The Old Dragon shifted her bulk and regarded the young man in a cage before her. Well, former young man anyway. She had sensed he was rather proud of his male physique even if it was barely above average. The Old Dragon had caught the man lugging a bag full of precious gems taken from HER HOARD just outside her lair when she had come back from messing with the elves below. Needless to say, she had not been very happy with what he was trying to do. As a result, he was now a young girl, a young naked girl trapped in a cage.
Honestly, she felt she had done a very good job. She had left his mind and spirit mostly alone, but that was because this was a punishment. She had shrunk him down, quite a bit. Softened his features and given him the appearance of a girl a few years younger than he actually was. She even made him younger. The Soleans had pioneered the techniques for making people younger and even reversing puberty. Unfortunately, they were also rather guarded about the hows of the process. Thankfully, her greatest treasure was designed to do this from the start. Even if she had yet to figure out how it reversed the aging process. Only that it did it as a precursor to converting the occupant into a woman. She had used it along with her flesh shaping skills to sculpt the young girl before her. It was costly but using only one pod greatly helped in terms of cost. Still took more than she would have liked. Naturally, she had removed the young man once the pod had returned him to prepubescent age and then finished the job with her own skills. The Old Dragon had her reasons for this, and they all factored into her plans for the fool who dared to steal from her.
As it was the late twenty-something young man was now in the body of a young girl around ten to twelve years of age. Her body was starting to develop and fill out and the dragon thought she looked very cute. The young girl had long orange hair that fell loosely behind her curled figure. A very cute round and sleeping face was visible from the dragon’s position. The small nose, the freckles, the cute mouth, even the little birthmark on her check were all the Dragon’s handiwork. Very soon the young girl would wake and be able to take stock of her new form. The Old Dragon was looking forward to seeing her reaction, and while she was waiting she was thinking of a new name for the little one in front of her.
Slowly at first, she began to stir. Her orange hair shifted a bit, and then she rolled over. The Old Dragon shifted, and watched her. After a moment her eyes opened. Lazily she rubbed her eyes and looked around in confusion. That confusion quickly gave way to fear and panic. She suddenly pushed herself backward as far she could. Only to become even more frightened when she bumped into the rear wall. In a small voice, she muttered something. Naturally, the Old Dragon heard it but decided to ignore it. The young girl had clearly been startled by her own voice and was now looking herself over.
She let her acquaint herself with the changes, and then the dragon spoke, “Tell me little miss foolish, what made you think it was a good idea to steal from a dragon?”
Naturally, the Old Dragon had no need to ask how the young girl had slipped past her wards. She had already figured that out and corrected the problem. No future robber would be getting past them the same way. It helped that she had a few enchanted crystals set to record what happened in her lair. Useful for seeing things like people stealing her stuff.
The young girl frowned and then glanced down nervously. To the Old Dragon though her emotions were a rather open book. She regularly raised mortal servants, as they were quite useful for many tasks. Especially females, men not so much. She didn’t have any young right now, but females were very useful for taking care of her young. All of her pups had left the nest already, and it would be a few years before she was ready to lay another clutch of eggs. As such her servants were largely free to spend their time on other tasks. Like disciplining the errant child in front of her. One of the reasons she had stopped the pod before it accelerated her growth back to what it had been at the start. Speaking of the pod, she had spent time studying it, and while she still had no idea how it reversed the aging process. She did know a bit about how it worked. It used magical synthesis to create a thick soup with which it immersed the occupant. As for what is in the soup, well she had no idea. The pod was shielded to prevent people or in this case dragons from finding out. She had determined though that the composition changed with time, and the occupant was also subjected to low power spells at set intervals.
Her thoughts were broken when the young girl nervously replied, “I was desperate, and ...”
Then she trailed off. The old dragon prompted her in the same gentle and calm tone she used earlier. Even if under the surface she was quite angry. Fortunately, the girl didn’t seem to catch that and finished her sentence. Turns out she thought she wasn’t home. She was right, but Zemoria had not been planning on being out long.
Curious the dragon asked, “What had you so desperate that you decided to steal from a dragon?”
