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Sample Collection Gren Drake, 2013

Aaron was leaning against one of the sparse trees that grew alongside the Aerial Corp facility. The grassy ground-cover continued for a couple of dozen feet in front of him before giving way to the side of the floating island. In the distance beyond he could see clouds drifting below what was, for him, ground level.

Behind him the sounds of daily life continued, a life he would be rejoining soon enough. For the moment he had snuck away between tasks, placing himself out of sight and thus less likely to be given more work to do.

It wasn't much of a surprise, though, when the mage's apprentice, Charles, interrupted his peaceful interlude.

"Hey! Here you are! Did you forget that you're supposed to help me get more samples from the wyverns today?"

"Forget? No, just trying to put things off." He stood, balancing for a moment with his hand against the tree. "Lead the way", he said with a sigh, "I imagine you know which one's providing today."

Charles snorted. "At least one of us does. Come on then."

Aaron followed the mage's apprentice who led him back inside the massive structure, through the twisting halls to the rows of "stalls" containing the wyverns that formed an important part of the country's military force and were key to their slowly approaching victory over the rather larger, but wyvern-less, armies of their enemies. The mages and breeders had been tasked with the job of improving them with the intent that every generation could be better than the last. And to that end, they needed samples. Endless supplies of samples.

He shook his head as he followed Charles; he'd been selected as an apprentice like everyone else, but fate had lead him down a different path when he'd shown a talent for the healing arts. Thus, while the riders and their various apprentices studied and practiced in preparation for battle, he merely studied the medical care of the wyverns critical to the nation's military success.

It took ten-ish minutes before they reached the stall containing the wyvern of the day. The sign hung by the human's entrance to the stall made it clear that this was the specimen in question and Aaron found himself looking over the creature as he entered the large stall.

The wyvern was curled up on the floor, the end of its snout tucked under one wing and its long tail curled around alongside its neck. Its hide was a splotchy stone grey that would have blended in quite well with some varieties of stone. Largely hidden was the belly that would be rising and falling with the creature's slow breath.

The collection apparatus had been stashed outside the door and Charles brought it in with him as he came inside. Once both the young men were inside the stall, Aaron carefully woke the wyvern up with a gentle touch and soft words. It was always a good idea to be careful; accidents did occur and the wyverns were valuable enough that it was almost always considered the human's fault.

It took a moment for the wyvern to wake up, blinking sleepily and glancing around. It largely ignored Aaron; most of them did. He was in and out of their stalls on a regular basis doing minor tasks and busywork for the master healer that they were almost as accustomed to his presence as that of their riders. The mage's apprentice garnered more attention, however. The majestic beast peered at him, then at the equipment in his hands.

It did not take long for the wyvern to stand up, balanced on hind-legs and wings, even spreading its legs slightly and raising its tail. The sample-taking had been going on long enough for all the wyverns to be entirely familiar with the process.

"Heh, looks like he's looking forward to it," Charles said with a chuckle.

"Ya, well, it's not like we're doing blood samples." Aaron watched as Charles crouched under the wyvern, preparing to put the equipment into place. Only those in the mage's division were allowed to handle the equipment; Aaron was there mostly to monitor the wyvern's health. And to provide the 'incentive'; he pulled a nose cover from his back pocket and carefully dribbled a few drops of liquid from a tightly sealed vial before briskly rubbing the material against itself to spread it around.

Even just holding this in his hand, he could already see the wyvern beginning to react, its vibrant red shaft appearing between its legs, pushing out from the folds of flesh that normally hid its penis between its legs.

The wyvern didn't seem to notice this, turning its head around to look at Aaron and sniffing at the nose cover in his hands. This gave Aaron the perfect opportunity to slip the cover into place, placing the scent spread on its inside practically against the wyvern's nostrils, and securing it in place with loops that went around the creature's horns. The material of the cover was quite thin, easy to breathe through, but every breath the wyvern took until it was removed would be drenched with pheromones from a female wyvern in heat, far more of them than it would ever have smelt at once naturally.

This caused the growth of its penis to skyrocket, the thick, long shaft becoming hard and fully exposed in only moments, the end already dripping precum and momentarily brushing against Charles' cheek as its hips bucked softly.

