Prologue/Chapter 1
Helen was having one of those days that could only be described as a Monday, even if it was Friday. She didn't know it yet though, since she was still soundly asleep. She was snuggled in under the nice, warm blankets of her bed. She slowly cracked open one emerald-green eye, brushing a stray lock of sandy brown hair out of the way as she idly wondered why it was so bright in the room. Rolling over to peer at her alarm clock answered that question, the device cheerfully blinking 12:00 at her over and over again. She stared at it for a minute, brain still going 'wha?' for several seconds until, with a curse, she flung the covers back and started scrambling to get ready for work. After finding her watch, she found out it was almost 9:00am and she was going to be late for an early meeting at work. She scrambled over to the phone, struggling to pull on a pair of blue slacks while dialing the number at the same time, almost dropping it several times as she waited for her friend to pick up.
Someone finally picked up, the voice on the other end saying, "Hello and thank you for calling..."
She didn't give her friend time to finish the standard greeting, saying instead, "Stacy! My stupid power went out last night, ya gotta stall for me!"
She would have sworn she could hear her friend rolling her eyes as she answered, "Fine Helen, but I'm not sure I can do more than a few minutes. You had better get your butt down here!"
With a little hop the pants finally slid up, working the button with one hand as she gave a relived sigh, saying, "I'll hurry, thanks!" Slamming the phone down, she ran down the hall back to her bedroom, pulling out a white blouse and a dark blue jacket to go with the pants. She grumbled to herself as she tried to pull them on while heading to the living room.
In a matter of just a few short minutes she was out the door and in her car, driving with one hand and brushing out her shoulder length hair with the other. She didn't speed, but she came very close to it, earning a few irate honks here and there as she wove through the traffic on the way to work. She parked her car in the parking lot outside the squat, four-story building where she worked, hurrying across towards the side entrance that would put her closest to the meeting she was supposed to be at five minutes ago. As she jerked open the door and slipped inside, she ran headlong into someone, giving a grunt as she was knocked on her rump.
"Wow, yer in a hurry!" said a soft, oddly melodic voice as a slender hand reached down to help her up. She found herself staring at a woman who stood at about five foot tall, wearing a black business suit that contrasted with her pale skin. The woman gave her a grin that could only be described as impish as Helen's eyes met her gaze, seeing an almost impossible blue. Helen stared at them for a moment, feeling almost like they where hiding something and if she could just stare long enough and hard enough she could see it.
The strange woman winked at her and said, "Ye best be off or yer going to be late for that meeting..." Helen blinked then, blushing as she realized she had been staring at this strange woman. She blinked again as she realized the woman had snow white hair, idly wondering how someone who looked to be thirty at the oldest could have hair like that. She was halfway down the hallway to the elevator when she thought to wonder how the woman had known about the meeting.
The rest of the day was rather bland, mostly consisting of her taking notes for her boss during various meetings. Helen was only an assistant, but she kept track of so much information that she knew more about the company than her boss did and could probably have his job if she ever wanted it. Somehow the idea never appealed to her, even though it would earn her more money. There were a lot of things Helen could do with her life, but instead she seemed content to just settle in her little rut and let life pass her by.
The company she worked for was called Dynacide, producers of equipment and chemicals for keeping corporate-run farms free of pests. The odd thing was, the company that owned them wanted them to branch out and they had been doing so recently, moving into purchasing related business that built some of the parts they used as well as other firms not related to their business. You would almost think the owning company, Gentech, was trying to take over the world or something.
The clock seemed to be doing its best to drag the hands around its face as slowly as possible, but finally the day was over and she could head for home. She shut down her computer and logged out of the phone system before heading for her car. As she stepped outside she noticed the smell of rain and smiled. She always loved it when it rained. As Helen drove towards her home the rain finally hit, starting off as a wonderful light shower, but quickly picking up into a rather impressive storm that made it hard to see. The wipers of Helen's car worked overtime just to make sure she could make out the stripes on the road she was driving down. After pulling into the driveway of her small house and parking, she made the mad dash for her door, grumbling as she fumbled for the keys and ended up dropping them, the small overhang of the porch doing little to stop the pounding rain. She fumbled blindly for her keys, the sky dark enough now she couldn't see well enough to find them.
Suddenly the rain wasn't hitting her anymore and a familiar voice said, "Goodness, what an odd turn of weather." A second later the porch was bathed in a soft light, letting her spot her keys.
