Seasons came and passed as Kiran meditated with diligence. He did not know how long had passed, but he knew it wasn't short. But it was worth it.

Over the years his body had begun changing, from the length of half a metre to now being around 3-4 metres long, he had grown fast.

His inner body too changed as he channelled the energy from the outside world to strengthen his chi channels and then further using his grey energy to reinforce its strength as well as enlarging it.

He went through numerous sessions of pain, even now it would still tear him to pieces every time. But it had its results. His chi was now at least twice that of its size and speed as before.

Unfortunately, over the years he still could not understand the two dragons before him. Yet by an unseen connection, he could interpret what they were saying, most of the time.

Throughout the years, Kiran had mostly stayed within the cavern. It was only when the dark blue dragon had returned from leaving several years later that Kiran was taken outside to hunt where he also learned how to finally fly. That was on two occasions, most of the time he was still under the pale blue dragon’s wing.

Speaking of the dark blue dragon, he had left for a couple of years and a couple of years after he returned, another dragon had arrived. Its size and shape were similar but its colour was dark brown. Even though the dragons were of similar size, Kiran could get a sense that this dragon was much older. Much older.

It had looked at Kiran weirdly with a sense of confusion and curiousness. And then out of the blue a dark grey orb floated in the air and landed on the ground before Kiran.

He could sense what they wanted him to do as he looked back and saw the approval in the blue dragon’s eye. He trusted them.

And so Kiran placed his hand on the orb but the results were not what he expected, nothing happened. He looked around confused as he saw the three dragons look at each other with the same confusion and a small hint of disappointment.

That was the only time that Kiran saw another dragon, until today.

The two dragons had awoken Kiran as one carried Kiran with its mouth gently holding him up as Kiran protested with his flailing body. He was soon placed on the back of the dark blue dragon as he struggled to get a good foothold.

Once again he admired the size of the dragons as they walked outside. The three dragons that Kiran saw had ranged around 60 metres in size. When it stood high its height was possibly around 50 metre, maybe more.

Suddenly the wings of the dragon expanded to an impressive size as Kiran’s face dawned with realization. He had flown before but at his pace. And definitely not on a dragon’s back.

Without hesitation the wings flapped and a gust of wind shook the place as they were carried into the air.

Kiran let out a gasp as he struggled to stay on the dragon. Their speed was fast, their height was high and the wind was fierce.

It was unlike any flight that he’d ever done.

So this is the power of a dragon Kiran thought. If only he really knew the extent of a dragon’s power.

Kiran did not know how long had passed, but it was at least 2 hours before he felt a drop in altitude. Soon, they were falling fast as Kiran desperately dug his new small claws into the scales of the dragon to avoid falling off.

He cursed numerous times as he fell until finally the dragon expanded his wings for a slow descent to the ground.

Once they were on the ground, Kiran immediately climbed off to savour the feeling of gravity.

He turned to find the dragon looking at him, and although you could never really tell an expression off a dragon’s face, he could see that the dark blue dragon was smirking.

Kiran’s eye twitched as he realized he’d been played and he made a little sneer and groaned at the dragon to which the dragon boomed with laughter, more like a stuttering roar.

The pale blue dragon having flown beside them nudged Kiran caringly as the other dragon walked away. They followed.

Soon, Kiran could see a hold underneath a massive mountain, similar to their own. He followed the two dragons inside.

After a couple minutes, he could hear the breathing of three dragons inside. Two strong and powerful, one much weaker and faster than the other two.

His view was blocked for most of the way as the two dragons blocked most of the passage. But soon they came out in an large opening and Kiran could finally see in front of him.

Two large dragons laid on the side of the opening as they nodded to acknowledge the two dragons that entered. One was dark brown, the other a pale blue.

The two pale blue dragons nudged each enter gently and laid together as they spoke. The darker two dragons nodded as they too laid on the other side.

Kiran stood a little awkwardly in the middle of the dragons, not quite sure what to do.

Soon, the two other dragons looked at Kiran, their brows would furrow in confusion if they had any. But it only lasted a couple of seconds as they returned and made a quick exchange at Kiran’s dragons.

Kiran looked around as he suddenly remembered, he had heard 3 dragons.

The four dragons looked at him with amusement and a wry smile as Kiran flipped his heard from side to side trying to find the third dragon. He even looked up and spun on the spot making the four dragons laugh.

‘Idiot!’ Kiran said to himself. He wasn’t quite used to it but he was a dragon now.

He could utilize his senses, to a dragon it would’ve been second nature, however Kiran was a human, so his actions were controlled by his past life.

Kiran stood as he honed in on the breathing, a small quite breath. He looked towards the direction of sound and met the eyes of the other pale blue dragon. Its eyes full of smile.

Suddenly a small sound of dirt being crumbled on the ground moved his eyesight down the dragon to under its wings. And sure enough, he could barely make out two pupils glinting from the sunlight under the wing.

