After the End: Serenity

Arrin followed the trail into a small room with two beds and two chairs. He noticed the door vanish, but it wasn’t like he was going to try to go back until he’d killed Andarit anyway. He only had three days, now. It wasn’t enough time.

A quick look around the room didn’t tell him anything; he couldn’t read the exit door, but he didn’t spend much time trying. Andarit had gone out that way, but after the nightmare of the tunnel transportation, Arrin knew he wasn’t going to catch up today. It was better to rest and recover.

“Huh. You weren’t joking when you said you weren’t human. I wasn’t entirely sure.” Andarit’s voice rang in Serenity’s ears as he stirred from the darkness of sleep. “And the reason your armor looks like scales is because it is, isn’t it? Your scales.”

Serenity was stretched out awkwardly, one wing anchored against his body by the sheet partially wrapped around himself while the other was stretched out at its full extension. He was curled around his Crystal Hilt, and it took him a moment to realize that he didn’t currently have an armor-form manifested.

Only his dragon form and his Crystal Hilt were out. He’d clearly lost control at some point during the night, though he wasn’t certain why his armor had shifted into the hilt.

Serenity shook himself and tried to unwind from the sheet. Shifting would be much easier if there wasn’t anything in the way.

“Yeah. Could you look away for a moment? I’d like to get ready for the day.” Sure, she probably wouldn’t mind him running around naked as a young dragon; no one else did, and trying to wear clothes as a dragon was just silly. He didn’t want her watching as he shifted, though, if it wasn’t necessary. Especially not when he was shifting two forms at once and they were both major changes. He wasn’t entirely certain what it looked like; from what others had said, it mostly just looked like darkness and shadows, sometimes with specks of light, but he didn’t know how she’d react to seeing that.

Andarit flushed and ostentatiously turned her back on him.

Serenity kicked the sheet again to free himself; he might have torn it a little. It didn’t seem to be as sturdy as his nice high-thread-count sheets at home, but it was what the dungeon provided so he really couldn’t complain. Especially since he wasn’t planning to take it with him.

Finally free, Serenity shifted; today, he decided he’d use his normal human form and the same armor he’d been wearing. “You can look again.”

Andarit turned around slowly. “That didn’t take long.”

“There’s no reason it should.” Serenity climbed off the bed. “Ready for breakfast?”

“Your hair is the same colors as your scales. And your feathers. I think I even see some of the silver at the tips. That’s … I don’t think I’d have noticed if I hadn’t seen your wings.”

Serenity forced a chuckle. “It’d be more surprising if they were different colors. So, how about breakfast?”

He’d really rather not talk about his hair color. It was what it was; it wasn’t like he dyed it or really did anything other than basic maintenance.

As Serenity performed his preparations for the day, infusing the spells he thought he’d need, he noticed that everything looked a little different. Clearer? No, his sight wasn’t clearer; the magic was more defined. Wait, had he hit level 10 and picked up Magesight already?