---

To Be A Dragon©
copyright William Morris and Cyberhorn

---

The many worlds he had seen and enjoyed
The one he’d enjoyed most was the one
Where the inhabitants thought that they were alone in the universe
Or so most of them believed it some were rather ahead of the others
He had spent some considerable time observing them and learning about
The way they saw their world

Some were highly religious others were less so

he smiled And made his notes He found some to be incredibly easy to get close to as they had an open ness to them

They wouldn’t have understood the fact that he wasn’t visible to them due to the way his scales refracted light as a natural camouflage to those who saw him of his own kind he was a blue green color sky-blue eyes and his
impeccable manners made him highly desired by the females of his race, and with some of other races as well he thought smugly to himself.

Slipping into his Ship he activated the communications console wanting to report and talk to
friends at home
a stored message came through from one of the many bases locally
“To all of our people scattered throughout the stars. A great tragedy has
occurred to our people. War has come we now hold these aggressors off but
those of you who are explorers we must have help we are by nature not
fighters. Though we can, we need help from those races who can and do fight
with fierce abandon who can join with us and become saviors of our
children… I thank you my people please hurry in this quest “

He hadn’t expected this at all! “Damn the shadow of this luck. Why now I
was soon to go home and enjoy some time in the pleasure woods “ he sighed
wondering who had attacked his people he had a few ideas but would have to
have more data requesting more from the local star base the main controller came on his
display.

----------------------------------------

A holographic representation of a particularly pretty female
to which awaited his query “ data on attacking forces of home world?” “Race
1881 has aligned with an outsider which is currently unknown. Race 1881 has
since become antagonistic and extremely violent. Council believes there may
be a third party may be involved. Current scouts and those with explorer
ratings are urged to gain assistance of our neighbors "

Looking up the data on 1881 they were an insect race with high intelligence and quite a
considerable religious tenant against violence.
Not known for violence save when females were protecting their young.
Thus a religious practice was to isolate them when till they
had matured more, but they were incredibly strong, and numerous

Working quickly he knew of the several scouts and researchers on the planet, he had several very good choices for fighters.
But the fact these people were by their evolution survivors and fighters, the human race was far from ideal in combat when away from their home world. There had to be away to protect them from space to heavy worlds toxic atmospheres and such he put that as an item of note and checked his subjects of study
some he hadn’t checked in on for some time but the system kept his files updated and he set parameters for search
knowing several of the females may be pregnant it eliminated them immediately one file of the dozens was tagged with a medical flag he opened the file and realized with a surge of emotion he'd forgotten this one.

Looking over the file sarrus realized this was the one. If he wasn’t a trained killer like many of his military trained subjects he did have it naturally but it was repressed (noting a lengthy study of the subjects blood history done by his own parents) he wasn’t doing well
his body slowly failing already an infection was destroying his feet, the female he had chosen as his mate left him. To many wounds to his mind and body "to much I’ve missed in my old friend both of us children playing together as my parents studied and did their research his far to busy trying to keep them fed.always alone ehh my samura my blood brother in spirit if not body "

He turned and made for the location immediately. He studied the recent history that had been collected via implants constantly correlated by massive computers.all part of a greater study of humans in general to find the best moment to ask them if they were ready to join the numerous races in space.it was a day his parents hadent lived to see and he himself doubted to also
but smileing as others on world sent messages to all they had found wonderful choices for fighters on earth and were heading to the star base for hyperport to the homeworld

=========================================

His ship went into hover mode as he dropped and glided down to the rear door of the house
folding his wings he used a tool to open the simple latch lock and slipped into the house his head forced low by the ceiling fan blades which weren’t moving noting the home had no power and little ventilation
the smell of unwashed human was overwhelmed by the smell of infection he moved around the couch to find his one time playmate slumped in a ball he'd become gaunt and fevered the socks he wore were oozing puss through the cloth which made him grimace  his old friends face turned and fear came for a moment and then clearly acceptance of some other worldly demon come to carry him off to death. A thought came as he gently reached to touch this young male 'I may well be doing just that to him'
his fingers came to rest on his chest and it twitched in response " I - I guess it's time then huh.ive died finaly.stuck with this incredible pain forever huh"

