by K V Deal
It was interesting. Really it was. The first newspaper since the change. I could only imagine all the work that had gone into getting it out. For one thing, since all electronics were gone, even mechanical things like typewriters, the people making this had to go all the way back to metal-plate or even woodblock printing. And that couldn’t have been done until somebody got to work making paper.
But even with all that, I couldn't help watching Charlie as she was trying to work through MY book. She would’ve already set it on fire, but, thankfully, the writer had thought far enough ahead to fire proof this book about learning fire magic.
I really hoped she didn't damage it.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a red hand sneaking its way towards the pan. Quickly reaching out, I slapped Carah's hand away from the food.
“Ow!”
“I said it's not ready yet!”
“You cut me!” Carah drew her hand back up to take a look at the new shallow cut along it's back.
“Sorry!” I glanced down at my fingers where from the first knuckle to the tip, normal pink skin shifted into gold scales that matched those on my tail. Each finger ended in a sharp claw, one of which had blood on it now. I winced.
“Jeez!” She huffed as she dug a roll of cloth out of a backpack beside her and began to wrap her hand. “It's been two months, and you still don't have a grip on how sharp those things are?” She grinned at me.
“Sorry...” I muttered, staring at the floor.
Pausing, she putting her uninjured hand on my shoulder. “Hey, it's okay. Just gotta keep working at it.” And with a wink, she popped the bit of salamander she had stolen from the pan into her mouth.
That sneaky…
There was a whoomph and a yelp from across the room. Carah and I whipped around to see Charlie desperately backing away from a cheerfully glowing ball of fire sitting on the wooden floor in front of her.
Without a word I was up and dashing across the room. Lifting a gold scaled foot, I stomped the flames out before they could catch the whole building on fire.
Charlie looked up at me and let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Jake.” Her voice had the twang of a southern drawl.
“Something go wrong?”
Charlie grimaced. “No, it went right. I just didn’t expect it.”
“Well, even with everything that has happened, who would expect magic to actually work?” Carah had wandered over and picked up the book. Fire Magic for Dolts. She shook her head. “I still can’t get over the name. Whoever wrote this had a messed-up sense of humor.”
“Ya don’t say,” Charlie drawled. “It isn’t much of a joke though, since they’re the only ones laughing.”
I left the two to talk and headed back over to check on the food.
“The dragon’s grumpy today…” Charlie muttered behind me.
“Yup,” Carah muttered back with a sigh.
I glowered at the food, as I gave the bits of roasted salamander a poke. They were probably right but being called grumpy never helped anyone become less so in my experience. I was no exception.
Little bit longer on the meat.
I sat back down and pulled up the paper, being careful not to grip it with my claws. The headline article wasn't really anything new. It was more of a recap of what we understood about the event.
It had happened roughly on June 5th by everyone’s recollection. Sudden pain and then blackout. Everyone remembered that, though the amount of pain was different for different people. People had woken back up in waves. On the first day, the people who woke up had milled about gathering together or hiding alone as their nature dictated.
They quickly discovered that the modern day was no more. Electricity and everything it fed was gone, gone or replaced by a medieval alternative. In some cases, things had changed into something a bit more mystical in nature. Buildings once made of steel plastic and glass, were now stone, wood and thatch. Cars were gone as well, and those who had been in them when the event happened, found themselves waking up in the middle of what had been roads.
Scarier than even all that, were the changes in the world at large. Half the city and most of the suburbs were gone, replaced by a massive swamp. The city’s river, once tamed by man to run next to the downtown, had lost its cement banks and steel bridges. It had resumed its swiftly moving speed of years ago.
On day two, the Changed had started to show up. These people were no longer entirely human. Instead their humanity was mixed with something more fantastical. Second day changes were visibly small--pointed ears, a thinner build, shorter stockier, a beard that wasn't there before. That kind of thing. Easy enough to miss if someone wasn't looking.
On day three, more Changed woke up. These were even more different than Day Twos-animal appendages, scales, webbed fingers and such. These people seemed like something out of mythology. It was at this point that people began to notice that the Changed not only looked different. Their behavior had changed as well in small ways, but the changes were always tied to their new appearance. Someone with cat ears and a tail might find themselves acting more catlike; that was the example in the newspaper.
Days three, four and five brought more awakenings. The changes were more pronounced with each passing day.
I shook my head. The article went on to say that nobody had awakened since day five. Considering I woke up on day seven, that wasn't exactly true. Everything else they had said fit though.
I glanced up at my two teammates. Charlie was a Day One, still one hundred percent human as far as I could tell. Carah, on the other hand was a Day Four. Kinda obvious when you considered her apple-red skin, the horn growing out of her forehead over one eye and the black fleshy tail with its spade-like tip. With that appearance, and the fact that her new instincts had forced a more…revealing wardrobe, people had labeled her a half succubus.
I leaned back against the wall as my tail flicked idly at my feet.
