Ouroboros Ch. 02

The entire process lasted only a few seconds but they were indeterminately long seconds. He looked himself over in the full length mirrors that were hung on the backs of the double doors leading back to the sitting room and had to admit to himself, he liked what he saw. It felt right and natural that he should be like this instead of hiding who he was within his human body. The hair on his head had changed from a dark blonde to something that resembled spun gold thread, the metallic sheened hair fell over and was parted by several hornlike protrusions that had grown from the crown of his head. His face was different too. His eyes were much more angular and his nose was completely gone, replaced by two narrow slits at the end of a short snout

That was a surprise for Boros. He had never had a mirror handy when he'd shifted before. He had known about the tail, wings, scales, and height difference as well as his hands and feet ending in retractable razor sharp claws. But the crown of horns was completely new to him.

Watching his reflection in the mirror he stretched out his wings, his tail thumped the ground with surprise to find that he could nearly touch the walls of the room almost eight feet away on either side. He folded his wings and turned to retrieve the pair of shorts from the bed to cover himself. Self-consciously he scrutinized his penis. It was definitely proportional to his size, very large, and shaped slightly different with a larger glans and much more heavily veined. His scrotum was something else entirely. It hung low on his body and was large enough to hold a pair of testicles that were each the size of his human fist.

Boros shook his head and concentrated on getting his balance right as he lifted one leg and then the other pulling on the shorts. He wanted to get this done with and see what else Gabrielle could tell him. Boros looked himself over in the mirror one more time and made sure he was presentable then braced himself for the reactions he might receive in the next room.

***

The conversation in the sitting room stopped when Boros, with his hand on the door lever, called that he was coming out. He slowly opened both of the bedroom doors, to make room for his wings, and ducked under the jamb so he wouldn't bang his horns when he stepped through. He was met with silence and wide eyed stares as he made his way further into the room.

Boros broke the silence. "Well, Gabrielle?" he asked her.

Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times trying to make words come out before she finally succeeded. "Magnificent!" she exclaimed and slowly stood up from her armchair. "I never dreamed I would ever meet a golden dragon." she suddenly looked troubled, but before she could voice any concerns Nancy and Sam had their own opinions to share.

"Jesus." Sam muttered. "You need to find a way to tone down your magic, you're leaking all over everything."

"You're beautiful." Nancy whispered. Her eyes traced his form from top to bottom and then paused when they were halfway back up when she broke into a crimson blush.

Boros followed her look and realized she was staring at his groin. The fabric of the shorts clearly showed the outline of his penis. As soon as that registered to him, the subject of Nancy's scrutiny gave a lurch and her eyes snapped back to his face but didn't stay there long before they were drawn back like iron shavings to a lodestone.

Sam was about to say something, but Gabrielle beat him to it. "I think it would be best if you changed back now Boros." and more to herself she said, "I didn't anticipate that. It isn't just his magic that is leaking out, Sam."

"What?" Boros asked.

"You're giving off pheromones Boros. Very strong pheromones. I didn't realise dragons did that, but they're even messing with my thinking and I have some innate protections against preternatural tampering." she muttered something to herself, Sam and Boros were very likely the only ones that heard it. "I wonder if she..."

Boros wanted to question that comment but looked at the three of them. Nancy had a glassy almost vacant look in her eyes and a lustful expression on her face. Sam was switching between looking worriedly at Nancy and glaring at Boros. Gabrielle's face was flushed but she wore a determined expression.

"Did you get what you needed Gabrielle?" Boros asked.

"I did. You may not like what I have to tell you next, but I now have enough information to advise you."

Boros didn't hesitate this time. He gathered his power into an imaginary fist and shut it down. The change in reverse was just as spectacular, Boros' skin seemed to absorb the scales along with his wings and tail. The 'sucking' sensation it engendered wasn't half as bad as it's opposite. It was almost a relief to be back in his human shape but he couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret. He resolved to not deny that part of himself anymore, and on the tail of that idea he felt something inside of him, that he was not previously aware of, ease.

"Wow." Sam said. "I didn't know anyone could switch between forms that fast. Aren't you ravenously hungry now?"

Boros thought about it then shook his head. "No, not particularly. If anything it was energising." and it was. Boris felt not only centered, but empowered.

"That makes sense." Gabrielle said. "Sam, when you change forms you use the power you get from your animal half. Boros uses the power he gets from his elements or aspects."

"It isn't just that." Sam admitted. "I'm a more than a little jealous. When I shift, almost all of my bones break and reform into my new shape. It's like you just dissolve or something." he sighed wistfully. "To not have to endure that pain or the hunger that follows... Boros, you truly have a gift." Then Sam asked Gabrielle a question.

"Which element or aspect does he get his power from?" Sam asked.

Gabrielle looked Boros in the eye. "All of them." she stated.

"What?" Sam and Boros both exclaimed simultaneously.

Gabrielle was nodding. "You heard what I said earlier this morning Boros. What color dragon are you?"

Up to that point, Boros had thought that Gabrielle had been describing just the different varieties of dragons. Now he understood that what she said, she had meant, literally. "Are you saying that the color of my scales literally tell you what kind of dragon I am?" he asked.

"I can only tell you what I know, but if you are neither a green, blue, brown, white, or red then that leaves only one type of dragon for you to be. I'm not saying there couldn't be others but I have had cause to make a study of such things. I have only heard stories of one other type of dragon, a black. But I have only heard that it exists, not anything about it. There is a lot about you that is more clear to me now that I've seen and felt you. I believe you are a dragon of the highest caste, a golden dragon. Such a thing had always been conjecture and myth, until now. If that is what you are, then you need to be allowed to grow and thrive." she gathered herself, "You also need to embrace what you are and not only accept it and come to terms with it, but practice with your potential."