He gently brushed a lock of brown curls aside from the face the tears of pain had the skin sticky " no my old friend I’ve come to help you"
he turned and looked up at him stunned " I’m only sorry I did not come sooner to help.i maybe to late as it is " " i-i "
the eyes and face were so huge and so sad on a dragon it wasent a pretty thing to see such sadness "you do not remember me do you william " "no, i don’t think so but im not been all to well lately" the dragons scales glimmerd and sparkled like diamonds
"this will remind you" holding out his hand there was a cut across it he lifted his own and saw the matching one the dragon gently took his hand and held it firmly a memory came flooding back to him a promice made long ago now a childs inocence lonelieness confusion of not belonging to a family which existed brothers and sisters which would not have anything to do with him as he was a half breed a bastard. A voice had come from the shadows a voice which was as lonely as his wanting to play he simply accepted the pure joy of the moment he'd found a friend!

The days of play together the pranks on his sister that he couldn’t be blamed for as he was near there mother the whole time
the joys of sharing that one day came to an end but he had insisted they become blood brothers like Indians did the tiny dragon came from his cover of shadows and invisibility to hug the small human child that had become his best friend they cut there palms and swore that if the other ever needed help he would be there to help
bill blinked and saw the dragon in another light now all the joy and happiness they had together. He smiled and patted the dragon’s hand wrapped around his "you came "

"I came but it is I that need your help"

the human laughed and stopped coughing painfully the dragon produced a scanner and checked him finding the blood poisoning was now at a fatal level and his old friend was dieing

================================================

"How can I help you? Like this " " I can help you William but I cant stop this body from its death, your dieing you know that don’t you"
he nodded a human gesture of affirmation " our sciences are advanced and.we may be able to do something.but your days are less than hours now but i cant guarantee anything " " i guess i cant say no to my very first friend if he needs my help and can make me a body i can use to do it in then i guess id better say yes " the dragon smiled " honorable to the last i told my mother you were to be trusted ..But she wouldn’t hear of it " he administered a strong pain killer and waited for it to take hold he sighed at the easing of the agony from his legs
the dragon scooped him up and had to hold his breath at the smell "I’m sorry sarrus I’m afraid the smell is something I got used to"
the dragon nodded and carried him outside taking a breath the smell was still very intense but easing.

"You remembered my name" bill smiled and draped his arm over the dragons shoulder his warmth easing the chills " how could I forget the name of my dragon " "true. Your not afraid?" " Should I be? Of the friend I’ve thought lost forever sometimes thinking id made an imaginary friend. But the scar " " our scar we made as a promise " bill coughed trying to hold it in to keep from coughing only made it worse and pain returned for a moment to fade out again " my home is under attack William. we need fighters warriors to save my home "
"but I’m .." " just a human ? yes but humans have a rare gift evolution has tested your race time and time again nearly constantly your people are tested unlike any other known ..and your people survive to become better each time. you have no fear of others unlike many humans your exnophobia is nonexistant" " something id say was becouse of a young dragon friend who played tag with me speeding through the streets with our race cars on the striped towels which were the roads " he smiled remembering those days

he looked down into the eyes of this man who was once a child and his closest friend " william i wont say this will be easy, you may die and never see earth again. once you decide this there will be no going back " " lets go sarrus i have nothing here to keep me but death "
" then try to relax " he leaped up into the air and bill looked down seeing his home fall away he suddenly saw flooring underneith them he found the pain killer had an added benifit. he was so tired he drifted off to sleep as the dragon walked
he set the body down fearing the life had left it but a tiny smile came to the mouth as he slept for the first time in awhile without pain
he attached cuffs to his wrists to administer drugs and life support which it did imeadiately ..but was unable to do much with the bacteria and virus that were eating away at him only a star base could help him now

