I regain consciousness, my death moments ago seems so distant. It’s an odd feeling not knowing what is happening around me. The silence and darkness of my surroundings, but despite this it feels so confining like I’m trapped in here. I don’t know how long it has been since I came here but I begin to feel hungry, and with it I start to panic.

It was a slow panic, creeping up on me I could feel it grasp me into stillness as I tried to figure out what this place was. Mere minutes felt agonising as the isolation warped my sense of time causing my fear to worsen and soon I’m struggling with all the strength I can muster against my prison.

I have never experienced this kind of confining and throughout my life I have never known a more terrifying moment than this. I can’t think, I can’t breathe, I can’t see, yet I feel the edge that surrounds me. It is the absoluteness of this place that drives me to insanity. A purely primal instinct has enraptured me. Escape.

I struggle against my confinement with more effort than a man of my years has any right to, my body should be at an age just shy of ninety-six though I do not tire as I would normally, or if I am tiring I do not feel it as my struggle intensifies.

The barrier starts to give way and for the first time since I died I see light flowing in my confinement and for the first time I see where I am. A shell surrounds me but I do not stop to pay attention to it as I push myself once more into the spider web of light. I know it’s close to breaking as the web continues to expand so I gather my strength and throw myself at it.

I almost regret it immediately as the light floods my vision blinding me, but the pain is quickly replaced by my hunger. For the first time I look at my surroundings and am stunned by a view of mountains of gold coins and jewels that surround me. There are weapons hung on the distant walls about ten metres away from me in all directions and glass cases containing artworks and some of the largest crystals I have ever seen.

I find myself on a soft pillow on top of a pedestal in the rooms centre, but before I gather my bearings I find myself shocked when I look at my hands or should I say claws as I see pearl white nails that form into a point, tearing the pillow slightly from my grip; I can see silver scales cover them and these scales continue up my arms which I can only assume cover my entire body that I know realise feels different than before I had died.

A growl from my stomach brings me out of my reverie but I find nothing but treasure around me from just a glance. I must be the richest person in the world right now, but it’s useless to me if there is nothing to eat! Giving up on the useless baubles I look back to the shell I hatched from, as I do though my hunger increases and I find myself walking on stumbling legs towards it.

The platform is not that high but it makes me nervous when I get my claw stuck in the pillow and almost fall of. I just now it would hurt like hell to land on the pile below, but I manage to get reorientated as the platform I’m standing on is large enough to catch me. As I reach the shell I practically dive on it and begin to eat it. It’s tasteless and crunchy but my hunger fades, and I find I’m full after eating it all.

I begin to hear steps from behind the large double door that could be considered art on its own right with the patterns etched with gold on its frame and two large rubies used as the handles, although a bit tacky it must be ridiculously expensive.

The doors swing open and a cacophony of footsteps starts to echo around the chamber in which I suppose I was born. The leading guards separate to both sides of the door and two people enter. A man in a stylised robe embowed with jewels for buttons and stitched silver designs and a plain maid cradling a child wrapped in a scarlet blanket, which seemed to be just born moments ago.

He sees me and I see his eyes widen in shock the women beside him not faring any better which seemed to worry the child who was now squirming in her arms but it remained strangely silent.

What’s more interesting is the crown placed on his head a platinum white with three rubies on its front, a large one in the front and two smaller ones on each side. His eyes match their colour while his hair was deep black with a few grey strands visible which only seems to express his wisdom.

I must admit I was a bit jealous of his looks but I quickly banished the thought as I had long been a wrinkled bag of bones, old age seems to change what is important in a man’s life. I try to greet him but all I manage was a cute squeak which quickly forced me into silence from embarrassment.

My squeak seems to bring him out of shock as he moves towards me, the guards by the door seem to be weary but he doesn’t even seem to care about it as he walks to me, curiosity in his eyes. Once near the pedestal he hesitatingly moves his hand towards me, curious myself I don’t back away from his touch although I still look at him in the eyes as his hand touches my head.

He starts to rub my head and motions to the maid to come closer speaking in some strange language eastern in nature, but beyond my current comprehension to understand. I feel a bit insulted about it but the rubbing feels too damn good to complain about at the moment. Just this once okay!

He stops rubbing my head and takes the child into his arms once more speaking to the maid who looks unsure, but only nods towards him, then removes part of the blanket to give me a better look at the child.

I looked at it and it appears to be a boy; a small amount of dark coloured hair most likely black if this man is the father and deep red eyes that look back into mine. Once more I see the same curiosity I saw in his father’s eyes and he reached out to me. A sort of half flail that all babies know, I thought about reaching out my own hand… paw to him but the claws are too sharp so I just lean my head forward and let the child hold onto my scaled snout.

