“I was stung by a dragonnewt?” I asked while in the passenger seat of his car. He was apparently taking me to the base of his operations.

“Yup.”

“What the hell is it?”

Zack just chuckled.

“You’ll see when we get there man,” he told me with a grin.

After I had agreed to join Zack’s crew, he was ecstatic and decided to take me to get some things sorted out. I assumed one of those things was how I turned into a Red Dragon.

This had been the first time I was in Zack’s car, as Soph usually gave me lifts if I needed it.

Other than the one question I had asked, I couldn’t get any more out of him. The perpetually plastered grin on his dumb face told me that he wanted to surprise me.

I tried to keep my window open and forced myself to confront the low-level sensory overload, trying to make sense of the crazy assortment of noises was something I kept struggling with.

We soon arrived outside the restaurant I had delivered the Gold Rush to. Zack and I both got out of the car with Zack taking the lead while I held back.

My big bro drove a black Dodge Challenger that looked crazy cool and I could very much see myself driving something like it.

“Hey,” Zack called to me getting my attention, “you want to make out with my car or get this bread?”

I couldn’t tell whether or not he was making a pun because we were about to enter a restaurant, so I just shook my head as I followed him inside.

The guy at the bar was also there from last time but when I made to approach him, Zack prompted me to wait near the door.

He then stepped to greet the bartender Vince, chuckling and roasting one another as any bro would.

Zack turned to me and gestured to come closer, so I did.

“Hand me your phone real quick,” he asked with his hand open.

Hesitating a bit, I gave my phone to Zack and he turned to Vince to hand it to him.

I was about to say something when Zack gave me a look like, ‘take it easy, it’s not what you think’.

“You know what to do,” he said as he gave Vince my phone.

“Give me a couple of minutes,” Vince told us and with that, he disappeared behind the employee doors.

I noticed that Vince smelled different but somehow similar for some reason.

Zack signaled with his head for me to follow him and I did as we went through the hallway that led to the toilet.

I was confused for only a second but Zack then unlocked the door opposite.

“This is our storage room,” he said, flipping on a light switch. “Most of this stuff is generic restaurant shit but some of the things in here are products that relate more to our more illicit activities.”

He walked over to the far side of the room where some stacked boxes were covered by a tarp. My best friend kicked one of the boxes which were followed by a rattling of metal and some angry animal noises.

Zack grinned at my confused expression before yanking the tarp off whatever was underneath.

What I had thought were some random cardboard boxes were actually cages filled with some lizard-like creatures. At first, I thought they were some kind of iguana but despite my lack of knowledge on iguana physiology, I sure as hell knew that I wasn’t looking at iguanas.

The first immediate dead giveaway was the rasping/hissing noise they made as some of them snapped at us. Then there were the small webbed wings that ran along their outer arms that clearly weren’t normal and their brownish skin was speckled with black.

The final thing that wasn’t even lizard-like about them was the scorpion stinger on the end of their tails. These appendages dripped dark greenish fluids and one of the creatures closest to me tried stinging me despite the gap between us.

“They’re called dragon-newts,” he said grinning at my discomfort. “There’s a market for these types of creatures as they make for a delicious ass delicacy. Keeping possession of these creatures however isn’t all that..well let’s just say ‘legal’.”

“Why are you showing this?” I asked.

“That’s how you got turned into a dragon,” he replied nonchalantly. “It’s a very low likelihood but apparently some humanoids can gain a dragon transformation by getting stung with their venom. You might have some dragon blood in ya boy.”

Zack said the last sentence in a sarcastic tone and with a wink, so I couldn’t tell if his explanation was true or not.

I might have dragon blood…that’s wild.

Zack gestured for me to step out of the room and so I did.

“Obviously this stays between us bro,” said Zack as he closed the door behind him and locked it. “Don’t want the featherheads to show up and ruin my day. They’re basically like cops of the supernatural world, you can also just call them ‘Feds'. Others will know what you mean.”

I nodded.

“Can you tell me more about what the magic world is like?”

Zack looked hesitant as he scrunched his face up but he nodded.

“I’m not gonna bother trying to tell you about the origin of where all the mythical races came from,” Zack explained while we re-entered the main room. “Too many races have got too many origin stories and I’m not….well you.”

