“By the way, how is it over there?” I asked.

“Don’t remind me of those sad times. As soon as it was found that you disappeared, Captain Stacy had launched a search team for you. By the way, why did you never tell us that you were bullied so much?” Uncle Ben asked with a judgemental tone.

Fuck! I cursed mentally as I realised that Uncle Ben and Aunt May now knew how much I was bullied. I always tried to downplay how much I was bullied whenever I was asked about it. Besides, because of relentless efforts from Harry, Gwen and MJ, the bullying had gone way down before this whole debacle began.

“Although I am angry at you for not telling us about that matter, I will let it go for the time being. But we will have a talk when you return, alright.” Uncle Ben said with the tone he used at me whenever I did anything wrong.

“But how did you learn about this?” It was not easy for them to learn about this matter unless they were specifically searching about it in the school.

“It was because of Captain Stacy. When he didn’t find anything, he decided to take advice from your friends and they pointed him at your bullies.

From what I have heard, Captain Stacy had taken them to the police station that very night and grilled them for every detail. Captain Stacy was so angry when he learnt about the bullying that he would have put those bullies into jail if they were not minors.”

Looks like I would have to thank Captain Stacy next time I meet him. After all, it was about time those bastards got their just deserts.

“Well, now you can tell everyone that I am alright.” At last, everyone will be able to take a sigh of relief upon knowing I am safe. Especially Gwen. Who knows what would she be feeling now?

“But, what would we tell everyone? We can’t just tell them that you are a mutant.” Uncle Ben asked me.

This was indeed a dilemma. As the story was fabricated hastily, we didn’t have time to think about this topic.

“I have an idea.” Aunt May said from the other side of the call.

“We can tell everyone that you had a medical emergency and a Good Samaritan helped you. You were not able to contact anyone till now because you were unconscious. However, you will not be able to return because you health is still not okay.”

“This plan is great, Aunt May. Although it is not perfect, I believe that it can work.” It is good that we had a good cover story. But in the end, I ended with not one but two cover stories which just didn’t fit right with me.

I talked with them for quite sometime but eventually time came for us to end the call. Uncle Ben and Aunt May reluctantly ended the call but not before telling me to take care of myself.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Glancing out the window, I noted that the darkening sky had stealthily turned into night while we were talking.

Ancient One took me to the previous building to have a dinner. Having had a sumptuous feast earlier, I opted for a light meal. After dinner, Ancient One took me to a building that was to be my sleeping quarters.

“Put this belt on before you go to bed. This will restrain your strength. Although, you will easily be able to break free from the restraint, you don’t want to break another bed, do you?” Ancient One gave me an enchanted belt which would restrain my strength so that I would not break another bed.

I knew that the belt will stop me from having any further accidents, but I was reluctant to wear one. It somehow felt like I had to wear a diaper despite being an adult.

As I lay in my bed, sleep eluded me. My mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, recollections of the day’s events replaying in a loop.

I recalled how I suddenly became berserk as soon as I woke up. Thankfully, Ancient One was there. Otherwise, I did not know what would have happened.

Even then, it took me near an hour to finally control myself. And given Ancient One’s expression at that time, she had thought that it would take much longer.

I knew that even now, I was barely controlling myself. The beast within me was only asleep lightly, ready to awaken at the slightest provocation.

I did not know when I would be able to tame that beast but I knew that I had to do it. Otherwise, I would never be able to return to my normal life.

With such thoughts in my mind, I gradually fell asleep.

***********************************

I could see a huge, white dragon, its scales gleaming with a metallic lustre. The sight was awe inspiring; the dragon was mountainous in size, standing on its hind legs.

When it flew in the sky, the other dragons flying felt small both in the matter of size and the matter of sheer presence.

It was like a god-like being for the other dragons. Yet, it was a carefree creature, never interfering generally in the matters of the humans.

One day, the white dragon felt that the planet would soon not be able to sustain its very existence. It saw its dragon kin leaving the planet to a different world through a portal.

However, perhaps due to its arrogance feeling that it could survive this catastrophe with its strength, the dragon didn’t leave immediately. And that was its greatest folly.

It saw a great tragedy being brought to the entire planet due to an alien lifeform. In front of its eyes, the enormous continents were destroyed and what was left was just an endless, lifeless ocean. A sea of nothingness.

At that moment, the dragon knew that it had to escape. But unfortunately, the portals had already closed.

It flew through the sea of nothingness, seeking a way to somehow escape the planet. Using its great wisdom, the white dragon found a way to the other world deep beneath the earth’s crust.

It used its giant body to sink into the depths of the earth. Eventually, it succeeded and reached the portal.

But even so, the dragon could not enter the portal due to the passage being too narrow.

Eventually, the dragon died due to exhaustion as it circled the empty sea of the world.

Awakening from the dream, I rose up haphazardly. Even now, I could still feel the dragon’s despair of not being able to save itself.

Looking outside the window, I found myself staring at the early morning sky.

My instincts were getting out of control once again. I somehow managed to control them, yet my powers felt wilder than before.

Almost reflexively, I turned my hand into a claw covered in black scales which gleamed with a metallic lustre. Looking at the black scaled claw, I pondered why my scales were black while the dragon in my dreams was a white one.

Besides, just the genes of a lizard had turned me into a monster. But if the powers I had gained were from this freaking great dragon, then they should not only be this much.

The dream, the dragon and my powers felt connected, yet the answers remained out of my reach.