Josh dreams of dragons.
He thinks it's just a welcome escape from everyday life. Until one morning, he wakes up with scales, wings, and a tail.
Josh faces a harsh new reality: he has become something that shouldn't exist outside the pages of his fan...
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The next twenty-four hours passed in a whirlwind of strenuous training. There were hours and hours of magic lessons, which always drained me mentally more than physically. It wasn't like my body was getting off easy either since I spent quite a bit more time sparring with Tenaya. To Rofar's continued satisfaction, I seemed to be progressing quickly, and I felt much more confident using the natural weapons I had at my disposal.
"Very good, Ayreth. Very good," the blue dragon praised after my most recent round of self-defense lessons. I had fought off Tenaya for a whole two minutes before she found a way to pin me—a personal record.
"At first I wasn't sure you could show such improvement," he continued. "But now I see you will not be so easily defeated."
And improve I did. The magic lessons had grown significantly more advanced over time. Rofar had started me out pushing stones around, a task that had been deceptively hard. Now, with much more practice, I could magically levitate and move fist-sized stones with relative ease. But that was barely scratching the surface of the magical skills I was expected to absorb from my teacher. Thankfully, I had aid from my burgeoning self-confidence to carry me through these accelerated exercises.
The newest one revolved around the conjuring of an illusion to camouflage myself from humans. This one was tricky, and required a whole morning of uninterrupted time for me to make any meaningful progress. One problem was that illusion magic didn't fool other dragons, so even if I did it right, Rofar wouldn't see me disappear. Instead, he had to use his own experience and intuition to feel the magic I was using.
"Oh, yes, I think you've got it!" he exclaimed after what seemed like my hundredth attempt. Rofar had explained what I was supposed to do, but I hadn't been able to put it all together. When I finally created a satisfactory illusion, the magic felt like an invisible cloak of mist as I willed its cool touch to wrap around my whole body.
"Really?" I asked, trying not to sound quite as excited as I felt. Maybe I could convince him to let me take a break.
"Let it settle on you and move around a bit."
Tentatively, I released my will and trusted the illusion would remain until I consciously banished it. It did. I walked around as instructed, and felt almost nothing of the magic that clung to me. Only when I focused hard could I perceive it gently twisting around me like a sheer fabric.
"Yes," Rofar said, nodding in approval. "You've done a fine job on this, Ayreth."
"Thank you, master," I responded. "May I take a break now that I've made some progress?"
The older dragon granted my request, and I dismissed the illusion before returning to the house. Inside, I found Nyraz and Tenaya chatting in the main room. The healer dragon greeted me warmly and invited me to sit with them; I gratefully stretched out on one of the mats. Tenaya and I shared a quick look before the casual conversation resumed.
