At Bath Time
A few days pass by. At first, the newly transformed squirrel is pretty annoying and her dog is even worse, especially towards Blurred. They soon learn that disturbing a magician during their sleep or tipping their plate over calls for punishment, and not pleasant ones. The squirrel – that Blurred nicknamed Rascal – once got magically suspended by the tail for half an hour to float above the kitchen table. The dog if forced to spins around in circles until it can’t walk straight. After an attempt at escaping, the magician pushed his punishment to such length that the poor canine simply vomited his lunch. You felt dashes of pity for them as you watch them go though all this, but they weren’t behaving better towards you and they only got a correction when your master caught them messing with you.
They calmed down after a while and peace returned. The only difference is that it now seems that you had lost your teleportation power but since you are much larger and you walk faster that you don’t really need it. You new body is a powerful one, built like a bull, and you enjoy the strength, thought you still want to know why you were trapped here. Blurred doesn’t seem like he is in the mood to answer anything and would keep acting as if you are a normal dragon-dog.
One day that you were searching for him through the house, you notice that there was some steam coming out from under the bathroom door. You hesitate a moment before pushing it open – you discovered that since you knew how door worked it was easier then you would have expected to manage the handles, even with your paws – but in the end, curiosity gets the better of you. Since he treats you as any other pet you don’t think he will mind if you see them naked. Time to see if they are a boy or a girl.
At first, you actually don’t actually see much happening: there is just a lot of steam pouring directly into your eyes when you enter. You blink a few times, getting used to the overload of suspended moisture, before spotting a large shape in the even larger bathtub. You feel your scales prickle as they raise slightly and for a second you believe that you have taken a wrong turn and entered the wrong bathtub, which is currently used by one of the magician’s most voluminous guests.
You are wrong.
The shape turns to you and purple eyes narrow. “Skippy?” Call the voice of the magician, except that it isn’t their voice. It is way deeper and scarier… but somehow almost sound the same. You froze in your step, despite the common sense that is telling you that you should leave as fast as possible. Could it be that…
“Don’t be scared, Skippy. It’s me. Close that door, you are letting the cold air in.”
You obey, pushing it with your back leg. You feel reassured that it’s the magician you know and not some huge random stranger, because dragon-dog or not, that would have been awkward. You don’t get closer thought and you try to distinguish what creature they are in truth. You are not sure, but are these… wings?
“Come a bit closer. You were searching for a little petting?”
That wasn’t what you wanted, but you can’t remember what it was. Well, petting sounds nice. You approachthem… or him, since his voice is clearly falling on the rugged masculine side. You are still a bit reluctant, especially when you start to distinguish his features.
He is a dragon, that is for sure. His snout is sort of short but definitely looks like it could munch some iron. His scales are a dark shade of violet, so dark in a certain light you would have sworn they were black. His ears are short and sort of roundish but his horns are massive and curl in the same fashion as a ram. Despite the fact that you smell that he has brushed his teeth recently his breath smells like burned flesh and you feel your nose wrinkle as the foul odor makes your stomach protest. He is large, much larger then in his human form but somehow his body structure makes him look strange, as if he was a mixture between a human and a dragon.
He must have seen the concern and the fear in your eyes, for he sights and raises a massive hand to scratch the top of his skull with a sight. “There is really no need to be afraid. I am not going to hurt you.” His fingers leave his head and find the flesh under your jaw. A little scratch, and you are practically purring in delight. “You saved us back then.”
You blink your eyes in confusion, before realizing that he is talking about the confrontation with the creature now known as Rascal.
“I owe you one, Skippy. Why don’t you sit down? It’s story time.”
You lay on your belly and place your head on your paws. He nods in approval and turns around, resting his back against the side of the tub – that rather looks like a small pool or a large Jacuzzi, as expected for something able to hold him entirely. A sight escapes his lips and he looks up at the ceiling. “Well, it’s a long one. I hope you are comfortable.”
“Once upon a time, there was that rather random guy that fell though the dimensions by accident, only to amuse the caprice of a God. Or rather, that’s what what I assumed, I never understood what had happened and that isn’t really important today. I was very lost for a while… Until I understood that I wasn’t welcome in that place, that Iwas dangerous for what I was. I tell you, it was rather a shock to find out.”
“Anyway, I was pretty lucky, if I can say so. I survived the hostility, and I even managed to trick a magician in making him believe that I wasn’t a human from an other world, but a dragon, and became his apprentice. I was quite good at transforming, and I understood why our type of humans were so feared: it was because we could take, with just a spark of magic, any shape they like without suffering any pain if the spell is used correctly. We had created such fear among the other races and we had possessed such power that we were banished a long time ago, in a world that contained no magic. Can you imagine that, Skippy?”
“I grew older and more experienced, and even opened a magic business of my own… but I felt lonely. I was surrounded by people but none of them came from our world and i felt that no one truly understood me. So… I asked a hunter to go to the human world and to bring me a pet, someone to remedy to my loneliness, despite the fact that it was forbidden by the law. But then again, I never was quite the type to follow the rules.”
You understand a little better what was the deal with Arch and the police woman now. The elf was probably the one that brought you here – and maybe the one that erased your name from your memory.
“I originally didn’t want to use you like this…” He mumbles as he glances over his shoulder at you, and you tilt your head at that remark. You let it be thought. It isn’t as you can ask what he is talking about anyway. “Anyway,” he continues as if he had said nothing, “things changed a little since you threw yourself in the face of danger to save us. It’s isn’t like we couldn’t have handled the whole situation ourselves, but that’s not important. You sort of put your life on the line for us back there. That is why…”
He pauses and looks over his shoulder at you and this time his gaze lingers. You see the wheels turn behind his purple eyes and you wait patiently. Your instinct tells you it’s something big coming your way.
He suddenly raises his hand, flickers his fingers and you feel something unlock in your throat. Surprise, you dart your head up and the magician smiles.
“You can talk now. I have a questions. Would you rather stay here with me, or go on your own? I believe that it isn’t right to keep you here with me against your will… so the choice is yours.”
Written by Clayem on 15 April 2016
