It was a big, uncomfortable moment, alone with that new human. An odd one again. Nimera was pretty sure it was a female, but she didn’t fit either with the ideas she had about human females. From what she had heard, they were told to be usually submissive in front of the males, but this one stood more bravely than any dragon had. And didn’t seem scared to talk back freely, obviously.




In a way, it made the exchange ea

Following the standard ‘Adam procedure’ in case of tantrum, Jozie didn’t speak another word on the way. The dragons walking each side of her weren’t exactly comforting.




She suspected it was on his command. She saw him whispering something to the beasts when he got passed them. It would be his kind to make her uncomfortable on purpose just to have revenge. Revenge for what, this time? The most bothering wa

« In my time, like in every period of time I guess, there were people obsessed with the end of the world, apocalyptic scenarios. They made all kinds of crazy plans to survive a catastrophe of huge scale. They were sometimes just deranged people but their words held a bit of truth in the end...”




He had radically changed from the moment she took the lead. Just like he said… back to his former self after onl

When Nimera approached the entrance of the cave, she heard long and loud breaths tinted with shakes in the exhaling. Truth be told, the dragoness was terribly intimidated to step further.




Not for the usual reason though. For once, she wasn’t afraid he’d turn against her in rage. No, she was afraid of the depth of his distress. She had faced many who had suffered loss, but in comparison, they were a fresh wind, when h

Helios didn’t feel comfortable, at all. It was true he had asked the human to teach him, but now that he was heading to the situation itself, the young dragon felt nervous like never before.




It was still a human he faced, and emotionally unstable. What if he hurt him? Or worse, what if he was disappointed in his abilities? He surely didn’t want to upset him!

“Don’t you land just yet.” The human said after a long silence, when some of the flying dragons began to lower.




The order stopped them in their move, and all wondered what he had in mind. That was when he turned toward a little group that hadn’t taken off. The three of them shook a bit in fear as he approached, but the human couldn’t have cared less. He seemed deeply upset, and it wasn’t a mys

He hadn’t spoken a word since his last mysterious question. What a strange human, guided by impulses, but clearly not the same as the rest of his kind. And he was so tensed he could have probably crushed a branch in his clenched fists. What could have suddenly put him in such anxious state? Nimera’s only clue was his curious choice of words.




When did two different places share the same location? It made no sense. No

Dragons didn’t gather much in general. But even if some dared trying to stay in their den, they all joined when the human showed he was serious about inspecting the caves himself. Most of them were simply scared at the view of a human, and staying away from him was good enough of a motivation.




The sun was showing its first rays above the horizon, and the fire was only dying by now. Nimera had absolutely no idea what he hop

The night was cloudy, every here and there stars shined with rare occasions to share their light. But tonight, there was a brighter light to send shiny reflections on the scales of the dragons gathered. A flame that was burning intensely in the middle of the community.




It had seemed that Ghelana had given the human’s suggestion some thoughts. When she eventually emerged from the cave her brother’s body was kept in, t

The first sight was the worst. Sitting in a corner, gazing into nothingness, Ghelana was alone and motionless. Nimera had witnessed such reaction a thousand times, and although it was a common response in recent loss, the dragoness would never get used to it.




Grindal had been killed. Supposedly before her eyes. No word could ever be right; no word could ever fix the hole she felt in her heart. Maybe because Nimera knew that feel

The smell…




The smell was the first stimulus to reach his foggy brain. A thick metallic smell that was aggressive to his nose, mixed with some other strong scents that gave him nausea. Then it was the sight. Red. Blood red, literally. The room was the theatre of a horrible scene. Because there wasn’t only blood staining the floor and the walls.




Messy

“Come on Fenrir, cheer up a bit!”




“There’s nothing to cheer about, Gellen. I’d appreciate if you’d simply stop talking to me.” The big man replied in a flat tone.




Not everyone wore the hood elegantly. But the thin, one pieced clothe covering everything and shadowing his face gave him quite a mysterious look. It helped th

Most men would have seized the occasion to have some free kill. But not Fenrir. Killing dragons. Or letting them live. Same difference. They didn’t really matter. Nothing ever really mattered.




However, Fenrir knew his presence here was not due to the choice of a young shifter for the accomplishment of his first great deed. Nothing mattered, but everything had a reason. He knew that high instances were trying to test him. A

« Supervisor Fenrir, you stand before us without the shifter you were supposed to watch.”




