My curiosity and excitement to learn as much as possible soon vanished as soon as Lya pulled several children's books from the shelves.

"Look, my love," she said, sitting with me in the armchair of the first-floor library. "My favorites when I was a girl; they should be good to start with."

She dusted off The Little Dornak and The Longren in the Magic Forest. The drawings were pretty, I’ll give her that, with bright colors that seemed to awaken some strange kind of interest in me, forcing me to focus on them.

Sometimes I really don't understand this body.

In these books, robust figures and beings with glowing marks all over their bodies were depicted. She told me the plot of little Dornak and his journey home. I was dying to find out how he found his way back—a feeling I thought was too childish even for me. Despite the beauty of the drawings, they didn't seem like they were going to give me much information about the world or, more importantly, about my world.

"The Taurek," I requested.

She stroked my head affectionately. "I knew you were too curious to only want these books," she said, while asking one of the maids to bring some tea.

She set the books aside and sat cross-legged on the rug, leaving me right in front of her, moving her arms with excitement and energy.

"You see, Dorien, when your mother was younger, she traveled to many places in this world, and no matter where I went, I could almost always run into them: the Taurek... DUN DUN DUUUUN!" she added a sound effect at the end.

That’s how you get my attention, Lya.

"The Taurek," she said, her voice turning lower and more mysterious. "They are travelers, Dorien. They are a race of merchants and traders who do not stay in kingdoms or villages to rest. Always from one place to another, moving with the seasons or the merchandise, always covered by the scales of their bodies."

She told me about the occasions she had shared with them. They were reserved, she explained, with their customs and their routes. They had learned to live without a kingdom of their own, without rigid hierarchies, beyond the family or the clan. I still didn't understand how, if they were so reserved, Lya could know so much about them.

"They are merchants, not beggars," she added, her tone becoming firmer. "They never accept alms or gifts, and much less pity. Everything, absolutely everything, must be exchanged. If you had offered something to Tamor, even a piece of an apple, he would have forced something upon you in return."

That explains why they were loading the carriage so much earlier.

She told me about their appearance, how their scaly skin resembled that of great reptiles—a trait that, she assured me, made some humans uncomfortable. But she made it quite clear that despite their great physical difference, there was no contempt from the people toward them. It merely generated a simple discomfort, like what one feels when seeing something too different.

"You must never judge someone by how they look; despite our differences, we all tread the same earth beneath our feet," she explained. I didn't need her to teach me that; if she knew what I really looked like, she would understand that I had left any kind of discrimination against other species behind in my previous body. Despite those moral lessons Lya exercised as a mother, I remained fascinated. It was obvious the Taurek weren't dragons, but they looked so similar, with those eyes and that scaly skin. The urge to know more assaulted me.

"Now the Dra-gons." I had to know, everything I could about them.

Lya didn't seem to understand. She burst out laughing, a clear and melodious laugh that echoed in the silence of the library.

"Dragon? I think that’s the word you shouted earlier. Oh, Dorien, where do you get these things?" she said thoughtfully, stroking my forehead. "I don't think any being or creature exists by that name, at least none that I’ve heard of. Is it an imaginary friend? Perhaps you want me to read a book to him too?"

What imaginary friend are you talking about? I’m talking to you about dragons, DRAGONS! You have one right in front of you!

I tried to imitate the flapping or the gait of my original body, trying to make her understand what I meant, but she only laughed, thinking they were figments of my imagination or imaginary friends I had invented to pass the time.

I collapsed onto the floor.

She is doubting my existence and she just laughs. How was it possible?

There were no legends, no myths. Nothing. It was as if my species had never existed.

At that moment, the maid arrived with the tea. Lya, with her characteristic warmth, invited her to sit with us on the floor to drink it—something the maid wasn't sure about doing, but Lya insisted. While the maid served the tea, Lya mentioned to her, with a mischievous smile, my “imaginary friends,” the dragons.

"He says they are giants, with wings and a tail. Can you imagine, Clara?" Lya said.

Clara, the maid, played along. "Oh, yes! I imagine they are real! And that they live in the mountains, making a lot of noise!"

