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Loud angled rain fell from the grim skies. It drummed on the tiled rooftops, on the cobbled streets and soaked into the cloak covering a short figure. A lost soul, an apparition stalking the nightly streets, the villagers would say. A demon or a fiend, mothers would screech. But the truth was far from those silly hearsay.
The cloaked figure dashed across the tiles, their cheap torn shoes splashing into puddles. Their quick steps were drawn out by the loud downpour.
After a while, they slowed down.
The mysterious runner in the night stopped under the closest available roof.
They clung to their cloak tight. The figure shook slightly, their rain drenched clothes cold against their skin. A harsh breath came out of their mouth in a cloud of mist.
And then they pulled their hood off. Their eyes caught a puddle, centimeters away from their feet.
A face of a child, no younger than ten, no older than twelve, stared back. He was breathing heavily. His wet blond hair stuck to his face and ocean blue eyes stared tiredly.
The boy leaned against the wall.
Rain, he thought, what the fuck did he expect?
Maybe, in his mind, he imagined his escape a little differently. A little rendezvous, a quiet slip away into the mystery of the night. But not this. This was not romantic. This was not a tale to write home about- if he had home in the first place.
Don’t take him wrong, his parents were nice. His mother was a tailor, his father was a shoe maker. They were his father and mother. But never his dad and mom.
There was a strange sense of- disconnect. He remembered how much they loved him as a toddler. His father used to tell him good night stories, his mother used to sing to him. They loved him. And he cared for them back. Yet something told him it wasn’t the same love they felt towards him.
Something was different about him. Something was wrong.
The boy wasn’t sure what it was.
He played outside like other children, liked stories about heroes in shining armor and helped out around the house. He was all a kid should be. Still, everytime he looked upon the other folk, he found himself not being able to understand them one bit.
Well, aside from the look in their eyes when they saw gold.
Coins, jewellery, any shiny metals really, they drew the boy in like a moth to a flame. He couldn’t avert his eyes. The level surface and the cold feeling against his skin- The shine they gave off when sunlight shone down upon them in just the right angle- They were mesmerising.
A small voice in the back of his head begged him to hold them, to take them, to hide them away from the world. They should be his. All his. No one could value them as much as he did.
And he nearly did. Oh, so many times that voice threatened to take over him. But each time he pushed those urges back. They were- weird .
When he was younger, he asked his parents about them. Perhaps to know how they fought them off.
Till this day, he remembered the confused stare his father gave him when he asked him about them.
‘Fighting against what? What urges are you talking about, Tom?’
His mother was no more helpful.
‘Tommy, honey, don’t talk about whatever that is. People will think you are a freak.’
All that cemented a fact in his head. Those urges weren’t normal. They were improper! Wrong. Bad.
But he could stop them! They seemed to be always there, somewhere, in his head.
The insistent rain drummed against the metal roof above him and furiously trickled off in a curtain of splashy waterfalls. Tommy hugged himself tighter and felt his teeth chatter.
Fuck rain.
Fuck water.
His parents were right. He was a freak. A malfunctioning machine. A misfit clinging to the hope that maybe- maybe , one day, those weird thoughts will pass and he will be able to fit in.
They didn’t.
It’s been months.
It has been years. Those thoughts and feelings only keep getting stronger!
Whatever was wrong with Tommy, it wasn’t going away. At this point he doubted it ever would.
He just wasn’t like them. Like anyone in this town. And no one was like him. Sooner or later they would figure that out. They would push him away. They would call him a freak and throw him out like an unwanted object.
He couldn’t help but feel a pinch of hurt in his heart at the thought.
That only strengthened his resolve to run away.
“Fuck it.” he growled.
Tommy pulled his hood back over his head and ran back into the rain. Cold wind rattled his bones, the rain entirely soaked through his clothes and dribbled off of him. And if a stray tear ran down his cheek- one would not be able to tell it apart from the rain.
He ran through the night, a spark of hope fueling his pursuit for escape from it all. From the anxious feeling that clung to him anytime someone as much as looked at him strangely. From the feelings of disconnect. From the feeling that something, no, everything he did always felt so inexplicably wrong!
An ear shattering sound echoed through the streets. People would later recall it as a shriek of a banshee, a sound of a horrifying creature of the night. And no one would hear it for the pained cry of a lonely child it was.
