My First Shift.

We started walking into the cave where Sapphire said it was fine and safe. As we’re walking I notice that I can see perfectly in the dark, maybe even more clearly than when we were down in my Ma’s secret basement.

I blink my eyes, wondering if I’m imagining things.

‘How is that even possible?’ I think to myself, feeling nervous and confused.

‘Remember, Lily, I can hear your thoughts ,’ Sapphire laughs again, ‘It is very possible, we are the strongest and the most special dragon after all.’

“Right,” I mutter out loud, unsure if I’ll ever get used to this.

As I’m walking, Sapphire tells me how much she wishes she had been with me all this time and how different our lives could’ve been with each other instead of without each other.

I think about it and wonder what it would’ve been like…

Growing up with my dragon…

Knowing about the world I came from.

Knowing the man who helped bring me into this world.

‘There’s one more thing I should explain to you Lily.. we will have a fated mate,’ Sapphire says suddenly in my mind, making me feel even more confused at all the secrets kept from me my whole life.

‘A fated.. mate?’ I ask slowly. What's that supposed to even mean?

‘Yes Lily, a fated mate, our soulmate. We will know the moment we smell them, their scent will entice us and we will want nothing more than to go and be with them. Being with them makes us feel complete. The feeling is wonderful and having a mate is what we live for. Some people never meet their fated mate but we have one. I know we do.’ Sapphire whispers, sounding so sure of herself.

We keep going until she tells me the spot we’ve reached is good enough.

Wide open cave, you couldn’t even tell how tall it was… it seemed to go on forever.

‘Okay, Lily… this is gonna be pretty painful and brutal if I’m being honest with you. We should have shifted on your tenth birthday and it’s almost your seventeenth. This isn’t normal so it’s gonna be painful at first. Just listen to me and I’m gonna guide you through this the best I can. Start by sitting on the ground and breathing.’ she explains, sounding so concerned, It does not help my nerves at all.

‘Okay Sapphire, I am sitting on the ground, taking deep breaths, now what?’ I question the dragon in my head. Before I can say anything else I feel my mind and body begin changing.. my body becomes larger and foreign like it isn’t my own. A guttural scream escapes my mouth as my body morphs and changes into that of my dragon.

“SAPPHIRE IT HURTS SO BAD,” I scream out loud, excruciating pain tearing through my body as it tries to take a completely different form.

‘Lily, shhh, calm down, it's okay. Just breathe it’ll all be over soon.’ Sapphire tries to soothe me, but all I can focus on is the pain. The unbearable pain tore through my entire body. Making my eyes water as I listened to my bones cracking.

I continue to breathe and I close my eyes tightly, trying to distract myself from the pain.

Not knowing what else to do…

What feels like forever passes and when the pain is gone, I open my eyes…

Everything is looking so much brighter and sharper. I also notice that I am definitely not 5 '6 anymore. I have to be like twenty five feet tall!

My head almost touches the top of the cave.

I try to walk and start falling instead. Not knowing how to move in this new form.

‘Here,’ Sapphire offers, ‘let me take over for a little, while you adjust, Lily.’

I let her come forward and take control.

Like sitting in the back of your own mind as you watch someone else control your body…

She starts walking and stretching her wings out.

It must feel free.

She's looking at her tail and wings and all I can think is, wow. Beautiful Sapphire with the colour purple everywhere. She’s got to be the most beautiful dragon ever. Her shiny scales and massive wings, sharp ass teeth and a beautiful face.

‘Want to see something cool?’ Sapphire asks me in my head.

‘Of course I do’ I reply, feeling the excitement bloom in my belly as I watch my body moving without my control.

Instantly I hear her give off the most powerful roar, that makes the cave shake! She starts blowing out flames and then all of a sudden she’s blowing out ice!

‘Woah!’ I say absolutely flabbergasted, ‘that's crazy, can you do that all of the time?

‘That’s not all! And the ice not so much, sometimes it hurts my throat… but watch…’’ Sapphire muses before blowing out this purple mist.

‘What is that?’

‘It’s magic, Lily, our magic. You’ll learn how to use it and when to use it soon. We should head back home now’ Sapphire whispers in the back of my mind.

‘But how do we become human again!?’ I basically cry out, feeling every nerve on edge at the thought of it.

I have no idea how we even shifted into our dragon form let alone how to turn back to human.

‘Think of yourself as human, imagine it. Feel it,’ she answers before giving me control and pushing herself back into the darkest parts of my mind.

I imagine being human and feel my body change. Once I look down I’m human again, but my clothes are in pieces. I wear the extra clothes I carried with me from home. Eventually, we started walking back home, finally having made our way out of the cave.

‘When can we do that again?’ I asked Sapphire with a smile I couldn’t wipe off of my face, feeling free, feeling like that piece I thought was missing had found me.

‘Soon, my Lily, soon’ is all she says before she goes to the back of my mind.