Ch.53: CAN’T FLY, WILL DIE!
“Alright class, before Mr. Argen arrives please keep respect each other and remember that the jeweled dragoness is also a converged classmate, much like yourselves.” Tavis said in a loud voice. Most of the class turned away but most gave me a lot of space, the only one who didn’t move was Maria who was glued to the floor, trembling but holding a smile.
“Now, as Ive told you all, I will now explain the suits provided to you. The material can absorb two thousand pounds of blunt force trauma. The black goo like material is a Biofilm called body pillow. It is one of hundreds of materials developed by the Caulerpa globe company where you can buy protective materials for all your needs.” Tavis said sounding excited but looking bored. To me this just sounded like an advertisement, unless the school is owned by this company, then it’d make some sense. But maybe it’s something else like a big sponsorship or-
“The current Grand Mind that runs this company was so generous to give back to his school that helped mold his mind with several challenges. Continuing to send funding and supply this school with protective gear.” He said continuing his ad.
The gray imp raised a hand. “Mr. Tavis? What does a slime company get from doing this?” They asked looking at everyone. “Are we footing some bill or special services?” this got the other students not close to me to nod or give Tavis a questioning look. The gray imp even looked in direction with a small frown, making me wonder if he didn’t like dragons.
“That’s because the three heroes of shattered skies saved their Grand Mind from being crushed and even gave the push to build a better company.” Tavis said with a smile.
“Yeah the three heroes came from here but then why did we get those clothes before that shattered skies incident?” Asked the imp in an accusatory voice.
“Look I’m only here to set up for-“ Tavis began, almost snapping at the imp.
“That’s enough Tavis.” Said a calm but demanding voice.
Stepping into view was a tall almost black bird with long arms and sharp clawed thumb. “Hello there class! I’m Mr. Argen, the class instructor for this fine evening.” He said in a friendly radio talk show host voice. The imp raised their hand but Mr. Argen smiled at him, flashing several rows of pointed teeth while eyeing the imp like an empty fast-food drive thru. The imp froze as their spider legs bunched up around him like a wall. “Oh! Yes, the Caulerpa co. was the owner of our original supplier. They’ve only held on to their contract with the E.M.D.” He said with a friendly face but his voice had a growl to it.
“Now on to the real reason you’re all suited up!” He said clapping his talons on the floor. This made a huge bubble pull out of the floor which split into several smaller bubbles until there was ten of them. The bubbles then flattened into the floor, creating a hole while the floor became padded. “Today class, I want to see how well you handle freefall. Don’t worry! Those holes create a levitation field that will make you float at a set height while simulating upward wind currents.” He said while walking into a hole. Instead of falling he began to float a few inches off the floor.
“to get off, all you have to do is walk over to the edge of the hole and step off like it was a big step.” He explained while doing so.
After a few more explanations about not spinning or disturbing others, getting ready we all walked over to a hole. Looking down I felt like it just went on into nothingness, waiting to swallow me whole. Looking around, everyone already began to step on their own holes, floating into the air, the imp opened their spider legs before jumping in. their legs actually had some webbing between them which opened up, looked like my own wings if they were more like fins. The imp looked at me before turning away from me that kinda annoyed me.
Turning away I took a quick breath before stepping into the hole. It was weird, almost like a solid platform, was there an invisible floor? The moment both feet were above the hole, I felt a push or a pull that made me hover a few inches off the floor. Whoa! My heart began beating wildly while my chest felt like spinning electric gears, my wings pulled open but something didn’t feel right to me. Floating there didn’t feel natural to me? Like I was eating plant based meat or diet soda, it was off not what I started off with.
“Now may feel fake to your senses, that’s because you’re not exerting yourself so please feel how your body moves once the wind turns on. Don’t do any diving movements, just feel how the wind feels on your wings or body.” Mr. Argen said in a calm voice. He clapped his talon on the floor twice making wind start to blow up from the hole, filling my wings with.
This didn’t feel too bad, it actually felt, refreshing? No it felt nice almost……..my muscles began to feel looser and even my back suddenly felt super flexible. I really liked this feeling to the point I spread my wings as wide as I possibly could. The wind filling my wings felt nice but still didn’t fully satisfy me, if anything it felt wrong. Looking up I saw how tall the ceiling was and I could feel a hunger build within my gut, I needed to reach the skies, I wanted to moved clouds and feel the sun on my back!
