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Veiled Promise

By CodyFox

Idea and Commissioned by Darquirrin

Chapter 1 - Part 2

Darian pulled his body out from the water as he finished his last practice lap, water splashing and dripping off from his slick young form. Quinn was sitting at the edge of the pool next to him and watched his friend pull out, smiling warmly. "Hehe... you are just like an otter in there, Darian. I think that was your fastest lap!"

Wendel, who was standing just out of splash range, checked his stopwatch and nodded in agreement, smiling. "It was! Great job, I think you're both ready for tomorrow!"

Darian and Quinn smiled at each other and high fived. "Yea! I bet we can even set the school record tomorrow," Darian said while beaming proudly.

"Hah, one step at a time boys. First, we just need to win, as a team" the coach said as he walked over from the bench. "Speaking of team... where the heck is Baxter? Neil, have you seen him?" he shouted at the other eighth grader, who was toweling off next to the drinking fountain.

"Nope. Maybe he cramped up or something..." Neil said with a chuckle.

Coach Franklin grumbled softly, putting his hands on his hips. "That kid... he better have had a real emergency this time. I would hate to try and replace him, but I am getting tired of his antics."

Quinn and Darian sat next to each other at the edge of the pool, playing their feet through the water while looking up at the coach and waiting for him to send them home. Wendel too, stood in wait, holding his clip-board and jotting down a few final times on the progress sheet. "All done, coach?" He asked.

"Sure... I'll catch up with Baxter later. Boys, make sure you have pasta tonight, and don't do anything stupid between now and the meet. I don't want any last second injuries."

"Yes Coach," they all said at once.

Darian and Quinn walked back to the locker room together, with Wendel just behind them. "I can't wait until tomorrow," Quinn said, smiling broadly. "After we win the trophy, I bet everyone in class will think we are so cool, right Darian?" He poked his friend in the side, and Darian laughed a bit.

"Yea, yea... we'll have our names in the trophy case and everything, Quinn." Darian snickered a little more to himself as he saw his younger pal's eyes light up at that.

Wendel chimed in, "Well, I'll be glad to see you two get that honor, but I can't say the same for everyone on the team." He crossed his arms and gruffed, obviously talking about Baxter.

"Do you think he's hiding in here, just waiting to scare us or something?" Darian said, smiling mischievously and suddenly tickling Quinn's sides as the other boy was opening the locker room door, getting him to giggle and squirm.

Wendel just shook his head at the two of them, though when he looked past the partially opened door into the dark room, he blinked and spoke up a bit. "Hey... who turned off the lights in there?"

Darian stopped with the tickling, and the three boys looked at each other curiously. Then they peered inside as Darian flipped on the switches. All of the over-head lighting flickered back on after a second or two, revealing the empty, silent locker room.

"Baxter! If you're hiding in here, coach is gonna be pretty pissed..." Darian said as he led the other two boys into the room. However, he received no reply. "Hmm... I guess maybe he really did have a cramp or something..." he said.

"Yea right! He probably just went to go pick on some other kid after he realized I didn't have any more money," Wendel pouted while gathering his backpack from his locker.

Darian nodded and sighed a little, sitting in front of his locker and taking a moment to relax before changing. Quinn, who was just two lockers away, didn't waste any time in undressing. Unlike most of the other boys their age, he didn't seem all that modest about stripping down completely right in front of his class mates, and Darian had to remind himself not to glance over and see the other boy buck naked, although it had happened a few times before...

As he was trying to keep his gaze off Quinn, Darian looked up instead and saw... something... He wasn't sure exactly what it was, but, the ceiling tiles above his locker area seemed to be moving somehow. He blinked several times, and even rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't just seeing things. That didn't fix anything, though. Now the smooth white tiles were rippling, just like water. It was almost like they weren't real, or... like there was something else just in front of them that was distorting their appearance.

"Hey... uhh... Quinn, do you see that?" Darian asked, closing one of his eyes to see if that changed what he was seeing.

"See what, Darian?" Quinn was standing right next to him now, with only his shirt on. Darian practically fell off the bench when he turned to glance at the other boy and saw his hips and butt on display, right next to him! Well... really, he saw more than that, but he tried not to think about it, blushing.

"Geez," he shuffled back a little, and looked up at Quinn who was smiling innocently at him. "On the ceiling! There's something strange happening with the tiles above my locker." He watched the other boy look up and squint a little, though Quinn didn't seem to react much more than that.

"I don't see anything weird... maybe you are just tired from working out so hard," Quinn suggested, putting his hands on his half-bare hips.

Darian looked back up at the ceiling again, "But..." he started, though whatever strange anomaly that the boy saw before seemed to have vanished. "I swear... I saw something..."

By now, Wendel was done and waved to them on his way back to the gymnasium. "See you guys tomorrow!" He called just before exiting the room. Darian seemed to barely notice, the boy was so confused by what he saw... or was he just tired like Quinn said?

Quinn finished changing, then he grabbed his backpack and waited at Darian's side. "After we win tomorrow, maybe my mom can take us for ice cream! How's that sound?" Quinn asked cheerfully.

Darian pushed his thoughts of the rippling ceiling out of mind and nodded to his friend, "Yea... that sounds awesome," he said smiling. Darian finished changing as well, and the two boys walked out of the locker room together.

~

All of the swim meets in Darian's area were held at the public, community pool. Fortunately, like the boy's school, the local park district had an indoor pool, so they were able to start the swimming season in the dead of winter. Darian actually liked it that way. There was something curiously fun about going for a nice, refreshing swim while it was freezing cold outside.

Now, Darian sat on a bench next to Quinn and Neil in his team's staging area. He swung his feet back and forth a little while looking out a foggy window at the snow-dusted trees in the yard of the community center. His very first race was minutes away and he was growing nervous, though the view was somewhat calming for him. He listened to his quickened heartbeat for a moment, blocking out all the other sounds in the noisy pool and willing himself to relax.

"Baxter! Finally, where the h... heck have you been? I was getting ready to replace you with an alternate!" Coach said, waking Darian from his relaxed state. Darian looked up and saw Baxter approaching their bench, wearing a stupid grin and crossing his arms over his chest as he stopped in front of them.

"Ha! Don't be silly, Coach. None of the dweebs at our school can match me in the breaststroke. I'm the strongest swimmer by a mile." Baxter laughed and waved a hand dismissively. His confidence was even more pumped up than usual. Though... there seemed to be something else off about him. Darian wasn't really sure how, but he could sense it... his demeanor, his voice, and even the older boy's grin, there was something strange about all of it. He felt compelled to avoid direct eye contact as they slipped off the bench and moved toward the starting area. There was only one race ahead of theirs now.

"Don't talk like that, Baxter. Show a little respect, okay? I'm not going to replace you today... but we're going to talk about this after the race, and you'd better have a good excuse for ditching practice."

Baxter just snickered and nodded. "Of course..."

Just then, the previous race finished, and the boys were moving into position. As Darian waited behind Baxter, he saw the older boy staring at one of the competition in the lane right next to them. That kid looked back at Baxter, who seemed to be smiling at him. Suddenly, there was a deeply frightened look on the other kid's face, like he'd just seen some kind of monster. Darian blinked again, quickly glancing between this other boy and Baxter, though he couldn't see his teammates face from his position. There wasn't enough time for any further curiosity though as the gun sounded for their race and Neil was zipping right along through the water.

Neil's backstroke was swift and smooth. He was at the other edge of the pool in no time, leading the pack at that point. On his return trip though, the lead swimmer from the team right next to theirs took over the lead. Baxter clearly wasn't happy about that, and Darian could hear the boy huffing and puffing a bit, shifting about on his feet, like he could just barely control himself.

The second Neil touched their edge of the pool again, Baxter was diving into the water. For whatever reason though, the next swimmer one lane over was very slow getting into the water. It was the boy who'd been under Baxter's gaze. It was almost like he was waiting for Baxter to go first, like he didn't want the older boy behind him.

