‘Blooming heck’ Neo thought as consciousness returned. He tried to reach for his head but found that he couldn’t move his arm.

Neo opened his eyes ‘What the hell - how can this be.’ Neo tried to sit up but still couldn’t move, he then decided to move just his head, but even then he couldn’t move, his whole body was stuck.

All Neo could see from his lying position was the grey-green, plastic looking roof of what he assumed was some kind of tent.

Neo tried to make sense of everything. He remembered sending the pen into the brain of the dragon and eating its soul, but the events around it were a bit of a blur only pain then nothing. Now he had a stinking headache.

It was a while before Neo heard the flap of a curtain and finally, someone came into view, a tall, elegant woman with long pointed ears and silver eyes she was a beauty, and wearing a hazmat suit with a slight difference, glowing symbols were running all along it.

Neo could see the surprised look on her face when she noticed that he was awake. She slowly backed away with wide eyes, Neo followed as best he could, but she was soon out of sight.

The curtains flapped again, and he realised that she had left. Her reaction made him concerned ’what had happened to him, to get that kind of response.’

Neo heard the curtains move violently and repeatedly, but he couldn't see who was making them.

It wasn’t until another flap of the curtain that someone finally poked their head into Neo’s view.

He had a bushy grey beard, long arching eyebrows and silky grey hair the old man had the same long ears as the lady.

“Good Morning Neo, now don’t try to talk as you have a broken jaw. Actually, you have a lot of things broken that’s why you can’t move you are in a body cast, after your fight with the white dragon, you were trapped in its mouth for nearly a week.”

Neo tried to speak aloud but only a moan came out, he had indeed broken his jaw.

“Didn’t I tell you, not to talk, I am your healer, Tulaa.”

Neo just glared at the old man.

After a moment of silence, he continued “Anyway if you were asking, how it took us nearly a week to get to you.

It’s because you killed a dragon, they have so much magical power that they become toxic after death, thus the suits, we were surprised to find you alive.

You've started producing un-controlled mana which is why we set up this tent and chained you down with void chains they suppress magic, just encase you were afflicted with the dragons madness, with these on you wouldn't be able to use as much magic.”

As he said that Neo heard a rattle as he brought up the blue chains.

“We are looking to make a void ring for you to wear that should be ready within the week, so then you’ll be able to get those chains off.”

The old man continued talking “Your recovery will be swifter because of your changes.”

Neo wondered what changes, then thought back to the dragon and made a connection, ‘if I have dragon traits would I have wings, talons, tail, fangs and scales?’ Neo tried putting this trait and others onto his body and wonder how he would look.

Tulaa started moving around him asking questions about how he was feeling and if there was any pain.

Having said what the old man wanted, he didn’t wait around and left pleased.

Neo then heard the loud stomping and flapping of the tent, but instead of the sound fading away it seemed to surround the tent.

The next person that came into view was the younger elf from earlier she spoke in a sweet voice “Hello Neo, sorry for running away, we didn’t know what you would be like when you awoke.

I was warned not to engage you, I am you’re a nurse and will be taking care of you while my mistress is investigating the dragons madness.

My name is Mary Reef I’ll be careful, I have seen everything so don't feel embarrassed.

At least you’re a good listener, my boyfriend, just talks and talks, never letting me get a word in edgewise….”

Neo had already started zoning Mary out as she talked and talked about something, a few days went by this way as the madness crept in on him as he began to imagine Mary's mouth sewn together with very course thread.

Mary would fuss over him, rolling him over so that he wouldn’t get bed sores, feed soups and liquid dinner, it was a bit embarrassing when he needed the toilet. But one of the highlights was when that bearded Old man would come in place his light warm hands on his head, and mutter something under his breath and Neo’s pains would fade away for a while giving him relief from not just the pain but the constant storm of words that assaulted his ears.

It wasn’t until the fifth day that a prim and proper Lady strode into the tent followed by a younger man who stayed back hiding under his hood.

At the time he had been turned by Mary to face the curtain, so he saw them enter.

He was also able to see how he’d been chained up they were thick bracelets which had been encased within the cast the only things that you could see were the chain links which were loosely restricting his movement if he had any.

The Lady had a tight bun and not a strand of her hair out of place her coat was straight as can be and didn’t have a crease in it, but her skin had an opaque look.

She also had a commanding air with her straight and stiff back, demanding respect and recognition.

Neo shiver under the gaze of the woman he feels like nothing more than an experiment, she placed a bag down, pulling out several syringes. “Hello, Neo I am Jane, I just have to take some samples from you, to see the similarities between the dragon and yourself to see that whatever made the dragon mad will have any effect on you.”

