It was a beautiful autumn day and the sun was shining brightly in the sky. Adam and Melissa were two college students who were assigned to create a commercial video for their class about a wildlife park. Adam, who had not found a partner, was partnered up with Melissa by their teacher. On Saturday afternoon Adam met up with Melissa and they drove to the park. Melissa drove since it was her car, Adam didn't yet have one. He sat shotgun.

It was a long drive to the park. Even so, Adam and Melissa talked little. Mostly they just listened to the radio.

They got to the park and got out of the car. Melissa led them into the park. Adam carried the video camera and the equipment case.

"Come on," said Melissa to Adam. "Lets walk off trail over here so we can get some really good nature shots."

Adam sighed in his head and followed Melissa off the walking trail.

"Are you sure we're allowed to do this?" he asked.

"Of course," said Melissa.

While trekking up in the mountains, they came across a waterfall. The water splashed off the surface of a large rock underneath it before falling into a small, crystal-clear stream.

"Oh, wow," said Melissa. "Get a shot of that," she said to Adam.

Adam agreed that would be a great piece to have in the video. He brought up the video camera and began recording. After a few seconds, he noticed something interesting.

"Hey, look," he said to Melissa. "I think there's a cave behind that waterfall."

Melissa looked where he was pointing. "I don't see it," she said.

"Come on," said Adam as he walked towards the waterfall with Melissa following him. Avoiding the falling water, they walked behind the rock in front of the waterfall and indeed they found a cave.

"Wow," said Melissa. "We've got to check this place out. I'll bet there's some stuff we can film in there."

"It looks pretty dark in there," said Adam. "I don't have a flashlight."

"I have one back in my car," said Melissa. "Lets go get it."

They went all the way back to the car to get the flashlight and then came back to the cave.

They ventured inside the cave. It was unusually big inside, the roof of the cave several meters above their heads. It was a good thing they had brought the flashlight because it was really dark inside.

They came to a large cavern room, where the cave seemed to end. Waving their flashlight around the room, they saw something on the far side of the room glimmer off the light. Fixing the light on that spot, they discovered in amazement that it was a large pile of treasure.

Adam put down the camera and the equipment case and the two of them ran up to the pile of treasure, gazing at it greedily. The treasure was covered in layers of cobwebs and dust. It had obviously been here for a really long time. Possibly centuries.

"Holy crap, we're rich," said Adam as he scooped up a bunch of gold coins in his hands.

"There must be millions here," said Melissa, picking up what looked like a queen's crown in her hands, looking at her reflection in it.

"Oh, yeah, I'm set for life," said Adam as he searched through the treasure with his hands in amazement, trying to see as much as he could. "College loans paid off, my own place."

"I'm gonna get a new car, and a whole bunch of new clothes and shoes," said Melissa, beaming with joy as she brought a whole bunch of gold coins above her head and let them rain down upon her.

"Wow, this is unbelievable," said Adam. Suddenly something depressing occurred to him. "Uh, Melissa, can we really just take all this?"

She looked at him like he was insane. "We found it, so it's ours," she said. Judging from the state of the treasure, it couldn't have belonged to anybody. Whoever had put it here was obviously long dead.

"But what about the park?" said Adam. "They own the land. So wouldn't…"

Melissa's smile faded. "Oh, no," she said. "I - I don't know. They might. Oh, damn it, I hope not."

Adam looked back at the treasure and sighed. "We'll just have to find out," he said.

"Yeah."

"So what do we do?"

"We'll leave it here for now and go talk to the park authorities," she said, getting to her feet.

Adam also got up. That's when Melissa took notice of a book lying on the ground just a few feet from the pile of treasure.

"Take a look at this book," she said.

Adam followed her gaze. They walked over and knelt down next to the book. It was unusually large. Bigger than a world atlas. And it looked really old. So old that it too was covered in layers of dust and dirt. Melissa brushed most of the dirt off with her hand and then blew most of the rest off, creating a cloud of dust that caused both of them to cough a little. There was nothing written on the cover or the spine. It was just blank. She opened up the book. The pages were brown and practically falling apart, another sign of just how old it was. Big inked words were written on the pages. They appeared to have been written by hand.