He stopped at the city gates, seeing a shadow stand in his path. A woman with blond long hair and an earnest face stood in front of him. Not a sound she made, not a word she spoke. She just stood there. Still as a statue, unbothered by the rain and lightning in the sky.
The boy stood just as still, just as quiet when he took in her form for perhaps the last time. Noticing her dry hair and the empty look in her eyes.
It was the ghost of his abandoned goodbye, the face of an effort for closure left forgotten. For both her and him.
“I’m sorry.” he muttered to the blank face.
He swallowed thickly.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t have been a better son. I’m sorry I left without a word.”
The apparition kept staring off somewhere behind him, not even blinking.
A small smile graced his lips. “I know saying this shit won’t fix anything- That you will be angry in the morning and feel guilty, but you will eventually get through it, I know. Surely, you yourself had to see it too. I am not made for this town.”
Despite the fact it wasn’t really his mother, only a Shadow with her face, finally saying that to her felt relieving. As if a stone weighing him down had fallen.
This was his goodbye.
The start of his new life. Where he could travel the lands and discover his place in the world. And perhaps find people just like him, who could relate to him.
This was his goodbye.
“May the sun shine on both of our days just as bright.” he said, feeling tears build up in the corners of his eyes.
Tommy pushed through, he ran through the city gates, far, far into the forest outside. Deeper, further, until his legs hurt and side stung. Far into the trees, where no one would hear his sobs. Where tall trees surrounded him like silent observers. That is where his battered heart finally poured out and years of held back tears sunk into the soil.
He cried for a bit. But as time passed the sobs died down, his tears were washed away and he cleared his dry throat.
The boy couldn’t stay here. He had to find a sanctuary. Despite the fact the crowns of the trees were obscuring the sky, he could tell the rain would not let up anytime soon.
Water sloshed in his shoes as he continued further into the forest. Thunder boomed in the distance. As if to tell him to speed up. And he did, as much as his tired body allowed him.
Trees soon made way to a clearing. A meadow, usually striking with beautiful colors, was now beaten down by the rain. Statices had their heads bent down.
All present grey tinted his surroundings.
Tommy didn’t care. Why reminisce about something so benign when more important things swarmed his head.
His eyes scanned for any shelter. He went over anything that even slightly resembled it but fruitlessly. There were only flowers, trees and a tall mountain ahead.
Wait.
A mountain!
There might be some crevices or caves where he can wait the rain out.
He jumped over a puddle and continued forward. Not noticing, that the puddle had an odd shape.
Leaves rustled in the rising wind. Goosebumps appeared on the boy’s cold skin. He had to find a palace to hide quickly. If he’ll stay out in the rain too cold, he might get sick. It isn’t like he was ever sick before, he was too Big of a Man for that, but still.
He continued down a forest path towards the mountain. As he was steadily approaching, he noticed just how massive it was. He wondered if the stories about mountains being sleeping stone giants were real after all.
The trees around him were old. Blueberry bushes and fungi were nestled under them. There wasn’t much grass anymore, rather soil criss-crossed with roots and batches of moss. He could swear he could see a beehive hanging off a branch on one of the trees outside of his path. Or it could have been a wasp nest. Those bitches were everywhere nowadays.
As he was looking away, he tripped. The boy fell onto his palms and swallowed down the dull feeling of pain.
“Fuck.” he muttered to himself begrudgingly. What the fuck tripped him?
His hand ran over the thing. It was rough. Like tree bark. He tripped on a fallen tree? Really ? Still better than tripping on a root. Or on his own feet. Man, he would never live down the embarrassment of that .
The boy dusted off his hands and jumped over the fallen tree. And said tree didn’t seem to be the only one. A bunch of trees ahead were either fallen, bent or snapped, towering over him like a bunch of sharp teeth.
He remembered his neighbor's walnut tree snapping and falling last year due to a storm. Damn, storms had to hit this area hard.
Tommy got through the barricade pretty easily. Climbed over some trees, crawled under others. Despite the fact it was still fucking raining and everything was so fucking slippery, in about twenty minutes he was back on the path.
Rain wouldn’t let up even then. As if some deity was enacting its great punishment on the land. Each of his steps caused an ugly squelching sound. He didn’t even want to look at his shoes. They had to be so fucking dirty by now. Mother was gonna kill-
Oh.
His mother won’t berate him for that anymore. Those dirty shoes were now his own issue to bear.
Man, that felt weird.