==============================================================

he quickly sent his probe drones after williams photos and data off his computers hard drive as he moved back to check on him the ship made orbit and proceded towards the local star base he watched as his body finaly and quite suddenly stopped fighting his systems were ready and took over instantly he sighed ..his efforts as a friend had been less than honorable he wanted this man to die for his people
to fight for him as a friend who needed help
he'd forgoten this man save for his face to his shame he had to look at the file to find his full name now here he was ..near death with no future but willing to fight for one for someone else; who had cared so little ..as to forget him as another face in a world full of them. this would be his saving grace then, he would fix this make his old friend a life to live and enjoy if it took all he had and ..perhaps even his own life

he awoke and smiled through the mask which was giving him air seeing the dragon

"hey drake don’t worry ..i know you, you always think of something to do ..you always did"

"I’m trying william but im finding this test of my abilities to be rather vexing"

"I’m on life support huh?"

"yes I’m afraid so"

"then build around that ..i can bet I’m gona be on it for awhile hey ..read my books and notes from my computer ..vivid imagination is fertle ground for solutions to problems"

"i will do that, but you need to rest please"

"only for you .." he fell off again and was watched by the blue eyes as the ship lights dimmed the eyes kept their glow ...

sarrus was highly surprised as williams’ body came off the support after a short while his systems ready to take up the slack if needed but he had to smile.

william was a fighter but one who’s heart had been broken who’s spirit and hopes were dashed on the rocks of reality
leaving him empty and alone, he knew seeing him had given william a massive jolt of happyness and hope he had to make sure that he didn’t lose hope

his communications board popped on and an old lady friend smiled

"sarrus have you brought us a fighter too?"

"i have but he needs medical help immeadiately I’m inbound now"

"alright i will have a med team on the landing pad waiting for you"

he smiled and purred out a sound of affection to her. she leaned back a little and with a michevious grin repeated it to him

"now if you would only offer that when I’m wanting" he just grinned

In the lanes to the hyper gate were huge star based freighters nearly the size of moons in mass

all of different race design new were his peoples warships guarding the gate and the star base from possible attack. other ships aiding in the escorting of those huge freighters to there destinations safely he glided along with thousands of others going to and fro, from the base his ship slipping through the safety field and gently settling to its gear

the med team rushing over to the ramp he walked out with him in his arms several backed away a step at the smell

"he has not been well infection has nearly claimed him"

laying him down on the floating support bed it closed a cover over him and they came back over looking down at this creature

"he is an earther?"

"yes a human male"

they turned and headed for the interior of the station he was held up by a check in as they rushed on he came running as security forces stopped the team at the lifts

"why have you stopped!?!" they gestured to the security officers

"what is your identity citizen?"

"i am sarrus researcher first, stationed on earth umm sol-3"

=========================================

the officers  were of his race but bigger and gray black in color

the three of them were holding quite a few from using the lift as it conveyed troops from various other worlds up into the station

he snarled and moved up close to him

"your holding up a med team who has an Ill person from medical treatment ..move aside" 

he looked calmly to the prone form scanning it and looking at the results on his wrist display

"four known deadly bactierium two viruses and enough rotted flesh to cause us all to be quite upset, he isn’t in a hurry save to die"

"this human"

"and a protected creature at that, researcher i hope you have authorization to even have made contact with this being"

he reached up and pulled the male around to face the huge line of troops and mechs moving to wards the lift most were being sent to the transfer station soon to be sent out to the battle zones there they would appear and be transfered to ships for landing or ship to ship combat

"we were asked to find warriors you idiot!! AND i found one who needs our help and will give his very life for us without asking a single thing but his life!!"

the male gestured to his compainons who had been moving to take sarrus from behind
"he's dieing researcher"

"and your holding us up when we can help him!"

he blinked one of the med techs shouted and sarrus raced over to bill’s side he was gasping for breath.

