Synopsis: A man wanders along a beach in search of answers for his troubled mind when he stumbles across a strange egg with magical properties causing him to change into a creature of legend and myth. But who does the egg belong to, and how does this man now navigate his fate interwoven with that as caretaker for this to-be creature of the sea?

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The Water's Edge

by K9Lupus

One late afternoon, a man was wandering along a vacant beach devoid of any other people for miles around. Dark, swirling clouds had blanketed the skies, and the sand beneath the man's feet was damp with the first drops of rain. The ocean's rising swells tinged the air with the sharp tinge of salt, and the wind lightly tossed about his wavy, brown hair as he pulled the ends of his deep blue jacket tighter around his body. Floating on the water's surface, a small flock of seagulls called out to one another as their bodies bobbed up and down on the undulating waves.

He had moved here for a fresh start, to leave the past behind in favor of a brighter tomorrow. This was to be a healing place for him until one day, someday, he hoped he would be ready to go back changed somehow. Always drawn to the water since he was little, he figured a seaside town would be the perfect fit to live. Beautiful views, more water than he could ever dare to explore, and endless treasures to add to his growing collection from what he'd find talking to locals or wandering the sandy beaches.

The man's mind was as uneasy and convoluted as the ocean's mood. He had hoped that an aimless walk along the beach would comfort him as it had many times before, but today he felt little of the usual comfort this space typically gave him. “Maybe I should head back home like everyone else.” he considered before his thoughts were interrupted by a strange sight in front of him.

Partway buried in the sand a few paces away was what appeared to be a stony orb. The man went over, bent down, and swept layers of accumulated and caked on sand away from the object's surface. On closer inspection, he could see that it was the approximate rounded shape of an egg. The egg was hefty, plain and unmarked, about as wide as the man's chest and the length of his forearm. He knew of no creature that laid an egg such as this, and curiosity seized him to learn more about it.

The man brushed the palm of his hand across the curved surface of the egg and all at once felt a rush of energy course through his body. Winding tendrils of silvery-blue and green mist weaved around him from head to toe, sparkling before his eyes and dissipating just as quickly as it had appeared. He scarcely had time to process the odd sensations as rain was quickly pouring down around him. The man considered burying the egg back into the sand, but a compulsion: ancient, wordless, and primordial seized him, and so the man instead made the decision to hurriedly dig out the remainder of the egg and carry it back with him cloaked beneath his jacket while he ran back to his car as fast as he could.

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The man arrived back at his home as the last rays of sunlight disappeared from the sky. He was drenched, soaked to the bone, but as he unveiled the heavy shape clutched to his chest and slid back against the door, he was elated that no harm had befallen the egg during the journey back. The man spent some time carefully studying the egg, racking his brain for what manner of beast would lay such a grandiose offspring, but his thoughts were interrupted once more by the same deep compulsion he had experienced back at the beach, this time finding his body moving himself and the egg closer to the fireplace, the fire still going with the last embers of the previous log.

The man tossed in a new log which was quickly lapped up in the contained inferno, and felt the soothing heat radiate out towards him and the egg settled in his lap. “Good thing I found you. Most eggs need to be incubated so they can hatch right?” the man said as he cradled the hard, calcified casing of the egg. He laid down then by the fire on his side, the egg held gently at his belly. The faint pressure against him was comforting and soothing, a familiar weight forgotten, but fleeting bits of sensations and fragments of memories previously unknown were starting to filter through to the man in this expanded moment of peace.

The man was enraptured and calm, barely noticing the flickering dance of the winding silvery-blue and green tendrils once more manifesting about his body. The man's fingers and toes lengthened and stretched as additional bone and muscle willed itself into being. Along the nape of his neck and running down beneath the lining of his shirt, new long, pointed spines emerged, forming a narrow ridge along his back. The alterations to his body transpired in seamless, painless fashion, his senses dulled to a momentary daze before rushing back into clarity with the same force as a surfacing breath after an extended dive.

