Friends
Very well. Come along with me this way.” The pair started down a path filled with multi-colored trees and travelled eastward for a time. Around them the features of the landscape were changing with steadily less and less red and gold trees and bright grass, until Zachariah stopped them. “The terrain gets a little rough from here. Allow me to make it easy on us.”
His clothes melted away into goo that left him naked, as light, silvery tufts of fur sprouted across his body that smoothed over into a fine coat. Zachariah contorted onto all fours and developed hard, dark hooves in the place of feet. Despite no longer standing, he grew taller and soon was almost Gideon’s height. His face grew longer and thinner with large eyes of blue stardust. Pearly white extended from his skull, which curled and branched into several sets of sharp horns. When all was said and done, Zachariah looked simply majestic. He had transformed into a giant deer that looked like a guardian of the forest. Gideon was very impressed by this form.
Zachariah lowered himself near to the ground and allowed Gideon to mount his back. Upon getting on, the shapeshifter pranced along their route. “How are you able to do that?” Gideon asked.
Zachariah laughs a little. “It’s a very long explanation. Stick around long enough, maybe I’ll tell you. After all, if you are going to be here for a while then you’re going to see more than me change in and out of human form.”
“What do you mean?”
The environment continued changing. The forest was all but gone; what trees did remain looked like skeletons. A lot of the color that had existed faded away into a bleached, washed-out grey that looked as if everything were coated in a thin layer of ash. “Take my friends we’re going to see for an example.” He says in a low voice, “When we get there, don’t look too surprised.”
“Err…” He nervously bumbles, “Why do you say that?”
“Oh no real reason. I can just tell you don’t have much of anything that’s “fantastical” or “out of the norm” where you’re from.”
Gideon practically gulps down the concerns bubbling up his throat. “And your friends are…”
Written by KnightofFellsia on 26 April 2018
