Chapter 4: Just A Normal Day

  Where is my Mom? Seriously, where the fuck is my mother? Where are all the other dragons?

  “Aaah~!” I yawned loudly and blinked my big lizard eyes, looking around at my newest temporary ir. It was a hole in a tree on the side of a mountain. Not the mountain where I was born by the way.

  Hatched.

  Yes, not born, hatched. Whatever… Anyway, I’ve been on the move for the past month or so that I’ve been alive. Rarely staying in the same spot for more than a few days. Not out of necessity, but simply because I can. Because I feel like it. Because flying is fun, but trying to remember where you started is kinda hard. Especially when the whole world feels absolutely massive compared to your body size.

  Speaking of body size… I’m bigger now. It’s only been a month, but I’ve probably doubled in length and wingspan. Now I’m a solid six inches at least.

  Seven.

  Okay, according to the size queen in my brain, I’m seven inches. Seriously though, I’m getting bigger at a decent pace, but flying is also getting easier, surprisingly enough. My muscles are growing stronger, faster than my body is growing heavier. No horns or spikes yet, so I’m still a smooth-boi. Not too worried about that though.

  “I wonder if I even have a mother or did I just spawn into this world as an embryo in an egg?”

  Unlikely. We are likely just a mutated lizard. Perhaps a native species of this pnet. We will know eventually.

  “Either way, we should’ve found some other dragons by now. Or something simir.” I don’t know, maybe a unicorn or something? Thus far, it’s been pretty mundane. Whatever id my egg is either dead or at least gone, but it is weird to think about a gigantic dragon ying an egg as small as mine. Besides, it was more… Well, it was more like a normal reptile egg. Not the generic fantasy dragon eggs you’d see in TV Shows and Movies.

  It might not be a big deal now, but sooner or ter, I’m gonna grow up. And I’m gonna want to breed. My hatchling form isn’t really that mature yet so I’m still fine being single, but if I get Isekai’d into a fantasy world and can’t even fuck a dragon, then I’m gonna be super depressed.

  We can attempt to breed with some other reptiles.

  “I’m not that desperate yet. But by the time that I am, it might be too te. Even a gator might be too small compared to a full-grown dragon.” Hopefully.

  We have not located any cryptids or mythical beasts yet. Nor any humanoids.

  I mean, besides us. No, ‘me’, just me. You aren’t fucking real. You’re just a voice in my subconscious. You’re just me.

  We are one.

  “Fuck my life.” I breathed out a long sigh and tried not to think about a scary possibility that I’ve been deeply trying to ignore since I was ‘reincarnated’ as a dragon. I once wrote a story about a parasitic apocalypse called Voracity. It was reted to some other stories too. Anyway, the point is that if this voice in my head or my current body are reted to Voracity in some way, then this could be the Earth from that story.

  Of course, it could also just be some other random Earth. Or another world that’s somewhat simir to Earth. I’ve written so many fucking stories. And within those stories, there are countless other ‘stories’ that were never written. Obviously I wouldn’t have had time or energy to write out every single thing that ever happened within every universe I created or destroyed. I was only a serious writer for like 10 years. 2014 to 2024. Before that I had no idea what I was doing, but I guess I did spend like 4 years writing down story concepts.

  Before that… I wanted to make video games and was a musician that wrote music a lot… Before that, I was just a little kid hallucinating and drawing pictures…

  Before that, I don’t remember that much, but I’ve always had visions, hallucinations, crazy dreams and voices in my head telling me sketchy shit. I’ve always been this way since I was born. It’s pretty normal though. At least from most of the authors I’ve talked to over the years, we’re all just having vivid hallucinations and dreams, then writing them down and trying to make sense of them in the form of stories.

  Spreading out the information like a memetic disaster. We’re all just infohazards in human form. Actually, a lot of politicians and content creators are like that. Memes. We’re memes, infecting the thoughts and minds of anyone or anything that comes into contact with our existences. Icons of sin and depravity-

  Our ck of social interaction is affecting us negatively. We should continue our search.

  “Yeah… I mean, true. I’m not a solitary kinda dragon. I never was.” I’ve never been alone. Not really. I always lived with my parents, or stayed with someone else, or was in school, over a friend’s house… Even when I was alone, I still had the internet and could talk to people constantly. Even when I hid in my room and ignored social media, it was still an option. I was isoted by choice and just barely. I still always talked to at least a couple close friends, constantly, almost all day, everyday for years…

  “I’ve never really been alone.”