Darian shook his head again, ignoring this for now and moving into position as he saw Baxter churning through the water on his way back. There was no doubt... Baxter was on a record pace. He had gotten so far ahead of the other teams at this point that many of the spectators were on their feet, watching with amazement... even those who's kids weren't in this race. Darian took just a few seconds to search the crowd for his Gramma and Pa, and when he saw them cheering, he smiled and readied himself.

Ultimately, both Darian's and Quinn's legs of the race were a breeze, thanks to the enormous lead created by Baxter, though both boys still swam like their victory depended on it. As Quinn was finishing his return lap, Coach Franklin was already pumping his fist victoriously and congratulating the boys. Darian smiled down at Quinn as the other boy touched the wall, sealing their win and looking back up eagerly.

"Was... was my time good?" the younger boy asked, while starting to climb out of the pool with a helping hand from Darian.

"Yea! You killed it! We all did really well," Darian replied, while giving his friend a wet hug.

After his initial celebration, Coach Franklin confirmed the stats with Wendel before returning to the team, "Guess what boys? That was a new school record! And, Baxter you blew away the individual record as well! I don't know what's gotten into you, but if you swim like that every week, we'll be headed for nationals for sure!"

Baxter stood slightly apart from the other three boys, bobbing his head. It seemed like he was barely acknowledging the coach or their record setting victory. However, he was distracted by something... something that seemed all-consuming... His gaze was darting from one swimmer to the next, as if he were still checking out their competition.

"Ehh... okay, well, at least he seems focused..." the coach said quietly to himself, before turning to the other boys. He patted Darian on the head while smiling to them, "After we finish up today we'll have a short team meeting, so don't leave right away." He then left the boys to prepare for their individual races, briefly heading off to speak with a few of the parents.

~

After the meet had ended, Wendel finished updating their team's lap times, as well as the times of the other schools' swimmers. Coach Franklin felt it was important to keep full records on the competition too, since it helped his kids understand their overall position among their peers and set goals for subsequent meets.

After wrapping up the rest of his managerial tasks, Wendel headed for the boy's changing room. He'd been keeping his eye on the door, just in case Baxter came out. Coach wanted to speak with the troublesome boy privately and asked Wendel to stop him before he left. However, it had been nearly an hour since the end of the meet, and it seemed like all of the boys had finished changing and left, but there was no sign of Baxter.

"Why me?" Wendel pouted to himself as he opened the door to the changing room and stepped inside, glancing around the empty space. Like the locker room at their school, the community center's changing room contained a number of simple metal lockers and a shower area, though it was a bit smaller.

Suddenly, Wendel heard the telltale creaking and hissing sounds of one of the showers turning on. Amidst the rushing water, he also heard a prolonged groan. Wendel blinked... he wasn't absolutely sure, but it sounded kind of like Baxter.

"Baxter? Are you in there...?" Wendel called softly as he approached the shower. Strangely, there didn't seem to be any steam coming out. Is he taking a cold shower? Wendel pondered. He knew that some guys would take cold showers during the heat of the summer sports, but figured it didn't really make sense after a swim meet.

"s... s... sssss... h... hot..." came the reply. The voice sounded strained... short of breath. There was a gasp, and a sickly sounding cough that followed. Wendel then heard the boy's voice making another prolonged sound, a much louder, huskier groan that filled the entire room, reverberating off the walls in an unnerving, unnatural way.

"What the... what is he doing in there?" Wendel said to himself as he quickened his pace a bit, turning the corner and glancing into the open shower area.

It was Baxter... kneeling on the smooth white floor tiles of the shower, with his arms hugged around his sides. He was underneath one of the shower heads and cold water was raining down over his body, flowing in rivulets over his naked form. Wendel gulped softly. He tried not to look directly at the older boy's naked body, but also couldn't help his curiosity... He'd never seen anyone totally exposing themselves in the middle of a shower area like that, and Baxter's maleness was just hanging there. It looked unusually big... "Are you... uhh... sick or something? I can go get the coach..." Wendel said, his mouth suddenly feeling very dry as a bit of extra tension worked its way through his young body.

"NO!" Baxter growled and glared up at Wendel, who stumbled back a few steps when he saw how intense the other boy's eyes looked. They were bloodshot... in fact, his irises looked almost completely red. "Where's... Darian...?" Baxter continued, breathing harder... nearly panting.

"Darian? He was... he was just in here earlier, didn't you see him? And why are you asking about Darian?" Wendel blinked and shuddered a bit. Baxter's expression had this somewhat crazed look to it... it was kind of frightening. "Look, I'll go get one of the parents. I think you need to see a doctor..."

Baxter shook his head, laughing suddenly. Wendel had never heard Baxter laugh like that before... or any other boy for that matter. His laughter was dark and bizarre, cartoonishly so. It froze Wendel in his tracks. "You're... not right..." Wendel started, but was stopped mid-sentence when he saw Baxter's body jerking suddenly. His laughter ended, being replaced with a painful cry. Baxter fell onto his side and shook, then he cried out again and kicked his legs and feet over the slippery tiles.

Something crazy was happening to Baxter's feet. Wendel gasped softly, not believing what he was seeing... Somehow, the older boy's feet were growing bigger. His toes curled and uncurled several times, flexing and splaying apart, then curling... each time they'd go through this cycle, they seemed to have grown larger... thicker. Each cycle of growth was accompanied by the sound of small bones popping, as well as Baxter's shrieks of pain. The soles of his feet lengthened rapidly too, and the heels widened just as fast. At first, it looked like the boy's feet were darkening, but then Wendel could tell that they were actually just sprouting dark brown fur. The wet, shiny fur spread rapidly over both feet, consuming them as they plumped out yet again... They were positively huge now. Wendel had never seen or imagined feet that big before. They weren't human either... they were like massive paws, complete with thick black pads lining the bottoms. The size of those paws was intimidating enough to make Wendel shiver, but what really made the boy scared were the giant black claws suddenly popping out from each toe as Baxter growled and squirmed on the wet tiles. Those claws looked big and sharp enough to rip the flesh right off Wendel's bones.

As his monstrous paws finished their growth cycle, Baxter's pain seemed to ebb for just a moment. He laid there limply, his tongue hanging out a bit and red colored eyes looking all hazed out. Then he suddenly spasmed again and cried out, louder this time. The pain seemed even worse this time. "AHHHhhh!!" the boy shook again and Wendel watched in amazement as a large bump began swelling and flexing out from the boy's body, just above his butt. Baxter clenched his eyes and groaned again, and then... his tongue... it thickened and lengthened as it hung out of his mouth again. Within seconds, the boy's tongue looked twice as long as normal, and was growing tapered at the tip. It writhed about in an almost prehensile manner while Baxter wriggled, the pain in his ass peaking. The boy suddenly screamed again... a bloodcurdling sound... as his thick brown-fuzzed tail burst from his backside. While he cried and shivered on the wet floor, his tail rapidly gained thickness and length, spasming up into the air and then slapping back down on the slick tiles, heavier and heavier with each surge of growth.

Wendel stumbled back, nearly falling backward when his legs hit a bench behind him. He fell onto the bench instead, sitting there frozen in fear with his hands grasping at his clothes... He was sure that he needed to run. Whatever was happening to Baxter was like a terrible nightmare! The boy was changing into some kind of fiend, he was sure of it. But if he ran... would Baxter chase him down? Those claws looked terrifying... Wendel's heart beat incredibly hard and fast. Maybe this was all just a bad dream. He closed his eyes, begging... praying that this would all be gone when he opened them back up.

Wendel tried to shut off his other senses... his hearing, smell, even taste... he tried to pretend that he was somewhere else completely, and that this was all just his imagination. Finally, Baxter's cries of pain stopped. Did it work? Wendel thought, trembling again and slowly opening his eyes. His hopes were dashed though as he saw that he was in the same place, only now Baxter was standing up and looking at him. That monstrous, tapered tail of his swung side to side in a show of eagerness. I better... better run before it's too late...

