The Dragon's Tapestry

Story by TiranMaster on SoFurry

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The last story for Mythology Month!

Dane is a college student who goes to China due to a professor threatning to fail him if he doesn't, what entails is left up to the gods... or the dragons.

I want to thank everyone who came to the stream to watch me write up this story. ^^

I hope you all enjoy, I would love to hear what you all think of this story!


Dane shouldered his bag as he stood up from the bench, as a college class trip one of his instructors had decided that they were going to be going on a trip to China. Dane wouldn't be willing to pull out the money for the trip unless his teacher hadn't informed him that he would fail if he didn't attend, now with a far emptier pocket the student walked towards the airplane with the rest of his class.

The class's instructor stepped out in front of them before they got to the gate with a stern look on his face, "I want every single one of you on your best behavior, you are all representing our college!" The class sighed, their instructor Danie Frogten had a upheld reputation of being an asshole. "Do you hear me?"

"Yes sir." The class responded in unison, the teacher gave a smug nod and turned around then walked to the desk. Dane noticed more than a few birds flying towards his professor, the students were quick to hide their hands when he glanced over his shoulder at them.

Dane stood in line and lazily gazed around the airport, as he did so he felt a pat on his shoulder and glanced back then winced as he realized who had just tapped him on his shoulder. "Oh... hi Jin." An excited looking Asian stood behind him with an annoyingly peppy look on his face.

"Dane! Can you believe it?! We're going to China, this is going to be amazing. I'm going to be taking pictures of all of the sights, and I might even bring back some bagged lunch!" Dane would do anything to get away from the Asian, the very first day of class everyone had been introduced to Jin the foreign student.

Jin was known throughout the class, behind his back of course, as the obnoxious Asian. He was known to be very proud of his Asian heritage, so much that if people said anything about his heritage that he would hurt them. Hurt them in ways that make Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee seem like wimps, "Yeah... it's hard to believe Jin."

If Dane had the force he would use it to make the line float up and get through it as quickly as possible, though sadly human genetics hadn't evolved that far yet. "We should be seat buddies Dane!" Jin said excitedly, sadly an excited sweaty Asian man riding next to Dane wasn't as joyful as one might think.

Dane quickly glanced around and found the quietest guy in class and grabbed him by his arm, "Oh sorry Jin, but I promised Louis that I would be his seat buddy. Guess you'll just have to find yourself another buddy..." Jin frowned but then noticed another student and grinned at Dane.

"Oh well that's too bad, I guess I'll just sit with Lucy!" The Asian man hobbled towards a black haired girl, Dane felt like the biggest asshole in the world at that moment for forcing Jin on someone else.

Louis yanked his arm away from Dane and glared at him before walking forward and handing his ticket to the woman at the desk, Dane sighed as he handed his ticket over. "Please god, let this trip be as quick as possible..." He took a deep breath of the smell of the American airport, "I'll miss you American smell..." Dane couldn't of known how true those words were.

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Dane wished he could've been anywhere but on the plane at that moment, as the plane had taken off the world decided that it hated him and a huge storm buffeted the plane. Sadly Dane's seat buddy Louis apparently had motion sickness and before Dane could grab the sick student a bag to throw up in he discovered his sudden status as a throw up bag, the smell of onions and a big mac filled the air.

Louis would've apologized if he could but he had become suddenly very green once more, Dane did what any sane person would and switched seats with Jin. Needless to say Jin learned that Louis was his least favorite person in his class, Dane cussed his way down the isle of the airplane drenched in liquids too disgusting to say.

"Of course the fucking professor makes us go to fucking China, and the reason? To see the palace of the emperors..." Dane spat out as he walked into the bathroom, as he walked into the small enclosed box his face grew only greener as the smell of waste entered his nose. "I am NEVER going on an airplane again!" He hissed as he flushed the toilet and started to clean himself off with toilet paper which while it did clean him off left many white flecks clinging to his clothing.

Dane stepped back out of the small bathroom and took a deep breath of fresh air, as if his trip couldn't get any worse he started to walk back down the aisle and it was just his luck that one of the children at the back of the plane also shared Louis's motion sickness and Dane just so happened to be in the line of fire. By the time Dane got off of the plane to China he had decided he would never eat McDonalds or baby formula again as long as he lived.

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Jin tried to talk to Dane but as he noticed the glower on his fellow student's face decided against it, all of his fellow students the instructor included could tell that they needed to give Dane some room. After getting their luggage the group of college students walked out of the airport and coughed a bit as they smelled China's infamous air pollution.