Thump-Thump
PLEASE! I’M NOT SITTING HERE ALONE! I HAVE THE STRENGHT TO DO IT!
I quickly looked around, everyone looked like a blurry mess, snapping my attention to the floor, I growled. I was only four maybe five inches off the floor! I wasn’t going up! Why aren’t my wings working! I’m stuck!
I began flapping my wings wildly, trying to carve out hand holds with my wings, scooping air, pulling it trying to hold it-ANYTHING!
The floor that was only inches away suddenly pulled away, sinking into the earth as if a cavernous opened up below me. At the bottom of the hole, I saw long jagged spikes stretch out ready to cut into my body and mount me as a bloody display.
My wings weren’t working! I’m going to fall, I’m going to die! I’m going to-
“Mighty dragoness Oliver, please look me in the eyes!” Called a calm voice. It sounded sweet but I didn’t really care, the sweetness only served to annoy me instead of calming me. “Just look up here, I promise you’re not falling. You’re safe.”
“No I’m not! I’m going the paint the floor in red!” I shouted at him, still staring at the floor, fear covering every inch of my face.
“Not if you look up at me.” said the voice. Getting annoyed I lifted my gaze from my soon to be death impaling spikes to the owner of the voice. It was some black bird guy, who was this! Is he going to eat my eyeballs from my corpus?! Well if you want an easy meal then I’ll make sure I rip out your guts before you get a fill!
“You’re safe Oliver! Just take a few breaths and close your eyes, Listen to the sounds around you.” He said before stepping backward.
Feeling like I scared off the hungry bird, I thought I did good and took a deep breath. That felt really good! I took another and before I realized it, I was calmly sitting on the floor. The air tasted good! Like a sweet soda or a nice spicy steak!
After a few moments Tavis came up to me and brought me far away from the class to talk with Mr. Argen.
“You have a fear of heights?” He asked with a worried face.
My eyes popped wide, remembering that I panicked and even wanted to attack him! I looked him in the eyes. “I’m afraid of falling and dying.” I said being honest. If I was going to get control over my needy instincts I had to get past anything holding me back.
He nodded at my honesty. “It’s good that you’re aware of your fears. Luckily we’ll work on it and make it easier for you to take to the skies soon enough.” He said with another nod.
“So what will I be doing then?” I asked wondering if there really was a way to get past my fear.
“There’s a simple way to do that. First you get a feel for flight without flying. Second we work on fear managing techniques. Third, you experience your fear in a safe environment.” He said calmly before spreading his arms. “To do any of this, look out for your heart beats. When you hear them pulse then it’s time to pull yourself away.”
I was really annoyed at myself for letting my fear control my actions and disgusted at my thoughts. “But what if I don’t recognize it?” I asked, worried at how easily it was for these emotions to control my actions.
“It’s not too hard to notice these issues once you learn the signs.” He gave me a paper with different signs to look out for. “This will help you know which to look for. As for pulling away from a fear riddled mind, you need to use breathing or energy consuming actions.” He explained. “Anything that would distract you will help pull your mind from fear. But going back to the signs, another common sign is wing perking or peacocking. Your wings tingle or even open up part way in response to your emotions and can be confused for as a challenge.” He said before turning to me before sighing. “And yes, it’s also called a wing boner when aroused BUT! This usually only happens when a monster with wings on their back not as a main limb.” He elaborated.
We spent time together going over some actions I could do to burn the energy I build up from fear. Things like arm shaking or stretching my tail or legs. He even mentioned the same breathing technique Jaque taught me. Learning all of this left me feeling conflicted, I was with Jaque it took me awhile to learn these things. He was always more focused on battle techniques, how to battle or use your mana for combative use. He knew I had problems with my instincts but he only touched on them. It made me angrier at him that I wanted to forget he existed, the less I saw of him would be better.
But the truth was, I had to stay until someone better came around. Though I wouldn’t mind having Mr. Tavis teach me on this, he seems to know a lot of these things. Maybe I’d learn more about my new body here? Sadly I’ll have to make my way through some difficult times before I make instinct control attainable.
