New Year's Dragons-Chinese New Year TF

New Year's Dragons

Well, this was just dandy.

Dad had to go to China to help a client, and the whole family was able to come along. Mom thought it would be a nice vacation, so here we are in Beijing, looking for our hotel. It just so happened that we arrived just before the Chinese New Year started off, and businesses would be closed for at least half of the celebrations. This meant we had to stay longer than planned, as Dad wouldn't be able to get finished before the festivities began. And since China is a Communist country…well, a longer stay just makes me that much more nervous. I'm just darn lucky that my friend-who-is-a-girl Kim happens to be in Beijing as well to visit her family.

Well, there happened to be one other thing that kept my nerves in check. There was a TON of Chinese dragon memorabilia available, as it was going to be the Year of the Dragon. And, well, I happen to be a big fan of Chinese dragons. I'm not sure why they appeal to me so much, but it's an interest that Kim shares as well. We had already spent at least $60 on memorabilia already between the two of us, and I expected that we would be buying a lot more.

Our first full day in China soon dawned, the day just before the Chinese New Year celebrations began, and we were all rearing to go. The main reason I wasn't lagging in bed like normal was because Mom and Dad told me last night that they had arranged a surprise tour of a dragon temple in the area for that night, and I was anxious to go. The whole day, I was checking the time to see how much longer it would be until the temple visit. It couldn't come any sooner.

We soon arrived at the temple, which was adjacent to a small mountain and, well, HUGE. It looked almost like a small Oriental castle; except that it was large enough that I was sure a couple of huge dragons could fit comfortably. The inside of the temple was quite a surprise, as the hallways were large enough to fit a multitude of 747 fuselages-much more than what the outside conveyed. Most of the décor and whatnot were positioned rather high, as if it were meant for dragons. However, there was a surprising bit that was at a more human level. As the tour progressed, I couldn't help but stay behind at times to look at some dragon-related décor or whatnot. I managed to catch back up to the group the first few times, but about the sixth time or so they moved along without me, leaving me lost and alone. Well, Kim had stayed behind with me, as something had caught both our eyes an engraving of a pair of dragons (probably mates) flying together in the sky, doing intricate aerial maneuvers that had them intertwined. Once we realized that we were on our own, we decided to retrace our steps, and try to get back to the entrance. Unfortunately, we wound up nowhere near the entrance. Instead, we were in front of what could be called a dragon-sized pair of double doors.

Kim considered turning back for a moment, but I noticed that there was a small indentation in the wall. Taking a look at my wrist, where one of my souvenirs-a small disk with engraved on it that dangled from a silver bracelet (all fake, according to the salesman)-was located and looking back at the indentation, I realized the indentation was the perfect size and shape for the disk to fit in it.

Slowly approaching the indentation, I removed the bracelet and placed the disk in the indentation. There was a sudden *GROAN*, followed by a *CREAK*-ing noise as the doors slowly opened. My curiosity won over my reason, and I ran down the exposed hallway, Kim in hot pursuit.

As I ran, I vaguely noticed my body lengthening, but paid it no mind. I saw something appear in my field of vision as I felt my neck lengthen and something sprout from my rear, but I ignored it again. The hallway kept getting smaller and smaller as I felt myself grow, and my changing proportions soon forced me onto all fours. However, I just didn't care about all that for some reason. Besides, nothing felt abnormal or strange. In fact, I felt better than I ever had before!

All this slipped to the deepest recesses of my mind as I reached the end of the hallway, and –end of the line!  Dust flew as I skidded to a stop, just inches from the edge of a cliff. Looking over the cliff edge, my eyes went wide at what I saw. "Wow…"

I was gazing at a hoard of treasure that probably rivaled the riches of the greatest Emperors of China! There was literally tons of precious metals, jewels, weapons, armor, tapestries, and who-knows-what-else. The whole thing would probably take up half of the mountain, had it not all been underground.

"Henry!" I was snapped out of my awe-induced stupor by Kim's sudden cry. Well, it did sound more heavenly than Kim's voice, and was also a little deeper, but it was still her voice. I turned my head to look at her, and was about to ask her what was going on. But upon seeing where Kim's voice came from, my words died in my throat.

It wasn't Kim who had called my name. It was a blue-scaled Oriental dragoness with creamy scutes. Her cream-colored mane went from the base of her head to the end of her tail, where there was a tuft of fur. Her body was sprawled over what looked like 8 feet or so, and she had five-toed paws, which marked her as draconic royalty. Well, her forepaws had 4 scaly "toes" and a thumb-like "toe", making them rather hand-like, compared to her rear paws which had 5 "toes". Each toe was tipped with an extremely sharp-looking ivory claw, and each paw was at the end of a relatively short leg, giving her a few inches of clearance from the ground. Her 10 pairs of tendril-like whiskers were about as long as she was, and her ivory antlers were rather long-almost ¼ of her neck length. Her muzzle was open and her serpentine tongue lolled out her mouth as she panted hard, as though she had just run a marathon.