Professor Frogten walked to the front of their group once more and glowered at them all, "Alright everyone, I've made a seating chart for which car I've taken the liberty of renting for each of you." Everyone stiffened up at this comment, Frogten was known to be extremely cheap with everything he did. The fact that he had already rented them cars instead of allowing them to was a horrifying fact, he pulled out a clipboard from his luggage and started to list off numbers with names.

After getting their numbers assigned to them Frogten gestured from them to follow him, as the class prepared themselves they all gasped in surprise as they came into the parking lot with their cars to find that the cars that the professor had ordered were actually very nice cars. Frogten glanced back at them, "What, did you think I was going to skimp on your cars?"

Everyone looked away awkwardly before getting excited and looking for their cars; Jin was the first to find his car which so happened to be a Lamborghini. "Look guys! I have a pimping car!" He spoke excitedly trying to look cool but in the end came out more looking like a dick.

Soon everyone had found their car, but when Dane found his own he had to hold himself back from walking over and murdering Frogten. The cheap ass professor hadn't skimped on anyone's car... except for his; the car that had been rented for him looked like it had just escaped from a junkyard.

Frogten walked up to the student not even disguising the smirk on his face, "Oh Dane, I'm sorry but you were the very last student to pay up so you got the last of the cars in stock for rental." If not for the fact that he didn't want to be expelled, Dane would've jumped in the car and run the teacher over until he was nothing but a pancake on the ground.

Dane grumbled in irritation as he slipped into the car, by this point he couldn't think of how it could possibly get any worse. A moment later he screamed as he felt something pierce through the skin of his butt, everyone ran over to find Dane climbing out of his car with a rusty spring stuck in his butt. "Dear god people stop gawking and yank the fucking thing out!" Dane screamed at his peers, none of them moved until Louis walked forward and took the spring in hand gently.

"Are you ready?" He asked quietly.

Dane was about to say yes before he realized how bad of an idea it would be, "Does somebody have something I can bite on?" Everyone looked through their stuff before somebody yanked out a bar of soap.

"Will this do?" They asked.

Dane sighed in disgust, "Fine, give it here." He took the bar of soap and bit into it; he then prepared himself and nodded at Louis. A moment later he collapsed on the ground unconscious at the immense pain of having a spring ripped out of his buttocks.

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After visiting a local emergency room Dane plopped down on his hotel bed, at least the hotel that Frogten had reserved for them all was a four star hotel. He had been paired up with Louis as roommates; Louis was in the process of brushing his teeth in the bathroom after his motion sickness yaking incident.

Dane lazily pulled out chunks of soap out of his mouth as he looked at the wall of the hotel, a few minutes later Louis came out of the bathroom and hopped on the bed beside Dane's. The pair was quiet for a few minutes as the clock on the wall of the room ticked quietly, "Hey man I wanted to apologize about what happened on the plane..." Louis said breaking the silence of the room.

Dane shrugged, "It's alright, you helped pull a rusty spring out of my ass. More than what the others did." Louis nodded silently and walked as Dane spat on the floor, "Well that's the last of the soap, after today's incidents I have made a very specific list of things that will never go in my mouth again."

Louis looked at Dane, "Thanks for sitting next to me Dane, I know you were just using me as a cover from Jin but I'm just glad to have someone to sit next to for once..." Dane glanced over at Louis and was about to ask what he meant but Louis had slipped under his covers and turned off the lights.

Dane frowned slightly and shrugged then slipped under his own covers and slipped off into sleep.

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Dane had bought an espresso from a local Starbucks as they drove towards the emperor's palace, he knew he would probably get shit from Frogten but after the incident of the rusty spring he could give less of a shit what the motherfucker thought.

He sipped the espresso quietly as he slid into a nearby parking lot where the rest had parked and slipped out of the car, he scrunched up his nose as the smell of pollution rushed around him. "God it smells even worse here then at the airport..."

Dane walked towards the palace and he had to admit, the architecture of the palace was very impressive. The palace was extremely large, upon its roof sat gilded gold statues. After gawking at the building he ran towards the entrance and slipped in through the doors, along the walls there were tapestries with golden silk woven through them.

He stepped closer to admire one of the tapestries; upon it was the likeness of a Chinese dragon. Dane blinked as he admired the fine weaving, time seemed to freeze as he was suddenly rammed into from behind and his arm flew forward and his espresso flew out of his hand and poured all of the likeness of the dragon.

Dane collapsed to the ground and wheezed for air as he felt a particularly heavy person fall on him, "G... get off!" He coughed out, a moment later he felt the weight get off of him.

