So happy to see you post another chapter ^^

And I am happy to see that you eagerly awaited it!

I just finished reading your whole series so far and it was absolutely fantastic I’ve read many stories that have caught my eye but this series did something that no others did and that was actually getting attached to the characters within, I like I was being drawn into the world you have written and I have one thing to say keep up the fantastic work you absolute legend

Thank you so much! I am always, always, thrilled to have someone be moved by the humble story that I have to offer. I hope you continue to be enthralled by what comes next as well!

So like will luke and Lucy ever become dragons cuz it feels weird that the family is like 2 separate species

Hi there!

Always great to hear from a reader! I hope that you're enjoying the story as much as I presume that you are if you've followed it all the long way to chapter 23!

Luke and Lucy will remain human. They are far from the only mixed species family in this new world and serve a vital purpose being so.

Thanks for reading! There is always more to follow.
-Walnut45

Ok I just hope its not a sad ending for them

This story raises my adrenaline because of how strong Tom and Kim are cuz of their new species and how mad it makes me cuz the world basically went back to the 1860s.

Do you feel they're too strong? I have worried that they have too many strengths, and that I am laying it on a little thick in showing that they are a more advanced species than human beings.

Well I mean bullets don't really do much so. Its basically like putting goku in the naruto universe.

For damage: Small bullets (less than or equal to 0.50cal)? No. Large bullets and explosions( anti aircraft/vehicle munitions and missiles)? Yes, very much so. Which boils down to civilian weaponry won't do much damage (there are many exceptions however), but front line military equipment is very much a danger to all but the largest of them.

Which is why of course there is so much consternation derived from the stolen military weapons (tanks) lurking in the shadows. Collateral damage will be high when such things are fired in crowded urban environments. A Bradley tank (BFV)'s main weapon is an auto loading 25mm cannon that can fire high explosive (HE) shells. An Abrahms main battle tank on the other paw, if it can hit such an agile target as a child of the egg, would be a one shot kill (and then some!) with its 120mm main weapon. To be even more menacing, some BFVs can fire TOW missiles. Which hold 3.1 kg of high explosive.

Like Shadi, who hinted at new types of weaponry being shot at her in the future when projectiles proved useless against her.

I just also feel like they grow too big. Like 15 meters tall is insane compared to what the avg size for dragons are in other stories. 15-20 meters is more than double that. Also, I feel as if they are too strong given that literally slightly pushing someone can send them flying. The density of the muscles would have to be insane to do that even with their massive size. Like a 6 year old can easily kill a grown man.

Do you think they're too big? What other stories are you referring to? Even Shadi, the largest dragon described so far on Earth in my story, isn't nearly as big as Smaug or even some of the dragons from books such as the Temeraire series.

I had it in my head that the density/composition of their muscle fibers would be different than any terrestrial organism as well. They are aliens after all. Which also plays into how even being as big as they are, they are still very light but strong (Kim is many times the size of an elephant, but just barely weighs as much as a full grown African). Angie for example, the 6 year old female that you may or may not remember, scared her parents by effortlessly lifting the family car on to two wheels with one arm to look underneath it.

Just because they can use their strength to kill, doesn't mean they will. Although like in this chapter anytime a physical confrontation does necessitate violence the force they can exert will end a fight swiftly.

The size of the dragons also has a part to play in my story as it provides another, more visible, excuse for them not to be reintegrated into society because human civilization is just not built for other intelligent beings that exist on a different scale.

I just feel that their size along with their natural protection, extreme senses, and strength gives them very little weaknesses. Its basically the same as (in perspective of strength) going back in time and giving the Roman's modern technology and weapons. The size just adds to that as they would be the biggest living being aside from plants on the planet.

Humans have tried and often times been successful in outcompeting other species that on paper significantly outclass humans in many regards since the dawn of the modern human race. The fact that my children of the egg suffer many unnatural deaths in the story at the hands of humans show that these dragons aren't immortal gods like shown in media such as 'Godzilla'. Despite their size.

well godzilla is 300ft tall and absorbs radiation but I can see ur view now especially as a whole. I can now see that this story is also written in a way that it talks about real world problems just with fantasy being used to portray those problems.