I was flabbergasted-here, right in front of my eyes, was a living, breathing CHINESE DRAGON. However, she looked a lot smaller than I expected… "Henry, *huff* *huff* what's wrong?" OK, this dragon seemed to be on familiar terms with me. But, how was that even possible? This was the first time I had ever seen a dragon in my entire life! "Don't you *huff* recognize me?" I tilted my head in confusion, wondering what was going on. Then I saw her eyes. They were reptilian and a dazzling silver, but they reminded me of Kim's eyes neverth-*SCREECH* Waitaminute. Is that dragoness…

"Kim? Is that you?"

The dragoness let out a sigh, saying "FINALLY you recognize me. I was worried there for a moment." Yep, that was Kim alright.

"Well, it doesn't help that you somehow turned into a Chinese dragoness while we were going through the hallway."

Kim's (mostly) sarcastic response was, "Of course it wouldn't help that I… WHAT!?" The next thing I knew, Kim was frantically looking herself over, almost as if she hadn't known she was a dragoness until I pointed it out to her. Wait…she said she was worried, but I couldn't think of anything she would be worried about.

"Hey Kim…" She stopped her frantic look-over to look at me as I spoke, and I couldn't help but mentally chuckle at the beyond pretzel-like configuration her body was in. "What were you worried about, anyways?"

She blinked and tilted her head in confusion, as I had done earlier. "You mean you didn't notice?"

"Didn't notice what?"

"…...JUST TAKE A LOOK AT YOURSELF!" she practically screamed at me, and I stepped back in surprise and fear. Kim rarely got angry, but when she was mad, she was mad.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a very conveniently-placed, albeit dusty, mirror hanging from the wall. Walking towards it, I wondered why Kim had yelled at me like that. I wiped off the dust from the mirror and looked at my reflection-or what should have been my reflection. Instead of the fair-skinned human I was used to, my "reflection" was that of a white-scaled Oriental dragon with light yellow scutes. This was obviously a prank from Kim. …Seriously? She wasn't the kind to pull pranks like this, except on April Fool's Day. Still, it was the only logical explanation. Wanting answers, I turned my head to look at Kim, and gave a retort to her prank.

"Trick mirror…verrrry funny, Kim. Can I have an actual…" My voice came to a slow halt when I looked back at the mirror. My "reflection" was moving in tandem with my own motions, just like a real reflection would. Slowly backing away from the mirror, I was in denial about this. "No-no no no no no no no no. This isn't happenING!" I wasn't watching where I was going, and as a result I tripped over Kim, sending my body sprawling all over the ledge.  From this position, I could easily see my body-my scaly, serpentine body.
I was a Chinese dragon, just like Kim was. My underbelly was protected by light yellow scutes which were flanked by snow-white scales. Rolling off of Kim and onto my stomach, I tried to maneuver what had been my hands to a position where I could see them, but it was impossible-my arms were too short. However, I was eventually able to bend my neck so my head was looking down at my new forepaws. Like Kim, my forepaws consisted of four normal "toes" and one "thumb-toe", each tipped with an ivory claw. I tried flexing both of my forepaws, pleased to find that I had lost little dexterity. I would probably still be able to grab things rather easily. I had to bend my body and my neck to get a good look at my legs. Again, they were like Kim's: 5 "toes" each tipped with an ivory claw, perched at the end of short, dog-like legs. My mane was the same color as my scutes, and ran from the base of my neck to the tip of my tail, where there was a tuft of fur-again, like Kim's. However, I appeared to be a little larger and longer than Kim, possibly because I was male.

Curious about what my head looked like now, I slowly got back onto all four limbs before I carefully walked back over to the mirror. Walking with this new body was surprisingly easy, like I had been doing it all my life, even though I had been a dragon for 15 minutes at the most. Once I got to the mirror, I took stock of my reflection again. My eyes were a bright gold color, and had slit pupils. I had a pair of round nostrils at the end of my muzzle, and my mouth housed a large amount of razor-sharp teeth along with a long, forked tongue. My antlers actually looked a bit longer than Kim's, being almost 3/8 my neck length. I had 12 pairs of whiskers compared to Kim's 10 pairs, but like hers, mine ran almost to my tail (when I kept my neck and body in a straight line, that is) and were the same color as my scales. I thought about how it would be nice to be able to move my whiskers so I could feel them and figure out what they were covered with, when I suddenly felt something brush up against the side of my face. The crazy thing is, I actually felt my face through the something! Turns out that "something" was a whisker. Upon realizing this, I tried moving my other whiskers and found that controlling them was as easy as controlling my limbs, which just floored me. After getting past the shock of this discovery, I maneuvered the tip of one whisker to where I could feel it with a forepaw. It actually tickled a bit as I rubbed the whicker, and it felt quite smooth-almost like the rest of my body but without the scales.