Charles paused to wipe his cheek clear of the pungent fluid before fastening the device he had over the animal's cock. A long strap went around the wyvern's tail to help keep it in place.

"Great," Charles said, backing up from under the beast. "Now I'm going to smell like rutting wyvern all day." He carried with him the small bottle attached to the device on the wyvern's shaft by a long tube, being careful that the tube never got kinked or twisted.

"Like anybody's going to care. Some of the riders smell like that all the time."

"I'm not a rider and I'd just as soon not be mistaken for one, especially for one of those that gets that close to their mount."

The claws on the wyvern's wings scratched against the stone floor of the stall, knocking some of the straw covering it around, as its hips bucked, both actions trying to get its shaft buried into a female that wasn't present. A sound, somewhere between a keening moan and a soft growl echoed out from the creature.

"At least it looks like one of us is enjoying themselves," Aaron said, gesturing at the wyvern. As far as anyone could tell, the wyverns seemed to enjoy giving samples. Not that anyone was surprised by this.

"Ha! Not like it has much of a choice with the way that thing's teasing it."

Aaron crouched down next to the animal, looking at the bottle temporarily connected to its cock. "You know, I have to wonder sometimes..."

"What?" Charles leaned against the wall, not really paying attention to the proceedings. In theory both of them were supposed to keep an eye on things until the process was finished, but after the first several dozen times watching it just got old.

"How does it feel? Do they really enjoy it as much as it looks like?"

Charles snorted, shaking his head. "Pervert. I'd tell you to give it a try, but I wouldn't want to have my master tell me off for 'misuse of equipment'. Besides, I don't think it'd fit."

"What, you think I'm undersized?"

The conversation paused as the wyvern let out a roar stifled by the straps holding the nose cover in place. Glancing up, Aaron could see its eyes were closed and its back was so arched its penis almost bumped against its belly; the hose on the end of the device definitely rubbed against the rough hide of its belly.

Through the clear material fastened over its penis he could see it unload its seed, the apparatus quickly draining this away into the bottle. The process didn't stop there, though; it continued teasing the wyvern, pushing it towards another climax.

Lucky beasts; unlike humans they could sometimes manage as many as four climaxes before they had to stop. No one was entirely sure why, though, since they never did naturally. Perhaps that had something to do with why they were so content to be milked of their seed.

"That's one," Charles said, gesturing towards the bottle. "I can't say whether you're undersized, I hardly go looking, but I rather doubt you're wyvern-sized either and the device can't adjust that far." His hand moved to point at the wyvern's long cock.

"Humph." It was impossible to argue the point; the wyvern's cock was closer to the size of Aaron's forearm than his own cock.

They watched in silence for a moment as the wyvern continued to writhe in apparent ecstasy before delivering a second load of seed.

"Two," Charles said. Aaron nodded.

There was, a bit latter, a third climax before the device decided it was done. Charles quickly disconnected it, stashing most of it back in the hallway and the partially filled bottle on a loop of his belt before leaving. Aaron removed the nose-cover and gave the wyvern a pat before leaving it to clean itself up as he followed Charles out. Once upon a time it would have been part of his job to do that as well, but it'd been found that wyverns were perfectly happy to take care of that particular bit of personal hygiene.

* * *

A week passed. More samples were taken, the wyvern riders practices their maneuvers and a small skirmish was fought a short distance away against a group of soldiers attempting to find and infiltrate the aerie. Not that they could have, though they didn't seem to realize it; the aerie was located entirely on one of the great floating islands.

Aaron spent his time doing his duties, learning from the master healer, and, when he could get away, lazing under a tree.

But it was while he was pulling some supply crates on a wheeled carry, that Charles accosted him again, pulling him out of the main corridor.

"What is it?" Aaron asked.

"Remember when you had mentioned wondering what it was like for the wyverns when we take samples?"

He admitted to having a vague recollection of this. It wasn't something he'd thought about since; not being a rider, his interactions with wyverns were limited and generally one-sided.

"Well, I've discovered a way you can find out. My master recently got in a number of alchemical potions, one of which can change the subject into a wyvern. We could-"

"Wait," Aaron interrupted him, tilting his head. "Why would he have a potion that transformed someone into a wyvern? I mean, I've heard that it was possible, but what would we need it for here? And won't he notice if you take it?"