"Maybe this can tell us something about the treasure," said Melissa. She flipped through the pages and, to their surprise, came to the end of the written part very quickly, even though there were still many pages left in the book. It crossed both their minds that this may have been some sort of diary that had never been completed. The last entry was dated back in the Middle Ages. It read, 'My days are numbered now. The Paladins have almost wiped us out. I may well be the last of my kind. Mankind is becoming more powerful with each generation. It would seem we have greatly underestimated them. They are very clever and breed so rapidly. It is only a mater of time before we are all gone. I now see only one way to attempt to preserve our race, so that we might return again one day.'

"What the heck?" said Adam, he and Melissa both puzzled by the short paragraph.

Suddenly the book began to glow an eerie green. It reminded Adam of the green glow from the Tommyknockers movie.

"What the hell?" said Melissa.

The green glow suddenly shot out and struck their bodies. Melissa and Adam quickly jumped to their feet in surprise as it did.

"GAHH," shouted Melissa, dropping the flashlight in surprise.

"WHOA, WHAT THE…" shouted Adam.

Within seconds, the green glow faded, leaving Adam and Melissa staring down at the open book in disbelief.

"What the frack?" said Adam.

Melissa was speechless.

Suddenly their bodies began to feel strange. They both felt an odd pain in their hands. Looking down, they saw with horror that their fingernails were falling out and in their place sharp claws were growing. Tiny brass colored scales were beginning to emerge from the flesh on Adam's hands, and blue ones were emerging on Melissa's hands. The scales were quickly spreading up their wrists.

Melissa screamed. Adam was too shocked to say anything. As the scales continued to spread, their bodies ached as they slowly began to grow. They both fell to their hands and knees in pain. Their clothes were soon too tight for them and starting to rip apart.

As they grew, the muscles beneath their skin began to swell and strengthen. Adam's glasses fell off his face, as his head got too big for them, leaving his vision slightly blurred. They both felt pressure in their shoes. A second later their shoes split open and growing, changing feet burst out of them. Their feet had talons and were covered in scales like their hands. Some of their toes and fingers shrank down and disappeared, leaving them with three toes on each foot, and three fingers and a thumb on each hand.

The last pieces of their shredded clothes fell off them as their bodies continued to grow, leaving them completely naked. Melissa tried to cover herself with her hands. "Oh, please, make it stop!" she cried in anguish. They felt pressure at the base of their spines and they both sprouted tails. Their tails grew long and thick behind them. As this happened, they felt a sudden agonizing pressure in their backs as two small bumps emerged. The bumps grew into little limbs with a thin membrane of skin forming tiny wings that were growing larger by the second. Despite the horror and pain Adam felt, he couldn't help but be fascinated by being able to move his new wings and tail.

Dear God, help us, thought Adam as he prayed in desperation. Suddenly his blurry vision cleared up and the cave seemed to get brighter as his and Melissa's eyes changed and their pupils became slits. The brass yellow scales now covered most of his body. Lighter colored belly scales began emerging on his chest running from his neck down to his tail. As this happened, Adam's penis was pulled up inside of him into a sheath in between the scales where it transformed into a more animalistic member. His testicles were also pulled up inside his body, refilling with dragon seed. Meanwhile, Melissa's breasts slowly shrank down into her chest and disappeared, belly scales growing over where they had been.

They both groaned in pain as their faces pushed out into draconic snouts. Their teeth began falling out, one by one, and they could feel new razor-sharp fangs pushing in with their tongues. The outer part of their ears shrank into their heads, leaving only the openings. What was left of their hair fell out of their heads as the last tan patches of skin became covered in reptilian scales. They felt pressure as a pair of horns grew out of each of their heads, curving backwards and then gently sloping upwards into sharp points.

They continued to groan in pain as they felt their insides rearrange and change inside of them. Their necks elongated, increasing the distance between their heads and their bodies. Their torsos and chests began to change, ribcages pushing outward, hips shifting position, locking them in quadrapedal form.

Melissa wondered how much bigger they were going to get, as their bodies were still growing, their heads nearing the top of the cave now. But fortunately, as the final touches of their transformation occurred, their bodies stopped growing and the pain ended. They were now full dragons.