he'd fell asleep again and was resting nicely the pain long gone when he felt smothered opening his eyes he found a cover and no air!

smacking the covering a panda bear looking creature looked in and smiled nicely at him he gasped for air the face exppresion changed and it called out in barks and growls

his vison blurred and sarrus was there touching a panel air flufed his hair and he heaved in a breath

"you alright my friend? it was an accident the controls were set incorrectly for a human"

"it's okay sarrus, I’m still really sleepy you mind if i"

"not at all my friend you go right ahead and sleep, we'll soon be in the medical center" he smiled and let the darkness of sleep claim him

sarrus turned to the technition

"it is set for human norm sir"

"he is near death his body’s needs for oxygen is incredibly high due to the state its in"

turning to the security force they were clearly getting communications from elsewhere they stood straight and immeadiately held the troops up

"your cleared for medical move on!!"

sarrus wondered who had called that one in to their superiors but needed to get him to medical more.

soon as they reached it the medical machines declaired his legs totaly unsalvageable and surgery was started immeadiately his blood being washed of infectious pathogens

lazers and various beams of energy flashed from above him as med techs worked on him for hours sarrus had been told to go get some rest

william would be unconsious for quite awhile he spent the time reading bill's books which had been saved with his computer data

he had been impressed with the first and each after made ideas flow ..he smiled as an idea came up and smiled knowing it would be perfect !

================================================================

a couple days later he was sitting in an auditorium he'd gathered many of the earth project researchers the local military and medical scientific heads of all departments some of which had to attend via holographic links due to the fact they were not able to breathe oxygen

he smiled and formaly walked out to some approval, most were very quiet he stopped infront of them and a large hologram of him appeared to one side 

"thank you all for coming i realize this is a difficult time but i belive this meeting will prove benifical and perhaps more lasting to the union of worlds aligaence than a quick fix of the war that is curently raging at our very feet i wish to thank especialy fleet high comand oficer saxxxrrt for taking a short rest in her preparrations and logistics to see my proposal" the massively built rock like saxxrrt nodded once to this

he touched a control pad and an image came up of their enemy race 1881 known as the drut a male and female along with various stages of young all displayed some it clearly was a first time seeing them "this is the drut the race who’s numbers are overwhelming our defences and straining our reserves, a normaly peaceful race they clearly are under the influence of a second and now confirmed third party"

"hass thiss been cleared ressearcherr?"

"yes it has saxxrrt i have already sent my entire proposeal to the councel but they will wait till all of you here have had a voice in it's possibilities, we have recently as of early yesterday recaptured a freighter which had fallen to the drut the crew all ferralis were wandering about the ship in a dazed druged like state upon examination this was found inside them"

clicking the control an image came up of a maggot like worm with rows of serrated teeth "this is one of the unidentified races who are involved ..this is clearly a young larval form it was found attached to the remains of the esphogus awaiting the host to consume food so it could be fed, it's anal opening was attached to the remains of the intestinal tract ..we have surmised that it from its fecal production it keeps its host fed just enough nutrients that they can be mobile

he clicked it again showing chemical analisis

"in its fecal production is a series of incredible pain killlers’ and various halocenagenics also massive amounts of stimulents the crew of the ship had ripped open air tight bulkheads to reach sealed food stores"

he clicked the remote "i have been stationed on earth sol-3 for most of my life i have seen many things and i have come up with this idea which i have done some testing thanks to the conmander"

clicking it again an image came up of a huge mech suit in a strange terrifying form many moved back reflexively he smiled and moved forward as if to press his advantage

"this is a battle suit of a new being in our union ..a race dedicated to helping our peoples ..created with voulenteres to be striped of there former lives to remade into the race to be called the guardians ...there forms taken from images that humans made of legindary creatures of there world ..myths ..fantasies..but all to real to some, and i belive i know why"

=============================================

clicking the remote all the holos changed to images of various forms and human creatures of leginds ...they were very simaler this brought a colective gasp from all

he smiled william had gathered these images for a few years and they were exacly what sarrus needed