The man hurried to stand and stumbled on his strange, alien looking feet, the digits linked together with fleshy webbing between them and tipped with short, ivory claws. A quiet tear was heard from the sudden rise of his new spines ripping through his shirt as they stood on end. Time froze as he fumbled for a rational explanation to explain what he saw.

“What's happening?” he said with haggard breath, his initial surprise and fear soon giving way to a more subdued curiosity. He made his way over to the bathroom and peeled away the damaged remnants of his shirt, fully revealing the golden flesh of his spiny frill to his unbelieving eyes. The spines twitched, relaxing and lifting themselves through the uncoordinated flex of new muscles.

“It must be because of the egg. It's doing something to me.” the man thought as he headed back to look at the large, mysterious egg he brought in from the beach still nestled near the fire. “If I take it back, then I can hopefully get whatever this is to stop before it gets any worse.”

“But is that what I really want? Someone has to take care of this egg right?” the man questioned. He thought of his wandering earlier in the day with the poignant desire to feel special in a world that otherwise painted him as plain, ordinary, and mundane. Perhaps, in its own strange way this was a gift to change things for the better, an opportunity to be as he was meant to be in a fashion he couldn't even possibly imagine before. It would be an end to his scattered thoughts. Now he had been supplied a concrete purpose to gravitate towards, at least for now. His brow furrowed as he inwardly dredged up a deep pool of resolve to follow through on this task.

“It's not time to bring it back yet.”

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The rest of the night came and went without any further strange occurrences, and so it was that the man went to bed that night with the egg held close against his body beneath a cloak of heavy blankets. When he awoke the next day however, he saw that his strange transformation had progressed further with a host of new changes having appeared during the night. The broad, blunted end of a short and thick muscular tail now extended behind him tipped in the same pointed spines as he had along his back. His ears had grown, ending in sweeping fan-like extensions. His brow ridge projected forward in a manner similar to those he had seen in magazines of ancient man, and the man's skin carried a pale blue tint that lightened towards his chest and belly.

The man's attention was most perplexed not by these increasing animal-like characteristics, but rather the accompanying stark changes to his outward masculinity. His body presented with a softer, more feminine curvature, and his manhood itself had reduced to a barely noticeable slit beneath his tail. The man's gaze pulled away from his body to look upon the egg haphazardly covered with the blankets he had tossed away when waking. Sparks of memory filtered into his mind's eye: visions of a deepest blue, the effortless motions of an enormous body, the sharp scent of wet rock and dirt, and a heaviness filling the space of his belly with an urgent flood of concern.


This had been her egg. Or should he say his egg? he wondered. One that developed long within her body, but why did I find it only now after so long?

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Over the next week the man's profound transformation continued at home where he had stayed since finding the egg on the beach. Lithe, sinewy layers of muscle formed across his shoulders and rolled down towards his thighs and hips. His hands joined his feet in change, fingers taking on bestial, draconic proportions. Longer, webbed digits were tipped with pointed, ivory claws at the ends. His pale blue skin had darkened now to a vibrant cerulean, soft flesh exchanged for smooth, plated scales that covered nearly his entire body. Even his concept of self had gradually shifted in line with his body, feeling more and more the deep maternal connection with caring for the egg the longer he spent in its company.

The man often appeared clumsy navigating the space of his home -- long, whipping tails poorly suited for modern age living. The lengthening of his neck and torso into more serpentine approximations had shifted his center of gravity further forward, leaving him often hearing the sharp clang of knocked-over objects hitting the floor before quietly growling in embarrassment under his breath. With some concentrated effort he could still feed himself and tend to his needs as best he was able to. He tried to engage in his old interests: watching shows, drawing approximations of his shifting form, and each night reading stories to the egg by the fire whose lively motions within he felt strengthen each and every day.

Despite these new and added challenges from the man's heavily altered state of being, there was an uncanny peace that fell over him in this time as well. In his daily life there had been so many different choices to make, so many decisions and uncertainties to address or let fall through the cracks. Now matters had been simplified, reduced to a calm, undisturbed existence. As his changes towards this water dragon-like creature flourished, he found himself capable of the sharp, present focus that had previously eluded him. He could tend to his needs, then check on the egg in an endless cycle. There was no time for worries or concerns. The burgeoning instincts within his body led his actions before his thoughts could tell him otherwise, until on the eighth night, a new feeling surfaced deep within him.

