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bluegoblinzz · 8 months ago

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The Red Scaled Prince

King Glen shivered as he marched through the rain, his pristine boots becoming muddy and stained, and his fur robes becoming matted. He knew he was not dressed for the weather, but he needed to wear something that would intimidate such a powerful and fearsome beast. It had his son, and he would not let it get away.

“Your highness,” the general to his left said. “Please change into something warmer, you will catch a cold!”

“Not now,” The king hissed. “We are so close!”

Soon enough, the thick tangle of branches overhead, and the knotted roots and muddy ground gave way to a small clearing at the mouth of a cave. The mouth of the cave was tall, and it went on a deep incline underground. An orange glow danced across the cave walls, and a low grumble echoed from inside.

“Your majesty,” the wizard to his right said. “I sense a powerful magical presence inside. I implore you to turn back.”

“Are you mad?” Glen growled. “it has my son! I will stop at nothing to get him back.” He felt a fiery anger burn within him as he spoke which, for a moment, made him stop shivering.

“I don’t believe it’s wise to go now,” the wizard protested. “if we return to the castle then perhaps I can cook up a powerful spell or ritual that will-“

“We go in, now,” The king grunted. “I need to know my son is safe.” The Wizard looked down at his shoes and nodded.

“Yes, your majesty.”

All of the soldiers filed into two single file lines, the general standing in front of them, and the king’s mages surrounded him. The army marched down through the cave, snaking down the narrow winding tunnels. As they walked, the cave walls went from craggy to appearing chipped away and polished. The glow across the cave walls became brighter as tiny glowing red crystals embedded in the cave walls revealed themselves, and the air became dry and hot. As Glen walked and as his clothes dried out, he went from shivering to sweating, wanting desperately to take off his robes to cool off, but once again, it was about presentation. Glen could also hear some of the soldiers pant and give grunts of exertion the deeper they got. He wanted to stop so they could all get a break and he could too, but time was of the essence.

When the turned another winding corner, the narrow tunnel expanded into a wide cavern, so wide, and tall that the ceiling above at a glance looked like a red sky. The king raised a hand, signaling for everyone to stop, and the soldiers boots all stomped to a stop in unison. The ceiling of the cavern was filled with stalactites and crystals which emitted red and orange glows. The cavern was still rocky and craggy but lining the walls were various bookshelves, filled with tomes, scrolls, encyclopedias, and stories. The cavern was filled with short reptilian creatures who had long smooth tails, horns on the backs of their heads, and slightly rounded snouts. Each of them wore either a tunic or a dark hood. All of them were scurrying around, carrying books by the armful, and stocking shelves. And on the far end of the cavern, beyond all the shelves, was the beast called Nuvraq: a dragon with blue scales, settled in a sphinx pose on top of a mound of books. The pupils of its sky blue eyes dilated when it caught a glimpse of the king. One of the reptiles saw the king as well and smiled.

“Visitors!” He shouted. “We have visitors! Yip!” The kobold dropped his crate of books and dashed toward the army. The other kobolds followed suit, running toward the soldiers and letting out excited yips. All of them came to a halt as the king drew his sword and every soldier drew theirs at the same time.

“Stay back!” Glen shouted. “I demand you tell me where my son is, else I shall bring blood down upon you all!”

The kobolds whimpered, some of them shrinking down into cowering crouches, others scurrying back.

A roar rang out and snuffed out any semblance of silence that existed in the cave, loud to the point where Glen felt the roar in his skull and in his chest. The dragon crouched, and in a whoosh of wind, it jumped upward, and soared in the air, a large bat-like shadow on the red crystal sky. The cavern shuddered when the beast landed directly in front of Glen, nearly knocking him off his feet. There was the clattering of swords and shouting as many soldiers broke formation and cowered. The dragon leaned close to the king, its snout getting close to his face.

Glen’s breath got caught in his throat. It could have easily eaten him. In comparison to the dragon, he was a rat: very small, very ugly, and very weak. The dragon was a beast, its claws and teeth sharp its growls and grumbles powerful as thunder, and its nostrils flaring with anger. But at the same time… the dragon was somehow perfect, its scales gleaming and shining, its underbelly a pearly white, its cat-fish-like whiskers accenting its face like a well kept mustache. Its face had no imperfections at all, like a sculptor had taken months carefully chiseling it.

