Fury awoke with a start, eyes wide, and whipped his head around. The room was… wrong. It was slanted, and the bed he laid upon was altered to work with the slant. He stood, making a passing note of the changes to his body, while looking around once more. Around him, all but two beds were filled with his siblings, with Desire and Idle being the two that were missing.

He felt something wet on his forehead and placed his hand there, finding a wet, warm towelette there. He took it, placed it on his makeshift bed, and dressed himself in his robe-armor. Leaving the room, he soon recognized the hallway as the main hallway of the Kharon. As he walked, he wondered why the skiff was slanted so severely. He could ponder all he wanted, but the only way to get an answer was to find the mistress herself and ask. 

As he thought so, he reached the dining hall only to find Mae, Ally, and Tisi all sitting around a table and playing a card game. Just where in the world they found cards was beyond him, but that was beside the point, “Hey you three,” he said, “What, uh, happened? The skiff is tilted and everything is thrown about. Not to mention the fact that I haven’t seen any other of the mistress’ undead for a while.”

The three glanced up from their game for a moment before resuming. Before Fury could become annoyed with them, Ally slammed her hand of cards down on the table and grinned madly, “Royal flush! Ha! You thought I was bluffing, didn’t you?” she laughed while Mae and Tisi groaned and stayed silent respectively. With the hand finished, Ally turned to Fury, “What were you asking? Was it about what happened?”

Fury nodded, annoyance growing, “Yes, that. What happened while we were asleep? Also, where’s the Mistress?” he asked.

“Oh, well the story’s a bit long. Do you want the short or long version?” Ally asked.

Fury thought for a moment, “Short.”

Ally nodded, handing her hand of cards over to Tisi to shuffle, “Alright, so basically, after you and the other dragons passed out, the mistress’ pet project finally reached a point where they could send it into the desert and see how it did. It, apparently, did very well. So well, in fact, that he brought some Clockwork lady who the Hive wants dead-- it’s complicated-- and the thing sent this big flying fortress after us. We ran and ended up falling into the home of a little group of dwarves. Then the mistress met with the gods and-”

“Alright, I know that part. We’re leaving once we take care of the Hive and we don’t have the system any more. I got that much. Now, what in the gods’ names are you going on about us finding a bunch of dwarves?” Fury asked.

Ally sighed, much to Fury’s annoyance, “Exactly what I said. Go on outside and you’ll see it,” she answered, turning back to the game as Tisi dealt her a hand, “Or you could play a round of poker?” she offered, gesturing to the chair.

Fury shook his head with a sigh. Walking up the stairs to the top deck he was annoyed with Ally’s false answers, but that changed as soon as he caught sight of the massive cavern he found himself in, as well as the watchtower in the center of it all. The walls were so far away that it should have been impossible. And yet, it was there in front of his eyes. He shook his head and scanned the area for the mistress, finding her near the base of the watchtower. Around her were his two missing siblings, Eva, a couple of zombies milling about, a big ball of black mana, and an unfamiliar woman who fit the description the three sisters gave him.

He flexed his wings, becoming annoyed when his second and third pairs got caught on his clothes. With a sigh, he propelled himself up and over the side of the skiff, floating to the ground nearby the mistress with a smallest bit of effort. He smiled to himself, thrilled with his new power. Or the power granted to him by the dragon. Either way, it was his and he would use it to serve the mistress to his best ability.

He touched down beside Idle as she sat upon the ground, completely still, in her human form, a tall, muscular young woman with a white pony tail, dark skin, and amethyst eyes. He waited for her to initiate some sort of conversation, but she said nothing. Fury did the same; she was more often than not happier on her own.

Before long, Desire caught sight of Fury, in her human form as well, and gave him a tired sigh, “Fury, why aren’t you in your human form?” she asked, Eva hanging off of her arm, “Can’t you live a little?”

Fury rolled his eyes, annoyance growing once more, “First of all, I don’t have a human form. I have a compacted version of me form,” he began, “I don’t need to be human. That whole business is about subtlety and that was never my strong suit.”

Eva laughed while Desire rolled her eyes, “He’s got a point there. He’s about as subtle as a baseball bat to the face,” she agreed, smiling and laughing.

“While I don’t know what a ‘baseball bat’ is, I won’t argue with that,” Fury conceded, “But the second reason why I don’t have a human form is because… well, they’re far too squishy for my liking.”