"That's just the beauty," Aaron said. "They came in a crate without a shipping manifest; the individual bottles are labeled, but until he inventories them he doesn't know what the actual contents are. But if you want to do this thing, you aren't going to be able to wait for long; he's not going to let it sit unorganized indefinitely."

"You don't answer my first question." Aaron jabbed a finger at Charles' chest. "What possible use could he have for such a potion?"

Charles shrugged. "How should I know? I'm not a full mage yet and he certainly doesn't explain all his plans to a mere apprentice."

"Hmm." Aaron stared at Charles as he considered. His curiosity in the matter was much more limited than Charles' seemed to think, but it was an interesting and unusual opportunity.

"How would it work?" he said at last.

"Well, the potion lasts for twenty-four hours and takes effect almost immediately on consumption. I've heard that you've booked your rest days soon-"

"Wait, how did you hear that?" Aaron hadn't told anyone; he had planned to discretely disappear so he could spend the entire time lazing about without worrying about either getting co-opted for something or getting into anyone's way. The aerie wasn't large enough to have much room for people not actively working.

"The master healer was being all annoyed because he was going to lose your labour for a few days and have to do everything himself."

That seemed unlikely to Aaron; not only did he know full well than nearly everyone considered him eager to get out of any work he possibly could, but the master healer absolutely hated to delegate anything of importance. It was, so far as Aaron was concerned, a match made in heaven.

"Anyway," Charles continued, "You could just take one and relax in a slightly different fashion. I could even fake up the paperwork so everything goes smoothly."

"What, and people aren't going to notice that we've suddenly developed an extra beast?" There weren't many wyverns in the aerie and most of them were not male; the ready availability of food kept the males from getting too territorial, male wyverns still did not get along well.

"But that's the best part! A group of wyverns is being transported from district headquarters to the border regions. They'll be stopping here to rest. Since we don't have the stalls to hold them they'll just be staying in the forest." Odd as it sounded there really was a small forest on the floating island. Aaron had taken a walk through it once; until you started getting close to the edge of the island it looked no different than one on the ground. "As long as the paperwork looks right, no one is going to bother going out to actually check if a wyvern is from their group and it wouldn't be especially unusual if my master asked for a sample while they were here."

"Well," Aaron said, his voice dropping off. He looked down at the crate he'd been transporting; it really needed to get where it was going before he delayed enough that he'd be berated for being late again.

Charles put an arm around Aaron's shoulder. "Come on, I dare you. You'll enjoy it; I know you like taking it easy and this way no one is going to disturb you. What do you say?"

Aaron thought about the wyverns, about how they were so large, so powerful. Without human interference they would have been the dominate species in the region. And he thought of how comfortable they always looked, curled up while they napped. They spent a lot of time napping, even wild wyverns. He'd heard it was because they were very effective hunters.

"Well," he dragged the word out. "I suppose so."

"Glad to hear it!" Charles clapped him on the back and gave him a large smile. "I'll get all the details together and let you know once I have. You aren't going to regret this!" Once he finished speaking, Charles disappeared back into the building.

Aaron shook his head. Had he really agreed to this thing? Well, even if Charles was being honest about everything, and it seemed impossible that everything he'd said could be true, Aaron could always change his mind. In the meantime, his chores still needed doing. He resumed hauling the crate to its final destination.

* * *

It was just after dinner on the day before Aaron had scheduled his leave. Charles had not spoken to him about the transformation thing and Aaron hoped that it had been forgotten. If Charles didn't bring it up soon it would be too late; Aaron planned to make himself scarce for his leave. Admittedly, he wasn't exactly going to be able to leave the floating island - transports and wyverns weren't available for such supposedly minor tasks while the war effort was on - but he was going to hide himself away out of everyone's sight. Out of the master healer's sight especially; he had damaged some of the equipment during his lessons and the healer was less than enthused with him. Sometime would allow it to blow over.

But then, just as he was finishing his meal Charles tapped him on the shoulder.

"Ten minutes, the spare stall." Then he was gone again.

