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Gev sipped his coffee as he walked down the street. The scent filled his nostrils more fully than it ever had as a human, and let him pick out every minute aspect of the beverage. Rich earth tones, dark berries, the faint and unwelcome chemical residue he’d come to find in all synthetic coffee.

He sighed, and took a sip anyway. His brain’s response to caffeine hadn’t changed, synthetic or otherwise. He savoured the familiar alertness and energy that came with each morning brew, chemical aftertaste or not.

The meetup was supposed to happen at a dive bar a short walk from Gev’s apartment. Kai had apparently rented the entire place out so they could have somewhere away from prying eyes to compare notes on the strange dreams some of them had had… And not be seen if any more happened to incapacitate them on the spot.

Gev felt the familiar tension of anxiety rising within him at that thought. With his modifications he’d grown over a foot in height, more than doubled his weight, grown claws, fangs, scales, and horns. And even still, anxiety still gnawed at his insides as he strode down the sidewalk.

Looking around at his surroundings, he noticed a few more strange looks and glares than usual. The Humans still walked wide around him, but it was as if they were more aware of that fact now, and resentful of it. He’d been seeing more and more news stories about Dragons acting strangely in public. Nothing dangerous, just the same sort of strange behaviour he’d seen from Kai the other day at the coffee shop.

Even still, Humans are naturally afraid of what they don’t understand. The further Dragons push themselves from humanity either through physical changes, or mental ones like the dreams, intentional or not, the less Humans understand them, and the more they fear them.

Something inside Gev felt… Strange, observing this, in conjunction with his anxiety at the meetup. Like that anxiety itself was wrong somehow. Human. He wasn’t sure what to think about that, but that ever present sense of rightness seemed to flee when he focused on his anxiety. That in turn only made the anxiety worse.

Gev took another sip of coffee and continued on toward the bar, baring his fangs and glaring at a passerby that had just a bit too much hostility in his gaze. The man squeaked and rammed his leg into a parked car trying to cross the street as fast as possible.

The sidewalk leading up to the dive bar cleared ahead of Gev. What few Humans there were this time of day saw the brief altercation and crossed the street, eager to simply get on with their day. Gev took a breath, savouring the moment of calm he’d bought himself, then walked down the short concrete staircase leading to the bar’s plain black-painted door.

Ducking inside, he was careful not to gouge the doorframe with his horns as he’d done more times already than he cared to admit. The inside of the bar was… Uninspiring, to say the least. Almost everything had a thick coat of black paint on it, walls, to the bar, all the way up to the ducts, conduits and cables haphazardly affixed to the ceiling. Across from the bar was a small raised stage flanked by speakers large enough to cause him to wince at the thought of enduring their full force with his enhanced hearing.

There was only one other Dragon present so far. His angular muzzle and rust coloured scales seemed familiar…

“Rax??” Gev exclaimed as he got closer. The other Dragon looked up from his phone and stood up quickly, almost knocking his chair over. His golden eyes widened, and he broke into a wide, dragon-fanged grin.

“Gev!” He exclaimed, and nearly broke into a run tackle-hugging Gev in the middle of the bar. He was taken by surprise as he’d only known Rax for a few days, but returned the hug after regaining his composure.

“You weren’t kidding about that enhancement treatment huh? Looks like it really worked!” Gev could feel the increased bulk in the other dragon, even through his leather jacket. He was at least half a foot taller than before too. Still not as tall as Gev, but tall by Human standards now.

“Hah yeah! My mods still aren’t even fully done yet. A few more Acceleration treatments and I’ll be bigger than you!” Rax threw his jacket over a nearby black-painted chair and flexed one arm for emphasis, giving a cocky grin that looked particularly devilish on his now longer and more angular muzzle.

Gev couldn’t help but grin back at Rax’s excited energy. He threw his own hoodie over another chair, leaving only his tank top to cover his broad, heavily muscled chest. “You sure you’ll be bigger?” He asked with a playful smirk.