Desire pouted, stepping forward and poking him in the snout, “And what’s wrong with being squishy? It’s nice,” she remarked, smiling as Eva hugged her.

“Because, the things I enjoy most are fighting and hitting. Squishy doesn’t fit anywhere in there unless I want to be a ball of blubber that can’t get crushed,” he replied.

Desire pouted again, “Fine, but at least show us what you decided to become. I’m dying to know,” she said excitedly. Fury nodded and acquiesced. A bright light overcame him and he changed his form. The form he decided to become for his smaller form was, to him, simple. He shrank his size, condensed his muscles, and covered himself in a thick layer of scales. Apart from those changes, he was almost entirely human. Two arms, two legs, one head, monkey face, two eyes, one mouth, internal organs, and everything else. He did not have hair, but he would have rather had scales anyway.

Fury caught his robe-armor as it fell from his previous height and put it on, “So, what do you think?” he asked, “Pretty good, I think.”

Desire looked him up and down, then rolled her eyes, “Alright, fine. That’s pretty much a human with scales, so whatever,” she said, “But couldn’t you at least choose a more… covert color for your scales? Red is just… flashy.”

“When we’re covered in the blood of something or other, I’ll ask you whether the fact that you’re harder to see in a forest is worth having your body stained red,” he replied, shaking his head. Some people did not understand him. Hopefully the mistress was different.

As he thought about the mistress, he saw a bright flash from where the mistress kneeled on the ground, obviously focusing. In an instant, the corpse the mistress was raising disappeared and a ray of light shot towards the few rays of light filtering through the broken ceiling near the skiff.

The mistress stood, dusting her very different armor off, and turned to ‘VII,’ “Well, that worked, didn’t it?” she asked, helmet grinning, “Now all we need to do is find a flashlight or lantern and he can hang out in there.” She paused and turned to Fury, “Ah! Fury! Look at you! You definitely didn’t skimp out on your human form! Well, I guess scaled human form, but same thing. Come here so I can give you a hug,” she said, reaching him in a single step and wrapping him up in a crushing hug. Not even his compressed muscles helped him when the mistress gripped him tight. She pulled away in an instant and looked at him as he tried to recover, “What happened? Why are you so… like that?”

“Mori,” VII laughed from the side, “Archliches are very strong. You hugged him with every bit of strength you had. He’s probably not doing so good.”

The mistress recoiled slightly from surprise and rushed over to Fury, “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. Are you alright? I can do my best to make it better, but I’m not Jel, so I can’t just heal you.”

Fury shook himself a bit and nodded, “I’m fine,” he half-lied, not wanting to worry the mistress. He felt one of his wings crack a bit, but it was not broken at least, “Is there anything you need us to do, mistress?” he asked, bowing his head a bit to acknowledge her as his mistress. She was also a sort of mother to him, but that could come when there was little to do.

Desire and even Idle stood and sat straighter when he asked that, turning a bit to hear the mistress’ answer. The mistress herself hummed for a moment before shrugging, “I do, but it’s something you should always be doing. Basically, increase your power, get better at wielding it, and have some fun in between. Alright? Desire already told me what her core did, as did Idle, so what does yours do, Fury?” she asked.

“Well, it’s my namesake, mistress. Anger and annoyance is my power,” he answered in an instant, “What about you, Desire, Idle?”

“All of ours are about our namesakes, Fury. I become more powerful when I fulfill my and others’ desires. Hers is to stay still or something,” she said, motioning to Idle, “So, what’re you going to do? We’re kind of stuck in here until we can take out the cyst.”

Fury thought for a moment, “I’ll probably just practice. It’s not like I’m aiming to become a mage or anything, after all, so that’s my best idea.”

The mistress smiled from her spot beside the bubble of black mana, “Alright, I trust that you guys can do good for yourselves. I’m doing my own work, so I’ll be around. Don’t be afraid to come to me if you need help, alright?” They all nodded, “Good. Alright, I’ll be back,” she said as she disappeared into the tower with VII following her.

Fury watched as the mistress disappeared, Desire went back to Eva, and Idle sat on the ground. He shrugged, stepping away and getting into his most natural stance. He punched forward with a snap, then kicked to the side and transitioned it into an axe kick. He used the momentum of his kick to leap upwards and flew around in the air, ducking and weaving better than he ever could before. As he landed on the ground, he smiled. He could work with his new body.