“You fool,” the dragon growled. “I did not take your son. Your son came to me.”

It can talk, Glen thought. This was the moment it fully dawned on him that he had no chance fighting against this dragon. A strong beast or even a beast with magic would be possible to fight with wit, but it- no -he could talk. It showed that he was intelligent and could see through whatever strategy he could come up with.

Glen registered what Nuvraq had said. He knew it was a lie, it had to be, but he couldn’t bring himself to say that to the dragon’s face. There was no possible way to protest against this dragon, no man who cared for his own life would do it.

“Wh-where is he?” Glen whimpered.

The dragon snorted and lifted his head, getting away from the king’s face and looking around. His gaze focused on something, or someone off to the side, and snorted, cocking his head toward the king. From the crowd, a tiny red kobold with green eyes emerged. His tail was wagging wildly and he waved a claw at Glen.

“Hello, dad! Yip!”

Glen stood dumbfounded for a moment, and then furrowed his brow and looked up at Nuvraq once more.

“This must be a joke,” He said. “This cannot be my son!” He mustered a little more confidence in his voice as his fear turned into annoyance.

“Look closer,” Nuvraq grumbled. The red kobold lowered its ears sheepishly and then waved again to the king

“Dad, it’s really me, I swear!” The red kobold held up the pendent he was wearing to show the king… It was a golden eagle, the mark of his family. His first instinct was that this creature stole it from his son. But the intonation in his voice, the way he smiled, and the way he carried himself… it reminded him of his son when he was younger.

“Gale,” Glen whispered. “It’s you? I… didn’t recognize you.” A mix of emotions overwhelmed the king. On one hand, he was horrified by the dragon’s power, if he was able to turn a good man into a creature like this. But on the other hand, he had not seen Gale this happy since he was a child, and he felt so happy seeing Gale’s spirits lifted.

“How did this happen?” Glen asked.

“Allow me to demonstrate.” Nuvraq took a few steps backward, tilted his head upward. There was a low gargle in his throat and then he exhaled through his nostrils sending a thin stream of smoke into the air. The dragon exhaled slowly and kept letting out smoke a little at a time, so the stream of smoke got longer and longer. It swirled in the air before floating past the king and to his soldiers. It snaked around the general, and then funneled into his nose as he breathed in. Immediately his eyelids drooped and his jaw fell slack. He sniffed the smoke over and over, seemingly unable to stop.

Soon the stream of smoke snaked some more, and surrounded every soldier and every mage individually. They kept inhaling the smoke over and over, some of their heads lulling repeatedly as if trying to fight sleep, some of their eyes rolling backwards, and some having their tongues lull out. The king watched in horror as all of his men were placed under this spell, this trance. Meanwhile the kobolds cheered, hollered, and yipped at the sight of the entranced men.

The general’s thin nose broadened, his nostrils flaring and expanding. The bridge of his nose became fatter and bright blue scales covered his nose and the sides of his mouth. Some of the entranced soldiers’ eyes became deep shades of ruby, sapphire, topaz, emerald and amethyst. The soldiers flicked their tongues as the tips of them pressed inward, the sides stretching into two points, and their tongues as a whole becoming pale and then blue.

“Wh-wha… What’s happening to me?” The general asked.

Nuvraq stopped exhaling smoke and allowed the cloud to settle around the changing soldiers. He lowered his head so one of his eyes was staring directly at the general.

“Do you want to stay with your king and hide who you truly are? Or do you want to be a good kobold and be your silly self?”

“Yip!” The general burst out. “I’m a good kobold! Yip! Yip, yip, yip!” A grin washed over the general’s face as his nose and mouth pushed forward into a reptilian snout, more scales growing all over his face. Large patches of his grey hair fell out of his head, and two bumps formed on the back of his skull, which soon broke the skin and started growing into large pointy horns.