Not bad, just strange.
He would have to get used to that.
The mountain was now right ahead. His eyes spied for any crevice he could see. And he indeed noticed one. A big cave entrance a little off his path. His salvation!
The boy dashed towards it with a grin on his face. He jumped over some roots and stones and basically threw himself inside. The change was instant. He couldn’t feel the rain drumming on his head anymore. Not on his back. Nor anywhere.
He breathed heavily to catch his breath.
“Damn the rain!” he growled, unclasping the cloak and throwing in on the ground.
He didn’t care if it got dirty. There was no one to be mad at him for that now. He sank against the wall and breathed in deep. He was so tired. Falling asleep for a moment won’t hurt. It didn’t seem like he was any wild animal wanting a scrawny kid for dinner tonight.
Tommy hugged his knees and rested his cheek against the wall.
His eyes felt so heavy.
Before he knew it, sleep had already pulled him under.
---
Tommy got startled awake.
He looked around, quickly realising this wasn’t his room. Where the fuck was he? How did he get there? Why did he feel so cold?
Slowly, the events of last night came to him. He ran away. Got into a storm. Crashed at this place.
Damn, his neck hurt. He must have slept in a very awkward position. Blinking more sleep away he took in his surroundings better. He was still in the opening of the cave. Sun was slowly rising from behind the trees. It’s warm light felt like heaven on his face.
The storm had passed. Thank, Prime.
Tommy yawned. He was still cold as fuck. He should better go collect some wood and make a fire.
But before that, he had been startled awake. What woke him up?
The blond frowned and looked around once more. His eyes looked to the left. The cave wasn’t as small as he assumed yesterday. The opening he was sitting in continued into a long throat that extended far far into the dark. Shutter ran down his spine.
What if the cave was lived in? It could have been. The mouth was wide enough to fit an entire house if not two.
He pushed himself up to his feet and dusted himself off. He better move now. If something lived here, I might be pretty big. A pack of wolves would be chill, they don’t attack humans unprovoked. A boar would make him run for the hills. But a bear, or something bigger, gods forbid a dragon , he would be fucked.
The boy picked up his cloak and threw it over his shoulders. He was about to leave when-
A deep rumble came from inside the cave.
Tommy froze.
Oh no.
Scratching slowly approached him from behind. Like nails scratching. Like claws against stone.
Tommy knew he should run. He wasn’t an idiot! But his body just wouldn’t cooperate! Sue him!
The boy slowly shakily turned his head back. And soon enough, he was face to face with a dragon.
And this one was huge . Its scales were dark green, fading into golden accents. The creature’s head was bigger than Tommy and its slit eyes were watching him intently.
“Wow.” Tommy breathed out.
The creature huffed and Tommy was hit with a gust of air.
“What a surprise. A rat at my doorstep.” the creature croaked. Its voice was deep and reverberating. It had an air of confidence that made something inside of Tommy cower.
Tommy swallowed back a scream.
“H-hhe-hey. Ah- Ahaha- I’m gonna go.” he mumbled. More to himself, than to the dragon.
The dragon tilted its head.
Not a good sign.
What did they say about dragons in the town? Big, scary monsters that eat the farm animals- Yeah, that’s all and good, but did they ever say how to survive an interaction with one?
No, those bitches never fucking did.
Tommy started backing away.
The creature watched him for a moment. Before it started moving forward .
It sniffed the air and made an odd sound. Something told Tommy it meant it was confused. “The rat at my doorstep has a strange smell. What an interesting rat.”
Tommy felt panic slowly rise in the back of his head.
What the fuck does it mean? What the fuck does that mean?!
A normal person would start running away. Or utter an apology. Or kneel down and pray to whatever gods would listen. But this was Tommy. And Tommy wasn’t normal.
Panic brought a bitter taste to his mouth. The taste of fear. And Tommy hated fear.
“Oi, bitch! Who are you calling a rat?!”
The dragon tilted its head again. There was something strange in its eyes. It sniffed Tommy again. The look in its eyes got even stronger. Tommy didn’t know how to feel.
“Stop sniffing me!”
The creature shifted around. It opened its mouth and let out a strange clicking sound.
Hello-hello-there.
Tommy blinked. What the hell was that? It was just clicking. How did he know what it meant-?
The creature seemed to notice his recognition.
“Unbelievable. So I was right .”
