Metamorphosis
Jennifer Schumacher
Torango flew swiftly through the air, seeking his prey. The heightened sight of his glowing blue eyes enabled him to see the small beast down on the forest floor below, and he licked his great maw hungrily. His large, iridescent looking yet leathery wings caught the colder thermal in the air, and he slowly glided down silently, waiting for the right time to strike and kill his dinner. When he neared close enough to his liking, he dived down at great speed, plucking his prey off the ground. He then kicked off the ground with his mighty obsidian legs, forcing himself through the tree line and into the air again. He pumped his large wings to gain altitude, and he flew off to his cave, the animal struggling and screaming helplessly in his sharp talons.
After reaching his cave in Mt. Selentalis, the largest of the mountains in the Surisian range, he back-winged to land, his mighty legs touching the floor delicately, yet his wings sending a large whirlwind down and through his nest. With three claws he walked down into the depths of his cave, with the other he held his struggling victim. His glowing eyes gave light to the damp, dark walls and glistening floor, but rather than making it seem more comfortable it gave an eerie, cold feeling to the hallway. When the monstrous dragon finally reached the end, the creature in his claws saw why it had not been eaten immediately. For there in a bed of jewels and gold was a large yet infinitely beautiful golden dragon, large in the belly from what he guessed were eggs that were ready to emerge and become dragons themselves. The black dragon smiled a draconian grin, which seemed so fierce to the soon to be supper and yet to the other of its kind seemed so warm and loving. The Black one set down its catch before its mate, who licked her delicate snout and put her nose down to sniff the creature. Her face then contorted, and she sneezed, shaking her head afterwards, the small scales on her back glistening as she did. She looked up at her other, and in draconian she spoke to him, saying, "This one has the taint of magic on it. I cannot eat it, for it will hurt the eggs."
The dark dragon snorted, blowing a sickening smell on the small creature below it. He replied to his mate, "Two leggers are very hard to find, my dear, and as you know I can not tell if they are magical by smell. If you cannot have it, then I shall." With that, he opened his large maw, and dived in to feed upon the small being.
The wizard, however, just had quite enough of this. Before the dragon could seize his fangs upon him he held his small hands towards the dragon and spoke an incantation in the Old language. A greenish light emanated from them, which in turn shot out and towards the dragon. It encircled the dragon, turning a blood red in coloring, while the dragon screamed in a fit of rage at its predicament. The light then filled the area around the dragon and the mage and blasted the purest white; and when it was gone, so were they. The golden one barked in surprise, then furrowed her eye ridges and screamed, wondering where her Black dragon had gone.
Her Black dragon had been teleported, along with the wizard, to another continent entirely. The dragon had been here once before, for he remembered that this was Tisalin. He would have happily devoured the wizard and flown back to his love, except when he tried to fly, he fell flat upon his face. Other things were strange to him also. He wondered why such a small country now seemed so large, and why the wizard had grown to his own height. The wizard simply watched the poor dragon as it tried to figure out what had happened to him.
Finally the dragon looked down upon itself, and his eyes widened in horror. A dark tanned skin, the kind that "two leggers" had, had replaced his beautiful, shiny black scales, and a large warrior human's body had replaced his massive and powerful draconian body. His human body was clothed in black, and a black cape swirled behind him gently in the breeze. He glanced upon his hands, and saw that rather than three powerful talons he had five human fingers. His head shot up and he hissed at the wizard, and he glared fiercely at him, the glow of his eyes now gone along with his draconity.
"Hmmm�" The old wizard said, "I didn't figure the spell'd do that exactly. But at least it gave you a nice new body and you won't be after the little people such as me�and you, now."
The fierceness of the dragon's glare increased, though it was not thought possible earlier. He pointed his long, large forearm at the wizard, and spat out, "You did this to me, yon magic two legger. You shall pay for your insolence!"
The wizard merely crossed his arms and rolled his old gray eyes, replying, "Oh please. Spare me the threats, lizard-boy. I could kill you with the blink of an eye."
The dragon was not used to not being feared of. So, not knowing what else to do, he lowered his arm and stalked off, into the swamps of the Tisalin wilderness. With this action the wizard's old eyes widened incredibly, and he ran after the dragon, his ratty blue robe flowing behind his slightly bulky self and tripping him up whilst the wizard yelled out, "Wait! You can't go into the wilderness by yourself! You're human now! You'll surely die in there!"