“Basically.”




“And according to you, he died in the most harmless place in the island?”




“That’s what I said.”

Nimera was mentally exhausted. True, dragons were used to live in fear. But this day kept on worsening and she saw no way this would end well. Following a deranged human all day, witnessing him kill cruelly, discovering the strange effect he had on the old one and how he could interact with ghosts… and now, being unable to stop his crazy race toward the community. Not only did he use them, but he also put their very survival in danger.

« You’ve got to be kidding me… All this way around to come back a few hundred meters from your mountain.” The human complained.




“We only led you where you asked to go.” Nimera simply replied. She could be quite stubborn, when she decided she didn’t like something, or someone. And not very tolerant with accusations. Her frustration had eased the return of her true personality around

The atmosphere was tensed. Nimera made no mystery that she didn’t want to lead this human to that old mentor she admired so much. But she didn’t really have a choice; the human didn’t leave her that choice. She didn’t hide her grumpy mood either, and that was what Helios was uncomfortable with.




He knew he could talk without thinking, and that he should watch his maw better. That was the reason why she was

Nimera was still processing what she just witnessed. Instinctively, she put a paw on Helios’ shoulder to pull him behind her. And his absence of resistance meant that he understood the gravity of the situation.




Seeing this strange human rescuing one of them could have been a wonderful event. But the death of one of these mammals here and the appearance of the white shadow were terribly bad omens. A catastrophe was upon the

The dwarf dragoness ran as fast as her leg muscles and lungs permitted. Why her? Usually, they targeted larger dragons! Size mattered much to them! so why her?! Tears were flowing on her cheek scales as the tall hooded figure followed her, walking. She could even guess a cruel smile under the clothe, with merciless eyes fixed on her back! It was like she sensed it!




It had all started with screams of fear, and the moment after, t

“Make no sudden move… and come back to me Helios…” Nimera whispered in dread as the human emitted some groans, and began to move.




Frozen in fear, the younger dragon stared at the human, unable to actually step back. His body refused to respond. It didn’t seem dangerous while the human was unconscious, but now he was waking up. In horror, Helios watched the hands reaching the face and rubbing the e

“I asked you to stay close Helios.” Nimera said authoritatively when she saw the recognizable pair of vertical, curved horns finally resurfacing from the woods. It was still a relief to have him back though.




“Come one, you know that humans don’t come here. If they come to the south, they always go to one place only.” He replied like it was nothing, and bored of getting scolded. But it was for his ow

Amaria could move now, but she simply didn’t see the point of it. All she did was looking at the white shape with a blank stare.




“You had promised…” She simply said, a calm accusation to this shadow’s faults. The only thing she cared about, the only one she expected to survive this all. Gone… Because he had listened to this being.

Restrained by chains even an enraged struggle couldn’t break, the dragoness let out a long, complaining roar of pain. Not a loud one, but a necessary one. Inside her chest, she had felt a light dying, a part of her shutting down for good, a hole that enlarged painfully…




“Hey, stay calm, dragon.” The lady warrior got on her guards again, genuinely frightened by her reaction.

The remaining soldiers only had the time to escape as the large metallic door fell heavily on the floor. All of them were on their guards, but their hesitance was nearly palpable. Who could have blamed them?




A large cloud of smoke rose from the entrance, and shadows took shape in its core. Human shapes, distorted in a way that reflected the monsters they were inside. Their contours became more defined when, in calm steps, they d

He didn’t speak a word, and that was the most terrifying… Walking behind him, for the stairs were too narrow to allow her by his side, the dragoness observed her human without even knowing what to say. Like an automat, he repeated his steps, a hand on his sword pommel.




