FSE

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CHAPTER 4

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When James' eyes opened, he was on his back, being carried down a long circular corridor made of stone. The only light came from highly luminescent fixtures on the roof directly above him, there was only a few seconds until the darkness once again pulled him back under into a deep sleep. When he opened his eyes again he was in a stark white room on an examination table, yet again on his back, strapped to it by his wrists and calves. There was another dragon standing over him in a white lab coat with wire rimmed glasses on his snout, he held a pencil in his right hand, and a clip board in his left. Currently he was jotting something down. What it was, James wasn't sure. Suddenly he felt the blackness creep up yet again to pull him down. After James woke up the third and final time, he sat up to observe his surroundings, he was in a gloomy cell of some kind; the ceiling had stalactites on it that constantly dripped fresh water, with barely visible bars at the front of it. The bed that he was currently sitting on had almost nothing to it. It was almost quite literally a matt with a thin blanket that had holes in it.

The last thing James noticed was the walls, they looked very crudely carved out, and they had large circular divots almost everywhere that they could fit. In a corner was a rusted metal pail full of water. Near it was a hole in the floor around three feet deep. Suddenly James felt his stomach rumble, instinctively he looked around for something to eat, his eyes resting on a metal platter near the entrance that he had failed to notice beforehand. Slowly he stood up, to sit back down hard when his head started throbbing fiercely. After waiting a couple of minutes he tried to stand up again, this time the throbbing was still there, but was manageable, cautiously he walked over to the platter and looked at the items that it contained, what he saw surprised him, there was a medium rare cut of beef that was lightly salted, a slice of home-made bread, a plastic fork and knife, along with a few of his items of his that had been deemed undangerous by the guards. Including his tin cup that now had multiple dents in it, and some strips of deer meat that he had laid out on a branch to create some home-made jerky. Hungrily James picked up the tray and walked over to his bed to sit on it.

Steadily he picked up the fork and knife, then he cut into the beef, noticing the juices flowing out of it when the knife finally cut into it, finally when he had a piece of the beef cut off he stabbed his fork into it, and shoved it into his mouth, relishing the taste. Curiously enough though, there was a horrid aftertaste to it, he threw the thought into the back of his mind, mentally blaming it on the oven. After he had finished the cut, he picked up the slice of bread, and soaked up the juices from the meat before eating it. After he had eaten he felt comfortably full and relaxed. He then put the tray near the front of the cell, walked back to his bed and fell into a deep sleep.

When James woke up he was in a different area, this one with brightly coloured furniture, softer lighting, not in the slightest like the hallways he had gone down on his way in. As he slowly sat up and looked around, his eyes rested on a dragon that appeared to be the same one that he had seen when he was on the slab in the laboratory. When the dragon noticed him he smiled to James and spoke, "Welcome," the dragon said in a gentle tone, "I hope that your journey wasn't too harsh," when James remained silent he continued, "Well then, I'll take it that it was pleasant then, so how was your night?" at that moment James still refused to talk and the dragon sighed, "Listen, we have plenty of time here, so you might as well make yourself comfortable and speak for once."

Finally, after another half an hour of boring silence, James decided to speak, "It's not that I don't want to talk, it's the fact of what I've been told about you, added onto the horrible conditions of which you put me in."

The dragon just stared with wide eyes at the human, having not expected him to speak, but a moment later he regained his composure, "Well, I was under the assumption that you had been put in a very comfortable room, and not treated harshly at all."

James breathed in deeply before speaking, "Well your assumptions were wrong, I was put into a cell, with a shitty blanket and bed, along with having to watch my own head when I stood up because of the stalactites."

The dragon frowned towards James, "How peculiar, as I was told the opposite, on another note, how was the meal?"

James face remained expressionless, "It wasn't bad, could have been better if a proper stove had been used to get rid of that horrible aftertaste."

The dragon smiled humorously, "There was nothing wrong with that stove, we get a new one each year, and that one was only two months old."

James looked at the dragon with a sense of surprise, "well something was wrong with it, and how else can you explain the aftertaste then."

The dragon looked calmly at James, "before I tell you, I might as well tell you my name, after all, we will be meeting twice a week, but that means you have to tell me yours, a fair trade correct?"

James had an annoyed look upon his face when he spoke, "fine, yes, a fair trade, very well, mines James."

The dragon stretched out a clawed hand, "pleasure to meet you James, I'm Michael."

