A Dragon's Tale Ch. 01

Note: This is a story that includes sex, not many sex scenes connected by a story. It will happen, but not until it makes sense in the story. I promise a happy ending, but remember: "The course of true love never did run smooth."

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PROLOGUE

Ethan's ancient clock radio warbled the old country song. "You can spend your whole life building, Something from nothing, One storm can come and blow it all away, Build it anyway."

He grabbed the radio and threw it across the room so hard it broke open and spilled electronic components everywhere.

"What was that?" Ethan's mother asked over the phone.

"The radio was spouting lies and I couldn't take it anymore." He replied while trying in vain to keep his voice even.

"I know it looks bad right now, but I promise it'll get better." His mother repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time. "You couldn't have known."

"I should've known." He fumed and resumed his pacing with such vigor that an observer might think that the floor had done him a great personal wrong. "She always liked him a lot."

"Honey, you can't--" she started, but Ethan cut her off.

"I don't want to talk about it right now." He said. "I just called to let you know the wedding is obviously off, so there's no point in you and Dad flying out tomorrow."

"We should anyway." She said. "What about your business? I thought you two were partners."

"Oh, that's the best part." Ethan curled his hand into a fist so tightly that it hurt. "They must've been planning this for a while because my name disappeared from a few key documents; he got a controlling interest and kicked me out."

Ethan aimed a kick at the nearest object. Unfortunately, it was his old gas stove and he kicked it so hard that it pulled away from the wall. He winced as a sharp pain shot through his foot.

"But you started that business and built it up from nothing..." She trailed off. "Your dad and I are flying out anyway."

"Well, I won't have a place for you to stay." He flopped down in a recliner to get off his painful foot. "Almost all my money was in the company accounts and since he kicked me out, I've got nothing. I won't make rent and it's due in a couple of days. You know what my landlord is like."

"I know this looks bad honey, but--"

"Please don't say it could be worse." Ethan cut her off. "A man's fiancée running off with his best friend and leaving him penniless is pretty hard to top. I have to go."

"Okay." She said. "We'll be praying for you, and we'll see you soon."

"Sure." He said and hung up.

A tiny part of him felt guilty for the way he'd talked to his mother, but the train wreck of his life buried that part pretty well. He pulled the recliner back and winced as he elevated his foot. The old gas stove was still there, the dent in the side mocking him as it sat cock-eyed from its original position.

"If there's a God out there, can you please give me a fresh start?" He wished idly. "And while I'm asking for miracles, could I meet the perfect woman for me?"

He shook his head.

Only idiots believed in that shit. Given the events of the day, he certainly seemed to qualify. He took a deep breath, let it out slowly, then leaned his head back in the recliner and closed his eyes. He just wanted to sleep; to have this miserable day end.

The last thing he remembered before he drifted off was the faint smell of gas in the air.

A Dragon's Tale, CHAPTER 1

Ethan slowly returned to consciousness, trying to remember a dream he'd been having. He had been hovering above his own body in his apartment, but everything had a strange purple color to it. He remembered seeing that the gas pipe on his old stove was broken and then drifting upward towards a bright light. His dream got very fuzzy after that.

He vaguely remembered seeing other people and creatures that looked like they were from another world. Everything was that strange purple color and they were all drifting upwards toward the bright light together. And then there was a dragon...

And...

And...

Ethan tried to remember, but the dream was slipping from his mind as he tried to hold onto it. He remembered something heading for the dragon, but it had missed the dragon and latched onto him instead though. He had felt a sharp pulling sensation, then nothing.

"That is not my son." A deep voice said from right above Ethan.

"I did say it was a long shot." A squeaky voice responded from somewhere nearby. "I'm sorry I couldn't return your son to you my lord."

"It's no matter." The deep voice said, sounding like he was yawning. "I can always find another mate."

Ethan groaned. He felt like someone had used his head as a punching bag. He tried to move, but his limbs didn't want to cooperate.

"What shall I do with this one?" The squeaky voice said, and Ethan felt someone kick him in the...

Well, that was strange.

Someone had definitely kicked him somewhere, but not in a place that he'd ever felt before. It wasn't in the arms, legs, torso, or head, but what was left?