Rax’s eyes widened at the display. “I, uh…” He seemed unable to finish his sentence as Gev raised his right arm and flexed. He pushed out his chest and tightened his core at the same time, which caused the fabric of his tank top to pull tight and strain around him. Rax stared for a few moments more, before coughing and looking to the side, running one hand through what was left of his hair. That would likely disappear in the next few weeks, and Gev could already see new spikes budding between the thinning locks.

“Well, about those treatments…” Rax began. “I’m… Not sure if I should go back for more. Something pretty weird happened at the clinic.”

Gev lowered his arm and pulled over a nearby chair to sit. “Was it… One of those dreams? Like Kai had?”

Rax sighed and sat down, then nodded slowly. “Yeah, but there was something else too… The nurse, or whoever that was checking on me after, he saw it. And when I snapped out of it, he was holding something up to me… Maybe a microphone. Like he was studying me or something. I don’t think I was out for long, and he seemed surprised when I woke up.”

“That’s… Pretty disturbing actually.” Gev said. “Did you sign anything that would give them permission to do that sort of thing?”

“No fuckin clue. You know as well as I do you have to sign stacks of papers to get mods. There could be anything in those things. Besides, do you really think legality is going to get in the way of a company like Humanitech getting what they want?”

Gev nodded at that, it made sense. He’d heard rumours of huge conglomerates straight up disappearing people that made any significant headway against their agendas. Usually activist types. It was very difficult to prove something like that, but the idea of Humanitech recording these hallucinations, with or without permission seemed like something they might try if it helped make the bad press go away.

“Well, Acceleration treatments only make the mods take effect faster. You’re already modded, so if you’re patient, you’ll reach your full potential eventually. Unless you want to go for more mods that is.”

Rax seemed to consider that for a moment, then shook his head. “Nah. I went pretty all out once I’d saved enough. I wasn’t looking forward to being a half-Human freak without Acceleration treatments, but getting just one pushed me past that. So yeah, I think I’m done with Humanitech. Let them have their data or whatever. I’m good now.” He sat up a little straighter at that, seemingly reassured that he wouldn’t need to put himself in the care of a huge corporation again, and that he too could complete his Draconic transformation as Gev had. Gev smiled at him, nodding confidently.

A faint noise just outside the door caused both Dragons to turn their heads in unison. Apparently, Rax’s hearing was as sensitive as Gev’s now.

The door opened a moment later, and Kai ducked inside smoothly, clearly already accustomed to squeezing into spaces built for humans. The tips of his horns nearly grazed the ceiling, and he had to duck beneath each ceiling beam as he crossed the room. He wasn’t that much taller than Gev, but he’d been totally unaware of how close he’d been to gouging the ceiling with his horns. Again.

“So, showing off the mods eh?” Kai asked both of them with a smirk, noting their exposed arms. He casually removed his own expensive-looking suit jacket and folded it carefully over a nearby chair, before sitting down with them. He rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt, as if signalling he was ready to get down to business, only for Rax to slam his hands loudly on the table.

“Jesus fuck dude you’re jacked!” Gev looked in surprise from Rax, then at Kai, noting for the first time that Rax was more than right. Kai’s muscular bulk strained against his collared shirt, and his exposed forearms were crisscrossed with veins, tendons, and powerful muscles that all managed to show beneath his azure scales. It actually appeared that he’d had the shirt tailored to fit a body that would never fit human clothing. It showed off his bulk without being baggy or unflattering. Quite the opposite, which was probably the exact reason why he’d decided to show off. Not that Gev was staring or anything.

Kai chuckled to himself. “Good to finally meet you in person Rax. I never actually intended to make myself quite so… Robust. But sometimes it seems like the mods have a mind of their own. Probably why most folks jump in after the early adopter stage eh?”

“For a side effect, that doesn’t seem so bad!” Rax said excitedly. “Kinda wish I went a little harder with my mods y’know?”

Kai looked Rax over and gave a small smile. “Rax, you haven’t even seen the full extent of your mods yet. Give it time eh? From what you said in your messages, it sounds like you’re going to end up looking very different from how you are now.”

“I guess yeah, getting Acceleration just makes me want more now. But I can wait… I think.”