James sighed, before reaching out one of his own hand's to grasp Michaels' and shake it firmly, "so," he asked boredly, "what do we do now?"

Michael released James' hand and brought it back down to his waist, "now, we talk about why you're here. So why did you decide to come to this town James?"

James shrugged before answering the dragon, "I don't know, to get out of city life I guess."

Michael sighed, "I think there is more to it than that James. I just think that you are too nervous to admit to why."

James frowned deeply, "you're right about me hiding stuff, but I'm not prepared to share that info with you."

Michael smiled, "Very well then, as it is this is about all the time we have right now. I will personally select a more accommodating cell for you this time."

James nervously smiled as two other dragons walked in to escort him to his new cell, it was definitely a surprise to James when they passed his old cell and kept walking. As they kept walking James noticed that the hallways were getting brighter again, finally they told James to stop walking and pointed to an aged oak door that was nicely stained to complement the original colour and design. The one guard opened the door while the other stepped directly behind James and pushed him into the room, the guard that had opened the door slammed it shut and locked it behind him. At this point James didn't even care, as he had already begun to look around at his new room. The first thing he had noticed was a beautifully comfortable bed, not too hard, nor too soft. The next thing he noticed was that there was actually a separate room for the bathroom that had a shower, and the fact that there were windows that had heavy curtains on them to block out the sunlight. James didn't even remember going up at any point in time. James went into the bathroom and started up the shower, taking his ragged, grime covered clothing off and throwing them into a pile on the floor, and setting his hat on a rack, before jumping into the shower.

When James got out of the shower, he discovered his clothes in a fresh pile roughly where his ragged clothes had been before, their torn lines neatly sewn again to such an extent so that they looked like the first day that he had got them, the colours bright as ever. James smiled happily and dried himself off before putting them on, then grabbing his fedora on the way out. As he glanced around the room again he noticed another platter of food sitting on a bedside table, with a clear glass of water and another medium rare cut of beef and some bread, along with actual silverware that glinted when sunlight hit them. Greedily he picked the platter up and sat down on the bed, devouring the meal quickly noticing yet again the horrid after-taste. After he finished he walked over to the door and set it down beside it, before walking over to the curtains and closing them, walking back to the bed, getting under the covers, and happily greeting sleep.

Over the next few weeks James continued to see the dragon Michael, and whenever he returned to the cell there was always something new. But something happened one morning about five weeks later. James woke up, and noticed his eyesight was different, for one all the colours in the room were sharper, he could focus his eyes on something and his eyes would immediately zoom in on the target until it almost filled the screen, then when he went into the bathroom to check in a mirror, he noticed that his eyes had gone scalene in shape. Just like the dragons had. After having a long shower he stepped out, dried himself off, and sat on the bed, to continue testing his new eyes out until the two usual dragons came to get him and bring him to Michael. When they came in and the first one noticed the humans' eyes, he smirked, and gestured to the door, signalling that James should leave.

When James entered the room he usually met Michael in, Michael smiled, "well looks like there's no need to keep putting that transformation shit in your meals," he then waved one of the guards over, "go tell the cook that he can stop drugging James' food ok?"

The guard grunted, before walking off into a side room, where he relayed the message into the cooks' ear, "Oh for fuck's sake!" the cook said, looking around the room at all the freshly prepared steaks that had been drugged, "I just made all these!"

In the other room both James and Michael heard the cook shout, finally, after the cook had stopped shouting James spoke, "Wait, what do you mean you've been drugging my food?"

"It was to transform you into one of us, either way, once the transformation starts, there's no stopping it, there are enough nano-bots in your system that there is no way for you to get rid of them. That's why I told the cook to stop drugging you." Michael explained.

"Well that's no excuse to do it, just because you think that it's fair to try and transform me into one of your kind, doesn't mean that I want too."

Michael chuckled before replying, "I know it doesn't seem fair right now, but try to see it our way. Maybe you'll even be a nice leader," he said under his breath.

James new scalene eyes opened wide, he then replied in a hushed tone, "What do you mean a nice leader? Is your current one rude or something?"

Michael scowled, his head dipping towards the ground, "firstly, you didn't hear it from me, secondly, yes. He is an ass hole, this whole hive mentality that he wants us to have, to follow him, and to not think freely, it's complete bull shit."

James breathed deeply before replying, "Well if there truly is no way out of this I promise that I will rise to power, and defeat this leader of yours. Now, please tell me his name."

Michael took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down before telling him, "his name is Wronst, and he's your father."