Scale Armor
by: Theo Winters

Written for ArrowQuivershaft

Kawheek let out a long sigh as he climbed up the heavy wooden stairs of the inn, heading up towards his room. Down below he could hear the rest of his adventuring group starting to party in celebration of their new found wealth. They had divided up the treasure between each of them but as the small avian was just the tracker on this mission he had gotten the smallest share. It was only a small bag of coins and a thin pair of bracers made from what looked like red dragon scales.

It didn't really matter too much to him, he wasn't friends with the rest of the 'party' and in fact had only met them a few days before at that very inn. They had only worked together because the local village was offering reward to take care of a minor lizardman problem. It was worth it for a little extra money and a chance to get closer to the Soundland Mountains.

He tried to put it out of his mind as he stopped at the door to his room, fumbling with the head high lock and door handle. One of the worst parts of spending time in human or elven lands was that everything was built to their scale. It made it hard for an Asari.

Flaring his wings out, he pushed the door open and stepped inside. He closed it behind him and walked to the thin bed, fanned out his tail feathers and dropped down on to it. After rubbing the side of his beak he bent down and removed the pouch from his upper leg, opening it up and letting the contents spill out onto the bed next to him.

He counted the few coins one more time, it was enough to get him a few more weeks closer to his destination. Pushing them aside he picked up the bracers. They were well made with a great deal of craftsmanship and care. The red scales were large and stitched tightly together yet with enough give that they moved without any trouble.

Wrapping one around his left wrist he pulled the straps tight against his skin, admiring the contrast with the natural yellow scales of his arms. He pulled the second one on, fumbling with them for a moment until he had it in place.

Kawheek held his arms up to the fading sunlight that was falling through the small window.  They seemed to shine, the red scales glittering and bright. A moment later he felt a cold chill running through his body ended with a slight jolt of pain behind his eyes.

Grunting, the avian climbed from the bed and rubbed his eyes. There was an odd feeling running through his whole body that made him slightly dizzy. He kept rubbing his eyes and tried to brace himself against the bed.

There was something wrong, he could feel it but he just didn't know what it was. He rubbed his head, the pressure growing stronger as his whole beak started to ache.  It almost felt like there was something inside of it, something that shouldn't be there.

He stumbled over to the small bowl of water and the dirty mirror. Holding tightly to the table he opened his beak and looked at his reflection. Things looked off but he couldn't tell how. Snapping it closed he glanced back in the mirror then let out a gasp.

There was something wrong with his eyes; they weren't brown anymore but a dark red. That wasn't the only change, the top of his beak were starting to ripple in an strange way and hints of dark red were painted over the feathers on his head. At the same time the dark yellow of his belly was covering the bottom of his chin.

Stumbling back he twisted on his feet and landed hard on his tail, a jolt of pain running through the length of his body. He sat there for a few moments, stunted by the impact. It was only the feeling of his tail twisting under him that pulled him out of it. Jumping to his feet he craned his head around to look at his tail feathers. They were twisting together into a single mass that was starting to push out of his back, growing longer still. The new tail was thick and covered in dark red scales with lighter scales on the ender side. A fin was starting to grow up along the length as the tail grew even longer.

Kawheek reached out and grabbed the new tail, feeling its weight and muscles as it continued to grow in his hands. The color of the scales matched the color of the braces on his arms.

"Oh no," he said softly as he dropped his tail and started to pull at the bracers, trying to find the edge of them, trying to pull them away from his arm, but they didn't move. Turning his arms over, he clawed at the straps. With a single pull the straps broke free but the bracers stayed in place.

Letting out a low squawk he pulled at the armor, trying to get it free as his tail snaked across the floor to smack against the edge of the bed. A moment later he felt his beak push outwards his eyes being forced to the side.

He hurried back to the mirror, leaning down to look at his face. His beak was gone and in its place was a heavy snout that opened into a jaw lined with a number of teeth. As he watched he saw a thick horn starting to grow from the tip of his new nose. His whole face and head was covered in heavy red scales, his eyes burning like fire.

The transforming avian stared at his reflection as horns started to grow on his head as the scales started to roll down his neck and across his chest. With a grunt of frustration he slapped his tail down against the floorboards, hearing them snap and pop under the strike. It wasn't an Asari head that looked back at him in the mirror but a dragon's head.

Clenching his hands around the edge of the table he heard the wood crack and break. Looking down he saw that his hands were changing. His fingers were shrinking back as his wrists and palms growing larger and thicker, his small talons growing thicker and sharper, breaking through the wood as they grew.

He bend down even lower to look at himself again, but this time passed his face. His neck was growing longer and thicker, heavy scales trailing down his chest nearly to his hips. On the back of his long neck he could see the thick fins swelling out showing his power and his age. They were wonderful fins, making him as a powerful dragon.

Kawheek shook his head and pushed away from the table, instead his powerful arms smashed it against the wall, turning the table into kindling. "I'm not a dragon," he said, closing his eyes as his fat forepaws rubbing at his arms, trying to find any sign of the bracers, trying to stop this before it was too late.

Without warning he felt something smack against the top of his head and over his horns. Opening his eyes he looked up to see the ceiling pressing down on him. He snorted and lowered his head, twisting and falling onto his forepaws.

He looked over his wings, pleased to see that they were still lined with his familiar feathers but they looked out of place. The colors were already changing, gone were the familiar browns and grays, replaced with different shades of red. He fanned them out, touching each wall of the small room, the backside was the same dark red of his scales and the inside the light yellowish red of his underbelly. He was wrong though, there was still grey, lining the very edges of the wings.