"we have been studying humans for so long awiting the day they would be ready to join us ..to share with us ..we’ve missed the fact they already know about us and they have made us into a part of there cultures! ..my proposeal is this we use all the technology and science techniques to build these suits which will house and support the forming body of the indivdual guardian each will be physically conected to the suit till there body is fully ready and then it will be just a battle suit for them. the suit will be life support and form shape for each inside the new technology of nanatech will form each cell from synthetic dna buliding a new race from tanks of raw materials ..even the brain would be altered to fit the new form ..it's needs and capeabilities instincts"

he had to smile as they looked on eyes filled with ideas and wonder the commander was clearly thinking about having people such as these to help

"the guardians will need a home world from which in time they can retire to and have children"

one of the scientifc leaders raised a hand

"yes?"

"reproduction? but with synthetic dna that can be nearly impossible to get healthy babies"

"but that dna was used to alter a creatures body to a concidered norm, my proposal is to create a new series of races to be called as a group the guardians the dna would be for the nana robots to use as a design for construction once the body begins to operate on its own the dna will become real not synthetic the nana robots then would only be for healing and genetic stability as guardians they may well be exposed to incredible hazards from poisons to radations chemicals. all known to cause genetic problems"

he smiled changing it to an image of the suits being built some shifted a little "my clans ancesteral heritage i have put into the construction of these suits it is my clans way of giving to the future of the union. with approval i will seek out human voulenteres who becouse of desease sickness or genetic problems are crippled and offer them a second chance with full knowlege that they must fight to earn the right to recive this gift" he clicked it again showing the prisoners in a secure cell the huge black n redish colored beetles which was closest a human would come to describing them were milling about speaking to each other
"this friends is live from inside this stations cells the drut have no known fear to anything or any race, till now"

with a click an image of a dragon appeared in full color true to size totally still three dimentional picture
the drut went wild with pure terror digging at the walls killing each other in mad panic the males slicing through females and smaller males to try and escape they themselves getting clawed and bitten in the process within a few moments 120 drut were dead and another 100 were severly injured he clicked it to another room which there were some talgen and tallian with milky eyes  wandering about aimlessly "paristeized the larva finaly grow and consume the host  as you see the cocoons in the back there and three adults which we have yet to identify they matured quite quickly eating off the wandering hosts hands fingers and such"
many were highly appaled a few retching there meals out he waited till they had calmed

"this explination is so you understand friends, once one of our peoples is captured they are food for these creatures we must be just as ruthless"

=================================================

clicking, the remote the image of a gryphen appeared and they all stopped milling about the three adults shrunk back in behind the cocoons the hosts started to quiver and the larva burst out imeadiately crawling away from the image soon to die gasping hook teeth grasping the adults burst from there hiding place to attack the image but finaly slid to a stop hissing and clawing at empty air
"a normaly passive creature pushed to a foolish atempt to attack by just an image the larva clearly able to see with the hosts eyes reacted in a terrifyed maner so much so they killed them selves to runaway" he turned on all the holos with half sized images of all the forms to be made "each of these is a human creature of legind each by human idea has great mystical powers and some are even blessed with godly abilities with technology we can build some of these gifts into them some we can give them genetically thus a basis for improving there race by good mating choices "

smiling as he walked along infront of them

"this is my proposal to councel and to you. we create the guardians we invite the human race to join us and we send these insects into a paniced run for intergalictic space never to return we all as a union give to the guardians as they become more self suficent we give to those who are stationed on our planits and bases and allow there race to strengthin on it's own, letting them write there own culture customs and religon of course sugesting that service to the union is best and rewarded amply”

taking a deep breath he smiled pridefuly "that is my proposeal there is more informationon humans and these legindary creatures avalable for your detailed examination avalable in the main data base under tital project guardian"

he was glowing the fact that they had stood and shouted aproveal to the comander imeadiately offering the stores of the local repair yard the scientists imeadiately offering him options on how the dna could be a protected item so thus his to profit from once this was over later walking into the medical center lost was all his greedy ideas seeing william nearly choped in half a medical helper washing a mess from his bottom area his butocks were gone as his pelvis had been removed one of the head of medical came up " weve done what we can sarrus the blood toxins have damaged his organs and the bacteria have nearly infiltraed his ceribrium weve got them sealed out for now, they are highly resistant to even our best drugs"