Ethan opened an eye. He was going to open both eyes, but that would've taken a lot more work than he was willing to do right now. He was clearly inside some sort of cave. He could see the mouth in the distance and the rock walls confirmed it. He glanced around and that's when he noticed that something was attached to his face. It looked like someone had put one of those fake wolf snouts over his nose, but small scales covered its surface.

"I don't care what you do with him." The deep voice said. "You may dispose of him and drain the magic to replenish your reserves."

Ethan's eyes snapped open. Despite feeling like someone had turned his limbs into jelly, he summoned a massive effort and raised himself up on all fours.

It felt surprisingly natural.

"Wait a minute." Ethan managed to say. Talking felt weird. His mouth and tongue seemed a different shape.

"He wakes." The squeaky voice said.

Ethan turned his head and saw the strangest person he had ever seen. He had thin white hair and a frail body that made him look like he was on death's doorstep. Yet Ethan saw vigor, cunning, and coldness in his eyes. His irises were completely black with no color showing, which made them stand in stark contrast to the whites of his eyes. He was wearing a simple robe and clung to a wooden staff inscribed with strange runes.

"Indeed." Said the deep voice.

Ethan turned his head towards the deep voice and his jaw dropped. He was looking at a dragon -- a real, live, speaking, talking, and breathing DRAGON.

The dragon was at least 50 feet long and must've weighed several tons. Its head alone was easily the size of a full-grown man and towered at least ten feet over Ethan. Each of its four legs was as thick as a small tree trunk, and had claws that could easily grasp a full-grown man. It had massive, bat-like wings that probably had a greater wingspan than the body's considerable length. He only saw the wings for a moment before the dragon tucked them up against his body, again much like a bat.

Ethan just stood there and stared for a moment.

"It's not polite to stare." The dragon said in its deep rumbling voice.

Ethan looked away. "I'm sorry. I've just never seen a dragon before."

The dragon sighed. "Perhaps you should look at your reflection."

"Huh?" Ethan frowned.

He had a habit of running his hands through his hair when he was confused and tried to do so now... but he didn't have any hair. Instead, he felt two horns on the back of his head. And he didn't just feel the horns with his hands,he could feel his hands with the horns.

Then he looked at his hand and his jaw dropped.

It looked exactly like the dragon's claws, except much, much smaller. He had only three fingers and they were covered with hundreds of small scales. He still had a thumb, but it was directly opposite the fingers.

Ethan looked down to discover he looked exactly like the dragon before him -- except in miniature. He would be about 5' 8" if he stood on his hind legs, and probably weighed something under 200 pounds. He had the same dark, steel-gray scales, his rear legs had a hock joint like a dog or cat, and the same... Ethan blinked.

He had wings.

Wings!

They were folded against his back, but he could see and feel them. They sprang from his shoulder blades and when he tried to open them, they obeyed like any other limb. They looked exactly like bat wings, even down to the single hook-like claw on the leading edge of the wing.

Ethan turned to look at them closely and then felt his tail brush the ground. It was about five feet long and ended in a wide, flat diamond shape. He tried moving it around and, surprisingly, it felt as natural as moving his arms.

"I have a tail." Ethan wondered aloud

"You weren't a dragon before?" The old man with the squeaky voice said.

"Nope, just a regular man."

"Curious, very curious." The old man stared intently at Ethan for a few moments before turning to the dragon. "I shall take my leave my lord."

"As you wish." The dragon waved his wing lazily towards a far corner of the room. "Just don't forget to return your spare sacrifice."

Ethan whipped his head around to look into the corner of the room. There, lying unconscious on the ground, was a short, thin woman who was wearing a green dress.

"She's too much trouble to bring home." The old man said as he walked out of the cave. "Consider her a gift for dinner." He turned at the cave entrance and walked out of sight.

"Dinner?" Ethan asked.

The dragon looked at the woman and licked his lips.

"You can't be serious!"

"Why not?" The dragon asked. "Wood elves are a tasty treat and I haven't ventured out of this cave for meat in... Oh, about twenty-three years."

