bibbleskit

Sahasrahla watched the humans from afar, not really wanting to interact with them, preferring to keep within Ysemirza’s company. She spent a lot of time studying the flora and fauna, making friends with the local creatures, eating random things to see what tastes good, and performing “science experiments.” She’d put random things or creatures into the same pit together to see how they interact, throw a huge boulder into a lake, or make a dormant volcano explode just to watch its effects. Ysemirza would constantly make remarks about her “silly antics” but never did anything to stop her.

One day, a human man visited her den, much to her surprise. The man was expecting a fight, hoping to gain some glory for taking down the beast (pest, really) that’s been causing problems indirectly for as long as the local human history can remember. To his surprise, Sahasrahla was excited. Giddy, almost. She paid no mind to his initial attacks, instead watching him like a kid watches a beetle they put in a box. The man realized the difference in power, calmed down, and tried to have a conversation with the giant dragon, not knowing if she could speak or not.

Sahasrahla would reply with symbols shed carve into the dirt with her claw. They figured out some basic communication, and the man agreed started showing up regularly, teaching her how to read and write in the common language.

Sahasrahla learned quickly, and was praised intensely for her progress and general intelligence. He was understandably astounded that something other than a human could communicate this intelligently, but the kind words meant far more to Sahasrahla. She has only really interacted with Ysemirza, and she isn’t the type to hand out words of affirmation.

She grew to crave interaction with this human, and eventually wanted to know more about humans in general. Unfortunately, the ever marching passage of time continues, and the human she learned so much from stopped coming. He had been showing up for 30 years before being taken by an illness. Sahasrahla knew it would happen at some point, but it felt like a blink of an eye to her. Too fast, too sudden. There was so much more to learn. So much more kind things to hear. So many things she felt she should have said.

The dragon grieved. A couple years passed before Ysemirza finally came by to try to console her, only for Sahasrahla to jump up, an idea had obviously struck. Ysemirza watched curiously as the giant crimson lizard clawed through her hoard of things collected centuries past. A small chest was pulled out of the pile, within it an assortment of potions. Sahasrahla carefully read the tiny labels and found one labelled “Polymorph Cleanse.” Humans made these, she learned about their effects. She reasoned that a “cleanse” for a shapeshift just means “return to human form,” as if that was the default. Human logic. To Ysemirza’s shock, Sahasrahla crunched the potion between her teeth, ingesting most of the potion (and some glass).

The effects weren’t immediate, and it was slow. Scales started to fall, hair started to grow, her color faded and her body got softer, smaller. The ice dragon watched in horror but couldn’t look away. It took about half an hour but, finally, the transformation seemed to have ended. The once towering, flaming, armor plated, time-worn deity was now scraping 5 feet tall, squishy, and weak.

Sahasrala stumbled around in her new form, figuring out how to pilot this new flesh suit. Everything looked so big now. It looked like a whole new world. She found a mirror and looked at herself, and was upset to see that she still had horns and a tail (not to mention spooky eyes and only 3 fingers on each hand). She, very ungracefully, grabbed a nearby ornate sword from her collection and began sawing off her tail at the base. It hurt, a lot. She cried, a lot. Ysemirza took the sword hastily, snapping Sahasrahla out of single-minded ambition.

Ysemirza spoke to Sahasrahla, in their native language, urging her to calm down and asked her what she’s planning. Sahasrahla could not, for the life of her, figure out how to use her new human vocal chords. A series of grunts, screams, whimpers, and screeches graced the echoey den with its song. Frustrated, she drew a giant picture in the dirt.

Even though her drawings were honestly horrible, Ysemirza understood that Sahasrahla meant to join the humans as one of them, hoping for more love and affection (as was clear by the image of Sahasrahla being held up by adoring fans). Ysemirza tries to talk her out of it. She is unsuccessful. The ice dragon relents, and tells her sister that she will join her as soon as she procures a second potion.

Sahasrahla was delighted and got to work on learning to exist in her new form.