New instincts entered their heads. Adam felt the dragon's greed for wealth, its taste for raw meat, its predatory nature, and, when he looked at Melissa, he found her new form very attractive.

Melissa found Adam's form appealing as well, but these things couldn't be further from their minds at the moment as they looked over their new bodies in both fascination and horror.

They looked at each other in astonishment. "M…Melissa?" said Adam, not sure what to say.

"Oh my God," said Melissa, the fear obvious in her voice. "We're dragons!"

"The book," said Adam. "It must have done this to us."

They turned towards the book, only to find it crushed and ripped beyond repair.

"How'd this happen?" said Melissa. "One of us must have stepped on it while we were changing."

Adam thought back to what they had read in the book. The words that had confused him before now became clearer.

"The book must have been written by a dragon," he said.

Melissa's eyes widened at what he had said.

Adam continued. "It said that he was the last of his kind. And then it said that he was gonna try to… preserve his race so they could come back one day. I think this is what he was talking about," said Adam, gesturing to their new bodies.

Melissa let it sink in for a few seconds. A dragon from the middle ages had used magic on the book to turn whoever came in contact with it into dragons. "What are we going to do?" she asked. "I don't want to stay like this." But she feared she already knew the answer.

"I don't know!" said Adam. "I think we're stuck this way."

She gaped at him for several seconds. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. Then she looked down at the ground. "This can't be happening. This has to be a dream. I'll wake up home in bed and this will all be over," she said, mainly to herself, as she dropped onto her stomach, laid her head on the ground, and put her hands over her eyes. But Adam could tell that she didn't sound convinced.

For a second, Adam wondered to himself if this really was just a dream. But it felt too real to be a dream. Even so, he tried pinching his arm just in case. It didn't work. In fact, feeling the scales on his flesh only further confirmed that this was real.

Suddenly Adam felt a loud growling coming from his stomach and became aware of how hungry he was. He wondered what he was going to do for food and soon realized he would have to go hunt something like a deer or a cow. He looked at Melissa and guessed she had to be feeling hungry as well.

"I'm going to go find something for us to eat," he said. "You gonna stay here?"

Melissa didn't answer. She just continued to lie where she was. Adam decided to leave her alone. He turned to walk out of the cave. Suddenly he heard and felt something crunch beneath his foot. He looked back under his foot and found his glasses, shattered and bent beyond repair.

I guess I won't be needing those anymore, he thought to himself as he continued out of the cave.

It was the middle of the afternoon outside and the sun was still shining brightly. Adam thought excitedly about using his new wings to fly. At least there were a few positive things about being a dragon. Flying, breathing fire, size and strength, long life spans (so he had heard). But as much as he wanted to try flying, he knew that he couldn't in broad daylight for fear that someone would see him. So he started walking through the woods, staying in the mountains away from the human trails and roads.

As he crept through the woods, looking for prey, he thought about the predicament he and Melissa were in. If there really was no way to turn them back to normal, which he seriously guessed was the case, then the two of them would be dragons for the rest of their lives. They could never go back home. Not like this.

And yet, part of Adam was okay with this. At first he had been freaked out by becoming a dragon, but now that he was calmer, he thought about his previous human life. It had been full of stress and complicated work. But now, he didn't have to worry about that anymore. He didn't have to worry about money, getting a job, schoolwork. He was free from all that. True, he didn't like loosing his humanity, but this new life could be simple. He could hunt for food, the cave would suffice for shelter, true he would miss things like television and Internet, but he could have fun flying, and he had Melissa for companionship and...

He shook his head trying to keep sexual thoughts like that out of his mind. True, Melissa was beautiful, human or dragoness, and he had had a bit of a crush on her and they were the same age, but they hardly knew each other. She was just some girl in his class who he had been put with as her partner on the project. He didn't even know if she already had a boyfriend.

He wondered if Melissa would also find relief in not having to deal with the stress of human life anymore.

Suddenly he heard movement. He turned his head in the direction it had come from. A doe and her fawn were walking through the underbrush not fifty meters away. Adam felt a little bad for the two deer for what he was about to do, but he was starving and his predator instincts kicked in. He bared his fangs and got ready to strike.

