Quintessence
"I'm here," Leof breathed with relief. "I finally made it."
Ahead of him was the exit to a dark tunnel he had traveled through for innumerable days, weeks, perhaps even a month. At journey's beginning he swore there had been others with him, but they had either been lost amongst the cavern's unnatural twists and turns or had fallen to the many creatures they had encountered or--or they had never existed at all save in Leof's mind. Now, though, the knight stood alone, finally at the end of a long trial and with sunlight ahead of him.
"Actually," a muffled voice spoke from just beyond the exit. "You have some ways to go."
Leof tilted his head and put his hand on the hilt of his sword as he advanced down the last stretch of the tunnel to the exit. The closer he got, the more he saw that his perceptions had been a lie. The sunlight ahead of him was not sunlight; rather, it was soft, artificial illumination cast by strange torches that hung on the ceiling. There was a ceiling because the "exit" did not lead outside but to a small room furnished with a single desk and chair. A man stood at the back of the room, arms folded in his white coat and visage concealed beneath a black mask.
Coming into the room, Leof lifted his visor and peered at the man.
"The instructor of a trial," the masked man responded. He motioned to the desk. "Now, sit and take your test."
Leof looked down at the desk. Atop of it was a piece of parchment and a strange writing utensil. The knight stepped forward and then glanced up to the man.
"I will stand," the knight said.
"As you wish," the man shrugged. "It only matters that you can complete the test."
Leof took the writing utensil in a gauntleted hand and began to read. The first question was strange indeed: Please describe the length of time it takes for an adult male human to convert into a lusty lesbian lizard lady. Show all steps. Leof blinked, pausing momentarily in thought before moving onto the next question. This one was not much better: Please describe the mirror's motivations, rationale, and the consequences of its actions. Be sure to note any inconsistencies and character flaws that may explain these inconsistencies. The third question was something the knight chose not to read into too much. After thinking and failing to come up with any answer, Leof shook his head and looked up at the man.
"I can't answer any of these," he said.
"None?" the man snorted. "Not a single sentence of response?"
Leof searched his mind for anything related to the questions. All that he got back were dim memories of distant times. The knight shook his head.
The man's laugh was muffled under his mask. "Then you have failed. Still, you are to pass, at a price."
Leof meant to speak, but a sudden itching in his scalp pulled his attention away. Beneath his helmet his already short hair began to shed, falling away into dust, not to be replaced by a similar growth, but something different. The knight grabbed and pulled away his helmet, placing it on the table so that he could feel exactly what the matter was just in time for other changes to commence.
The knight gritted his teeth as single scales of green subsumed skin on his skull while those very teeth sharpened into fine points. His ears trembled, his hearing temporarily muted while they folded against the sides of his head and melted into his ever scalier cranium. His hearing was restored when small, scarcely visible earholes formed. He sneezed once, twice, then thrice and with each sneeze his nose met a similar fate as his ears, flattening into near nonexistence. Now that the scales had totally overtaken his skin, Leof groaned as his skull reshaped and reformed, twisting his jaws forward into a reptilian snout while the rest of his head flattened to a slight upward curve to match his new muzzle. The knight hissed and coughed as his tongue quivered, thinning in width and extending in length as it forked at the end. Finally, he brought his hands to his eyes as they reshaped painlessly. When he opened them after their change, not only did he possess slitted, reptilian eyes, but he was also somewhere else entirely.
Leof blinked his unfamiliar eyes, noticing his lizardlike muzzle in the center of his vision while he took in the scenery. The skies were grey and cloudy and the land dull and dusty. To his right was a clear pond, the only differentiating characteristic of this otherwise featureless land. For some reason Leof swore he recognized the small pool of water, but that seemed silly. It didn't seem very special. Still, he stumbled over to it and looked into the pure pond. In its surface he could just make out a bare reflection of himself. He appeared as an armored lizard-headed man--or was he an armored man-bodied lizard? He shrugged and then realized that he had left his helmet behind. He turned to look for a way back to that room with the masked man when something splashed up from the surface of the pond. The knight took a step back and looked down at the dolphin that lay its head against the pond's shore.
"You shouldn't stay here, not here, not long. Bad, abandoned," the dolphin said, its squeaks and whistles somehow understandable by the knight. It clicked. "Not long, not long at all."
Leof stared down at the dolphin. He took a deep breath to steady himself. Immediately he choked on the thick, acrid air and shivered as a spattering of scales ate away at his skin underneath his armor. Taking another breath had the same effect. The air here was poisoned, yet the dolphin remained peaceful and calm upon its place. It whistled and clicked again, this time sounding much like laughter.
"Leave, leave," the dolphin urged, the high number of high-pitched squeals it made not matching the number of words Leof heard. It pointed a flipper off in the distance. "Flee, flee."
