Furry of claws; Chapter one. Internal turbulence.

Blackness overcame Dion, a void filled him. He had no vision, he could hear no sound, smell no smell. The concept of a mind disappeared, his body disintegrated. The concept of emotions torn from him. He embraced the nothingness that await him. His mind slipped away…

Then just for a moment, a voice. A clear beacon in his mind, a lighthouse in a dark starless night. A voice he would never guessed to hear again.

“Dion!?”

The words brought light, the words brought hope. His mind filled with pain, filled with grief, filled with sound and scents. Concept of a mind returned to him. He was breathing once more. Sudden terror struck Dion, he was not dead. His eye shot open, he could see a great red glowing crystal above him. It had a rough shape with a dull point directly towards him. His body was burning, a sensation that filled his every vine. Had he just dreamt it? Was this reality? He felt caught in a landslide of emotions. His eyes broke of the great red crystal to look around. He found himself in a chamber carved out of granite. The red glow of the crystal reflected on the black granite, it highlighted the textures of the rock. Dion growled, his head felt like he was struck by lightning. In an attempt to stop the hurting, he grabbed his head with his claws. Wait, the pain disappeared behind a fog of doubt and fear. He looked at his claws, yes they were claws. The white claws imbedded in green scaly hide. The scales started small near the claws, they became more rough the further down his arm. The back of his fingers where covered with large dark green plate scales to protect them from any damage. Dion grunted as he swayed his legs from the stone bed he laid on. Legs showed the same design as his hands and arms. Small smooth scales near the joints, rough scales for the rest. His belly was plated with heavy plate like scales. He had no evidence of his past human body. He traced his claws over his head, feeling the two sets of though curved horns. Dion took a deep breath; this was the body he was used to. This was how he belonged to be. With a little jumping motion, he hopped on his two legs, standing up proud like he always been a dragon. His tail swaying behind Dion to remain his balance. The thick tail muscles where strong enough to break bones. Dion’s slit like eyes gazed over the room. There was something missing, something close to him. Dion could not place what it was. Against the wall opposite of him he saw a brown leather backpack. A wooden structure to support the weight when it was carried. The wooden frame also provided room for his wings to move. Allowing him still to fly. Something was still not right, something. Just something was missing. He could not yet place what it was.

A sudden sound of falling rocks snapped Dion’s head around. His gaze was met by another dragon. Her build was slimmer than his, her famine shape well defined. She was a head taller than he was. Her body covered with deep dark purple scales. Her eyes spoke out to him, a fiery red that contrasted with her scales rather nicely. It was what he was missing, the voice that awoken him from death. The dragoness carried another backpack. She seemed to have come back from a long journey. Her eyes gazed at Dion, her gaze filled with a rather disbelieve of what she was sawing. Step by step she walked to him. Her clawed hand met his cheek, her eyes started to flow with tears. Dion could hear a warm sensation flushing over his mind as he could feel the presence of another mind in him. “Dion” The dragoness spoke, relieved. Dion was searching for words, trying to comprehend the shock of what felt like reincarnation. “Rakshasi” he replied, taking her hand with his own. Holding her claws between both his hands. He gazed in her eyes, like he could see into her soul. “You came back…” her voice was shaking with emotions. Dion could not help but to crack a smile, the pain of the human dream flushed away. He no longer had to doubt, this was real. This was his life. He pulled the dragoness against his chest to embrace her. “Why would I ever leave.” Dion did not realize until now how much he missed the mental link with Rakshasi. It felt so much more than just talking.  Sure he could not really lie as his emotions where laying open to her. It did give some form of security that a vocal conversation could not give. Rakshasi leaned the underside of her yaws against the top of his head. “So what made you come back?“ she asked kindly, not aware of the pain Dion hand felt.

Dion pushed Rakshasi away, the question awakened to much pain in him. The death of a child, the pain of a failed relation. The want to be something more. He could feel a clawed hand on his shoulder. She was not angry, she seemed rather worried about him. Did she change to while he was away? Would this happen every time he fell asleep? The world changing around him as he was unconscious. It was pure fright that Dion wished not to let take part of him. He had to talk about what happened, words where stuck in his mind. He was sure he missed something else about this world. Something he noticed when he first was in the cave but completely forgotten about in the meantime.

