Xalmann was ready for another group of the ashy ghosts to come at them, or some other entirely different monster after what happened int he desert. He glanced around for any movement around them, but all he saw was the ash piles left behind by the spirits being blown away in the wind. He finally let his paranoia fade and looked toward Astrid as she explained the recent rumors of these spirits being brought to life by the dragon's awakening.

"Hm." He let out a small grunt as he began to think.

Interesting. So they were ghosts of people, maybe even people who had burnt to death. He could understand the feeling of kinship he'd had with them now. He'd heard the rumors months ago of people being kidnapped by some cult. It was spoken of so much just about everywhere, even someone on the run had managed to hear it. So it was related to the dragon, Vulcadreus. Gods asking for people to be burned alive for them. Was every god like that?

Xalmann looked down at himself and noticed his scales dusted with a fine layer of ash, like Buttfellow's metal plating. He started to brush it off as he kept walking toward the center of the crater, the barren grey landscape changing into a carpet of lush green grass. He didn't notice the ash seemed to cling to him, refusing to be brushed away by his hand.

After thoroughly inspecting Buttfellow and determining that there isn’t much to be done here in the middle of a field with no forge or proper tools, Astrid looks at Red. “Are ya doin’ alright? If ya need any healin’, I’ve got a handful a’ stuff that’ll fix ya up.”

The lizardfolk looks so lost in thought that she wonders if he even heard her. Then he wordlessly starts to walk to the center of the crater which once was a massive pool of lava flowing, released from underground in an eruption caused by a god. The very same creature exploded in a rain of motes of light, harmless and gently fluttering, so much unlike his dramatic appearance.

Seeing Red focused on it, she wonders if his connection to the earth domain drew him to this place. Astrid glances around for danger then decides to leave Buttfellow in his place and follow after Red in case something else crops up. She won’t leave him to deal with it alone. What the heck is he so focused on? Is there something Astrid can't see or is it simply some... Well, something magical. The residual energy of Vulcadreaus maybe?

Xalmann barely registered Astrid's offer of healing in the back of his mind and he gave no response. Unnecessary. He hadn't been injured in the slightest. He just kept walking, as if in a trance, toward the edge of the crater. When he finally reached it, he didn't hesitate to slide down the side right down into it and continue walking toward the center.

He could already feel it. This place was brimming with power. He'd never been anywhere so saturated in the magic of the earth domain, the magic that he had in him. It only grew thicker as he grew closer to the center. He started walking faster. He didn't notice his wooden arm unravelling in places as the branches grew thicker and flowers and leave sprouted across it more densely than usual.

He finally stood in the very center of the crater. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, taking in the ambient magic of the great dragon that had been reborn and defeated here. He felt like he finally was where he needed to be, like a longing he'd never known about until now had finally been fulfilled. He could feel the heat of something burning in his chest that kept growing hotter. He could suddenly feel the energy around him rushing into him faster than he could handle it.

Xalmann dropped to his hands and knees, the normally silent and stoic Lizardman in visible pain. From where she stood, Astrid could see as Xalmann's scales fell off and were replaced by rapidly growing new ones, these scales much darker darker in color, the edges flaring out like jagged shards of obsidian. A pair of lumps grew out of his back that elongated and bent until it became clear he was growing a pair of draconic wings. A pair of horns grew from his skull and his lizard-like face grew into a toothy draconic visage. His claws lengthened and sharpened and his tail split down the middle, turning into a pair of reptilian tails. Finally, his entire body grew larger, his shoulders broadening and his limbs thickening with more muscle.

As Xalmann's body changed, so did the wooden arm attached to him. The burnt, dead-looking wood grew more lively, changing to hues of brown and green. The limb thickened to match his larger physique and the sharp wooden tips of the fingers grew longer, into dangerous claws. Finally, the entire limb grew a coating of dark green leaves that covered it in a layer that almost made it blend into the rest of his body seamlessly, the leaves resembling the obsidian scales coating the rest of his body. The only thing besides the green tint to them that set it apart was the glowing orange flowers scattered along it.

