The Prince and the Dragon 2- Puberty
#2 of The Prince and the Dragon
Hello there, trying out a new style of writing for this chapter. Leave your thoughts in the comments
--Quentin--
As I pass through the hologram of the cave entrance into my home the machines that monitor the activity around us, our stocks, our vitals, and everything in-between come into view. This always kind of weirded me out because of the disorientation of passing through the image and how my house knows everything about me. A very mechanical sounding voice greets me with, "Welcome home Quentin is there anything I may do for you?"
I respond with a slightly nervous tone, "Um yeah, could you freshen up my bedroom for me? And could you use custom scent number 12?"
"Certainly sir" it responds with its constant lack of emotion.
"Thanks" I say as I begin to move towards my room, knowing that by the time I get there the cleaning will already be over. The teen, which is actually quite heavy now that I'm not filled with adrenalin, begins to stir.
"I should probably hurry so he doesn't wake up in too unfamiliar of an environment and freak out" I say as I pick up the pace to a speed walk.
--Vincent--
"Ow, my head is absolutely KILLING me" I say as I awake to a terrible throbbing in my head. It almost feels like someone closed my head in a door!
"Yeah, sorry about that, I accidentally closed your head in the door when I carried you in here" said someone off to my side in a slightly awkward tone. My eyes shot open as I realized that someone else was in the room with me, then they went open even wider as I saw the human like dragon beside me and began to remember the events that occurred prior.
"W-where... w-who... um hi?" I stammer out in shock.
"Hello, my name is Quentin Inos, and you are currently in my bedroom. Please, allow me to explain." I am too scared and confused to refuse the hand he offers me to help me up so I take it and begin to walk towards his door with him. I start to take in other details as well, like the many colorful flowers lining the shelves as well as the jewels placed in strategic areas around the room. I also notice some pieces of fabric both large and small, all stored in an orderly fashion. I began to think about how a dragon's lair was supposed to be huge and disorderly but looking at this place it seemed that wasn't true, for this dragon at least. It even smelled nice, like flowers and old books.
"Hey, have you been paying any attention to me at all?" the strange being asked me as he noticed me looking around.
"I have a lot to tell you in much too short of a time so you need to keep up and listen, alright?" he asked me.
"Alright" I said in a slightly bewildered tone as he led me out of the strange meatal door that disappeared into the wall as he pushed a button beside it. After we were out of the room the door slid shut and the dragon began to talk again.
--Quentin--
"Have you noticed anything strange about yourself recently" I ask for the second time.
"Um, I guess I am a bit more sensitive to stuff. Both emotionally and physically" he said, now noticeably not as freaked out as before.
"Then we were right, come with me to the medical bay please" I say as I start a brisk walk to the infirmary.
"It might have already begun" I whisper as we make our way down the hall. Unintentionally he heard me.
"What do you mean it might have already begun?" he asks in a small, nervous voice. He began to rub his hands together nervously.
"Am I going to die?" he asked in a voice so small that I had trouble hearing it.
"No no, nothing of the sort" I lie, as I have no idea what is going to happen.
"You are just going through your species' would call puberty." This time it wasn't a lie, I think, at least that's what we gathered from the recorded message we found.
"Oh, alright, but why am I here then? Why did you kidnap me?" he asks in a more demanding tone.
"Well first of all because you aren't of the same species from this planet, and secondly we don't know exactly what is going to occur during this part of your life." I say as we reach the infirmary.
"What do you mean I'm not the same species as the people on this planet? I'm not human?" he asked with worry.
"And how can I be a different species, my dad is a human isn't he?" he continued with agitated confusion.
"Has your father ever told you anything about your birth, was there anything special about it?" I ask with waning patience, but not rudely as I would probably act the same if I was put in this situation.
"Well, he did say it was like a miracle. Like a star gave me to him, but he also said that my mother didn't survive very long after I was born." He said with a slight uncertainty, most likely because he was telling this sensitive story to some purple dragon from space he had just met.
