Chapter 1: Chapter 1.1 – A Life-changing Moment…

PLEASE NOTE! This is a sort of "pilot" chapter I wrote 7 months ago (wow that's a while now) as a one-off idea that I have now spun off into a potential new story! New chapters past 1.2 are not going to be regular or even guaranteed. This chapter's characterization and specific details may be slightly different from future chapters but the general core concept here is all canon. Please understand if 1.1 may not be exactly consistent with 1.2 and beyond.

You can find the original one-off story here: https://www.scribblehub.com/read/466109-oneoffs-or-whatnot/chapter/466111/

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“Y’know, I wouldn’t expect you to be so good at flying.” I said, wind whooshing past my face. “You’ve been a dragon for, what, a week?”

“Six days, actually.” She shouted proudly, giving me a smirk.

“And Lord Malo’om just left you there?” I asked.

“Something about finally being able to escape. I dunno why he needed the princess to do that though,” she said. She tilted her head and put her claw to her chin. “Couldn’t any random peasant off the street have worked?”

“Guess not.” I responded. “And you’re sure you’re okay with this? I know of many fine clerics who might be able t-”

“Like I said!” she quickly blurted out, a bit of annoyance in her voice, “I’ve never been happier! When he turned me into a dragon, I was shocked at first, but I never really felt afraid. It was exhilarating, even! I just took it in stride!”

I could see should couldn't hold back her smile. A smile so wide, and so genuine, that any doubt I had of her form needing transmutation back vanished. She truly seemed to be happy to be a beast. Something more powerful and imposing than she was before. Being a princess to such a formidable queen is quite an endurance, I hear. 

With the castle’s silhouette looming in the distant setting sun’s light, my thoughts focused on my usual post-mission affairs. As a royal knight, how would I explain this to my queen, who ordered me to slay the dragon that captured her daughter? Would I be seen as a failure for not pressing forward with the mission and slaying the “beast” I found? But then I’d be a murderer, and would fail anyway since I couldn’t bring the princess back. There’s no way Lord Malo’om is anywhere near here, and it would surely result in a wild goose chase. My mission was derailed from the moment I started it.

“I hope my mom doesn’t mind…” the princess muttered, her flying beginning to slow down. “She really, REALLY doesn’t like dragons. They always fascinated me, and she never...” her sentence trailed off as her smile faded.

I took a deep breath. “Frankly, the queen would be idiotic for letting her daughter’s happiness be a reason to disown her.”

Fake confidence dripped through my words. I'd heard tale after tale of the ruthless queen's actions. But surely her family would be different?

The princess merely stared back at me blankly, then turned back forward as we approached the castle. The procedure was to quickly meet with entry guards at the gates of the castle and immediately return to the Queen. But on this night, we were flying right to the roof of the castle. The lookouts seemed to panic as we approached, yelling frantically and preparing bows and arrows. A torch was shined at us, and I raised my hands, free of weapons, to show I didn’t mean harm.

“She’s the princess!” I yelled out.

"EXCUSE ME?!" One of the guards responded.

“We must meet with the queen to explain this!" I continued to yell. "She’s been turned into a beast and wishes to-”

“What?! You expect us to believe the princess is a DRAGON?!” one of the guards shouted back.

“Yes!" I answered in an exasperated tone.

"What's your proof?!" They quizzed.

I pointed to the princess's forehead. "You can see the royal tiara! Only she could have that! It’s a fairy tale story but you must bel-”

An arrow was suddenly launched right towards my face, barely missing the side of my face and brushing past my hair.

“That does it! The knight’s been possessed!” I heard, as an extra barrage of arrows grazed past our bodies. One barely clipped the princess’s wing, even, and there was clearly no signs of stopping or holding back.

“Alert the queen!” someone shouted, as everyone took aim for another round. The guards are always such terrible shots - but not terrible enough to be able to stay there comfortably. I grabbed the back of the princess’s neck, and she took the hint, turning around and flying us away, as arrows continued to fly and the guard’s shouting became louder.

