Them.  I can't be sure, but there is nothing more unnatural than certainty.  It's a headache-inducing concept.

My current body is running out of time.  It's time to shift.  My mate, the king, is one option.  He is within reach and switching with him would be slightly less painful than creating a new one.  Still, such a death would be too mundane for a fellow like him.  He should become something more... useful.

And thus, I turn my attention inward and begin fashioning a new container for myself, or more accurately, my nervous system.  

One leap.

My vision is clear:  A body of much denser composition than the normal, carbon-based form.  

Since I never studied this extensively, it won't last long, an hour perhaps.  That should be enough to incapacitate this duke fellow. 

Carefully, I envision my brain.  Inhabiting anything but an ordinary human body is always different.

Then I call the if into being.

'Olancolo iguinia...'

|♩♩ ♫ |♩ ♫♩|

A strange melody rips my conscience apart.  For the briefest of moments, I lose myself in the dance of...

I open my eyes to find a sea of grotesque flowers.  

Red and black, they look like a mix of venus fly traps and orchids... Yet their height is uncommon to both those species.  They are about five feet or one and a half meters tall.

The king is struggling to free his leg from one vicious red flowers embrace, while the duke is fending off several flowers with a sword.

Where did that sword come from?

I look around.  The office is almost unrecognizable:  All furniture seems to have evaporated.  The previously wood-paneled walls are now overgrown with a strange black moss.

Stranger things have happened.  I walk towards the duke.  Usually, my creations don't bother me.

'Huarrr vey shemo je ya hong...'

|𝅝|𝅘𝅥 𝅗𝅥 ♫|𝅘𝅥 𝅗𝅥. |

While another mysterious melody assaults my senses, I start running.  A good fight would be very helpful now.

Finally, I reach the duke.  The flowers immediately stop attacking him.

"Who changed you?" 

"..." 

He stares at me but does not reply. 

I clench my fist and lunge at him.

Since I'm not fully accustomed to this body yet, my attack is to slow.  He easily moves his head out of the way

Taking a step forward and turning his body, he catches my right in his left, trying to crush it. 

Had I been an ordinary being, he would have succeeded, but I'm not.

"The hell!?" he shouts in disbelief.

I use his confusion to knee him in the stomach.  He lets go of my fist and stumbles a few steps back.

"They said only that one could..." 

Must be Jerry then.  He's the one who first figured out that we could change into something other than human.  Just like the kid who bled gems, he got stuck in a lab 24/7.

If he's still alive, should I free him? 

Duke Kaos keeps his distance, searching the ground.  He's probably looking for the sword he dropped while fighting the flowers.  Speaking of which... 

I pluck one of the black flowers growing to my right.  In my hand, it's black stem hardens even further.

'Mien xuixai si...'

|𝅗𝅥. ♫|

The music guides my feet as I effortless swing my club(?). 

The duke has yet to reacquire his sword and can only use his arms to protect himself.

He blocks my first swing, but my second swing hits him in his right side.  He coughs.

My club is denser than his "flesh".

Strike after strike, I wear him down, targeting his vitals as I circle around him.

Eventually, I hit the hollow of his left knee as I strike him from behind, and he buckles under the force of the impact.

"Thump!"

His knees hit the black grass that's covering the floor.

From the fight, I was able to determine that whoever changed his body did not change the location of his brain.

As he struggles to get back up, I quickly touch the back of his neck.  He immediately grabs my hand, but it's too late.

I disrupted his spinal cord.  

He spasms and I free my hand.  I will need to fix this soon, lest he should die. 

Before I restore his spinal cord, I take the time to cut the nerves connecting to his arms and legs.  

Now, having restored his spinal cord and thereby his respiratory function, he won't die.  So, I turn around to look for my mate.

King Luis is lying in a pool of his own blood, the flowers around him busy digesting his flesh they ripped out. 

"Thank you for guiding me to the duke."

"..."

"It's a pity, you are useless now." 

"Gurgle..." he vomits some blood. 

"Don't worry, mate.  I will help you become useful again."

His eyes are filled with a strange emotion.  I've seen it a few times, but I'm still not sure what it is.  Maybe I should visit the library next and read a few more stories.  They are a great source of information when it comes to human emotions and their expression. 

"Since you are my mate, I can't change you into just any old tree. 

"You should be something special.

"Considering that you spent your efforts bringing people together and forming an organization, I think you should continue doing something similar..." 

The duke is shouting something, but I ignore him.  

The melody is growing louder and louder.  

Now is the best time to make a controlled shift.  If I don't, my mind will float away like earlier.  Flowers are nice, but what comes next might not be.

"Bringing people together... How about a beautiful bridge?"