24 Log out

I gasped as I woke up in the pod.

Level up. Sizing up.

My body started glowing faintly in the pod as that burning sensation set in. I really hoped no one was waiting in line for the pod right now. I kept my breathing steady as the burning slowly faded, and the glow went away.

Camouflage maintained during size up. 15/200 xp until level 5. Hp +5. Strength +2. Agility +2. Stamina +2. Instinct +1. Damage resistance +1. Mana +10. All air abilities level up. Air affinity level 2. Air bubble level 2. Air burst level 2.

The pod opened, and Ethan was waiting for me. I stepped out slowly.

"Do I look different?" I whispered as I got my bearings.

"No," Ethan frowned, "You look exactly the same to me."

"Good," I yawned, "Let's go back to the room."

"Did something change?" Ethan leaned in a little closer.

"Let's go back to the room," I smiled wryly, "And find out."

Ethan looked excited, and got moving. This time I was leading the way. We crossed the campus quickly heading straight for our dorm. We got into the the room, and I went to my room as Ethan closed the dorm room. My clothes came off so fast as I canceled the camouflage.

I could feel that familiar sensation of changing. I didn't notice anything different right off the bat once I changed back. I wasn't noticeably bigger, but I had been using Ethan as comparison. I opened the door stepping out of my room into the common area. I was only a couple inches taller than I'd been before.

No real big deal size wise.

"Cool," Ethan looked excited about something.

"What?" I stuffed down a yawn, "I'm not that much bigger."

"Look," Ethan knelt down as he reached for me.

My eyes followed his hand to my own back. Then I realized what he was talking about. Those limbs I was confused about had grown. There were now two fully formed joints, and from the second joint extended four finger like extensions. A small amount of leathery webbing starting to form between the fingers, and on the back of the joints.

I twitched the right one as I looked at it. Slowly extending it out. Ethan touched the extended limb, and I instinctively snapped it back into my body. Right now they felt way to fragile for him to be messing with them. I shook my head quickly as I looked at my new limbs again.

I extended them both slowly this time.

"What are these?" I asked myself mostly.

Ethan got up. Rushing to the desk, and pulling up the touch screen.

"It's just the framework," Ethan focused on what he was doing, "But they look an awful lot like this."

I jumped up on the the chair to look at what he was trying to show me. He'd pulled up an image of an adult wyvern. More specifically a close up of it's wing. I looked at the shape of the wing on the screen in front of me. Then back to my little limbs.

My limbs were only about a foot long each, but Ethan was right. They did look like them, but they were way too small, and they didn't have the full membrane either.

"Are you sure?" I looked at Ethan, "They're too small."

"They've grown a lot since the first time I saw them," Ethan wrapped his arm around my neck forcing me to look down at the screen again, "You're not a wyvern. Your wings are growing in instead of you hatching with them fully formed like a wyvern. If they keep growing as fast as they have been they'll be fully formed in just a couple weeks, and flight ready in a month or two."

"I don't know about all this Ethan," I pulled out of his grip, "What happens when I get stronger?"

"You get stronger," Ethan slapped his hand down on the desk, "You'll still be my friend, and we won't have to worry about you getting hurt."

"God you sound pretty sure about that," I yawned, "What if you're wrong?"

"That's the nice thing about angry guys like you," Ethan shut off the touch screen, "You don't change much."

"You sound so sure," I jumped over to the floor in front of my door.

"I've met my share of angry guys," Ethan smiles at me.

I went into my room, and closed the door behind me. Curling up on my bed, and practically passing out on the bed. I'd had a little too much excitement for one day. That annoying beeping brought me back to full awareness. I growled at the sound, and jumped out of bed.

Heading into the common area where Ethan was researching. I cocked my head looking at him funny.

"You're up early," I jumped on the desk next to him.

"What?" Ethan's head snapped up looking at me, then he looked around the room slowly, "Is it morning already?"

"Yes," I nodded slowly, "It's morning. Did you sleep at all?"

"I don't think so," Ethan shook his head slowly, "I found something similar to what you are, but it's all fantasy stuff." Ethan gestured to the screen in front of him, "They're called dragons."

I looked at the illustration he had pulled up on the screen. It was a winged creature. Red in color with a white belly. It had a long neck, and stood on the edge of a rocky cliff. It had it's wings held above it's head.

Not like it was flying. More like it was just readying them to fly. It's tail curled almost lazily to it's right. The image depicted it looking off into the distance. It's head was shaped almost like that of a wolf with horns curving out almost straight back from its head.

It's long neck was almost as long as it's body, but it's tail winded on. I thought popped into my head. His tail was probably a little longer than his wings. A fire drake would have smaller wings, but made up for it with lean muscle, and intensely hot flames. Wait what?

This was just a picture. Why was I thinking it was a male fire dragon? Fire was kind of a given since it was red in color, but why was I thinking that this was a illustration of a male dragon. I shook my head, and leapt down from the desk.

"I found a club I like," I smiled falsely, "I'm going to head over there. You should get some sleep."

"But this dragon stuff," Ethan started, "A lot of it doesn't paint dragon's in a good light, and I'm pretty sure that's what you are."

"You're right," I cut him off, "I am a dragon. As you said before everything you've found is fantasy stuff. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Most of it is probably pure fiction." I looked at him as I opened my door, "I'll look through it later."