He said that last part with a joking wave of his right hand. My sardonic chuckle only made the humour in his eyes more evident.

“Anyways like I was saying, the earliest universal event that most beings would agree on would be the ‘The War of Wings’. The divine and demonic races and their allies went into all-out war, safe to say it was a pretty intense conflict. I have no idea how long it went on or what the exact scale was but it got the attention of a pretty powerful faction. The Dragons.”

We now sat at the bar but I just rested my head on my arm, completely wrapped by what he was telling me.

“The Dragons banded together under an Emperor and joined the war, it ended with the Dragons beating both sides into submission. Some sort of agreement was made and there’s been ‘peace’ ever since. Celestials and Demons have the same amount of access to humans, on paper anyway. After the dragons had won the war, the dragon faction splintered into smaller factions with various dragons.

“There’s got to be more to it than that?” I asked. “How did they end the war? What was in the agreement?”

Zack squinted at nothing in particular.

“I can’t tell you about that,” he conceded. “Okay, what I know is that various territories around the world are run by dragons. Red, Blue, Green, Black & White are the five different types and they all interact differently. Most if not all dragons see each other as competition on some level.”

“Anything else?” I probed.

“I’m sorry bro, the thing is I am one of the last people you want to ask about history.”

He then turned to look at me.

“But what I do know is that once you get a hang of your abilities, you’ll be unstoppable,” Zack explained.

Zack was going to tell me more but the sound of doors parting caught both of our attentions.

Vince had come in holding my phone in his hand, which he then passed to me. I opened up the lock screen and noticed a new app icon on my home screen.

It had a strange look to it with a globe symbol and a circle design around it.

“Congratulations,” Zack cheered as I clicked the icon. “You now have access to what is essentially the supernatural internet. Pass it here a second and I’ll show you how to actually get the good stuff.”

I got a brief view at the home screen which was just the app logo, and then he entered something into the search bar.

“Werewolves are no pushovers, I’m guessing the only reason you were able to do so well was that you took them by surprise. Apparently, though Red Dragons are just as likely to be active as they are to be stationary.”

After he entered a few clicks, Zack turned the phone screen back my way to see some kind of profile for something.

“There aren’t many but these are jobs that I’ve saved we can do that I’ve lined up, a few we can start with,” he explained pointing to the picture of the outside of what appeared to be a club. “They need muscle and based on where it is, you probably won’t even have to lift a finger.”

My tight lips didn’t give the greatest of reassurances so Zack seemed to be swiping for another option. His index finger flicked to the left a few times before he smiled and turned back to me.

“Here’s another enforcer one that both of us could do.”

I looked at the ad and wondered to myself how the hell this shit actually worked. Asking how it worked was an option but I feared it would go down a rabbit hole, there was already so much I was digesting.

“I’ll get back to you…” I said, eyes fixed to the screen of the phone. “I think I want to really have a look around to see what options there are. I mean, I haven’t got to give you an answer right now, right?”

Zack didn’t exactly look disappointed but he clearly wasn’t satisfied.

“Listen Niko,” he stated as he handed me back my phone. “I understand that you’re still not used to all this and the shitty introductions you had because of those werewolf assholes didn’t help either. When I started this shit, I was in a seriously bad place, I had no idea where to go or how to even take care of myself. I wish I had had someone to just push me in the correct direction more often, you know.”

Zack then placed his hand on my shoulder and looked deep into my eyes.

“Sorry that I got you knee-deep in shit cos of the delivery, I should have been more careful. When you were just human, you and I both knew the world was a shitty place but this world that you’re in now is even shittier. You are a Red Dragon, one of the most dangerous individuals in the entire world bro, that’s really something you need to get the gravity of. The moment I met you, I knew there was something unique about you yet you people never took you seriously. Dragons are very competitive and once they hear there’s a new lone dragon, it’s gonna turn you into a potential target. You need to protect yourself Niko, you need to be able to assert yourself and get a handle on your new abilities. I’ll support you with whatever decision you go for.”

My best friend then pulled back and leaned away from me.

“Think about it and get back to me.”

I nodded and the next few minutes Zack and I sat at the bar knocking back a few beers and laughing about more dumb shit.