It was human nature to try to label things I guess. Hell, I hadn't even been awake two days before I was labeled a dragon. It made sense. I had grown, standing now at seven and a half feet, eight if you counted the twin, half-foot, golden horns coming out of my forehead. My teeth had become sharp enough that I scared people with my smile, and my ears had become frilled. There were patches of golden scales on most of my joints. My entire chest, shoulder to groin, was covered too, except those scales were red. And there was the tail, and my scaled, clawed feet.
Those by themselves didn't say dragon. If you looked at mythology, they could mean a few different beings. What clinched it was the way that I could now breath fireballs, like spitting a loogie but bigger and on fire, and my new hoarding instinct. I just couldn't help myself. And once something was mine, well, I absolutely had to know where it was. And there was one heck of a need to protect it. Like, say, my book that Charlie was currently picking up off the floor.
“Annnd we’re back to square one,” Carah sighed, looking at me as she walked back over. “She's not gonna damage it, you know? Anyways, is the food done now?”
I forced my eyes away from Charlie to glance at the pan. “Yeah. Should be good. Grab the plates?”
She grinned and grabbed up a stack of three wooden dishes beside her. “Good to go! Hey Charlie! Foods up!”
Charlie closed the book with a snap and hurried over. “Finally! All that magic stuff sure works up an appetite.” She pointedly put the book back down beside me with care before grabbing the plate Carah offered. “Smells so good! I vote that we make him cook every night.”
“You already do that,” I grumbled as I picked up my book.
“Well yeah, but we should make it official.”
Carah nodded in agreement before reaching up to pluck the book from my hands. “I called next, remember?” she said in response to my glare. “Come on, big guy, deep breath. You were the one who suggested this, right? I promise not to hurt it,” she added with a sympathetic look.
She was right. I had been the one who offered to l
et them try in the first place. Taking her advice, I took a breath and slowly let it out. The article had sort of glossed over it, but the new instincts weren't anything to laugh at.
Before I could say anything the door to the house clicked smoothly open.
All three of us were on our feet, weapons in hand in an instant.
“Hey, hey! Calm down. It’s just me!”
A tall, lanky man stepped into the room, hands up. His long, pointed ears were leaning back as he watched us, something I had come to recognize as a sign of nervousness.
“Jeez! Ya could’ve knocked!” Charlie sighed as she lowered the crossbow she had been aiming at the door.
“Hi, Axle!” Carah said. She was already sitting back down and picking up her food. “Welcome back!”
Axle's ears flicked back forward as he relaxed. “Jakes cooking? Alright! Any extra for a hungry traveler?”
Charlie tossed me another dish. I loaded it up as the elf--that was our guess at his new race at least--dropped his bag and sat down cross-legged on the floor next to us.
He took a bite before even looking in the bowl. “So good... What’s the meat?”
“Salamander.”
He paused in the middle of lifting another bite to his lips. “Salamander?”
“Yup.”
“As in the small newt things?” he asked, sounding hopeful for some reason. Don't know why that would make it better though.
“Ick! No way!” Carah said, making a face. “We’re talking about waist-high, green lizards. Ya know,” she hooked a thumb at me, “his little cousins.”
I shot her a look. I was absolutely not related to these things.
I should probably add at this point that, in addition to everything else, mythical creatures were appearing. We had seen a few before now, but when we hit this area of the abandoned section of the city, we began to run into salamanders left and right.
“Oh.” Axle looked down into his bowl. “It’s safe to eat?”
There was a moment of silence. Carah looked over at me. I just shrugged.
“None of you even thought about it.” Axle put a hand over his face. “This is why I shouldn't be leaving you guys alone.”
“Relax. I used my toy before we ate it.” Charlie flapped a hand at him. “And I had Jake cook it well done to kill anything in it.”
“Your...toy?”
“I never told ya?” She lifted up the rather ornate fork she had been eating with and pointed at a green gemstone at the bottom of the handle. “Paid Maddy to check out my kit before we left, and yes, I had it registered.” She rolled her eyes at Axle. “Anyways, she says this will let me know if something is safe to eat. Just stick it in and wait a sec. Works just like a stop light. Red means no, green means go.”
“Convenient!” Axle grinned and took another big bite.
“Fits with my theory too…”
“Hey, maybe news first then you two can get into that stuff?” Carah cut in rolling her eyes.
Guess she was tired of their constant guesswork on how all these changes worked.
Can't say I blamed her.
The smile fell off Axle's face as all three of us turned to watch him.
“Sooo...good news or bad news first?”
Carah sighed. “Lemme guess. We’re still in the dog house.”
“Yeah...” He scratched his head as his ears dropped. “Still no news. We’re out of luck.”
“Jeez! Even over a month later they can't find this Haven place?” Carah dramatically slumped back on her stool to lean against the wall.
“It ain't that easy for anybody to find anything out there. Trust me, I've been that gal.” Charlie shoved in another mouthful.
“Charlie has it right.” Alex tapped his wooden spoon against the side of his dish. “It's not like we can just use GPS or satellite images. Gotta have someone walk there.”
“Or fly,” Charlie added wistfully.
“Only a few Day Fives can do that. And from what I hear, unless they start from someplace high, it's a pain to get altitude.”
“You’re just a ray of sunshine, Axle,” Charlie grumbled.