—

I woke up in our shelter the next morning, having found a large cave far away from home to reside in.

We slept so quickly and soundly, I could only assume we had passed out from exhaustion. It was all a blur after that point. Especially the princess, her poor wings having to support such a prolonged, soaring flight. She was curled up on the opposite side of the cave, lazily snoozing away. Waking her up… I didn’t have the heart to do it after all of this.

Quietly, I snuck outside into the midday sun’s light. My armor was hot, and weighing me down substantially. I shed many of my pieces, only keeping my chestplate on. I wouldn’t be as protected, but the garments I wore would still definitively identify me as a member of the royal guard.

Using a nearby puddle of water, I splashed my face to cool down, and stared back at my reflection. The face was covered in dirt and dust - even my eye patch was covered in some kind of grime. But, the feeling of grossness permeated my face even if it were perfectly clean. It had been weeks since the last time I shaved, something only I cared to do among my peers. The many scars from shaving incidents I’ve had still clearly showed. I hated how my stubble looked, and always wished there was some kind of spell to remove it.

By the time I approached the nearest town, I hadn’t even registered that I was walking, still lost in my thoughts by the time I could see the gated entrance through the forest. I planned on presenting myself as a royal knight in crisis, needing emergency help - which was not far from the truth, and was something that had worked for me on previous journeys. Before even getting close to the gate however, my gaze was caught by a procession of other royal knights and army men. I ducked behind a bush to eavesdrop.

“We’re looking for a traitor and a dragon. Should be easy to find the dragon if they’re in town. The traitor is one of our highest ranked knights, claiming the dragon is the princess,” the paper rustling in his hand was clearly a wanted poster, for me. I was now officially a criminal, harboring the transformed princess… also a criminal. “The reward for bringing them back, dead or alive, will surely be worth it. Please make sure this information makes it to the mayor of your fine city.”

One of the guards at the gate nodded and headed into the town.

Dead or alive. It’d certainly be easier to bring us back dead.

And in that moment, I felt like I was being watched... yet as I escaped as swiftly as a deer, no eyes made contact with me.

—

I returned to the cave. The princess’s eyes opened as I stepped into the shade of the cave, and she looked down at the floor, dejected and sleepy, as I told her what was going on. “Maybe I should get myself un-trasmutanted…”

“No. You said you’re happier this way.” I muttered.

“Well, what good am I doing being happy, if my mom isn’t?” she said, her voice wavering. “I’d be back in my bedroom by now, I’d be cozy, being served a meal of comfort, and life would be normal...”

I had to think for a second. I was raised believing the queen could do no wrong, yet she and her army were so quick to turn on the princess herself. Her own daughter. The queen was very clearly wrong here. Right?

“Life may have been normal for the queen from then on, but what about for you? You would’ve lived your life with a terrible longing.” I stated, my arm tensing up.

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The response was met with silence, as the princess watched me strap some of my armor back on.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

“I’m going to town to clear our names.” I said, trying to remain calm. "If I can explain the situation, we can..."

“But they’ll kill you! They said!” The princess remarked. She pushed herself up to stand at her full height, and her ear flicked. “Plus, I can hear your legs shaking!”

And she was right. My legs were quivering against my metal boots. I quickly put on an air of confidence and began to walk towards the entrance of the cave.

“Th-that doesn’t matter! Maybe I’ll die a martyr. In history books, they might say I was the one who really saved you, f-”

“No!!” She shouted, loudly stomping ahead of me to block the way out. “I won’t allow it! No one will die for me!”

“Hey! I am a member of the queen's royal guard! A knight doesn't back out of a promise!” I shouted back. 

“What royal guard? They consider you a traitor, so you’re basically just another commoner in their eyes now.” A voice sounded out from behind the princess.

“Who’s there?!” I yelled out, grabbing my sword's hilt.

The princess stepped aside to allow the woman through, and to my surprise, the unmistakable profile of a witch was standing before me. She stared directly at me, as if she could see through the princess the whole time, and walked directly towards me with a devious smile.

