Still in the egg, I noticed that Vulgaris, his mother Laverna, and the dragon servants were looking at me in surprise.

“What is wrong with me?” — I looked around myself in search of unusual changes. But I didn’t have a tail, and my skin wasn’t covered with scales. I felt their gaze on me. I realized I had no clothes on.

“Bring me some clothes!”

The servants, without hesitation, rushed to carry out my order. A moment later they returned, holding simple but clean clothes in their hands: pants made of rough fabric, a shirt, and boots. I noted with sadness that these things had probably been taken from a captive, perhaps the same as I had been before. Taking the clothes, I put them on, feeling the roughness of the fabric on my skin, getting rid of the shameful nakedness.

The pants fit around my legs, the shirt was loose but still comfortable enough to not restrict my movements. The boots, despite being slightly oversized, provided a cozy and snug fit. The clothes, although foreign, gave me a little confidence.

Vulgaris approached me, his massive figure looming over me, and I felt the heat of his breath. He looked at me with an extraordinary mixture of emotions in his eyes: surprise, disbelief, and something else that I could not recognize.

“You… have been reborn,” he said with difficulty, his voice muffled and heavy. “I sentenced you to death, and yet you stand here before me, thanks to my mother.”

He fell silent for a moment, his eyes gliding over my new appearance as if trying to understand what had changed. It was as if he was trying to get used to my new image and comprehend the unusual incident.

“It’s… a strange feeling,” Vulgaris continued. “You were the enemy, the man who took upon himself the title of ‘Dragon Slayer’. I wanted you dead, and now that you have been reborn through Laverna, you have become part of our line, something of a brother.”

He took a step back. His gaze softened, and I saw traces of guilt and regret in him.

“I felt guilty for condemning you to death,” Vulgaris admitted. “But now, seeing you here, I understand that your fate has changed. We dragons are not used to feeling regret, but what happened makes me think about our actions and decisions.”

He sighed as if the weight of his thoughts were weighing down on him.

“You are now part of our family, albeit in an unusual form. And I must admit my mistake, realize that you are not just an enemy, but something more. Perhaps time will tell how we can live in this new balance.”

No matter what he said, no matter how he sighed, the words of Vulgaris did not touch me at all. I wasn’t the same person I had been before. I now felt a strength within me, I could never have imagined. Dragons were still the main threat to humanity, and that hadn’t changed one bit. Our whole main battle was ahead. But where to start?

I was still unarmed. Clenching my fists, I felt new energy pulsing through my veins. Vulgaris barely had time to notice the change in my gaze before I struck the first blow. My fist slammed into his scaly body with such force that he let out a loud roar of pain. It was heavy and I couldn’t lift it. But I managed to hit his beefy face well.

Each new blow to the dragon caused stones to fall from the ceiling. His head flew helplessly from side to side, he was unable to resist. Maybe because of guilt. Or because I was stronger than I had been. He growled in pain, his body shaking from my blows. The servants ran away in horror, some fell to their knees, others sought shelter. Panic covered everyone around.

Old Laverna, staring blankly with her bulging eyes, watched what was happening. Her toothless mouth slowly opened, and the moment one of the servants got too close, she swallowed him whole, as if it were a normal thing.

I defeated Vulgaris with the force of a hurricane, the dragon’s mighty body quivering under my relentless assault. A little more and he would have lost consciousness or fallen onto the beautiful floor. But nothing like that happened. Vulgaris groaned in pain, not even trying to resist. I felt how, with every blow, the strength and rage grew in me. I was no longer a person. Furthermore, I was something else. And this creature standing before me was the embodiment of what I must destroy.

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I remembered the words of Tarnis, who said that only a dragon can kill a dragon. But Vulgaris, despite the severe beating, was still alive and did not intend to die. His stamina seemed to be limitless, and my blows, although painful, could not kill him.

Laverna shot out her long tongue in my direction, trying to swallow me again. At the last moment, I intercepted it in the air. With a strength I had never possessed before, I wrapped her tongue around my hand and pulled. Laverna growled in pain, her eyes bulging even more as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.

My new body, half human and half dragon, had powers I never dreamed of. I felt my muscles tense, and with every effort, Laverna growled louder in pain. Her tongue stretched like a rope, and I continued to pull without loosening my grip.

Vulgaris, having recovered from my attack, watched what was happening in horror. His mother, old, squirmed in front of me. The servants froze in horror, not knowing how to react to this sight.

Laverna let out a long roar that echoed throughout the cave. Her growl was getting weaker, but I didn’t stop. I wouldn’t let it consume me again. I wouldn’t let them take my freedom away again.

Every moment, my resolve grew stronger. I knew I had to see this through. I was not just a man and not just a dragon. Furthermore, I was the embodiment of their fear, their punishment for all the suffering they had caused.

We had beaten and suppressed the dragons, and I was satisfied with the reprisal. The feeling of victory filled me with extra energy. I straightened up and looked with satisfaction at Vulgaris and Laverna lying in front of me. Their once-powerful figures now looked weak.

“That’s enough,” I said, looking at Vulgaris. “Let’s leave this terrible house of Laverna and go to your chambers. I’m tired of seeing her disgusting face.”

Vulgaris, getting up, shook his head. No one had ever hit him like that. He looked in my direction; in his gaze, I caught a mixture of fear and respect. The dragon realized that his newborn brother was not the one he had sentenced to death. He trailed behind me like a beaten dog. And I was trying to figure out how to behave next.

We left Laverna’s house, and I was able to take a closer look at the Lair.

“This is your house, this is your mother’s house. And who owns those two houses?”

“The big and dark house belongs to Pyronax, my sister’s son. But he doesn’t live in it, so the house is abandoned. The house that stands a little further away belongs to his brother, Cryonax. It is also empty. Only Laverna and I live in the Lair. But she is so old that she cannot fly, cannot move long distances, and all her thoughts are occupied with food. She does not digest animal meat well, so she prefers to eat something more tender.”

“Why are the houses uninhabited? Can’t you live in them?”

“It’s possible,” Vulgaris sighed, two puffs of smoke escaping from his wide nostrils. “Pyronax has a secret nest, even I don’t know about it. And Cryonax settled in the city of Forbant, in a large castle.”

“You told only about two members of your family. Where does your sister live — the mother of Pyronax and Cryonax? Do you have a wife, and children? Do your nephews have wives?”

“Why do you need to know that?” — Vulgaris glanced suspiciously in my direction.

.Dragon Vulgaris. [https://i.imgur.com/bOgwrks.jpeg]