An excited voice this time came from the man and the maid seemed visibly calmer, although I’m not sure I think she was anxious about letting a creature like me near a child, Now that I think about it though it seems kind of reasonable to think that. Laughing at my own thoughts a small squeak escaped my mouth once more which once again thoroughly embarrassed me, but the man seemed happy about it.

At this point I start to feel a bit tired so I pull my head back from the child and yawn, wouldn’t want them to think I’m going to take a bite out of him now would I. It would most likely end up badly for me. My eyes start to fall by themselves and I try to curl up as much as I can to keep warm.

The pillow I lay on is nice and soft so it doesn’t take long for me to fall asleep. I had one last thought before I let my dreams claim me; it was quite an exquisite blade after all, beautiful in its simplicity that gave it a kind of kingly elegance. Hopefully I’ll be able to find one in such a world as this that can match it, although I’m not sure due to the language whether they have a European longsword, or whether I can use it at all anyway.

………………………………..

My wife’s in labour with what is hopefully a boy, damn those nobles and there claim to the throne. My family has ruled these lands for countless centuries and just because the main line fails to create an heir for a few years they have the nerve to form factions against me!

I had to place my wife under constant watch with royal guard have tasters test the food days in advance before giving it to her. Fifteen have died during her pregnancy! Fifteen! Not to mention five assassins!

But it’s almost over now although I have to protect the child these plots should calm down when he is born and there faction losses traction due to them having no right to contest my hold on the land.

I feel blood lust on a maid who was to go in and give water to my wife and arrest her before she entered the room, a dagger was found hidden beneath her skirt when searched and I beheaded her myself. It’s no use keeping her for questioning it’s happened before and they all die by a poison pill they keep behind their teeth, she had already bitten into it before we searched her.

I don’t know how they keep their agents so loyal, but as soon as they slip up their heads will be on display for the citizens’ to throw stones at. I sigh to myself as I remove myself from these dark thoughts which aren’t going to help my situation.

If my father gave me brothers it would be them plotting instead of the noble houses, it’s the harsh reality of this world, I almost feel sorry for my son being born into it, but I can’t think like that right now. I need to appear strong, regal, and intelligent. If my vassals see weakness they will jump on it in seconds.

I wonder if my father had such trials when I was born, all I want to do is run away with my family to some distant land and live a stable life free of this madness, but it will follow me there, this world doesn’t let go of those who are trapped within it, this is the harshness of the world, My father was born and died in it, I will too, and now my child will. If it’s a girl I’m afraid its life will be short lived, but if it’s a boy then there is hope for the future of my family. I am ashamed I can’t cherish the child depending on its sex I wonder if I could have changed this world, done something more maybe so that no matter the outcome we could live happy.

Four hours later the mid-wife comes out from the room and announces that the child lives but the mother died due to complications. It’s unfortunate but it is too common in this world to die during childbirth. I didn’t cry. I can’t. Weakness equals death, weakness leads to death. This chant repeats itself in my mind.

I gather what courage I could, whatever courage was left and asked firmly in a voice as indifferent as the moon “What is its gender?” She seems to pause for a moment before speaking, no doubt thinking what a heartless creature I am. I deserve it anyway.

“Male” She replies to me looking at me with spite but I care not as the relief washes through me a smile touches my lips, her mouth further turns into a sneer before she visibly caught herself and remained stoic.

“Thankyou you may leave.” I say gracefully bowing to the mid-wife, only slightly as tradition dictates.

“Yes, your majesty.” She replies as she bows further down than I had, towards me.

I turn from her and she departs as I enter the room. I look inside to find my deceased wife being attended by the maids in preparation for her burial. It’s not the first time a king’s wife has died during childbirth and even in death we can’t escape from tradition.

I turn away from her, if I look any more at the women I loved I will weep and I feel I would not stop until I was buried along with her. I can’t do that now. I have someone who relies on me, someone who is still alive that needs me. I will live for him if nothing else.

He lays wrapped in scarlet blankets as I once did, his name still undecided but this matter can be delayed due to my wife’s death until tomorrow. He is sleeping calmly in his cot unknowing of the loss that has befallen him. He will never know his mother but I find signs of her in him, his nose and mouth reminds me of her, his thin layer of hair on his head deep black obviously mine rather than my wife’s.

Loud knocking comes from the door to the nursery and I hear the gruff voice of one of my palace knight’s. “My liege, something is happening to the dragon egg in the throne room!” He shouts through the door. The commotion wakes my son from his slumber yet he remains silent, what catches my attention though is his bright red eyes, a trait only known to my line. There will be no denying his heritage.

