Crumb's Cottage
Alban carefully pulled his car forward into his parking space. Once he was satisfied with his positioning, he put the vehicle in park. Prior to stepping out of his car, he glanced furtively around. The rest of the parking lot was empty and the only "people" in sight were two gnome panhandlers standing at the curb, who apparently weren't having much luck thanks to the untrafficked road they stood next to. The young man sighed in relief, because it meant no one would probably see him.
He opened the car door and hopped out. He slammed it shut and turned towards his destination. Ahead of him was a small building. On its dark window hung an electronic sign that read in green glowing letters "Crumb's Cottage" and under it in smaller, flickering blue font: "Trinkets, fortune, elixirs, and fate await." Alban took a deep breath and then took a step towards the store, coming to a halt when he saw another phrase at the bottom of the window.
"Cash only?" he read. "Damn it."
He checked his wallet and found far less than he would have liked. Still, it would have to do. He was already here. He knew if he left he probably wouldn't come back. So, he took another step towards the store's entrance, and another, and another until he found himself suddenly in front of the door. He looked down and saw it had no handle. He shrugged and pressed his body against it. It gave him less resistance than he had expected so that he stumbled into the dark store when he would have much rather entered in a more cautious and sophisticated manner.
The door slammed behind him, denying him any light as he sought to adjust his vision to the sudden void. No, he saw there was some light in the form of a palely glowing orb some distance from him, a mystic object that barely illuminated the inhuman hands that hovered above it. Alban found his gaze drawn to the orb and the swirling colors within.
"Er--" he began.
"Silence!" a voice in the dark whispered. "I am Seeing."
"What do you see?" Alban asked, the words tumbling out of his mouth.
"I just told you--" Alban heard a deep sigh. "I see horror and terror. A world where Man perishes before his time. Another that's eternally dark, where light was never given a place to shine. And worse--"
The orb glowed with fire.
"A dimension of eternal torment that none may escape or die or know anything but pain and suffering. However--"
The orb softened to a much less harsh blue glow.
"None of those places are here. This point in this time is one of much more munificent prospects. Welcome, friend, to Crumb's Cottage!"
An overabundance of light flooded into the room. The blinded Alban blinked white spots from his vision. When his sight returned, the store had changed. Where before it had been a shadowy realm full of indistinct shapes, it was now a well-lit place thanks to the numeral small wick candles that rested upon the rows of unevenly spaced shelves filled with scrolls, potions, and various trinkets. This light only extended so far, the darkness reigning supreme in the elevated and apparently inaccessible area of the store where the begin that Alban presumed to be the storekeeper stood.
Alban squinted into the dark and towards the shopkeeper, but could only make out the same details as before--the orb and the hovering hands.
"Isn't it grand? Isn't it wonderful? I have over 571,972 items for sale! What do you desire, friend? A relic, a thing from the past? A potion, a remedy delivered fast? Or maybe a fortune, a look forward? Or do you desire a curse for someone untoward?"
"Uh..." Alban murmured.
"Ah! Bedazzled by the splendor around you, no doubt! Do not worry. Ask, for I am knowledgeable of all within!"
"Well," Alban winced. "I'm here to get something for my girlfriend."
"Oh..." The shopkeeper sighed. "It's about sex, isn't it?"
"No!" Alban protested. "I mean, yes, sort of. I mean...she's been so tired. I want to bring the fire back."
"So you came to me." There was that same sigh again. "It's always sex with you humans. I sell over 571,972 items and your kind always comes for the one percent. Who--who told you about me?"
"I saw something on the Internet. Someone suggested here because you have some...er, items that the Magic Mart doesn't. Found you mentioned on a private forum, nothing special even if it was--"
"Damn this Internet!" the shopkeeper snarled. "That man makes it impossible for us all. Ever since his ascendancy it's been impossible to keep secrets."
"The Internet's not a--"
"Silence! Your presence and purpose here now annoys me." The shopkeeper paused. "Still a customer you are. You desire fire?"
Alban nodded.
"Speak! You have no idea what that motion means! I have seen it cause wars, break bonds, and devastate worlds! I wish no misunderstanding. Speak!"
"Yes."
"Are you sure? Do you rather not desire a trip to places unknown? I have a talisman that can take you anywhere. Escape this reality and start anew! Tempting, no?"
"Yes. No. I mean, I don't want it."
"Disappointing. What then about a charmed mirror, a gift you could give to your greatest enemy and ensnare them in a trap that would leave them changed as l--"
"No! I don't have any enemies."
"We all do, friend. We all do. Then a sword, eternally sharp, able to hew through even the toughest of hides would suit you well. Even more it--"
Alban threw his hands up in exasperation. "No!" "Then why are you here?"