It manifested as a slight tension in his limbs; an eager, insatiable urge to move as this place he had lived for several years now was now no longer safe and would no longer meet the needs for his developing offspring. Only one place could offer the space and resources it would need to adequately thrive. The dragon-man lifted his long neck away from his egg, and as he stared out the window in the direction of the beach where he had first found this egg that had changed him, he knew now it was time to return, to complete what he had started after that first contact.


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When the last rays of sunlight had finally vanished from the sky, the man carefully loaded himself and his egg into his car under the cover of night. He managed to uncomfortably work his tail through to the backseat to manage the pedals as he drove slowly, but he was certain that the oncomers from the opposing lane were unnerved to see the haunting glow of his slitted eyes reflected within their headlights as they drove by. Excitement bubbled up within the dragon-man as he finally came upon the same spot from before, grateful to find the lot empty as it had been before. He carefully grabbed the egg from the other seat and made his way down the short trail towards the beach, relishing in the feeling of sand flattening beneath his large hind-feet.

The dragon-man kept a brisk pace as he went, his long legs sweeping partly around his hips with each step in an awkward stride. The dragon-man's long tail dragged behind him as he stepped back to the spot when he had first discovered the egg. Any evidence of his previous disturbance had been erased from the shifting sands, and he rubbed the end of his short snout against the egg's surface before looking at the dark, amorphous body of the ocean ahead of him.

“That's where we both belong huh?” he said to the egg as he stepped forward to the water's edge. The cool touch of the water coursing over his scales sent pulses rippling up his legs to the rest of his body. He knelt forward, setting the egg down behind him in the lapping waves of the shallows as he steadied his breathing. His eyes drifted closed, and the dragon-man caught more flashes of memory, these the most vivid he had encountered yet: snapping teeth, a wailing cry, and a trail of crimson trailing from her body. There was that heavy feeling in her belly again and fear blended with urgency. She saw the light of the surface, then felt the heaviness go away entirely. The last she could recall was the gradual drifting of her body back down into the depths, the glow of her scales like those of wandering stars scattered among the night sky until they vanished from view.

The dragon-man quietly shed a tear at the visceral sense of loss coursing through him, her grief his own. He quietly growled under his breath, his teeth gnashing within his short snout while his toes dug faint furrows into the soft sediment beneath him with the strengthening pulses surging through him. His body continued to swell, growing and lengthening to an imposing stature before a quick series of pops heralded the realignment of the dragon-man's hips and pelvis to a forced quadrupedal stance. The dragon-man's spines stood erect from skull to tail-tip as additional bony outgrowths formed atop his forelegs, skull, and throat, natural armor to guard against harm. It was with a heavy heart he realized it had been an armor that had already been woefully pierced once before.

The dragon-man's forked tongue lashed out in front of him as his body rocked with the force of the dragon mother's will, his own thoughts blended within hers now. He nearly drowned within the depths of her loss, but the man held a heart that was kind, kind enough to reach out and bring in a creature he knew little about because he had felt it was the right thing to do. In this moment all he hoped to offer this ancient creature was a sense of peace, so that she may let go.

“I'll take your place. You don't have to worry anymore. I'll take care of your little one. I promise” the dragon-man said through his clenched teeth.

“Trust me.” he said to the ocean itself, hunched forward.

The answer appeared satisfactory to the dragon mother before him, the pain quickly ebbed back into faint rumbles as the transformation continued into its final stages. The man rolled and tossed about the water to cool his heated body, tail flailing as he cackled in bliss before the dragon who had once been a man tossed his head back and loosed a thundering cry that pierced through the night. He rolled the heft of his body to his side and spotted the egg in the shallows, now beginning to jostle gently to and fro.

I must keep my hatchling safe.