The rest of the soldiers and the mages all burst into yips as well. Their skin became colored in scales of all colors of the rainbow. In sync all of them shrank down slowly, their hands and their arms becoming smaller and smaller, their broad shoulders narrowing, wriggling into their magic leather armor and their robes as it became too big for them. Some of the fully transformed ones began scurrying over to the other kobolds, others yipped at each other, and others tried out their long smooth tails.

Glen, meanwhile, stood petrified, unable to process what was going on. This is not what he thought would happen. This didn’t seem real, it didn’t seem possible, it had to be a dream. He fell to his knees, and then fell onto his hands as well, shaking as he hyperventilated.

“You see, king,” the dragon said, “all of your people, deep down, do not want to be loyal to you. They know it is better to be kobolds. They may work for me at times, yes, but I let them run free and be who they are, unlike you who dictates their actions so stringently. You-“

Nuvraq was interrupted by panicked whimpering and breathing. The king and the dragon both turned to see the king’s head wizard still mostly unchanged. Patches of green scales grew across his body, spikes ran down his spine, and his ears were big and floppy, but other than that he was still mostly human. He stood tall still, but his eyes were wide and he had hands over his head, shaking his head over and over.

“N-no,” he said, “n-not a kobold… m-must resist-“

“Oh, you’re a resilient one, aren’t you?” Nuvraq turned his head toward the wizard. The wizard froze in place, holding his breath.

“I see that you are loyal to your king, and I admire that. But it is time I set you free.”

The dragon reared back his head once again, and took a deep breath in, the wizard stumbled backward. He tried to run but his feet wouldn’t move properly. But instead of breathing smoke or fire, Nuvraq lowered his head and began to sing to the wizard. The constant yipping of the kobolds came to a hush once Nuvraq sang his first word.

“Let my fire warm your scales,

I will guard you from your fears

sit and listen to my tales,

let this melody soothe your ears.”

As the dragon sang, he carefully caressed the wizards messy black hair with a claw. When each word escaped his maw, a magical golden glyph materialized and floated downward toward the wizard. The wizard’s floppy ears perked up, and then glyph flowed through one of his ears and out the other. His shoulders hunched, and he tilted his head, his breathing slowing down, and a genuine smile taking over his face. His maw shot outward, claws pierced his finger tips. His robes quickly became more and more baggy, as he shrank more and more. His head bobbed up and down with the slow tempo of the song, his ears drooping up and down as well. When Nuvraq said the line about sitting, the wizard fell into a sitting position, and instead of his head lulling up and down, he swayed back and forth.

“Little kobold, don’t be shy.

you may find home in my keep

As I sing this lullaby,

your human mind will stay sleep.”

As the last golden glyph passed through the kobold’s ears, shot up and his eyes went wide. He slowly stood up in a trance, wriggling out of his baggy robes, slowly swishing his tail back and forth.

“Not you too…” Glen mumbled. “Why did you have to become one too?” The kobold turned to the king and laughed.

“Silly human! I’ve always been a kobold!”

The king knelt down and cried. At first it was out of fear, out of anger. How could the dragon take everything from him, his son, his army, and his honor?! It wasn’t fair… but then he remembered what Nuvraq had said. His son and all of his men changed because they ultimately wanted to. Seeing how happy Gale was, and seeing how calm the wizard had become when being sung to made him realize it was true. When Gale was growing older, he ignored him, thinking it was best for the boy to learn to take care of himself, and he thought that Gale’s moodiness was just because he was a teen. Guilt overwhelmed him as he realized negligence was what made Gale unhappy. It was his fault, and his son ran away to find love and happiness elsewhere.

But as he cried, he felt a tiny hand on his shoulder. He opened his eyes to find a pair of slit emerald green eyes staring back at him with concern.

“Dad, what’s wrong?”

Glen cupped the kobold’s face in his hands. The scales were smooth and somehow softer than human skin.

“Gale,” The king whispered. “I’m so sorry. I’ve failed you. I didn’t pay attention to you, I stopped speaking to you, stopped telling you stories, I stopped singing to you… and I didn’t see how unhappy it made you.”

The kobold’s scaly eyebrows arched and his emerald eyes watered.

