Kris didn’t know how long he stayed in the Dragon Realm.  Time in the dragon realm didn’t matter; it wasn’t measured.  It didn’t really exist.  In some ways it did, but no dragon really gave time a thought.  Dragons lived much longer than humans and spent it in paradise.  There was no chaos or violence.  Everything was peaceful; all the dragons were happy, although a bit lazy as well. 

            The dragon realm was located on the outskirts of Earth.  But it wasn’t a part of Earth.  There was a boundary that marked where the realm began.  It was a boundary that drove away humans.  Only dragons could pass the boundary or those who were privileged enough to be invited into it by a dragon. 

            The whole realm was a mass of trees and lush forests.  There were waterfalls that were about 70 stories high.  There were high mountains everywhere.  Mountains were ten times higher than the tallest mountains on Earth and each one contained millions of caves and just as many varieties of treasure.  The realm was also vast.  It was about five times the size of Earth with clean trenches of freshwater scattered throughout the realm with underground tunnels hidden beneath the water.  And there was treasure.  Dragons loved their treasure.  About 60% of the dragon realm contained hidden treasure.    

            There weren’t many dragons that existed in the dragon world.  All of the dragons were scattered around the realm.  Most of them lived in caves but a few of them lived in huge tree-house-like structures while others made nests on the realm floors.  Some stayed in the tunnels and never saw the light of day. 

Dragons were lonely creatures; they liked being alone and didn’t trust others easily.  They didn’t have friends.  Dragons were only loyal to their family.  But because dragons were hatched from dragon eggs they rarely had families.  Families didn’t mean dragons were blood related. A family was a group of dragons who lived together.  Some dragons grew up without even meeting another dragon.  Dragon eggs were rare to find.  Therefore it was assumed that almost all of the eggs hatched into dragons already.  The dragon realm was peaceful because dragons rarely interacted with each other; they never had enemies because enemies were quickly killed. 

It hadn’t always been like this though.  There was a time when dragons cohabitated with humans peacefully; when dragons were plentiful in the realm.  But that was long ago (we’re talking ancient times) before humans tried to hunt, slay or tame the beautiful creatures.  That’s when all of the dragons returned to the dragon realm and never came out to meet a human again.  But that was so long ago that no living dragon in the realm now was alive during the co-habitation.      

            To humans, dragons were just a myth.  At least they were a myth to everyone except one person. 

“What are you saying?  You’re going to leave?  You’re going to follow a human?  Do you know how crazy this sounds?” Jonghyun was pacing around the main chamber.  The circular chamber had six strong pillars to hold up the roof that was carved into the cave.  Each pillar was sculpted into a beautiful dragon.  The six most powerful dragons in the realm.  All of them happened to be in the chamber at this very moment.   

            Kris had five brothers.  He was the youngest; he was actually the youngest dragon in the entire realm.  He and his brothers were the last of the oldest dragon family in the dragon world, meaning they hatched from the same nest.  Unlike most of the dragons in the dragon world, they still had the ability to change into humans.

            Long after dragons ceased to co-exist with humans, dragons stopped transforming into their human forms. There was no point to hide who they truly were.  And so the dragons slowly forgot how to change. 

            “He’s my friend,” Kris explained, “He needs my help.”

            “You don’t owe him anything.  He’s a human!” Jonghyun was trying to wrap his head around the situation he couldn’t understand.  Kris could tell Jonghyun was trying to prevent him from going.  Not just because dragons and humans shouldn’t be interacting, but also on a personal level.  Jonghyun and Kris were close.  They were like best friends; they shared a connection with each other that no other dragon had with each other.  It was rare to have as close a relationship like theirs in the dragon realm.   

            “This is insane brother,” Taemin was shaking his head, “You’re leaving your family.  Your brothers.”

            Taemin was the second youngest after Kris but he was more childish than Kris ever was. 

            “I just have to do this,” Kris began, “You don’t understand.  I…I care about this human.  He’s not a human to me. He’s a friend.”

            “If you leave us today, we won’t welcome you back,” Minho’s cold voice rang from behind Kris.  Kris expected that from Minho.  Minho always saw Kris as a threat.  Kris might have been the youngest but he’d grown taller in height at an early age.  Even now he was much taller than Minho.  Minho was strong and Kris was strong too. 