Finally Dion sat down on the stone bed, his tail gently swaying behind him. His gaze focused at the granite walls. “Pain…” he started his story, the recap of what happened to him. “Death and pain” Rakshasi positioned herself next to him. “Dion, you seen death before.” Dion nodded to her remark. “Not like this. I had a child, I had a wife.” He could hear Rakshasi next to him gulping. “What happened to them?” the tone of concern thick in her voice. Dion took a deep breath, turning away from this would be a terrible mistake. “The child was weak…It was horrible. I could feel myself no longer being part of life.” He started to shiver and stutter “I…I…We…killed it…” Rakshasi gave a small growl at the revelation, shocked that Dion would kill a hatchling. “You don’t understand! Its body was dying. We only stopped the machines that kept it living.” Rakshasi seemed not at ease, her pose was stiff as she spoke from height to Dion. “Then what gave you the right to…” Dion cut her off with a snarl “Stop! just Stop. Rakshasi it is another world. The child was in pain and dying.” Rakshasi huffed annoyed, he could clearly see that she did not agree with Dion’s statement. Dion took the silence as sign to just continue on with his story. “My wife changed to faith, in the end she left me. For another man.” Dion started to shake uncontrollable, his mind forced to tell on the story. ” I walked to the train tracks…You know which I told you about when we first met you. And jumped…” tears flowed from his eyes, his body shaking. He did not feel Rakshasi pushing her hands against him to push him against the bed.  “Dion you got to sta…” She could not finish her words; Dion did not stay still. He trashed under the bed, a trance had overcome his body. Vivid images of his last seconds on in the human world “I killed myself…I could not life with…”

“Dion!” a third mind made it presents known. The mind was like a wave over Dion. The might of the mind crumbled Dion. he stopped trashing around on the stone bed. The mind broke his stream of thought, broke the forced memories of what happened to him. “Dion, you are safe now the other world is just a dream” The voice spoke again. Of course now Dion remembered who it was. The soul of a thousand dragons. Fed by the life energy of the dying to heal the living. Dion gazed at the crystal and whispered a small “Vinxa.” From the corner of his eyes, he could see Rakshasi rumbling in her backpack. “I am not sure about that.”  She proclaimed, after a few moments the gotten a shiny rectangular object from the backpack. She showed it to Dion, His claws moved over the metal object. Once he turned it around he could see what it was. A black screen, some buttons on the side. It was his phone. A flash of shock flashed through his mind and body. he started to shiver once more. “It can’t be…” Even the great mind seemed to doubt what was going on. It was obvious it was not a form of trickery. This object was real, only vaguely Dion could remember still having the phone with him when he first came to this world. “Who…” he looked around, at Rakshasi, at the stone chamber, at his scales and back at the phone before finishing the sentence. “Who am I?” the answer was dead silence. Both from the elder dragon and Rakshasi.

“I believe your journey has just started Dion emerald scale” The elder dragon spoke to him. “I have played my role in your awakening Dion. I can only give you one last advice” Dion was sitting on the edge of the bed, eager to hear this last advice, eager to get every bit of information to figure out what…who he really was. “Elder dragon…What wisdom can you bestow on me?” The great mind took its time to answer the eager dragon under the crystal “Get a dragon name. Dion is so…human” Dion could hear Rakshasi trying to contain her laughter. Dion was not in the mood for a cheap joke. The great mind spoke again, the words thundering trough their minds. “You two should walk again. Your souls are more entwined then you think.”

Dion and Rakshasi’s gaze met each other. Dion wondered how much food they would have. The journey back would take another day or two at least. Rakshasi moved her body to Dion. she pulled him from the bed. The two stood in front of each other, only centimetres apart. “you think what I think?” Rakshasi started, her gaze into dion’s eyes. “Your quest?” Rakshasi shook her head “We could just flee…” Dion shivered, this was not like her. To run away from her goals. “Why Rakshasi.” The purple dragoness turned her body on the spot. “When you were away, I felt lonely Dion. I was worried about you. The quest is risky, we might just as well be killed…” Dion would have none of it, he grabbed her shoulders and turned her back to him “Rakshasi listen. I am a dragon now. We can save the dragons I will give my life for it. I do not know why I am here. I do not know why my phone is here. I am sure that this was not without purpose. I already killed myself in one dream, I gave my life up for nothing. Because I was too weak to life on. I am not going to make that mistake twice.” He could see Rakshasi’s mouth move while she swallowed. Her mind felt conflicted, some underlying emotion made her doubt. An emotion Dion could not feel or place. “Dion. I am in debt to you” Dion pulled a small smile on his face, he shook his head. “No you are not. Without you I would be killed. If we are entwined like the elder dragon says we are, we owe nothing to each other.” Rakshasi shook his shoulder in comfort. She was ready to go, he was ready to go.