Gev met Kai’s gaze, and they shared a smile. They both knew that becoming more themselves, more of a Dragon was a worthy and immensely fulfilling experience.

The three dragons sat and bantered for a short while, waiting for the others. The dreams didn’t come up in the conversation again. They simply talked about their mods, shared the experiences they’d had, and how much more right everything felt now.

Even Kai, who was initially more reserved and aloof shared some of his experiences of becoming one of the first people to be modded into a Dragon. He saw much of the same things Gev was experiencing now. The fear from humans, the way they avoided him in public spaces, though AIR wasn’t nearly so prevalent a few years back as it was now. Humans had to try harder to pretend they didn’t see him back then, rather than letting software edit him out of their visual field.

As they talked, Gev leaned back in his chair and simply enjoyed the experience. That feeling of rightness began to rise and wash over him. That sense of comfortable familiarity with his shape, and with the Dragons around him, even though he’d only known them a short time.

Then, something else crept in at the edges of Gev’s mind. That feeling of being watched. An unknown pair of eyes somewhere behind him. A watcher somewhere unseen.

Kai suddenly looked up sharply, looking alarmed. “I think… I think it might be happening again. I’m going to try to meditate, see if I can fight it off this time.”

“Uh, right!” Rax said, and assumed a straight backed posture that he probably though was supposed to look serene.

Gev nodded and closed his eyes, breathing in slowly. Kai had told them both how they should try to do this in their messages earlier. They didn’t have the practice he did though, and they knew they probably wouldn’t succeed. They figured it couldn’t hurt to try though. The more they could learn about these hallucinations, the better.

Gev tried to focus on the feeling of his breath coming and going, though this just brought into focus all the strange scents in the room he could detect now.

It didn’t work. The sensation grew stronger. And oddly, the rightness persisted right along with it. It was a confusing feeling. Or… Was that simply the Human part of him of him that found that confusing? Some part of him told him that both of these things should feel natural to a Dragon. For now, he ignored that feeling and tried to return to meditating.

His efforts didn’t last long though, as the door to the bar opened once again to admit a new Dragon. One he hadn’t seen before.

…

The new dragon was still standing in the doorway when Gev… Came back to himself. That was the only way he could think of having all sensory experience and thought simply stop for… How long had it even been? It was similar to what had happened the day he’d been modded…

He stood up quickly, taking stock of his surroundings. Kai was to his right, slumped over in his chair, muttering to himself, exactly as before at the coffee shop. Rax, on his left, was leaned back in his chair, his arms limp at his sides. His eyes were wide and staring in front of him at something that wasn’t there.

The new Dragon had simply stopped in the doorway. He was muttering to himself too, but to Gev’s enhanced hearing this wasn’t the on and off frantic word salad that Kai was uttering. This was more rhythmic, almost musical, like a chant or mantra. His eyes were closed, and he appeared peaceful, despite the open door pressing against him trying to close. He was a little shorter than Gev, and had sandy coloured scales. Well suited to hiding in a desert environment, but less so the city they found themselves in.

That feeling of being watched also persisted in Gev’s mind, albeit not as strongly as before. Right alongside it was the rightness. Why would he feel that in the midst of all this?

Stranger still was that behind this new Dragon… Was a Human. It was easy to forget how large even the average modded Dragon was without a Human nearby for comparison. The Human looked timid, and appeared on the verge of breaking into a run at any moment. Gev narrowed his eyes at him. Had he come to gawk, or to report their gathering to the police, or some corporate security outfit?

His thoughts were interrupted when the Human spoke. “G… Gev? Is that you?”

Gev’s eyes opened wide. He knew there were un-modified Humans coming to the meetup. “Uh, yeah. Who are you?…” he asked. He knew how the situation must look to just about anyone stumbling into it unexpectedly. Four dragons, only one of them conscious, with all the rest actively hallucinating or… Whatever was happening to them.

