be captured and sold!"

A little girl with very dark skin but blonde hair, asked "but why are they mean?" The 6-year-old girl raised her finger.

In the class there were children of all ages up to 16 and the curriculum was adapted to suit everyone.

Saona: "There are lots of adventurers and bad people here looking for easy money and catching a child and selling him or her is a quick way to make a lot of money".

Saona: "Don't they have enough money?"

The priest readjusted his glasses: "They never have enough and will always want more, even if it makes others suffer."

The older children knew that the captured women ended up in brothels and the men in open-cast diamond mines.

The priest added that they also told lies to the police in order to extort money for denunciation.

All this was taken very seriously and he ended his sentence by staring at me.

It meant: "If you want to live happily, live hidden...".

I understood the message and I had to make sure that no one here was discovered, especially by the military police. The police here would shoot first and talk later. There were a lot of smugglers in the area, and as they were always armed, the police didn't take any risks. Many of the commissars were paid by the family not to kill.

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M'ah and Milo were no exception. As long as they 'paid' the coastguards turned a blind eye, but that didn't stop them from

an extra check for a little 'extra'.

As long as Milo didn't exaggerate and attract the attention of the hierarchy, the local commissioner would turn a blind eye, but dragons... nobody would look the other way if they were spotted. Whether on land or at sea.

Basically, we were confined, even prisoners, here.

Evening came and Oum went to an annex of the grandmother's house.

Milo came back in a jeep with Maya and my 3 sisters.

They were brought to M'Ah, who watched them and then turned to me, looking stern. Then his smile returned as Savannah clung to his arm, crying like a baby.

"You've suffered... and your soul is still human..."

A keen eye met mine, as if to show the contrast between a human and one who wasn't, or wasn't any more.

A chill came over me at that moment and a knot formed in my heart.

"What was left of the human in me?

The first thing that came to mind was my faith, but a Reborn? Was I still human? Or was I a mix of angel and archdemon, my humanity dissolved between the two?

I could feel the powers of the infernal archduchess flowing through me like a raging torrent filling a reservoir the size of a country. I could also feel my body growing back to a size I didn't dare think about.

I didn't want to relive the past.

I lowered my head and let out a little moan.

My dragon baby hormones were also pushing me towards a hug.

M'ah: "Ah, if you could talk... you could tell me why you're sad.."

I groaned and concentrated to establish a telepathic link but my reborn powers couldn't. I could make the pages of the sacred bible appear, cause origami, seal a passage or area and teleport with the bible leaves flying away like birds but the Message spell was one of Tiamat's powers.

I didn't want to use these demonic spells but I had no choice. I had to do something and I began to pray to the Lord to forgive me for using these powers, but for the right reasons. (I prayed silently in my head).

Suddenly, my eyes turned red and my scales turned red for the duration of the spell.

Cast spell: Message

M'ah turned towards me, as if to ask a question, but at the last moment I changed my mind... I was scared.

Afraid of their reaction, afraid of being handed over, abandoned, or even worse, massacred by the village for fear of the unknown or being associated with an evil deity.

In fact, everything inside me was screaming that I was evil incarnate.

I started to squeeze the grandmother's foot and showed her some affection.

She hesitated for a moment, stroked my neck, which I appreciated, and then I pressed myself against Savanna.

who was crying like a child despite his incomprehensible animal cries.

The 2 monstrotanks came up behind me, waiting for orders that never came. They were in dragon form but I could hear them.

Should they call me Mother? or Big Brother?

We all squeezed together at the feet of M'ah, who couldn't understand our grunts.

But I tried to speak French... but only a gurgle came from my throat.

"Diskor, Excavator...Savannah... How happy I am that we're silk together again. "Then I had a thought for Destructor, who remained in the other world.

"I'm technically your big brother and still your mother at heart, but think of this as a new beginning. I'm your brother now, but I still love you just as much. We have a new family.

Milo will be our uncle, Maya our aunt, Oum our big brother and M'Ah our grandmother. Behave yourselves and stay as much like children as possible, even if you have adult reflexes."

Savannah: "I want to see my mum again.

I lowered my head, unable to answer.

I too wanted to see my human family again, but I knew that they were clones from another reality that was now ours. We had to come to terms with the fact that all our past was now only in our heads. And travelling to other worlds was not yet within my grasp, so was it right? or wrong? Was I in danger of becoming a demon like Mother Tiamat?

Something inside me told me it wasn't a good idea. That it had something to do with the evil hydra that judged the Tiamats. Their power was cursed, but to what extent? In any case, inter-dimensional travel certainly had its costs.

Then, all of a sudden, it was like an obsession: to see Dad, my son, my daughter, Mum, my wife, my cat and my varan.

They were in Belgium, maybe I still had my workshop, my things... and there was another me, maybe, and maybe he could help me and I could help him avoid going bankrupt...? What if he committed suicide? What if he turned into a dragon?

What if it was another me who turned me?

All these questions were going round in circles and preventing me from finding peace.

What's more, I had another problem: I was becoming Tiamat. What if my growth exploded? I'd no longer be the tribe's little dragon, but a global threat. I had to seal my torrent of mana... with a page of the Bible? a glyph? a rune?

A cross? yes! a pendant? or a rosary! I had to ask the priest for one?

Yes, that's right... and make him my ally rather than my enemy...