Baxter took his eyes off of Wendel for another moment... and there was no doubt about it now, the boy's eyes were red... fiery red. Those fierce pools gazed down over himself as more chocolate brown fur began to sprout from his legs, his hips, his chest and belly. The changing boy caressed one of his hands down over his chest and belly, tracing his fingers through the sprouting fur. His boyhood didn't seem like it was his anymore either. It was inches bigger than normal, at least six or seven perhaps, and standing out from his body rock-hard. His self-fascination focused on that for a moment, and he curled his hand around its more plump girth, starting to stroke himself, oblivious to his voyeur.

"OOoohhh..." Baxter moaned erotically and closed his eyes a little as pleasure surged all throughout his changing body. His cock flexed wildly in his hand, and then he felt the intensely satisfying sensation of slick, wet fur brushing across his shaft as his hand sprouted the same brown fur that his feet had. He curled his clawed toe-digits, ripping small trenches into the tiles while pumping his swelling hand over his raging boyhood faster. His pleasure rose appreciably and he clenched his eyes fully, opening his mouth in an even bigger moan. His teeth were buzzing, lengthening into big, sharp fangs while bones in his jaw popped and extended, pushing his mouth out slightly into more of a muzzle shape. His ears began to wiggle, dark brown fur spreading over their surfaces as well as they grew longer and wider, again and again, blooming into a pair of massive bat-like ears that flicked sharply atop his head.

He drooled, his long tail rippling with more muscle. The rippling sensation pushed up along his tail, into his butt, and then spread all throughout his body as his subtle boyish tone became more defined, muscles growing larger... He shook as more bones popped sharply, extending in his legs and arms, rapidly pushing the boy's 5'7" height to nearly six and a half feet. Both of his hands wriggled almost uncontrollably as the fur spread faster and they surged in size, pads and powerful claws popping out just as they had with his feet, exploding out into huge thick and strong paws.

"AHhhhhhhhh YESSsssssss!!!" Baxter panted, his tone of voice was much deeper and even more husky, dark and frightening. He was drooling again as he opened his larger red eyes back up and fixated back on Wendel. His prehensile tongue writhed as it grew longer and thicker yet again. His huge right paw continued teasing up and down over his thick, still human-looking cock, which was slathered with shiny layers of diluted pre-cum. Strands of it were sticking between his slick paw-digits and oozing down over his heavily swollen, fuzz coated nuts.

Wendel shivered while scooting back on the bench slowly, praying that maybe Baxter would leave him alone. He should have run before, but he was such an idiot... why did he hesitate? Was it some morbid curiosity that kept him from fleeing?

Baxter was practically erupting with his enhanced vigor and power. He ran his tongue several times over his magnificent fangs while stepping out of the shower and looming over Wendel's relatively small form. He wasn't even really Baxter anymore. He was something else entirely, an exceptional, powerful creature. His virility was unmatched. He laughed again, a truly sinister sound, as Wendel continued to try and back away from him, the boy's eyes wide, his face frozen in an expression of terror. "No..." Wendel whimpered, while the creature suddenly brought its mighty paw down and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, lifting him clear off the bench and holding his squirming body up against one of the lockers.

"Still have nothing for me, Wendel?" it said and laughed again, it's thick, muscular tail slamming down against the bench behind it several times, severely denting the metal.

Wendel shook his head and shed a few tears.

The creature grinned again, baring its vicious fangs. "Yes you do..." it said matter of factly, and then suddenly leaned in and sank its huge fangs into Wendel's neck with a grizzly yet satisfying sound. Wendel cried out and wiggled in its grasp, but the boy was no match for its power and it held him securely against the lockers with both paws while sucking his blood. Wendel's blood was truly exquisite. The creature had never tasted anything like it before. It could practically taste his fear and helplessness. It drank again, and again, feeling as his body became limp. Then, something truly wondrous happened. The creature felt this surge of pleasure bubbling up from somewhere within its body, surging up through its neck and jaw, and then bursting out through its fangs and injecting into its victim. Wendel responded with another, softer cry of pain, squirming anew against its claws, but the creature squeezed his small form tighter and continued to force this strange, pleasureful fluid into him. The more it injected into the boy, the less he resisted. Soon, he stopped fighting it completely, and just sniffled and whimpered as the creature pumped one last surge into him.

The creature was terribly aroused by all of this. That release was pure bliss, and its thick eight and a half inch cock was throbbing painfully hard between its legs. More... there had to be more... Yes, it wasn't close to being done with this boy. It spun around, hoisting Wendel's body and laying him out onto his back on the bench between the lockers. The creature grinned as it leered over his body, his cloudy eyes gazing up at the ceiling, his arms and legs hanging over either side of the bench.

A few seconds passed after he felt his body thrown over the bench. Then, Wendel felt himself twitching and he groaned, gradually moving his hands once more as the frightening injection merged into his bloodstream, returning sensation to his arms and legs. The boy still winced at the fiery pain caused by that unnatural liquid, but ever so slowly, the pain began to ebb... soon replaced by a strange, potent mixture of dizziness and heightened sensitivity. He blushed and curled his toes, suddenly feeling an unexplainable wave of arousal twisting its way through his body.

Even with his vision as blurred as it was and his head spinning, Wendel could still sense his small cock swelling and pressing erectly against his slacks, tenting them out. "Ooohh..." he shivered and moaned, the warmth in his tainted bloodstream increasing slightly and triggering all kinds of bizarre, alien sensations throughout his nervous system. Wendel looked up again as a blurry form moved over him, and then he felt the warmth and the aroused scent of the creature directly above. Something wet and slick bumped against his nose. He shivered, frightened, crossing his hazy eyes a bit as he looked at it. It was thick, hot and fleshy.

Feeling that big organ touching him triggered the boy's arousal even harder. Before he could even think much about what he was doing, Wendel's right hand lifted up and curled around that slickened girth, squeezing it cautiously, and then stroking over it instinctively. He felt it throb eagerly against his hand. Then the creature growled in pleasure as its big cock began to change shape somehow, jerking in his grasp and darkening while it grew thicker at the base and more tapered toward the tip. Watching the creature's huge maleness change right in his grasp made the boy even more curious, and he kept steadily pumping his hand over its surface, feeling several warm gobs of pre-fluid splat down over his face. The scent of the creature's wet arousal was strangely tempting, and slowly, Wendel's excitement took control as he tugged the large inhuman erection down and shoved it right into his mouth, blushing and closing his eyes as he suckled on it hungrily.

The creature panted and then moaned again feverishly as it felt its cock flex and grow, changing shape in the boy's pumping hand. It clenched its eyes then and growled blissfully as its expanding shaft was plunged into his mouth and sucked on, its powerful tail smashing against one of the lockers, nearly ripping a hole in the metal. "YESSssss Wendel... good boyy" it moaned and grabbed lustily at the boy's hips, digging its razor sharp claws into his slacks and pulling casually at the fabric with each slow rock of its hips, bobbing its fat black shaft back and forth in his mouth with steady, sloppy motions. Within seconds, Wendel's slacks had been ripped to shreds, and his snug white undies were clinging to his crotch and butt by the tiniest of threads.

The creature's fiery gaze zeroed in on the boy's butt, leering over the tender creamy cheeks while it ripped apart the remaining fabric of his undies and left his privates bare. The fiend panted again, slopping its shaft deeper into his mouth while folding Wendel's legs up, raising his ass slightly and dipping its giant muzzle down to puff a series of hot breaths along his quivering buttcheeks. Then, out came that big prehensile tongue of its, swerving its way along his crease, drooling along his taint, then swiping back up along the back of his small nutsac. The creature savored Wendel's youthful taste, swabbing its big tongue back down his crack to his pucker and started to stretch him on its thick, wriggly girth. Wendel made a loud, muffled moan over its cock, and the creature rocked its hips again, plunging his mouth again with the slick girth while shoving its big tongue into him, forcing his tight ring to gape over about four or five inches of the squirming slickness. The lusty fiend jiggled that huge, drooling muscle back and forth inside of Wendel countless times while the boy's body spasmed on the bench, his arousal skyrocketing, his tainted blood boiling and his own young cock jerking wildly up against his tummy.