The landscape had changed before Dion. The green has made place for a thick layer of white snow that covered the ground and trees like a blanket. Dion instantly turned to Rakshasi, he had a questioning look on his face. He simply asked “How long?” he did not need to say more. She answered shifty. “A few months.” Dion’s gaze turned to the landscape again. the chill wind brushed over his scales. The snow would prove a new challenge for him. A quick reminded jumped into his mind; where dragons warm or cold blooded? Dion never really asked, he did not like to find out the hard way with this snow all around. “You waited all this time for me?” Dion felt privileged by Rakshasi waiting for him. “Of course I did. I could not let you just let you alone.” She seemed searching for something. Dion tried to figure out what it was, maybe a path or a scent. “Now you are awake we have an larger problem at hand.” Dion turned his gaze from the snowy landscape to Rakshasi. “And that is?” She snorted, her reply was short. “Shelter.” A shiver ran down Dion’s spine as he felt his body temperature drop. “Cold blooded?” he asked quickly. His reply was a quick nod from Rakshasi. She spread her wings, the purple membrane coloured the ground behind her in a shade of purple. “We got to move on” Dion swallowed as Rakshasi took off into the sky with a flush of lose snow flashing up from the spot she took up. Dion had not flown much and now with his backpack he was not sure if flying was such a good idea. Not that he had choice, they could not keep in the cave for the rest of the winter and walking was an option they did not had with the snow. He too flared his wings and took to the sky.

The two dragons gained altitude, the wind became colder and colder as they moved up into the air to get a better sight of the landscape. “Search for anything that is habitable.” Dion scanned the sky, for signs of fire or farms. “If they are not empty?” He asked with a bit of relent. The answer of Rakshasi stirred him.  “Then we can enjoy a fresh meal.” His stomach twisted, would she honestly consider eating a human being? Maybe the bigger shock was; he himself was not feeling as repulsed about the subject as one should be. “There!” Rakshasi pointed into the distance. Dion could see a small pillar of smoke coming from the distance. Most likely a farm. “Where you sure about…” he paused, turning direction towards the source of the smoke. “What you mean Dion? Am I sure about eating a human?” A moment of silence passed between them. Rakshasi was the first to break the silence. “We do not have a lot of food. We might have little choice.”  Dion could smell the burning wood in the air while they came closer to the cabin. They flew mostly in silence, Dion had to empty his mind from any thoughts to keep focused with his body cooling down.

They landed just outside the cabin. Rakshasi hold Dion back from entering. “ Let me go first.” She stormed the door, smashing it open in a loud sound of cracking wood. Soon after that, Dion could hear two male shouts from the cabin. “ What the…”another one “ A dragon, a Go..”  he could not finish what the he was saying. Rakshasi let out a thundering roar. Dion could hear a short struggle. One of the man ran outside, an bloody axe in his hand. Dion’s eyes filled with rage at the axe. He assumed that He had hit Rakshasi with it. “By the gods…”  the male shouted when he saw Dion. He tried to lift his axe against Dion. Through the poor human was no match against the furry of a dragon. Dion teeth came down in his neck and tore a large piece of skin and muscle from it. Warm blood splashed out over Dion’s face. He wondered for a moment if he should just gulp down the part of flesh. With the flesh still in his mouth he watched the human pushed his hands against his neck, he fall down into the snow and died. Dion spit the flesh out, letting the bloody heap fall into the snow. “Well, Well you are one feriousios dragon” Rakshasi was standing in the opening of the door. Her claws covered with blood but no cuts or gaping wounds on her body. “That poor human hit his friend’s head with that silly axe of him.” She brought her claws to her lips to lick the blood from it. Dion gazed from the axe to Rakshasi again. “I thought…” Rakshasi gave a small smile at Dion “Oh please, they are not Knights. But I am happy you would go savage for me.” She moved over to Dion. Her claws grabbed the human by the shoulders and dragged the body with her inside. “Shame to let a good part of meat go to waste.” Dion shivered again. So she was serious about eating human being. He could still taste the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. It was not too bad, reminded him of deer but sweeter.

The inside of the cabin was nice and warm. He could smell the scent of blood in the air. The cabin was littered with tools and pelts. A typical forester cabin. A stone fire place was standing against the edge of the cabin. Two single person beds next to it. Rakshasi had laid the human bodies against the coldest part of the cabin. She covered the blood on the flood with sand. “ Almost home.”  She smirked, pushing the two beds side by side. “ That is better.”  She gave another look around. “ What you think?”  Dion gave a short growl, not feeling entirely well about just taking the cabin and killing two innocent man. “ We are just sheltering. Not taking up residence”  his voice agitated against Rakshasi. “Dion!” She snapped a bit to him. “Argue what you like about killing those two humans but we have little choice. We freeze to death outside. If we just kick them out they would have had the same fate. And if not they could warn the king.” Her gaze moved the bodies. She rested herself on one of the beds. “Please just accept the fact that this will happen now. It is not something I want to get accustomed to. It is not cannibalism it is hunting for food.” Dion did not argue with her. He did not like it, though he could not argue with her. He did not know what was worse right now; the fact that he was hungry even when he just killed someone, the prospect of eating a human being or that he did not seemed to care so much that he would stop himself from seriously thinking about the taste of human flesh.

