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Slayer or Layer 30

For Lorvianne

By Draconicon

Living with the lizards was not as torturous as one might have imagined, but neither was it a paradise. Lorkos had to pretend that he was a dragon, after all, and despite having the body of one - and the gender of a true 'Great One' to go with it - he had to deal with a lot of frustrations to go with all the privileges.

For example, while it wasn't explicitly stated that he 'had to,' he frequently found himself volunteering to go on scouting flights through the mountain and down along the road leading up to it. Not because it was required of him, but because it was 'helpful' to Sila's village and the scalies that were living in it. After all, what sort of Great One would not help the ones that were living directly under them?

That grated at him every time that it was asked, as he could never tell if they were taking advantage of him or if they were genuinely asking. If it was the latter, he could say no, while if it was the former, then he honestly couldn't. If it was expected, then he had to fulfil the request.

That didn't mean he didn't grumble while he flew over the area, though. If the other Great One had been in residence, they would have been doing this. He was just filling in until they got back. He was just...doing the job of a dragon until the real dragon could do it again.

I can't believe I'm making excuses to keep doing this...

The blue dragon sighed as he looked over the roads. Sila had asked him to keep an eye out for a traveler today, saying that someone was expected for trade at the mountain. She hadn't told him who, only that he would understand when he saw them.

Another vague statement that a real dragon probably would have gotten immediately. Faking this was getting harder every day.

Lorkos was just about to take another lap around the mountain when he spotted movement on the road leading up to it. He narrowed his eyes, curious what could be coming this way.

A mammal?!

And a wolf mammal for that matter. There was no reason for one of the packs to be out this far, not when there were obvious signs of raiders in the area. Lorkos could remember passing by other scaly clans on the way to the mountain, remembered how they had been careful to show him off in the process. The idea of attacking a Great One had put the more feral scalies at ease, allowing them to pass.

But now, a mammal was this far out?

Lorkos narrowed his eyes further, dropping down a couple of hundred feet. He could just make out that the wolf was mounted, that he had a couple of saddle-bags, and -

Mage staff.

Lorkos circled like a vulture over the wolf as he contemplated his options. The wolf had to be coming here to get something illegal. That, or he was here to try and get a name for himself by wiping out the scalies that lived on the mountain, but considering Sila said to expect someone...

If this wolf was the visitor, he needed to land. If it was an intruder that was threatening the village on the slopes...

Be the expected visitor, please...don't make me choose...

Lorkos pulled his wings in and dove. The air shrieked around his head, and the sound was loud enough that the wolf whipped his head around when Lorkos was still halfway to the ground. He started to reach for his staff, then stopped himself, holding up his arms instead.

Visitor.

The blue dragon pulled out of the dive at the last second, landing with a thump as all four legs hit the ground at once. It cratered the earth at the side of the road, and the shockwave almost sent the wolf's horse running.

Almost.

He turned, shaking his head in the process, fixing the mage with a level stare. The wolf didn't look away, nor did he lower his arms.

"I'm here for ingredients. A simple trade. My word and magic on it."

"Who are you?"

"Mastar, of the Hill-Sing pack."

He knew the pack. It was a long way off, but they were a legitimate one, and one that seemed predisposed to magic. The dragon nodded, trying not to make it too obvious that he recognized the name.

"You come here often?"

"...Yes. You're new?"

"A visitor. Looking for someone Sali told me to expect?"

"Oh...Has Sila retired?"

"No. It was a test. You passed."

"Ah, that's very good. You're a smart one."

"...Yes. These days. Come. I'll escort you to the mountain...and after, I will have a favor to ask."

As soon as he delivered the wolf to his destination, Lorkos gestured to a far-off rock where he'd be waiting, and then darted off for it. He landed with a thud, shivering as he sprawled on it and felt the cool stone against his sex, and lowered his head to the rock to cool himself off the rest of the way.

He's not going to believe me...or if he does, he's going to think this is a grand old time to experiment...or he won't be able to do anything...

All of those were possible, but even after the shaman's warning against messing with the curse on him, he had to try. This was the first chance that he had to try and break the curse with a new type of magic, and if it was at all possible - even if extremely unlikely - he had to try. He had to try.

The blue dragon shuffled back and forth, gradually getting used to the feeling of the cool rock against his pussy. It was a good way to calm down and not think about sex, he'd found. It made it so that all of his attention was on the coolness permeating through his core rather than on anything else. He rather liked the feeling, and it helped him a lot when it came to not thinking about things that would bother him.

Lorkos was finally calm again when there was a soft rap of wood against stone. He opened one eye, looking down at the wolf mage.

"You said you had a favor to ask of me, dragoness?"