She picks up the syringes and started taking blood and ended on a very uncomfortable spinal tap and then left without a word.

Neo now had one person he wished to avoid. Jane had him left with a nasty headache that wouldn’t fade.

It wasn’t until the end of the week when old warm hands came back and declared that his bones had mended, which left Neo a little bit disbelieving that his body could repair that fast.

As they were cutting the casts off parts of the cloth kept getting stuck to his skin, it wasn’t because he was sticky. It was, Neo found that he had scales, they were firm and rough.

He found that they didn’t cover his whole body they were kept to white patches that showed upon his body randomly. Finally, he could move and speak again as his arms crack from moving them, the chains rattled as well.

They finally removed the neck cast, he could move his jaw checking to see if it hurt, but it only ached after its lack of use.

“Thank you, Mary.” Who was removing the casts while Tulaa observed and poked at the scales, he then grasped Neo’s head and pulled it down to his, Tulaa found something cool.

“Mhm looks like you have horns as well.”

“You what?” Neo put a hand finding several little stubs on the top of his head under an inch tall, two, no four, no six stubs of bone raising out of his head. Even the tallest was hidden by his hair, so there was no reason to see them, going back in pairs getting smaller as they went.

Otherwise, there were no more apparent changes that could be seen, old warm hands waited patiently while Neo mused over his scales and horns.

“We have your sealing ring ready, and the transfer area marked out and protection in place, with a few extra contingencies!”

“What do you mean a transfer area?”

“It’s just inside the dragon’s toxicity radius that has been clear, and anyone outside the area should be safe-ish, while they might faint, you’ll then take off the chains and put the ring on!”

“Might faint?” Neo said looking confused “How can they faint from mana exposure anyway, is it a form of radiation?”

Tulaa looked at him “No not radiation as far as we understand mana, it is like an aura like when someone is angry you can feel it in the room, but otherwise magic is beyond our comprehension as to why or how it happens. Mana to low or non – mana beings is like getting the flu they can be ill but will next time have better immunity to it. Don’t feel too bad the low and non- mana beings have a huge advantage over those with high magic, they can leave the bubbles while the kings and archmages merely glare at them.”

The old man became aware of his rising voice, taking a deep breath he continued

“So yeah we magically inclined are trapped in the bubble and have to rely on them to import food as we cannot create enough within the bubbles for the increasing population, it is a growing concern.”

The old man certainly looked worried. And what about me Neo thought can I go home? Before Neo could ask they were interrupted when a soldier entered and saluted “Sir everything is ready the ring has been delivered and is in the middle of the clearing area.”

Nodding Tulaa relieved the soldier.

“Right then, ready to learn something new about yourself?”

He got up and walked out of the tent Neo followed “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, but we’re about to remove the limiters from your new found power, How do you think it will go?”

As he left the tent Neo found himself blinded by the bright light outside, it took a little while before his eyes adjusted. What he saw shocked him the tower looked as if it hadn’t been touch, the dragon's body was gone everything was pretty normal apart from a misty hew where the dragon's body should have been.

“Where’d the dragon go?”

“What, It’s been chopped up and stored for you, as the one who slew it you get to keep its parts for profit, armour or weapons making. I guess I should welcome you to the 1% who have slain a dragon, it is worth a lot!”

As they were talking Neo saw that they were walking up to a large group of people. Neo smiled as he noticed Bethany within the group, he jogged up to her “Hey, how are you?”

She smiled and laughed lightly there was a short moment of awkwardness, she jumped forward, and they both hugged it was nice to see a familiar face. “Much better knowing that you're safe and yourself. The fright I had after hearing that you were fighting a dragon, and the relief when I heard that you’d been found. I wasn’t even allowed to see you, they were worried that the power might corrupt your mind and change who you are.”

Tulaa tugged on his shirt “come on let’s get you sorted and then you can get a room and make out!”

“What!” both of them said staring at the old man the old man blinked “it doesn’t matter hurry up I haven’t got all day!”

Neo forgetting what the old man had said when he noticed Gie standing out of the way and also more disturbing he saw Jane with her bun and cold eyes which sent shivers up his spine.

Neo shook himself and followed Tulaa into a circle that had been painted on to the grass. He stood next to the box that was in the middle of the ring, the old man gave him instructions of what he needed to do.

It was pretty simple really all he had to do was use the key in one box to remove the chains and then move to the next box open it and put on the ring.

The old man moved out of the circle the group spread out around the circle, apart from the old man, Jane, Bethany and Gie.