I have a question though about the story in general. Are you using the people who are now dragons to represent the racial and cultural injustice in the real world. Because it seems that way as they are killed because of their species, which is something uncontrollable. And are they also being used to bring awareness to people's fear of something different.

I suppose so, in a way. Broadly speaking, my story has far more to do with the absolutely dreadful way we treat the Earth than anything else.

It's not limited to just that either really. This story reflects my belief that humans in general just treat everything either like shit, or as a disposable commodity that is only worth whatever gratification that they can derive from it on a personal level at that precise moment.

It wouldn't be much of a stretch at all to say that I hold the whole of the human species in contempt. Which is why you'll often see me refer to it as if it's some club that I am not a card carrying member of.

Yeah I understand. My dad is South American, born and raised there and he hates how deforestation has ruined not only lives of many animals, but the quality of air and life for natives living in the Amazon. Im pretty sure scientists estimated that we only have a few years to help the climate before its too late. I think that also may line up with you making the dragons live long because a lot of people especially the older folk tend to not care because in their minds they think that it is not a problem since they will be dead before then, but by making the dragons live long you make them realize "Oh shit I will live long enough to see the disastrous result of this. I need to help change and protect the environment before its too late."

Exactly, and the Amazon has and will continue to receive special attention in the story as well. I don't think it can be emphasized enough how special, how important, that forest is in and to the world.

Yeah it produces over 20% of the clean air I'm pretty sure.

Yep and its pretty sad how a lot of people still turn a blind eye to the environment. Like temperatures are rising, ice caps are melting, 2 years ago my state had the deadliest wildfire in our state's history. And all of that is due to people's blindness. It seems that the people in your story that are changing are changing in order to protect nature and find peace with everyone and peace to the environment.

Does this also apply to those who transformed but still have their memories because it seems as if the way humanity thinks still affects Tom and Kim. It looks like humanity's trait of hunger for power affects them as the further in the story you go, the less human they think. They start to think they are superior and get less and less disturbed about killing members of the species they were once apart of. So it seems as their are not only hurdles put in place for humanity but dragons as well as they need to fight their sense of superiority driven from their new bodies and thus also face the hurdle of showing racial injustice to others.

It is true that I am trying to have the way they think change in subtle ways over time. But it is wrong to characterize them as feeling less disturbed about killing. They still are to a degree, they are just beginning to distance themselves from humans. Tom recognizes that which is why he refuses to use phrases like human and not human and feed that disassociation. Strictly speaking, Kim and Tom were already killers from their time in the armed services and might not have a typical reaction to the act with blood already on their hands to begin with.

If they are acting superior however, at least as far as Tom and Kim, it is unintentional on my part. Can you point to specific scenes/actions/words that make them seem arrogantly elitist?

Also, can you please reply to my note that I sent you instead of continuing our discussion here? I think it's making for a very crowded comment section that might not necessarily help other casual readers.

It was like in the first chapter or whatever where they kept pointing out to Alex how they could easily kill him and if it wasn't him he would already have been killed by them. I mean they don't say they are superior but hint at it by talking about how much stronger they are than a human.

I guuuueeeeesssss I see what you're saying here. I just didn't think it was all that arrogant for a house sized creature to remind an antagonizing brother that if he stepped on him he'd die. Juvenile maybe, but not necessarily evidence of a superiority complex.

Yeah but I don't think a person (be it another creature) would tell their brother how easily they could kill him without feeling a sense of superiority in themselves.

No more so than any other younger brother having an advantage over an older brother. Which Tom would have had as a human anyway since he was trained in military special operations.

I'll be honest, that whole scene was just meant as nothing more than the rivalry between an older and younger brother.

Ok. That makes more sense since basically everyone knows that the younger siblings are annoying and like to say they are better at stuff.