Walking back to the locker room I realized that, I’d have to see the girls change…a small smirk spread across my face. The one thing that appeared in so many films, TV shows and books, the locker peeping! Maybe it’s ok to look over and see them, OH! We’re nude under this! I’ll be seeing more than just a bra and panty. Then I can come over and demand a feel, it’ll be a feast of the senses! Then I can bring that cutie to the dark side of the body! I can…………………
No! I’m really losing control again!? Are these candies losing their power!? Or are my libido just too high now? Sighing I rushed to my locker, quickly opening it and pulling out another candy to calm myself. But right as I’m about to pop it in, Maria and one of the two achene walked by on the other side and Maria’s breasts were lose from her suit! They were, a little smaller than me but shot out like torpedoes and her nipples were stiff like juicy meaty eraser sticks! Even though she was farther down the row of lockers, my eyes zoomed in, trying to capture the shape, how they jiggled when she happily walked like a preppy school girl. How-how firm they looked, my eyes were glued to her breasts’ every action to the point my mind started whining that she needed to lean over, press them together or stand in a way that I could see them from below.
Swallowing at the glorious sight, my mouth watered, begging for a small taste, my own chest pinched and pulled in hopes of being pressed up against her own. All while my gaping hole was demanding a through tongue cleaning until it sparkled that jewels wished they were me.
Shaking my head I quickly swallowed the candy before rushing to change in a private shower as my head still blazed with hopes, dreams and reality soon to be. Nope! I don’t want to use them like some rag! If it has to be a person it has to be someone that will resp-worship me!
After school was over I waited for everyone to leave before talking to Mr. Minnow.
“Mr. Minnow can I talk to you? I need some help with something.” I asked.
He turned to me with a stern look on his face but the moment it was just us his face relaxed. “I’m all ears, what’s going on?” He asked calmly.
“It’s about Jaque.” I began, giving him a serious face. “He didn’t warn me of a sparring match and let another instructor ridicule me. I normally wouldn’t care but I needed the class to learn about controlling my instincts.” I said with a frown.
Mr. Minnow slowly nodded. “Yeah.. He told me about what happened.” He took a breath. “Jaque should’ve learned his lesson by now but it looks like things haven’t changed.” He mumbled to himself. “I assume you want a new instructor?” he asked with a difficult expression.
“Yes.” I responded, staring him right into the eyes.
“Well, it’ll be a while longer but I can get you one in…” he looked at his fingers, counting. “Half a week at the earliest or in two weeks at the latest. Can you handle a few more classes with Jaque?” he asked with a focused eye.
“Yeah, that’s not too hard. He’s not a bad person, just a little short sighted.” I said trying to keep things professional.
But this made Mr. Minnow laugh, I was confused at his reaction, he was laughing like he saw perfect comedy routine. “Ahh… sorry about that. Your mother wouldn’t use those words in the same sentence about Jaque.” He said wiping a tear from his eye.
My eyes narrowed at that. Mom…what did you do? “Why is that?” I asked already cringing at what answer he’d give.
Mr. Minnow slowly looked away like his boss caught him red handed, his face looking like he ate a shit sandwich. “I can’t say why….” He began, sweating like he came out of a shower. “All I can say is they had some history. It’s best if you ask your mother if you really want to know.” He said nervously. “Also don’t mention I said anything about this to your mother.” Quickly added, looking like he aged ten years from the mere thought of her finding out.
“Alright.” I liked Mr. Minnow enough, I’d rather not see what my mother’s strength could accomplish.
Leaving the class room, Emily rushed up to me with Steph in tow, Emily looked super excited for some reason, she didn’t even tremble like she normally did near me. “Oliver! Here’s some things that might help you with your-“ She gave me a come here motion, once I lowered my ears to her, she leaned close. “libido.” She whispered in my ear. Instantly making me pull back with a blushing face. “Cute.” She quietly said to herself before handing me a few papers.
“What?!” I said shocked. At that moment, Steph came closer.
“Well since you never had a girl’s body before, these are some tips that Emily made for you. I told her she might be over stepping some boundaries but she made a good point that might save you some trouble in asking your mother about it or discovering things that might not be same with human girls.” She said with an apologetic look.
Emily…..why are you the way you are? I thought while rubbing my forehead. She was trying to be considerate of me but it’s probably to learn how a dragon works or something related. I looked at her and Emily flashed me an innocent smile.
God, why is she intriguing?