"I already told you!"
"Fine. You are far more clever and tenacious than most. I see I cannot dissuade you from your goal. You may have what you desire."
A small bottle filled with a golden liquid appeared in front of Alban.
"Is it a female whom you wish to use this upon?"
"Yes."
"Good. Then this is what I offer. A small application of this, absorbed to the skin will bring the results you seek. But beware! Not too much or too little lest your love wishes permanent changes unbidden."
"And the cost?"
"A shrewd question. For this I will only charge 5000 s--er, wrong currency...let me think. Hmm...give me all the cash you carry. I know the price may be high, but--"
"Nah, it's fine."
"Really?"
Alban nodded again.
"Speak!"
Alban rolled his eyes. "Yes."
"Very well then."
Alban reached into his pockets and pulled out his wallet. When he opened it, he found that the paper currency was already gone.
"It is already taken. Now grab what is rightfully yours and be gone!"
The floating bottle suddenly no longer defied the laws of physics. Alban realized this nearly too late, but was able to catch hold of it before it hit the ground. The bottle was strangely and pleasantly warm to the touch. He turned it around in his hand and saw that there was no writing on it.
"Hey," he shouted. "Can you be a little more specific with your instructions?"
"Yes," the shopkeeper replied. "Now that the item you have paid for is in your possession, please leave."
"No, I mean--"
"BEGONE!"
Alban felt an inexorable force place itself upon him and then he was being pushed towards the shop's door. Though he resisted, it was only a matter of seconds before he was thrust out the door that promptly slammed itself shut. He pushed against the portal, but it refused to move at all this time. He sighed and took a step back. Shaking his head, he looked down the bottle. Well, at least he did get what he came for if the shopkeeper's words to be believed and believe them he did. A creature such as the one he had purchased the item from did not lie so easily...yet neither was the truth always whole. He shrugged his shoulders and returned to his car. He could figure it out when he got home. There wasn't anything a quick MERLIN Online search wouldn't bring up.
Alban put the bottle in his cup holder, started his car, put it in reverse, and started the drive home.
The journey home was fairly uneventful, a fact that Alban was grateful for. A few miles from his house he stopped at the local park and went for a quick run as he usually did after work, except today he hadn't worked. He had taken it off to regain his bearing because his girlfriend wasn't the only one stressed out--work had been hectic recently and it was nice to get some time away from the building even if part of his break had been a journey to that odd shop, an experience he couldn't stop thinking about. It had been an odd one, but he had succeeded and that was all that mattered. He just hoped whatever he had purchased would be enough to get the results he wanted.
Alban returned from his run hot and sweaty yet a bit chilled from the recent cold, a result of an early winter. After entering his vehicle, he touched the bottle and found it still warm despite the cold outside. This pleased him if only because it meant that the liquid contained therein was definitely magical. He pondered its effects and what it might actually do on the last portion of his drive home.
When he finally arrived at his abode, he took the bottle with him inside. With his mind still focused on the outcome of its use, he sat down at his computer and searched for "golden magic liquid" in MERLIN Online. Unfortunately he found that the list of what the liquid could be was several hundred thousand items long. Refining the search to contain other words narrowed the list down a bit but also left him reading about some items he would rather not have. Accepting defeat, he stood up and was about to leave his computer to take a shower when his gaze fell on the bottle. He decided he should bring it with him. After all, the shopkeeper had mentioned something about letting it absorb in the skin and the fluidity of the liquid did suggest it could be used as a lotion of some sort. Plus, if he told Neiva it was just some shower product he thought she might enjoy, she probably wouldn't be so unwilling to use it.
Alban undressed in the bathroom and stepped in the shower with the bottle in hand. He closed the curtains, turning on the water while he placed the bottle next to the multitude of other products his girlfriend used. As hot water rushed over him, a sudden thought came to his mind. Why would she use it if she already had so many other choices, ones that didn't suddenly appear out of nowhere and ones she already knew about and preferred? Still, even he found something enticing about the bottle. It had a allure that almost made him want to try it...
And why not? There would be no harm in giving it a test drive, so to speak. Just a little dab and he might be able to figure out what it actually did. No more than that--just a smidgen. Neiva wouldn't even notice if some was missing and if she did he could just tell her he had some firsthand experience.
Alban reached over to the bottle and uncapped it. He tipped it over and the golden liquid drained out lazily onto his open hand. He poured only a quarter's size in width before returning bottle and cap to its previous place. Then he brought his hand to his chest and rubbed it in. He immediately shivered with pure bliss. The liquid's touch and melding into his skin felt like a sensual massage, but better. Almost...almost orgasmic.