Leof's gaze followed where the flipper pointed to a floating sign that flashed in alternating colors every few seconds EXIT. He returned his vision back to the dolphin just in time to see it withdraw into the grey, toxic waters, disappearing without a trace. The knight shook his head, uncomprehending.
Unconsciously Leof took a breath and paid for it. He grimace as more scales tore through skin to take its place. As the dolphin had suggested, he had to get out of here soon. He turned towards the EXIT sign and started off in a sprint towards it. At first he tried to not breathe while running, but this proved unfeasible. Thus, he breathed as little as possible, but still he breathed, forked tongue flicking out every time he took a breath of the poisoned air. As a result, the scales multiplied until a green, scaled hide had replaced nearly all of his skin.
When Leof reached the EXIT sign, he came to a halt, panting and wincing as he drew in more toxin. He glanced up to the EXIT sign, unsure what to do now while it flashed between a myriad of colors. He was given an answer when he took a step towards the sign, a grey door materializing out of nowhere in front of him. He reached for its handle, ceasing any movement as he felt the fingers of his right hand twist. Staring at the hand, he undid the components of his gauntlets with his left while his digits continued to change. When the gauntlet was loose enough, he shook his hand and the gauntlet fell away to reveal four clawed fingers attached to a green-scaled hand. He experimentally clicked his claws together before shuddering as similar sensations wracked his left hand. He shed this gauntlet too and found the same results. Hissing, Leof grabbed the door's handle with his altered hands and twisted it. The door opened inwardly, allowing the knight to step inside. He slammed the door shut behind him and breathed in a bout of nice, clean air before even bothering to take in his surroundings.
Leof stood on stage in a place that was as dark as any of the rest. Behind him were closed curtains and in front of him were rows upon rows of decrepit, empty seats. He looked about for some sort of exit, yet there was none. Even the door he had entered through was no door at all, but a stage prop of a door. Suddenly a bright spotlight fell upon the knight. He squinted his eyes while the curtains opened behind him.
"My friends!" a boisterous voice called while another spotlight fell upon the stage. Leof looked as a fox with dirty fur and a rumpled suit stepped out of the curtains. He smiled at Leof, his single eye wide with excitement as he held up a battered microphone to his scarred muzzle. The microphone either wasn't on or was not functional because it didn't amplify what the fox. "My friends, my companions, my allies--welcome! Welcome one and all to--" The fox paused, muttering curses to himself as he rummaged in his pockets for something. He pulled out half of a notecard, his smile returning as he read it. "Substance Over Psychology! Too long has this show been silent. Well, tonight I promise this show will be quite a..." The fox frowned. "Show!" He turned to Leof. "What say you, sir knight?"
"Is--" Leof paused as he spoke, hearing his own voice for the first time since his head had changed. Aside from a slight rasp, it hadn't changed much but change still it was. "Is this a trial?"
"A trial?" The fox laughed hysterically. "It's a trial for us all! But yes, yes this is a trial, a short one and then you may be on your way."
"My way..." Leof mused, searching his mind for his path and coming up empty. "Where is that?"
"Who knows?" the fox shrugged, frowning bitterly. "At least you have one. Are you ready to start?" "What does this trial entail?"
"Rules, rules," the fox grumbled. "I am going to ask you a single question, multiple choice. If you answer correctly, then you may go free. If you answer incorrectly..." The fox smiled. "You may still go free, albeit slightly changed. Fair?"
Leof considered. A single question with a chance to get it right was better than the first trial. He nodded to the fox.
"Good, good," the fox said, his smile deepening. "Because it's not fair." He raised his hands into the air. "The contestant has ceded to the terms. Welcome all to a game of Substance Over Psychology!"
A tune played, boisterous and busy though it soon fell away to wheezy, dissonant sounds. When it was over, the fox turned to Leof, a different notecard in hand.
"Now, knight," he said. "I have your first and final question. It's very simple, so I expect you to get it right. Sir knight, I ask you: what is two plus two?"
"Four!" Leof shouted, tongue flickering out of his snout briefly in excitement. "It's four!"
"Wait!" The fox held up a hand. "You haven't heard the answers yet."
"But I know it!"
"Maybe," the fox smirked. "Anyways, the answers! Is it A 3, B 22, C 67, or D an envelope?"
"No," Leof said, shaking his head. "None of those are right!"
"Yes," the fox chuckled. "None of them are. You can only be wrong."
"Treacherous fiend!" Leof hissed, drawing his sword. "You trifle with a knight!"