Fanning them out Kawheek shifted in the ever shrinking room. It was too small for a dragon and he had to find a way out.

The half dragon half avian let out a gasp and snapped his wings back to the side. He wasn't a dragon and he didn't want to be a dragon! He was an Asari! He was small and quick, with skill in hand to hand combat. Not a monster, not a beast.

He let out a deep cry as he saw the feathers press flat against his wings and melt back into the flesh leaving only their color behind. He shivered and shook them, watching as the flesh grew larger, muscles swelling and pulling from the wings to his chest.

The only part left of the real him was his lower body. His legs were still they way they should be, feathers running down from his hips to his knees where the yellow scaling of his avian legs started. If there was still a part of him left there had to be a way to turn him back. The little bit of clothing he normally had around his waist had broken off, but a dragon had nothing to hide.

He shifted around, lowering his head as his back pressed against the ceiling of the room, the walls pinning his side and tail. He could hear the floor creaking loudly under him and there was the sound of footsteps outside of his room.

Without a thought the dragon slammed his tail against the door, buckling the wall and jamming it into the frame. It sent a jolt up the length of his growing body, shocking him for a moment and making him shake his head. Outside he could hear someone pounding on the door but he put it out of his mind. They were just humans.

Kawheek turned his head back to look at his rear end. His small feathered legs weren't enough to hold up his bulk and it was forcing his belly to the ground. He craned his head back, his neck pressing against the small room as he looked at his splayed feet. The yellow scaled talons were starting to swell, each toe growing thicker as the tips of his claws grew larger, digging into the wood floor.

The shape of the scales were starting to change, growing thicker and wider, starting to become the proper shaped scales for a dragon though still with the familiar dark yellow coloring. He started to lift his belly up as his legs grew stronger, the muscles growing and budging under the feathers that still covered his upper legs.

He watched the growing muscles pushing his feathers apart showing red scales between each quill, the feathers themselves starting to change from grey to red.

Looking at the mixture of scales and feathers made the partly chanced dragon shiver and pull his head back, slamming it against the ceiling, his thick horns breaking through the wood and tearing it apart. Kawheek cried out and shook his head, watching the feathers starting to sink away.

"No, no, no! I'm not a dragon!" he tried to say, but the words only came out as a long growl that shook the walls around him. It did nothing to stop his changes as more and more of the feathers on his leg sank back into scales.

He shifted and twisted around, searching his forelegs one more time, trying to find any sign of the braces that had started his transformation. There had to be a way to undo the change, there was no reason to make a spell like that if there wasn't any way to turn back.

The former avian watched in horror as they very last of his feathers pressed down against his flanks and became dragon scales. He sat there, his head looking down over his flank a feeling of deep horror filling his belly. The room was pressing hard against his body, forcing his wings against his back and making him twisting his neck and tail.

Kawheek tried to think of what to do, how to get out of the inn, how to turn back, how to do anything! All he came up with was a blank.

A moment later he heard a crash as the door was pulled away from the broken wall. A moment later he felt something hard and cold jab into the side of his tail, right between his scales. He let out a roar and pulled his tail away from the attack but there wasn't any room to move. He slammed his flank against the side wall, feeling it smash apart under his bulk. Now that he had room he flicked his tail against the doorway, ripping through the wall and the hallway beyond it with enough force to shake the whole inn.

Around him he could hear people yelling and running, their pounding steps echoing through the walls and floor as they tried to escape from the trapped dragon.

Growling he started to thrash around, slamming his head up against the damaged ceiling, ripping though it and breaking through the roof of the inn. With a roar he slammed his four paws down onto the floor, hearing it crack and splinting as one broke through the wood and the beam below. That was the last that the floor could take and with a loud crack it buckled beneath him then collapsed.

The red dragon roared out as he fell through the floor and crashed down into the main floor of the inn, the far wall came down after him, collapsing on the dragon's back. A moment later the roof sagged and broke apart, falling down to add to the debris over the dragons back and head, bouncing off the hard scales and partly burying him.

Silence fell over the remains of the inn for a few moments before the dragon let out a cry, through his head back and snapped his wings outwards with as much force as he could muster. The strong wings crashed through the remains of the standing walls and sending debris flying around the remains of the inn.

With a roar the dragon reared back on his haunches, rising up over the building, the glow of the setting sun shining off his dark red scales. He slammed back to earth, slamming his large feet into the remains of the debris, flattening what remained.

With a snort the former avian looked around the debris and cracked a smile. He slammed his tail on it once last time then fanned out his wings. Hunching down among the debris he threw himself into the sky.  With a heavy sweep his wings caught the air and lifted him over the small village. Looking down he could see a few villages joining the crowd from the inn to stare up at him.

A few people let arrows let loose in his direction, but ignored them, banking over the village a few times before diving down and taking up a large cow as a meal. With the animal in his claws he flew towards the Soundland Mountains. The cares of the small avian he had been left behind in the debris. All that the large red dragon cared about now was finding a cave large enough to live in and to start a proper hoard. By the time the sun set the Asari named Kawheek was simply a scrap of memory in the mind of a centuries old red dragon.

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This story was written and copyright 2010 by Theo Winters, reposting and archiving are allowed as long as this copyright notice and the author's name are not removed. This story cannot be published without permission of the author. The character "Kawheek" is owned by his creator, and is used with permission. Violators will be transformed.