“I’m A…Amon. I’m… Not sure I should have come though…” He said, a bit dejectedly. He looked like he was about to turn to go, but Gev rushed forward, dodging around tables and chairs to the door. He grabbed Amon’s shoulder and pulled him back. He had to duck around the unfamiliar Dragon still stuck in the doorway to do it.

“Amon wait. Look, I know this looks weird as fuck… I mean, it is. But still, if you’re a Dragon, you belong with us. Right?” Gev couldn’t think of anything else to say. It was the only thing to say. Dragons belonged together. They were stronger with one another than apart. He felt that deep in his core, and the thought caused him to stand straighter, taller, stronger.

Any other human would have run in fear at the sight of Gev’s nearly seven foot tall frame looming over them like that. Amon, however, met his green eyed gaze, a steely resolve replacing his prior dejection as he placed his hand over Gev’s, and turned to go back inside with a wordless nod.

Gev had known Amon for years now, though only online. Gev hadn’t had any close friends outside of his computer for years now, however, and Amon was the one person he’d talked to the most in the weeks and months leading up to his transformation. His goofy, excitable personality online seemed a stark contrast to the quiet, but resolved human that lead the way back into the bar now though.

A part of Gev was happy to have one of his closest friends with him. Another part of him, however, still considered Amon to be Human… He’d known him for years, and was confident that he was as committed as any of them to becoming a Dragon. He simply didn’t have the means to pay for mods on his own, and probably never would.

Rax’s sudden scream wrenched Gev out of his thoughts. Amon literally jumped into the air at the sound. Gev rushed over to check on the Dragon.

“Rax! What happened? Are you alright?”

“I… I’m alright… Same shit that happened at the gene clinic. Just give me a minute… Wait, what the hell’s wrong with Kai?” He looked up and noticed for the first time that he wasn’t the only one who’d been hallucinating.

“Same thing as before I think…” Gev trailed off, noticing that Kai’s condition was different from the other time he’d witnessed this. He’d bared his fangs, his breathing was quick and harsh, and his hands were clenched in tight fists. A few drops of blood dripped from his left hand.

“Or, maybe not… Fuck… Well, nothing we can really do about it right now. Come on, help me get this other guy here out of the door before some Human sticks their nose into our business.” Gev said, moving towards the Dragon still stopped in the doorway.

Rax moved to follow, then paused, eyeing Amon suspiciously. “Uh, speaking of Humans, what’s he doing here?” Rax laced the word with ire.

“Oh that’s Amon, one of us, I’ve known him for a while now. Hurry up and help me move this guy already!” Gev said impatiently.

Rax grunted in response and moved to help him. The two of them together couldn’t get him to take a single step. They had to pick him up by the underarms and lift him like a piece of furniture a few feet so the door could close and block the view from outside. Amon watched from distance, but wore a small smile at the spectacle.

When they finished, Rax looked from one hallucinating Dragon to the other. “So what do we even do now? Kai seemed like he had a plan but…”

Gev nodded slowly. “Nothing we can do right now. Come on, I’ll introduce you to Amon while we wait. If it’s anything like last time it should only be a few minutes anyway.” Rax nodded, but seemed distracted. What had happened to him just now? Gev was concerned for his friend, but he figured it’d be best for them to discuss it as a group once the others returned to normal.

The two of them walked over to where Amon had seated himself a little away from the rest of them, pulling over chairs for themselves. “So this is Amon. I’ve known him for about a year now, we’ve talked a lot about mods, mostly.” Gev chuckled a bit, it made their relationship seem one-note, but there was a lot more to it than that. They’d shared their fears over how they’d be treated, the treatment they saw towards other modded individuals, and bolstered one another when the Humans in their lives tried to convince them to abandon their path.

“I’d be modded too if it weren’t so damn expensive…” Amon said, glancing awkwardly to the side.

Rax had been eyeing Amon distrustfully, but he adopted a more understanding tone. “Fuck, yeah don’t I know it. Had to save up for ages to afford my mods, and even then couldn’t spring for Acceleration. Looked weird as hell for a while there. Half Human, half Dragon.” He shuddered visibly, clearly not pleased to remember that transitional state. “You’ll get there though, it’s worth the wait.”

