Chapter 5

As I stepped through the portal, I could feel the eyes of the magic practitioners on me, their gazes heavy and curious.

It wasn't surprising given how I looked with horns on my head, the claws where my hands should be and wings sprouting from my back. It was as though I were a creature from a different world.

"Would I have to live like this my entire life?" I asked Ancient One as I became conscious of the gazes on me.

"I believe you should be able to revert to a normal human body given that you only took this form after you woke up. Feel your power, try to guide it." Ancient one guided me with a calm and composed demeanour.

Closing my eyes, I tried to focus, taking deep breaths as I centred my thoughts on my powers. Gradually, I could feel my body shifting, changing until I opened my eyes to find myself in a human form.

Yet this human form was different, unfamiliar. It was lean and muscular, much different from my previous body.

Moreover, I could still feel the beast within me. My instincts were still sharp and barely within my control. I felt like I could call upon my powers in an instant.

Suddenly, I felt embarrassed as I realised that I was nearly naked. The fight had nearly destroyed the only article of clothing on my body.

Now that I think of it, how did these pants survive such a ferocious battle? Suddenly, my eyes fell on the some glowing letters written on the pants. Were these pants enhanced with magic?

Feeling the gazes of various magic practitioners on me, I could not help but feel embarrassed. Seeing my discomfort, the Ancient One led me to a room in a nearby building.

"You go and clean yourself up. Once you are properly freshened up, I will let you have a call with your guardians." Ancient One told me what I should do.

As soon as I heard about my guardians, I felt like I had once again entered that near death state. How could I forget about Uncle Ben and Aunt May?

So much had happened so suddenly that I had no time to think about them.

I was dying then suddenly another me appeared before me and said that he would save me. And then when I woke up, I once again entered a monster-like form. Now that everything had calm down for me, I could think about other matters.

"How many days has it been since I was here?" I hurriedly asked Ancient One.

"I believe you are worried about how your guardians will react to your disappearance. For your information, it has only been 4 days so don't worry too much." Ancient One informed me in her usual calm tone.

Four days, hearing this anxiety gripped me. Although it was only 4 days instead of weeks, I was still worried deeply about Uncle Ben and Aunt May.

They must be worried sick due to my sudden disappearance, trying all means to somehow find me and what would Gwen be thinking?

She was there when I was almost dead. What would she think when she finds that my body was not found? She could not even tell anyone what had actually happened.

With these thoughts in my mind, I went to clean up. However, as soon as my eyes looked at the mirror, all of my thoughts vanished. Because the face looking back at me could not be the face of Peter Parker.

Instead of brown hair, I now had silvery white hair. What was more important were my eyes. Where my once brown eyes were, there were red eyes, slitted like that of a beast. Moreover, my features were much sharper than before.

Combined with my muscular body, I looked more like a superstar than a nerdy kid from the Queens. Although, my slitted eyes give me quite a wild look.

Looking at my appearance, I was once again reminded of how much I had changed. What would Aunt May and Uncle Ben feel when they see me like this? Would they even recognise me?

Fortunately, my voice was still quite similar to my previous one. Otherwise with so much changes, I think I would have had an identity crisis.

Shaking off my worries for the moment I went to clean up. For some reason, everything was automatic here. I didn't even need to touch anything as I was cleaned by the self moving tools.

When I finished cleaning up, I was also made to wear monk robes by another automatic tool. As such, my entire cleaning experience was quite a weird one.

After cleaning up, when I left the bathroom, I found Ancient One in the dining room. She had readied quite a sumptuous feast for me.

Although I had a lot on my mind, I could not skip on food. But as I was about to touch the food, I suddenly remembered what had happened when I had touched the bed when I had woken up.

"Let me help you." Ancient One said and then her hand created a familiar circle of light. Then, the various utensils started floating and she helped me eat the food using these floating utensils.

Now, I understand why everything was automatic in the bathroom. It was to prevent me from breaking anything. Although, I understood that it was all just for prevention, it was just too embarrassing for me. Due to my embarrassment, the entire dinner was a silent one.

"Now let's discuss your future." Ancient One began to discuss my future after I had finished eating.

"Let me first explain to you what kind of group we are." Ancient One started explaining what were the sorcerers and what was their purpose.

"The Kamar Taj is a hidden society whose entire purpose is to protect Earth from dimensional threats. As such, we do not interfere with the outside world. Even most of our members come to join us. Not many of them are actually recruited by ourselves." Ancient One explained.

"So you can understand that your presence in Kamar Taj is a peculiar one. Moreover, nearly all of our members generally do not step out of Kamar Taj, once they enter it."

As soon as Ancient One explained the general procedure for the sorcerers of Kamar Taj, I became fearful about my existence here.

"Does that mean that I would have to live my entire life here?" I questioned, fearful for my future. If I could not leave Kamar Taj, it would mean that I would never be able to meet Aunt May, Uncle Ben and all of my friends.

"Don't worry. It is only the case for the general sorcerers. Your very powers give you such magical potential that it is nearly unmatched in the entire history of Kamar Taj. Moreover, do you think the person who gave you these powers had given them to you so that you could spend your entire life here?" Ancient One reassured me while hinting at the motives of the one who gave me these powers.

Indeed, that Spider Wizard would not have helped me and left me at Kamar Taj if I was only going to spend my entire life here.

"Once you have complete control over your powers and have learnt an acceptable amount of mystic arts, you would have a sort of freelance relationship with us. You would continue to learn from us but you would also have a life separate from the world of Magic. However, you would still have some responsibility towards Kamar Taj." Ancient One explained her plan for my future.

As I had learnt about the circumstances of other sorcerers in Kamar Taj from Ancient One, I knew that she had given me an enormous opportunity. Where else would I be able to learn magical knowledge while still being able o live an ordinary life.

"Now come. It's about time you had a call with your family. They must be worried sick about you."

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And so Peter enters the world of magic as a completely different person. What will he experience in this new world which is completely unfamiliar to him? Find out in the next chapters of 'Not a Spider, but a Dragon'.

If you want to read 7 chapters ahead or just support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n /DragonsEye