Helen snatched them up as she growled, "What the hell?! Are you some sort of nutso stalk..." Her eyes met the stranger's and she froze, staring as she found herself looking at that same pale face with the same, refined and almost noble features...but what gave her pause was the woman's eyes. They were no longer a dark blue, instead they glowed red, pupil and iris no longer visible. In her hand, the stranger cradled a glowing ball of light and the rain was curving around them as if hitting some invisible wall.
Helen's mind decided this was a great time to go 'duuuh' and she just stared at the woman for several seconds as that impish grin formed on the freaky lady's face. The strange woman whispered a word then, something that seemed to crawl into her brain and coil around it, slithering away when she tried to actually hear it. The sound of the rain started to grow softer in Helen's ears and everything seemed to be falling away, leaving her looking up at the strange woman from a distance as the woman said simply, "Have fun!"
Chapter 1
Helen woke up to a dull, throbbing headache. To make matters worse, someone was playing their television so loudly she could hear it clearly. It was some sort of war movie and ever so often a muffled explosion would reach her ears, making her head throb in sympathy. As she opened her eyes the first thing she noticed was that someone had snuck in and replaced her walls with plain concrete and stolen her bed. She was propped up against a wall and she felt like she had been through the ringer a few times, her whole body aching slightly for some reason. She peered around, noticing that she was in a rather dull, plain concrete hallway that was about six feet across and ten feet high.
As Helen reached up to rub at her aching temples she could only stare in horror at the strange hand moving towards her. It took her several seconds to realize that it was her hand, but so very different. For starters, the hand was covered in dark blue hide and each of her long, slender fingers was tipped with a sharp claw. Helen clambered to her feet and gave a grunt of annoyance as she somehow managed to drag up against the wall. As she glanced back over her shoulder she saw that she hadn't at all, it was her tail pinned between her and the rough concrete of the tunnel. She blinked for a moment and probably made a rather funny sight if anyone had been there as she tried to turn around to see her tail better, ending up making a full circle before she figured out she could arch the thing around some by focusing her attention on it. She gave it an experimental tug and blinked once more as it proved to be very much attached to her. Helen reached behind her to prod the thick base of her new tail where it sprouted from the base of her spine, starting just above the curve of her rump. She then had to stare and blink again as she noticed her legs where rather odd now as well, the knees bending the wrong way and that she was standing on her four toes like she was in high heels or something. She took a few steps and shook her head as her body seemed to respond normally. Her eyes crossed some as it also dawned on her that she had a muzzle as well, reaching up with her new hands to grope at it some, feeling along the slender length to her cheeks. Helen followed the lines of her face upwards and had to blink once more in surprise as she found her eyebrows gone. Instead, she had a pair of ridges situated just above her eyes. As her fingers slide upwards, they encountered a shaggy mane of her the likes of which she hadn't had in real life and pulling a strand forward revealed it to be a shockingly deep, almost blood red. She shook her head as she tried to take this all in, blinking as her fingers brushed something else hiding up in her hair. A little exploring revealed a pair of equine-like ears perked on top of her head, her touch making them flick slightly almost as if they had a mind of their own.
Helen's exploration of her new form was cut short as a dull boom and a gust of wind from further up the tunnel, coming from just around a corner no less than a dozen feet from where she was standing. The flickering light of fire somehow seemed to confirm that those noises she was hearing where not from a television set and she found herself suddenly wondering what she was in the middle of. She crept quietly down the hallway and poked her head around the corner, staring in awe as she saw what could only be described as a collection of humanoid animals wearing various types of armor landed on the floor from a gaping hole in the roof of the tunnel.
As Helen was still trying to decide what she should do, another group came trotting up from further down the tunnel, this one being led by a creature that looked much like she did, except he was clearly male and had to be nearly 7 feet tall as opposed to her short frame; his body covered with green hide and his mane of hair was a dark black. The first group drew an odd assortment of weapons, some of them leveling crossbows while one pulled out what were clearly a firearm as the newcomers charged headlong into them. Helen stared in horror as the two groups began to brutally kill each other only a few feet away, drawing a soft gasp from her.