There was a dragon underneath it.

Kiran tilted his head to get a better look as the eyes retreated into the comfort of its mother. But it was in vain as the dragon lifted up its wing completely exposing a small light brown dragon.

Immediately the young dragon retreated even further to the body of its mother and looked up as it shouted complaint to it.

The dragon was small, born recently Kiran thought. It was no bigger than half a metre, just like Kiran was before.

While the baby dragon was yelling complaints to its mother and struggling as the dragon pushed it towards Kiran, Kiran also walked closely to it.

Finally when the dragon realized it could no longer fight its mother it turned to face Kiran only to jump back in shock as Kiran was nearly face to face with it.

Kiran was now around 3-4 metres large and was towering over the small dragon.

Fear and unease shone through the baby dragon’s eyes as it stood back up and yelled threateningly at Kiran. Only it could not cover the fear in its voice.

Kiran lifted its paw towards the baby dragon, the other 4 dragons fell silent as he did so. He could feel the baby dragon’s parents looking at him intensely. He knew that if he made one wrong move, they would step in.

Technically speaking, Kiran was a baby dragon too. They would continue to be until around 100 years old gaining around 10m per century until a fully grown adult at 1000 years old.

However, Kiran was already 3-4m around 20 years old. This was particularly strange and unlike the usual case, he could pose a threat to the baby dragon.

The baby dragon looked on in fear as the paw which looked immense to him came to his head. His body froze as it fell closer and closer to him. He was scared, he closed his eyes.

As the paw got closer and closer, Kiran made sure his claws were retracted and to the relief and confusion of the dragons, patted the head of the baby dragon a few times before placing his hand down again.

Dragons don’t really pat peoples heads.

The baby dragon looked up just as confused as Kiran laughed aloud.

Being stuck with dragons more than 10 times larger than him had made him always have to look up. His neck would ache if it could. But now that he was towering over this baby dragon he enjoyed it.

Once again he lifted his paw and patted its head. And laughed again. And again. And again.

The baby’s parents looked at their respective dragons as if to say,

‘He’s nuts.’

After spending some time with these dragons they left. And by the end, the baby dragon had gotten pretty friendly with Kiran. Following him around the place and copying exactly what Kiran did. He even held on to Kiran’s tail to stop him from leaving.

Years flowed by as Kiran, and much to the surprise of his parents, he got bigger and bigger.

And much to his delight, got stronger and stronger.

Not exactly sure how long had passed, as Kiran has come to find out that time flows very differently for dragons. Dragons take a long time to mature and most of that time is spent sleeping. But during their sleep, they continue to grow.

The days passed silently.

On one particular day in the afternoon, a forest on an island appears particularly quite. An eerie silence fell over the forest. All of a sudden, birds flew away from the trees as a roar came from deep within the forest.

Trees fell as two beasts struggled with each other.

One dragon around 3-4 metres long, the other, a large horned bear of similar size.

The bear swipes its large claws at the dragon failing to penetrate its scales whilst the dragon does the same, but managing to tear through its flesh as blood gushes out from its wound.

The bear yells in agony as it falls back from the force, the dragon pressed it as it used its momentum to turn with the attack of its claws and swing its tail against the bear. Its force carried the bear off the ground smashing it through several trees.

Its body heavily damaged, struggled to stand back up as a large shadow descended upon him. The dragon wasted no time as it sunk its teeth into its neck and twisted it.

It let out a roar of victory as blood drizzled from its teeth.

As it began to devour its prey, a roar in response resound through the area. No, not a roar. A howl.

The dragon quickly scanned its surroundings and within seconds, it could hear the bristling of trees against the movement of its enemies.

The dragons eyes narrowed in caution as it could hear the movement of multiple enemies. As if in a hurry to prove he was right, figures emerged from his surroundings.

1…2…5… 11…

A total of 14. 14 wolves stood before him, each stood around 2 metres in length. If it was a 1 vs 1, he could take them on no problem. But this amount…

He slowly shifted backward as the wolves advanced on him, and before he could do anything, they attacked.

The dragon let out a large roar as it retaliated, a large swipe of its claws quickly skewing one wolf as it flew metres away and dropped lifeless.

By this time, two other wolves were already on him, biting at his neck but thankfully its scales were too tough for the wolves to get through.

Suddenly a pain ran through the back of the dragon as it screamed out, he turned to find that 3 other wolves had moved in and attacked its wings.

The dragon quickly swung as the wolves jumped off its back and regrouped with its pack.

It now realized what the pack was doing, it was holding his wings back to avoid him flying off. How could they be this smart? Maybe…

The dragon quickly realized a fact as its eyes became dead serious as it scanned the area behind the wolves.

And no doubt, he found what he was looking for. A large white wolf with 3 horns that stretched backward on his head, its body larger than the other wolves. The leader of the pack.