Despite the name, the 'spare' stall wasn't really spare; it was a larger stall used when wyvern handling was being demonstrated, particularly things like saddling which were done on the ground. It was also used for any planned breeding or for 'guest' wyverns. If a rider stopped for the night that was where their wyvern would be stabled.

And he must have been more interested in offer than he'd thought because he arrived at the stall even before Charles did. While waiting for the apprentice mage he leaned against the wall, trying to look nonchalant. There wasn't anything scheduled to use the room for a few days, but that didn't mean that nobody would look in. The last thing he wanted was something to think he was trying to sneak out of his chores, especially since he actually didn't have any for once.

Finally Charles arrived. He looked around in a fashion that even Aaron found obvious before slipping into the stall, but fortunately it seemed that no one noticed. Or at least that no one cared.

"I've got it," he said, holding up a small vial. It was smaller than Aaron had expected, not much larger than a single finger. Given how thick the glass would have to be, there couldn't be more than a quick swallow of liquid inside.

When Aaron went to take the vial, though, Charles held it back.

"Strip first," the apprentice mage told him.

"What? What game are you playing at?"

"Nothing! But while the potion will change your body, it can do nothing for your clothing."

It only took a moment of imagining his body expanding, trapped within the confines of human clothes, for him to make his decision.

"Oh all right." He started stripping, handing each piece over to Charles as it was removed until he finally stood naked and rather awkward feeling. At last he was given the vial and he rolled it in his hand as he tried to build his courage.

"Hurry up," Charles hissed. "I'd rather not get caught with that."

Aaron gripped the bottle, taking the cap in his fingers. For a moment he hesitated, wanted to tell Charles to put it back.

Then he twisted. The lid came off and fell to the floor where Charles quickly retrieved it and dumped it in a pocket.

He brought the vial up to his lips, holding it there. A faint odour like wyvern musk drifted up to his nostrils, but was not strong at all.

"Come on!" Charles urged him on. "Do it."

He closed his eyes, feeling the edge of the vial against his lip.

"What are you waiting for?"

"It's not easy to deliberately set aside my species, even temporarily. This is a big thing." Then, before he could lose more nerve, he tipped the vial up, the liquid sliding between his lips. It pooled in his mouth, strong and bitter.

Before he could ask how long it would be before it took effect he felt his body wracked by a powerful pain. He fell to his knees, clutching at his chest. The vial fell from his fingers, but Charles grabbed it before it had a chance to shatter on the stone floor and dropped it into his pocket with the lid.

When next Aaron looked up Charles was gone; he was alone in the stall. Not that he had much of a chance to appreciate the difference; he was still wracked by pain and now it felt as though his body were tearing itself apart.

He suppressed a scream; he did not want to be found naked and deformed in the stall. It would be the end of his admittedly not spectacular career as a healer's apprentice. Given the monstrous way his limbs were twisting as the changed he thought he'd be lucky to get tossed off the edge if discovered partially changed.

It didn't take long before his legs stopped supporting him at all and he collapsed to the cold ground, writhing and clawing at himself. For every place that the pain died down, there was another that it flared up.

Worst was when it started on his head; he could feel his skull being twisted, his senses screaming at him. Strange urges started drilling their way into his brain. The smell of wyvern, never far in the aerie, grew stronger, more pungent, until he thought it was no wonder they didn't like to be in large groups; he couldn't see how they could stand it at all. Stranger was that the scents separated, becoming distinct individuals. Even without seeing the animals in question he began to learn about them. Strongest of all, their sex stood out like a bonfire, impossible to miss, and he knew without even thinking about it that none of the females in the aerie were in heat. He was glad; he had enough to deal with for the moment.

Then slowly, the pain began to fade, though the absence of such strong, if unpleasant, sensation was almost painful in and of itself. Even as he felt himself slump bonelessly to the floor, he could feel the changes in his body. Everything felt right, as if he had been meant to be this way.

But more than that, the world itself seemed changed, different from before. Better, though he couldn't understand what the difference was and, intellectually at least, he knew he was the only thing that had changed.

The final pains faded away; he discovered he was sprawled in an undignified position on the floor, but the passage of so much pain through him had left him strangely relaxed in its absence.

Outside he could see that the evening had progressed to being quite late. Since his belly still felt full, despite his dinner not being remotely enough to feed a creature the size he now was, he allowed himself to drift into sleep, awkward position and all.