Yeah. Not gonna lie though but I'm honestly scared for the future. Like water levels are rising, the climate keeps getting hotter, air quality keeps getting worse, and many animals face extinction. I read somewhere that by 2050 half the world will be without drinkable water, disease will kill many more people, the air quality will be at dangerous levels, most of the animals from now will be extinct or endangered, and much more bad things will happen too but it would be a pain to list all of them. Ever historian and scientist ever has said that humanity will be its own undoing which I agree on. Humanity doesn't give a fuck about the world and treats it as a play toy. It is something that pains not only you but readers like me. And that is sad. I was raised and taught to try my best to leave the environment cleaner and safer than how it was when I was born and I take it the same goes for you. It is truly sad and scary to see how the world is treated. Like for me, I am still young and have not seen the world as much as I would like. My dad always wanted to take me to climb the Cotopaxi and visit the Amazon since that is where he grew up but I don't know how much longer those places will be around for. Global warming and deforestation are quickly getting rid of those environmental safehavens. It just very sad to see that humanity failed to realize these errors and we are now destroying not only ourselves but innoncent creatures with us. Like Lebanon, a place where recently hundreds if not thousands died, lost their lives to an explosion caused by chemicals lying around. Its just scary to see how much destruction we are causing and sometimes I really wonder if we will be able to have a future given how things are going. Props to you however, for continuing this story even if only a small amount of people see it cause it shows that you truly care about the problems in our world. Keep up the good work my g.

The irony about Lebanon is that the chemical that exploded and wiped out the only grain storage silo in the capital is also a highly effective fertilizer. Ammonium Nitrate could have helped grow the crops and grain that it instead destroyed through careless storage and mindless human intransigence.

I agree with you about how depressing it is. Everyday I see people that do not see anything wrong with the wanton destruction they inflict on their environments. If you do not care about the trash you throw out the window of your vehicle, you are not going to care about an island nation on the equator not even knowing if their entire country will be above high tide in the next 30 years. A vast majority of people just don't seem to want to acknowledge that their actions have consequences.

Actions=consequences.

If you want to boil down the inspiration for my story down to two words and one mathematical symbol, that is it.

Yeah take Chernobyl for example. The radiation is so toxic that it is impossible to live there. We have polluted the world so much and that is only the start. What happens if something similar to Lebanon happens but with even more radioactive material. The world would most likely start die rapidly. All the chemicals we have created were solely to give power to a certain country or group. They were produce to make weapons (in terms of highly radioactive materials). And even when brought to awareness we have political leaders who turn a blind eye to this. Sorry about being a little bit political but our fucking dumb president doesn't even believe in global warming and the fact that the environment is dying. He doesn't give a shit about the world, society, or the people in the country. He is like so many others who are blinded by their lust for power. Humanity just wants power and control and they do not care how the environment changes for the worse as long as they get that power and control. I know you may not see eye to eye with me politically but we need people who care about the world as leaders, not self centered shitbags.

And by separating the species of families, are you trying to bring insight into the struggle or racial diverse and mixed families of the real world. Because it seems that way as Mixed families of the real world deal with some being oppressed while other members aren't because some were born darker in contrast to other siblings lighter skin tone.

There are many levels to this story that many either don't see, don't care to for, ignore, or neglect to give me any comment or feedback on. You have found one of them.

Haha I give credit to the countless hours of exploring hidden game lore on being able to find this hidden part.

I remember your reply about religion and I assume that not only do you not want religion to stem from the dragons but you also hint at how religion can be used as justification for the evil things done by extremist groups.

Religion will just be one of many justifications that antagonistic groups in my story use.

Also, also, their size is serves a purpose in making them unmanageable. A smaller version would be too easily dominated by humans. I want you to try to convince me that I'm wrong and that humans wouldn't immediately try to cage transformed humans if they could.

Yeah ur right abt that. If they were smaller it would be like the twin tests during the holocaust where they would tie em up and open them to see how they work and how their brain works

Also, why the location of Idaho. It just seems very rural and thus, less extremities occur over there than it would in somewhere like Texas.