            “Don’t say that,” Key scolded Minho, “He’s our brother.”  Key was usually self-centered.  He hardly ventured out of his cave of jewels.  But today he looked troubled.  He looked at Kris with pitying eyes. 

            “The human’s tamed you, hasn’t he?”

            Kris glared at him, “He hasn’t tamed me!  I’m choosing this!”  Kris looked down at the ground sadly, “I’m leaving.  I just don’t want,” Kris didn’t know how to continue.  How could he tell his family he wanted to leave them? He still cared about his brothers but there was something about the boy that pulled Kris in his direction.  Kris would leave but he didn’t want his brothers to hate him for doing what he wanted.   

            Kris felt a hand on his shoulder and immediately relaxed.  He looked up to see his oldest brother, Onew, staring down at him with reassuring blue eyes. 

            “We just don’t understand, brother.” Onew looked genuinely confused and hurt; Kris hated to do that because Onew was his favorite brother.  He was calm and wise.  He was always the voice of reason for the group of brothers.  He had bright blue eyes and blond hair.  He wasn’t as tall as Minho or Kris. He wasn’t as muscular as Jonghyun or as playful as Taemin.  He didn’t have a quick wit like Key’s.  But he was the most powerful dragon in the dragon realm.  He was feared by everyone but respected like a king because he was fair and kind.  There was actually an unspoken agreement in the dragon realm that these six brothers were the leaders of the realm.   

            “A dragon has never left the dragon realm since before we can even remember and you want to live there?  You want to leave the safety of here and enter a dangerous world?” Onew looked at him, “They fight amongst themselves for power and money.  Humans are selfish.  They don’t even trust each other when they are the same species!”

            “But you’re only looking at the bad things,” Kris argued. 

            “But what if you do leave?” Taemin spoke up, “What will happen to us?  Our powers are weakened if there are only five of us.  We are brothers.  We need to stick together!”

            Key, Minho and Jonghyun gave murmurs of agreement. 

            Onew looked closely into Kris’s eyes.  He didn’t need to read Kris’s mind.  Kris would leave no matter what they said.  Onew gave a long sigh, “His choice is set.  We can only support him or turn our backs on him but we know we won’t do that.”

            He turned back to Kris and put both hands on Kris’s shoulders.

            “Kris, no dragon has left this realm since we drew the boundary.  You might not be immortal out there.  We….we can’t protect you if you leave.” Kris could tell that Onew was getting emotional.  He was the eldest brother.  All of them were his responsibility.  He was supposed to take care of his brothers and make sure they were okay.  Who knows what Kris would have to face out there? 

            “I know that.  Don’t worry about me.”

            “We might dislike your decision.  But there is always a home here as long as you need it.”

            “Thank you,” Kris murmured.  He hugged Onew.   His other brothers were quick to hug him as well.

            “When you come back it will be like nothing changed!” Jonghyun said.

            “Our little brother is growing up,” Key added. 

            Kris was full of emotions as he flew to the boundary that divided the dragon realm from the human world.  It was about a 30 minute flight from their meeting chamber and there was only one entrance.  You wouldn’t be able to spot the boundary unless you knew it was there.  It wasn’t drawn and it looked exactly like the forest they were in.  But the forest at the boundary was half in the dragon realm and half in the human world.  The boundary stretched for one mile for humans to see.  The flight was painfully silent but Kris was comforted because his five brothers were flying right beside him.

            Onew was a majestic blue dragon.  His belly was made out of diamonds and his scales were a hard and shiny blue that threw sparks of light whenever the sun hit it.  Key was a rainbow dragon.  For the most part, he wore the color pink in his scales but he had the ability to change his scales to any color. When the sun hit his scales it was one of the most majestic sights in the universe to lay eyes on.  Taemin was a long dragon.  His body wasn’t bulky but more lean and long like a snake’s.  His scales were a golden orange and he had a stripe of real gold that ran down the length of his body.  When he opened his wings there was gold on the underside.  But because Taemin’s power was the ability to swim underwater his scales turned to aquamarine whenever he was near the ground.  Minho was a black dragon.  He had black scales and black wings.  But the one thing that made him unique was the fire in his eyes.  His eyes were red but if you looked closely you would see an actual flame in his pupils.  It was even more distinct when he was a dragon.  Jonghyun was the smallest in dragon form but he was definitely one of the best looking dragons in the realm.  Where Taemin had stripes of gold in his body, Jonghyun’s body and scales were all pure gold.  Only his wings weren’t.  His wings were a sleek black, like Minho’s. 