I felt offended. Annoyed. They were real—at least, I believe myself to be real. But the only thing that came out of my mouth was a frustrated babble. I decided I wouldn't get anything out of that conversation, so I sat by the children's books instead, trying to decipher how the little Dornak returned home.

It was then that the maid, Clara, also gave Lya a book. "Excuse me, Lady Valcrest. I ran into the Baron on my way here. He gave me this book from his study and told me it would be good for you to read it to Dorien."

Lya saw the cover and sighed lightly. "Alister has no middle ground. First, he doesn't want to educate Dorien so young, and as soon as we start, he begins giving him complicated books from his study." She took a sip of tea. "With Seris, it was the opposite; by her first birthday, he already..."

I turned around as soon as I heard that. A book from his study. From Alister. An adult book. I ran toward Lya, wanting to take it; my hands reached out.

"Mine! Mine!"

Lya gave it to me, asking me to be careful, as it was an important book for Alister. I grabbed it warily, staggering to a corner of the library, sitting on the floor and holding the book against my chest. I felt like the owner of forbidden knowledge; after all, all the complex books were too high on the shelves for me to reach.

I opened it and began to run my eyes over the pages—a torrent of symbols and figures that soon made my mind collapse. It was too many things at once.

I didn't understand a single word. It was a sea of lines impossible to grasp, a wall rising between my need for knowledge and the content of that book.

But my curiosity was stronger.

I looked more carefully. I fixed my vision on a single symbol, a curved figure that repeated itself. The sound of that symbol came to my head. “A”. I tried looking closer at another, a straight line with a hook. “L”. That too. I looked at them one by one, pointing with my chubby finger.

Lya and the maid enjoyed watching me. They laughed softly, thinking I was pretending, playing at reading a book too complex for someone my age. They had no idea that my search for knowledge would not be stopped by my lack of reading comprehension or my clumsy mind. Everything began to fit together bit by bit; each letter, joining together, began to make sense to me. I managed to understand several words, although there were others that still failed me, leaving huge gaps in the meaning of the sentences.

Knowing how to read... another thing I know for some reason I don't know.

I turned the pages until I reached a chapter titled: “Compendium of the Races of Valtheris.”

Valtheris... so that's what all this is called... this world...

I began to read.

"The Dornak, giants of the frozen tundras, men and women over two and a half meters tall..." There were so many words I still didn't quite know how to read and much other information I didn't understand. "They live in the depths of the mountains, in mines and caves that they dig themselves... A practical people who value the knowledge of others to apply it to their lives."

I paused to imagine those giants of the tundras. Perhaps the "Little Dornak" from that story wasn't as small as I imagined. Besides them, we also had...

"The Longren, inhabitants of vast tropical zones, a land of jungles and coastline. They are known for their lightly tanned skin and light-colored hair, in addition to... Their kingdom... protected by its own natural borders... Along their bodies, they have birthmarks that vary in size and length..."

Just below that last paragraph was a small illustration of those marks; they looked very elegant.

I continued, skipping fragments I didn't understand, and eventually reached the last page of the chapter. There was only one more section dedicated to a race other than the Taurek. It was extremely short.

"The Noctaris... separated... Extreme caution, their main skill... There is currently not enough information."

I closed the book and checked it; it didn't look too old, although it wasn't a new version either. Despite that, there were only two lines of information about that race.

The Noctaris...

Even with my doubts about the rest of the book's content, I hadn't found a single mention, not a single word, nothing about dragons. I could clearly see that word written in my mind, and yet it didn't appear once in the book. And what was worse, Lya and Clara didn't seem to know them either.

Are they extinct? It can't be. I am here. Have they hidden themselves?

I think that would be too difficult. My original body was quite large when I transformed; I couldn't even imagine what an adult dragon would be like. A being like that doesn't hide easily.

Where were they?

At that moment, I truly felt more curious about where the others like me would be. But even so, the feeling was overwhelming: that world was full of distinct and incredible beings. A giant Dornak crossing the snow, leaving huge footprints. An athletic Longren leaping through the jungle. A Taurek with dragon eyes trading on the road.

I clung to Alister's book; I could feel the weight of the information filling me with such great curiosity. The world had opened up, and now that I could, I had to learn everything possible about it.