Dion rested his own body on the bed, right next to Rakshasi. “What kind of food we have in the backpacks?” He hoped to have something to seat his hunger for now. Wanting to leave the act of eating the humans for further debate. “Some dried and salted meat. Trough we should save it up for when we most needed it.”  Rakshasi wondered with her gaze to the human bodies again. “Look Dion, they are dead already. I going to cook them before they rot away.” Dion did not protest while Rakshasi stripped the human bodies of the cloths. She tore the limps of, gutting them like one would gut an animal. The organs she tossed in the fire. Letting them burn away, so not to attract any other animals of prey. Dion took a knife from the walls, he offered the knife to Rakshasi. “This might help” She happily took the knife. She cut of the meat of the bones, working it into smaller parts. “Dion, maybe you can find some herbs and a cooking pot around here. If I can make a meaty stew out of the flesh we might be able to safe the meat longer. Else we would at least have something nice and warm in our stomachs.”  Dion’s gaze moved over the small cabin. After a small search he found a bronze stew cattle. In a barrel he found some herbs and potatoes. Even when the dragon anatomy was not made for dealing with plant based foods: some potatoes could not hurt. Dion filled the cattle with snow, he placed it over the fire to let it melt. Rakshasi looked through the herbs to make a judge of what to mix together in the water. Dion had tasked himself with slicing the potatoes in little pieces. The act of preparing food left him wondering with a question. “ Rakshasi?” he started his question while he threw the potatoes in the now boiling cattle of water. “How did you feed me during my uncourteousness.”  Rakshasi did not gave a direct answer, she tossed the meat after the potatoes in the water. “Like a dragoness feeds her hatchlings” she gave the not so satisfying answer. To Dion’s relieve she did follow up on the question. “Guess it is a good time to tell you how Dragons feed the just hatched” Dions mind flowed to the eggs they still carried, still not hatched. When the train crash hit he found three eggs. Those eggs where the cause he was in this world now, maybe they were an awakening. Dion did not know how the relation between the human part of his life and his true dragon form where connected. “You see Dion.” Rakshasi continued while stirring the slow boiling water. “When a dragonet is first hatched it cannot yet chew meat. The strength in yaws only come after three weeks. So the parents chew the meat for the hatchlings, until it is a nice pulp they can swallow.” Dion was flabbergasted. “So like birds do?” Rakshasi nodded, she took a sip of the boil before letting it rest. “Like birds yes. It worked with you. The elder dragon and I were worried you might starve to death before you wakened.”

“ Well that is kind of you”  Dion gave a small bow in a joke for the purple dragoness. Rakshasi tossed some cotton she found next to the fire pit to Dion. “Stop it.” She smirked to him, leaning against the stone of the chimney. Warming her scales against the warm stones. Dion leaned back on the bed, looking up at the straw sealing “You are right trough. This would not be a bad place to stay for a while.” He could feel trough the link that Rakshasi was rather pleased with his comment. “You see, it is not half as bad as you make it look like” Dion rolled his eyes “tir ti itrewic sisargh” Rakshasi laughed about the comment of her getting a bit cocky. “ My, my you are talking draconic now?”

A hour passed for the dinner to be ready, a nice stew of human meat. The two dragons passed the time laying on the bed talking about the time they experienced apart of them. Rakshasi told him about her short trips outside and around the area to find more food. She was nearly found a few times by the knights. She told them they were still in search of them. To where Dion wondered how many dragons where around to justify such an extreme hunt for them two. It was an sensitive note for Rakshasi. she tried to avoid a direct answer towards him. Her answer contained how they are high on the list for killing a knight. For a moment she continued on to wonder what would have happened to the town. Over the dinner Dion assured Rakshasi that the town’s people would not be in any danger. He was not sure of himself about it. Rather he feared himself for what the king might do to those who help dragons, judging by the look of how he treats dragons. Dion took another bite of the stew to distract himself. He gotten a large piece of meat on his tongue. The taste was all not too bad. His gaze moved in his bow, he was eating a human. A few hours ago he would still oppose the idea the idea of heating an human. Now he was readily eating one and did not even seem to mind. Who am I? Idly he let his gaze wander through the cabin again. Across the various tools and pelts that occupied most of the walls. Am I truly a dragon he wondered, his mind could not let it go to rest that he had dreamt up his human life. What about the phone, what about the eggs.. he grunted to himself. His mind trying to decipher what the objects meant to his change, to this world and to his dreams. Rakshasi had picked up on his struggles. Dion felt a hand on his shoulder, when he looked he could see the calm face of Rakshasi. “Dion, you should take a rest”

