XCV ||| The Shift of the Serpent

"So, Hel, can you shift?" Felix asked excited.

I frowned, "Shift? You mean into my serpent?" To my surprise, all of them, including Oliver, nodded. "Are you sure?" I looked around, as we are in very heart of the maze. "I mean, I can easily shift in here, but you will have to step far away from me."

"Can we touch the scales?" Irene asked.

"Our hands won't fall down, right?" Rio asked concerned.

Rolling my eyes, I glared at him, "Yes. You can. And no, cotton candy baby blue hair, that's not a thing. Besides, my body is still growing. The serpent one. As I was locked in stasis, my body also didn't grew much."

"Natural magic helps," Oliver added. "We saw in the books."

A nod, "So, you can say I'm a baby serpent."

"A baby seventeen meters tall?" Agatta gasped.

"How tall are you supposed to be?" River caressed his own chin.

"Fifty meters?" Oliver asked as we shared a look. "Maybe more."

Nod. "If I hadn't been in stasis, I would be around that by now. And I say height, but it more like seventeen meters long." I held onto Oliver's arm and half bend down to take off my shoes. "I can shift using all clothes, but not my shoes. Kind of annoying," Oli took them in her right hand. "But the rest can stay, the magic of the whole thing will do it's job."

"So cool," Elsa mumbled. "I still need to undress."

"Me too," Kalisha added. "All but underwear."

I grinned, "Sounds interesting," I winked at them. "Now, back the fuck off, please. When I shift, I shift while curling up, and the takes a lot of space. Oh," I turned to them, "I don't speak in tongues, but I do speak into your mind while in my serpent. Pretty cool. But only in my serpent. I do not read thoughts, but if you speak with me, I'll hear it, and I'll answer right into your mind."

"What?" Rio gasped.

"That's so freaking cool," Ivar giggled.

"I know. I'm the coolest," then I gave Oliver one quick kiss, and used my wings to fly at least a meter above the ground. "You aren't far away from me enough," I warned them.

They ran to the side of the center of the maze, each one to stand in a different entry, and when they were far enough, I closed my eyes, found the link with myself inside of me and embraced it. It tingled a bit, and I felt my body getting longer, stronger, full of magic, too much magic. And it felt totally different than all the times I've shifted before.

I felt invincible, undying, and my mating bond with Oliver felt a lot more stronger and palpable, more magical than it did when I am in my changeling body. I felt more aware of everything. Of the natural magic surrounding me, of each of the kid's magic powers, of their breaths, heart beats, their emotions, and gasps of awe and fear. I also felt a strong pull to where Agost and Nicolette were, probably given our blood link. Though it was nowhere as strong as what I have with Oliver.

"Shite!" They gasped.

"That's bloody scary and insane and gorgeous," it's Rio.

"Babe, you look huge!" Oliver gasped.

{"Now you know how I feel!"} I said into his mind.

"Idiot, I mean longer than 17. Definitely longer than that!" He said. "Are you okay? Your head seems to be hidden."

"Your ring is in your tail!" Yumi gasped.

"It got bigger with you, this is crazy," Agatta mumbled.

Oh? Slowly, feeling more like myself than anything, I uncovered my face and got up and up and up, until I was towering over all of them, but still with half of my body recoiled. Then I opened my wings widely. I found Oliver standing down and right in front of me.

Did I turn to him when I felt out bond?

"I'm scared," Felix cried. "You look scarily beautiful!"

["I'm in awe,"] Jack exclaimed.

{"Is this my necklace?"} I looked down at the thing surrounding me, four meters down my head. {"Oh, this is cool,"} I giggled, and then I bought the tip of my tail to me, looking at my ring in it. {"Royal jewels are amazing. And you're right, Oli, I'm bigger,"} I looked at myself.

"Bigger is an understatement," Dimitry chuckled anxiously. "You might have doubled in size. What the hell, Hel? It's insane. And your wings? Awesome as hell."

I looked at them, {"They are. And also bigger."}

"Looks around ten meters to me," Shiryu, the quietest of them spoke.