The wolves were already tough to handle but now with the powerful leader, the dragon stood no chance. It slowly backed away, little by little. The wolves inched forward.

Just as the wolves were about to pounce on the dragon, a sudden gust of wind came down from the skies so strong it blew the wolves at the front a few metres back.

The sound of a wing flapping slowly could be heard as silence once again fell on the forest. Slowly its sound resonating with the forest like the heart of the mountain, beating. A dark shadow slowly cast itself around the dragon and the wolves as it slowly engulfed the skies above them.

The dragon looked up and its eyes shone with admiration and delight.

The wolves trembled in fear, the leader at the back growled silently under its breath. It too was afraid.

Within seconds the shadow got closer and closer, and landed directly next to the brown dragon. Its body causing several trees to collapse. As it landed, it let out a roar. Only this roar was not comparable to the dragon just now. This roar sent fear into the beasts of the forest, into all who laid their ears upon it. By nature, this creature reigned over the skies and earth. The most powerful of the beasts.

The roar of a dragon.

The trees around them shook at the roars power as several wolves just darn right got blown away.

As the sun shone on the shadow, they could finally make out the dragon before it. It was a shadow. Or as black as one.

A 11-12 metre black dragon stood before them, its size and presence instilling fear and awe.

Silence once again fell as both parties looked at each other.

The brown dragon looked at the black dragon that came to his rescue. It was taken aback at the usual yellow eyes, only it was red now, which made him subconsciously afraid.

Suddenly every creature in the surrounding could feel a chill in their body. It made them want to run away.

Yes, the black dragon was Kiran and its killing intent was being released unknowingly through his anger. Of course, the other was the light brown dragon Kiran had met many years ago.

Kiran was furious. He had viewed the brown dragon as his brother, and only recently had been allowed to take the brown dragon out to hunt. He had left shortly to scan the area but left him to a safe zone for him to hunt.

Who knew that this pack would venture out so far. He was angry at the pack and at himself. But most of all, he felt a rage like no other that such animals dare to attack a dragon.

Kiran’s killing intent was a little weaker now compared to before because of the lack of killing and fights he had done. But the amount was still overbearing for the dragon and the wolves.

Without the wolves so much as reacting, Kiran’s long razor sharp claws swiped across as it decimated the wolves in the front. The wolves behind it tried to immediately jump back but Kiran’s head was already there as its jaws opened wide and captured two wolves.

He flung the dead wolves from its mouth and swiped his head in an attack as the leader of the pack charged him. The leader taken aback from the force slid several metres away.

Without so much as turning his sight from the leader, Kirans left arm lifted up and crushed a wolf nearby as his tail swung to his left flank sending 3 wolves flying.

The leader’s eye widened in disbelief, it thought that by distracting Kiran against him, its pack could attack from different sides.

But who was Kiran? A master of the art of killing in his previous life, if he could not track a small number of enemies in a fight, he might as well die.

Wasting no time at all, Kiran reached to bite the leader as it narrowly avoided it, however a leg was caught as it teared from its body.

It screamed in pain as it laid on the floor and tried to get up. However Kiran was too fast as it already had its massive claw over the leaders head and body.

It looked up, desperate to cling on to life, only to have its neck cracked and his skull crushed.

The rest of the pack seeing their leader dead ran off, Kiran did not bother chasing. They were insignificant.

‘Yes…’ Kiran thought with his claws still around the dead wolf. ‘Insignificant…’

Little did Kiran know, that his mentality had been changing through the years. From that of a human to more of a dragon. And there was one thing most important of all for a dragon, their pride.

Suddenly Kiran could feel a hot burning flame inside him, he could feel he was onto something.

His thought carried on. ‘Nobody could harm the ones I care about.’ He fell silent for a few seconds. Looked up into the sky, his eyes glinted from the sun ‘No one can dare challenge a dragon.’

The flame inside him spread through his body, the brown dragon beside him could feel a pressure around the area of Kiran. The pressure of a dragon.

Finally Kiran concluded, ‘I am a dragon!’

As soon as that thought reached him, the flaming sensation rose rapidly through his body, unseen to the naked eye energy particles gathered around him in a spiral and delved straight into Kiran.

Although the other dragon could not see it, he could sense the energy particles gathering into Kiran, he must have made a breakthrough he thought as his eyes shone in admiration.

The energy quickly flowed through Kiran strengthen the channels inside it and increasing his size. For hours it continued, until it slowly died down and Kiran opened his eyes.

He had increased around 2 metres in size and was now standing at around 10m tall. He let out a roar of joy as beasts around the forests ran with their lives.

“haha, that’s my boss!” the light brown dragon beamed at Kiran from beside him.

“Let’s go.” Kiran said as he quickly gestured the light brown dragon and walked off.

He walked a few steps and turned to look at the unmoving dragon, wondering why he didn’t move and why the dragon looked at Kiran with confusion. It took Kiran a minute to realize why.

“You can talk!?”