* * *

Only once during the night did Aaron wake up and even then he woke up only long enough to shift position, tucking his newfound snout under his wing and curling his long tail around his body.

When he did finally wake up it was to the sound of rain pounding against the ground outside and a chill breeze blowing in through the open door of the stall. He raised his head, blinking, as he considered that the breeze seemed to be affecting him far less than he would have expected.

Outside the window he could see the distant sunrise despite the heavy clouds and heavy rain, though certainly the weather did diminish the spectacle of it to a large degree.

What had become quite chilled was the concrete floor of the stall; chosen for its ability to be relatively easy to clean, the concrete was normally covered in stalls that were actually in use. His 'arrival' had been more than a little unofficial, however, so the apprentice riders hadn't gotten the word to spread the straw over it. And between the poor weather and the normal nighttime chill, the floor had become quite chilly. Not that there was anything he could do about it now.

He stared out the doorway at the slow and partially obscured sunrise, watching the vague glow in the clouds that was probably the sun move slowly up the sky. As he did he did his best not to move; any spot he was already resting on warmed up and didn't leach quite so much body heat from him.

After some time of this he heard voices approaching and before long a pair of rider's apprentices, identifiable by the crude riding leathers they wore and the fact that he didn't recognize them at all, came in from outside.

"Hey," one said. He was both taller and thicker than his companion and his breadth was not muscle. The athletic properties of wyvern-riding were often overstated. "Did you know they were having a wyvern in here?"

"No; I thought it was supposed to be empty." She frowned, glancing at Aaron. He did his best to look nonchalant. Unlike the taller apprentice, she was female and he was shocked to realize that he could smell that she was ovulating. It was not something he wanted to know.

"Look, no one's spread out the straw," said the male apprentice. "We may not have known about its arrival, but someone most have." He smirked at his companion. "Looks like someone's going to get in trouble."

"Not me!" As they spoke they walked through his stall towards the small human-sized door in the back. Water dripped off them from the rain outside, but they didn't seem to notice; not only were riding leathers waterproof, but anyone bothered by the rain was probably not a good choice to become a wyvern rider.

"I was helping George repair saddles last night when this wyvern must have arrived," she continued.

"Sure you were," the male replied. They passed through the doorway at the back, pausing just on the other side. Aaron could still hear them.

"Look at the chart," the male said. "It did arrive last night. It's here for sample collection. Better go tell the master before it gets forgotten. The mage would be so irate then."

Aaron bristled a bit hearing himself referred to as an it, but forced himself not to react visibly; he routinely referred to the wyverns that way so he was hardly in a position to complain! At the same time he was glad to hear Charles was as good as his word and had the forged paperwork in place. He wondered when the sample-taking would occur.

Time passed. He did his best to relax and enjoy watching the rain from the shelter of his stall. Doing nothing, it turned out, was a lot more appealing when it was optional.

Another apprentice rider appeared, grumbling under his breath, and scattering some of the straw from bales stacked at the side of the room over the floor without really paying attention to what he was doing. Then he left, ignoring Aaron save for prodding him to move when he wanted to scatter straw were the new-found wyvern was laying. The straw wasn't really enough, but it did help some with the chill.

Then it was back to waiting; 'relaxing' didn't describe it any more as he worried about whether anyone would remember to take the sample before evening when he would turn back into a human, and about whether he and Charles would get caught somehow, and a million other concerns. The situation certainly gave him time to think.

A bit latter the apprentice that had spread the straw returned, dumping a bucket that looked like it was filled with unidentifiable meat chunks into the trough at the side of the room. Wyverns were typically feed twice a day when not on maneuvers and Aaron suspected the afternoon meal would not look any more appealing than this one did.

With a long sigh he turned his attention to it. His human mind rebelled at the idea of eating the raw chunks of meat, but even as the smell was revolting his mind, his stomach rumbled with hunger. He closed his eyes and forced himself to eat; getting stuck being examined by the healer because he refused to eat would not help the plan.

Although he ate with reluctance at first he was surprised to find that this rapidly turned into eagerness, the taste of the meal excited his body nearly as much as the smell of it had. Before long he had finished everything and was licking his long lips clean.

