| "As to why I am.....was Merkotos' familiar.....There lies a tale."
Dreven sighs. "I wanted be a mage, even though I wasn't born to the caste.
Yes, Selania, every dragon's place in life is determined by his birth....except
I really wanted to be so much MORE than just a common soldier! I was considered....odd
by my peers.....even insane by some, because I was fasinated by magic.
I was FORCED, however, to learn the ways of the warrior, and my parents
were dead set on me following in their clawprints. It was a big shock to
them when, when I came into Majority....when I was no longer considered
a child....that I rejected their plans and instead struck out on my own.
"I had heard, for years, that human mages took on....nonhuman creatures
as familiars, a position that gauranteed the nonhuman a chance at learning
magic! I kept my ears open, and heard about Merkotos, and heard he was
looking for a familiar. I approached him....offered my services....and
he shrank me down and I became his familiar. I....wasn't truelly prepared
for the.....compulsions to obey....to trust the mage when I became a familiar.
I had discounted the rumors of Merkotos' evil....his deeds....because of
that. There was much that Merkotos kept from me, but...."
"The magical nature of being a familiar prevented you from seeing the
truth." Selania finished.
"It blinded me to EVERYTHING!" Dreven shouted, then winced in pain. "He became....like the father I never had. He taught me magic....I bet I know more about magic than even the best Dracomages.....especially since....I gained all the magical powers and magical knowledge of Merkotos." "Really?" Selania said, more than slightly interested. "You mean....you
can send me back.....change me back into what I was?"
Deveron hangs his head low, and then answers quietely.
"I.....could send you back." Dreven said. "I can even set up a permanent
Portal between there and here....no problem. But I can't change you back.
Merkotos' spell of Making was....never meant to be altered, once cast upon
somebody. This is the type of magic that is like a Curse that....only divine
intervention could alter.....sort of like lycanthropy....except this Curse
just locks you into your present form!"
Selania nods at that. She's somewhat surprised that she....doesn't feel
a sense of loss. She even feels....happy about this! Alarmed, she asks
Dreven about this.
"I'm afraid that is part of the conditioning portion of the Curse, my
Lady." Dreven says. "Don't worry, you won't forget who or what you were....it
was there to make....you less likely to be able to be caught. Merkotos
wanted a puppet that wouldn't reveal itself to be anything else than what
it appeared to be. That, and if you.....had agreed to follow Merkotos'
scheme when he first drew you here....well, let's just say you'd never
have have to worry about making an important independant thought again.
Because you'd be UNABLE to make an unimportant independant decission! Another....delightful
part of the Curse that was neutralized when you refused him the first time."
"Delightful." Selania said, a little queesy. "Does that account for
why I keep calling myself Selania and get more and more comfortable at
being.... female and keep calling myself 'Selania' instead of 'Scott?'"
"This is so, Lady Selania." Dreven said.
"I guess it is for the best." Selania sighs. "Hey, if this Merkotos
is so powerful and intelligent, how was I able to get you to attack him,
exactly?"
"He overlooked the fact that you had been a man....when you bought that
dress and that you'd admit to being a man while I.....tried to mate with
you." Dreven coughs. "My Lady, why...?"
"I was buying a dress for my.....ex-girlfriend Debby when the compulsion
to wear the dress.....struck." Selania admitted.
"A MALE stooping to buy a FEMALE clothing?!" Dreven gags. "What kind
of depraved world do you come from?!"
"One far and away DIFFERENT from this one, DREVEN." Selania says in
a voice of iron. Dreven blinks, and begs forgiveness for overstepping himself.
"Never mind, it's not important." Selania mutters to a relieved Dreven.
|