The dragon took a step toward the woman. Ethan, unsteady on his feet though he was, bounded over to her so he was between the woman and the dragon. He wasn't sure what he could do because the dragon's feet were larger than his torso. However, he couldn't just sit back and watch a woman be eaten alive.

"You can't do that." He said firmly.

The dragon stopped and flopped down in front of Ethan. Behind him was an immense pile of gold dotted with silver and precious stones. The sight took Ethan's breath away. Something in him felt pulled towards the gold. Itcalled to him. Ethan could almost feel the gold and it was brimming with... something. Something powerful; something that Ethanreally wanted.

"Eyes up boy." The dragon said in a bored tone. "I'll forgive the lust in your eyes because of your youth, but if you touch a single piece of that gold, I'll tear you limb from limb."

The dragon didn't seem mad or upset, just bored and letting Ethan know the natural consequences of messing with his gold.

"Why do you care about the elf?" The dragon asked.

"Because murder is wrong."

"Right, wrong. It's all the same thing." The dragon said with a sigh. "I've lived a lot longer than you whelp. When you get to my age, you learn that there are no absolutes."

Ethan smiled -- to his surprise he still could -- as a plan formed in his mind. "Would you care to bet on that?"

"Oh?" For the first time, the dragon didn't seem completely bored.

"Here are the terms." Ethan said. "If I can prove beyond a doubt that absolutes exist, then you release the woman and swear to never hurt her again."

"And when you fail?"

"Um, what do you want?"

The dragon tapped its immense talons on the floor of the cave. It suddenly occurred to Ethan that this dragon was many times his size and could do whatever he wanted.

The dragon spoke after a moment of deliberation. "If you fail to prove there are absolutes by sunset, then you must surrender all of the gold in your crop and watch me eat the elf."

"What's a crop?" Ethan asked.

The dragon shook its massive head and looked disgusted, "You would challenge me to a battle of wits when you are unarmed? Foolish whelp." The dragon shook its head again. "Your crop is a small pouch in your gullet. Dragons typically swallow some gold and store it there so they always have some nearby."

Ethan barely remembered a biology lesson about chickens that described something similar. It was a sort of pouch in their throat or stomach that held food before it was digested. Ethan touched his stomach and could feel something beneath his skin and scales. He hadn't noticed it before, but it called to him like the pile of gold, though there couldn't be more than a few coins in his crop.

"Do we have a deal?"

"Deal." Ethan replied.

"Then prove it." The dragon commanded.

"You said that there are no absolutes, correct?" Ethan asked. The dragon nodded, so Ethan continued, "Then I have just one question: are youabsolutely sure that there are no absolutes?"

The dragon blinked several times, opened its mouth to respond, then closed it again. He then cocked his head to one side for a few moments, opened its mouth to answer again, and then closed it again.

"Here's the problem." Ethan said. "Saying there are no absolutes is an absolute statement. Even if you were right, you would be wrong because you are contradicting yourself."

The dragon rested its head on its forelegs for several seconds before responding. "Well done boy, though perhaps I should not call you 'boy' anymore. Very well, take the wood elf and go. I should like you to come back though; I might enjoy conversing on this topic further."

Ethan nodded.

Only then did it occur to him that he'd spent the entire conversation standing on all four of his legs. It felt remarkably comfortable and natural, especially considering that he hadn't had four legs for a whole hour yet. He stood up on his hind legs like he was used to doing and that felt perfectly natural too.

The dragon waved his hand in the direction of the woman and Ethan felt...something pass through the air. He wasn't sure what it was, but it made his scales stand up on end. Moments later he heard the sound of a lock clinking and the woman immediately stood up.

Apparently she wasn't unconscious.

"Blasted paralysis cuffs!" the woman said as she shook the leather restraints off, kicked them for good measure, and then whirled to face the dragon. "By Ithlan, how could you Drousin?"

The dragon shrugged. "I was hungry."

"Two years!" She yelled. "We've been talking for two years! And I'm on the dinner menu all of a sudden? You don't even need to eat with all that gold! You said so yourself!"

The woman marched up to the dragon -- Drousin -- and poked her finger at his paw. The paw was arguably larger than she was and she was only a few feet from his mouth. His jaws were so big he probably could have swallowed her whole.

"What in Illuminar's name were you thinking?"

