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Meanwhile at the Lair of Dr. Callyco

"We should do more field work!" Dr. Callyco suddenly spoke up from where he was sitting in the lab. "Get out of the lab a bit... And you know do some outdoor scientific research."

"O-kay?" Dr. Cutie Pup eyed the question. "But... Do you actually plan to do any scientific research or do you plan to just run around poking things with sticks and seeing what happens?"

"Is there a difference between the two?" Dr. Callyco tilted his head.

"Well... Um... The thing is..." Dr. Cutie Pup rubbed his chin. "Kind of? Well I mean not really. I just feel that's something of an incredibly simplified version of how scientific discovery works."

"Then we're in agreement! We're going to poke... ALL THE THINGS!" The kitten jumped out of his chair in excitement.

"Well guess we're onwards to scientific greatness then." The wolf pup rolled his eyes. "But don't you think you're forgetting something else."

"Nope! Nothing at all!" The kitten smiled. He was then silent for exactly 36 seconds before speaking again. "Oh shoot!"

"Ohhhh?" Dr. Cutie Pup grinned.

"QUICK! Dr. Cutie Pup!" Dr. Callyco waved his arms. "Introduce our next guest!"

"As you wish." Dr. Cutie Pup shrugged but he never stopped grinning at the kitten. "Our next guess goes by the name of Chaos. He's a husky in his mid twenties with gray and white fur and blue hair."

"Chaos has a little bit of an interest in monsters." Dr. Callyco explained. "That's the type of interest that can get you in trouble. There are rules to follow when dealing with monsters. When you break those rules, bad things happen. Even if you're just learning about them in an academic setting! I present our eighth tale. The Tale of the Monstrous Museum."

Thirteen Karmic Tales

Eighth Tale

The Tale of the Monstrous Museum

Chaos stood at the entrance of the castle clutching his ticket in his paw. The husky was moments away from his VIP Haunted Castle Tour. It had cost him a pretty penny to get the ticket, but as he marveled at the ancient architecture that towered above him he concluded that it was worth it. Still... It was a bit weird that there was an old Scottish castle twenty minutes outside of town. Especially since this was in the states... But it still looked like a blast.

"Good afternoon sir." A bat in a suit walked out of the castle to greet Chaos. "I assume you are here for the tour?"

"You bet I am!" Chaos responded and wagged his tail. "I heard this castle was not only haunted, but according to legend used to be filled with all kinds of monsters."

"Oh yes it's quite true sir." The bat nodded. "Alright, head inside. Just follow the red carpet through the entire tour."

"Aren't... Aren't you coming?" Chaos asked. "To explain everything on the tour?"

"It's a self guided tour sir." The bat replied. "Simply follow everything, marvel at the artifacts on display, and remember. Do not touch anything or stray from the rug."

"Oh..." Chaos couldn't hide his disappointment at not having a guide. Still, at least that meant he could go at his own pace. He wouldn't have to worry about getting rushed on. He psyched himself back on, handed over his ticket and strode through the front gate of the castle.

He found himself in a long stone corridor. It was mostly barren of decorations. He looked around in confusion till he noticed a sign indicating many artifacts were off display for restoration. That was annoying... But at least there would be more to see in the castle than just the entrance!

The husky approached a spiral staircase and ascended to the next level. Here there was another barren hallway, but there were entrances to a multitude of other rooms branching off from said hallway. However to Chaos' horror he saw that each of those passages was roped off. The carpet indicating the tour line continued off down the end of the hallway never deviating.

Chaos moved up to one of the roped off sections and tried to look into the room beyond it. There was no lighting and the area was dark. He could see a couple of feet in from the hallway but that didn't tell him much. He thought he might have seen the feet of a suit of armor. He thought he might even be able to make out the outline of it if he squinted. But that was about it.

He was beginning to feel duped for paying for the VIP experience.

The second floor was a bust. There was still the main attraction though. The dungeons beneath the castle. According to the legends that's where they used to breed and raise monsters. Surely if there was anything to see it would be down there!

Chaos rushed forward until he encountered another staircase. This one took him two floors down where he was finally able to reach the dungeon. Much to his delight he entered a well lit area meaning he'd even be able to actually see! The walls down here were even covered in decorations! There were swords and shields, banners and paintings of mythical beasts. Chaos felt his tail wagging as he approached the entrance of the dungeon...

Only to find it roped off. The tour line carpet moved past the dungeon to another staircase with a sign indicating the tour ended there. This had been a complete waste of time! Chaos hadn't seen anything!

Chaos looked at the dungeon entrance. He couldn't see into it. There was a staircase that went even further underground and blocked most of it from view. He considered his options. He had paid a lot of money for this ticket. It didn't seem right that he literally didn't get to see anything!

He looked around. There were no security cameras. No one was nearby. No one would know if he snuck down those stairs just for a few minutes. Just so he'd actually see something. He wouldn't break or take anything. He just wanted to see.

Chaos lifted up his leg and stepped over the rope. He then proceeded down into the dungeon. Down here the light was dimmer, but enough poured in for him to be able to see. And this place did not disappoint.

There was a large pit of fire in the center room. This was the main source of light here. The coals were still lit and mixed in with strange rocks. Then there were enormous cages dotting the walls. They were too big for people, or even horses. Some kind of much more massive beast must have gone inside! There was a hint of what those might have been nearby. A large saddle was mounted on the wall. It was big enough to completely engulf a bear. Only one thing would have been large enough to wear that.