The new dragon mother opened her cavernous maw, gently sliding the egg inside to act as a secure and formidable cradle against would-be attackers. Without a look back to the land the water dragon rushed forward, diving down to slip into the water and towards her new life, reborn through the kindness of a stranger now fulfilled. Deeper, and deeper still the dragon mother traveled, water flowing across her filtering gills at the corners of her jaw.

The dragon descended down into the murky depths, lightly adjusting her direction through a flick of her tail or a paddling of her massive paws. She rumbled deep in her gullet, the sound radiating around her and assisting her in her travels to the place she sought. The light faded completely, and soon the dragon only navigated by the light of its patterned luminescent scales casting a pale glow against the rocky outcrops. Soon a network of jagged rocks came into view, and the dragon mother silently slipped inside a nearly imperceptible opening before rising straight up. She surfaced, using her strong, heavy paws to drag her heft free from the water and onto the cool dirt of the sunken cave.

Illuminated by her scales, she could see claw marks of varying sizes adorned within the walls, this cave having served as a nest for her species for countless generations. She could remember when these caves were filled with the roaring cries of her kind. Now they were silent save for the quiet dripping of ancient waters from the tips of stalactites into the mineral pools below. She would have been the last of her kind, a dying breath of an ancient race.

I am the last no longer.

She opened her mouth and allowed the egg to roll off of her tongue onto a bed of gathered seaweed and algae. The dragon settled herself around the egg, and felt its powerful motions as the soon-to-be inside shoved and prodded at the sides of its casing. The egg quivered and shook, rocking back and forth until rolling onto its side and nearly toppling out of the nest. A quick paw flung out, keeping the egg from tumbling towards the water. The egg shook harder with the force of the tiny creature struggling to break free inside. The dragon mother leaned her chin over the surface of the egg and cooed a deep, rumbling tone of affection, encouraging the strength of its little fighter to conquer its first challenge in the world.

A few minutes passed like this, then came a stillness to the egg, before a powerful burst of motion brought the slick, moist end of a blunted snout into view as a small section gave way of the egg. The tiny hole was proceeded by a gentle puff of moist air as the pressure within released. Bit by bit, more of the hatchling's snout was made visible to the outside world before a small foot pressed forth from the shell. Then came another foot, followed by a third. Soon after, the rest of its body came tumbling forward through its fractured egg case with a series of quiet chirping cries as it wobbled on shaky legs up towards its mother's belly.

The dragon mother lightly brushed its nose against the slick scales of its offspring, using its tongue to clean lingering residue from its egg. The hatchling voiced a flurry of rapid, delighted chirps, and for the first time in what felt like millennia, the water dragon had regained contentment. The hatchling figured out use of its legs and pecked at where its mother's scales glowed, its own scales a faint imitation of its parent. The hatchling voiced a fresh outcry, gazing at the mysterious depths of the entrance pool.

“Now's as good a time as any. You'll need to learn fast to survive in this world my little one.”

Mother led the way for her youngster's first swimming lesson, her hatchling displaying an instinctive and intuitive prowess in the water. However, the hatchling never ventured far from its mother's side as they began their search for food, their bodies undulating from side to side in near-perfect unison. More memories came to the dragon mother as they swam: foraging areas, predator zones, and even the cove she played in when she herself was a hatchling long, long ago. She nudged her newborn further down, wanting both of them to have a full belly before venturing up to explore closer towards the surface.

The pair drifted off into the black of the dark ocean, the luminescent shimmering glow of the dragon mother's scales echoed by the fainter light radiating from its hatchling. Its light was small for now, but would grow with time. There were so many things for her hatchling to learn in this changing world, but what she would tell her child most fondly in time would be of a young man, a surface-dweller who helped save them both in their time of need.

THE END

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Commissioned story for ! This project was a lot of fun to work on; always love getting to explore new concepts with water dragons as there are so many different ways you can take their designs and how they navigate their world. :) Would love to know what you all thought and am happy to answer any questions you may have had after reading the story.

Interested in getting a story commissioned by me? I am currently open! I'd love to get the chance to bring your ideas to life. My commission info can be found here:

K9 Lupus Commission Info

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