Then it was settling down to wait once again.

* * *

Midday came and went; the sun, never especially visible behind the cloud cover, passed beyond where its glow was visible through the door of the stall. Aaron passed in and out of drowsing, his mind wandering as he stared into the unceasing rain.

Then, eventually, he heard the sounds of someone coming into the stall once again and an unfamiliar scent followed them. Though he didn't recognize it, he could feel his body react, waking up entirely, becoming alert. He turned to look at his visitors.

Charles had entered carrying the sample-taking apparatus, followed by a rider's apprentice who was clearly filling in for Aaron while he was "away". The rider's apprentice went and sat on a bundle of straw in the corner, leaned back and, to all appearances, went to sleep. Aaron was surprised to realize that even from several feet away he could hear the apprentice's soft breathing smooth out into the rhythms of sleep.

"Are you ready?" Charles asked. Aaron watched him but didn't reply; although talking to the wyverns was accepted as long as one didn't do it too much, having the animals reply in much of any fashion would have been rather less acceptable. The apprentice mage set the equipment to the side and pulled out the familiar nose cover and giving it a small dose of bottle essence of wyvern pheromones.

"I have to do this myself when y-, the apprentice healer isn't here," he continued. "The apprentice is here for the form of the thing, but you can see how helpful they are."

Aaron was paying less and less attention to Charles' words, his body already eagerly reacting to the scent on the mask. His nostrils flared, taking it in, and he felt a stirring in his loins as his wyvern cock began to show itself.

"Hope you enjoy yourself." Charles slipped the cover on over Aaron's snout, the motion a bit awkward since he lacked the practice Aaron did. As the pheromone impregnated cloth slipped over his nostrils the world seemed to disappear around him and his thoughts focused on only one thing with an absolute crystal clarity.

There was a female somewhere, one in a strong, desperate, needy heat. He was looking around, trying to find her when he felt hands against his partially exposed shaft. He looked down; Charles was there and he could feel the smooth chill of the fixture as it was slipped over his cock. Not that the chill did anything to cool his ardour; there was nothing that could do that.

His head jerked, rearing up, as he felt a smooth, continuous stroke run down along his shaft. A mewling sound escaped his throat, muffled by the nose cover, and his hips bucked slightly. His eyes drifted closed and he flexed his jaw, distantly and vaguely annoyed that the cover over the end of his snout held it close.

The smooth surface surrounding his rapidly growing shaft seemed to transform, becoming soft and moist, welcoming to his shaft. He bucked his hips, trying desperately to get more of his length into the female that was clearly, against all other observation, beneath him.

The sensations grew, becoming more bold. He could feel his shaft pass into the female's warm embrace again and again as he thrust and if the feel of those thrusts didn't line up with the actual motion of his hips he neither noticed nor cared. It was teasing, it was eager, and it was like nothing he'd ever experienced before.

The images, the vaguely remembered scents, of the female wyverns at the outpost returned to him and he pictured each in turn beneath him, eagerly taking his shaft. His tail curled around, trying to caress their bellies with its tip, only to brush against his own, and his forelimbs failed entirely to find a pair of wyvernic hips to grasp. The pheromones drilling into his brain didn't allow any of this to slow him down, however, and he only tried to bury himself into his phantom lover harder, more vigorously. He could feel himself already approaching his climax.

Then he felt himself burst through, a wave of pleasure riding through his body. He hung limp for a moment, relaxing in the afterglow. There was a human voice speaking somewhere but he paid it no mind, distracted entirely by the feel of his seed being unloaded into the mysterious female beneath him.

But even as this continued, the scent of her heat remained in his nostrils continuing to fill them with it and as strong as ever. The warm embrace around his shaft made no attempt to move. After a moment his hips began to thrust once more, starting the whole process over again, only this time he was more sensitive and the sensations slamming through his body were stronger. Despite this, it took longer for him to reach his climax, once again spilling his seed.

But still nothing relented. His mind, trapped within a cage of sexuality, could think of nothing but filling the female below him again and again until she was finally full, finally satisfied. The only thing he could feel was the touch, now almost excruciating, against his shaft. The only smell was that of desperate sexual need. His eyes were closed tighter than ever, his focus entirely on the task at hand, at satisfying the female below him.

