LET THERE BE DRAGONS (COMPLETED)

Chapter Two: The Becoming

Shivam and Aparajita walked beside a lake, slowly, in silence. Just like their hearts, their hands were linked, too, and by the strange telepathy only lovers experience, they shared their mutual love and worries, certainties and doubts, present and future.

Aparajita was wearing the necklace Shivam had given to her. It wasn't anything expensive, but still it looked amazing on her, as she caressed it absent-mindedly with her fingers and it caught the light of the halogens placed intermittently along the way.

Rain had washed down the streets while they had been enjoying their cappuccinos. It now seemed that the rain had scared away all the people, too. As Shivam and Aparajita walked on the pavement around the lake, they passed no evening walkers; couples didn't occupy the conveniently shaded benches beside the lake. The fragmented rainclouds passed the moon steadily, making the moonlight flicker on the rainpuddles on the concrete pavement. A cold breeze played with Aparajita's hair. The earth and the trees and the lake smelled of rain, of life.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Shivam asked.

"The necklace? Yes..." Aparajita still seemed to be absent-minded.

"Yeah, and the weather, too," Shivam said.

"Hmmmmm...but it's rather cold. And I have been feeling feverish since morning," Aparajita said, in a complaining tone.

Shivam checked his watch. It was 6:20 pm. He looked around him, amused. No one seemed to be around them.

"Man, no one is here. Spooky, isn't it? I mean, where's everyone?" Shivam said.

"Everyone went home," Aparajita said dreamily. "It rained so hard...it was a downpour. Everyone went home."

"Let's go and sit on that bench," Shivam suggested.

"Okay, but not for long, I am feeling so feverish..."

"Huh? Let me check." Shivam placed his palm on her temple. "Oh man! You're burning up! Let's just head back..."

"Don't! Your hand is too cold! Get back!" Aparajita shoved Shivam.

"UGH!" Shivam shouted. "Man...that hurt! You didn't need to...hang on, I am BLEEDING!" Shivam's t-shirt had been slashed open near his chest, and blood seemed to be pouring out of it.

"How did that happen?" Aparajita asked, dumbfounded.

"I don't...oh MY GOD, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR HANDS?"

It was then that Aparajita looked down at her arms, which had shrinked into strange reptilian paws, out of which sharp, fang-like claws emerged.

"Aaaarhhhhhh!" Aparajita screamed. Then her entire body was jerked up into the air. "Shivam! Help me!" She begged.

"Aparajita!" Shivam screamed, and ran towards her. But it was as if an invisible barrier had appeared between them--Shivam smashed into it audibly, and then he was thrown back with an incredible force. "Ug!" was all he could manage.

What was happening to Aparajita now was beyond any human's control. As Shivam watched helplessly, his brain frozen with surprise and fear, his beloved's body twisted and turned, and began elongating. Serpentine curves began to appear on her physique, as her legs snapped together, and began to mold into a strange new form. Her head began to ripple, as if it was made of smoke.

Then her head began to turn in an impossible angle, and when her eyes faced Shivam again, her head had changed, along with her face. A monster alligator's head had been substituted for hers. Thick, long, almost golden whiskers fell from beside the creature's nostrils.

Golden, luminous snake-scales covered every inch of the monster's skin. It's snake-like figure was so massive, it entirely blocked out Shivam's view. And when the creature rolled out its tongue out of its mouth, it seemed to go on and on, perhaps as big as the creature itself.

Shivam screamed. His entire mind seemed to be an empty slate. Right then, if anyone had asked him what his name was, he wouldn't have been able to answer. His very existence had collapsed, his entire consciousness shredded into pieces. All of him seemed to be depending on the dragon in front of him, the dragon that had somehow taken his girlfriend's place.

The dragon roared as it unfolded its massive wings. A bright, green jet of fire shot out of its mouth, and it missed Shivam narrowly. Then the dragon flew up into the sky, and in the blink of an eye, it was gone.

Shivam just stood there, his mind blank, his body numb, his entire being destroyed by the event he had witnessed. Finally, mercifully, he passed out. The darkness that embraced him seemed to be a friend.