"Well it wasn't just like a star gave you to him, a star did give you to him. When the Andromeda galaxy and the Milky Way galaxy collided many worlds burned, your home world being one of them, your people had not yet invented interstellar travel but did have space travel and technology advanced enough to send a small probe with a virus inside of it drifting into space. The virus they used had copies of their DNA in it so when your father saw that star fall out of the sky and went to investigate it he became infected. Since he was only a carrier of it didn't affect him but when he impregnated your mother the virus went to you in the early stages of development and injected your cells with the new code. It took but only certain parts were placed into your DNA, so you are what most would call a hybrid. As for your mother I'm not certain, but I think it's safe to say that it was a complication at birth." I say as we finally reach the infirmary where the medical staff were already waiting for us.
"I-I don't understand half of what you just said, but I'm just going to go along with it." He said timidly, now looking with bewilderment at the staff of aliens that ranged from looking similar to him, to small bodied, clear skinned creatures that originated from a sunless planet.
"Alright, let's get you scanned and tested." I say as I keep myself from using larger words, remembering that he is from a planet that was still in the medieval age that had the bare minimum of scientific research. It's strange how human history repeats itself without background knowledge. This planet is very interesting, especially to the humans that escaped to space when their sun expanded many thousands of years ago. One group of humans traveled the stars in their large ship, and one group of humans did much the same that this teens long forgotten species had done, but instead of a virus creating a hybrid they sent robots to terraform and robots that were loaded with frozen embryos that would be resurrected once the planet was suitable for their life.
--Vincent--
I was shaken, to say the least. Strange creatures are surrounding me and speaking words I never even knew existed. And that dragon-man, he was strange too, but I feel a strange attraction to him as well. It's probably just my curiosity getting the best of me again. But what was he saying back there? I'm not a human? I'm going to go through some strange process? And what are these things, viruses? DNA? I feel as if these words were spoken by someone of my city they would be thrown in the asylum for insanity. I am lifted onto a cold table and a light shines down onto my body, I gasp as I expect something to hurt but the pain never comes as the light combs up and down my body.
"Can someone please explain to me what is going on right now!?" I say with anxiety.
"Certainly" the dragon-man says
"You are going to go through some... drastic... changes very soon. We aren't sure what is going to happen but with what we gathered from the computer on your 'star' you will be going through some kind of metamorphosis." He says professionally.
"right now we are looking at your insides and taking samples to see when exactly that will be happening and with these results we are safely saying within the next hour."
"Meta-morpha-what?" I ask, again not knowing what the word meant.
"Do you have butterflies on your planet?" he asks.
"Yeah" I answer with a slight voice, not wanting to become a bug.
"You know how their young make a shell for a little while, then hatch as butterflies? That is what will happen to you, except for becoming a butterfly of course. Probably." He answers matter of factly.
"Oh, alright." I answer.
"Come along, we need to get you comfortable." He says as he begins to walk back to his room.
Half an hour later
"Oww" Vincent awoke as his body began to hurt all over. He stumbled out of the bed, noticing the strange dragon-man was gone he moved to the bookshelf for support, but noticed that he couldn't remove his hands. He looked down and noticed his hands were covered in a sticky, almost tar like substance. He cried out for help as the substance began to puff out and creep up his arm. The dragon-man came in with a cup of something looking for the source of the cry, and looking to the teen stuck to the bookshelf he quickly moved to him and placed a hand on the teens shoulder.
"It's alright, this is what's supposed to happen." He said calmly.
"Though you could have chosen a better spot than my bookshelf." He said in good humor to try and calm the not so human anymore teen.
This seemed to work as the teen closed his eyes and seemed to relax into the encasement, the process seeming to notice his lack of panic and speed up. It soon covered his entire body and formed into a more cigar shaped pupa as the cells of the teen's body broke down into their base components to be remade.
"I hope this doesn't take too long" the dragon-man sighed.
"He covered up the book I was reading."