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I was hiking through the woods one morning, trying to get my mind off dad. Again. He had finally crossed the line and hit me, as I'd always told mom he would. Now she wants a divorce and dad wants custody of me, so I ran away to get away from it all. I don't intend to ever go back.

I stopped and set my bag down, looking through it to see what I'd packed. I had two sets of clothes, enough canned food to last a few days, a map and compass, a solar lantern and my multitool. I was set for surviving out here.

"He had no right to hit me. I'll never go back, not to him, not to mom, not to any human ever again. I'll make do on my own."

Let me go back a bit and explain my situation. Dad has always been a hard man to deal with, losing his temper every time something isn't done his way. If I get it done correctly but I didn't do it his way, I get in trouble for not doing the work. If I look at him the wrong way, I get in trouble for being a brat. If I say anything he doesn't like, I get in trouble for backtalking him. He's impossible to deal with, and he treats mom twice as bad as he treats me.

I wandered for hours, completely lost in the forest behind my home. Lost, until I came upon a cave in a riverbank, a cave that carried part of the stream into the depths of the earth. I decided to enter the cave, since I probably wasn't going to find better shelter before dark. That's when things got interesting.

I heard a hissing roar just before I was snatched off the ground by a set of extremely large talons and brought face-to-face with a snarling monster. It looked draconic, but it had a snake tail instead of legs. That's when it spoke. "What are you doing here, human?"

The voice was male, and it had a sharp quality to it that you just don't hear from a human voice. "I was looking for shelter after my so-called father took his fist to me. I packed a few supplies and came out here. I'll never go back to civilization; they're all like him."

To my surprise, I found myself being set gently down on the stone floor of the cave before the beast straightened up and motioned for me to follow him. I nodded and followed him to the very back of the cave, where he moved an ill-fitting boulder to reveal a chamber I'd never have found otherwise, and inside was another like him coiled around a clutch of eggs.

"This is why I reacted so harshly to your presence; my mate and our unhatched children. My name is Ophion, and my mate is Sylith."

I nodded, understanding completely. I had a feeling that Ophion would be a much better father than mine. "Tobias. Do you mind if I stay the night? I'll find somewhere else to live tomorrow."

I saw sadness fill Ophion's eyes, and was it... regret? Before I had a chance to take a better look, he turned his eyes from mine and spoke. "As you are now, you can't stay with us, and I do apologize for that. But there's a small occult store in town, tell the man behind the counter that Ophion sent you and explain what happened to you; he'll help you as a favor to me. Come back once you've done what you want with your father and you'll have a place to stay."

I nodded, asking what part of town the store was in before adding "Thanks Ophion. And for the record, i think you'll make a great father."

He smiled down at me before motioning for me to get going. I nodded again and quickly made my way to town, sticking to back alleys and side streets as I made my way to the occult store. It wasn't long before I saw it - Arcane, Occult and Obscure was the name on the sign, and I made my way inside before one of dad's friends noticed me.

An older gentleman came out from around the counter and greeted me warmly, a smile on his face and delight in his eyes. "Ah, a customer! Welcome, my friend. Tell me, how did you find my shop?"

"Ophion told me where to find it."

His eyes instantly hardened, and his grip on my hand grew much stronger. "I see. He must have had good reason for sending you to me, then. Tell me, why did he send you here?"

I explained the situation that caused me to run away from home, and the elderly shopkeeper nodded. "So you want to deal with your father and give your mother the life you think she deserves, correct?"

When I nodded, he went behind the counter and started rummaging through what I assumed were boxes of stock yet to be put on the shelves. "Most of what I sell here is purely decorative, though I do have some special items I keep back here. One of them would be perfect for you, if I can only... Ah hah! There you are!"

He set a pair of intertwined dragon figurines on the counter, and I walked up to take a look at them. They were gorgeous sculptures, a black dragon with silver horns and feathered wings twisting around a forest green dragon with wood brown horns mid-flight. "How much?"

"For Ophion's friend, they're on the house. You should show your mother this when the two of you are alone; I get the feeling your father wouldn't be happy to see these."

He put the statues in a bag and handed it to me, then I quickly made my way home after thanking him and saying goodbye. I found mom alone, covered in bruises. "Mom?!"

She looked up when she heard me, and there was joy in her eyes that I was alright. "Tobias, honey! You shouldn't be here, he'll be back any minute."

"He won't hurt you anymore mom; I got something that I think will help us." I pulled the statues out of the bag and mom reached for them, but when she touched the green one we both got a shock as the statues moved and bit us!

I let go of the statues and they fell to the floor, but it was too late to stop what was happening to us. Ebony scales had started to form around the bite on my wrist just as green scales formed on mom's, and our changes progressed the same. the scales spread over our bodies with alarming speed, turning our hands into clawed paws and our face into draconic muzzles. Our hair fell out as horns grew in to replace it, and our teeth were lost as new ones filled our reptilian mouths. As the changes progressed lower, we soon found it difficult to remain standing upright, so we fell to all fours as our legs changed to those of an animal and our spines lengthened into tails, a triangular spade forming at its end. The last thing to grow was our wings, and where mine were black-feathered with flecks of silver, mom's were green-feathered with brown bars across them.

Once the physical changes were complete, we both groaned as massive amounts of knowledge and instinct flooded our minds, teaching us everything we needed to know to survive. That's when dad walked in and saw us. "What the hell?!"

Mom walked forward and spoke to him. "Hello dear. What do you think of your wife and son?"

The last thing I saw in his eyes was sheer terror as mom pounced on him and rammed her jaws through his chest and ripped out his beating heart. She winked at him, his bloody heart held in her jaws where he could easily see it, then she bit down on it and splattered his blood across the room. I walked up and nudged her flank, getting her to move over so I could get to his liver; the change had made me ravenously hungry. We stripped his body down to bones before we set off for Ophion's cave, me leading the way and announcing us at the cave's entrance.

Ophion soon came out to greet us. "Ah, Tobias! I take it you accomplished what you set out to do?"

I nodded, a smile on my scaled muzzle as I looked back at my mom. "Yes, I did. And call me Kaoran now."

Ophion nodded, then looked to mom. "And your name, ma'am?"

"Terra. Would it trouble you to put us up for the night?"

Ophion smiled broadly and moved aside as he motioned for us to enter his home. "For the night? My dear, this is your home now, should you wish it. Sylith and I have been looking for a reason to add on to our home."

I looked at Terra, and she nodded. "Thanks Ophion. We'd love to stay."

We entered the cave, Ophion following us in, and I couldn't imagine life being any better. That is, until Terra took me outside and led me into an aerial dance under the stars. We danced through the night, only stopping once dawn broke. We've danced every night since then, and we've only grown closer for it.