“So, were still in our little exile then.” My tail lashed.
Axle raised a finger as if he was going to say something, but Carah shook her head and cut him off. “Not exile, Jake.” She sighed. “We went against orders. Period. Yes, we did the right thing. You know I feel that way.” She cut me off before I could say anything. “But we were ordered to go back to the apartments, and we didn’t.”
“I know, I know! Gloria already explained all this when she sent us out here! But it was only supposed to be for a week or two!”
“Dragon, calm the hell down.” Charlie leveled her fork at me. “Gloria’s got a lot on her plate. She’s the mayor in the middle of a crisis. And no matter how well we,” she gestured at our group, “are adapting to all of this, there are a lot of people who really ain't taking it all that well.”
I just looked at her.
Axle coughed. “Actually, you didn't let me finish.” Everyone turned to look at him again. “I have a lot more good news than bad.”
My heart leapt. Maybe…
Axle lifted up a hand and extended one digit. On it was finger armor that stretched from his palm to the tip of his finger. It was made from copper, with an emerald disk covering the top of each joint and an opening where the metal would normally cover the fingernail. It was covered in silver patterns of boxes and chests, each with a spiral pattern inside of it.
I let out a happy cry and jumped to my feet. “My ring!”
“Yup,” Axle smiled. “They got all our magic items registered before I left, so I got to bring them back with me.”
Today was the best day ever.
It only took a moment to slide the ring back on. I couldn't help grinning as I ran a finger along its length. Focusing my mind on the ring I could feel everything inside it. Yup, that’s right. This ring could act like an inventory system out of a game. It was the only storage item that had been found so far.
And it was MINE.
“Dragon’s and their hoards,” Charlie muttered.
“At least he’ll calm down a bit now,” Carah laughed.
“Oh, shut it.” I grinned at the two of them. I was feeling too good now to let their good-natured ribbing get to me.
And yes. I know that was a bit of a 180, but knowing where my hoard, as Charlie called it, was meant that the nagging feeling driving me to go and find it would finally shut up.
“There’s more news. Not sure if it’s good or bad, though.” Axle looked a bit nervous at this point. He glanced over at me. “We have new orders.”
“Really? Awesome!” Carah crowed.
“Ya mean we can stop just randomly wandering around out here? How could that be bad?” Charlie asked suspiciously.
“Well, it’s only a temporary break, but since we haven’t found any new dungeons, we’ve been asked to head over to Jake’s old house and take a look at that one.”
“How is this bad news?” I jumped to my feet, grinning from ear to ear.
“They’re going to buy some of your magic items to help with the exploration. Sorry Jake, the mayor said you don't get a choice on it.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Chapter 2
It took some time to pass out everyone’s magic items. When we finally finished, Axle, our appointed team leader, had us up and out the door in no time flat. I'm guessing he wanted to make sure I didn't have time to get bent out of shape over this.
It didn't work.
By the time we had actually reached my old street, I’d worked myself up into quite the state. The problem was, Axle wouldn’t tell me which magic items.
Honestly, I was torn. On the one hand, what did they want to take from me? Some things I didn't have much of a connection to, but they were MINE you know? I wasn't sure how I was going to react when push came to shove, and that made me really nervous.
On the other hand? I wanted to get
into that damn dungeon.
When I had first woken up on Day Seven, I didn't know what my ring could do. I’d left quite a bit of my stuff behind. Including a lot of gold.
When I’d finally had a chance to go back a few days later, my house was gone. Oh sure, the walls and roof were still there. Hell, I could see it from here. But everything inside was gone. All my stuff. Even the individual rooms! The urge to go in and try to get my stuff back was a constant itch in the back of my mind.
“The Exploration team is camped inside,” Axle commented. “They have the door barricaded for security, so we have to use a password.”
“Hope they got word we were coming,” Charlie muttered.
“It’s fine. Gloria sent the message while I was there,” Axle said to sooth her.
“She used a swallow?” That surprised me out of my funk. The supply of those was really low. Exploration groups were usually only given one, and that was to be used only in the case of extreme emergency.
“You know how important she thinks this place-.” Axle stopped mid-sentence as he snapped a finger up to point at something. His other hand went for his bow.
“What?” I turned to try and see.
The door to my house was open. It looked like they had replaced my old one with a thick wood...thing.
Something was shimmering on the ground, forming a line that led back into the house. It was a dark color, almost a-
“Shit.” Charlie unslung her crossbow from her back.
“What is that stuff?” Carah asked, even as she freed her rapier. That in hand, she adjusted the meat cleaver hanging from her belt, a memento of her dead uncle.
“Blood.” I reached down to adjust the dagger hanging from my belt. I could get out my great sword, but in close quarters it was a bit too cumbersome, so I skipped it.
Charlie gestured me to head forward. “After you.”
It was our usual tactic, so I just nodded as I headed towards the door. Carah followed behind me as the other two brought up the rear.
I walked slowly towards the door trying to keep an eye out for anything out of place. A few of the new monsters we had run into had been pretty damn good at camouflage. If a pack of them had gotten the drop on the people here while the door was open...