For the first time on this web site I will narrow down somewhat where I am or have been in my life. I chose Idaho, because it is an area that I have a passing familiarity with. And I chose the town that they are in specifically, because it is relatively unknown, in the hope that the reader has some analog in their own lives that has enough parallels to that town that they could project their own example into the story and craft a greater attachment to the plot.

There are other reasons why it was chosen as well. But they relate to the plot, so until you hit on them yourself I won't bring them up.

I do bring into the story at random intervals how other regions of the United States of America and around the world are dealing with the change as well. Kim and Tom are not important enough to have a view from the top (many things happen outside their experience that they only learn about in oblique ways) like General Boyd or the Governor of the state of Idaho would.

Ok I can kinda see that I just lack the knowledge of rural areas since I'm used to being in big cities. So I guess it seems that they are really just more of a pawn on a chessboard rather than a king or queen.

Yes and no.

I mean in term of physics it does not make that much sense as the more dense the object the heavier it is meaning they should weigh well over 10 tons. But then again the cellular structure could be shaped differently meajing that their muscles and tissues are not only lighter but stronger due to the different formation of cells.

Exceot there are thousands of them

I dont want to sound like hella critical or whatever but why do Luke, Lucy, and Alex have to remain human. I understand that u said b4 that it is because they have an important role to play but it just keeps going down the path of being sad like Tokyo Ghoul. I understand that u want to keep them human due to their important role but like why can't they at some point become dragons like how Jesse did but after fulfilling their role. It just that sad stuff like this really puts me on edge even if its just a story

I also don't want to sound bratty but like I really hope that they become dragons cuz it would just relieve some of the anxiety on readers like me because we would feel relieved that the family gets to be "back together". P.S. Im one of those people who have severe anxiety problems so I hope u understand that stuff like this just really stays in my mind a lot even tho Idk why.

I have given a lot of exactly the kind of actions that you are recommending here. But one thing that keeps holding me back is how I don't want the aliens to be perceived.

I don't want a type of religion to spring up around the aliens in hopes of currying favor from them by people devoting their lives to acting in ways that they think the aliens want. All done in some kind of pursuit of the 'favor' of being given the great strength and extended life span of the children of the egg.

Do you see what I mean, and why that would be problematic?

Another issue for, say, Luke and Lucy. What if the task they have to accomplish takes their whole lives? And in the process of their whole lives, they have children of their own. What happens to Luke and Lucy's children if they are changed to satisfy their parent's wish to never have to see them grow old and pass on while they remain largely unchanged? The heartbreak would just be shifted to a new generation unless there was a continual procession of transformations.

I mean think of it like this. I have read manga with similar plots like this where someone becomes another creature and tries to unite both species (such as the case with Tokyo Ghoul). In stories like these the other "new" species is recognized but like in your story, poorly treated and shown hate. In my eyes, Luke and Lucy are seen as characters like Kaneki where they are surrounded by the other species and have to play their part in making both species get along. And I understand that but them staying human makes them vulnerable. Although you are the writer, logically keeping them as they are now will only prove to be harder because extremists, logically, would go after them first and kill them in order to emotionally hurt the family. This would in turn make both sides have more hate and turn the world further upside down. I personally feel like they could be changed later on like 10 years later as kind of a Kaneki type character where they grow up on both sides and see how each side acts and uses that knowledge to slowly change the world into accepting the new. Its just that besides it being sad that they have to remain human, it doesn't make that much sense from a logical standpoint given that to hurt one side people first choose to hurt them emotionally via killing someone very close to them.

I can't say that I'm at all familiar with this Tokyo Ghoul but it seems as if there are a few points of subtle but significant difference.

The children (or in other families, whomever is left human) are not really meant to be the only bridge between the species. The ones that have been changed by and large are as well (alien bodies, human thought patterns and considerations). Which was the whole idea behind introducing this new highly evolved species from humans and not from outside the planet (like an invasion). The changed humans are the confused interspecies ambassadors. The unchanged family members, if nothing else, are there to show that these afflicted individuals are still their loved ones.