This was amazing, but the creature was still not satisfied. It pulled its big tongue out of Wendel's gaping pucker, leaving it drenched with its gooey saliva. Then it bared its fangs again... that release had felt unbelievable, like some kind of insane climax. Instinctively, it knew it wasn't really supposed to bite someone more than once, but that pleasure was so mind-numbing that it could not resist. It grabbed tightly onto Wendel's thighs, pulling its cock nearly free of his hot, wet mouth. Then it plunged back in while sinking its sharp fangs into one of the boy's tender buttcheeks. Wendel's body writhed again as he was bitten a second time, though not as hard. The creature only sucked for a second or two this time, instead quickly urging itself to another intense fanged release.

This time, Wendel's body reacted differently to the injection. Instead of jerking in pain, his body was spasming with pleasure, toes curling and uncurling in his shoes as he blushed and wriggled eagerly, begging for more. The creature sunk its fangs in slightly deeper, and began bobbing its slippery shaft quicker in his soft lips as it injected an even bigger, more indulgent pump of that fluid into the boy's bloodstream. Wendel's body practically bucked on the bench. His shoes suddenly felt so very tight... or his feet were getting bigger... yes, bigger... and then bigger again, severely straining the shoe material. He could feel the pressure on the small bones in his feet...There were little pops and jerks as they shifted and grew, just like Baxter's had. Little shoots of black fur began to sprout from all the tears forming in Wendel's shoes. He made another wet, muffled moan over the freakish cock stuffed in his mouth, feeling his pleasure spiking higher and higher with each further injection, his feet growing thicker and larger, more tickly fur spreading across their surface... Suddenly, his pleasure hit some kind of fierce climax and Wendel nearly passed out from the intensity of it. He groaned over the creature's big dick as the boy's monstrous, black furred paws ripped right through his shoes and socks, eviscerating them with his giant, beautiful, shiny black claws.

The creature's elation surged to new heights as it watched the boy progressing so rapidly. His paws were even larger than its own. It finally pulled its fangs out from his butt and instead held one of Wendel's shivering legs up, aiming his newly birthed monstrous paw up to its muzzle and slathering its tongue in between each of those tremendous, black fuzzed toes. It drooled and thrust a bit more vigorously in his mouth while bathing his paw with its hot tongue, closing its eyes again and feeling its own climax build rapidly, higher and higher... "G... good... boy" it growled again and sucked at his paw before suddenly tilting its head back and howling in climax, relentless pleasure spasming through its body. Its heavy nuts pulled up and started pumping sharply, sending surge after surge of its hot, tainted seed into Wendel's stuffed mouth and throat.

Wendel was barely able to survive the deluge of the creature's seed. Somehow, he just barely managed to swallow it without drowning. The boy's bizarre sensations only seemed to intensify as he swallowed gulp after gulp of the bat monster's seed. He could feel the same pressure that he felt in his feet spreading to his hands... His memory of what he'd witnessed before flashed back through the boy's dizzied mind as his hands curled and flexed out. He winced and suckled again mindlessly as the bones broke, then grew longer and thicker, muscle shifting, digits plumping bigger and bigger while pitch black fur spread over the rapidly expanding paws. The pressure at the boy's butt was much more painful. It grew and grew and grew, and he couldn't help but pull his mouth off from the creature's spasming cock, letting it shoot the last splashes of seed over his face while he cried out... Wendel's vision quickly turned red and he felt as if his mind was being altered irreversibly by a wild mixture of pain and pleasure that was soaring to new heights. Finally, it just overwhelmed him and Wendel lost consciousness as his thick black tail burst out from his body , splattering the bench with his blood.

The creature gradually stood up again to its full height, panting deeply and reveling in its sinful afterglow. It looked down at Wendel's limp, partially changed form and grinned again, grabbing the boy by his still growing tail and dragging him off to finish its work.

~

Darian lay in his warm bed, snuggled in under the covers and gazing out at the wintry landscape beyond his backyard. Tiny snowflakes fluttered against his window, while drifts of snow swirled across his yard and into the tree line. He sighed and smiled a little, enjoying the beautiful scenery... so happy for the quiet, relaxing time alone after all the hard efforts and noise of the swim meet.

His Gramma and Pa had been so proud of him. They told him that his parents would have been so happy to see it too. He rubbed his eyes a little, wishing he could remember what they were like. They'd died when he was a baby, so he never had time to really be with his parents in the way that all his friends did.

Darian rolled over and squeezed one of his favorite large plushies, a big golden colored fox with two tails. For some reason, it had always felt special to him... comforting and familiar. He then sat up slowly and slipped out of bed, smoothing his pajamas out and then walking over to his desk to get one of his favorite books, the one about the mage and the dragon who team up to become treasure hunters and best friends.

Before he managed to get all the way across his room though, Darian caught something out of the corner of his eyes. Some kind of strange light he saw outside. The boy blinked and walked over to his window, holding the window sill with both hands while he gazed out into the forest and looked for that light again. There! He thought as he saw it again. It was a soft blue glow, almost looking like some sort of blue floating ball, with a kind of shimmering white light coming from its center. He'd never seen anything like it before, but yet, he felt like it was somehow familiar. For some reason, the boy also felt drawn towards it. He could sense warmth... gentleness, kindness calling to him, like a song... a beautiful song.

Darian's eyes became cloudy and the boy lost consciousness briefly, though his body somehow continued to move on its own. He walked out of his room, down the hallway... the stairs, and out into the yard without a single thought going through his mind. When he woke from his trance, Darian blinked and realized that he was standing outside in the snow, in his pajamas! He blushed and gasped softly, hugging around himself. He expected to be freezing cold, but... for some reason, Darian still felt warm. The boy looked down at himself curiously, playing with the fabric of his pajamas. "How..." He blinked again, gazing over his bare feet which were covered in snow, and yet, like the rest of him, also felt warm.

That was when Darian heard the song again... yes, it was a song that called to him before. It sounded like a boy's voice singing, and he was singing in a language that Darian didn't recognize. But even still, there was something strangely familiar about it. Somehow, he knew what the boy was singing about... the love between two special dragons that lived long, long ago. The song cherished the sacrifice of one for the other, spoke of the wonders that were given to all of creation, and encouraged the children of the dragon to honor its legacy. It was a beautiful song, and somehow soothing to Darian's spirit. He'd never heard anyone sing so enchantingly before.

When the singing stopped again, Darian realized that he was now in the woods. The edge of the trees and his backyard were dozens of yards away. What was right in front of him though, was the blue, glowing sphere. He gasped softly, stepping back from it and nearly tripping on some tree roots. He'd never seen anything like it... at least not in real life. It looked like something magical from one of his stories or cartoon shows. Darian took a few deep breaths, steadying himself, and then slowly walking around to one side of the glowing circle. It appeared to be made of pure energy and light, with nothing physical attached to it or holding it up. The blue energy was constantly swirling and twisting about its center, where white light seemed to be constantly spilling through. Darian gradually circled all the way around the strange, mystical energy and then stood in front of it again, reaching up one hand to curiously feel the air a foot or so in front of it. He felt a warm breeze blowing over his fingers, and for the first time, he was noticing a curious scent nearby... the scent of lovely spring flowers.

Before Darian could think on what to make of this, something began to happen to the energy sphere. Its light increased slightly in intensity while the swirling energy sparkled and moved a little faster. Darian blinked again, watching in amazement as the sphere seemed to stretch open before him, and the white light within began to take on a more diverse mixture of colors and shapes. As the blue circle stretched bigger and bigger, the boy could make out objects within... a whole scene really... green leafy trees below a pretty blue sky with puffy clouds drifting by. A snow-capped mountain was visible in the background, and a range of colorful flowers in full bloom were visible in the foreground, swaying and dancing gracefully with the gentle breeze. This looked like a window to another world... or perhaps a portal. Darian's imaginative mind considered all kinds of magical explanations. He thought about his favorite book, and about all of the spells that the mage could cast. Maybe that story is real... the boy thought, smiling nervously and stepping a little closer to the portal. But... if this is real... where would this take me? He wondered. He certainly wasn't ready to test it out by doing something as reckless as sticking his arm in or something.