The sound was apparently enough to be heard as a large bear-like creature closest to her turned at the sound, the strange male she saw earlier was close enough as well, glancing in her direction. His eyes narrowed as he started making his way towards her through the fray, the bear creature raising a pistol with a bore that seemed big enough for her head to fit in. As the bear monster leveled it at her and started to pull the trigger, Helen's world seemed to slow down and everything seemed distant. She could hear the fighting going on, but she could also swear she heard the sounds of the mechanisms in the gun as they did their duty to deliver the deadly shot that was centered right on her chest.
A sudden heat filled her, a voice in her head she had never heard speaking with her voice and demanding to know who this thing was to think he could just shoot her after the day she had been having so far! Her whole body seemed to warm then and her hand came up in a gesture almost like she was telling the bear to halt. The warmth was suddenly a hot flash of flame, flowing up through her arm and out of her palm, filling the corridor with real flame that swirled around the bear without even giving him time to make a sound. It was only a moment later the fire sputtered and died, leaving a smoldering skeleton standing there that promptly collapsed. Helen drew herself up as tall as she could, glaring down at the dead bear monster before she noticed the male like herself she had seen earlier staring at her with a shocked expression.
The original group that had come in through the hole in the roof suddenly scrambled to get out and the male called out suddenly in clear English, "Don't let any of them escape! They can't report back about this!" He lowered the bloody sword in his hand free hand rising towards her in a calming gesture as he said more softly, "Ma'am, please don't attack me. We want to..." The rest of his sentence was lost to her as everything seemed to swim and she was suddenly very tired. For some odd reason she found herself smiling at him and idly thinking he was sorta cute for a dragony thing as she leaned against the wall and nodded off to sleep right then and there.
When Helen finally woke up she felt a moment of annoyance at this happening to her so often in such a short time. She could feel rough wool blankets over her and a cot of some sort underneath her. She could hear someone in the room talking quietly and after a moment there was the sound of a door being closed. The room was quiet once more, so Helen finally risked opening her eyes and found herself in some sort of small building with a pair of cots in it, a large chest at the foot of each cot, and not much else beside a couple of lanterns for light.
"Ahh, you're finally awake." Helen turned her head towards the source of the voice to find herself looking at the male from the tunnel. He was still wearing the armor from before, up close she could see it looked like a series of plates covering his chest, legs, and arms with some kind of mail between them. All of the metal was a dark grey color and riding on his left hip was the sword she had seen him carrying before.
She peered at him for a moment and then let out a low groan, saying, "Of course it wasn't a dream...how would that be funny?" The strange male blinked at her, a confused expression passing over his face for a moment. Helene giggled at that and grinned at him, saying softly, "If I told you that just before I met you, I looked totally different, what would you think?"
He seemed to study her for a long moment, finally shrugging slightly as he answered, "I am just a warrior, but I have seen mages do many strange things, before they were all wiped out, so I do not doubt you could look any way you wanted to."
It was Helen's turn to look confused now, asking, "Mages? Riiight...did you hit your head during the fighting?"
He snorted softly and started to reply when an ancient-looking creature poked her head in. Helen decided to just start thinking of them as 'dragons', it was a lot easier than constantly wondering what the hell she was looking at. The female was a dark yellow color, her hide mottled slightly and sagging in places. The old woman wore a simple, coarse brown robe that left most of her form covered except for her hands and her head. Helen met her eyes for a moment and couldn't help but stare at the milky-white orbs that stared back at her.
"Well, she's a rude one. Yes, I'm blind, child. That doesn't mean I can't feel someone gawking at me like a hatchling." The old dragoness' voice was low and rough, like each word was an effort.
The old lady slipped into the room, leaning slightly on a cane as she trotted over to peer at Helen for a moment before saying simply, "Tell me your story without trying to cover anything up at all and you get to leave here alive. Half the generals think you're some sort of spy and the other half think you're some sort of miracle sent by the gods." She settled in, leaning more on her cane as she stared down at Helen with those pale, blind eyes expectantly.
Helen swallowed some, finding the old woman making her edgy for some reason. She sighed softly and started relating the events that led up to her passing out in the tunnel, the old woman simply listening with a passive, almost bored look. The male near the door however was looking at her like she was crazy by the end of it.
The old woman nodded slowly and smiled then, revealing surprisingly sharp-looking white teeth as she said, "Well, I'll just have a chat with those generals then and we'll get this sorted out in record time. My name is Kara, by the way...I have a feeling we are going to be seeing a lot of each other."