If anyone were to attack these human members of the families, it would push those less hostile or ambivalent to the 'dragons' firmly into their camp and leave no quarter for those more aggressive in attacking them. Guerrilla warfare does not work well without the support of local populations. And killing humans to enrage/destabilize the 'dragons' in my story is a sure fire bet to get everyone to turn on you. Which is.....*spoilers*.

Religion wouldn't be a problem in theory because of advancements in technology where people would be able to fight them plus the division between them would make that religious beliefs impossible. Religion comes from the fear of what is unknown. It gives people something to believe for what they do not know. However, this is something they do know and thus no religion would be born from it.

Not just fear of the unknown. Religion often gives a point and purpose to life for many that lack one of their own. Traditionally, it was be good and pious to punch your ticket to some version of a blissful and eternal life beyond this one. Swap heaven for the promise of becoming a more evolved life form, and The God for an entire race of extradimensional Gods, and you have just got yourself a new system of religion. Which in my eyes would be bad.

Yeah just shows how fucked up the world is. Everyone views themselves positively in some regard, however we are ultimately human. We fell victim to gluttony, sloth, wrath, greed, pride, lust, and envy and thus our society has become broken and corrupt. Even in religion today, the leaders are not following it well because what happened to resoecting the eviromment. God's creature were what we are supposed to protect but people deem it as unimportant and thus fail to acknowledge the fucked up state of the world. Like for instance, in Ecuador, a huge oil system that China put under a waterfall broke and is now spilling tons of oil into the Amazon. And people, out of their own lust for power, sided with Ecuador only to increase their likings, not even once stating the true cause for the conflict. Our religion teaches us that we should help toe world but we do not. Like you stated religion gives people a reason to do bad things. No one follows the true goals of the religion anymore or what God (for my religion) or gods want us to do. They instead only take parts of that religion and use it as justification. They uses small parts hidden in the religious texts, often using certain words to make it seem that is what the text says when it doesn't. Thus, they create a piece of info derived from a religious source as justification to carry out evil. I guarantee you that the explosion in Lebanon either came from humanity's lack of care for the environment, thus leading to a spill of chemicals, or an extremist group planting a bomb and using their religion as justification. I like how you stress this with subtle lines of the extremists referencing God cause it shows how people use religion for bad things. And for me it seems as if the children of the egg are almost a "wave" sent out by Thumper sent to help cleanse the Earth of evil and save the environment, similar to Noah's Ark and how not only was evil purged but the environment was saved. I don't know if this is true or not but I see Thumper as a character resembling God who is disgusted at how humans treat each other and the Earth. And chose the pure ones, like how God chose Noah, to go and cure the Earth of evil and save the environment.

Also I'm really only stressing Luke and Lucy because it was hinted before that Alex is gonna become a dragon given that it seems he is still alive in 500 years. And I first of all want to say that ur plot is good. I just don't really see how Luke and Lucy can get their family and the rest of the dragons to be accepted while they are human as people would most likely not listen and laugh. Like for plot I think that them growing up as humans living with dragons is good but they are still too vulnerable as a human. I honestly feel like Alex's case is the best since he has been human for a while and as u hinted becomes a dragon and using his knowledge of both sides, he can help unite them. Idk if u watched tokyo ghoul but having a plot like that worked really good for the show. Having Luke and Lucy grow and develop close relationships with human friends and become dragons themselves is honestly a good way too (not just because I hate to see them die waaay b4 their parents). That way they can show their close friends that they are just in merely different bodies. When Hide found out Kaneki was a ghoul, he didnt hate him because Kaneki showed Hide that he still cared for him. (I know u might say that its the same case for Luke and Lucy since their family is dragons but its not since u can't ever escape ur family bond but u can with friends). So back to the topic, I personally feel as if changing Luke and Lucy after they've grown up us a good choice as they have friends that they can show how they are still Luke and Lucy. That in my eyes would be better since people could just say Luke and Lucy are merely supporting dragons because their parents are dragons now.