Throughout the entire transformation, Xalmann screamed in pain and couldn't lift himself from his hands and knees on the ground. When it was finally over, he gasped for breath, as if he'd just run nonstop for miles. He stood shakily to his feet and turned to face Astrid, having to look down more than before as he now stood nearly eight feet tall. He looked at his arms and legs, examining the sudden changes in himself. He furled and unfurled the wings on his back, getting a feel for the new pair of limbs he'd never had before. On his chest, a glowing red mark that looked like a dragon's claw stood out from the now nearly black scales.

Being ignored, Astrid figures that Red just doesn’t want to be healed or doesn’t need it, so she shrugs and stows anything she pulled out. At first, she doesn’t think much of Red’s behavior – he tends to just be pretty quiet and only speak when he wants to, but as he approaches the center of the crater, she starts to wonder if there is something going on. Her brow furrows while she watches him, deciding to give him some space.

And then something happens. What it is, Astrid has no idea, but it’s evidently painful. “Red??” she calls, starting toward him at a quick and worried pace. Then she sees him start to transform, his body changing in grotesque ways and not at all as fluid as Blue Raspberry’s transformations. He starts to grow, and she wonders if he’s becoming some sort of monster, or worse, one of the Charred??

Oh gods, she can’t fight a friend again.

“RED!!” Astrid shouts desperately. He has to hear. He has to be in there! He has to be okay! She runs as fast as she can, and when she finally gets there, the screaming stops, and Red looks down at her with a strange calm about him that unnerves her. “R-Red… Are ya in there..?” she asks feebly.

Xalmann was deep in thought. He could feel he'd absorbed a tremendous amount of magic from the area, but he knew it wasn't nearly all of it. The area was still teeming with the power the dragon had left behind, the power of the earth domain. He hadn't even absorbed a fraction of it and it had had this much of an effect on him. He felt incredible. He examined his body, seeing the changes to his scales and physique along with a new pair of wings and horns. He'd definitely taken on some features of the dragon whose energy was permeating this place. Suck on that, Perrath! Now Xalmann was a dragon too!

His victorious musing to himself was interrupted by shouting and he looked down to see a strangely nervous-looking Astrid. She looked smaller than before. No, it was obvious he had grown larger. Not a surprise, considering all the other changes he'd gone through.

Xalmann didn't know why Astrid seemed so nervous. She was asking if he was still in there. Did she think he'd lost his mind and was some kind of monster now?

He opened his mouth to speak and a small cloud of ash came out and dissipated in front of him, like a person's breath only visible in the cold. That was new.

"Yes." He said calmly, his tone just as emotionless as usual, though his voice was a bit deeper now. He was still in there. Astrid had nothing to worry about. At least, that was what he hoped an answer as short as 'Yes.' would convey. He wasn't on to be overly concerned with other people's feelings, but having a child worry about him wouldn't serve any purpose.

There is a nerve-wracking silence while Red examines himself, taking stock of the changes to his body, and breathing out a cloud of ash. It’s evident to Astrid that he’s taken on Vulcadreaus’ power that lingers here. It’s the only explanation. The question is whether or not those changes are only physical. When Red looks at her and finally responds, Astrid’s shoulders relax, and she lets out a sigh of relief.

“Well, that’s good,” she says. “Are ya feelin’ alright? That looked… real painful. Now yer more… Black than Red.” The last bit comes with a slight chuckle. Finally, she looks him over, really taking in what’s changed about him and gets a good look at the glowing claw marks across his chest. “What happened? Did ya… feel a bunch a’ lingerin' magic from Vulcadreaus?”

Walking around him in a circle, still giving him a wide berth, she adds, “Ya’ve got wings now, how does that feel? Ever flown before?”

The transformation had been painful, but now that it was over, Xalmann actually felt better than he might have ever felt before. The pain had quickly subsided. Maybe it was just because his body hadn't been used to all the energy and it had made changes to him that no one would normally go through so quickly. Shedding all of his scales and growing new ones, having new limbs grow with bones and musculature... That was painful.

Xalmann grimaced a bit at being called Black. He really didn't want to be thought of as a black dragon. It was too similar to one he knew and thought of as a coward and a hypocrite. Being a dragon was as close as he was willing to acknowledge as similar to that guy. No, he definitely preferred to be called Red. It was also the nickname he'd been given by someone before Astrid, who he wouldn't forget. Upon close inspection, Xalmann's scales really weren't black, but a very dark red with a glassy sheen to it like some kind of red-tinged obsidian.