Back in the cave, Melissa lay by herself alone in the dark. She was coming to terms with the fact that she would be a scaly beast for the rest of her life. There was no going back to anything she knew.

She had lost her humanity, her beautiful human body, her entire normal life. She thought of her friends and family. What would they think when they found out she was gone?

Then she thought about being a dragon. She supposed it wasn't all bad. There were definitely worse things she could have been turned into. Dragons were the stuff of legend and fantasy. Being one was actually kind of exciting. She stretched out her big, blue, bat-like wings and thought of how much fun it would be flying. She felt a little better now.

She felt her stomach growl again. She was very hungry. It had been a few hours since Adam had left. She wondered if he would be able to get any food and when he would be back. Then she wondered if he did get food, what it would be.

She thought of Adam. He and her were in the same boat now, so at least she wasn't alone. She wondered if he was as scared as she was.

In a few minutes Adam came walking back into the cave with two dead deer in his jaws. He dropped them on the ground.

"Eat up," he said as he lay down beside the carcasses and started tearing at the flesh.

Melissa looked at the dead deer at first with disgust, then with hunger. The more she looked at them, the more appetizing they looked. She got up and walked over to the dead deer. Adam seemed to be enjoying them. She sniffed the carcasses and then sank her fangs into the flesh. She felt the blood seep into her mouth and onto her tongue. She found that she liked the taste. She tore off a chunk of the flesh and began to chew it. She swallowed it, fur and all, and then eagerly dug into the meat again with Adam, eager to fill her stomach.

It took them only a few minutes to finish their meal. Their hunger satisfied, they lay down on their stomachs and licked their talons clean.

Melissa couldn't help sneaking glances at Adam. She was beginning to look at him in a different light. He looked really handsome to her dragon eyes. Really hot. She was careful not to let Adam see her looking at him.

Adam felt like he should ask Melissa how she was doing, seeing how upset she had been earlier. "So… are you… okay?" he asked, concerned.

She looked at him for a few seconds and then shrugged. "I guess so," she said. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," said Adam.

She nodded and looked back down at her claws.

Again there was silence between the two of them. Adam looked at her, trying to think of something else to say. He found he couldn't help but stare at her, eyeing her from head to tail. She was so beautiful.

'Stop staring,' he tried to tell himself as he turned his head towards the cave floor, but he still kept looking at her out of the corners of his eyes, making sure she didn't notice. Adam quickly tried to think of something else to say. Anything to fill this awkward silence.

"Soooo, it'll be dark in a few hours," he said. "You wanna try flying? I think we should only do that at night so that nobody sees us."

"Yeah," she answered. Then she said, "You don't seem as upset about getting turned into a dragon as I am."

"Well, I am upset," said Adam. "But it's just… my human life was really stressful, you know? I had to worry about money and school and getting a job. And now I… I don't have to worry about that anymore."

Melissa nodded thoughtfully. "I hadn't thought about it like that before," she said. "But think of all the good stuff about being human. Friends, family, living in a house, going to places like restaurants and amusement parks…"

"Yeah, I know," said Adam. "I'm gonna miss being a human, but being a dragon isn't so bad."

"I suppose not," she said. "But still, it's gonna be hard adjusting to this life."

"Yeah, but don't worry," said Adam. He reached out and put his hand on hers. "We'll get through it together."

Melissa smiled. She could see that Adam was a really caring guy. She was glad he was with her.

"Yeah," she agreed.

Adam and Melissa spent the next couple hours waiting for it to get dark out so they could test out their new wings. While they waited, they talked some more. Normally, Adam was uncomfortable talking openly with people he didn't know that well. But the more time he spent with Melissa, the more comfortable he became talking to her.

"So was there anyone special in your life before… this happened, like a girlfriend?" Melissa asked him curiously.

"No," said Adam. "I've never had a girlfriend before."

Melissa's eyes widened. "Never?" she asked.

"No."

She looked at him with a mix of awe and pity. "Aww, you poor thing," she said.

He shrugged. "Yeah," he said. "So did you have a boyfriend?"

"No," Melissa said. "I had a boyfriend back in high school, but we broke up before I left for college."

