[ WP ] When everyone turns 18 , they receive a pet which is figurative of their personality . You 're the first person to receive a dragon ...

“ Mr. Kelly, ” the general said to me in a serious tone, as to tell me my dog got hit by a train, “ I don ’ t know how to tell you this. ” 
 
 The general, Andrew J. Davidson, the second most powerful man in the country and possibly in the world, leader of the Northern Free World Armies, distinguished at the start of his career at the Battle of Norman ’ s Gate, and all the other things that I and every other kid hoping to gain Citizenship for them and their families had to memorize, was sitting in my mother ’ s good chair on the other side of a doily ’ d coffee table while sipping Chamomile out of a chipped teacup, decked out in his dress blues as if he was here to award me a medal. At any other time, this would be the greatest thing to happen to a boy vying for Citizenship – aside from being one of the lucky hundred this year, but before today I didn ’ t think a civvy-boy like myself had a snowball ’ s chance of being selected. I mean, I still didn ’ t, but the hero of the NFW didn ’ t just visit anyone, so something big was obviously going down. 
 
 “ Your birthday was last week, if I ’ m correct. ” He said. 
 
 I nodded. 
 
 “ And yet your animal never came to you. ” He added. 
 
 Again, I nodded. How did he know this? Why would he care? Lots of boys don ’ t come in contact with their animal immediately on their eighteenth birthday, even though the bond takes place then. Granted, it usually arrives within a couple of days, but a week wasn ’ t unheard of; nothing important enough for a general, especially THE general, to make a surprise visit over. 
 
 “ What if I told you that the reason for this is because we came in contact with your animal before it could come to you? ” He asked. Hard eyes stared into mine as the steam from the teapot on the coffee table gently walked its way up in the air. Was he testing me? What was this all about? 
 
 I stared back, confused. 
 
 “ I don ’ t understand. What ’ s so important about my animal? ” 
 
 “ We don ’ t know, but we do that it shouldn ’ t exist, ” he said as he withdrew a folded up piece of paper from inside his jacket and handed it to me, “ See for yourself. ” 
 
 I took the paper from his hand and unfolded it. It was a photograph, black and white, with some of the details were blurred out, possible for security purposes, but in the middle of it all was a creature on four legs ending with clawed feet. Dark scales covered it and at its end a long tail, split in three like a trident, wrapped all the way around its body. Judging from the man next to it the creature looked as if it were eight feet in height, but the wings on its back, though strapped to its side, still made it look at least twice that. 
 
 “ We had to clamp his mouth shut, ” the general said, “ He bit the arm off one of my men and roasted two scientists. ” 
 
 “ What makes you think this is my animal? ” I asked. 
 
 “ Are you telling me he ’ s not? ” 
 
 I couldn ’ t respond. I wanted to say no, there is no way this creature is my animal, but I couldn ’ t. Seeing its long mouth struggle with the clamps made my mouth hot, as if fire was going to shoot from it. I could feel the strain of the leather across phantom wings, my back hurting on opposite sides. This was my creature. There was no way around it. 
 
 “ It took us a while to figure it out, studying its brainwaves or something like that. The scientists could tell you more, ” the general said, “ I can ’ t tell you a lot right now, but I need you to come with me. Fifty years ago, a psychic bond with an animal was unheard of until one day it just started happening, and now we have not only a dragon but a dragon that is bonded to you. We think something is coming, and we think it ’ s tied to you. ” 
 
 “ But, ” I said as I look back up to him, trying to absorb the gravity of what he was telling me, “ Dragons don ’ t exist. ” 
 
 He looked back at me, unblinking and worried. 
 
 “ They do now. ”