Amon sighed. “I don’t know if I will… No skills, racked up a ton of debt trying to go to school, dead end job. The works. It’s like that for a lot of folks these days… Still, actually seeing Dragons in person… It kinda gives me a weird sense of hope or, like a feeling that I could actually do this one day. That it’s possible.”

“I think I get that, seeing pictures, messages, or even just someone modded in passing isn’t the same as actually talking to a bunch of Dragons eh?” Gev replied with a small grin. “Weren’t there supposed to be a few more un-modded people coming though?”

Amon nodded. “There were a few outside as I got here. They saw… Whatever was going on here and booked it. I guess I’m lucky I stayed around?”

Rax shook his head at that. “Not lucky. One of us. A Human would leave.” Once again, he put a strangely forceful emphasis on the word.

Gev was debating on whether or not to press him further on that, when they heard a voice from the doorway. “Damn… It happened again didn’t it…”

A moment later, Kai groaned and stood up. “Well that didn’t work…” He glanced down and sighed at his left hand, which had dripped a small puddle of blood on the floor beneath him. He didn’t seem surprised, had this happened before?

Kai went off to the restroom and told them all to take five before they sat down to share whatever they’d learned from the… Experience.

Rax introduced the other Dragon to them while they waited. He’d known Xathlor for a while now, and had found one another in the same way Gev and Amon had, through discussing mods with one another online. Xathlor had been modded for over a year though and was able to help Rax put together his suite of mods.

Xathlor seemed a bit withdrawn at first. Either he was still shaken from the strange experience they’d all just had, or perhaps he was simply more introverted than most. After a few minutes talking though, he seemed to sit up a bit straighter and open up a little more, as though simply being in the presence of other dragons bolstered him.

Gev noticed Xathlor had something of a tendency to ignore Amon though. In fact, so did Gev himself. Something about the fact that Amon was still Human simply made it harder to connect with him in some strange way. Or perhaps that connection was easier to form with other Dragons. It worried him a bit. What about the other humans who’d left earlier? Had they just missed connecting with other potential Dragons due to their Human state? Would this happen with others who hadn’t been modded yet?

As they talked, Gev noted that the feeling of being watched, and the rightness faded alongside one another. That got him thinking. Were they actually separate? Or were they one and the same? He hoped he didn’t have to experience it again if it meant blacking out.

Kai returned from the restroom after a few minutes, picked up a chair, and inserted himself into the newly formed circle. After brief introductions to Amon and Xathlor, he stood up and crossed his arms, adopting what he probably intended as a commanding posture. Given his size, it worked excellently on the group.

“Alright. We’ve all just had something strange and concerning happen to us. We all know this has been happening to Dragons everywhere for weeks now. I’d guessed that it has something to do with Dragons coming close to one another physically. And most likely only Dragons that haven’t been in proximity to one another before.”

He started pacing back and forth at the edge of the circle, reasoning it out on his feet. “I was a bit surprised that it didn’t happen the moment Rax walked into the room with me. That might have something to do with me having met with Gev, and Gev with Rax. In any case, Xathlor here seemed to trigger all of us having some kind of hallucination, all at once, unless I’m mistaken?” Kai eyed Gev, probably expecting a response.

“Well, I didn’t see anything. No dreams, visions, or whatever. I just… Blanked out. When I came to, Amon was already here.”

Kai gestured at Amon. “Amon. You got here after the rest of us. What did you see?”

Amon had been sitting quietly up until this point, he probably felt awkward at being included in the discussion when he’d not been part of the hallucination.

“Me? I uh…” He paused to think for a moment. “Well, you and Xathlor were muttering or… something. Rax and Gev were both just… staring into space.”

“It was pretty much the same thing that happened to me the first day I was modded.” Gev added. “I blacked out in my apartment after I got home from the procedure.” He paused for a moment, hesitant to say the next part. “And the whole time… I felt like I was being watched. And like that was somehow right.” He expected the others to look at him like he was crazy. Instead, all of the other Dragons nodded along. They didn’t even appear to be surprised at that.

