Dragon Shifter

Gunnar's Cabin

Just as Gunnar began to row away a hunter on the ship ran up to him. "What about the things in your cabin sir?" One of the hunters asked. Gunnar attempted to get out of the boat to go to his cabin, but I shot a fireball at his feet. "Forget it! I have copies of the maps and anything valuable is waterproof. We'll come back for it!" Gunnar replied and the rowing boat headed towards his island. The rest of the hunters jumped off of the sinking ship and began swimming after Gunnar. I was about to go after his boat and sink it, but then I had a better idea. I landed on the abandoned sinking ship and headed to Gunnar's cabin.

I shifted into a human and started looking around. There were three large glass windows, maps all over the walls, several chests, a desk with a chair and a big red rug spread across the floor. The maps seemed to be used for hunting as they had dragon species and migration routes marked on the islands. The chests continued either jewels, weapons or coins and gold. I walked over to the desk and sat on the chair. Laid out on the desk was a map with a circle around the nearest island to us, the one Eclipse had flown to, with the writing "dragon flyers." I opened the draws which were very interesting. One draw contained knives, another was filled with coins, another had dragon bones and the last had a green pouch. I picked up the pouch and opened it. Inside the pouch was a little bronze key. I glanced around, but I couldn't see anything that might need a key.

I got up and walked towards the biggest map, but I tripped over the corner of the red rug. I thought about moving the rug, but the desk was placed on top of it and it would be too much work. Then I realised how strangely convenient that was. I managed to move the desk and chair then pulled away the rug. This revealed a wooden trapdoor with a lock. I put the little bronze key inside the lock and turned it. The lock clicked and the trapdoor opened, revealing a little room. I put the key in my pocket, jumped inside and looked around, but it was too dark to see anything. I let my eyes turn into Night Fury eyes and suddenly everything became clear. The only thing in the room was a little square black box. I picked up the box and let my eyes go back to normal.

I climbed out of the trapdoor and looked out of the three windows, but instead of seeing the horizon, I saw fish swimming past. The boat was underwater! Suddenly the glass broke and water filled the cabin. I shifted into a Thunderdrum, a water dragon. I took the box in my mouth and swam out of the window. I looked up and realised I was pretty far down. Finally I reached the surface. Luckily the box was waterproof, as Gunnar had said, and was unharmed. I shifted into a Night Fury and raced towards the nearest island.

I reached a small island covered in forest. I used my strong sense of smell to sniff out Eclipse and the others. I got their scent and spotted them by a large oak tree. Autumn was cuddling Eclipse and Runa sat by Firefly. I landed on the ground softly. I dropped the box behind the oak tree and started walking towards Firefly. Autumn ran over to Runa and hid behind her. Eclipse growled. "Hey, it's just me" I said quickly. Eclipse stopped growling and ran over to me happily. "Destiny! I'm glad you're okay, I was getting worried" he told me as he rubbed his horn against my head as a greeting. "How is everyone?" I asked as I sat down. "Firefly was hit with dragon root and is still unconscious... Autumn and Runa are both in shock about you turning into a Gronckle and are worried about Firefly" Eclipse told me. I nodded and looked over at Autumn. "Eclipse? Little help here, get rid of it!" Runa said as she pointed at me. I flattered my ears and Eclipse growled. "Eclipse?" Autumn said with confusion. Eclipse ran over to Autumn, grabbed her and dragged her over to me then he sat down proudly. Autumn looked up at her dragon who just nodded towards me.

Autumn sighed and took a small step forwards. I gently reached out my head and rubbed it against her hand with a purr. Autumn was very tense and I could smell her fear. "Do something to show her it's you?" Eclipse suggested. I looked my little sister in the eyes and slowly let my eyes turn human. "D-Destiny?!" Autumn gasped and she took a step back. I let my eyes turn back and nodded. "How do you know?" Runa asked. "The eyes, they changed into her eyes!" Autumn said in both fear and amazement. I took a step back and nodded at Eclipse who wrapped his wing around Autumn's shoulder to make her feel safe. I took a deep breath and felt the familiar tingling as I shifted back into my human self. Once my vision had cleared I saw both Autumn and Runa with their jaws wide open.

"Okay, I know this is a lot to take in, but I can explain everything" I said. Before I could continue Autumn ran forwards and hugged me. "Yeah, an explanation would be quite nice!" Runa snapped and I chuckled. I sat down by Firefly and started talking. "Well it all started when I lost Autumn..." I told them about my first shift after I lost Autumn, about the dragon training and being cast out of Mistdell. I told them how I had found Gunnar and met Kai then joined the pack of Singetails. "...So I knew I had to get you off the island" I finally finished. "That's amazing!" Autumn said as her brown eyes sparkled. "I know it's a lot to take in, but you don't have to be afraid. I can control it" I said as I glanced over at Runa. "No, I'm not. It's just... weird" Runa replied. "So that's my story, but what happened to you Autumn?" I asked. "Well after I had been dropped by the Singetail, I washed up on an island called Shredstone Walls and Runa found me, because she was staying there for some training. She looked after me and introduced me to Firefly. Then one day Firefly brought Eclipse to us because his wing was broken. I fixed the wing for him and we bonded. Later we left the island and both dragons chose to come with us. Runa took me to her village, Golden Heart, where we stayed until Runa had finished her training. Then we set out together to try and find you on Mistdell" Autumn explained. "Wow. Autumn I'm so sorry, I wish I could have stopped that Singetail or at least been there with you..." I said. "It's okay Destiny, it wasn't your fault" Autumn told me. I took a deep breath then turned to Runa. "Thank you for looking after Autumn" I said with a genuine smile. "Of course" Runa replied. "Listen, I know things have been... tense between us" I said. Runa nodded. "I think I was just being overprotective of Autumn and I'm sorry" I admitted. "No, I'm sorry. I was the overprotective one. I didn't trust you... I thought you were hiding something, which you were, so I didn't want to leave Autumn alone with you. I was planning on taking her back to Golden Heart with me. But I was wrong. You have proved how much you care about her, especially when you shifted in front of us. I get why you would hide something like that. So I'm the one who's sorry" Runa told me. "So are we okay now?" I asked. "I think we are" Runa smiled. I smiled back happily. I cuddled Autumn and we all continued talking.