Polaris woke up with roughly a dozen new wounds scattered across her body. Some of the incisions were so tiny they were hardly visible, but a few, especially the one slitting the center of her chest, were sizable. They were sore but neat, straight, clean, and expertly stitched for minimal scarring.
The first thing she noticed as she groggily lifted her head was a deep, warm tingle running through her veins and down her sides. It felt like there were miniature bolts of electricity pulsating through her body, painless yet strong enough to make her muscles quiver with pent-up energy even before her mind was fully awake.
The second thing she noticed was the dragon laying in the stall across from hers. The old Thunderstorm’s head was resting on his silvered paws as he stared back at her with one sad blue eye. His other eye was covered by a large tumor that marred a full side of his once beautiful face. Two malformed wings hung uselessly from his left side, while his right side was bare except for the scar left behind by a stolen wing.
Turning to look at her own scarred sides, Polaris was stunned by the sight of four soft white wings budding from the stubs of her original two. At first glance they were lifeless, awkwardly twisted and limply draped across her body. But slowly, stiffly, she managed to unfurl them until their velvety tips brushed the concrete walls on either side of her. They shook weakly as she moved them, like the young and inexperienced wings of a newborn hatchling, but with every beat of her heart strengthening lifeblood flowed into them.
She scrambled to her feet in excitement, only to freeze when startled by an unfamiliar burning sensation stirring deep inside her chest. Steaks of pulsating light lit her eyes and the veins in her new wings started to glow as the strange heat spread all through her like her blood had been ignited. She tossed her head and panted, trying to cool it down, but it only intensified.
The strange electrical sensation she woke with grew so strong her muscles threatened to explode with searing energy. Her rapid heartbeat pounded so loudly in her ears she could hear nothing else until she released the hot pressure building up inside her with a frightened roar.
With that roar, that dud’s breath erupted from her mouth in a hurricane-like spiral of gaseous purple light that exploded into a blue and white fireball the instant it touched her bedding, completely consuming every last straw in the blink of an eye.
Polaris shied away with a startled snort, stumbling into the back wall of her stall and falling onto her haunches. She sat there for a long moment, staring blankly into the smoky air as the remaining heat continued to swirl and pulsate through every cell of her body.
Finally, with a glimmer of eager curiosity in her bright eyes, she let out a much softer, intentional breath. This time only a breezy wisp of the unusual fire slipped from her mouth and curled through the air like a ribbon, alive with burning color and light. She pawed at it, and its glow transferred to her claws as it scattered in starry fragments before dissipating without a trace of smoke.
Unbeknownst to the bedazzled and bewildered StormBreather, Dominic and Skandar were watching through a video camera from the safety of the lab.
“What did I tell you?” Skandar asked with a satisfied smile. “And this is only the beginning! Wait until both your reborn StormBreather and her newborn storm are fully awake!”
Dominic actually smiled as he gave his most eccentric and expensive employee a firm pat on the back. “You just might get that raise after all.”
~
Sam was thrilled when he first heard Polaris had not only survived Skandar’s experiment, but become the first successful one. He hoped that as Dominic Shade’s long-awaited ‘Super Dragon’ she would be safe and treated well for the rest of her life.
Then she was returned to her old stall, muzzled and drugged. The moment he peered through the barred window at her, his gut twisted and the color drained from his face.
The young StormBreather’s ever-present camouflage wavered unsteadily, randomly fading from black into gray then green then white then brown and then black again. Her rapid pulse was visible in the raised veins spidering across her four new wings, the blood inside them glowing faintly beneath her thick skin. A ferocious light was ablaze in her dazed eyes, pulsating in sync with the audibly thundering beat of her heart.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
Sam turned to see Dominic standing behind him, steel blue eyes shining with an obsessive intensity that made the rugged stablehand uneasy.
“Have you ever seen such raw power before?”
“What is it?” Sam asked. “What can she do?”
Dominic’s smile widened. “Well as Dr. Skandar would put it, she breathes the fire of heaven.”
“Oh. That sounds...dangerous.”
“It’s what a dragon is meant to be!” Dominic gazed at Polaris with a mixture of awe and greedy anticipation. “We’ve turned a dud into the Queen of Storms! Once the world sees her, Stormland won’t only be the crowning attraction of Paikka. It will be the crowning jewel of the entire dragon world!”
“And you’ll be what?” Sam grunted. “The king of dragons?”
Dominic looked at him with mild annoyance. “And what would you have against that?”
Sam swallowed hard. “Nothing, Boss. I’m just worried it’s a bit early to be showing her off. It doesn’t look like she even knows what her new power is, so how is she supposed to control it?”
Dominic rolled his eyes. “Honestly Sam, do you think I would throw her out into the public eye without first running plenty of tests and taking all the necessary safety precautions? Do you think I would allow another costly accident to ruin me after how hard I’ve worked to reach this point?”
Sam dropped his eyes. “Of course not, Mr. Shade. I’m just trying to be...careful. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
“No one has. That’s why it’s going to make me go down in history as the greatest dragon showman of all time.” Dominic gestured to Polaris’ chain muzzle. “You’re right to be cautious, though. She is incredibly dangerous and must be handled accordingly.” The satisfied smile returned to his face when he added, “Even the Circus of Storms has nothing to rival what I’ve created.”
Sam was tempted to point out it was actually Skandar who turned the dud into the super dragon, but he wisely held his tongue.
“I will go over more details during the staff meeting tomorrow morning,” Dominic said over his shoulder as he left the stable. “We have a lot to do before the grand unveiling.”
The slam of the stable door closing behind him echoed through the building, followed by a hollow quiet eerily similar to the calm before a storm.
Sam turned back to Polaris, who blinked up at him with questioning eyes that looked even more afraid of the storm brewing inside her than he was. He leaned his forehead against the cold bars of the stall window and his gravely voice cracked slightly. “I don’t know what they’ve done to you, Beastie...but I’m sorry.”
To be continued…