“I’m just happy you’re here now,” he replied. The kobold threw his arms around Glen, his tail wagging back and forth. Glen hugged his son tightly, and shut his eyes, tears streaming down his face. Gale was okay. In fact he was better than he was when he had left. Immense relief washed over Glen, knowing his son was okay. But all the while, there was something that still bothered him, a pit forming in his stomach as he realized what must be done. He looked up at Nuvraq, face tear stricken and eyes watery.

“You’ve made him happier than I could ever,” he said. “Take good care of him.”

The dragon snarled, his eyes widening with an animalistic anger. He threw his head backward and let out a deafening roar. Gale covered his ears. All of the other kobolds scurried away, finding refuge in various tunnels, nooks, and crannies in the cavern.

“Fool!” Nuvraq roared. “Do you not listen at all?! Your son wants to be with you!” Glen’s eyes widened, and then he looked back at Gale.

“Y-you do?” he gasped. “Is that true?

“I missed you, dad. I was sad that we never play together anymore, and we never talk anymore. I’m happy here, and I knew you would come looking for me, and now you’re here, and I’m happy!”

“B-but you’re so happy here with the dragon, I thought you’d want to stay.”

“I do want to stay!”

“But you said you wanted to be with me,” The king said slowly.

Gale let out a yipping cackle, shutting his eyes and stomping a paw.

“Dad! Both things can happen! Yip, yip yip!”

Glen paused for a moment, trying to process what Gale was conveying, trying to understand. He slowly realized but as the realization dawned on him, he had even more questions.

“You want me to stay with you,” he said, “how can I do that? What will become of me?”

Gale didn’t respond, his round reptilian face simply smiling at the king for a moment, before turning to Nuvraq.

“Do it!” He yipped.

A chill went down the king’s spine. The hot dry room suddenly felt as if it were freezing, and there was a tightness in his gut.

“Do it?! Do what?! What’s happening?!”

Nuvraq gave the king a deadly glare, and growled at him. He lowered his head and got very close to Glen, who stared into the wild eyes of the dragon, too afraid to respond, too afraid to move.

“Your son has told me,” Nuvraq growled, “that you were going to force him to marry into another kingdom. Let’s see how you like a taste of your own medicine.”

The kings nerves exploded into electrifying chills as he fully realized what was going on. He raised a trembling hand in protest, and tried to speak up.

“N-no!” He cried, “marry you?! I-I couldn’t! Th-there’s no way!”

Nuvraq didn’t respond. He lifted his head up slightly, let in a deep inhale, and blew a cloud of smoke at Glen’s face. When he inhaled it he felt an oppressive sleepiness and dizziness pervade his body. His heart rate slowed, his muscles relaxed, and with this overwhelming fatigue, he fell back on his hands and knees, all while his mind screamed in protest screamed to run.

“And you will be able to rule by my side, eventually,” the dragon said, “but only once you have paid for your arrogance and your negligence. For now, I’ll be taking away your will.”

“N-no,” The king whispered, weakly lifting his head. Gale scurried over to face his father.

“Don’t worry, dad!” he said, “everything’s going to be okay. You’re going to be a dragon! Isn’t that great?!”

The king’s dizziness and his drowsiness made it harder for him to process what his son had said, and harder for him to process what was going on. He looked up and stared at Gale’s emerald green eyes, registering the excitement on his face. He felt… annoyed in that moment that Gale was so chipper in while he was in distress. Why couldn’t he act like an adult? Why were all of these odd little reptiles so immature?

The king looked back down at his hands, and flinched. His nails had turned black and were growing thicker and sharper. There was a burning sensation on the back of both hands as his skin darkened and cracked, his hands becoming yellower and shinier until they were both covered in golden scales. At the same time, there was a cold sensation on his palms. He turned one of his hands over to see his palms becoming paler and shinier, until it was the same color as the dragon’s underbelly. His hands tensed up and became forced open, pain surging through them as they moved on their own. His digits cracked and every bone, one at a time, expanded within a second, making turning his hands into disproportionately large paws. The changes then continued up his arms, his skin becoming covered in golden scales, and his arms beginning to swell up with muscle, and his bones expanding to be proportionate to his hands. His elbows cracked and bent in a way that made it easier to walk on all fours.