He looked down at Astrid and tapped the red, slightly glowing claw mark on his chest with one finger.

"I am Red."

Xalmann wasn't entirely sure himself what had happened, but feeling a bunch of lingering magic from Vulcadreus was probably just about an accurate summarization. Feeling it, being bewitched by it, and absorbing some of it. That was as much as Xalmann could tell anyways.

Now that Astrid brought them up, he looked over his shoulder at the new pair of wings folded behind him and slowly unfurled them. He was, admittedly, completely inexperienced with them. He'd never had wings before and even without wings, he'd never flown. He knew there were some magic spells that allowed people to fly without wings or to magically grow a pair temporarily, but he'd never learned that kind of magic. His talents really only lied in fire magic and he was slowly expanding into more earth and plant magic ever since his change of limb.

The usually stoic Lizardman actually betrayed a hint of being unsure of himself as he experimentally moved his wings behind him, trying to gain more of a feel for them.

Astrid sees Red’s twist in expression when she jokes that he’s less Red than Black and nods vigorously when he firmly states that he’s Red. “Right, a’ course. Well, ya look real cool now. Erm, not that ya weren’t cool before, just this is… different!” A certain amount of awkwardness leaks through her words, and she wonders if that bit of nervousness about the transformation just hasn’t settled yet. Red is a tough person for Astrid to read.

She watches him kind of try to figure out how to move his wings, and she can’t help but smile. “It’s weird havin’ extra limbs ta figure out, huh?” she says. “I got meself a pair a’ magical wings a while back, an’ learnin’ ta fly with ‘em was pretty hard. Ended up throwin’ meself off a tower ta finally force meself ta figure it out.” For some reason, being in danger is a very good motivator for actually getting the hang of something. Plus, it was honestly kind of a fun way to get over any fear of heights she might have had before then.

Astrid unfurls her wings from beneath her cape,^[1] which unlike Red’s have a layer of feathers across the top in some odd mix of a bird’s and a bat’s wings. “Ya gotta flap ‘em in a way that catches the wind. Bit of a technique ta it, surprisin’ly.” She demonstrates, though not with enough force to lift herself off the ground.

---

1. Bat Wings

Xalmann was surprised to see the young girl suddenly unfurl her own pair of wings all of a sudden, but at this point, he'd seen her do enough crazy things to not think it was that strange. She's turned into lightning, had a big metal golem with her, and wasn't afraid of Xalmann now that he'd turned into some kind of dragon man.

He was, however, a little disturbed to hear she'd learned to use those wings by throwing herself off a tower. Even in the grueling training his tribe went through to learn how to wield an axe and raid caravans, oftentimes sending them to risk their lives in a battle with some strong animal or monster in the swamp to prove themself a capable warrior and gain experience, they'd at least never been tossed from some high place as part of that. Well, now that they thought about it, if anyone in his tribe had ever grown wings before, that might have become part of their training.

Xalmann was fine taking his flight training a bit more slowly for now though.

He started flapping his wings, copying Astrid's movements and getting the hang of the proper technique. He flapped progressively harder, testing just how much it took to actually get him off the ground, until was flap actually lifted his feet into the air while he wasn't expecting it.

In a much less graceful and dignified way than he would have liked, he kicked his legs and shot his arms out to either side in surprise for a moment before landing back on the ground. He hid the embarrassment he was feeling with a stoic expression and continued flapping his wings as if nothing had happened.

Even the whole situation of having a child teaching him was embarrassing, so it was best to just get this over with and not think about it too much.

Flying is definitely a bit weird, and watching Red test how much strength is actually required to lift himself and keep himself afloat is interesting to say the least. Astrid is used to how much she weighs – there’s no big transformation to worry about. Red has to also overcome that. The unbalanced half-second flight is a sight to see, and while it’s goofy, Astrid doesn’t laugh. Instead, she claps and cheers him on.

“You can do it, Red!” she says with an encouraging smile.

And in time, he gets the basics, at least enough for Astrid to be fine with leaving him to his own devices. “Admittedly, it’s a bit easier when there’s more wind currents, but the air’s been oddly still out here since the volcano exploded.” It’s a strange thing to have noticed, but she figures the world will find a way to correct itself in time, especially given that the giant cloud of ash that used to hang over Darkveil is essentially nonexistent nowadays.