He barely even noticed his next climax, being propelled into ever greater sensations, and from there everything became a blur, impossible to tell apart.

* * *

Water splashed against his muzzle and he snorted it clear of his nostrils, incidentally partially clearing the heat scent from them as well. He was collapsed on the ground, despite having no memory of how he had gotten there. He could feel his cock, still hard, still pulsing into what he could now see and feel was a glass tube.

He blinked, looking around. The apprentice rider was still dozing, now stretched on his back across the bundle of straw, and Charles was leaning against the stone wall of the stall, watching him. Aaron turned his gaze to Charles.

"Impressive," Charles said. "I've never seen any wyvern give quite that large of a sample before." He held up the bottle, still connected to the tube around Aaron's shaft. It was almost entirely full. "I think we even could have continued if I had a larger bottle, though I'm already concerned that we might have overdone it. I'd hate to think that you've been damaged by all this."

The apprentice mage crouched down next to Aaron and reached between his legs, pulling the tube off his cock. Some seed was still leaking out, though hardly in the pulses it had been before.

Taking a couple of quick steps back, Charles unhooked the bottle from the rest of the device and hung it on his belt.

"Hey! Would-be! Time to go!"

The apprentice rider rolled off of the straw and onto his feet. At least half the prospective riders ended up failing their apprenticeship, though rarely fatally, but this one reacted fast enough that he seemed likely to succeed.

Aaron found himself thinking that he would be proud to serve under someone as capable as the apprentice rider and shook his head to clear it; clearly being a wyvern was starting to get to him. He wouldn't be serving under anyone except his superiors in the healer's corps.

He closed his eyes, trying to pretend he was alone until they left so that he wouldn't experience any more disturbing thoughts. Thus, he almost missed Charles parting words.

"I'll be back in a few hours to finish this up!"

Then silence. Aaron was alone in the stall. Cautiously, he opened one eye and cast it around. He saw no one, neither human nor wyvern. He set his head down on the sparse straw around the stall. Despite everything being finished, he could still feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest and could remember the smell of the heat-scent. To his surprise this caused a stirring between his legs, albeit a slow, reluctant one.

He glanced back; his cock was indeed becoming hard again. It seemed that as a wyvern he had nearly endless endurance. Not having examined a wyvern's cock in detail and thinking that he would never have a better chance, though also that his mind was still muddled and groggy, he peered at the shaft, squinting slightly. It was the first time he'd looked at something closely since being transformed and he was surprised to really to realize that he was having trouble focusing on his cock. Even with his head over a foot away it remained stubbornly out of focus. Not sufficiently out of focus for him to fail to notice the hard looking ridges or the row of spines along its underside. And certainly no degree of blurry vision would do anything to the strong, musky smell that clung to it.

Something between curiosity and instinct propelled him to push his head in closer, breathing his own heady musk, and to lick the sticky remains of his semen from his shaft. The sensation was nearly excruciating, but this didn't stop his shaft from bobbing in eagerness.

He found himself spending a moment licking his own seed from his thighs and loins and even his over-sensitive cock. It gave a final, small, weak spurt as he nearly finished, prolonging the experience, but soon enough his loins were free once more of any sign of sex.

He flopped onto his side, staring at the continuing rain once more. The taste and smell of himself was still strong, but he found he didn't really mind and even licked his lips slightly. Once again, he drowsed, drifting in and out of a restful, satisfied sleep with fragmented dreams featuring wyverns far more than humans.

* * *

Aaron's dozing was interrupted by an apprentice coming in to quickly dump some more bits of meat in for his dinner. He ate quickly, eagerly, not even realizing what he was doing until after he was finished. Less than a day, it seemed, and already he was adapting well.

Time continued to pass; when he heard and smelt the dinner for the outpost being eaten he began to get excited; it wouldn't be long until he returned to being human. There was a strange ambivalence to the idea, though, as though returning to his former species might not be a good idea. He did his best to shake off the thought, not an easy task with nothing handy to distract himself with.

Finally, Charles entered the spare stall once again. To Aaron's shock, the apprentice mage was followed by his master, the full mage that took care of the magical affairs of the outpost. He looked far older than one might expect for such a lowly post which had always suggested to Aaron that he was perhaps limited in his ability. Not that he understood enough about magic to know how these things actually worked.