"So…how do you enjoy your new forms?" That wasn't Kim-it was deep and masculine, carrying tones of ageless wisdom. Turning to face the voice, I saw a spectral Chinese dragon that looked quite similar to me, only larger, longer, and with at least twice the whiskers, not to mention very long antlers. I mean, they went just past his forelegs! Next to him was a spectral Chinese dragoness who was a little smalker than her counterpart. She was similar to Kim, but was, again, longer, larger, with twice the whiskers, and having very long antlers, although hers only went to just before her forelegs. I couldn't help but feel humbled, and I found myself instinctively bowing in respect.

"We-we enjoy them very much, Sire." A quick glance to my right confirmed that it was Kim, who was also bowing, that had spoken. I knew that she was giving an accurate answer for both of us because I had often expressed a desire to be a Chinese dragon. So, this was like a dream come true for me.

The spectral dragoness responded: "Good...hopefully you will be ready for your new duty".
I just HAD to ask, so my curiosity could be sated. "What duty?" As I spoke, I noticed that my voice had become deeper and more resonant, but it was still my voice.

The spectral dragon chuckled a bit before replying, saying "Why, a duty to serve as the new Emperor and Empress of dragonkind!" That was NOT what I was expecting.

I was in too much shock to reply, so the dragoness continued where her counterpart left off. "You see, the dragon race is currently in hiding, and even then there are less than 100 of us still alive. Greedy hunters and self-righteous knights had wiped out most of the dragon  population, including my mate and I." It slowly dawned on me that the spectral duo in front of me were the former Emperor and Empress.

The dragon picked where his mate left off: "When we were killed, the dragon race was left without leadership, so dragons all over the globe went into hiding. That was over a thousand years ago. Last month, after observing the modern world from the afterlife, we decided that it was time for the dragons to make a comeback. However, to bring the survivors out of hiding we needed to find suscessors: a pair of humans who were willing to take the form of a dragon, had the right personality to rule, and were willing to spend millennia together. You two were the first ones we found that qualified."

Whoa, whoa, time-out! I can't be a ruler! I should probably tell them. "Erm... I don't think we're cut out for this job..."

The former Emperor's response was to let out a hearty laugh, saying "Nonsense! You're perfect for the role of Emperor! Especially once I share my wisdom with you..."

"Your WHAT?" I had little time to react before the ex-Emperor's eyes locked with my own, and my body froze. My mind suddenly felt like a grain of rice in a field-in other words, infitensimaly small. However, this soon changed as eons of knowledge and wisdom began pouring in, causing my mind to swell like a balloon. As it did so, I was on the verge of panic before an unnatural sense of calm washed over me. Now, I just felt...right. My mind shifted to a draconic version of its former self, although I was still me. As all the knowledge and wisdom of my predecessor fell neatly into place, I knew that it was finished.

The former Emperor broke off the eye contact, and my first thoughts with my new mind were about my (future) mate. Turning to look at Kim, I saw that she had undergone the same process I had, as she had just broken eye contact with the former Empress. That, and she was positively gorgeous. I'm not sure why, but she was much more attractive now than she had been. I guess a new mind means new instincts, along with new perceptions on beauty. We slowly approached each other, and then began nuzzling each other, in a show of affection of a degree I would have never expressed as a human. I was just too shy and reserved when it came to that. But as a dragon, my love for Kim was let loose, letting me express it as I pleased.

Breaking off, we turned to look at the spirits of our predecessors, only to find that they had vanished. I commented on this first: "Well, I guess we're on our own now." As I spoke, I noticed that my voice carried tones of the ageless wisdom I had just received, similar to my predecessor's voice. It was much harder to find my original human voice in my current draconic voice now, but it could be done.

"True, but that doesn't mean we won't be able to do our new duties properly." Kim's voice had also gained those tones of wisdom, and it was now very hard to find her original voice in it as well.

"You do have a point..."

Kim was confused at my sudden pause. "Henry? What is it?"

"Well, I just realized that our names don't really fit anymore."

"You know, I think you're right. Who ever heard of a dragon called 'Henry'?" Kim paused for a moment, contemplating something. Before I began wondering what she was thinking about, she spoke. "How about 'Zhérén'?"

"'Zhérén'?"

Kim nodded. "Uh-huh. It means "Sage" in Chinese."

"Hmm…It does have a nice ring to it, and it should fit with all the wisdom I was given. Alright-'Zhérén' it is." I then deliberated on ideas for a new name for my mate…got one. "And for you, maybe 'Měirén'?"

"Sounds nice, but what does it mean?"

I smiled, knowing all too well what it meant, even though just minutes ago I had barely any knowledge of the Chinese language. "It means 'beauty'-as in the most beautiful dragoness I have ever seen."

Kim-or should I say 'Měirén'-chuckled, saying "Oh, you stinker, you! Still, it sounds nice-I'll take it." So that takes care of that.

Content with our new lot in life, we curled up together on the ledge in an intimate moment. As we did so, I considered what we would do next for a bit before deciding to just spend some quality time with my mate-to-be. I gently rested my head against hers, passing over her neck, and closed my eyes, letting all my worries drift away as I went into a Dreamland alongside my love.