Darian's attention was so focused on the mystical portal that he didn't even realize the burning red eyes watching him from atop one of the trees. Da... ri... an... came its hissing, sinister whisper. Its body shook with eagerness, its one-track mind teeming with excitement. It was certain... this time, it had found its prey.

Darian's sense of hearing had always been particularly acute, and even with his distraction, he heard the hissing whisper pretty clearly. "Is... someone there?" he asked, turning about and looking through the dark, snow-covered woods. There was just enough light from the magical portal next to him to light up the area within a few feet of him relatively well, but the rest of the forest was barely visible, with only the moonlight caressing over tree branches and shrubs.

YESSSsssssss... was the only other sound Darian heard before he looked up, seeing a large, shadowy form descending toward him, its nightmarish red eyes burning a sense of terror into the boy's heart. As the creature approached, Darian suddenly felt himself falling back. No... something was pulling him back, back toward the portal. He braced himself, not knowing what was about to happen. If he was about to be killed by the creature or possibly by the magical energy... what would it feel like? Would it happen quickly? Time seemed to slow down for Darian briefly as the back of his head touched the portal. The creature's descent slowed to the point that it was barely inching toward him, and the snowflakes falling all around him looked stuck in mid-air. Gradually, the boy felt more of his head passing into the mystical ring. It didn't hurt though, and he didn't feel any shock. Instead, he just felt gentle warmth flowing through his body. He clenched his eyes, still afraid, and took a deep breath.

Darian felt more and more warmth coursing through him as he was drawn farther through the portal. He didn't really struggle. Whatever, or whoever, was pulling him through didn't seem malevolent. Somehow, the boy could tell this. Now, Darian could actually feel the warm breeze all around him. His hand brushed against silky soft flower petals. Someone's arms were wrapped around his sides and chest, holding him very gently. He opened his eyes again...

What Darian saw around himself was astounding. It was like the entire world had transformed from the dead of winter to the height of spring instantaneously. Healthy green plant life blossomed all around him. Birds were singing. Only a few pretty white, puffy clouds adorned a perfect blue sky. The person holding him tugged Darian back a few more times and the boy looked down, watching as his feet passed through the portal, which was closing. On the other side, he could see the wintry scene that he had just come from. It looked hazy, unreal... like the world he was in now was the real one. Just before the portal closed all the way, he caught a glimpse of a large, dark paw reaching for it... for him. But then, the portal returned to its previous spherical shape before the energy suddenly dissipated completely, leaving nothing but a trail of sparkles in its wake.

"W... where... where am I?" Darian asked as he finally found his voice. He wasn't sure if this was reality or another one of his strange dreams.

"Don't worry Darian, you're safe! That silly vampire bat doesn't know how to open the portal, so it can't get to us." Darian blinked a little again. The voice sounded so familiar. It was a young boy, somewhere around his age. Maybe it was the voice who was singing before. It was definitely very comforting.

"Did you... did you save me?" Darian asked, blushing a bit.

"Yes!" The boy giggled a little, relaxing his hold on Darian a little now that the danger was over. "I wasn't really sure if my song would work on you... but my master was right. Well... I guess he's always right, now isn't he?"

Darian tried to process all of this, though he was still very confused. Master? And what... exactly did that song do to him? All he could remember is regaining consciousness at the end of the song, and his memories of what happened right before were still blurry. Finally, Darian decided to turn around and get a good look at his savior. He reached down to hold the other boy's arms and move them from around his sides, but when he touched the other boy, he blinked and his heart raced... He felt that profound sense of fright returning, even though he was in such a warm and safe environment. This boy's arms were covered in what felt like smooth scales. _Is he... also some kind of creature?_Darian looked down and saw that those soft scales were inky black, shining lightly under the sunlight. The boy's hands also looked more like paws, and were similarly covered fully in black scales. Darian shuddered and moved onto his own knees, pulling away from the other boy, and then slowly turned around to face him.

Before him sat a black-scaled reptilian looking boy, with soft red scales lining his chest, tummy and other under areas. He had a long and thick tail that looked strong, and his feet, along with his hands looked like big scaly paws. He had a small muzzle on his face, and big eyes that seemed somehow friendly despite their curious reddish color. He was wearing just a pair of tan breeches, and nothing else as far as Darian could tell. The boy shuddered a little, backing slightly away from this young scaled creature, who was just looking at him and smiling affectionately. For some reason, Darian felt like maybe he had seen this boy before. But he couldn't pinpoint that memory. Besides, this had to be a dream, he thought! Creatures like this don't exist in real life!

The reptilian boy bowed his head, then sat back up, folding his paws over his lap and smiling again warmly to Darian. "Greetings, Darian. And... yes, I'm real," he said with another playful giggle. "You probably feel like you met me before... well, you did, sort of. Uhh... Ohh yes! I should introduce myself again." He moved up to his knees too, swishing his sleek, shiny tail and wiggling his long ears in what seemed like a show of happiness, "My name is Kotetsu! I serve under Kinshiretsu, as his Vethicae. And... ohh... don't worry, I'm not a bad person... I'm really good! Honest!"

Darian blinked a bunch as he looked at this other boy... Kotetsu, nervously. He wasn't quite as afraid anymore as he was still just in shock. All of these things Kotetsu was telling him, none of it made sense. He didn't even know where he was. "W... what's this place?" He finally asked, keeping slightly back from Kotetsu, his hands in the grass behind him as he leaned back a bit.

Kotetsu looked around for a few seconds while his tail curled around one side of his body, the big scaly tip resting in the grass between them. "We're in the Veil now. It's pretty, isn't it? It's always like this..." Kotetsu said as he closed his eyes a bit, resting one paw on his tail and stroking over its gleaming surface.

Darian couldn't help but nod his head some. It was lovely here, and it felt safe... He looked down at his nose for a moment, then lifted his gaze to Kotetsu again. This boy seemed really nice, and he did just save him... well that's what it looked like anyway. Darian stopped leaning back, settling a bit more forward and moving his hands into his own lap. He still spoke a bit softly though as his nerves weren't completely assuaged, "T... Thank you..."

Kotetsu's smile brightened quite a lot when he saw Darian warming up to him. He bobbed his head, "You're welcome! But, you don't have to thank me. It is my purpose, to serve."

Darian blinked again, lifting his gaze back to Kotetsu, "To... to serve?"

"Yes, uhh... serve... you that is. You see, my master... well, he tells me that... well, you are going to be my master for a while."

"Me??? I don't... I don't understand. How... "

Kotetsu smiled and reached over, taking Darian's hand in his scaly paw. It felt surprisingly soft and warm. Kotetsu squeezed the boy's hand again, bowing his head once more, "You'll understand, soon. Just, for now... say that you accept me."

Despite what he felt now, with his body telling him that everything here was real, Darian was still hesitant. He wasn't sure if Kotetsu was some kind of slave... He'd heard of those before, and he knew that was wrong. But at the same time, there was something about Kotetsu that made him feel at ease. He knew Kotetsu had a kind heart, and he was compelled to want to be his friend. Still, he hesitated to say those words when he didn't know the meaning of it. Then, he felt something coming from Kotetsu. The scaled boy was shivering a little. He was nervous too. Knowing that, Darian quickly made up his mind. "I accept you, Kotetsu."

For a moment, there was a light spark of warm energy between Darian's hand and Kotetu's paw. In that moment, Darian felt something strange, almost like he was sharing emotions with the other boy. Kotetsu was nervous, and hopeful. He was also friendly and exceptionally virtuous. Once Darian had uttered those words, Kotetsu's nervousness subsided. He was accepted... Darian pulled his hand back as the link disappeared almost as quickly as it was formed.