             Kris was still a young dragon.  His scales weren’t as shiny.  They almost felt like feathers to the touch.  He had black scales.  But his wings were red.  A bright red.  It matched his eyes. 

            “Be careful out there,” Minho called just before Kris landed on the ground.  All of them could feel the repulsion of the boundary draining their power and making it harder to continue as dragons towards the boundary.    

            “We’ll be here,” Jonghyun said sadly.  He flew the farthest out of his other brothers, almost passing the boundary with Kris before landing on the ground safely as a human.

            “Take care,” Kris said to Jonghyun.  He flew past Jonghyun and then with one last burst of energy he flew past the boundary.  As soon as he passed the boundary he felt his surroundings shake.  His breathing felt more constricted in the air at this altitude.  He would need to transform into a human soon.  Kris took one last look over his shoulder.  He could see his five brothers looking back at him with sad eyes.  He wondered if he would ever see them again. 

            Kris quickly turned away.  He landed on the ground a few miles away from the boundary and transformed into a human.

“Kris,” Kris looked to see Taemin taking cautious steps towards him.  It was amazing how much his brothers had changed in the years he’s been away.  He didn’t know how long he’d been in the human world or how many lifetimes he’d lived with Tao.  Dragons didn’t really get old; they just stopped aging past a certain age.

            Taemin was taller than he was before.  His features were sharper and he didn’t look like a child anymore.  He still acted like one but he was a handsome young man now.  Kris hadn’t developed like his brothers.  His human form was weaker and smaller. 

            “I don’t know how to say this…but Onew…and we…have decided to close the boundary between the dragon realm and the human world.”

            Kris’s eyes narrowed, “What?” That meant they were going to close off the dragon realm completely.  No more travelling between the two worlds.

            “You said that you were here to stay for good,” Key materialized from beside Taemin and Kris almost died of a heart attack.  Key was expert at camouflaging into his surroundings.  His scales even took on reflections and beams of light.  He even mastered hiding his sound. 

            “I am,” Kris began, “But closing it off completely?”

He turned into his dragon form; his dragon form was pitiful, a disgrace to dragons.  He was similar to a miniature dragon.  His scales weren’t shiny or hard.  They were dull and flimsy.  His red wings lost the sparkle they once had.  His eyes, once ruby red, were dulling to a pink color.  He flew towards the main meeting chamber where the six pillars held up the roof of the structure.  His other three brothers were there waiting for him. 

            Jonghyun had a frown on his face, “You’re going to argue about this aren’t you?”

            “What’s the point of closing off the realm? What are you trying to accomplish?” Kris landed on the floor, Taemin and Key right behind him.

            “Look at you!” Minho exclaimed.  They were all currently in their dragon forms, communicating by their minds, “Look at what you’ve become!  The human world has weakened you!  You were supposed to become a powerful dragon!  You’re weak!” 

            “The human world is dangerous!  Not just because of what’s happened to you but because we don’t know what’s out there.  We need to protect ourselves!” 

            “You want this?” Kris turned an accusing glare to Onew.

           “It might be best to do this, Kris.  Look at the other dragons before us.  Dragons are immortal but those who used to walk between the two worlds are now dead.  The human world could be poisonous for all we know,” Onew stopped talking to look at him, “Why are you against this?  Do you want to return to him?  To Tao?”

            It was like being impaled by a sword.  He’d been trying to forget about Tao. It’d been a long time since he left the human world but the boy still invaded his thoughts every day.  But hearing that name, just those three letters, it was opening up old wounds. 

Kris looked at Onew and all at once he knew the real reason for closing the boundary.  It wasn’t that the human world was dangerous; they wanted Kris to stay with them.  Closing the boundary was the first step to accomplish this. He might even become the powerful majestic dragon he was supposed to be.    

            “No, I don’t plan on returning.”

            “Then you’ll help us seal the boundary?”

            “Yes.”

            As the strongest dragons in the realm the six brothers were the sole dragons who could seal and open up the boundary between the two worlds.  It was the first time they would all work together and combine their powers to accomplish something.  By doing this they would strengthen their bond as brothers.