FSE

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My name is Charles Steele, or at least it was six months ago. Now I'm not sure who I am. This story takes place in my first year in DigiPen Institute of Technology. I was almost always was late to class due to ten lights between my hotel and DigiPen.

I MapQuested the area, looking for a short cut. I saw an alley, cutting straight to the college. My roommate, Austen Ellsworth, advised against it, saying, "Don't go down that path, buddy. I heard a story about some kids that went that way, came out with burns on their arms and face. They said it was because of the fire-gangsters that lived there."

I said in an angry tone, "What does that have to do with it? That's just a story made to keep kids off the streets and tucked in bed by 7 P.M. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

And so, I went. I left the hotel at six o'clock. I saw a symbol at the entrance to the alley, but I didn't notice it at the time. After about five yards, everything was forest, not alley, like I had expected. I kept on going. After a bit, I saw a campfire. I moved towards it.

I could almost see it clearly when a wave of heat suddenly blasted through the forest. A sudden surge of strength and energy came with the heat. It freaked the hell out of me. I ran as fast as I could to the other side of the forest, not stopping to notice the forest turn back to city.

I made it to school on time. But what scared me was, I started noticing things better; I could see the finest strand of hair or my reflection on a wall, from five yards away, I heard and understood what people were whispering about ten rows back in my classroom or the wisp of a girls hair on their hands, and I could feel the wind from the air vents along the length of the hall, and I could smell the pheromones of all the girls in my class. It was sort of cool, but creepy.

When I got home, all I could do was sleep. But what I dreamed about scared me. I saw a fight between some monster and me and I was scared, but not for me. I had a memory of someone I loved, but I had never seen before. Then I felt a change. I became larger.

I felt a pain in my back, as it seemed to expand and lengthen. I felt that same energetic wave of heat that I had felt in the forest. Suddenly, a shoot of pain as something stabbed through the tip of my now very long spine. In my head I felt a new extremity appear. I tried to move it, and wings pushed me off the ground.

Then, without warning, a pain shot through the tips of my fingers as something came out like claws. Then, suddenly, I caught fire. Then I woke up to a stream of white foam in my face, and I saw Austen standing over me with a very surprised look on his face and a fire extinguisher in his hand. He looked like he was about to throw the extinguisher at me. In an hour I had turned back to my human form (in the middle of the night I had changed to my "Tygon form" as I have come to call it). I have learned to control my transformations since then.

The next day I looked up "dragon people" on the computer. Apparently there have been people like this ever since the dawn of the Chinese empire, but only people who love cats and are in a certain cult or within 5 yards of one of the fires that I had passed. I told Austen about it. He said, "What? Do you expect me to believe a crazy story like that?" I said to him, "You're the one believing in ghost stories, weren't you?" So he said, " That's different, I wasn't saying that I had suddenly gotten some crazy powers because of some stupid fire in a forest that doesn't exist!" And so I decided to leave it at that.

Usually someone joins this cult only for his or her own power and prestige. I, however, hadn't gotten this power because I wanted it. So I decided to use this power for good. I made a makeshift costume (gloves, a hoody with a tiger with wings panted on the front and holes cut in the back for wings and spines, and black jeans {later I made holes in the hood for the ears}), for appearances, of course. At this point, I could grow tiger ears, claws, fur, stripes, dragon wings, tail, and eyes.

My first job was to foil a plan to rob the bank. The front doors were locked, so I went around to the back. It was locked with an iron chain and padlock. I brought my tail which had blades on it down onto the chain. The blades cut through the chain like butter. The bank robbers saw me, and started to point a shotgun at me. "Hey, you, down on the ground!" I walked towards them. They shot at me.

Suddenly, wings grew from my back, out in front of me, deflecting the guy's shotgun shrapnel. I kept walking to the hostages, feigning to let them loose. The robber put the barrel of the gun on my temple. Without realizing it, I had a hold on the shotgun, kicked him in the shin then the head, and pulled the shotgun from his grip, then pointed it at the bank robber. Then the cops showed up.

"Put your hands up!"

I started walking towards them.

"I said put your hands up, now!"

I'm not good at following directions.

BAM! BAMBAM!

I looked at my chest, as it closed up by its self. I walked out of the bank. I flew home. I took a shower. I slept like a rock.