Without hesitation, Alban grabbed the bottle and poured more of the liquid into his hand. This time he applied it to his shoulders and felt the same feeling, only amplified this time and twice as fleeting. The liquid left him wanting more and also physical traces in that the skin that he had rubbed into it was rapidly darkening into a dark blue hue. The hair upon the affected surface also seemed to be quickly retreating as the skin became hard and cracked. He did not even notice these alterations as he procured more of the liquid from the bottle.
He applied a much larger dose to his to the top of his head, rubbing it thoroughly into his hair. This felt much better than he had expected even as larger clumps of his hair fell off his cranium and into the drain below. He closed his eyes and smiled as he massaged his face, a smile that remained even as his skull pushed forward into a reptilian muzzle, his nose being replaced by two holes at the end of his snout. His fingers twisted into talons when he kneaded his ears, which became covered with scales and extended into long, pointed ears. The dark blue scales went on to cover the rest of his head, moving down to replace his skin on his shoulders and descending further until they met those of his more clawlike hands. Under this new hide, his shoulders narrowed and his arms lost some of their muscle and bulk so that they were slim and slight.
Alban opened his eyes and saw with changed optics, green eyes slit like a reptile's rather than their human from before. Small, silvery horns sprouted from his skull while he licked at sharpening teeth with a lengthy forked tongue. He lathered more of the liquid onto his hands and rubbed at his belly. His muscular abdomen dissolved into a layer of soft silver scales that spread up to his collarbone and down to his crotch. His nipples, still existing above the scales, darkened slightly and became a little puffier as the flesh beneath them inflated into the beginnings of breasts. The feeling of the change and the liquid intermingled in a burst of pleasure that caused his previously soft member to harden with arousal. He looked down at his erect manhood and knew he had no choice. He had to expose it to the liquid. It would feel so good, better than any other portion of his body he could put it on.
He put more of the liquid on his hands and briefly rubbed his legs just to prep himself. These appendages shrank under his caress into shape as slender and almost feminine as his arms. The same dark blue scales covered the afflicted areas and his feet burst into clawed pads. He put his hands on his widening hips and moved them back to give his softening ass a nice squeeze, uncaring as the nub of a tail began to grow out slightly above it. With these areas now matching the rest of his draconic appearance, scaled included, he finally moved his hands to his manhood.
He gripped it and went through motions he hadn't bothered much with ever since acquiring a committed girlfriend such as Neiva. He wasn't sure if he was out of practice, but despite his best efforts he couldn't feel himself coming closer to coming. Of course it felt wondrous, almost like an orgasm with each motion, yet his member actually became softer in his grasp. He still tried though, even as it slipped backwards, shriveling and shrinking and only becoming all the more sensitive because of it. His testicles tucked in first, retreating into a newly opened gash while the skin that had surrounded them covered the fresh crevice and formed into a proper set of feminine lips.
Alban moaned whilst he continued to stroke at the remnant of his shaft, a small nub that shrank smaller still until it took its place high upon her new sex in its interior. Her claws slipped into her sex, her thumb keeping in contact with her clitoris. With this setup, she brought her other hand to her breasts and groped the left one, panting as her arousal grew and she finally came closer to orgasm. As she continued her self-pleasuring and exploration of her new sex, further changes, refinements of one's passed, occurred. Her body reshaped slightly so that she was curvier than before, hips flaring out and thighs thickening. Her breasts burgeoned so that she had more soft and supple flesh to play with and it almost felt as if her slit became more sensitive because of it. Just as she achieved orgasm, her tail shot out and knocked the other product that sat upon the shelf.
In the throes of the afterglow, the new dragoness fell onto her padded rear, tail lashing out as she lay in a daze, the juices of her climax flowing into the drain. She panted heavily, breasts heaving with each breath. Slowly but surely, she started to regain her senses. It was the feeling of hot water running pleasurably down her unfamiliar yet used slit that brought her back to reality. Her reaction, of course, was instant panic.
Alban got to her feet, lurching when she saw nothing was like it was before. The bottle was empty, other ones were scattered about the shower floor, and she was a she. She looked past tits to a smooth scaled belly and clawed feet and before that a--
Alban sobbed and turned off the water. She stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. She quickly dried herself off, a process that was faster than when she had been human, and wiped the steamed mirror so she could see herself.
She examined her nude form and her despair only deepened. She ran her hands over her pushed out muzzle and the horns upon it then down to her chest where she cupped her breasts. They were a nice size, somewhat larger than average, but this fact only served to embarrass her further. She shouldn't have breasts at all, let alone a pair that would excite her if she was still male!
