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Slayer or Layer 41

For Lorvianne

By Draconicon

Despite winning the fight, Lorkos doubted that they would have a great deal of time before the dragon started causing trouble again. He needed to get out of the area, and his kids needed to go, too. The Pack had to be safe, and that meant finding a place for them, and then getting the hell out himself.

And there was finally a way to do that.

That night, when the yellow dragon had finally gone to rest, Lorkos left the caverns, making his way out to the high rocks that looked over the village down below. He waited quietly for Sila to make her way from the village, his legs curled in front of him and his head resting on his forepaws.

This isn't the best plan, but it's better than nothing, he thought. At least, that was what he was telling himself.

If he could get Sila to use her wagons to get his children somewhere safe, then he could leave as soon as the rest of the plan was accomplished. There'd be no need to worry about what would happen to them, because the former lizardfolk, now dragoness, would see to their safety and they wouldn't have a problem.

He hoped.

The only worry was whether there were enough wagons to make sure that they could all leave. He knew that the village traded with the mammals, if discretely, but he only remembered a few wagons when he had joined up with them. That had been a long time back, admittedly, but he doubted that they could all hide easily among a caravan that small. He just hoped that Sila either had more wagons, or could make more.

Eventually, the bipedal dragoness walked up the slope from down below, making her way up to him. She bowed at the waist.

"Great One."

"Hmmph."

"...Well, I guess I'm kind of one too, now."

"Yes, you are."

"Well, hail to me, then." She sat down on a rock, pulling her legs up to her chest. "What did you want?"

"I need to ask a favor, regarding my young."

Sila cocked her head to the side, suddenly more interested. No surprise there. He imagined that she hadn't expected anything like that, what with the fight that had happened. Most people would have considered that settled. Perhaps other dragons would have. He did not, not with that level of distaste, and not with the yellow dragon knowing he wasn't really a dragoness.

"I need you to take them away," he said.

"Take them...away? That's going to be difficult."

"You have wagons?"

"That's not the difficult part."

"They're not going to want to go, but they have to."

"Do you really think they're going to listen to me on that?"

"I think that they'll listen to you more than they'll listen to me," he muttered, looking down at his forepaws.

It wasn't that he wanted to send them away. He liked the feeling of his Pack being there, and as much as he tried to pretend that wasn't the case, they were Pack. They were his people, his children, his...offspring and blood.

But he couldn't take care of them and solve his own problems at the same time. He needed them somewhere safe until this was all taken care of, and when that was done, he would be able to go back to them. He hoped.

But not until then.

"Please. Just get it set up. We'll send them somewhere safe tomorrow."

"I'm telling you, this isn't going to work."

"Just do what I say."

"...Fine, Great One. Fine."

Sila got to her feet, her wings spreading out and catching the moonlight. He sighed, rubbing his snout. This was already going off the rails, and he had no idea if it was going to get better before it got worse. At least Sila would probably go along with the plan.

Probably.

As she walked down the slopes again, he heard the tap-tap sound of clawed feet coming closer. That should be Mastar, and as best as he could figure out, it was. He looked over his shoulder at the approaching blue-scaled dragon, nodding at him.

"Are you ready?" Lorkos asked.

"Whatever kind of scheme you have, I'm just going to say one more time that it's a bad idea."

"It's my only real choice."

"Trying to 'fix' this thing got us into this whole fucking mess to begin with."

"Yes, but even you said that this would be the time to try and change it."

"...Me and my big mouth."

As the former wolf sighed, Lorkos couldn't help but smile slightly. There was something to having someone else that thought like him, too. Despite everything else, he knew that he was going to enjoy this journey. Dangerous or not, at least it would take him where he needed to go, and he'd feel like he was actually himself during the journey.

"Alright, what am I doing?" Mastar asked.

"Turning me back to a two-legged form."

"Not to a wolf, huh?"

"We both know that probably won't work."

"Yeah, but at least you admit it."

"You think you can do it?"

"...It's possible," Mastar said, nodding a few times. "Just...gonna need you to work with me here. This mess of magic is going to be hard enough without something fighting me in the process."

"Alright. Just tell me what to do."

"For now, just relax, and tell me if you feel anything."

That was easier said than done, but Lorkos eventually managed to settle himself so that he wasn't quite so antsy. Mastar started reaching out, fingers dancing as he used his magic, and the little strings of energy started to settle around the bigger dragoness.

The feeling was...strange. It wasn't quite like the tingle that came when he had transformed before, or when he had been in the process of growing scales or something like that. Instead, it was more like little hooks sinking into the fabric of his being, running through him and into his core.