"Thank you..." Kotetsu whispered very softly... then, he lifted his eyes to Darian again and smiled, "Now, we don't have too much time! You should get back, and I can help you get rid of that wicked bat before it spreads its evil any further!"

"Ohh... okay..." Darian started, and then blinked and stopped. "Wait... what do you mean help me get rid of it? And, uhh... what exactly are you, Kotetsu?"

Kotetsu smiled proudly, "Ahh yes! I am a kobold! Or at least I once was. I sort of still am though! But, now I'm my master's Vethicae. Hmm... actually, I suppose that makes me your Vethicae..."

Darian stopped the kobold boy from continuing on, "Wait... what's a Vethicae?"

Kotetsu moved his paw up to the chin of his muzzle and hmmed, "Well... that's a kind of complicated thing to explain. Uhh, let's just say for now that it's a weapon of sorts. I... I am, I mean. You can use me to defeat that fiend!"

"But... I don't understand any of this. I don't know what that means, and I don't know how to fight, either."

Kotetsu giggled once more, "Don't worry about all of that, Darian! I'll guide you. All you have to do is call for me when the time comes. Just say 'Vethicae Kotetsu,' understand?"

Darian nodded slowly, but he still had so many more questions. The boy still didn't understand who Kotetsu's master was, or why he sent the kobold to him. And... what was the Veil? Darian looked back to Kotetsu to ask him, gazing into those bright red eyes and watching them glow with some kind of strange magic. Suddenly Darian began to remember just how tired he was. He hadn't slept at all yet. He blinked a few times, his vision going slightly blurry as Kotetsu's magic flowed over him and the kobold boy moved closer to catch him as he slumped down. Before he lost consciousness, Darian gazed back up at the sky and saw another curious sight he'd somehow missed before... it seemed like there was more than one sun in this sky, each of them seeming smaller than the one he was familiar with. Where exactly was this place? That was a question for another day, though. Darian drifted off, listening to Kotetsu's gentle humming as he was cradled in the kobold boy's arms.

~

The next day, Sunday afternoon, Darian had gone over to Quinn's house to play. The two were playing a video game, this time their favorite action role-playing game, Swords and Sorcery. Darian hadn't told Quinn about the strange dream he had last night. He figured the other boy might become obsessively curious, and he didn't want to discuss it at length. It felt so real, especially the part with that frightening creature that tried to attack him. He shuddered a little, trying especially hard not to think about that part.

After they'd played for an hour or so, the telephone rang. Quinn's mom came up and knocked at his door, then opened it enough to peek her head in and speak to the boys. "Quinn, dear. Your friend Wendel from swimming is on the phone. I think he wants to know if you and Darian would like to come play with him."

"Ahh! That would be cool, right Darian? I bet we can get to the last level of Swords and Sorcery with his help."

Darian smiled at the other boy and nodded, pausing and saving the game while Quinn got up to take the cordless phone from his mom. Quinn beamed and nodded a few times while he was listening to Wendel's voice on the line. "Sure! Yea! We'll bring some games too. Uhuh! Hey... Wendel, you're not feeling sick though are you? Your voice sounds kinda funny. Ohhh... hehe, okay I see. Yea, we'll be there in a little bit." With that, Quinn handed the phone back to his mom and bobbed his head again, "Can we go over to his house, mom?"

Quinn's mom chuckled a little and nodded, "Sure thing sweety. I'll drop you two off there."

Quinn smiled brightly back at Darian, "Alright! He said his dad just got him a brand new computer too! It's supposed to be super-fast and has cool, colored lights in it too. He's gonna show us."

Darian smiled and nodded back to his friend as he finished gathering up some games to bring along, "Awesome! I can't wait," he replied cheerily.

~

Darian and Quinn walked up the familiar front steps of Wendel's house. They'd visited him a couple times before. Even though he was slightly older than them, he seemed to have a lot more in common with them than the kids in his own class. Darian rang the doorbell while Quinn waved goodbye to his mom.

"The... doors open! Come in!" came Wendel's voice from somewhere inside. Quinn was right, he does sound kind of different, Darian thought as he squeezed the handle and opened the front door.

As the two boys stepped inside, Darian noticed that it seemed strangely quiet throughout the house. They wiped off their boots on the mat, then took them off and proceeded past the staircase, down the hallway toward Wendel's family room.

"Wendel? Are you in the family room or upstairs?" Darian asked.

There was no reply. Not even Wendel's parents seemed to be around. It was Sunday, so they could be at the grocery store, Darian figured.

Quinn smirked a little, "I bet he's just playing with us, huh? He probably figure's he's gonna startle us w when we get to the end of the hall, well... not if I jump out first!" With that, Quinn suddenly sprinted down the rest of the hallway and jumped past the corner, thinking he was about to catch Wendel off guard. However, what the boy saw clearly had the exact opposite effect, as Darian saw him stop in his tracks and look up at something looming over him with a terrified expression. "D... D... Darian..." Quinn whimpered, and then cried out as a massive furry black paw wrapped around his waist and forcefully yanked him out of view.

Darian's eyes went wide. The memories from last night came flooding right back into his brain and the boy held a hand up to his forehead, groaning and shaking as he felt a sudden wave of nausea. It's not... not real... not real... Darian wished, but he heard Quinn crying out, even sobbing. He had to do something... He shook again and then ran to the end of the hall, turning the corner... and being directly confronted with two very real monsters. The huge, batlike creatures stood in Wendel's family room, both covered in pitch black fur and glaring at Darian with glowing red eyes. The smaller one looked over seven feet tall. It had massive bat wings connected to its arms, and glared fixated on Darian with gleeful recognition... this... this was the creature that the boy saw last night. The other, non-winged one was equally, if not more terrifying. It was... somehow even larger, possibly nine feet. It also was coated in shiny pitch black fur from its huge bat-like ears down to its giant pawfeet, which were lined with huge, deadly claws. It held Quinn in its arms, gazing down over him hungrily and baring its fangs.

Darian's legs felt wobbly... he had to expend all of his efforts just to stay standing, the boy was so terrified. Just then, he heard a voice coming from the hallway where he just came from. "Ahhh... there you are, Darian. I was looking for you last night..."

Another powerful shiver went through Darian's system as he turned to see the third creature approaching. Like the nine foot monster, this one was without wings, but it was also bigger than the flyer. Instead of pitch black fur like the other two, it had deep chocolate brown fur. Its eyes had just as malicious of a look in them though. Its big dark tongue was hanging out of its large muzzle, drooling tons of saliva all over the floor. Darian backed into the kitchen, whimpering... that voice... it... it sounded almost like... "B... Baxter?"

The brown furred creature laughed maniacally, swiping its huge paw against one of the walls and ripping a hole in it half the size of Darian's whole body. "Not anymore... Baxter was nothing compared to this..." it growled and gestured over its nearly eight foot tall body, rippled with powerful muscle and equipped with vicious natural weapons on each paw. It grinned again, sweeping its giant tail side to side in the hallway, bashing even more holes in each wall just to show off its strength. "But enough about us... my creator was sent for you, and until we have you, I won't be able to get your precious little face out of my head!" he growled angrily.

As if on cue, the winged bat creature stepped slightly closer, uttering its horrible hissing whisper, D...a...riaaaaan.

Darian backed up toward the kitchen wall, looking around himself, "Where's... Wendel..." he uttered helplessly.

The brown creature cackled again, "Isn't it obvious?" He briefly turned his big glowing red eyes at the largest black furred beast. "I know I shouldn't have given him so much, but... I just couldn't help myself. I had no idea he would grow so... big... Maybe I'll experiment even more on little Quinn here once we're done with you."

The largest of the three monsters... what used to be Wendel, snickered as well and looked down at Quinn. "I'm glad you came over to play... we're gonna have a lot of fun together," it growled in a its menacing interpretation of Wendel's voice. Quinn could barely make any sound other than sobs and whimpers as he was squeezed harder.

