I realized that Gen was right. Remi's eyes were not normal, they weren't even human. I recognized those eyes though. Those eyes were the eyes of a Dragon. I don't know how I knew, maybe I remembered the photo of my Dragon parents and that their eyes looked like this. The half-oval of an iris, quite unlike the iris of a human, which was a circle.

So thats why she was so sick. Can't she control that? Or does she shift into a Dragon against her will...? Are there Dragons like that? That certainly isn't the case with my family and I. Does Remi even know who we are anymore?

It was infuriating how little I knew about Dragons.

I was unable to move, to speak, to do anything as Remi turned her odd eyes to stare around at each of us in turn. Gen looked like she was going to explode with anger, horror, and triumph. How could she be feeling all of that at once?

Hazel leaped to her feet and pushed Gen and me backwards into the forest.

"I shouldn't have let either of you come!" She said frantically and begged, "Please, just go, go back!"

"I, I can't-" I stammered, caught between wanting to listen to Hazel, and terror, but I was cut off by a thunderous roar that seemed to shake the entire world and made all three of us spill to the ground.

We scrambled away from Remi. I was paralyzed with fear. The green Dragon before us was so big. I hadn't seen another Dragon for years. I hadn't shifted for years, as a matter of fact.

Her nails elongated into talons, her face grew into a snout, wings sprouted on her back. Her talons were silver, her horns and spikes gold. As she looked at us, she unfurled her massive wings. Remi looked at herself, obviously confused.

She roared with fury and flapped her wings wildly. I thanked whatever Dragon deity was out there that the ancient Piran trees were a lot taller than Remi. None of the citizens of Pira would see us.

Hopefully...

Gen's breath was hot in my ear. She was breathing hard. I couldn't imagine what she was thinking, suddenly seeing one of her friends out a window of her school, the friend helping another student haul an unconscious person into the woods. Then, that unconscious person turns into a Dragon. I wasn't quite sure what to think myself.

Remi's tail swept around and I realized she had a tail barb, a natural weapon like all of the Venomtail Dragon tribe had as far as I knew.

"You all need to leave! Now! You're not safe here!" Hazel shrieked, taking the second while Remi was distracted. She scrambled to her feet. "Remi and I will be fine, you guys can escape! Go!"

Hazel knows more about Dragons than she lets on... my mind whispered. But before I could pounce on that new theory, I saw a giant spike descending on us. It confirmed what I thought earlier. Dragon Remi had no idea who we were.

"ROLL!!!" I screamed.

They rolled without a moment's hesitation. Right where Hazel had been standing, lay the poison spike of Remi's tail. If she had leapt out of the way a second later, she would have been dead.

Then Remi was swinging her tail towards me, spike outstretched and gleaming.

I somersaulted backward on instinct and the spike tore at my shirt but luckily didn't touch me. I came up standing and immediately stumbled back into a tree as her tail stabbed at me.

Once, twice, three times, she stabbed at me. I jumped behind a tree as Remi impaled the dirt where I had just been standing.

She snuffled and stabbed and slashed for a bit, trying to find me, but eventually, gave up and stomped away. The trees were too thick for her to follow me. She was too big.

I sighed with relief and sank to the ground, but then cursed to myself. How could I have forgotten about the others?

I leaped to my feet and made my way as fast as I could to the edge of the woods, through the trampled dirt.

Across the clearing, Remi roared and slashed her tail forward. Hazel jumped aside just in time, but Gen was not so lucky. A large gash appeared in her shoulder, immediately soaking her shirt with blood. She yelled in pain and collapsed. I shrieked. Remi had just hurt one of my good friends, and that tail was covered in venom.

I looked around on the ground near me for something big enough. I found it and picked it up, heaving it over one shoulder. The stick was heavy, yet I was sure I wouldn't be able to do any damage with it. I would more likely hurt myself than Remi. Still, if I had learned anything from all my books, it was that you don't go into battle unarmed.

And so I ran toward the huge Dragon.

Remi reached forward and grabbed Gen in her talons. Gen was limp, probably unconscious.

Then, Remi stopped and looked down. Hazel was climbing her back leg and hitting it with a rock. Of course, it wasn't doing a thing, but it sure got her attention.

Remi flung Gen aside like a rag doll and raised her tail, getting ready to strike at Hazel.

Hazel dropped her rock and launched herself off Remi's back leg. She hit the ground, righted herself, then started waving her arms and shouting something.

No! I thought. You won't get Hazel too!

I knew I had no choice. I was running but there was no way I could get to them on time. There was no way I could stop Remi from hurting these people without taking action. Not even a big stick wouldn't stop her. Even though I had just met Remi and Hazel, there was no way I was letting them die. And, after all, one more Dragon couldn't hurt...

I shifted.

Shifting felt weird, it made my skin crawl. Quite literally. Scales poured over my body. My ears grew into horns and my teeth sharpened. I grew a tail and felt wings pop out of my shoulder blades. I used them to propel me forward. I slammed into Remi as a piercing blue Watertail Dragon.

Remi roared in Dragon language, "What is this!!! Who are you!"

You only met me this morning, but I'm a friend I promise! If you could just calm down-" I roared back at her, ducking under her swiping talons.

We faced off, circling each other.

"Remi, come out of there!!" I growled. It wouldn't do any good, but I had to keep her talking. Or growling, whichever. "You are a kind of Dragon I don't know much about, but I do know that this isn't you. I don't know how to get you back but I'll do anything I can."

Remi leaped forward, her tail flashing through the air but I rolled aside and whacked her in the face with my own tail which had a fin on either side like a mermaid.

"Who are you!?" She growled back at me, rubbing her snout and snarling.

"A friend," I said to her. "I'm not going to hurt you! I'm normally a human, and so are you."

Her face contorted in disgust at the word human. She glared daggers at me, but then her face slipped into an expression that was more sad than angry.

"Humans, bah. They are all cowering idiots. Who are you, anyway. I never see any other Dragons except her, and I like it that way. Speaking of that, where is she? Do you know? Do you know her as well?" Remi looked around wildly.

I looked over at Hazel and Gen, taking advantage of Remi's momentary pause and confusion. Hazel was trying to bandage the wound on Gen's shoulder. I also took the moment to just be happy to finally be back in my Dragon form once again. It had been years since I last did it, and it felt so good, so natural, but also disorienting. I was suddenly tall, and had more limbs than I knew what to do with.

I looked up at Remi's sad face. Why was she sad, and who was the "she" she was looking for?

"Who?" I asked.

"The Dragon..." Remi trailed off, looking so crestfallen that I almost wanted to give her a hug. "There's always a white Dragon."

"Would you like to come flying with me?" I asked a bit desperately, hoping to get her away from my friends and cheer her up at the same time. "Maybe we can find her, and just maybe, you can learn to trust me."

"Doubtful," she said with a snort, shaking her horns.

I rolled my eyes. "Maybe flying will even make you feel better."

That was my only chance to get her away from Hazel and Gen. I knew that it was a risky move, but it worked, and that was all that mattered.

"Fine, don't try anything funny, strange Dragon," she growled at me.

"I won't," I promised, and we threw ourselves into the sky.

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Written by justasnarky_sandwing on WATTPAD