He did his best not to move as it started tugging, itching at him, but his claws started to flex, and he growled.

"What's wrong?" Mastar asked.

"I can feel that."

"You shouldn't. Not without magic of your own."

"Well, maybe this body has some."

"If it does..." The blue dragon thought for a moment. "Okay, let's try something. I'm going to pull, and you pull back."

"How do I -"

"Just try. First instinct, just do that."

Lorkos had no idea what that was going to be like, but he waited. The sensation of clawed pressure around his body returned, like a hundred little fish hooks that were situated just over his body, and he waited for one of them to grab him. As soon as it did, feeling like it was sinking into something just under his head, he yanked -

"GAH!"

And Mastar came flying in his direction. Lorkos barely managed to bring a forepaw up to catch the once-wolf before he could go flying in the other direction, and they both stared at one another.

They stared at one another for a moment, then Mastar slowly grinned.

"Okay, that's going to make things much easier."

"What the hell just happened?" Lorkos asked.

"You just used magic," the mage said, crawling down the dragoness's forelegs. "And if you can do that, then you can start helping me pull you back together."

"I'm not a mage. I'm a fighter."

"That's fine. Just do what I tell you, and we'll have you back in your body in no time."

"...You sure?"

"Trust me. I'm sure."

He wanted to ask why, but much as he wanted answers, they were short on time. As soon as Lia and the others found out that he was leaving, they'd be coming up to try and stop him. As soon as the yellow dragon knew that he was going, there'd be something from that asshole to try and slow him down. They needed to do this now, while nobody was aware of the plans and nobody could interfere.

Besides, Mastar was actually...happy. And that had to mean something good.

Bit by bit, he was transformed. He did what he was told, flexing whatever magic he could, trying to push his will into this limb or that, relaxing when Mastar was pulling the magic around to other places, but by and large, it was all down to the other dragon to fix him up. Mastar did very well at that.

The feeling of shrinking was...uncomfortable, at first, particularly as some of the limbs started condensing faster than he would have liked. The feeling of muscle and more being stuffed into tighter and tighter spaces made him grit his teeth and whimper, but it had to be done. It eased soon enough, anyway.

It was the sensation of his spine collapsing that was the worst of all, though. That clicking sound followed by the sharp pressure of all those different pieces of bone colliding with each other nearly made him pass out, and it probably would have if it wasn't for the fact that he was getting release from the pain in his arms and legs at the same time.

He curled up in a ball as the changes kept hitting him, with his fingers returning, followed by his legs ending in proper paws again. That too-long tail pulled in, slurped into his body once more, followed by the slow, inching progress of his wings sliding back into his back. Horns started to slide into his head, and his neck clicked and clacked as it slowly cracked downwards, becoming a short, normal neck again.

Bit by bit, part by part, he shrank until he was as small as the mage helping him. When the hook feeling finally stopped, he was shaking, panting for breath, but...

But it was done.

Lorkos forced himself to open his eyes. While there were still scales to be seen, he saw them on an arm, not on a leg. He saw them on slender fingers, not on large, broad paws. And as he rolled himself onto his side, and then into a seated position, he could see that it had worked. His entire body was back to being a two-legged version of the dragoness.

He'd never thought that he would be so happy to see scaly legs in his life. He hugged them to his chest, a few little tears forming.

"I can't believe it..."

"It's not necessarily permanent," Mastar said. "It could still end up reversing, but it'll be some time before that happens."

"As long as it works for now. That's all I need."

"Now, uh, I think you have another problem."

"I can handle it."

"Yeah, but can you handle her?" Mastar asked, pointing over Lorkos's shoulder.

Expecting to see Sila coming back, he slowly rotated on the spot. Instead, he found himself face to face with Lia, and his daughter was tapping her foot in total disappointment and irritation.

"..."

"I heard that you were thinking of leaving."

"...Yes."

"And without us?"

"It's safer that way."

"I believe we've had this conversation before. And I was younger then. This time, I'm not leaving."

"It's -"

"Don't say it, Lithia. You know it's not true."

And the painful part was, she was right. She had grown enough that she could be helpful if she came along, and he knew that they'd need every bit of aid that they could get. He looked at Mastar, who only shrugged. There was no help there.

"Fine."

"And you will say goodbye to all your children."

"..." He smiled despite himself. "Fine."

Lia smiled, and he knew she was thinking the same thing. He was slowly becoming more of a parent, and he didn't hate it.

The End

Summary: Time to change back. With the curse at its weakest yet, Lorkos gets Mastar to help him change back to a two-legged shape.

Tags: no sex, nudity, fantasy, transformation, dragon, series, magic,