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Then the words the guard said processed in my mind. The egg! It has been in my families vault for seven generations, untouched and unmoving. Apparently my family slew its mother four hundred years ago after it attacked a few settlements and took the egg into their possession. It has lain there so long we had thought it still-born and kept it as the jewel of our treasury. I remember my father telling me of its origin, how I wished to see one that day, how I longed for it to hatch as a child and play with it. Now on the day of my son’s birth it begins to stir, it must be an omen from the gods!

I let true joy spread across my face as I order a trusted maid to carry my child alongside me, she looked at me stunned for a moment then nodded as she went over to him. “If one strand of hair is harmed I will make sure you and your family suffer forever in the dungeon” An unfortunate but necessary threat.

I open the doors leading the maid as the guards waiting outside form up ranks around me. We reach the treasure vault in minutes while servants bow upon the ground especially when they see the child they practically bang their heads upon the ground.

I take the key to the chamber from my neck which is the only one which is able to unlock all the chambers. The guards only have access to the main room. The egg was stored here after it was announced it wasn’t going to hatch from the innermost chamber, but it served as the main show piece of the room due to its dazzling nature.

The egg which reflects the light, more so than any mirror was gone, and in its place a silver dragon with its wings retracted on its back stands on the cushion looking straight at me with its scarlet eyes. After a few moments of shock I hear it squeak adorably seeming to be slightly uncomfortable from all the attention.

I regain my composure and walk towards it steadily as to not scare the legendary creature. It stares at me right at my eyes and I into its. It doesn’t move from its spot as I stand before it so I hesitatingly move my hand to pat its head. It just keeps looking at me but doesn’t go to bite me. I guess it’s full after eating its shell since the eggs nowhere to be found.

“Maid, bring my son to me.” I say half turning around to look at them.

She comes to me and stands there still holding onto him. “Good, now give him to me.” I force my voice to remain neutral but I can’t help but let excitement leak from it.

I cradle him in my arms looking dearly at him then lower him cautiously before the dragon, although I prepare to move him away at a moment’s notice just in case, but I notice how anxious the maid is. The dragon doesn’t seem to notice my preparations to remove him in case of danger; he just looks curiously at the child. Then my son reaches out towards it while it looks to be contemplating what to do. After a few moments it moves its head slowly forwards allowing my child to hold onto it.

In this world of constant suffering it is at this moment that I feel truly blessed by the gods, although I have lost my love, my son has been given an omen of greatness, in the future I am sure he will achieve something more than I ever could, a happy life.

The dragon moves away from the child then yawns, it seems to be tired from all the events so I move my son away from the pedestal while the dragon curls up and falls asleep, when I look to my son he is also sleeping soundly in my arms. “My son Aiden, and the dragon Kieren, these will be there names, may their destiny be intertwined.” I say to the maid, and she runs off to tell the scribes.

I walk from the treasury content as I motion for the guards to carry Kieren along with us to my room. He didn’t wake up from the movement, so he must be exhausted. I have my servants’ prepare the vacant room besides my own for him while also moving the crib to my bedroom which is most likely the safest room in the city at the moment.

At least something good came from all those assassination attempts, my royal guards are now well trained with experience in these matters.

………………………………..

I wake in the middle of the night to the sound of snoring in the next room beside me, but I try to ignore it as I figure out where I am. The gold around me is gone which I find slightly regretful but that isn’t what is important right now. I stand up shakily and try to get used to walking in this new body of mine which is actually kind of difficult as I have never had four legs before.

I soon get the hang of it though and begin to increase the pace until I’m in a light run around the large room which was empty besides the pillow I had been sleeping on and a table which I could easily walk onto. It had food on it, but the meat was still raw. I could tell because it was bleeding.

I look around for anything else but there was nothing besides that in the room. I was distracted halfway through my search when I spotted a mirror which I thought to be a painting at first because it displayed a dragon of all things!

As I looked at it though to admire it since it was really realistic I saw it blink than ran to the other side of the room in pure terror before realising it was me which I am glad that no one was here to witness that, I can already hear there jeering for years to come, about a dragon afraid of its own reflection.

After calming down I have a curious thought. What if I can breathe fire? Turning back to the meat in the centre of the room I move with purpose towards the raw meat which I can only assume was some form of cow when it was alive due to the size of it.

Taking in a deep breathe, holding it for a second to build up pressure in my lungs, I blow on the meat. I mean it, I just blow on it, no fire whatsoever. Not one to be deterred I tried concentrating really hard this time on blowing out fire only to receive the same result. Almost giving up my struggles I close my eyes while sitting on the ground, and picture a flame in my mind, as I see the flickering of its light I notice small specks of light surrounding me of different colours.