  We are not designed to spend long periods of time completely isoted. We desire companionship.

  “Pretty much.” I breathed out a long sigh as I reached over and grabbed the shiny red apple nearby. It was massive from my perspective, but my stomach was also huge. And I wasn’t pnning on swallowing it whole.

  *Crunch~!* It made a loud noise as I chomped down onto the side. The taste was delicious, better than any apple I ever had on Earth, from a Grocery Store. Though it might also be my thirst, combined with my draconic taste buds.

  *Crunch-crunch-crunch~!* The noise was super loud in the little tree-hole. Honestly, thank God or whatever Eldritch monstrosity decided to make me an omnivore. Couldn’t imagine having to limit my diet dramatically in this new life. I mean, I can imagine it. I had to limit myself more and more as I grew up in my st life. Then I broke those limits and stopped giving a fuck. Actually, I think I ate more candy as an adult than as a child or teenager, not because my parents stopped me either, I just tried to eat healthy from the time I was a little kid. I always tried to do things I was supposed to do…

  I never smoked. Couldn’t even breathe around cigarettes and pot smelled nasty to me. I did drink alcohol a few times just to try it out, but it was kinda gross, super expensive and the st time I drank wine I got sick from taking a small sip. The wine might have been bad though. Not really sure. As for drugs, aside from antibiotics or drugs for various conditions, I never took anything but ibuprofen, simethicone and antacids, that kinda stuff…

  “I really hope there’s nothing wrong with my draconic body, because I highly doubt there’s a dragon doctor or dragon-specialized vet on this pnet.” I took another bite and swallowed, realizing that my stomach was a lot rounder and the majority of the apple was just gone… Well, I might have eaten a bit too much, too fast, but that’s fine too. My metabolism is amazing and my abdomen is really flexible. It barely even feels that uncomfortable. Just can’t fly as easily for a while.

  *Crack~! Boom~!* I looked outside the hole and felt the tree rumbling, shaking and being blown around by the storm outside…

  “Yeah, not gonna be flying anywhere today.” I could obviously still go out and walk around if I wanted. As far as getting struck by lightning is concerned, being inside a tree is actually much more dangerous than walking around on the ground and getting a little muddy.

  *Crack~!* Oh fuck! My tree broke!

  “Shit!” I hopped out of the hole and scampered along the wet branch, then jumped off, spreading my wings as I picked up the wind and went flying upwards! I watched the tree falling into another tree and getting stuck, but then my eyes were practically blinded by a fsh of lightning that was only a hundred meters away from my fucking face!

  *Boom~!* The noise was so damn loud! But my ears aren’t ringing, surprisingly enough. Still not very pleasant though and I was getting blown around randomly through the air, pelted by heavy rain and-“Ow!” A fucking leaf hit me in the face! It was really hard…

  “Phew, okay, I’m good now… Totally fine…” I fpped my wings and then folded them, trying to dive down lower, but my body was so light that I was still getting blown up higher into the air! Is this a damn tornado or hurricane?!

  Possibly a hurricane. A tornado is unlikely.

  At the very least, there were really strong winds, a lot of rain and lightning! It felt scary as hell to be flying around through the air and I was honestly about to puke after gorging myself on that giant apple!

  “Fuck~!” I shouted as I opened my wings and tried to ride the wind farther away from the storm’s center! I had no idea how big it was or how far I would get sent, but since I was stuck in the air, it was better to have at least a little control over myself…

  Shit. I’m going down! Really fast! Into a ke!

  Careful. Enemies.

  I know, I know! This is why I stay away from the water, because it’s filled with fish and other annoying creatures that think I’m food!

  We have gills.

  “We have gills? Wait, what?” Bubbles emerged from my mouth and the sides of my neck as I spoke. It felt like I was still holding my breath, but at the same time, I was breathing in through the sides of my long neck… I reached up and felt those slits, then smiled wryly.

  “I’m a fucking samander.” Well, if I was a samander, then I would also be able to breathe through my skin and some membranes in my mouth and throat, but still… Gills plus lungs are pretty cool. Unfortunately, for small creatures, the water is even more terrifying than the nd and sky.

