The birth of Pen (Combining #1 and #4)

Unending BE - episode 217540

Intense light bathed the lab, centered on the body of the boa constrictor in the broken glass tank.

hisssss…hissssscape…

Annie blinked, picking herself off the ground. “Did…did that snake just…say…”

Essscape. Free me at oncccce!

Annie nodded, slowly through her daze. She rose on unsteady feet, walking over to the shattered enclosure.

“Please, don’t be offended,” she said, reaching toward it to scoop it up. Already, the snake had doubled in size, its scales becoming an artist’s palate of color.

You did ressspect me, even though you imprisssoned me. We will dissscusss thisss later.

Sharon and Charlotte rose from the floor, taking in the scene as Annie set the snake down on a nearby table. The snake was rapidly gaining size and mass, as well as three pairs of swellings along its sides.

It’s attention turned to Sharon and Charlotte, as its black tongue tasted the air. Your tassstesss…confusssing…you don’t look like reptilesss.

Charlotte blinked. “You…you can recognize our draconic side?”

Yesss, though I don’t know why…wait, the mirror…yesss, I an beginning to underssstand.

Sharon snapped her fingers. “The draconic realm. You must have absorbed some of its power!”

The draconic realm? Oh, yesss, it’sss becoming clear now. I am a…strange word…conduit?

Annie began examining the swellings, which even now were expanding. “They’re almost like…I’m not sure, polyps? Cocoons, maybe?

My…legsss?…my wingsss…

The snake shuddered on the table, thrashing with the rush of change as it grew to triple human size, caving in the table under its weight. Great wings, in every imaginable color, sprang from its back, coupled with row after row of spines. Two pairs of legs, most definitely draconic, extended from the swellings in an ungainly slurp. The snake’s head expanded into a dragon’s snout, complete with great fangs and four impressive pairs of horns: one black, one white, one red, and one bearing rings of the other colors.

When the change had finished, Sharon and Charlotte looked on with jubilation. Annie leaned against a nearby counter, unblinking, trying to reassemble her paradigm.

I am the draconic realm, and all of its denizens. Call me…Pen.

Sharon tilted her head. “Pen?”

“Pen-ultimate,” Annie whispered, “a composite of everything in this draconic realm, and the realm itself. Jesus Christ, this is amazing.”

Charlotte stepped forward, bowing her head respectfully. “Pen…we need your help. Do you know about our problem?”

Pen nodded. I do, red one. I may be able to help, though there is one complication.

1. The human has seen too much. If I am to restore you, she must become a dragoness as well.
2. I am forbidden to assist you by word of Gorbash, though I may be able to help you defeat him.
3. The Council tells me your trials are not yet finished.
4. *If I change you, I will deplete my own powers. Why should I trade my existence for yours?
5. I can only restore you to your half-forms. You must finish the changes on your own.
6. Another complication arises...

Tue Apr 30 08:18:37 2002