"I was hungry." The dragon shrugged again. "Now leave before I get hungry again. Right now, I feel like taking a nap."

And with that, Drousin turned, lumbered slowly back to his pile of gold, flopped down on it and closed his eyes. Moments later, the sound of soft snoring began echoing through the chamber. The woman stood glaring at the sleeping dragon for several seconds. If this had been a cartoon, Ethan was sure there would be steam rising from her head. Frankly, he didn't blame her.

Finally, she turned to look at him.

She was tiny.

She was about five feet tall and couldn't weigh an ounce over a hundred pounds. Her hair was a rich, chocolate-brown color and fell to her mid-back. Her eyes were almond-shaped and her ears were several inches long and ended in points. She was wearing a knee-length green dress made from cloth, although the pattern in the fabric resembled leaves.

There was something very wild about this girl, though woman might've been a better term. She was clearly young, or at least she looked young. He wasn't sure how that worked for wood elves. It was just starting to sink into Ethan's head that he'd just matched wits with a dragon for the life of a wood elf.

"Thank you." She said. "My name is Alana Tarihowen, called staff-maker." She gave a small curtsey, and he got the impression that this was a formal greeting of some kind.

"Hi, I'm Ethan." He held out his hand -- his three fingered hand, covered in scales.

Alana gave him a quizzical look.

"Sorry, it's just how we say hello where I'm from." Ethan said and dropped his hand.

"I know what a handshake is, I've just never seen a dragon offer one." She looked at him for several seconds and then glanced in Drousin's direction with a scowl and a dirty look. "I suggest we leave this foul worm's lair before he wakes up and changes his mind about dinner."

Ethan nodded and they walked in silence to the mouth of the cave. On the way out, he noticed several charred human skeletons. One of them was still smoking slightly. Another looked like a desiccated husk, like all the moisture had been drained from his body. This one was apart from the other corpses, near where the old man with the staff had been standing.

He decided not to ask about them.

They reached the mouth of the cave and he looked around. They were about a hundred yards up the side of a large hill and a forest stretched out for many miles below them. The sky was a cloudless blue, and judging by the position of the sun it was midafternoon. The air was warm but not hot, the leaves were green, and the birds were singing, so Ethan guessed it must be spring.

"Thank you again." Alana said. "Few people would risk their lives for a total stranger, and until today I would never have thought a dragon would be one of them."

"You're welcome. But that dragon didn't seem interested in killing me so I'm not sure I risked my life."

Alana looked at him as if he had just told her that the sky was neon red. "I meant he would take the gold in your crop."

He could feel the gold inside of him. It wasn't much, but he could feel some kind of power emanating from it. It made his blood stir, and he realized he would have found it very hard to give the gold up if the dragon had won the bet and demanded it.

He turned to Alana. "Why would giving up the gold be risking my life?"

Alana worked her mouth wordlessly for a moment and then gave him that same confused look again. "I don't mean to be rude, but don't you know anything about your own kind?"

"Not really." Ethan looked down at his clearly draconic form and couldn't help but smile at the irony.

"From what land do you hail?" she asked. "For dragons go wherever there is gold, and I can't imagine a country blessed enough to be without them."

"I'm from..." He hesitated, not believing what he was about to say. "I think I'm from another solar system?"

"What's a solar system?" Alana asked, and then glanced back into the cave. "Maybe we should find a safer place to have this chat. Perhaps my house? It's less than a mile away and dinner is the least I can offer for the dragon that saved my life."

"Sounds good, please lead on." Ethan said, noticing for the first time that he was actually quite hungry.

"So where are you from?" she asked as she started walking.

"I'm from Earth." He replied as he followed her, happy to discover that walking on two legs felt as natural as ever.

"You came from... the ground?" She raised her eyebrow.

"No, I mean I'm from another planet. I think."

"What's a planet?"

"It's a..." He started, but trailed off. How did you explain that in a few words?

"Okay, let's try a different question." She offered. "How did you get here?"

Ethan told her what had happened, but left out exactly why he had been so angry. He also relayed his dream to her, though it didn't seem so much like a dream anymore. She was confused about why he had a pipe in his house filled with something that could kill him, but otherwise listened without comment.