"What did you do?!" A far too familiar voice rang out, Dane looked up to see Jin. Rage flowed through Dane like fire through his veins.

"What do you mean you moron?! You ran into me and made me spill my espresso all over the tapestry!" Jin glared at him and poked a sausage like finger into his stomach.

"I saw you holding that drink near the tapestry; you were going to defile this ancient artifact so I did the only thing I could. I tried to stop you but apparently I was too late, but the good news is the security guards should be here soon and you'll be arrested." Jin seemed both disgruntled and proud at the same time, Dane's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Jin, you are going to regret this. I can promise you that, now please excuse me while I run away!" Dane then took off running, Jin being as chubby as he was couldn't dream to run after the other student but he tried nonetheless.

Back at the tapestry an odd glow in the form of the dragon that resided behind the coffee suddenly shined through, beneath Dane's clothes a golden tattoo of a dragon suddenly appeared.

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Dane climbed into his car cussing violently, "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! What am I going to do?! My ticket won't let me leave until next week, god damn it Jin! Why the fuck did you have to run into me?!" He rammed his head into the steering wheel for a moment before taking a deep shaky breath and sliding the key into the ignition, he then drove out of the parking lot and into China's traffic.

As he drove he took deep calming breaths thinking out everything that he could do, "Maybe I can talk to the American embassy..." Dane said to himself as he slowly drove, he glanced up into the sky to see a layer of black smoke hanging densely in the air. Dane rubbed his eyes, "Looks like my future is as bleak as the sky..."

He then blinked and smiled in relief as he noticed a turnoff, "I might as well turn off for now and see if I can find a phonebook or something to find the embassy." Dane drove onto the street and drove up to a small store; he slipped out of the car and walked into the store. As he walked into the store the store's clerk immediately shot him an angry glare, "Yikes... looks like Americans aren't appreciated here..."

Dane quietly slipped into the back of the store and found a phonebook lying on the counter, he picked it up and thumbed through it until he found the address for the embassy. "Alright... now to find this place..." He muttered to himself, as he walked out the tattoo on the back of his neck started to move and the student fell onto his hands in pain. "O.... ow! What the fuck?!"

He grabbed at the back of his neck and clutched at the skin and pulled back his hand quickly, his flesh was burning far hotter than any human's should. He glared back at the store clerk who had a perplexed look on his face, "Y... you! Did you do this to me?!" The clerk backed away while shaking his head quickly.

Dane clutched the nearby counter and heaved himself up, the golden dragon on his back finally subsided though now it had grown far larger than it had a few minutes ago. He panted heavily and wiped away the sweat from his brow, he shot one more glare at the store owner before slipping out the door.

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Dane drove as quickly as he could through the China traffic, as he drove he didn't notice golden scales sliding over his skin. Pain wracked his body every few minutes now and he felt like he could throw up any time now, "What's happening to me?!" He shouted distraught as he sat at a stoplight, the tattoo on his back had become unidentifiable by this point. It now appeared to be a large mass of scales on his back; Dane cussed as the pain once again wracked his body and decided to turn off once more.

He drove to a store once more receiving the familiar glare of an store owner, Dane rushed right past the counter and staggered into the bathroom. He gasped as a particularly painful jolt stabbed through his chest; he fell to his knees and dragged himself over to the sinks. The student clutched the edge of the sink and was able to pull himself up albeit with some trouble as more pain attacked his body.

As Dane looked into the mirror his mouth slowly gaped in horror as he saw scales on his face, he slowly reached up with his hand to touch his face but retracted it quickly as he felt claws grazing his flesh. "What's happening to me?!" He tearfully asked as he watched more scales spreading over his skin, by this point his mouth was now starting to stretch out into a muzzle. On the side of his growing mouth he noticed long stringy whiskers growing out, "What am I becoming?"

Outside of the small shop police cars stopped and walked into the building, they showed a picture of Dane to the clerk who more than happily showed them the way. The police opened the door to reveal Dane lying on the floor whose body had now stretched out to an inhuman length. Dane looked at them in fear, "P... please help me..."

The police gawked at the sight before they all quickly pulled out their guns and pointed them at him, they shouted at him in Chinese which he didn't understand. Dane lifted his claw and pointed to his ear and tried to explain that he didn't understand but taking it as a threat the police started to shoot him, the student roared in fear and pain as he felt the bullets strike him. But instead of injuring him the bullets bounced off, Dane blinked for a moment as he looked out to see that the bullets had ricocheted and had hit the police officers.

