Back to Work

In my new form, I felt somewhat confined. Coming to terms with my new identity was a challenge, despite having witnessed my transformation firsthand. Rather than morphing into a full-grown creature, I found myself in a young body that was aging at an alarming rate. My fear of premature aging was alleviated when I discovered the process would halt upon reaching adulthood.

As I headed towards Kari, I was escorted by a pair of guards. They explained that my shadow dragon appearance might scare the city's inhabitants, as it was an unusual and intimidating sight in this region. I found Kari at his usual location, and the guards respectfully retreated to their posts. I greeted him with a grin, “Guess who’s back?” He squinted, then ventured a guess, “Raphael? Is that you?” I confirmed, “In the flesh, it’s really me.”

“You’ve grown up, I see,” he remarked. “Indeed,” I replied, stating the obvious, “I still don’t know how or why, but I appear like a teenager dragon now.” He shrugged, “Whatever, how does it feel to be a dragon?” I admitted, “Weird, really. I can see why you keep bumping into things. Anyway, thank you for helping me. If it weren’t for you, who knows where I’d be now?” He nodded, “You’re welcome. It was the least I could do.”

I inquired about his tail, scanning it for any signs of injury, but he said, “Perfectly fine. Thank you for that.” He pointed to a familiar V mark where I had touched him, and I said, “Oh. I hope you don’t mind that. I don’t know what it means.” He looked at me, then said, “If someone sees you and me, they’ll know immediately that we met at some point, and you’re covered in these odd markings.” Indeed, I was covered in markings, with more appearing as time went on. Multiple Vs, and some others that I couldn’t decipher. They did nothing but make me easily recognizable.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to leave a mark. Maybe you can remove it?” I suggested. He shrugged, “I don’t think that I will. I don’t really care, honestly.” I then asked, “Do you still need help with the supply of crystals? The queen said that you’ve already had enough, but if you think otherwise, well, now I’m here. But if I accidentally make any other dark crystal, maybe next time we’ll keep it safer.” He replied, “Right, I don’t think I’ll ever keep a dark crystal again in my collection. They’re dangerous enough. Speaking of the supply, we’ve got a lot of elementless crystals coming in the next few days, so we could turn the remaining ones and get ready for the new ones. More is better than less, isn’t it?” I agreed, “Guess it is. Let’s get to work then.”

He joked, “Great, oh, and be careful. Don’t hurt yourself like I did with your new form. We may need to use health crystals on you too.” I responded, “Oh, we should definitely check that, but I think I can heal myself already, so maybe not.” We resumed our work, my elements functioning as they should, the new form having no effect on them.

While working, I asked Kari, “Do you happen to know anything about shapeshifters or how I could get back to my previous form?” He looked uncertain and said, “I’m afraid not. I’m sorry.” I pressed on, “You don’t even know someone who could know? I don’t like this body, honestly.” He retorted, “Oh, come on, what’s wrong with it? You’ll get used to it like everyone else.” As he bumped into a piece of furniture, I pointed out, “Because of that. See?” He defended himself, “That’s my fault. It doesn’t count.” I chuckled, then continued my task.