Glen looked up, and in a moment of panic, looked around for his mage to help him, only to remember that the mage had turned, and had scurried away when the dragon roared. But as he looked around, he locked eyes with Nuvraq. The wild anger in its eyes was gone, and his gaze was now gentle, affectionate. He felt… safer staring into those eyes, as if everything truly was going to be okay. He looked closer at the dragon’s face again, recognizing how perfect it was, how shiny his scales were and recognizing the symmetry in his appearance… The dragon was very pretty…

N-no! Snap out of it!

Glen tried to look away, told himself what he was feeling wasn’t real, but his gaze was fixed, and he could not move his eyes, nor could he turn his head. Every time he had a thought about Nuvraq he had to push it out of his mind. But as the scaly changes reached his torso, broadening his shoulders, and warming his heart, he couldn’t stop his heart from opening up, and he couldn’t stop himself from feeling this strange affinity for the dragon. He took a deep breath in through his lungs, his rib cage expanding and each bone growing bigger. When he took that deep breath, Every part of his body covered in scales felt ice cold, except there was a burning heat in his chest, a flame lit from within. When his torso expanded, his ornate robes were quickly reduced to shreds of cloth and fur. As Glen’s spine grew longer and longer, his neck began to stretch out too, becoming wider, scaly, and stretching away from his torso.

He braced himself as the dragon took another deep breath in.

“Come now, my love, listen well,

hold fast every word I say.

You know you’re under my spell.

You shan’t hide your love away.”

The golden glyphs flowed from Nuvraq’s snout once more. A warm ether seeped into Glen’s ears, and he felt it flow through his head until it reached his brain, where the words reverberated in his skull like singing in an empty cathedral. Nuvraq’s voice was like a heartfelt cello concerto, serenading him with the most heartfelt bow of each string. With each word the dragon sang, chills ran down his growing spine and throughout his body, a feeling of love and happiness grew stronger and stronger, and he felt safer and safer with this dragon. It was impossible not to listen, impossible not to take these words to heart.

He loved Nuvraq, why wouldn’t he? Why shouldn’t he listen? The dragon didn’t want to hurt him. He felt a strong pull a strong desire to be with, to be close to him, and such a beautiful song for him told him the dragon felt the same way. Glen’s ears stretched out, at first a bump appearing at the tip, and then they grew longer and longer, growing concave and pointy, until each one stretched above his head and was able to bend twist at his will. His dirty blond hair began to become more ruffled and bushy, and it brightened more and more until it was a gleaming shade of white. His hair fluffed out along the sides of his head, and grew along his nape until it was a fluffy mane.

“Draw your mask down, golden one,

Let me see your pretty face

your binds of will become undone

with my commands your thoughts lace.”

He gritted his teeth in one last effort to resist these words, to keep Nuvraq out of his head, and as he did, they grew thinner and sharper. But his jaw loosened as he felt the idea of choice, and his ability to make choices, leave his head. Life and time became a streamline tunnel before him that he could examine easily and sensibly. Every single thought that crossed his mind was interlaced with Nuvraq’s song, like braid of two different colored threads. It became impossible not to think about the dragon, or his song, or for his thoughts to lead back to Nuvraq in some way, and this put a smile on his face.

After Nuvraq completed that verse, Glen’s head and his face began to change at a more rapid rate, but each change felt like a light press that massaged out any tension that lingered. The tip of his nose began to grow forward and broaden into a square shape, his nostrils flaring and expanding, growing farther and farther apart as the center of his nose grew wider. His mustache somehow felt sensitive in that moment, and he couldn’t tell why or how. What was happening is that the hairs on his nose had twisted and fused together into thick silver fleshy rope, which growled longer and longer until either sides of the ‘mustache’ dangled from his face, becoming cat-fish-whiskers.

He relished the satisfaction of the changes, the gentle squeezing at the sides of his face and his nose, and shut his eyes, and opened his mouth. A foreign but overwhelming urge took over to flick out his tongue to taste the air. His tongue had become a shiny silver, and was forked at the tip. There was a strong scent of smoke, the distant smell of books, and the scent of two other creatures. He couldn’t describe the scents of the creatures with human words, but one of them was distinctly familiar.