Dane slowly stood on his forearms and feet and slowly looked himself over; his clothes had by now ripped off due to his transformation which didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. Light rippled on his golden scales which truly seemed majestic, he blinked at his irises became a golden color as well.

As he looked over to look into the mirror which now was underneath him Dane started to realize what he had become, he had become a dragon just like the one descripted in the tapestry.

Dane snapped his head to the side as more police officers rushed into the bathroom, they all shouted in fear as they saw the dragon. Originally when Dane couldn't understand what they were saying he could now completely understand their language, "What is it?!" The one in the lead shouted out.

Dane blinked cautiously away from the bodies of the pained officers at first he was going to explain who he was but realized that they might think of him as a demon if he told them the truth, he mulled over what he was going to say before speaking in perfect Chinese. "I'm the Chinese dragon Daneloo and I've come to cleanse this country of its impurities."

As Dane spoke wisdom of dragons before him came into his mind, they didn't try to overwrite his memory as much as add to it. He quickly realized what he spoke was very possible, China had become a polluted mess of a country but now that he was there he would be able to bring the land back to its original glory.

Before him the police men all bowed to him and muttered about him being a glorious dragon, the one who had spoken earlier looked at him with splendor in his eyes. "Wise dragon Daneloo, what could we possibly do to aid you in your quest?"

Dane blinked slowly, "First, please move I need to get out of this small building." The police nodded and quickly carried their allies out of the building and allowed Dane to walk out of the building, as he walked his new tail wagged behind him. As he stepped out into the smoggy air of China the air itself seemed to clean up, the officers gasped as they breathed in the suddenly fresh air.

Dane smiled as the air around him was purified and then he turned to the police men, "All of you, I want you to spread the word. The dragon Daneloo will bring the country of China back to its prime glory without all of this corruption." All of the police men nodded excitedly, Dane looked at the men who had been injured by bullets and he dragged his tongue over them lightly.

As the dragon's saliva entered their wounds they were suddenly healed, they all gasped in awe as they felt where the wounds had been just moments before then they all bowed before the dragon. Dane then turned around and growled slightly, "Before I can save this country, I must settle one debt."

They all watched as Dane took off flying his body undulating in the air like the water in a river, the thoughts in his head were only focused on one thing. A certain chubby Asian.

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Jin giggled in glee as he took a picture of himself with Frogten in front of the Imperial palace, "Thanks for taking this picture with me Professor." Frogten grinned at him.

"Thanks for giving me this chance to humiliate that dumbass Dane, now I can give him expelled for destroying that precious tapestry." As they spoke they both froze as they felt a warm breath traveling over them, they both slowly turned to find themselves looking into a very large dragon's eyes.

They were both petrified in fear, Dane's eyes flashed dangerously as he snorted deep breaths. "So... you both planned to have me humiliated, you know what? I think it's time for both of you to leave this precious place and never return!" Jin tried to question what he meant but he roared in anger, "Do you hear me you stupid little chubby morsel?! If you don't leave I will eat you and savor your fleshy little bones!"

Jin's pants suddenly seemed very damp, "Y... yes I understand!" He ran away to his car and smashed his head on the roof of the car as he tried to slide in, Dane's eyes passed over to Frogten who didn't even say anything as he ran to his car and drove away in a hurry.

Dane puffed in delight, "Good, now I think it's time for me to live up to my promise."

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All of China watched in amazement as their dark smoggy sky was cleaned up as a golden dragon flew across the sky, the first dragon for thousands of years had made their sky clean once more so the sun could shine down. Dane became the dragon which ignited the golden age of China once more, soon the world watched in amazement as Dane cleaned up all of the pollution across the world.

No longer did anybody coal to pollute the sky, the world reverted to an older time but nobody seemed too angry about it. Dane watched as his old dirty polluted world became a beautiful world for all to embrace; he found that unlike his old human body his new dragon one didn't seem to age at all.

Daneloo now stood on Mount Everest as he looked upon the new clean world that he had brought about, he smiled as he flew off back towards China.

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Back in the imperial palace the royalty had moved back in and in one of the hallways, a soiled tapestry still hung their which had been ordered to stay there by the dragon Daneloo. Nobody knew why but he seemed to be fond of the tapestry, Daneloo had become an icon of China.

Daneloo smiled softly as he passed through the much larger palace halls as he walked towards the Emperor's room and glanced at the tapestry and he leaned near it, "Thank you for giving me the chance to clean up the polluted world, and for making my life this much better."

Daneloo then went into the Emperor's room and let the doors shut behind him, upon the doors was the golden mark of the dragon that had once imprinted Dane's back.