“I felt the same thing. That’s how I was sure I was about to… Lose consciousness.” Kai said. “All right. All of you. If you feel this again, get somewhere safe. It probably means you’re about to black out.” They all nodded at that, even Amon, who wouldn’t likely be capable of blacking out at all. It was hard to deny Kai’s commanding presence.

“So Gev didn’t see anything while blacked out. What about you Xathlor?” Kai asked.

Xathlor took a moment to think, staring at the floor for a moment. “It’s… Hard to say. Flashes, glimpses, bits of conversation. I think I saw… Buildings… A city, just for a moment, more beautiful than anything I’ve witnessed before…” He trailed off quietly, seemingly awestruck by simply describing what he’d seen.

Kai frowned at that. “Hmm… That’s a bit… unexpected. What about you Rax?”

Rax jerked a bit and turned away for a moment. “It was… Fuck… Do I have to say it?”

Kai walked over to him and laid a large, clawed hand on his shoulder. “Rax, we’re in this together. We’ve got to figure out what’s happening to us. I’ve heard some rumours that Humanitech is considering shutting down parts of their genetic modification division. Specifically, the parts that allow for species modification.” His voice was gravely serious. “What I saw just now wasn’t… Pleasant, either. But we need to learn all we can.” He squeezed Rax’s shoulder, then returned to his spot at the edge of the circle.

Rax closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I… Think I saw myself killed. It wasn’t a jumble of stuff like what Xathlor saw. Just a man with… He was holding something long and metal, maybe a sword. He stabs me with it, I fucking die, then I wake up. Exactly the same both times.“

Kai squinted at that last. “Wait, both times? When was the first?”

“At the gene clinic, with that weird fucking guy recording me.”

Kai hummed in thought, a deep bass rumble. “Strange… Xathlors visions were jumbled… And so were mine. But yours was a consistent, identical vision both times? Did anything change at all?”

“No,” Rax replied. “Same thing both times… Though I think I remember that asshole’s face a little more. He was… He was wearing armor. Like some Dungeons and Dragons fantasy shit. Fuck, am I just losing it?”

“No more so than the rest of us.” Kai replied with a small laugh.

“Well that’s reassuring.” Rax replied glumly. “Wait, you said your dreams or whatever were jumbled like Xath’s. What did you see?”

Kai hesitated, and his confidence seemed to wane for the first time that Gev had seen. “Well like I said, it was jumbled. But all of it was… Chaotic. Frantic. Desperate. Bits of conversation like Xathlor said, but most of it felt like… Well, like everything hinged on whatever happened next. And if that failed, that was it. The end of everything.” He paused and looked away. “That was about half of it, at least. The other half… Again, frantic but… In those visions, I was… Hunting… Killing, I think…”

The room grew quiet at that, and the silence stretched on awkwardly. Gev decided to break it.

“So… I saw nothing. Xathlor saw people, conversations, and a city. Rax saw himself fucking die. And Kai saw the end of the world and himself killing people. Look, disturbing as all that is, doesn’t it all sound just a bit too… Random?” Kai turned his head a fraction at that. “The simplest answer is that… The mods are fucked in some way. We’re just… Losing it.”

Rax shook his head and grunted. “Gev look, I know you’re just trying to make us feel better, but it’s not all just random. It only happens when we’re together, and we all feel like we’re being watched before it even happens. And you can’t tell me you didn’t feel that before Xath even walked into the room. Can you explain that by just saying were all fucked in the head?”

“I…” He was right. A simple feeling could obviously be explained by mental illness. But how could those symptoms be triggered by something they didn’t even know about? “Well okay, what even are these visions? Why are they so different?… And why don’t I have any?”

Xathlor had mostly been quiet, but listening carefully. “That’s a very good question… It breaks the pattern all of the rest of us have shown. But there isn’t much we can do as your visions, or lack thereof give us nothing to go on.”

Gev sighed. He’d been hoping that his lack of hallucinations meant that these visions were something that only afflicted some dragons, and that he’d been lucky enough to escape it. Unfortunately, today had proven that false, though his own brief blackout was probably preferable to what the others had gone through.

