“Fuck,” I said. “Ow.”

“Nexus?” I heard Fei say. “Is that you?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Where are you?”

“I’m to your right,” Fei said. “I can’t move my leg.”

I stood up and moved toward Fei. I found her with a large wooden beam lying on top of her leg and preventing her from moving. I grabbed onto it and tried to lift it.

“This is really heavy,” I said. “You try and lift it too.” We both grabbed onto the beam. It barely lifted, but it was enough for Fei to move her leg out of the way. We let go, and the beam thudded to the ground.

“You’re bleeding,” I noted. I gestured to Fei’s shoulder, where something had cut a gash across her left shoulder, right where scales grew over her skin.

“I’ll be fine,” Fei said. “Tomorrow is my first day of shedding.”

“What?” I asked.

“You know how snakes shed their skin?”  Fei asked me.

“Yeah,” I said.

“I do that too,” Fei said. “About once a month, I shed my scales.”

“Oh…” I said.

Creak.

I looked above me to see part of the roof collapsing. “Move!” I shouted, pushing Fei out of the way. The wooden post punched a hole through the floor, missing me by inches.

“That was close,” Fei said.

“Ow!” I said, feeling a sharp pain at the base of my spine. “Fuck.” I tried to see over my shoulder at what had happened and saw my tail. It had gotten to be almost a whole foot long now. But the thing I noticed was the bulb-like shape at the end. It seemed to be splitting open as I looked, which explained the pain I had felt.

The gap enlarged, forming what looked like a mouth. Two long, sharp, needle-like fangs grew, flaring out. A forked tongue unfurled, waving in the air. And then the weirdest part happened. Above the mouth, two gaps appeared in the scales. They widened, revealing two blue eyes with slitted pupils.

As they did, I suddenly became aware that I could see with them. I moved my tail and saw the field of view change as well. I could move the tongue and open and close the mouth, as easily as doing it normally.

“What happened?” Fei asked.

“My tail,” I said, pivoting to show Fei.

“Woah…” Fei said. “What happened?”

“I don’t know,” I said. Fei said something, But it was drowned out by a loud roar from far off.

“What was that?” Fei asked.

“Let’s go find out,” I said.

“How?” Fei asked.

“I can help,” Skorch said, peering down at us from atop a pile of rubble. “I’m interested too.”

“How could you help us?” I asked.

“Easy,” Skorch replied. With a whoosh, two feathered wings spread on Skorch’s back. “I can fly you guys over.”

“Oh,” I said. “Well then.”

“Grab onto my hands,” Skorch said. We reached up and grasped her hands. Once we had, she launched upward into the sky. Her wings beat heavily, lifting her high into the air.

“Do you see it?” Skorch asked, scanning the ground.

“There!” Fei said, pointing into a cloud of dust. “There’s something huge over there.”

“How can you tell?” I asked.

“I can see heat,” Fei said. “Even through the dust, I can see that there’s something over there.”

“Alright,” Skorch said. She flew into the dust, her wings clearing it a small amount, but it didn’t help much with seeing through it.

Then she flew out of the cloud. We were above the school’s roof and a massive dragon was attacking the front of the school. Skorch lowered herself to the roof and we let go, dropping to the smooth tiles.

“Wait the heck?” I said. “Why’s there a dragon?”

“I don’t know,” Fei said. She peered down at the dragon, before diving back. “Get away from the edge!” She yelled. I followed her, and just in time as well.

A beam of bright golden energy shot into the sky, grazing the roof’s edge. It then swung around toward the ground, cutting through trees and walls alike.

“Oh my god,” Fei said. “Shun, Kanata, and Arya are down there.”

“What?” I said, moving to the edge to see. And sure enough, I saw them, attacking the dragon with spells.

“We should help,” Skorch said, popping up behind me.

“Aah!” Fei said, jumping slightly. “Don’t sneak up on us like that.”

“But yes, we should help,” I said.

“Then let’s go,” Skorch replied, holding out her hands again. We grabbed on, and she flew down, toward the giant dragon with laser breath.