"Yes...Though this is the part where it gets strange."

"Strange seems to be part of any magical life."

"Yes, well, this is stranger than usual. Look at me with magic vision...or however you do it."

"...Okay, if you insist. What am I - ooooooooh, boy..."

"What do you see?"

"Probably the most tangled magical net that I've ever heard of. Holy - how are you even moving?"

"Easier than I should be, from the sounds of it."

"What even were you? This curse is wound back on itself so many times that I can't even tell where it started."

That was a bad sign. Lorkos shook his head, but he refused to give up. It wasn't dragon magic, or shaman magic, but...maybe there was enough difference that the wolf could get the magic off of him.

"I was a wolf."

"You're kidding."

"And a male one, too."

"That's gotten completely lost in there."

"Yes, well, I was going to ask you to try and fix it."

"...You want me to what?"

"Remove the curse. Or at least the last few layers."

"You want me to - ma'am, you...sir...I..." The wolf rubbed the back of his head. "That's a terrible idea. If I mess with this thing and don't get it right the first time, it's going to make it worse. A lot worse."

"You don't understand. I need to get rid of this. I can't...I can't take it anymore. I have to be..."

Lorkos lowered his head, not daring to say more. His emotions were so tangled up, so confused, that he swore that they were being pulled along by the curse as much as everything else was. The more time that he spent as a dragon, the more of a lie he felt he was being made to live, yet at the same time, the more time he spent outside of his own body, the more he learned. He didn't know if he could take any more.

The wolf mage winced, shaking his head.

"I think this is a very bad idea."

"Please..."

"How many times have you tried this already?"

"...None...with your kind of magic."

"And with others?"

"...I don't know. Twice?"

Mastar sighed.

"Well...I guess we'll find out if the third time's the charm."

Relief welled up in the dragon's heart, and Lorkos nodded. Mastar told him to stay where he was, and slowly started walking around him, waving his staff about as he did.

Almost instantly, Lorkos felt the pressure of the other man's magic on the curse around him. It was not a comfortable feeling, either, almost like a razor blade digging in against his cheek. Not enough of a feeling to feel like it was going to cut, but the knowledge that any second it might do.

It increased, too, slowly running along his body, following some sort of line that only the wolf mage seemed to know was there. He did his best to keep his mouth shut and his grunts quiet, but the pressure was...so strange...and so uncomfortable.

"Don't squirm...this is hard enough without you moving...gods, this is so twisted up..."

Lorkos did his best, but the pressure was painfully high. It was getting worse around his back, almost right between his wings, the wolf's magic digging into the curse. He could feel...something. There was a tingle running up and down his forelegs, and when he glanced down, he could see that his forepaws were slowly warping.

Fingers...those are fingers!

There was a chance...there was a real chance.

Mastar moved to stand in front of him again, the wolf's face awash with sweat and tight with concentration. He was struggling, pushing himself, gritting his teeth as he worked his magic. Lorkos could feel the spell tightening more and more across his back, almost like that sharp point was about to cut through and let him loose. His neck felt like it was on the verge of finally shrinking back where it belonged.

I'll be free...I'll be free...

His body was pulsing, rebounding, shrinking and then growing, growing and then shrinking. He could almost see the magical net around him, aware of something there, glowing and shimmering as he stared out through the strands of power around him.

If that was the curse, it was a tangled mess. It was like a thousand cats had been let loose over a hundred balls of yard, pulling them every which way. Nothing made sense. Nothing could be followed.

But Mastar seemed to have found the trick of it. The wolf's eyes were locked somewhere on the curse pattern, and the cutting point shifted -

"Oh, shit."

Mastar tried to correct his error, but it was too late. The curse rebounded, and the wolf was knocked right off his feet. Every change, every bit of size that Lorkos had cast off came rushing back, followed by a surge of desire between his hind legs. The dragon screamed in frustration -

"Ah...ah..."

Only to look down and see that Mastar was changing, too. His fur was falling out rapidly, his eyes going wide as scales replaced them. Blue scales, blue as the ones that Lorkos had. The wolf fell onto his back, arching his back as his chest swelled out, breasts growing in, eyes starting to glow with dragon brightness. Black claws turned white, padded hands turned to scaled.

And as the wolf rolled onto his back, wings burst free. In the space of seconds, Mastar had gone from wolf to anthro dragon, his body shaking, the shreds of his - no, her - former robe falling about her.

The sudden expulsion spread further and further, and from his rock, Lorkos could see some of the lizards slumping down, some of them gasping, some of them groaning, a few of them taking on more draconian characteristics, though in different ways. Some gained stronger muzzles, some dragon horns on their head, and some gained a single wing.

The curse had just gotten worse.

The End