Some of the colours look the same as the flame I am picturing so I gather them together where the flame is and I start to feel heat inside of me, a small warmth at first, barely noticeable but as I gather more of the red particles the heat begins to become more than I can handle so I try to force it out of me desperately. I feel the heat move from where I assume to be my stomach through my throat, and just before it reaches my mouth I open it and flames burst forth over the meat.

Although slightly charred on the outside once I got passed that the meat was nicely cooked and very juicy. I couldn’t believe how good actual food was when you feel like your starving. After eating my fill I see the scorch marks on the table below me and decide to not go on there anymore since it looks like it’s going to crumble to pieces at any moment.

I have no idea what those floating things are but now that I have seen them they won’t leave me alone. It’s like seeing dust in a dark room shining in the light only colourful and everywhere. I try to grab one but it evades my grasp and just moves around me. It seems I can only use them if I will them towards me. I have to research this as much as I can, if it can be used to make fire there is no telling what else it can be used for.

In my excitement I let a squeak escape my mouth, barely audible but enough so that I the one who made could hear it plainly. I’m starting to wonder if God hates me for giving me, an old man turned baby dragon such a cute squeak which totally ruins my image as a fearsome predator.

In the middle of my thoughts I feel a sharp but subtle killing intent. I don’t know how to describe the feeling but it feels like someone just wants to kill you, and won’t be satisfied till your dead. The doors handle turns only to stop from the lock. I start to gather the red particles from the air, no need to meditate this time as I can see them pretty clearly floating around me and I feel the heat once more building up in my stomach.

The handle once more starts to turn an almost silent grating sound the only thing that suggests that the door is being picked open. The door opens and a man walks in calmly. I am on the other side of the room a good ten metres away from him, about to release the fire breathe once more but I hold back for a second as I see particles of black, green, brown, and white individually change the man’s appearance from a guard to a lanky man in his thirties.

I try to memories what the particles were doing but I missed a few things trying to take it all in for later, it will most definitely be useful. His bone structure crunches almost similar to the sound bubble wrap makes. He seems slightly relieved when he looks at my frozen form, probably thinks I’m frozen in fear or something.

I let him move towards me the heat inside growing exponentially at this point, as he takes his knife from his belt I try to widen my eyes to go along with the image of being terrified, and he is two metres from me and about to lunge forward the heat inside is too much to bear, so I release it and it almost instantly leaves my body in a stream of liquid fire at the unfortunate person who was reduced to a charred corpse. I’m just glad that this castle is made out of stone so I didn’t burn it down by accident.

I seem to have woken up that rich guy, most likely a powerful man considering the amount of treasure in the chamber I was born in. His eyes widen slightly at the now dead assassin which the rich man searched with his own hands, surprising me that he would get his own hands dirty. It’s a good thing the temperature of the corpse cooled down quickly otherwise his hand would have been burnt pretty badly. I’m honestly glad that the flames didn’t hurt me at all, and were only painful just before I release it.

He picks up the dagger the guy had tried to use on me which seems to calm him down a lot. It’s not like I burnt a guard to death! He places the dagger on his belt which he hastily wore over what I assume to be pyjama’s which just seemed to be a silk robe, less intricate than the one he wore when I first saw him but still beyond what I could afford in my previous life. My family’s fortune had decreased much after the decline of nobility, and freedom of serfs.

He walks over to me saying something that I still can’t understand then pats my head which feels pretty good. So I lean into it, not that I’ll let him do it again! Standing he walks over to the door gesturing me to come with him, so I follow him into the hall way where we walk about for about fifteen seconds to the next door over.

Going through it I see a large queen sized bed and a small crib beside it, I can’t seem to see the mother of the child so I assume something happened to her though before I think about it for too long the man motions me towards a large pillow he had taken off the bed and place onto the floor.

The sudden realisation that I have become a pet hits me pretty had but I look at the claws at the bottom of my feet seeing the claws and then towards the bed which looks like something found in five star hotels and sigh at the cruelness that is the world.

As I lay on the pillow I can’t help but be excited tomorrow to try out the magic that that guy used to get to my room, I will research it ‘til I can perfect so I can sleep on a bed like a normal person! With that I fall asleep.

And like that nine months fly-by as I try to learn the language, study morphing magic, and play with Aiden.

………………………………..

Author’s Note :P

I had fun with that chapter and I hope you guys / girls did too! I know I’m not the best writer evererer so if you see any mistakes tell me in the comments :D. Also if you have any suggestions don’t be afraid to comment either (Even if it’s criticisms! It always good to get a new perspective on my work!) Thanks for reading!!!