Amon had been quiet up until now, but quietly put in. “What Kai said. It sounded like he was seeing the end of the world or something?”

“Yes… I don’t know exactly what I was experiencing, but everything I saw had a dire feeling of desperation and to it. Everything that wasn’t… Those other visions.” Kai replied.

Amon speaking up reminded Gev of his presence in the room. Again he’d discounted him without meaning to. “Amon… After seeing all this, are you sure you really want to go through with getting modded? You can still just walk away and not have to deal with all this.

“Yes, I’m still getting modded.” He said, almost aggressively. “Look, I know how this all looks from the outside, but I don’t care. All I know is that staying Human would be a worse outcome than whatever happened just now. This” he gestured to himself “is wrong. All I know is I’m not supposed to be like this, and coming here today proved that. I’m supposed to be a Dragon, and I don’t care if I end up hallucinating. I’ll work as hard as I have to to pay for my mods. Hell, if I start having these visions too, I’ll share whatever I see. Maybe we’ll learn something new.”

“Then I’ll pay for your mods.” Kai said, staring directly at Amon.

“Wha… You will?” Amon jumped to his feet excitedly. “How soon can I…”

“Tomorrow. Or never. Either you’re one of us or…”

“Yes! Fuck I was worried I’d have to stay like this even longer.”

Kai nodded slowly. “Good. I had to make sure you’re not a Humanitech spy, but I’m glad you’re with us.”

Gev was taken aback at that. “Dude, a spy? Isn’t that a bit paranoid?”

“Corporations will spy on just about anything they think might have a major impact on their bottom line. A group of Dragons conspiring to not just figure out a fatal flaw with their product, but actively provoke it into happening? Easy target. I had to make sure.”

Rax grunted in approval. “Can’t trust a Human… No offence Amon.”

“None taken!” He replied excitedly. “Fuck! By tomorrow I’ll be a Dragon… Fuck!!!”

Gev chuckled at that. He knew Amon as an bubbly and excitable person online. His prior behaviour was unexpected, and this was reassuring.

“Well all that aside, let us know if you… See anything after the procedure, Amon. I’ll take you myself. Things are getting more dangerous out there…” Kai said gravely.

“Wouldn’t miss it!” Amon said with an exaggerated nod.

“So… What now then?” Gev asked. “We all had some weird visions. They’re all different, and most of them don’t make sense or… Are literally empty.” Amon chuckled at that. “Where do we go from here?”

Kai nodded along as he listened. “Right now? I don’t think we can learn much more from these visions… Except… Rax. Did you experience anything earlier on? Before your Acceleration treatment?”

Rax looked a bit confused at the question. “Before?… No I didn’t.” He paused for a moment. “No wait… I didn’t black out or anything, but I do remember that feeling of being watched happening. Thought I was just being paranoid but…”

“No, that’s very useful.” Kai said. “It seems that the further along your modifications go, the more intense these experiences become. Most of us have simply had Acceleration treatments and missed any sort of slow change there.” Amon looked up at Kai, concerned. “No Amon, I’ll pay for Acceleration for you as well. My main point is that we should go further. I know we all feel the same. This is right. We’re supposed to be this way.” Kai stood up taller as he said this, a slight growl even entered his tone, as if he were angry at the remaining parts of him that were Human.

Gev wasn’t the least bit concerned by this. Something inside him reacted to Kai’s words. He sat up straighter in his chair, his fists seemed to clench of their own volition. Kai was right. They did need to go further. They were Dragons. They shouldn’t settle for anything less than fully realizing themselves, whatever that meant in the end.

Rax and Xath seemed to have the same reaction. Amon simply stared at them in awe.

“The only problem is,” Kai continued, “I have no idea what exactly going further even means.”

“We’re supposed to have wings.” Xathlor’s sudden and unexpected comment was at once shocking, and also energetic in a way that reached deep into Gev’s core.

“I… That sounds exactly right. But how do you know?” Kai asked.

“Because that city I saw?” Xathlor replied. “I saw it from the skies.”