She nervously looked around and then with a downcast expression, replied, “Well, it turns out I am not as good with numbers as I thought. I ran out of money and supplies. When I found your uh nest I thought all my problems were solved.”
Then she sighed before continuing, “Evidently, I was mistaken.”
Zemoria, however, caught something she had omitted. A stray thought that was loud enough that she heard it clearly. Something about coming out this way to avoid this being a possibility.
Curious, she leaned forward and asked about it. Something that startled the girl. Ultimately she needed some prompting and several questions to get what she wanted to know. By which time her curiosity was overtaking her anger.
It turned out the former young man had come out this way to reach one of the dungeons with the Realm of False Death effect. There was one closer to his home, but it had the effect of turning men into girls if they failed. He wasn’t that confident in his skills, so he had decided it was better to try his luck at a different dungeon. That led the young man to make a trek across the Elven Kingdom of Stormwind to reach this part of the world. Honestly, she had little interest in the dungeon he had come out here for. It was an older dungeon called Goblin’s Rest. Eighty-two floors deep, the dungeon had been around for nearly four hundred years. It also had the effect of randomly changing the species of delvers into a goblin race if they failed. However that effect only started coming into play past the fortieth floor, and past floor sixty it sometimes even changed gender. With a preference of male to female. Female goblins were rare and often stronger than males. Especially when it came to magic where they could often compete with mages of the more magically inclined races. Where for male goblins they had no talent at all for magic.
This new dungeon sounded more interesting and useful to her. Mainly because it sounded like its effect kicked in on the first floor, and that it was not random. Given that it was a demonic dungeon, she guessed the random race change would kick in eventually with a skew towards demons. Not a problem for her. This information was so valuable to her, that she decided to mostly forgive the young man for trying to steal from her.
“Thank you, for telling me of this young dungeon. Piece of advice though, Goblin’s Rest is the worse deal. Trust me, its much better being turned into a girl than a goblin. There is a dungeon not far from here, that is much better for honing your skills. Eka’s Paradise is a nature aligned dungeon, that is a bit more forgiving than most dungeons without the false death trait. It starts getting harder after floor twenty, and the first five are perfect for a novice.”
Hope brightened in the young girl’s eyes, and she asked hopefully, “You are going to let me go?”
Zemoria was already weaving a spell, “Yes, I have decided to let you go. However, not without marking you first, and next time I catch you trying to steal from a dragon, I won’t be so lenient”
The girl didn’t even have time to process it before Zemoria’s spell knocked her out. Then the large dragon opened the cage and pressed a claw against her chest. Knocking the girl out was actually a bit of a favor. Light slipped from the gaps of her claws, and a moment later when she lifted her front claw away from the girl, a symbol freshly burned into her chest was revealed. Many would call it the Dragon’s Mark, and this particular one would allow her to see what the girl was up to. It also gave her control over her actions if she so chose. Since the girl was not awake, Zemoria had been able to force a very one sided mark upon the girl.
With a thought, the girl began to float, as she left. Using her spells she began to lock up her lair. The lair would be fine without her for a few days. It had taken the girl floating behind her nearly five and a half months of travel to reach her. On foot, it could have been done a little faster, but from what she had gleaned it was about a week’s causal flight away. Zemoria felt no rush so a casual flight sounded nice. Factor in a couple of days to find the dungeon and a few more to find a spot to drop her cargo off, and investigate this new dungeon, she planned to be gone for about a month.
As soon as the new wards were set, and she had double-checked that her servants would be okay during that time, the Old Dragon took wing. With leisurely beats, she ascended into the air. Many smaller creatures flew away from her, and moments later her large body shimmered and vanished into the air. Already she was looking forward to investigating the girl’s claims about this dungeon. Said girl was no longer floating, but instead nestled in a basket hanging from one of her talons.
She may have said that she was going to let her go, but first, she wanted to lay eyes on this dungeon that turned men into girls. Sure she could easily have gotten to the target area inside of a day, but that would have left her no time to enjoy the flight. Dismissing her thoughts she began to survey the forest beneath her, as she leisurely beat her wings at a slow pace.