A rest? He didn’t feel tired or something. He felt quiet active, more active had had ever been. “Dion. Just rest” Rakshasi pushed him down against the bed. He was not sure what she meant, he felt fine. The third time she spoke, her voice was all distorted “Dion, you have eaten human!” Dion shot up, he launched Rakshasi over the ground. His head pounding  with a headache. “What did you say!?” he hissed at Rakshasi for reasons he did not yet known to himself. Rakshasi’s lips moved, her voice distorted. Halfway between her normal smooth mental voice and her growls. “You are a human killer Dion.” This was not right, Rakshasi could not talk the human tongue with her mouth. Dragon mouths where not suited for the vowels. He wanted to speak out, his mouth generated only a huff of air. Not even draconic words would be formed by his vocal cords. Rakshasi resumed to laugh like a maniac. “Something wrong? Cat’s got your tongue?” she seemed to find his confusing just more reason to laugh at him. “My poor Dion…Killed himself to be with me.”

The train, it was rushing to him. he tried to run away from it. the tracks spread out in front of him. The train horn was deafening to his ears. Unable to move he had not choice to just gaze at the train driver. It was none other than Rakshasi. She had her head out of the window of the train. “OI. Dion get off the tracks!” soon followed by another maniacal laughter. “oh my bad! You can’t” the train was right in front of him. Within a split second it would hit him. suddenly…he felt a cold sensation over his body.

Dion gasped for air, his body was wet trough and trough. He shivered as the cold water dripped from his scales. He saw Rakshasi at his feet end with a bucket in her hands. “Dion!? what is wrong?” her look was filled with terror, the terror of seeing someone close to you hurt and in pain. Dion scrambled on his feed and stumbled away from her. “Get away from me!” he snarled at her. Trying to get out through the door. Rakshasi was fast, blocking his exit. “Dion what is wrong with you!?” Dion pointed an accusing finger at Rakshasi. “You…you maniac!” he tossed a wooden spoon at her. Trying to keep her away. He could see tears rolling down her purple cheeks. “Dion…” she practically begged him. “I do not know what you are on about” she avoided the spoon to her head. Her eyes locked on Dion, she came closer. “Please let me help” she extended her hand to him. Dion slapped the clawed hand away from him “Do not touch me! You made me eat human flesh and laugh about it” Rakshasi was flummoxed, She did not do such thing. “Dion, you where alright with it! even helped me cook it.”

He grabbed his head by the temples. Like a lighting ball a pain shot through his head. She was right, but how. He hissed in pain, his head felt like it was splitting apart. Rakshasi again extended her hand to him. “Please Dion, let me help” For a moment Dion wanted to slap the hand away from him, maybe even attack the dragoness. The movement of slapping her hand away turned into grabbing her hand tightly. With her strength she pulled him on his feed again, close to her. She hold him close to her chest. “Dion” She cooed his name. terrified about what was happening to him. “Lay down” she guided Dion to the bed again. Dion shivered as his back hit the cloth of the mattress. His vision started to distort, colours faded from his vision. The colours turned black and white. His head hit the pillow of the bed, still wet from the water. “stay with me.” She commanded Dion. Clearly afraid for a repeat if he slipped off into sleep again. “what…happened” Dion wondered, trying to keep his mind from drifting away. “I do not know. One moment you where happily eating the stew. The other moment you were just gone…” She hold a cloth of cold water against his head, trying to help his headache. Dion’s eyes gazed off. His empty gaze moved over his body. His emerald scales reflected softly into the glow of the fire.

He could feel the caring touch of Rakshasi on his scales. Dion felt incredibly conflicted. The caring touch made him feel that he belonged where he was, in the body he is in. The other hand he felt the need to find out what he was. He had hoped the illusions stopped once he was in the right body. Now he was and they still did not stop. His head was cracking up, not just the headache. He could hear one question echoing in his head. Who am I? It was no longer just little annoyance in the back of his head. He lifted his clawed hands, gazing at the green soft scales. Was he really a dragon? What happened to his life. He could feel his mind clouding up, his vision blurring out until blackness.