15 Entranced

The faint noise carried on the wind. It felt all too natural yet foreign. Something far from within me wanted to heed its call. It wasn't something else from within me, it was as if my very blood itched at every moment I didn't answer its call.

Automatically my hands released the few pieces of bark a had collected. As my consciousness recessed into the back of my mind, my legs began to move on their own. No longer was someone else in control, it was my very body which needed to answer its calling. The autonomous movements hobbled me forward towards the cave.

I wanted to control, I wanted to be in control but as hard as I tried, my very own blood willed against me, overpowered me. In my consciousness I rebelled with all my strength, yet nothing. I continued the janky hobble towards the cave. As I got closer to my cave, the force compelling me forward seemed to exude comfort.

As I passed the threshold of the cave, the very blood which ran within my veins reached a climax of force... It rushed through my body at an insane speed, coursing throughout every vein and artery. As my step landed inside the cave, my ankle cracked as it twisted and deformed, throwing the rest of my body inwards into the cave. Each and every bone in my body cried out in anguish as the began to writhe beneath my skin. Morphing me from my humanoid form to something else...

The few scarce black scales which had speckled my hands and wrists began to rapidly engulf the surface of my skin, enveloping each and every segment of my pale skin. My spine began to elongate as my body increased in size, tearing through the remaining worn pieces of clothing.

As the scales consumed me, my skull began to morph, to change. The skin stretched and pulled as the skull changed. The scales having quickly crawled up my changing body reached my head. My teeth which had slowly lost their shine after months of rough wear began to recess into my body, dissipating as a new set of far larger sharpened teeth emerged. The blood which poured out of the cut through gum-line just as quickly dispersed and disappeared into my mouth.

The continuous increase in pain as my body transformed, caused me to belt out a series of pained screams. Only for my bloody screams to distort as my voice too shifted. The girlish screams, quickly turning deep and animalistic. Their intensity increasing as they began to shake the ground through the sheer power they commanded.

As the scales finished consuming my flesh. As my bones snapped, bent and twisted. As my flesh morphed, my neck elongated. I felt the final change, out of my back two new limbs began to emerge. Piercing their way through the scaly flesh, I could see as they crept out of my body and began to move. As they stretched out, I finally saw what they were... wings.

The wave of relief hit me like a truck, almost euphoric. The terrible pain now fading, I regained control as my consciousness was thrust out of the recesses of my mind. As I stood there on four limbs, I let out hearty breaths as I regained my composure, each breath leaving a trail of smoke in each breath's wake. My heart rate continuously slowing, eventually reaching a steady and slow crawl.

Just as my mind calmed, I felt my body go completely limp, my enlarged and heavier body slamming against the floor of the cave.

The new weight surprised me but as my body reached the ground, and the thud which I had expected to sound never arrived, everything went black... yet things seemed different.

The pure darkness of before had changed... I felt as if I was under miles of a viscous liquid. The odd liquid feeling weighed down upon what appeared to be my consciousness, yet the weight did not bother me nor inflict me... rather it felt like there was warmth in the darkness.

I could feel something... It felt kind, maybe even caring.

My mind rushed as new information channelled into my brain. I felt no discomfort or pain as the information crammed its way into my mind. The new information felt as if it had been there for eternity yet it too felt brand new. Each and every detail seemed crystal clear. Only for the channelling of new information to suddenly yet somehow gradually stop.

Then, with incredible force, I was thrown upwards through the liquid, nearly flying through it until the dim glimmer of lights rapidly approached...

Crashing through a barrier within my consciousness, I found myself in the cave once more.

I sluggishly attempted to move my now heftier body. Doing my best to turn around and leave the cave, I didn't account for my newly grown length and my tail grazed the side of my shack. The damage hadn't been major but it definitely bent the walls of the shack.

Although I struggled to make my way out, I slowly maneuvered my way and outside. Slowly becoming more accustomed to the newly added mass, I started to go over the new information I had received, as it was the most overwhelming thing on my mind.

As I went through the memories, they played almost like a video. Disjointed from a body, they all seemed to somehow be in the third person. They all feature creatures much akin to the one I had transformed into, I could place the name but they were in a myriad of different sizes, yet all the ones I could see in my memories seemed to be far larger than the current me.

The first few memories covered things I had already stumbled upon myself, such as my rough control over my fire, or the immense strength I now possessed compared to my old self, or even the darkvision I possessed. Yet, soon the memories began to play things I never knew before... memories of the toughness of my scales. The basics of flight and how to use my wings. How to manually roar with the same might I had experienced before. A few more dozen memories coursed through my mind until came across one of particular interest.

Forging.

To be precise, forging with my flame. Through these memories, I had found a new glimmer of hope. I had a shot, and I was going to use it.

After a few more memories, I came across the last one I could access. Far more memories seemed locked behind a blurry haze. The memory could in its simplest form be described as Transformation. I seemingly watched a larger creature much akin to myself undergo the same transformation I had just undergone, yet as I saw it change, and then revert to its humanoid form, it appeared to suffer no pain. The repetitive transformations had caused its body to adapt to the changes... yet as I looked at the transformation occur over and over again, suddenly the word appeared in my mind.

Dragon.