Putting her hands on her hips, Astrid says, “Well, I think ya have a handle on it, and ya seem alright. I just wonder if yer gonna stay this way forever? Would be kinda cool… Goin’ back ta the guild as a resident dragon-lookin’ fella!” She of course still does not know about his involvement in the drama that happened in the Marsh Flats.

Shaky start aside, Xalmann was getting the hang of flying with his new wings. With more confidence, he slowly flew higher off the ground and found his balance. Flying felt almost instinctive after a bit of practice. Maybe there was more dragon in him now than just his change of appearance. Both a comforting and also concerning thought.

He landed a little more heavily than he'd meant to and looked at his hands again, pondering Astrid's question. Was this change permanent? It felt strange. He could feel there was something off about him now, like this change should be temporary, but he couldn't change back for some reason. He didn't even know how to change back, really. But he had a sense that if he did know, something was preventing him.

Would it be all that bad if he couldn't change back? He was definitely stronger like this. That wasn't a bad thing. And maybe a change in appearance would help him avoid being caught. Though, probably not. Reptile man with a plant arm was still a pretty unique identification, even if he got a bit taller and darker. And he definitely would stand out in a crowd a lot more like this. No, even like this, there was no way he was going back to the guild any time soon.

Xalmann looked at Astrid with his usual stoic face and gave her the most emotionless shrug she'd probably ever seen. He walked past her, headed back toward Darkveil and out of the crater. As soon as he'd passed out of the area where grass had sprouted up he felt the energy around him lesson greatly and some connection cut off like a thread being cut. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say a stream of energy flowing into him suddenly stop.

Without the constant energy of Vulcardeus around him keeping it up, he felt his draconic transformation suddenly cut off. His body shrank and his scales returned to their normal red as the jagged edges smoothed out. Horns and wings retracted back into him and his pair of tails recombined into one. His prosthetic arm reverted back to its usual appearance as the leaves mimicking a dragon's scales yellowed and then fell off like the arm didn't have enough life in it anymore to keep them. Faster than it had taken him to transform before, he was back to his usual self again. The only part of him from the transformation that still remained was the glowing red claw marks across his chest. He was glad to note that this time his transformation had been far less painful, though still a bit uncomfortable.

He looked back at Astrid. Looked like her question had been answered.

Somewhat as expected, Red says next to nothing regarding anything that Astrid mentions or asks. She’s not particularly bothered by it. That’s just the kind of person that he is. At least he’s gotten the hang of flying pretty quickly, and admittedly, he looks pretty cool doing it.

And then, as oddly as Red came here, he simply turns and starts to leave. No goodbyes or well wishes – he simply just leaves. Astrid watches him for a moment, wondering if she should follow or not. Well, she’s also going back to Darkveil, so she shrugs and starts after him with Buttfellow following close behind.

It’s strange to watch Red suddenly start changing back as soon as he exits the area of fresh grass. Astrid stands back and watches with interest then nods with approval. “Well, that’s that then. At least ya don’t hafta make any big adjustments or anythin’. Gettin’ used ta bein’ taller an’ whatnot.”

For a moment, she stands awkwardly then offers a handshake. “Good ta see ya again, Red. Hope things settle down fer ya here soon. Guess I’ll head off ta let the guards know we dealt with some a’ the Charred they were talkin’ about.”

It was odd for Xalmann, being told that it was good to see him. He didn't hear that. In fact, as a raider in the Marsh Flats, he was much more accustomed to hearing the exact opposite. Cries of fear and being very unhappy to see him and his other tribe members.

What a weirdo.

Xalmann gave a slight wave with the back of his hand as he walked away, much more of a friendly goodbye than he gave just about anyone.

Maybe there was some sense of comradery. They did fight, frankly, too many monsters together in too short a time. He could respect her fighting capabilities. And, she was the only witness to what had just happened to him in the crater.

Ugh, what the hell? Why was he suddenly better friends with some weird little girl than with anyone else? This wasn't normal! Did Astrid have some weird friend-making aura around her or something? Even Xalmann got pulled in!

At least reporting their defeat of the Charred might help his reputation. He wondered if the guards she reported to would let her know he was a wanted criminal and if that would make the next time they met go very differently from this time. Why was he even thinking about the next time they might meet? Stupid friend-making aura. That definitely had to be it.