"humans have the same problems with them im afraid"

"they been using synthetics? all those do is cause evolution to push the bacteria into a stronger form"

"they have little choice ..how long till they breach the barrier to invade his cortex?"

"3 days. we can use some drugs that can help but they will destroy his organs"

"if given now will they destroy the bacteria?" she blinked in shock flicking her bear like ears sarrus thought william would have found her quite atractive even if she looked like a huge grizzly bear her breasts stacked so the smaller two were lower on her chest than the larger two the robe she wore was out of necestity, for cleanlyness not modisty

===========================================

"yes it would the drugs in his sytem and those on top of them would be terminaly toxic for them. and his organs"

"how long can you keep him on support?"

“we can keep his ceribrum alive for 6 days the body will be failing around it"

"but his brain and spine will be safe from the bactiria yes?"

"yes"

"do it then this body will die one way or another best to keep his mind safe and able to start easely in a new body"

"a new body sarrus? have you lost your mind?" he smiled and gently patted her on the arm a human gesture of reasurance which he realized was one of affection to her kind she flushed a little

"just keep his brain safe and intact ..you'll see in a few days"

bill drempt of flying free through the air up and up faster till the wispy tendrils of clouds froze on his body as ice becouse the wisps lost there chance to fall away as he broke into the area only spaceships dared to venture, he felt no fear, or pain cold yes but it was invigorateing not harmful he pushed and broke free from the atmosphere the pull of gravity soon lost behind him he had a place in mind far from home an asteroid in the belt he knew it well. but how he thought, hell no human could be that far out and he sure wasn’t gona be the first but here he was flying in space and extremely fast at that! the moon flicked by so fast all it left was an afterimage on his minds eye a hud display came up with a targeting crosshair and a scan like radar of around him he had two wingmen! he looked and saw one hell'a ugly ship and then as he looked through the corner of his eye its eye winked at him! it was a huge metal dragon!! looking at his left side another slightly smaller one more of a feathered serpent style nodded once and pealed off heading for another blip far out ahead

try as he might he couldn’t change his course or stop flying on towards the bigger of two blips as it had been just one

an indicateor showed the other dragon circling around the jupiter side of the belt to attack from the rear a com channel came up with the face of the dragon beside him she winked again and he made a deep croon in response, the image disapeared they continued to cruse at high speed towards the awaiting blips as the featherd serpents icon overlaped and crossed the smaller blip a com channel came up with her image again

"if dave cant spook them from the rocks do we go in? they will have the rocks for cover and it may still be a trap the rocks covering any fighters"

once again he tryed to do something but to no avail and startled as the thoughts and flow of this fighter came into his mind his voice came out deeper and much rougher

"they cant be allowed to reach earth with that cargo, we go in and hope jim will have the others in the air before they can get to close"

"if they get past us of course" he felt himself smile "if they put up a good fight i might let them actualy get to jim. He’s been complaining he doesn’t get much to do" she laughed and the com shut off they watched as the belt grew closer and still no movement out of the belt though they were moving trying to evade and attack dave the smaller icon changed to an image of a ship which its information came up automaticlly his thoughts reflected on the ships type a light distroyer. dave will be in trouble if they can get a lock on with her torpedoes .

============================================

he accelerated and she did to match him

" you see the type?"

