It was the next day after everything happened when the so called trainer appeared. After a short goodbye to my siblings, Mom and Dad took me for the first time into a nearby town with a fountain in the center where I saw other dragonlings and their parents waiting.

Some of the Dragonlings had humanoid bodies with some showing scales and claws while others still had their tails and wings. I’m guessing that what I’m seeing is an incomplete transformation and that I would have to work at it before I was able to fully morph into a human body… Well once I learn the process of doing it first.

The parents were all in their human form but according to what mom said, each one dragon usually chooses to wear clothes that match their original scale color. Though if they choose not to then one just has to look at their eyes as their human eyes reflect the color aswell.

“Hey Stygian over here!” I heard Defaro yell at me and I turned to see the trio coming out of some kind of store and Crater was in the middle of filling his face with some kind of pastry.

They were still in their humanoid form but I saw as Lizana’s blue scales were less noticeable while Defaro still had his dark scales around his eyes and arms along with his thick tail.

Crater on the other hand looked like an alligator walking on his hind legs but one that had been hitting the gym almost religiously. I didn’t notice it yesterday due to the adrenaline of the situation but That was a pretty cool look. I get the use of a human form, but to be able to look like that would be something I could see myself getting some use out of.

I waved at them while I walked over to them and Lizana held one of the pastries out to me. I looked at her with confusion but she just smiled at me.

“This is just something nice from me to you. I know this is your first time in town and this pastry is one of our favorite things here.”

I thanked her while I ate it and boy was it good! It was filled with a sweet cream that was cool in contrast to the warm pastry but the combination was setting off fireworks in my head.

While I was enjoying the sweetness I noticed that mom and dad had gone to speak to some of the other parents and a couple of the other kids had come over to us.

“Hey Defaro, is this the experiment? He looks sickly and weak?” Said a kid that was covered in bronze scales around his arms and with claws that had a polished sheen to them. He also had wings with sharp red points on both ends that he could move around like they were extra limbs instead of wings.

“Shut up Dumbass! Didn’t I tell you to keep your trap shut? This is the Chief’s grandson, I don’t think he would like it if someone made fun of him.”

I just looked a little shocked at being called an experiment, but to be honest that’s exactly what I was. I wasn’t to hurt by the comment so I just shrugged it off.

“My name is actually Stygian, Yes I was an experiment but one that ended in success. Though I did have to endure some pain as my body had to physically change and I did have to go through the opening of my [Dragon Sense]. But other than that, I would say it was a total success.”

The dragonling just looked at me in shock as if he didn’t expect me to respond but his demeanor quickly changed back to being a prick.

“Well who cares ‘Experiment’ Just don’t get in the way of the stronger dragons when we train and hold us back, This is life or death and if we have to fight protect someone like you at the same time, we aren’t going to survive.”

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He huffed and walked back to a group of kids that were snickering while looking at me. Great….. A bully, I haven’t had to deal with this sort of dumbassery since I was a human kid.

“Don’t mind him Stygian, He has always been that way. It’s like it’s programmed into every bronze dragon to be a douche or something? Just because they are closer to being a gold dragon than anyone else.”

“Haha, well that’s fine. Unless my grandpa decides to try aging my siblings like he did me, my younger brother will be the one to boss him around in around a decade.”

Lizana looked confused so I had to elaborate. “I have a younger brother that is a golden dragon.”

They looked at me with shock and awe like I just dropped a bombshell.

“What! Your brother is a gold dragon!? Why haven’t your parent’s announced that to the tribe yet? That is a huge thing to hatch one.”

“Is it? I mean yea I assumed he was special because I could feel how powerful he was even before he even hatched but my other brother has just as much power.”

“You mean you have two golden siblings!?”

“? No, one is golden and the other is a green dragon, well after his naming he looks more like a big green jewel than anything.”

“Hold on, just hold up for one damn second…. Your telling me, that you not only have a golden sibling, but also one that turned into a Gem! Do you know how crazy lucky your family is?”

“Is that a big deal?”

By this time my parents had already heard and come over.

“Yes Stygian it is, We had wanted to keep this a secret until your siblings were a bit older and could handle their powers more, but I guess the goblins out of the bag now.” Dad sighed and said. I guess there was a reason for the secrecy but I couldn’t imagine what the reason was since my grandpa was Chief and from what I could see my dad was a really standup guy.

“It’s fine dear, he didn’t know. Stygian listen, there are people who…. Well they aren’t too happy with the way things are going with the tribe and they think they could do better.”

“No honey don’t. He doesn’t need this right before he leaves for training. All you need to do boy is train well and get stronger while your away. Come back to us strong and ready to fight ok?” Dad shut mom down quickly before she could say anything else and that got me a little worried. I really didn’t wan to be involved in some bullshit revolt or anything like that.

“Ok dad I will. Just be careful ok?” I said to him just before I noticed a man come walking up the road with grandpa beside him and they both stopped before the crowd that had gathered.

“Hello everyone! This is my old friend Jake, Me and him used to adventure together wayyy back in the day and he has been so gracious as to accept my offer of being a trainer for the little ones.”

He gestured for Jake to say something and the man stepped up. I could see clearer now that he was a middle aged man with brownish hair that had a streak of gray going down one side and a beard that was groomed in a warrior fashion with braids and small decorations.

“Like you all heard my name is Jake. I will take your children and do my best in the short amount of time I was given to turn them into the best warriors I can. I know that training between species is different to a degree but with my help, they can become decent enough soldiers to survive their first fight with the minions of the Void.”

“If everyone is ready I would like to depart as it is a few days trav….”

“How do we know this guy is worthy enough to train our sons and daughters? He looks like a middle aged human and is that a limp that I saw you trying to hide as you walked up? Chief this is just an old man that should be getting ready for his death bed, not training a higher species such as ours.”

I looked over at who spoke out and sighed. Ofcourse it was the bully’s dad that spoke out.

“Barnabas, as your Chief I will say this only once. This man is my guest and I trust him to do a good job. We are all now fighting a war and we do not have the time to train our young. We defended against the last wave and that bought us a few days, but that cost us 5 souls to do so. We need our young to get stronger, faster, and Jake is just the man to do it. So no more complaining, got it?”

Grandpa shut that guy down quick and stared at a few other parents that looked like they wanted to speak up aswell.

“Great, now say your goodbyes so Jake can get to work.”

After a few minutes of goodbyes that included tears from mom and more encouraging words from dad I fell in line with the trio and off we went along with a hundred other dragonlings.

………….

If only Someone had warned us of what would happen, maybe we wouldn’t have gone.