"Oh," said Adam, then he added, "On good terms, I hope."

She chuckled a bit. "It wasn't that bad."

Adam nodded.

Melissa giggled. She liked Adam. He was kind, polite, and kind of funny. She soon realized that she was developing romantic feelings for him.

When the sun finally set and they thought it was dark enough, they went outside, anxious to get up into the air. As they found a good spot to take off at, it dawned on them that they didn't know how to fly.

"Uhhh…" said Adam.

"So what do we do?" asked Melissa.

"I'm not sure," said Adam. "Trust our instincts?"

They spread their wings and began trying to fly, letting their instincts guide them. Their first few attempts resulted in them falling flat on their faces. Then Melissa was able to stay up in the air for a couple seconds, much to her delight, and not long after, Adam did to. Before long, after many tries, they were both flying above the treetops together.

"This is awesome!" shouted Adam happily.

"Yahoo!" shouted Melissa.

Flying was the best. Soaring high above the land, the feel of the wind rushing past them. It was enough to make them both feel giddy and playful.

Adam gazed at Melissa. He was in utter awe of her beauty and grace as she flew. She was such a beautiful dragoness.

"You're a natural, Melissa," he shouted to her.

She looked over at him. "You're not looking so bad yourself," she said with a grin.

Adam grinned back. He could feel himself blushing.

Adam tried to breath fire. It took him a few tries, but soon he was able to create a good burst of flames. It felt hot in his throat, but it was nothing he couldn't tolerate. He breathed fire again, sustaining the flames longer this time.

Melissa noticed him breathing fire. "Melissa you have to try breathing fire, it's awesome," he shouted, breathing another burst of flames.

Melissa began trying, and before long she was breathing bursts of flames as well as Adam. "Wow, that's hot on your throat!" she said.

They flew until they were tired. Adam spotted a creek and they flew down to it to get a drink. They dipped their snouts down in and began lapping up the water.

When her thirst was quenched, Melissa took her head up from the water and looked at her own reflection. Her blue scales glistening in the moonlight.

'I really am a beautiful dragoness,' she thought to herself.

Adam and Melissa flew around in the sky for a while longer before they decided to go back to their cave for the night. It felt odd thinking of the cave as 'their cave.'

They saw the large pile of treasure again as they entered their cave and both thought it didn't seem so large anymore.

Melissa yawned, opening her jaws wide and showing all her pointy teeth. Seeing her yawn caused Adam to yawn as well.

"Good night," he said to her as he lay down on his stomach.

"Good night," said Melissa as she lay down beside him.

Adam was just closing his eyes when he was surprised when Melissa snuggled up against him. This initially made Adam feel a little uncomfortable, but he liked feeling her against him and soon his discomfort faded. He could smell her wonderful sent and he loved it. He tenderly placed one of his wings over her like a blanket. Melissa liked this, and the two of them soon drifted off to sleep.

* * * * *

A few months later, Melissa lay deep inside their cave, too pregnant to do much else. She and Adam had mated and conceived. Her entire body was achy, her belly swollen with their eggs. Adam lay beside her, wondering how much longer her pregnancy would last.

Life as dragons had not been easy for them, but they were happy. They had each other, and that's all they needed. And soon they would have hatchlings. They would never forget their old lives, but those times didn't matter now.

Suddenly, Melissa felt a contraction as the eggs within her moved. "It's time," she grunted as she got up and moved towards the nest they had built. Adam lifted his head and got up as she squatted over the nest.

"So, do you want me to leave while you do this or should I stay?" he asked her, wanting what ever was most comfortable for her.

"Well, this is kind of like the birth of your children, so I'd think you'd want to stay," she said.

Adam watched as she instinctively lifted her tail and gritted her teeth as she began pushing, her eggs descending towards freedom. Melissa panted with effort as the first egg began to peek out of her vagina opening, pale and slick with her juices. With a final push, the egg passed out of her body and landed softly in the nest. Barely three seconds later, the next egg began to push it's way out of her.

The process was long and tiring, but in the end, Melissa and Adam looked down at their first of many clutches of eggs with pride and relief.

Adam turned to his mate. "I love you," he said.

Melissa looked back at him. "I love you, too," she said.

The End