This was all getting to be too much for Darian. The mixture of emotions was so intense. Fear, worry, hopelessness, anger... rage. In the midst of all that, though, he remembered something. Kotetsu... Darian had no idea what he was doing, and wasn't quite sure what was a dream and what was reality now. But... Kotetsu felt like the one thing he could grasp onto. He clenched his eyes and uttered the special words, "Vethicae Kotetsu!"

At first, the brown creature was laughing at him again, probably finding his outcry to be pathetic. But then it stopped laughing. Darian felt warmth in front of him... comforting warmth like what he felt last night. He opened his eyes and saw a large spark of light appearing in front of him. The spark gradually intensified, growing larger and larger as its light began to blind all three of the bat creatures. Slowly, the spark changed shape and grew into the form of a boy, a scaled boy... a second later, Kotetsu was standing there before him nakedly, his black and red scales shimmering with that holy light. Kotetsu turned his gaze back to Darian and smiled playfully, "Only three?"

Darian blinked as he looked at Kotetsu, amazed on many levels... first of all, that he was actually able to summon him like that, and secondly... he was joking around at a time like this??

Kotetsu continued, "As I promised Darian, I'll show you my power, and yours..." The kobold boy closed his eyes again and his light shimmered with greater intensity for a few more seconds, then his body returned to its non-corporeal state, his features fading away to pure energy once again. Darian thought he saw the outline of a gem-stone within the field of energy, but his mind was quickly distracted away from that thought when Kotetsu's energy suddenly rammed right into his chest, entering his body and flowing through him like a powerful electric current. He cried out and fell to his knees in surprise as the shock pulsed through his body. Strangely, the magical current wasn't painful though... It actually felt... good. Darian felt its power rushing through him, lighting all of his nerves afire, triggering something within him that he'd never felt before, yet somehow always knew was there.

As that trigger pulsed within him, Darian felt his body changing... It started with his hands. He felt like little flames were prickling across both of them as tiny golden scales began to spread over his skin. The boy groaned again, watching in fear as his hands rapidly became totally covered in those shiny golden scales. Was he changing into a monster, like the others? He was terrified of what was happening, but... it felt so good... so right. He felt throbs of excitement flowing throughout himself, watching his hands grow larger and larger... becoming more thick and paw-like. The boy was nearly in tears as he saw the big, flesh-rending claws popping out from his digits, though unlike the bat creatures, his claws were as polished silver, shining brilliantly under the light. The same thing seemed to be happing to his feet. He panted and placed his scaly paw-like hands onto the floor, feeling his shoes splitting and ripping. Shafts of light were peeking out from the holes in the material as Darian's golden scaled footpaws grew bigger and bigger. His giant silver claws ripped through viciously, digging inches deep into the wooden floor of the kitchen. And last, but certainly not least, Darian's whole body spasmed as he felt the growth of his tail bone. "OOOOhhhh" he moaned, hugging himself as it grew bigger... and then bigger again, ripping a hole in the back of his slacks. The same golden scales spread quickly over the protrusion sticking out above his butt. It flexed and swelled a bit larger... then larger yet while the boy whimpered and panted, his gaze cloudy, delirious.

The brown furred creature blinked a few times as its vision returned and it watched Darian struggling against his change. It growled deeply, "What... what is this...??" It looked to its creator, who seemed instinctively alarmed at what was happening. The winged vampire bat didn't plan on allowing this new development to progress any further, hunching down and then suddenly lunging at Darian. It managed to get within a few feet of the boy before his body convulsed and his big, thick golden dragon tail burst out violently, his head tilting back and a booming, ear piercing cry blasting forth from his mouth. The brown creature instantly clasped its paws over its ears, watching as its winged creator was literally blown back halfway across the room by the pure, raw sound energy coming from Darian's mouth. The larger black creature was forced to drop Quinn in order to cover its own ears, and the boy fell to the ground, quickly scrambling and cowering behind the couch.

When Darian's cry was over, the wobbly boy slowly stood up to his pawfeet, his eyes still clouded with swirling, silvery hues. He gazed down over his paws, flexing his digits slowly, watching his shimmering silver claw tips extend and retract. Then, there was a voice somewhere in his mind... a soft, gentle, familiar voice. We'll do it together this time. Darian blinked and watched his arm raising, almost on its own. It was kind of like last night, but he wasn't totally without control. It was just like some invisible force was guiding his movements, showing him what to do. A shaft of light suddenly erupted from his paw, followed by swirling black and red energy. Something physical began to take shape within the light, and then as the light receded, Darian's cloudy eyes gazed over a medium sized obsidian blade... a black short sword, with its hilt wrapped in red fabric.

Darian had no time to marvel at the weapon that he'd seemingly created, as the winged bat creature was back on its claws and lunged at him a second time. The boy narrowed his gaze at it, and then suddenly felt his arm and sword moving as one, slashing a fierce downward arc at the creature's left wing as he swiftly dodged under the swipe of its footclaw.

The creature screeched in pain as its wing was sliced clean through, sending a splash of its blood over the kitchen table. It stumbled back, its wing flopping limply as it looked back at the boy with a newfound sense of instinctive fear.

Now, the two larger creatures were growling maliciously, their fiery gazes fixed on Darian after seeing him injure their progenitor. They got onto their all fours, flexing their huge, muscular hind legs as they prepared to both pounce at him at once.

Darian quickly reset his position, again, his body moving under the guidance of the invisible force. We'll finish this now... that same voice echoed through his mind... it sounded like Kotetsu's, and somehow, the boy understood exactly what he needed to do next. Darian crouched down low and took a deep breath as both creatures leapt at him. Then he suddenly pushed off with his powerful dragon paws, jumping up into the air and flipping backwards. The brown furred creature came within range first and Darian's right pawfoot connected with its muzzle. Somehow, despite the boy's small size, that kick had enough force in it to send the creature flying back and smashing into the wall next to the hallway, knocking its breath from its body. As Darian flipped backward, he brought his head forward and unleashed another powerful cry at the direction of the larger, black furred beast. Intense sound waves erupted from his mouth, stopping that creature well short of his position and causing it to crash back down over the kitchen table and chairs, writhing in pain.

Darian quickly turned his gaze on the injured, winged creature which was still backing away from him. As he finished his flip, he planted both pawfeet against the cabinet behind him, bending his knees, and then pushing off from the cabinet, launching in the direction of the terrified bat creature with his sword aimed straight for its chest. He plunged his dark blade in deep, and it glowed again with that strange, pure white energy as he began slicing upwards, carving the creature's upper torso in two and killing it instantly, sending blood spraying all over the wall of Wendel's family room.

Darian panted deeply, looking down over what he'd done... he'd killed something... taken a life for the very first time. It was frightening... yet he knew that he hadn't any choice. The boy shuddered, his mind still hazy as he climbed off the bat creature's chest and hopped down onto the floor. His still cloudy gaze then shifted to the large black creature still twitching painfully atop the overturned table. Darian hesitated for a moment, but then remembered what it was... what it was planning to do to Quinn... He approached, raising his sword again, resigned to the fact that he would have to kill again.

Wait... not this time... Watch. The voice came to him again and Darian slowly lowered his sword, watching as the giant black beast began to shrink down in size. He turned his eyes to the brown creature and watched it shrinking as well, changing... The changes seemed to increase in speed after a few seconds, fur falling off and leaving smooth human skin behind, fangs retracting, and paws returning down to the size of human hands and feet. A few seconds later, Darian saw Baxter laying there against the wall, groaning and looking up at him.

"W... what... did you do...? What did you..." Baxter groaned again and looked down over himself, watching as the sinister perfection of his dark form wasted away. "No..." he whimpered haplessly. Darian switched his gaze back to the other creature, though it, too was gone. In its place lay Wendel, who was unconscious next to the flipped table.