"yes" he replied "dave is gona get in over his head time for the big guns to intercede"

"ohh no you dont !! ive got this under"

an explosion cut off his words and his icon blinked "he took a hit!"she called out

he smiled knowing dave he looked over to her

"he's fine he's playing possum"

she smiled and they continued to close with the larger freighter its huge engines turning her away from the fracas of ship to dragon bill smiled as they skimmed over the hull small gun implacements opened up to there doom as she straifed them into silence "thought as much fighters coming in 3 high" he looked where she indicated and adjusted course

"continue the attack im on the fighters"

"alright lover you be nice no playing with your food now" he laughed and didn’t even think about the fact she was his lover his old concerns were gone all that was left was the fight to fly free.

he twisted and turned in place doing a 180 turn and dive twisting away from them as they closed to attack. his turn had covered a rock which three imeadiately smashed headlong into leaving two a flick of his tail sent a rock careening towards another the impact exploded shrapnel into the path of the remaining  fighters one used its wepons to vaporize the projectiles the other scattered sparks as the crew died exposed to space its venting atmosphere spinning it wildly into another asteroid a massive flare as she exploded into bits

"your dead dragon!!"

"many a fool has chalenged me pilot ..do you chalenge this guardian to the right to live?" his fighter increased speed the reactors clearly never meant to do this bill grined and led him clear of the rocks it made him an easy target. but also gave his opponent nothing to hide behind

he let him chase and shoot at him till his matter/antimatter torpedoes were spent and cannons were overheated he then took a quick roll and came up behind the fighter the engines clearly near overload he smiled and reached out his claws punching holes in the engines and hull atmosphere started blowing out from the holes a flash startled him as a new addition to this kind of fighter took him off guard a lone tail gun with gunner was shooting at him point blank range stomping down the gun went silent he climbed hand over hand as the fighter rolled and pitched trying to toss him free his claws punctured a fuel tank and the reactants spewed out he smiled as the ship slowly ceased its pitching and the engines went dead he snarled feeling the death blow close now the blood hunger rushed up as he ripped the canopy off the fighter he roared in the airless silence of space at two small human men who held out handguns to try and stop him his teeth found the first and the second exploded in the vacume.

he heaved in a deep breath panting at the dream nightmare blinking he was laying on his belly a normally painful and uncomfortable position for him
he never slept on his chest he felt stiff as was the case when he'd rolled over on his chest and stretched hearing popping sounds some creaking
'jezzus i must be getting old, sounding more like an old crane every day ' laughing to himself stretching his arms more popping came out he groaned and listened to it rumble like he was in a thunder storm wiggling his fingers he felt long fingernails tapping "huh" it boomed out blinking in shock he pushed up and found his head rose up so fast the world blurred and it made him dizzy he blinked and felt better
but realization came that he was comfortably proped up on his arms with elbows locked . looking down he got a vertigo shock he was realy high and his hands were metal he lifted one to look at the more paw shaped hand huge claws but clearly capable of dexterity 'sarrus said he was gona get me a new body..but dang!' wiggling his fingers the claws flashed and gleamed the dream! he blinked and realized

"im a dragon"
that too boomed out in far more volume than he'd intended suddenly he had a huge group of people come running in several with what looked like wepons!

================================================

he was about to say something when sarrus pushed to the front he was small! "william can you understand me?"  bill smiled and they all backed up a step so he stopped

"yes sarrus " came out in the deep baratone

sarrus smiled and turned to one of the others

"you see i told you he would be fine"

"sarrus"

"yes william? how do you feel?"

"when you said you were going to get me another body ..you didn’t say it'd be a dragons"

sarrus laughed and smiled "you told me as children you wanted to be one and i read your stories, a dragon is what you are"

he felt the face shift as he smiled

"yes ..im ok i guess stiff"

"of course your stiff ..your body is brand new ..it'll work better as it goes along any pain? discomfort?"

"just stiff" looking around at his side huge wings shifted as did a tail which he could feel it was a gentle pull on the spot at what was once the crack to his butt

"Can we get you to lay back down William" asked a bird like creature as she moved forward he looked to sarrus

"that is ner'tara she is in charge of the guardian project" he eased back down now seeing the leg locks he'd popped open as he stretched