Sam was looking at him now with a little bit of fear in his eyes. Boros regretted that more than a little. He like Sam.

"I do have a few ideas to help you though, providing you are willing to answer a few questions honestly."

Boros nodded. "Of course I'll answer honestly. What do you need to know?"

"You were vague before about how you could afford staying in this hotel. Considering you've been here for several weeks, that couldn't have been cheep. How did you come by such wealth?" Gabrielle asked him.

That wasn't something he'd expected her to ask. The answer was both simple and complicated. "Well, a few years after I'd been living on my own, away from civilization, I discovered I had an interesting ability. I can actually smell precious metals and stones. It's almost like they call to me." Boros began. "I dug out a cellar under the cabin I built for myself and began to fill it with the treasures I found. It didn't take me very long, less than two years before there was barely enough room for me to walk down there. After that I began to exchange what I found for cash that I later exchanged for credit chits. After I started doing that, I was amazed at how fast I accumulated a fortune. The only things I never exchanged were the first treasures I filled my cellar with. They stayed down there for over a hundred years, right beneath where I slept." Boros who wasn't used to talking very much was seeming to be doing a lot of it. "I need another drink. Anyone else?"

Gabrielle opted for the same she'd had before, yuck, Sam and Boros went for a beer, and Nancy who still seemed to be dazed got a water she didn't ask for.

Boros continued as he took a seat. "I promise you I'm not lying about this next part. So, the gold and silver along with the stones I gathered that sat in my cellar for a long time. I'd purchased a satellite uplink and kept upgrading as the times changed and new technology became available, so I never really lost complete touch with the outside world. I used the connection to keep abreast of things as they happened but I also used it to learn. I studied anything and everything I wanted for a little over a hundred thirty years. Back in the early and mid two-thousands I actually assumed aliases and completed several distance learning graduate programs. I never cared about the degrees, it wasn't like I was going to get a job in the field I was studying, I just like to learn new things and I had the time, money, and resources to do it. Anyway, when I found out about the Revelation I waited, hopefully, for a few years. It was something I desperately hoped would work out. But either way, the existence of preternatural beings would have an impact on humans, I would end up having two front's of enemies to look out for or I would be able to integrate myself into both societies, or so I thought. So, I started to consolidate my assets, which I thought the bulk of which resided with the credit chits I had been accumulating. I was so wrong." Boros took another swig from his beer. "Now, remember my little hoard? The one in my cellar? It grew. I'm not saying that it multiplied, but each individual item there increased in size."

"You're shitting me." Sam exclaimed.

Boros shook his head. "I shit you not, Sam. I hadn't been down there for probably fifty years, but when I opened the doors to load it all into a grav-truck I was barely able to dislodge two of the stones." Boros went to the bedroom and came back. He tossed a glittering item through the air to Sam. "That was one of the small ones. I had that cut two months ago. It started out as less than the size of an egg when I found it as a raw diamond. That's how big it got. After it was cut, it weighed in at a little over twelve thousand carats. What you're holding in your hands right now Sam, that is a nine hundred million dollar diamond. If you only measured it's worth by carat . But when it's all one piece?" Boros shrugged. "It's almost priceless."

"Well," Gabrielle said. "That answers that question. I'm assuming you've either exchanged or still have a few of those?"

"A few." Boros answered guardedly. He had actually only traded in the larger ones and most of the gold, silver, and titanium. But he still had a hoard of his treasure someplace no one that wasn't him could ever find. "Can I ask why?"

"The truth is Boros, I thought that I would have to dig deep into my treasury to help you get settled. What I have in mind would be costly and I'm not ashamed to say that I am relieved that you can pay your own way probably better than I could have done for you, that is fortunate too. I prefer to use the contents of my treasury to improve the lives of my subject who can't do so on their own."

His suspicion turned to ashes in his mind. "But I'm not one of your subjects, why would you have done that for me."

"Boros, you said yourself. My territory wasn't the closest or the most convenient for you to come to, you did it because of my age, wisdom, and reputation. You applied to be one of my subjects. The fact that you can't be, because of situations outside of your control, mean nothing to me. I am a ruler, and I would never try to weasel my way out of my duty to you." Gabrielle took another sip of her drink. "Just remember, you are going to be a ruler too. Leaders in our community hold themselves to a higher standard. The people we serve are for the most part good people. Because of their abilities, most of them can tell when they are being lied to or deceived. The most important advice I could ever give you is to be true to yourself and your people. They will respect you for it, if not flat out love you. You'd be an easy leader to love, Boros." she finished her drink and let him consider what she had just told him. Hopefully he would listen.

Nancy had come out of her dazed state sometime while Boros and Gabrielle were talking and Sam was paying close attention to her. Probably to make sure the pheromones that Boros released weren't still affecting her. He seemed to be very protective of the woman.

"Thank you for that. It's like I've been fighting for my life and surrounded by enemies for so long. Then in the pace of two days I've found you and Nancy and yes, you too Sam. It almost seems too good to be true. Even with Sam's suspicion of me."

"It's alright." Boros comforted Sam when he saw the flash of anger in his eyes. "I know why you feel that way. I just want you to know that I have no intention of going there. I give you my word."

Gabrielle knew what Boros was talking about, thankfully Nancy didn't. But Sam visibly relaxed and his eyes no longer held a hostile edge when they looked at the dragon.

"So, Gabrielle. What did you have in mind?"