The rest of the family was no more, and Arthur collected their bodies and their blood. He took as much of their blood as he could, before forming a ring around his middle finger.
He turned into a dragon, eating their corpses.
Finally, he left the building as a human once more, flying out of the house much different than he was when he entered.
Consequence is the killer of wrath.
Arthur, who now felt the consequence of doing what he did, was overwhelmed. Perhaps this could be considered the worst day of his life.
Arthur flew back to his campus, going to his dorm, hiding the shotgun and collapsing onto the bed. He hugged his pillow tightly, and Tyler got back from hanging out with his girlfriend around 10 minutes after.
"Oh, snap, you're here. Actually, dude, where've you been all day!? I couldn't get into contact with either you or Sally, so it's like, dang. Don't you have work today?" Tyler said, as Arthur made no response.
"Arthur?"
"Auh…"
Tyler went over to Arthur, rolling him over onto his back, looking down at him.
"Hey man, is everything alright?" Tyler asked. "Don't tell me you and your girlfriend broke up already?"
"I… I'm… I hate myself." Arthur said his words with utmost sincerity, and a volatile emotion laced them.
"Can… Can I sit down with you, Arthur?"
Arthur sat up, holding onto his pillow and Tyler sat down next to him. "What makes you say that? What happened?"
"I… s-someone… someone I knew, they… they needed my help, and I couldn't… I couldn't help them at all. Because… I, I was… too weak. And now, now that that's over with, I was… I was really angry at myself, and so… I went and… um."
"You did what?" Tyler implored. He slowly, slowly, put his hand on Arthur's shoulder, gently pulling him into a side-hug which Arthur could stop at any moment. Arthur's body didn't respond, so he fell shoulder to shoulder.
"I was so mad that I… I can't tell you, I really can't, but… I don't know if I did the right thing or not. I can't tell you, so you can't tell me either if I did do the right thing… no, I didn't do the right thing. I did a really awful thing, something you'd never, ever… ever forgive if I told you, so…"
Arthur wept.
"I don't know why I'm telling you all this. I know I just look like some stupid fag crying about nonsensical things, some weakling who can't do anything, and I know that's who I am, I know that for a fact, but I'm… I don't know what else to do. I can't do anything, and I know this isn't good for me, I know that I'm just blabbering on about some stupid shit because you don't know what I'm saying, but—"
"It's okay. You're my bro, aren't you? I'm not always gonna listen to you yap and yap obviously, but it seems like this really does mean a lot to you. So, I'll listen, and I'll try not to judge. If that's what you need, then I'll gladly be that," Tyler said calmly.
"I… I see. Thank you," Arthur said. "I… I don't know if I want to say anything more. I know you just said you'd listen, but… I don't like telling people these things. It feels unnatural, and scary. I feel like if you actually see what I really am, you'll hate me. No, you're one of the only people who I can show 'my true self' to."
"That said, even if I know I could maybe show you 'my true self,' if you saw what 'I' really did, then you'd hate me forever. I'm really, really afraid of having one of the only people who actually cares about me to end up hating me, so I don't want to tell you everything. I'd rather die than have you guys hate me. Because if you do, then it shows that I really was unlovable."
"That's understandable. A lot of people don't really like themselves, so it's understandable. I don't believe you're unlovable, y'know. I mean, if you killed someone, then I'd probably be really upset with you, and afraid of you, but to me, you're still my friend, as long as you're not like a murderer or whatever. As long as you're yourself, I could never hate you."
"Ah…"
But he was a murderer. He had enemies who he wanted to take revenge on, yet he explicitly sought out a weak family to kill, all so that he could take their blood and get stronger weapons.
In the truest form, he was a murderer.
And as a result, he truly could not be loved. The friends who did love him, even when he was worthless, now could no longer genuinely love him. And it was all his fault.
"I… thank you, Tyler. I want… I'm going out for a second," Arthur said, getting up off the bed. He stumbled away towards the door, before Tyler called out for him.
Arthur turned around, seeing Tyler look back at him with concern. Then, his face turned to a small smile.