I turned my eyes to him.

"I understand of wings, you know. Seraphim stuff, as I have six. Yours are big like this to fly around with such a big body. Though I think the physics of your flight might be definitely different."

His talkative twin nodded, "My thoughts exactly."

{"Now I'm taller than all of you,"} I winked.

"Indeed, you are," Oliver grinned. "Your eyes look stunning, babe. And can you show the fangs?"

{"Of course,"} I said and then I hissed ferociously and showed it to them, dancing my long forked tongue too. {"It's a nasty bite in this form. But you don't need to be scared, you can come closer."}

"We're not scared," Felix squeaked.

{"When I'm like this, I can smell and almost taste emotions, Lix. And most of you are terrified. Come on, these scales are pure obsidian and emerald. Aren't they shiny?"} I closed my mouth and moved around to show it to them.

Slowly, I lowered myself to their height, then I went to Oliver and he giggled, for once, looking small. When I came to the height of his face, he petted in between my eyes. "Beautiful and deadly. Cute and fierce. You have two very intimidating side, babe. I hate both."

{"I hate yours more."}

"Awesome," Yumi and Shiryu said as they flew up to see my wings from a closer view, stunned with the size, but not scared at all.

"Can we touch the tail?" Nicolette asked shyly.

{"Yes. Go for it,"} I moved my tail to where she was standing with Melvin, Agost, and Kalisha.

"What's the most sensitive part?" Savannah asked, using wind to fly up to where Yumi and Shiryu were standing. "The wings?"

{"Yes. Avoid them. I'll lose my shite if you touch it. And I assure you don't want me to lose my shite when I'm in my serpent. Things might get ugly,"} I grinned, even though that's not necessarily true.

"The wings, uh?" Oliver grinned filthily.

I rolled my eyes, {"Later."} I said only to him.

["You are cooler like this,"] Jack exclaimed, flying to see my face. ["I can feel the ancient almost omnipotent power in you now. It's like you are more in contact with your magical core like this. Do you feel more sensitive to magic now? Feeling more?"]

{"I do,"} I turned to Oliver. {"Can you feel it?"}

"Our mating bond? I can feel it. It's stronger, definitely insanely stronger. I can feel it. Feels more alive, more palpable, the thread is more incandescent than it was before," flying with telekinesis and coming closer, he touched his forehead on mine, and it got even stronger. The feeling I felt coming from him, also more vivid and powerful, overwhelming.

Will I really be able to break this? I don't know. Not anymore.

{"Maybe you needed touch me like this, for us to feel the bond to it's true power and strength,"} I whispered into his mind.

"You think this might change something? Magically wise?"

No idea. {"Maybe? We'll know when I'm back to my changeling body that you already know off. We haven't gotten to the books that talk about winged-serpents mating bonds yet. But each kind has a different thing that happens to mates, so, maybe connecting in this way does makes some things feel and happen differently afterwards."}

"Well, I know I'm pissed off with these many kids touching you right now," he chuckled annoyed.

I rolled my eyes, {"I'll deal with your jealousy later."}

Rio called for me and I turned to him, who had jumped over a part of my body and was hugging my body, "It's so comfortable. Your scales feel like velvet."

{"Oliver might kill you if you keep that up,"} I giggled.

He met Oli's glare, and grinned mischievously, "She said we can."

"Naughty bloody kid," Oliver cursed.

"Oh, new girl," I turned to him again. "Can you partially shift to have like, a long forked tongue? If yes, can you eat with it? Does it feel weird? Like, does the food fall through the middle?"

He's stupid. {"Of course, I can. No, that stuff doesn't happen, and I can eat just fine. In fact, my fangs and my wings is a partial shift. The tongue wouldn't be a problem at all. I just avoid because it's too much of a serpentine feature for a changeling body."}

"You can?" Oliver asked, that filthiness back to his now ruby eyes.

{"And you called him naughty? I can almost see the dirty thoughts that are going on inside that pretty head of yours!"} I mocked.