I remained steadfast. “You’re a witch, I’ve been warned about your kind, stay back!”

And yet, she did not even slow down. I took a deep breath and drew my sword as fast as lightning, and pointed it at her throat. As if she could see the future, she had already stopped by the time my sword was out. “My my, so violent! You say my kind is dangerous, and yet this is how you greet someone?”

Her tone of voice was unwaveringly confident. 

“Are you here for the reward?” I asked.

She just laughed, and rested her hand on the blade. With seemingly no effort, she pushed it down with such force I had no choice but to drop it. I was cornered. By a witch, of all people.

“Y-you want me dead, don’t you?” I stammered back.

“Au contraire, mon ami. I want to help you!” She sang back at me. “You’re acting so afraid just because of all that you’ve heard about witches. But a mere day ago you would’ve felt this way about dragons, hm?”

I gulped and weakly said, “You’re correct.”

“You see, I can relate to the feeling of being hunted, you know. Being wanted for any reason that isn’t my company, year after year of living in hiding." She reached out a hand. "So I thought I would extend an olive branch to you.”

“What does that mean?” I growled back.

“You'll need a disguise. I’m just gonna cast a little spell on you. It won’t hurt." She stifled a giggle. "Well, okay, maybe it’ll hurt a little, but it’ll be all worth it in the end.” She wiggled her fingers at me, almost mockingly. What is she thinking of doing to me?

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could say anything, she tossed glittering dust all over me, and I instinctively flinched. As she spoke an incantation, she waved her hands, and finally spun around and stopped, before gently blowing the dust off of my face. The witch's expression was jovial now, like she was on the verge of laughing. The princess covered her face with her hands as she watched in anticipation as to what might happen.

“That was it?” I asked, unamused and humiliated. “All you did was dust me in your powder stuff and do a dance. That's not a disguise.”

Her eyes were shining as she pulled a feather out of her pouch, and held it under my nose.

“Oh come on, now. You’re not gonna… gonna get me to… sn… sna… a… ACHOO!” I couldn’t help but sneeze, as much as I wanted to prove her wrong. Yet this sneeze was different. I felt it in my entire body. As if the moment the air left my nose, the pressure and tension built up in my body disappeared with it. I could barely see or hear anything at that moment, and I came to my senses somehow on the ground from just a sneeze. 

“O-ow… what-” I said. But I instinctively covered my mouth. It didn’t sound right.

“That was so weird!” the princess shouted, somehow holding a mirror in her hands. She was looking out the cave entrance, surprised, before she turned to me.

I quickly stood up, and looked for the witch. She was gone. “The fff…” I took a second to prepare for my changed voice again. “What did that witch do to me?!”

I stamped my foot in frustration, but I wasn't sure why. Because already, I didn’t hate it. My voice didn’t sound as powerful as many people had given me praise for. Even with my yelling, I didn’t sound harsh and commanding anymore. Rather, I now sounded gentle, yet clear. My heart was beating fast as I caught a glance at myself in the princess’s mirror. I nearly fainted from the sight.

While my scars and eye patch still remained, my stubble was gone. It was so smooth to the touch. My eyes were not only a different shape, but a different color. My hair was wavier. Everything about my face was changed to what I’m used to… and instinctively I looked down at the rest of my body. My hand was a bit smaller. My arms were still toned, yet softer. I had a noticeable chest. A total lack of hair everywhere on my body. Everything was different, yet kind of the same, but different, but…

My world was wobbly. I nearly fell over.

“Are you okay?” The princess asked, with much concern in her voice.

“She… this…” I stuttered.

“What’d the witch do to you?”

I took a deep breath as tears began to well up at my eyes. Childhood memories I had long forgotten flooded back. The feeling of longing that I didn't know I had.

“She gave me the body I'd always dreamed of as a disguise…” I whispered through heavy breaths. “...I don’t want to go back.”

The princess gave me a knowing, comforting look, and put a large clawed hand on my shoulder.

“It looks like we’re in this together, then, knight.” She said, as I leaned in for a hug.

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