  Hell, the moment I looked over to my left, I saw a massive toothy maw about to cmp down on my entire body! It wasn’t big enough that I could just dart inside and rip it apart from the inside out, so I didn’t risk letting the bastard eat me.

  I spread my wings wide and dug the ‘thumb nails’ into those big dumb eyeballs! Then I reached out with my hands to grab the upper jaw, digging my foot talons into the lower jaw! It struggled violently and tried to escape, but no one tried to eat me and survived!

  “Die fucker!” I pulled my wings apart and ripped half the fish’s face off! Then I tore its jaws apart with my hands and feet! Okay, it’s a fish, so not like it’ll actually die that easily or quickly, but at the very least, I was able to swim away while a bunch of smaller fish were tearing it to pieces. Piranhas have a bad reputation, but realistically, most fish are like that, even minnows. Those tiny fishies are just ‘cute’ from the human perspective. Not so cute when you’re the size of a small iguana.

  “Haah~! Haah~! Haah~!” I took deep breaths when I crawled up onto the shore, “Hahaha~!” Then I started ughing hysterically as the storm raged above me. The waves from the ke tried to pull me back into the depths and the shore was on the verge of flooding from all the rain, so I decided to get moving. Walking along into the wet grass that was taller than me, but still probably pretty short, I couldn’t help thinking about… This, my new life.

  “Like seriously, at least it’s pretty exciting and fun.” I enjoyed fighting. Even as a human, I liked it. I liked the violence and danger in my teenage years… Then I became an adult. It wasn’t the violence I was afraid of… No, even as a teenager and a little kid, I was never afraid of fighting. I loved it. What I feared and hated was the fact that there were always rules or regutions to prevent things from working themselves out naturally.

  People always crave violence. It’s why video games, movies, TV Shows, books, everything has violence in it. We’re violent fuckers and it’s not limited to humans either. Most animals are like that. Even herbivores usually beat the shit out of each other or murder each other for various reasons.

  Conflict is natural.

  I’m not saying I’m a pure anarchist or anything. I don’t want the people I care about or even just some random stranger to get murdered, raped or assaulted randomly. But when people have disagreements, when they’re angry and full of energy, they wanna fight. If they get hurt or die, that’s their own fault. That’s between the two of them.

  Duels then.

  “Yeah, if I had a country, I’d definitely have duels. Not necessarily life or death, but physical pain and violence are a necessary part of the experience.” I couldn’t help thinking about the fake mixed wrestling videos and stuff like that, then snickered and shook my head. Honestly, I don’t actually wanna start kingdom building.

  An animal kingdom?

  “I mean…” I looked over at a tortoise that was walking away from the water nearby. The wind blew it around a bit but it still kept moving slowly and steadily. Basically ignored me completely. I looked away and started walking over to the left instead of bothering it.

  “Someday I’m gonna find someone, make a real-life friend and hang out… That’s my goal. That’s been my goal this whole damn year before I woke up here.”

  Breeding.

  “Okay, maybe I was more interested in getting id, but I would’ve settled for just having a normal friend. In the end, unsurprisingly, I was alone. No real friends within hanging out or fucking distance. I barely saw my family. So desperate and depressing.”

  I breathed out another long sigh and just kept walking. I didn’t know where I was or where I was going. Maybe I was going in circles, mainly just didn’t want to stop for too long in one pce. Eventually I had to shit out that apple, or whatever was left of it after being ravaged by my powerful digestive system. The storm ended, or technically moved away from where I was at, so I crawled up a tree, picked a comfy branch and decided to take a nap.

  Just a normal day as a baby dragon.

  Pretty exciting though. At least it feels like I accomplished a lot. Survived my treehouse falling down with me inside. Got blown miles away to who the fuck knows where. Found out I have gills and can breathe underwater. Killed a fish. Met a turtle, though I didn’t say hi…

  Tortoise.

  “Tortoise, whatever.”

  I survived another day as a baby dragon and tomorrow, I’ll be a little bigger, a little more mature and hopefully a little less depressed…

  Someday I’m gonna meet someone and have friends, maybe a family. I don’t believe I’m the only dragon on this pnet. There has to be more… And I’m both excited and afraid to meet them.

  Hopefully they’re friendly, assuming they actually exist.