The blond looked at the creature with worry. “Right about what?”
“You understand me speaking.”
“And? You are speaking to me. Why would I not understand?” Tommy nervously shifted from one leg to the other.
The dragon let out a wheezy sound similar to laughter. “But I am not speaking in the language of those rats, or humans, as they call themselves.”
Tommy didn’t understand where the dragon was going with it. How did it not speak in English? If it didn’t then how could Tommy understand? He wasn’t a-
Oh.
“That- That is impossible. I am a human. Always have been!”
That couldn’t be possible! He was human. He didn’t have wings or claws or any shit like that. The dragon had to be lying.
The boy pulled at his skin. “See this? Human skin. Not scales like yours.”
The creature leaned its head down so it was face to face with Tommy. “Who said I don’t have it also? ”
Before Tommy could ask how the creature meant it, its body got engulfed in light. Tommy sharply looked away. When he looked back, he found the dragon to no longer be standing there. Instead, an older man with shoulder-length blond hair and ocean blue eyes took its place.
Tommy gasped.
Dragons can shapeshift? Since when ???
He must have said it out loud because the man- or rather dragon, chuckled. “Always?”
“No way.” Tommy’s mouth was left agape. None of the townspeople ever mentioned that. The bastards!
The dragon looked much less threatening in his human form. He looked just like a guy. The boy was sure he would pass by him on the street without a notice. The only things that would remind Tommy of the green scaled dragon the man truly was were his dark green robes and a funny bucket hat he wore.
“We shift if we want to visit the rat settlements. Or if we want to hide among them.” The man put the second sentence more as a question. As if asking Tommy, ‘which one is your case? ’
Neither. He was human. Right?
Instead of reiterating that, Tommy asked. “Why do you keep calling humans rats?”
The man- dragon- dragon man- whatever- This was a mess for Tommy’s head. The older blond scoffed. “Because that’s what they are! Rats! They spread like rats, they act like rats and they steal like rats .”
Steal?
“Steal what?”
The man blinked. Tommy frowned. The man’s eyes widened. Tommy’s lips pressed into a thin line.
“An egg.” the man said and looked up at Tommy.
This time Tommy’s eyes widened. The dragon couldn’t be implying-
“You smell like a dragonet. You lack the smell of your thunder. And you didn’t even know you were a dragon. It fits well.” the man looks at him with a strange look of interest. It nearly reminded him of the look his mother had when she was watching him play.
Tommy crossed arms on his chest. “What if you are wrong?”
The man laughed again. It sounded a little wheezy and choked, as if he wasn’t used to using a human voice. “I am much older than you, hatchling. I am older than that town of rats. I am older than the kingdom that resides here now, and even the one that resided here before. And I’m sure.”
Now that was a little patronising. But the dragon was right. His species lived for centuries if not longer. They had a wisdom humans could never achieve. So if he thought he was right, there had to be some truth to that.
But Tommy would have noticed, right? At some point, his nature would have come to the surface. But he doesn’t think it ever- Or- Could it be?
Townspeople said dragons were hoarders. They collected all they liked and didn’t care if it already belonged to other species, mainly humans. They liked shiny stuff. Just like Tommy couldn’t tear his eyes away from shiny things.
Could it be that the reason why Tommy didn’t feel like fit amongst the people of his town, was that he wasn’t human to begin with?
If that was true, it opened another can of worms. His parents definitely were human. So they couldn’t be his real parents.
It was going to take Tommy a while before he comes in terms with that fact.
If it was even true, that is.
Tommy pouted and glared at the dragon. “Give me proof.”
The man narrowed his eyes on him. “More than I already gave you?”
That was true. But Tommy needed to be sure. Completely sure. An undeniable evidence.
The man seemed to think for a moment. He was mumbling to himself, as if going through a bunch of options. And then he snapped his fingers in disappointment. He turned towards the deeper part of the cave and whistled. “Hey! Will! Can you come help me out here for a moment?”
A roar came as an answer.
The man rolled his eyes. Tommy caught him muttering under his breath. Something about a ‘moody barely century-old’.
Damn, those creatures really have a different sense of time.
From the slowly darkness emerged another dragon. This one wasn’t as big as the first one, probably not as old either. It had dark, nearly black scales that faded into royal blue highlights. It didn’t spare Tommy a look for longer than a few seconds, before looking at the blond dragon.