Still, Alban felt her despair quickly fade away. She had to admit even she found herself attractive. Nice hips, a curvy figure, and piercing green eyes that could almost see right through someone. What wasn't to love?
Alban blinked. She had never been a narcissist before, so why was she having these thoughts now? Could they be related to the liquid? She did still feel horny after masturbation. She wouldn't mind having another round with herself...
No. She had to get dressed and figure out a way to undo this before Neiva returned. Even if she was pleased with her form, she wasn't sure her girlfriend would be. This just wasn't her. She was a man, not some smoking dragoness.
Alban grabbed her boxers and tried to put them on. They fit on ok, but the lack of a usual bulge in the front only reminded her of the emptiness now between her legs. She then tried on her shorts but found she could not fit them fully on due to her new tail and wider hips. A little finagling got them loosely on and only just so. Next, she put her loose t-shirt over her head and nearly tore it on her new horns. Still, she managed to get it down and around her chest, but it looked ridiculous. Her unsupported breasts and pert nipples were quite obvious through the white cloth. She scratched her head nervously, knowing and fearing what looks she might get in public. What was she to do? She couldn't bring herself to raid her girlfriend's clothes, not yet. She had to reverse this first.
The dragoness shoved her wallet and car keys into her loose shorts prior to walking out of the bathroom. She didn't even bother putting on shoes, instead making her way straight towards her front door. She was just about to open it and sprint to her car when the door opened inwards. She froze in shock, surprise, and embarrassment when she found Neiva standing before her.
"Excuse me," her girlfriend said. "Who are you and what are you doing in my boyfriend's clothes?"
"Er," the dragoness squeaked, feeling intimidated despite the fact that even in this form she was still several inches taller than Neiva.
"I get off of work early and find this? Who the hell are you? His horny hussy? Is this why he's been so moody lately!"
"N-n-n..." Alban stuttered.
"I didn't even know he was into demi-humans. And why are you wearing his clothes exactly? Didn't bother to bring your own?" Neiva rolled her eyes. "Figures. Probably came naked with your boobs and pussy out. Where did he pick you up from, hmm? Do you even have a home?"
"Neiva!" Alban wailed. "It's me!"
"Me who? I don't usually associate myself with sluts."
"I'm not a--" Alban folded her arms across her chest and had to reposition them so she didn't squash her breasts. "It's me. Me as in Alban."
"Alban? You? Oh." Neiva paused for a moment and then a small smile slid across her face. "That changes things."
"Huh?"
Neiva didn't say a word as she closed the door and advanced upon the dragoness. Alban was frozen in place, unsure how to react especially when her girlfriend suddenly reached out and squeezed her breasts.
"Hey!" Alban half-panted, half-moaned.
"Nice ones," she said. "How much did they cost? Oh and--"
Alban squealed when Neiva unexpectedly slid her hand down her pants and past her underwear, briefly brushing her fingers past her sex
"Neiva!" Alban protested.
"Just checking if it's all there," Neiva replied, slyly smiling as she stepped away.
"Why? Shouldn't you be freaking about--"
"That you're a seriously hot dragon chick. What's the problem?"
Alban opened her maw, for a moment unsure what to say. "That I'm a seriously hot dragon chick and you're not freaking out?"
"Better than you being some dragoness who is cheating on my boyfriend. Why are you like this?"
Slowly Alban explained her experience at the shop and her misuse of the liquid in the shower. She was a little perturbed when Neiva laughed at the end.
"Look," she snorted, smoke rolling out of her nostrils. "This isn't funny."
"It kind of is. You did this to bring the fire back? I think you succeeded."
"What? But I'm a girl!"
Neiva chuckled. "So?"
"So. You said you hadn't..." Alban's eyes widened. "You said you hadn't slept with any guys before me."
Neiva winked. "Any guys. Never said anything about girls..."
Alban stood in silence even as Neiva brushed up again her.
"What's the matter? I thought you wanted this."
"I did. I do. It's just that--oh Hell. Fine." Neiva raised an eyebrow. "Fine?"
"I think I'm woman enough for you," Alban said.
"Oh? Why the sudden change of mind?"
"Because I remembered a few words: permanent changes unbidden." Alban smiled sardonically. "If that's so, I'd better get used to them."
"Exactly my sentiments. Now drop those shorts. You look ridiculous. After this we're going shopping."
But they didn't not after their first session or their second, third, or fourth. When Alban awoke the next day, refreshed after such an exhausting evening, she found herself much more comfortable with her form even if there was still some other things to attend too. Still, those could wait for Neiva woke up only shortly after...