Even if he had never spoken it out loud, the young human admired Bolner. He was the fatherly figure he needed after the disappearance of his parents

Suddenly,
all the bliss he had felt faded away… The human girl had been there
all along; what could she be thinking right now? She had always been
his closest friend, and he had shown her his real nature… She had
seen him breaking the metal shackles in a moment of crazy rage,
taking down the most terrifying and powerful human she knew, and
ferociously swallowing him alive to finally enjoy his slow digestion…
Unable
to find anything to say to her, he just kept staring back at the girl
in si

Staring
at the worthless human, he realized that there was only one thing he
could be good at, like the cows, to be his prey… The young dragon
began to wag his tail in excitement, even drooling at this thought…
this man perfectly looked like a cow… fat… useless…
delicious-looking…
Every
single one of his instincts screamed in his head that he knew what
need to be done… Eager to obey to them, the young dragon used his
sharp claws to rip off the fabric of the human’s clothes in a

One
bang, and the target fell, dead in an instant. To Alexander, this new
weapon was magical. It felt like unleashing the wrathful power of the
gods themselves… This day was the best he ever lived. Only one
thing did bother the war chief in his march, actually.
“There’s
incredibly few people around here… It’s like they have already
evacuated…” he said with a glance of suspicion toward the kid
walking at his side.
Alexander
knew really few of David, but he had known the father for s

Pushing
on her hind legs, Amaria leaped on the humans, tackling them and
maintaining the two of them firmly on the ground. If she wasn’t so
focused on her task, the dragoness would have taken her time to enjoy
how powerful she felt with two humans kept on the ground by her
strong forepaws.
“Amaria,
what are you doing?!” Her lover protested with energy. And if David
wasn’t busy groaning furiously, he would have probably asked the
same.
“Enough
is enough!” She growled menacingly. “Yo

Amaria
followed her human without a word as he walked hastily, straight to
the prison. Anyway, no word from anyone could have stopped him right
now. She knew it; she knew how stubborn he was when he was angry. And
during all the time they had spent together, she had never seen him
so furious.
A
war was engaged, a human had been killed with a weapon her lover
apparently wished to never see invented, and worse, it had been
stolen right from his parents’ work, and given to a deadly enemy.
Even if

Bolner
wasn’t waiting for them in his office like usual. As soon as they
got passed the door, a young lady with a hard look simply told them
they were waited in the maps room. This wasn’t a good sign…
First,
because the young man had never heard about a ‘maps room’
anywhere in this city, and the fact that the stairs leading to it
seemed to plunge into the bowels of earth itself wasn’t
reassuring... And this name… ‘maps room’… it did sound like
military term… Why else would

« Are
you sure you want to do this, my human ? » She asked
Her
tone was far more worried than the last time she pronounced these
exact words. It was curious how words could mean totally different
things with the proper way of speaking them. Right now, her sentence
held a big anxiety, and the young man could easily understand why.
The
morning had yet begun in a lovely way. When he had opened his eyes,
he was laying on his bed, a bit slimy, and with a peacefully sleeping
dragon he

Astora
was digging in the depths of her own mind, trying to find an idea.
The problem was tougher than she thought in the first place! Big
snowflakes were falling on the already white ground, and still, even
such beauty didn’t inspire her. Who would have thought it was so
hard…
…to
make a glutton like Schlirk get the meaning of Christmas?
She
was hanging out with the strange dragon for months now. And though
she absolutely didn’t mind his inability to think with anything
else but his sto

Rakan
moaned in pleasure as he woke up.
He
still had the pleasant taste of the cow on his tongue… It was the
first time in months that his hunger was actually sated… He could
feel that the bovine had stopped moving a long time ago, but he
noticed that his belly was still swollen… He had fallen asleep with
his forepaw on it. He smiled as he slowly rubbed it to wake up
nicely… The squishy sensations he felt were heavenly good… So
that was what it meant to be a real dragon…
Exhaling
in

Outside,
the sun hadn’t reached its highest point yet and the air was still
cool. Rakan had always preferred the outside world, for it had more
space to stretch and extend his wings. His previous master, Emma’s
father, had always encouraged him to explore. He said that a dragon
wasn’t supposed to stay locked inside. This was obviously a vision
that the current tyrant didn’t share… When the young dragon tried
to go out for a walk, he was more than eager to teach him the hard
way that he

“Mr.
Drake, I just got the latest report on…”
“I
told you to NEVER CALL ME LIKE THAT!” he shouted, interrupting his
secretary and hitting the wooden desk with a raging fist.
The
young man regretted his anger excess almost instantly… Breathing
deeply, he tried to recover the calm he needed to apologize… He
knew he shouldn’t have exploded like that… but it had to get out…
He couldn’t contain his own moroseness and frustration anymore…
And
the nickname people gave him for h