"Well Aaron," Charles clapped him on the shoulder, the human hand small in comparison to the shoulder. "Ready to return? I've brought your clothes with me." He gestured to a pack slung over his shoulder.

Aaron nodded.

"Good, we'll just wait for the transformation to wear off then." Both Charles and his master leaned against the wall of the stall, watching him. It made him feel surprisingly self-conscious and he had to resist looking at himself to see what they apparently found so interesting.

Then, pain. Pain shot through his body which contorted, seemingly tearing itself apart. There were cracking sound accompanied by sharp lances of pain digging deep into him. He writhed on the ground, whimpering, at least until the master mage stepped forward, set a hand on him and spoke a word. After that he found himself silenced and suffered in silence.

After what seemed like far too long he realized there was no more pain. Bits of straw were poking into sensitive, exposed skin. He was human.

Charles passed him the pack with his clothes and he quickly got dressed.

"So, how do you feel?" The master mage asked as Aaron finished putting on his shirt.

Aaron stared at him for a moment. "Sore. Achy. The transformation process is not especially pleasant."

"I cannot say I am surprised. What I was actually referring to was how you felt emotionally? Glad to be human again? Any lingering thoughts."

Like he would tell the master mage. "What are you doing here, anyway?" he asked instead. "How did you find out?"

The mage laughed. "I've always known. It was my idea; the Mage's Council has long had ideas how to improve and increase our stock of wyverns, but after the Aerial Corps. found out about the result of our initial experiments we were forbidden to continue them. Pah! Like one can expect initial trials to go without a hitch."

"Initial trials?" Aaron looked to Charles who was in turn looking at his master. "What did you know of this?"

"Nothing!" Charles protested. "I'd happened to mention your comments to my master and he suggested you might enjoy the experience or that it might at least give you a stronger bond with the wyverns."

Not that a stronger bond would have taken much; while most apprentice wyvern riders joined for a love of the beasts and apprentice mages for a love of magic, he had joined the Aerial Corps. because the healers were discouraged from engaging in combat. And if they ended up on a battlefield, they were far less likely to be killed there.

"Well, I admit I have a new outlook on them," Aaron said, his attention back on the mage. "But what is this about the initial trials?"

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about. Our original subjects, volunteers I assure you, were altered a bit more thoroughly than we'd anticipated and the restoration did not work entirely as planned."

"Didn't work how?"

"It was decided that it would be more merciful to, ah, restore them to being wyverns. I believe that they are still the sires and dams of some of our best and brightest wyverns, not to mention the longest lived. Wyverns of former-human stock live so much longer than their natural cousins. But enough of that, tell me, how well do you remember your experience? How clear were your thoughts? Were you, ah, yourself?"

"Perfectly well," Aaron told him. "It just felt like I'd changed forms, although I'll admit I seemed to adapt quicker than I'd expected. What should it have been like?"

"Oh, just that, just that. Definitely an improvement on the last formula. Tell me - Aaron, was it? - if the opportunity were available again, would you be interested in trying this again?"

"Well... Wait, didn't you say you were forbidden to continue experiments? Aren't you worried I'll say something or let something slip."

"Not at all," the mage grinned. "You're both going to be under a geas to prevent you from talking about this with anyone else before we leave here. But you didn't answer my question. While the sample we collected will be invaluable, especially if you can pass on your retained human traits as those in the initial trial did, there is only a limited amount. We will be needing more and I'd rather not bring anyone new in if I can avoid it."

"Well," Aaron said again. "I shall have to think about it. I'm hardly sure what to think as it is."

The mage nodded. "Understandable. A change of species, even a temporary one, is not something to be easily dismissed. I shall ask you again at such time as the opportunity arises again. Now step forward so I can lay the geas on you."

The spell for the geas, though longer than the one that had silenced him while he was transforming, did not take long for the mage to perform. And since he still felt entirely full from the meal he'd eaten as a wyvern, even if thinking about it unsettled his stomach more now, he simply retreated to bed afterwards.

It had been a most unusual day, but tomorrow it would be back to business as usual. Hopefully he would be able to decide how he felt about the experience some day.

---

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