Kara turned and trotted back outside, pausing at the door leading outside to murmur softly to the young male. He nodded back to her and said something in return before his gaze drifted back to Helen, still looking at her a little strangely. There was something else in his gaze and Helen didn't trust her ability to read the expressions of these dragon creatures yet, because she would almost swear it was a touch of awe in his eyes.
The young male waited for a moment or two after Kara left the room before coming forward to say softly to Helen, "My name is Derick and it would seem Kara thinks you are telling the truth. She has never been wrong about such things, so what you said before must be true..." He gave a small bow then and added softly, "Welcome to our world, Ma'am."
She blinked and found herself blushing faintly, sitting up on the cot and swaying slightly as everything tried to move out from under her for a moment. Derick held out a paw, not quite touching her as he waited to see if she would be alright.
Helen smiled at him and said, "Helen...please just call me Helen. Keep calling me ma'am and I'm going to think I'm some old lady."
He smiled then and nodded to her, saying softly, "Helen..." He caught one of her paws in his, bringing it up to his lips to lightly brush them against the back of her fingers as he added, "It is a pleasure to meet you."
Helen blushed then, staring at him for a second before murmuring softly, "I...umm, thanks." She pulled her paw back and fidgeted slightly as she tried to decide what to say next.
Derick broke the silence first, saying to her, "Depending on how seriously Kara takes this, you could have a while to wait. If you give me your word you will stay here, I can go get you something to eat. It has been some times since the events in the tunnels and you must be hungry."
Helen opened her mouth to answer when a low growl from the region of her tummy decided to answer for her, making her blush once more and say, "I'll stay right here." He nodded to her and seemed satisfied, trotting out the door and leaving her with her thoughts.
She sighed softly as she glances down at the tatters of her clothes and shook her head sadly, saying to herself, "That was my favorite outfit too, though I suppose this new tail would make it hard to wear without alterations." Helen took a moment to examine her new form once more, blinking a bit as she slid her paws up to cup her breasts, murmuring under her breath, "I would swear they were bigger..." She slowly got to her feet, still feeling very worn out for some reason, she took a few experimental steps before deciding she could walk without worrying about falling over. She giggled a little as she gave her tail a playful wag, surprised at how easy it seemed to be to control it as long as she didn't over-think things and just tried to move it. She then gave a slow stretch and ohhhed as her back gave a little pop, wriggling some before absently going through a series of real stretches. She blinked in surprise at how flexible her new form seemed to be.
Helen hmmed to herself as she peered around the room, absently nudging one of the trunks in the room with her foot. The one near the cot she was laying on seemed to be empty, but the other one was very much full. Her curiosity was just about to get the better of her when the door opened again and Derick came backing into the room carrying an odd little wooden contraption and a bowl of something that smelled wonderful. He smiled and gave her a small bow before giving the wooden item in his left hand a quick snap, making it fold out into a small table. He then set the bowl down on it and pulled out a wooden spoon that was tucked into his sword belt.
Helen's stomach growled softly at the smell of the food and she took the spoon, leaning over to peer at the food in the bowl. It looked like some sort of meat mixed in with rice. She scooped out an equal mix of both, taking a small bite. She gave a low mmm at the sudden flavor that flooded her mouth, licking her lips as she started to scoop more up and eat it. Derick watched with mild amusement, seeming to find it even more funny when she asked between bites, "What is this stuff? It's great!"
Derick smiled at her and said, "It's a plant called rice with capu meat mixed into it."
She shook her head at that and grinned, saying, "I don't know what a capu is, but it's good." She turned her attention back to the bowl, making rather quick work of the entire thing. She would have been embarrassed, but she was starving for some reason.
Derick gave a soft chuckle and nodded, saying, "Well, when they let you out of here, I will be sure to show you one. I will also let the cooks know that you appreciate them so much."
Helen leaned back some with a sigh as she finished the last bite, setting the spoon in the bowl as she said, "Where am I, anyway?"
Derick nodded slightly to her and replied, "We are only a few hundred feet from where we found you, in an abandoned building we are going to be using as housing. The tunnel you were in was apparently dug during more peaceful times by someone wanting to expand their basement, but sadly it passed under the walls and when they found it they decided to use it to get inside. Thankfully the watch on that part of the wall was paying attention and noticed the dust from the blast they used to get in."