The dragon stopped his massive form, and slowly turned to the wizard, whispering coldly, "I need not you nor anyone else to help me. I am Torango the Black, feared by the fiercest roc and cowered before by the lowliest mortal. Especially two leggers such as you." He then stood there, motionless; the black cape at his back flowing behind him in the breeze, as was his long, raven colored hair.
The wizard bumbled up to him, and gasped between breaths, "Okay�Tango�or whatever you name is�my name is Marnicious�dweller of the�town named Balflince�and the local�wizard and healer�But you're still not going to�get out of there�alive if you go�waltzing in there without�someone who knows�the area�." Marnicious then kneeled down heavily at Torango's feet, putting a hand to his chest while still trying to catch his breath. Torango simply watched the wizard as he did so, waiting and watching him.
After a rather long while of waiting, Marnicious finally got his breath back. He stood up, brushing grass and other foreign objects off his robe of blue, then looked back up at the former dragon, tilted his head to one side, and said, smiling, "And besides, dragon breath, I can teleport us to the nearest town�" The dragon's eyes narrowed and got colder than before. This two legger with the smart mouth was beginning to get on his nerves, yet he realized that he had to keep him around at least for a little while longer, for he might be able to change him back. He turned to the wizard, and from his tall height he looked down upon the wizard, and said coldly, "Alright, magic two legger. I shall allow you to use your magic only twice more upon me. Once to get us to a two legger town, and the second to bring me back to my original self. But if you fail, you shall perish an unhonorable death by my hands, whether I am currently a two legger or not."
The wizard looked up at him with fear in his eyes, and from his lips he stuttered out, "uuumm�o-o-o-o-o-o-o-Kay�." The wizard seemed very afraid indeed, because he knew that he couldn't use his Polymorph spell all that well to change the dragon back, and not only that, but his teleportation spell was not 100 percent correct, either. But either way, he had to try. So he lifted his arms once more, and spoke the incantation in the Old language, the language of magic. Again the green light flowed out from his hands, and enveloped the both of them in its light. Then there again was a bright flash, and they were gone from the area.
When the dragon looked around again, he realized that this was no ordinary town. Everything was made in stone, and all was angular and dark in the twilight hours of the morning. Where there was life, there was very little of it, a bird here, maybe a tree there. He was not amused at all, and he glanced over at the wizard, asking, "And where have your magic powers taken us now, two legger? This is a place that I have never seen before, even though I have been through all of Giltari. This place is not at peace with itself at all, and I do not like it."
Marnicious smirked, retaliating with words by saying, "Oh, so you're scared, dragon man? I'm surprised, oh one who is feared by the rocs."
The wizard then saw the look in the dragon's eye for his mockery, and he cowered, afraid that Torango might kill him with a sweep of his mighty fist. The black dragon declined the idea, however, and simply asked, "Where is the inn in your strange place? I am tired and I need to rest before I am changed back."
The old wizard smiled, and pointed in a direction, answering his question with, "It's that way, bub. That large building over there that says "Hilton." I hope it's to your liking." As Torango started walking towards the building called, "Hilton," Marnicious looked down at his watch, which was strange to the dragon because he had never seen technology like that before. The wizard's eyes widened, and he exclaimed, "Oh! Jeez! Do you know what time it is? It's time for me to be getting back; I've got an appointment with an old crone with warts in�two minutes! Sorry, lizard breath, but I'll try to get back to ya on the transformation thingy, if I can get back there�"
The dragon's eyes widened and he whirled around to face the wizard, but when he looked for the wizard, he was there no more. The dragon growled angrily, and not wasting any time for idle thought, he walked off to the "Hilton."
When Torango walked inside, he was greeted with the faces of many two leggers in strange clothing. Most of them wore black, and the women would wear skirts or dresses, while the men wore multiple layers of shirts, which seemed very odd to the dragon indeed. Many of the strange two leggers looked at him oddly, wondering what was wrong with this large man with the black cape. But it was only an idle thought to them, for they glanced at what in their minds was a "weirdo," and then continued on their way to what ever it was that they were doing. Torango did not look at many of them, for rather he was looking at the insides of the strange rock structure, which was completely different from what it looked like from the outside. It was very richly decorated, with dark wood everywhere and red furnishings. He then saw the main desk with the woman behind it, and believing it to be the innkeeper, he walked over to her.
The woman looked up from her computer and at the strange yet handsome man who had walked over to her. She blushed a little under her makeup, and looked up at his dark blue eyes. "Can I help you, sir?" She asked in a hushed tone.
"Yes. I would like a room for the day�My name is Torango�"