The top and front of his nose grew the same golden scales as the rest of his body. His lips grew thinner and thinner as his face became wider and the sides of his mouth stretched outward, golden scales growing around his mouth as well. Eventually, the tip of his nose grew expanded to be as wide as his face, and his lips became indistinguishable from the rest of his face, forming a broad snout. He opened his eyes, now gold and slit, and crossed them to look at his new big scaly snout.

The back of his rounded human skull flattened, taking on a more draconic look, and his entire head grew larger and larger to be more in proportion to his human body. Two spiky horns jutted from the back of his head, just like the kobolds, but at the same time, a second pair of horns emerged from his temples, and spiraled backwards, before curling around to the front of his head. When his head grew: his mind felt more vast, clearer, and sharper, but as his mind expanded, his thoughts did not grow to fill the space, so instead of feeling vast and complex, his mind felt vast and empty. Unlike the constant stream of consciousness his human brain had, his dragon brain had a few seconds of silence between each thought.

Feel good… sleepy… head… empty… I… love him…

The scales continued to grow down his torso, until they reached the base of his back. His entire body, except for his legs, had grown to be the size of a dragon, temporarily rendering him immobile as his small legs couldn’t move his gargantuan body. He looked up at the blue dragon in front of him with wide eyes. The dragon truly was the most beautiful being he had ever set his eyes upon. He was saddened at the thought that Nuvraq was even more beautiful than Gale’s mother. All those years he had missed her, but now he had someone else to confide in. A purr escaped his throat as he smiled at the dragon.

His trance was temporarily interrupted by a yell of joy near his ear. Gale was jumping up and down, claws raised in the air.

“Yay!” Gale shouted. “You love him! I have two dads, now! Two dads! Yip! Yip!” He settled down and smiled, looking back and forth between the two dragons holding each others’ gazes. A tear rolled down his cheek again.

“Two parents,” he whispered, ��just like before.”

To prevent Glen from breaking his trance completely, and to keep the transformation going, the dragon continued singing.

“Calm your heart and be not stirred

listen well and do not fail,

to obey my every word

and take care of our son Gale.”

Glen lifted his head, and perked up his ears to better listen to the words, each golden glyph that flowed into his ears making him feel better and better. The love and joy inside him burned overwhelmingly bright, and the idea of obeying someone he loved so much brought him more joy. His head bobbed back and forth with each word, his eyes crossed as he smiled dumbly.

Upon the last word in that verse, Gale jumped up and gave a loud “yip!” before scurrying onto Glen’s back. The golden dragon let out a low rumble, and twisted his head back to smile at the kobold. He stretched his head backwards to get closer to Gale. Seeing what he was trying to do, Gale ran up to him. He booped the kobold on the snout using the tip of his own snout, earning a giggle from the tiny creature. Glen snorted and turned back around. He stared at Nuvraq with intent. He needed to be with him.

He pushed against the ground with his human legs, but he did not budge. He pulled with his clawed hands and managed to scoot across the ground slightly. He pushed against the ground again, attempting to stand, to avail. He growled with exertion, shutting his eyes and arching his back. He felt something within changing once again. One by one, each vertebra on his spine shifted, and something moved from under his skin. A spike emerged at the top of his back, parting his scales. Another one emerged below it, and then another, until they reached the base of his spine. There was a familiar burning sensation going across his legs, followed by an immense cold in that area. He snorted with relief, realizing that his legs would soon change to accommodate his larger form.

His feet expanded, his shoes feeling painfully tight for an instant before exploding and letting his golden talons free. He flexed his toes, feeling each of the four individual digits move. The fourth digit where his heel once was felt especially strange to move. His calves and swelled and expanded soon after, and when the growing reached his knees, there was a painless crack as his joints shifted to make it easier for him to walk on all fours. When the changes finally made his legs longer and his thighs stronger, he smiled, realizing he was finally able to walk over to Nuvraq.