"Stay safe, alright? I don't know what you did, or what happened. But I do know that you're my friend, and I'm here for you! Love ya, no homo tho'!" Tyler said, waving at Arthur excitedly. Arthur smiled at that and nodded his head, before closing the door.
'I'm just a worthless person now. No, I might've always been this way. I'm not good enough.'
'I never will be. Should I just end it all now?'
"————"
It was something Arthur paused for quite some time to think over.
'No. The entire world of dragons is against me, I'll do as much damage as I possibly can to them.'
'Kill as many as I can. I'm a worthless murderer. That's all I'll ever be, so I might as well make the most of it.'
'I'll trample upon the world of dragons. They hurt one of the only people that I genuinely believed could ever like, or accept me as a person. And because of that, they led me to becoming this stupid wretch.'
'It's the world's fault. And mine, too. I'll destroy the world and myself.'
…
Arthur used the money he had from his last paycheck, spending it in the gym. However, what he bought was not a membership, or a protein shake.
'I'm not good enough. My body's always been weaker than the others. So…'
Arthur spent his time in the home gym at the Graves family mansion. Chad kept him in the basement, and Moon refused to see him, naturally.
Arthur wiped the skin on his arm, around the middle area between his bicep and tricep, before using a needle formed from blood which he'd disinfected in order to be able to actually puncture him.
He stuck the needle in his arm, injecting it into himself before waiting a few minutes. He hit the workout feeling energized, training his body with heavy lifts which he did until absolute muscular failure, before healing and continuing.
…
"Dang broski, you uh… wow," Chad nervously sputtered out. Arthur got off of the bench, exhaling and frowning. When he went over to the bathroom to pee, he looked in the mirror, seeing himself. His body was a lot more muscular now.
His build was akin to that of a heavyweight MMA fighter, and that was after just one day of working out. Naturally, this was all due to being a Dragonborn.
The effects of steroids were made even stronger due to his blood. His muscles were developed and quite shredded. In fact, he'd even grown in height as well, as his growth plates weren't entirely closed.
This gave him an inch over the course of a few hours. And now, he was 5 foot 10.
Of course, he wasn't spared from the downsides of steroids. When he lowered his pants to pee, he saw that his manhood had shrunken by a large amount. His chest had gotten bigger as well, and not just in a muscular manner.
And when he finished, he went to wash his hands, looking into the mirror once more and seeing his face had gotten even worse. His skin wasn't picture-perfect before, but it was now an even uglier mess.
His face was red with acne, and when he looked down, he saw that he was balding in the back of the head. His joints hurt as well.
He'd noticed the balding earlier, when he got off of the bench and saw that there was a clump of sweaty hair left.
'I don't even look human. Or like any of the other dragons. Everyone else looks good, they look so amazing, they're usually tall and muscular like I am, but their face looks good. But me…'
'I look like an ogre. I'm not human anymore, I should've known. I never was a proper human.'
'I just need to kill.'
Then, as he left the bathroom, he saw Chad sitting down watching TV.
"Hey, Chad?" Arthur asked.
"Yeah bro?"
"That taboo, either the first or the second… if I devour the person from my family to death, what happens again?"
"Your Dragon Art gets stronger. I heard you also gain their Dragon Art, but that might not be true. I don't think that's happened in like, 400 years? It's like using biological warfare, it's like a war crime or something, I dunno," Chad replied nonchalantly.
Arthur looked at Chad, who was eating KFC. Strangely enough, Arthur didn't feel hungry.
This was because,
'It's probably because I ate all those corpses. I'm probably set for a long time in terms of calories. Good for me.'
Arthur checked his phone, looking at the location of the Assas family mansion.
'Should I do it now? No, at least a few days of training.'
And so, Arthur rested, as he needed to recover his muscles and stamina at the same time.
…
"Hey Arthur, how're you—" Lucy said, before dropping a plate. She had decided that this dream should take place in a cafe, and was playing the role of a waitress.
However, upon seeing Arthur, she dropped the plate, which shattered on the floor. The air filled with the sound of collapse, he looked at her.
With cold, sunken eyes.