After the older explained the situation to the younger one, it nodded. “Are you sure, Phil?”
The ancient blond nodded. “Can you think of anything? He is just a little thing. And I don’t want to make him to forcefully shift out of the bat. Might scare him off.”
The blue dragon shook their head. “Humans.”
“That’s why I called you. You spend more time with them than I do.”
The younger dragon huffed and looked at Tommy.
“I am right here, if you’ve forgotten.” Tommy pouted.
“Right.” the blue dragon said tiredly. “Isn’t what Phil shown you already enough? ”
A giant mouth full of razor sharp teeth came a little too close to Tommy for the boy's comfort.
The other dragon, Phil, just rolled his eyes. “Don’t be scared, hatchling. Wilbur is just upset because I woke him up. He is usually more friendly.”
“Yeah. Because you had to wake me up, because you believe some random child is a lost dragonet.”
Phil gave the blue dragon a leveled look. The sound that was emitted from his mouth was harsh and loud.
Bad-dragonet-obey
Both the blue dragon and Tommy instinctively shrunk on themselves. A bad feeling overcame Tommy. As if the entire village was staring him down. As if he did something very bad, some crime. But what did he do?!
It reminded him back then, when he just couldn’t help himself one time He saw a beautiful golden bracelet in one of the stalls. He couldn’t stop himself. He had to have it. The boy got caught of course. And for the rest of the month he had to listen to people bad mouth him and his parents. It was awful.
Was he actually a dragon, then?
Could it be true?
“Wh-what was that?” Tommy asked steeling his weak voice. Whatever was the sound Phil made, it made it hard for Tommy to speak. As if a small voice in the back of his head told him to be quiet. To shut up and listen.
The blue dragon and Phil exchanged a look. Phil grinned. Wilbur did the dragon equivalent of raising brows.
The ancient blond smiled. “Those were your instincts reacting. Instincts that humans don’t have.”
Tommy swallowed.
Oh gods.
So it was true. He was a dragon. He was like them.
The boy looked up at the two dragons.
Wasn’t the goal of his trip to find people like him? And now he found them.
More scratching came from inside the cave. And another, huge dragon peeked its head in from behind Wilbur. It looked at Tommy suspiciously. It was bigger than Wilbur but still smaller than Phil in his dragon form. It had dark mahogany scales that faded into bright red.
It sniffed the air and looked at Phil with a tired look. “ Really, Phil? ”
Phil shrugged.
“You are a magnet for strays, I swear.” the mahogany dragon shook his head in disappointment.
Wilbur nudged at the new dragon. “Come on. Let’s go back to nest, Techno. I need to finish my nap.”
“Sleepyhead.” The mahogany dragon, Techno, said while letting out a sound that reminded Tommy of a snicker.
“Hey! Take that back!” Wilbur growled half-heartedly and flapped his wings. The gust of wind nearly shoved Tommy onto the ground.
“Nah, I don’t think I will.”
Wilbur only growled.
The three dragons turned away from Tommy and started walking back into the cave.
“Wait!” Tommy shouted after them.
Phil turned around and looked at him. “Yes kid?”
Not a kid, Tommy frowned internally.
“Can- Can I stay with you?”
Phil opened his mouth to say something but Tommy beat him to the punch.
“I- Just for a little bit. You are the first of my species I have met like- ever . And- I have nowhere else to go.” he muttered, feeling his cheeks flush red.
Was that a good idea? Probably not. But none of the dragons showed any major hostility towards him. That made them safer to stay with than half of the villagers he met.
Wilbur and Techno gave Phil a tired look. The ancient blond only smiled. “Of course you can. As long as you want.”
“Really?” Tommy beamed.
Phil nodded. He looked up at Wilbur’s stoic expression looking for something in it. After a moment, he seemed to find it and grinned knowingly. Wilbur huffed.
“Come on, dragonet.” Phil offered.
“It’s Tommy.”
The blond dragon seemed surprised for a moment. Then he gestured for Tommy to come with them. The young blond made his way to them and started walking beside Phil.
“Nice to meet you, Tommy.”
Tommy bit his lip.
“Y-You too.”
This might not be how Tommy expected his trip to be. But he couldn’t say he would complain. He finally found a place that welcomed him. And people who were just like him. Maybe not in the way he would ever imagine, but what was ever like he imagines it?
He found a sanctuary, and with time, perhaps even a family.
This was his new beginning.