He reached his hand out to take a step but roared in surprise when an intense pushing sensation emerged in his lower back and on two sides of his mid-back. He wasn’t done just yet. Gale let out a yip and scurried to his father’s shoulder, knowing what was coming. Two tough nubs pushed up from his back from underneath his bony scales. The nubs stretched upward becoming strong and sturdy like extra limbs. From these extra limbs long thin digits stretched outwards. Thick silver scaly webbing formed in between each of these digits, and as they grew heavier it became harder to hold them in the air. He dropped his new wings down, causing a heavy whoosh of wind, before folding them on his back.

His lower back became tight, the pushing sensation becoming intense and uncomfortable, and he let out another roar. He brought his head close to the ground and raised his back, trying to stop or somehow soothe the feeling. His grew, stretching out the scales on his back. The scales gave some resistance, but then gave way, stretching out into a shiny, short, and fat tail. He sighed with relief but then the tightness emerged once more. His scales did not give way immediately, but instead grew thicker and softer. His tail stretched again, and as it did, his scales grew thin and hard once more. This process happened a few more times until his tail was about the length of his spine.

He took a deep breath in and then sighed with relief, a plume of smoke emerging from his nostrils. He was finally complete. He felt gigantic and powerful. His entire body felt frigid, except for the steady warmth coming from within. He couldn’t tell if this warmth was a love for his family, or the literal fire within, but he decided it didn’t matter. He curled his tail upward, and slowly wandered toward Nuvraq, becoming used to strange manner of movement. His heart fluttered with each step, eager to be with the blue beauty before him, eager to hear his voice again.

Finally, he settled down, snuggling close to the blue dragon, and resting his head on Nuvraq’s back. The blue dragon curled around Glen, and rested his head on his back. Glen purred, and let himself rest, as the changes had finally settled, the stresses of the past were gone, and as the echoes of Nuvraq’s song gently rang in his head, and as the warmth from within him and the warmth from the blue dragon both pervaded his body. Gale squeaked, and climbed down from Glen’s back, settling between his two fathers. Glen lifted a large scaly hand and rested it like a blanket over his son. Gale hummed and flicked his blue tongue out before rolling over on his side and closing his eyes.

For hours the three of them lied there without words exchanged, a family united through charms and magic, but held together by the red scaled prince.

In the coming days, Glen did followed Nuvraq’s commands, which were given through song. He felt a strange wooziness each time the dragon sang, and he felt strangely upbeat each time he followed a command, so he did so without much hesitation. Sometimes he would be commanded to move books around with the kobolds. Sometimes he was commanded to hunt and gather for the kobolds. Sometimes he was commanded to pay attention to his son, and speak to him, but fortunately, Nuvraq did not need to give this command too often, as Glen and Gale made amends with relative ease. Strangely, the most difficult command to follow was whenever Nuvraq told him to read. He was literate, but he found reading boring so he had an emotional resistance to this idea. He had to read books on magic, books on dragon history, books on cruelties of past ruling, and a book about the philosophy of being a ruler… by a ruler of a rival kingdom.

Slowly, as Glen became a better father, a better ruler, and a kinder person overall, Nuvraq loosened his thrall on him. His vast empty mind started filling with complex draconic thoughts, containing ideas and imagery that humans couldn’t perceive. His thoughts picked up pace and he began thinking independently again. Still, out of habit, he helped the kobolds move around books, he spoke often to his son, and he read more books. Nuvraq also began to come with Glen to hunt, Gale riding on Glen’s back. Genuine love for Nuvraq was the hardest to cultivate, as he wasn’t sure how to feel about being magically manipulated, but he became grateful for the calm life he was given, and the way Nuvraq helped rekindle his relationship with Gale.

Soon Glen took a deep interest in various books, tales of great adventurers fighting off demons, stories of arrogant fools who were cursed to become donkeys or pigs, books about science, books about magic, books in the dragon language, books about history… having all of this knowledge gave him peace of mind, and made him feel wiser. Glen also found a tome about the singing spell Nuvraq used on him, so as a practical joke, he one day used it on him and made him yip and act like a kobold. The dragon was a good sport and got a chuckle out of it after the fact. Learning about each of these things let him have something to talk about to Nuvraq, and the two were able to form more genuine conversations and kindle a genuine relationship together. They were able to talk to each other, sing to each other, joke with each other, all the while Gale grew happier as the two grew closer.

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