Chaos wasn't going to believe everything he heard immediately. Obviously this castle couldn't have possessed real monsters such as dragons back in the age. They had to have been exaggerations. Yet, he found himself struggling to think of what else might have been able to wear those saddles. Perhaps they had kept elephants? Even those would be a bit small. Then again... Maybe these were fakes just made by the tour company to give the image.

Chaos moved on to another side of the dungeon. Here was something resembling some form of armory. Weapons covered the wall from floor to ceiling. There were swords, spears, morning stars, hammers, maces and even a stick.

Wait a stick?

Chaos' ears perked up in curiosity as he saw just an ordinary stick among the weapons. Was that someone's joke? That clearly didn't belong there. He grabbed the stick and pulled it from the display and examined it. There actually were some markings on it. Maybe it was an exhibit after all. In the dim light he couldn't make out what those markings were

Chaos moved closer to the fire pit to try to get more light. He held the stick closer to the fire trying to make out the carvings. It looked like there were a series of some kind of animal on it? He wasn't sure. But he realized that if this was an artifact of some sort he could get in a lot of trouble for picking it up. It would probably be the best thing to-

There was suddenly a low hissing sound. Chaos looked down at the stick to see he had been holding it too close to the flames. It was now on fire.

"Gah!" Chaos let out a yelp and dropped the stick. This turned out to be the wrong thing to do as it landed within the fire pit. Chaos' ears flattened and his eyes widened in horror. Now he was going to be in trouble. He rushed over to the pit and looked around to see if there was anything he could try to use to grab the stick before it burnt up. All he saw were coals... And... Something else in the fire. He had thought they were rocks earlier, but they were smooth round objects, though they had all been broken open. They almost looked like bird eggs after they hatched, but much bigger. The fire didn't seem to burn any of them. Whatever these weird stones were they gave Chaos an idea.

He looked to see if there were any of these stone things that were close to the edge of the fire, any that wouldn't be that hot to touch. He was lucky to find a piece of one that had fallen out of the fire. It was cool to the touch so he could lift it without being burned. He quickly moved back to where he had dropped the stick. He tried to reach into the fire with the rock thing to scrape the stick out. It was just long enough to reach... But as he made contact-

There was an explosion of fire and a loud bang. The stick went up in an instant and Chaos was forced to jump back to avoid being burned. He still held his rock or shell thing whatever it was. But he paused when he saw it. It was on fire. Yet despite the fact that he was holding it with his bare paws he felt no pain from being in contact with said fire

"Well that's odd-" Chaos didn't finish the thought. The egg began to glow and then seemed to stick to Chaos' hand. He tried to shake it off but it wouldn't come loose. Instead it glowed with a bright color and Chaos started to feel incredibly weak.

The room seemed to grow out around Chaos. His muscles seemed to fail him. The husky wasn't sure what was going on but he decided it was time to leave. He started heading for the stairs but he fell down onto all fours as he walked. The stairway seemed to be stretching away from him as he shrunk in size. He continued to feel weaker and weaker as time passed. He tried to stand up but he simply lacked the muscles to do so. It was as if he was as weak as a newborn child!

As this realization hit him he looked over his body. He was just a newborn! And the strange glowing rock that had attached itself to his hand was growing in size, it almost looked like he now had a large shield he could use. Unable to get it off of him, and unable to walk. He could do nothing but try to crawl for the stairs hoping to find help. Meanwhile the strange rock continued to grow, it began to curve around his body.

Chaos reached the staircase. He reached his hand out to try to climb up only to tumble backwards. The rock was so heavy that Chaos fell atop it. He couldn't stand up. Meanwhile it continued to grow and formed an oval shape around his entire body. Soon Chaos was completely encased inside of it. He couldn't see anything that was happening outside. But he could feel the changes as they started.

Small wings growing out of the back of his body. His fur being replaced by hard scales. Horns growing from the top of his head. Spines forming down his body and tail. He could almost picture what he was becoming. Almost... But he suddenly found himself feeling so tired. He soon found even the effort needed to fret about the situation was too much. He was just so tired. Soon he was sound asleep as the changes continued. The room became completely silent except for the stone-like oval that Chaos was imprisoned in.

Several hours later two bats in suits entered the dungeon.

"Ugh we don't even let people come down here. Why do we have to check the place?" One bat asked.

"Security purposes mostly I guess." The second bat responded. "Gotta make sure no one is hiding out any place they're not supposed to be."

"Fine fine whatever..." The first bat paused as her reached the bottom of the stairs and noticed a curious object at it. "Hey... Wait a second is this?"

"A dragon egg!" The second bat exclaimed. "I thought all of them had been smashed! And one is just sitting here! Quick! Get it into the fire! It needs a lot of warmth!"

"I'm working on it!" The first bat responded as he quickly ran to the fire pit. He dropped the dragon egg in with a sigh. "Wonder how we missed that?"

"No idea." The second bat grinned. "But it'll make a great exhibit."

"Is that wise?" The first bat asked. "If it is a dragon egg, there's a real chance it could hatch."

"Don't worry!" The second bat waved one of his wing arms. "Everyone knows that dragon eggs take decades, sometimes even centuries to hatch, even after the dragon inside is fully formed. By the time this thing hatches it'll be someone else's problem. Besides, it'll be a baby so we can probably just prophet off putting it in a cage and displaying it too."

"I suppose your right." The first bat smiled. "Well then, I guess we'll make sure it's front and center once we reopen the dungeon to visitors."

"Oh yeah, it'll be the one thing that everyone comes to see."

The End