Excerpt from Chapter 10 where Shadi (future Kim) speaks to Alex before departing:

“Alex… You sacless rat cutting nerd. I know when I told you earlier that I’m over five hundred
years old you knew what that meant for you.” A smirk twisted his face and he nodded. “But what you
have meant in our life is something that can never be forgotten or replaced. Would you please come
closer?”

I'm afraid that you got the wrong message from what I had Shadi imply here. By mentioning how old she was, she was confirming if Alex realized that meant he was long gone from the world in her time. He never becomes a 'dragon'. Is there a different instance that you can point to where you think that it's implied? Perhaps I made a mistake somewhere else. Also, something else that is only vaguely hinted at but I have to address as well, is that Tom and Kim are a very rare...sub-type...of children of the egg. Not all 'dragons' in my story will live to such an extreme age. Alex, Luke, and Lucy are not the only ones Shadi would have seen leave this life. All part of the colossal sadness that blankets her thoughts.

Oh ok my bad

Btw sorry for how badly the comment is put together but like I'm not taking eng honors anymore so I can finally just chill.

I do have to say though that this is a good story. For me it is because of how hidden some of the themes of the story are and how unique your word choice is. Abd although I'm not a fan of how some of the mixed families are set up (mainly because it hurts to watch a parent have to bury their child's body) I do have to admit that the way you did it makes sense and correlates to real world problems with a good chunk of families. And I'm also not a fan of sad endings for characters but the way you do it is professional. Also, I love how the species must learn to work together (this is partly due to the fact that one of my favorite shows ever requires the MC to unite the 12 races to get the right to challenge god). All in all, this was very well done but I do want to ask about how long this specific story will continue and how many stories are planned for this timeline after.

There are at most two to three chapters left in this story. But as far as stories in this world/timeline, I don't know how many more I'll throw out there. I still have a great many ideas that I want to explore in this world and some won't involve this family very much at all and take place in other areas of the world. Some, will be circling back to characters introduced for fleeting moments and then sent off outside the story.

Thank you very much for your candid thoughts on my writing! I'm glad that you are aware of some of the layers to the story that I try to write into the plot. I am glad that readers such as you are willing to put in the mental effort to suss those hidden buried themes out!

I just enjoy finding the hidden stuff in anything because it requires you to think and closely analyze the text. Your story kinda reminds me of fnaf in terms of hiding important info in the text.

fnaf?

Its an indie game. Five nights at Freddy's. The game has a very hidden storyline that requires looking at posters on the games walls, keying in a code into tiles on the wall, glitching out mini games, slowing down and speeding up animatronic audio, looking at the difference between clocks in each game, playing secret mini games, and paying attention to small details and character line colors and dialog. And that's only the top part. It also requires paying attention to small details in the books for the game such as paying attention to character hair, eye, habits, personality, etc. It just hides important info in it really well kinda like your story (although in a different way).

If you ever have time I suggest watching the game theorists theories on it. Its really amazing on how hidden some of the story is.

Sorry for commenting so much but I have a lot of questions to ask lmao. But this one I had on my mind a lot. Did you write this to raise awareness about the destruction of the environment and the inevitable collapse of not only humanity but the world as a whole? Because you replied saying this story was to talk about how we treat our environment more than how society mistreats others.

I wish I could raise awareness of such a literally world changing issue with something as simple as one of my stories. I wish the world was a better place, and that my cynicism didn't prevent me from seeing a way that humans could do that without having a gun held to their heads. It is a little intimidating to think of how much has happened since I started this story. And how little of what has showed that humans are any more rational than I had thought before.

We're just a pitiful species, full of backbiting tribalism and myopic fickleness with an almost unlimited capacity for rapaciously assaulting the very thing that we rely on for the entirety of our existence.

I saw ur reply about the note u sent I replied to u and it should have gone through idk tho cuz I never used it b4.

I saw ur reply about the note u sent I replied to u and it should have gone through idk tho cuz I never used it b4.