Darian smiled a little, happy he was able to spare their lives. He relaxed, and as he relaxed, the energy coursing through him did as well. He gazed over his sword for a moment, examining its black and red colors. Then, Darian watched in fascination as its physical form once again re-shaped into energy, absorbing right back into his paw. Darian felt that similar rush of warm, pleasant energy cycling through him, though this time he savored it a little, blushing once more. "Ohhh..." He shuddered and closed his eyes as the energy began to swirl back out from his body in the opposite way that it surged into him. Darian's silver claws suddenly retracted, and then the scales on his paws began to dissipate as his hands and feet swiftly returned to their normal size. Last but not least, he felt his powerful tail somehow pulling back into his body, his tailbone popping back into its normal shape and leaving just a strange, tickly sensation over the boy's butt that made him reach back and rub himself, blushing. Just then, the energy re-materialized in front of Darian, and once again, Kotetsu was standing before him.

"Ohh, you were great Darian! It felt... even better than I thought it would," the kobold said while smiling brightly at the boy.

Darian blinked and shuddered, "What... what just happened to me?" He quickly held his hands up to confirm that they weren't still scaly paws.

"Well... you took your first step, Darian... but there will be many more."

"First step...?" Darian blinked and looked at the kobold with a deeply confused expression.

Kotetsu didn't answer though, walking over to Baxter, who was still slumped against the damaged wall and looking up at the strange creature with misguided hope.

"You... please, change me back! I know you have some kind of magic... change me back, now!"

Kotetsu just shook his head at Baxter, looking at him with extreme pity. "The other one... he never comprehended what happened. He can be fixed. But this one... I don't think he'll ever let this go," he said while crossing his arms.

Baxter looked up at Kotetsu with scorn. "Don't... don't you look down at me like that! Someday... someday I'll have that... power again..." As Baxter looked up into Kotetsu's glowing eyes, his own vision began to blur. Slowly, Kotetsu's sleeping spell began to take hold and the boy slumped, trailing off mid-sentence.

"We'll try though..." Kotetsu said as he patted Baxter's head and then turned back to Darian. He didn't even realize that Quinn was there until the other boy suddenly stepped out from behind the couch, looking quite disoriented and still wiping a few tears from his face.

When he saw Darian, Quinn hurried over to his friend, seeking even the slightest amount of comfort after such an ordeal.

Darian put his arms around Quinn, hugging the other boy and blushing a little more. "Don't worry... they're gone Quinn."

Quinn sniffled some more, pressing into Darian's embrace and keeping his eyes lowered. Of course, he'd seen the naked scaled boy too, and didn't know what to make of him. He looked sort of like a dragon, but without wings. Quinn had always wondered what it would be like to see such a creature in real life, but now that he was confronted with one standing right before him, he was terribly nervous.

Kotetsu could tell that Quinn was afraid of him and smiled gently, swishing his handsome tail. "Don't worry... uhhh.. Quinn, right! I'm not going to hurt you. I'm Darian's friend!"

Darian saw Quinn looking up to him for reassurance, and nodded to him, acknowledging that the young kobold was good. "Kotetsu is friendly, Quinn, he protected us," Darian said while hugging Quinn a bit longer.

Quinn nodded too, lifting his gaze back over to Kotetsu and finally managing a faint smile. He blushed also as he also looked up and down a bit more curiously over the kobold boy's nude form. He didn't seem to have the same arrangement of... parts as a human boy. Instead, he sported what looked like a slit and some subtle bulges under the scales. He saw Kotetsu snicker a little as the kobold noticed what Quinn was looking at, causing him to blush more and look away quickly while fidgeting over his shirt with both hands.

Kotetsu smiled playfully, and then turned back toward the other two unconscious boys. "It's time to set things right here..." he said, swishing his tail and holding out his paw, then uttering an incantation. A bit of blue energy twisted over his paw, and then a small portal opened just above. The portal swirled about its axis for a few seconds before spitting out a very large, golden and tawny colored feather, and a piece of parchment.

Darian watched Kotetsu curiously, "What's that for?"

Kotetsu smiled back at Darian momentarily, "Ohh... this... well you know, it's a magic gryphon's feather! Well... hmm I guess you probably wouldn't know about those... But yes, magic gryphon's feather and magic parchment. Can be used to re-write memories," he said proudly. Then, he stuck his tongue out slightly at one angle while focusing on Baxter and Wendel, and writing furiously on the parchment. "There we are... and now for your friend here, and then I'll clean up the rest of this mess," he said as he turned back to Darian and Quinn and approached with the feather and paper.

Quinn shivered as he saw the scaled boy approaching with those strange magical tools. He shook his head. He didn't want to forget all of this...

"Wait!" Darian said after feeling Quinn shivering against him. "Don't erase his memory."

Kotetsu stopped and blinked, wiggling his long scaly ears a few times, "But... I have to... master Kinshiretsu says I'm not supposed to let humans know about us."

Darian huffed and hugged Quinn closer against his side, "Well, that's fine for the others, but you're not erasing his memory. You said I'm your master now, right? So... you have to listen to me."

Kotetsu looked down over his snout for a moment, going all cross-eyed as he thought about this... yes, he did have his main master to listen to, but his main master told him to follow this new master, and he told him not to erase this boy's memory, even though his main master told him to do it. "Uhhh... well..." The kobold followed this circular logic for several seconds, just ending up making himself dizzy. He shook his head then, looking back up to Darian and sighing, "Okay. I guess we can figure out something else..." he said sheepishly.

"Good." Darian said, smiling and looking over Kotetsu with a new sense of confidence about him. "Now, show us how to help you clean things up here so we can go."

~

Darian and Quinn lay together in Quinn's bed, with a thin blanket over them. Quinn's mom was always happy to let Darian sleep over, even on a school night like tonight. They usually had a few extra pairs of clothes there just in case.

Tonight, both boys slept soundly, exhausted from their frightful encounter, oblivious to the shadowy form slipping into the bedroom, seemingly materializing out of nowhere. It stepped slowly up to the bed, its calculating red eyes gazing down over the two boys. Wasting no time, it reached down to its waist and unsheathed... a feather, from a small bag at its side. The scaly form smiled innocently, tugging out a piece of parchment as well, and whispering, "I think... my first master's order gets priority... besides, he's older... and waaaay bigger, so he can squish me underpaw if I don't do what he says."

Kotetsu stepped toward Quinn as silently as he could, though the clumsy kobold was paying so much attention to figuring out which new memory he would write for the boy that he didn't even notice the toy truck he was about to step on. "Hmmm... perhaps bad dream... that always seems to w..." Kotetsu gasped and got cut off before finishing, stumbling over the toy and flailing his arms forward to catch himself before he went face first into the side of the bed. His left paw grabbed at the the bed, while his right paw... the one holding the feather, ended up grabbing onto something tender. He heard a soft, cute "Oohhh" coming from one of the boys. It was Quinn...

Kotetsu held his breath a little as he slowly stood back up, trying to be as quiet as possible. It didn't seem like his tumble had woken either of the two boys. He exhaled softly in relief, picking his parchment back up and the feather... the feather... it seemed to be stuck in the blanket where his paw had just been.

"Hmm... come on now," the kobold huffed and tugged at it several times, but it wouldn't come free. In fact, if anything, the feather seemed to be sinking farther in... Kotetsu put his paws on his hips, tilting his head and looking over that section of blanket, and the soft mound it was covering... The kobold suddenly blushed and looked quite flustered when he realized that that was Quinn's butt he'd been grabbing at! His pulse increased for several seconds as he lingered on that thought... then shook his head, trying to focus... the magic feather... it was, well... stuck in the boy's butt now. Kotetsu hmmed and tried a little harder to yank that feather out of Quinn, but the more he struggled with it, the farther it seemed to go in. Quinn even giggled and squirmed a few times as Kotetsu wobbled the feather around to try and loosen it. Nothing seemed to work though. It wasn't coming out.

Kotetsu looked about nervously, as if he were checking to see if his old master had witnessed his screw up. This time, though, there was no scolding forthcoming... at least not yet. "Ehhh... well... I'm sure Master Kinshiretsu has plenty of those," the kobold reasoned, and then turned, making his exit as quickly as possible while trying to look totally innocent.