Chapter 308: Side Story: Shape Training
Sonya didn't expect the first time shifting into a dragon to be pleasant. Shifting into any of her shapes for the first time never had been She endured it simply because she knew that afterwards, she'd be able to bypass whatever it was that made shifting so uncomfortable in the first place.
This time, at first it felt like she was getting bloated. Then she felt her center of gravity shift forward so she couldn't maintain her balance and feel on her hands and knees. Then even her arms and legs gave out, unable to hold that position as she felt her torso continue to grow. Then came a searing pain along her shoulder blades, like something was being carved into them. When that pain disappeared, she felt wings had grown on her back.
Next she felt her head elongating as horns grew out of her skull, leaving her with a massive headache, even as her neck grew longer. Then for a moment, the changes stopped. While she had thought in the past that it had been over, she knew that it was merely a temporary thing. Why it paused like that, Sonya had no clue. Just that it always paused at that moment before continuing up again after a minute or two.
When the changes started again, Sonya felt a scream lock in her throat as her back burned as spikes grew out along her spine, feeling like they were piercing through her skin as they did so. When she felt like she was at her limit in regards to pain, she felt her arms and legs finally start to change, in addition to her tail starting to grow. Which in turn added to the level of pain she was already enduring.
Sonya wasn't sure if she blacked out or if she had then become numb to the pain, or even all sensation of her body changing, but when she opened her eyes next, all the pain was gone. All sensations of how weak her arms and legs had been were gone. In its place, Sonya felt like she had more energy than she had in any of her other shapes, including her human shape.
Which, even though it was her original shape, she couldn't help but start to think of it as merely another shape. Sonya wasn't sure if that was merely a hazard of being able to shift shapes like she could now, or if it was a sign that she was losing at least part of her humanity.
As Sonya stood up, she looked around for a reflective surface so she could see what she looked like. Not so much from a vain perspective, but rather because she was curious as to what this shape really looked like. As it was one thing to 'see' the shape in her mind as she moved, and another thing to actually see what she looked like. Especially because of how she was uneasy as to what might be 'strange' about this shape.
When she didn't see anything that she could use as a mirror, she looked at the clothing she'd dropped on the ground. She figured she should at least put it in a pile under a tree, just in case there was any rain during the day before she was done.
As she reached for it, though, she stopped as her claw came into view. She was surprised to see that her scales were a soft pink with an iridescent gleam when struck by the sunlight. Her claws looked to be almost made out of a pink crystal, though she suspected they were harder than any simple crystal.