Once everyone gave the nod of approval, there was multi-coloured energy that started on the red lines that slowly moulded together enclosing Neo within a bubble that slowly settled. Seeing through the thin film that surrounded him, he noticed that the old man gave the nod to begin.

Opening the box at his feet he saw four keys, one for each bracelet, after unlocking three of them nothing had happened, but Neo noticed that the people outside where tense like they were ready to run or fight.

It wasn’t until he removed the last bracelet that Neo realised why they were. As the feeling of being uplifted, being able to breathe easier, like there had been an anvil pressing his body in the ground, he smiled with confidence looking around he understood why they called it uncontrolled mana as arches of magic energy battered the barrier. Neo didn’t care though he was enjoying the power rush he wondered if he could break the barrier by pushing against.

He could kill everyone he relished the thought of it and grew excited with the notion to feast on their flesh and break them from the inside out.

A pair of golden circles caught his sight thinking that his first target had come to meet its end, he stepped towards the barrier intending to break it open like tin foil. But stopped once he realised who those eyes belonged too, Neo’s heart ached at having such a horrible thought, looking past the shield and the blue hew into Bethany’s eyes, she was kneeling on the floor, and her words echoed through his head, ‘No! I will not be corrupted! I am the master of my mind, that was not me!’ Neo screamed in his mind.

Looking around he saw the second box and walked towards it before those nasty thoughts re-entered his head, the uncontrolled mana had torn a hole through the box, he hoped that the ring was still good

As the ring touch his finger.

“Neo, Neo are you OK Neo wake up” he heard a sweet voice that he recognised

He replied, “I’m ok what happened?”

“You almost went into dragons rage, it afflicts every young dragon they solve everything at that age with violence it wasn’t the dragon madness. But you got through it I am so glad, but then you had a seizure and collapsed.”

“Yeh I had some horrible thoughts, I thought about killing you, I saw you though the shield. The shield faltered, and I knew I could walk through it like it was nothing. I wondered if anyone could stop me the feeling was quite overwhelming, I don’t want to do that again.” Neo said looking off into the distances, his heart was aching over it and tears dropped to the ground.

“It’s ok Neo, you don’t have to take the ring off again if you don’t want to!” Bethany said hugging him while he cried.

He took a deep breath regaining his composer, his mum had always told him it was ok to cry, when you are scared or sad it’ll help you conquer by merely accepting it.

Neo looked at the plain blue ring on his finger seeing that it fitted snuggly giving relief to Neo’s scattered mind.

Looking at the group nearly all were sitting or lying on the ground looking very tired, Gie was standing a little way back glowing blue, Jane and the old man were talking intently.

“Why is Gie Blue?”

Bethany looked a little sheepish as she looked at the glowing Gie. “He was here as a contingency, incase you weren’t able to stave off the dragon's rage, He is a dragon killer, with three dragons to his name. So the council thought he would be enough to put you down if you attacked. I was here to support him if you gave in.”

Ignoring the fact that she could have signed his death warrant “Wow, how many dragon slayers are there?”

Gie's grinding voice answered his question “ There are, few dozens, dragon slayers, I doubt, you kill, sane dragon!”

“Thank you, Gie for the support I’m glad you believed in me!”

“No prob, I do think, you can now, fight a dragon, and not die.”

Jane and the old man had finished talking and were moving towards them, once they got close, the old man stepped forward “Glad to see you survived, it would have been a pain to kill you, glad we didn’t have to!

We will be escorting you to the academy now so please follow us, will be heading to the scar.”

After hearing what Tulaa said Neo asked "What academy?"

Tulaa replied to Neo query "Well, Neo you're going need to learn how to control your powers and emotion and keep you close just encase you have the same madness that the dragon has. Jane here has hope that as you were human that whatever affected the dragon won't affect you. but until we know for sure, we'll need to have someone keep an eye on you." he gestured at Bethany and Gie

Everyone in the area slowly grouped up with Neo in the middle they head away from Beacon city.

After about an hour of walking, Neo could finally see what a scar was it was a bright golden streak zigzagging down from the clouds fading into nothing.

Neo grew curious and said aloud “So if you move past the scar you’ll be outside?”

Tulaa replied to Neo’s query “Yes, and you would slowly die, but if you’re a dragon or other flying creature you can enter and leave through another way, we have yet to understand how they do that.

You don’t need anything special only a little bit of mana to open and close the scar.”

They had finally arrived at the scar which stretched high into the sky it was surrounded by towers.

He stood in front of the scar as one of the escorts touched it.