Helen just blinked up at him and nodded slowly, her tail giving a little twitch as she started to ask him another question, but was interrupted by the door opening to allow Kara to enter once more. Derick immediately walked over to her and she whispered something to him. He nodded slowly and said to her, "Yes, ma'am. I'll do that."
Kara nodded to him in return, before turning her blind eyes towards Helen to say, "Rest well, because tomorrow you are starting training. I suggest you do your best, because you've apparently been conscripted into the army."
Helen stared after the old woman as she turned and walked out, letting her gaze slide over to Derick once the door closed. Finally she managed to say, "Army?! What the hell's going on here and what gives you the right to keep me here if I want to leave?!"
Derick seemed surprised by her sudden outburst and sighed softly, saying to her, "I am sorry. It is not right for them to demand your service, but they do have the power to force you. I think you will not truly mind once I tell you why we need your help..."
She gave a snort and crossed her arms under her breasts, giving him a level glare as she answered simply, "Oh, this had better be good..."
Derick nodded and moved to sit on the other cot in the room, leaning forward slightly to regard Helen. As he started to talk, his eyes took on a distant look...
"The enemy isn't here for land or wealth...they want to enslave everyone and we don't really know why. Far to the East of here is a kingdom called Alben that was once famous for its technology. They where always the first to come up with some new wonder and when we lost communications no one thought much of it. They were always doing that sort of thing when they had some sort of new revelation and they didn't want early news leaking out before they where ready to show everyone else." Derick sighed softly and shook his head before continuing, "It's when even merchants who went into the kingdom didn't return that we started to wonder, but even then it wasn't much cause for alarm until the neighboring kingdom of Zephra lost touch with its outlying villages. Scouts were sent, and when they were never heard from again, people started to worry.
It wasn't until a ragged band of refugees from one of the villages came bearing tales of a huge army sweeping across everything in its path that the king of Zephra reacted, sending everything he had to the closest defensible city near the border. He got there just ahead of the incoming army and I've heard tales of that day...I hear it was like a wall of strange mechanical men and devices that rolled out of the forest and across the fields towards the town. All he could do was dig in with everyone who would stay while those that couldn't or wouldn't fight ran. The survivors said that the army folded around the city like some sort of glittering swarm and the last sight of the city they had was the defenders holding for as long as they could to give them time to get further away..." Derick's eyes where distant, almost like he was watching all of this.
He was silent a moment more before he added, "The machines paused there. Apparently they didn't think that kind of resistance was possible, or maybe they were hurt more than we imagine...but either way we lost our advantage now and they are pressing us hard. Now they take any who surrender or are wounded and use some strange technology to control them...worse, some join willingly and serve to keep their free will.
Helen sat silently for several minutes, lost in thought about all this. Finally she shook her head and asked, "That's...horrible, but I don't see what difference one more person can make."
Derick seemed to come to his senses at that, turning to stare at her with a surprised look on his face as he said, "The last major offensive we tried was something the mages cooked up to somehow track down the leader of these things. We learned a lot about them, but at the same time apparently they were able to track the mages casting the spell in turn and raided our camp that night..." He shook his head and growled softly, "Almost all of them were killed that night and what we have left can't rally enough magic to do much more than defend themselves."
Helen shook her head and said, "Look, I'm sure that's fascinating and all, but what does it have to do with me?"
It was Derick's turn to stare at her in surprise once more, saying, "You cast a spell to kill that bear in the tunnel...are you trying to say you don't know what a mage is?"
Helen did her best to fight off the urge to give him the 'crazy guy' look and simply said, "I know what a mage is, but that's not something that's real..." She trailed off and blinked as she realized how silly it was to be sitting here, talking to a dragon about reality. She shook her head and sighed, saying, "This sort of thing just isn't possible in my world...I'm not sure how I can know anything about it."
Derick chuckled softly and leaned over to rest a hand on her shoulder, saying, "You should get some rest. From the sound of things it's going to be a busy day tomorrow."
Helen shook her head and muttered, "I'm still not thrilled about this."
Derick nodded and said softly, "Well, I'll do what I can for you, but I'm just a simple warrior." He stood and walked to the door, smiling as he added, "Goodnight" before slipping outside.
Helen sighed softly and shook her head once more, muttering to herself, "I doubt I'm going to be able to get much sleep after all this mess..." She stretched herself out on one of the cots and curled up to try and get some rest, the crazy events running through her head long into the night.