The knight advanced upon the fox, sword held high. The fox shrunk back, but laughed when the floor shifted beneath Leof's feet. The knight looked down just in time to see multiple metallic arms reach up from the floor. Two wrenched his weapon away while others grabbed at his arms and legs, pinning and immobilizing him in the air. He yelled and struggled, but the arms were too strong to escape. While he futilely thrashed about, three more arms came from underneath the floor. Two of them grasped at Leof's feet while the other twirled around and pinched at the bottom of his spine. Leof gasped as this one reached under the armor and at the scales there, a small nub forming as the arm pinched and prodded, grabbing at the growing stub and pulling at it. Simultaneously, the two on his feet dismantled the armor on his legs and ripped away the under leggings, leaving their scaled hide exposed to the air and their touches. They massaged his legs, polishing the scales to glistening green while their structure shifted to only allow for digitigrade walking. They then moved down to his feet, tickling at the digits. His toes curled out into claws as the arm at the back pulled and pulled on the stub, allowing it to lengthen and grow into a proper tail. Leof squirmed, though not from the arm's grip; rather, the strange sensation of his new appendage overwhelming any other sense as it twisted and twirled around.
"That's enough!" the fox yelled, causing the machines to come to a stop. "Let's send our lizard friend on his way. After all, he was a good sport."
The hole in the floor the arms had come from expanded, a blue, shimmering film growing over the circle. Without further ado, the arms dropped the lizard knight into the hole. He fell and passed through the portal, the blue film shocking him slightly as he passed from one place to the next. Thankfully, the drop from here to there was small. He landed on his hands and knees with a grunt on dry, crisp ground the color of faded yellow. He stood, staggering a bit as he got used to the feel of his digitigrade stance and tail. In addition, the loss of the bottom portion of his armor and his sword only added to the unbalance. At least he still had his underwear on.
"Bah!" a voice rumbled from above. "What is this?"
Leof glanced up. A huge silhouette of a man loomed above him, quill poised in the air. It was mostly dark, though a massive candle to the left of Leof shed some light upon himself and some of the silhouette's fine clothes. The knight looked down at the surface he stood upon and then to the quill clutched in the giant's hand. With a start he realized he stood upon a piece of parchment that the giant intended to use.
"A lizard?" the giant said. "Is that what you are?"
"I am Leof," Leof said.
"Hmm?" The giant leaned in, allowing Leof to see a portion of his bearded visage. "Speak up!"
"LEOF!"
The giant drew back, nodding. Leof dodged to the side as he brought the quill to the page.
"Leof the lizard..." the giant murmured, quill hovering above the parchment. "Leof the lizard lady?"
"NO!" Leof shouted, but it was too late. The quill scratched against the parchment. Leof had to scamper away as the giant swiftly inscribed words upon its surface. When he was finished, Leof stood high on his clawed toes as he struggled to examine what was written.
"Leof," he read. "Lusty lizard lady."
He stared at the words, and then doubled over in pain as his scaled body shook and shivered. He fell to his knees and retched while his body reformed. His underwear slipped down a little as his hips widened, hanging low and barely covering his manhood. It needn't have bothered, because his shaft and testicles began to shrink, their trembling contraction causing Leof to shudder in a mixture of pleasure and pain. The knight mewled in embarrassment as his member actually became erect at the stimulation, throbbing at the cusp of release. With a jerk and surprised hiss, the lizard came, the last of his seed spilling from his still dwindling member in a pool onto the parchment.
"Disgusting," the giant rumbled. "As is written."
Leof stared at the remnants of his orgasm and let out another hiss when a slit opened at his crotch that his shrunken testicles ascended into, traveling down a passage that formed with their movement up. His member, already insignificant, dwindled down even further until it took its place atop the scaled slit as her sensitive clit. She squirmed as her womanhood further developed, soft lips growing hot and moist as the internals completed, allowing her eggbearing hips to have some use. She reached down with a hand and gave the slit a mere prod, instantly withdrawing her claw when she felt feminine flesh. The lizardess fell forward, shoulders narrowing as, beneath her armor, flesh swelled into two small orbs on her upper chest. She panted, rear filling out as the orbs grew bigger in size, large enough to be constrained by her now suitably named breastplate. Whimpering, she moved to remove her breastplate due to the uncomfortable squeezing of her newfound mammaries and the pinching of her puffy nipples by the armor. When the last remaining portion of her armor fell away, she sighed in relief as her breasts bounced free, now only constrained by her undershirt. Her nipples poked against the cloth, rubbing in a way that wasn't entirely uncomfortable. Still, she took off her undershirt too so that she was nearly naked save for her underwear. She truly was a lizard lady, a--
Leof's eyes widened. There was still one word of the writing that didn't describe her... Yet. She got to her feet, breasts wobbling and tail curling around one of her legs as she looked down at her body. Her underwear fell to her feet while she examined her feminine, reptilian form, her gaze mostly drawn to her healthy bust and scaled cleft. She was a lizard lady, but lusty she wasn't sure about, lusty she didn't want to be, let alone a lizard lady or a lizard for that matter and--
"Hmph," the giant growled. "You leave now. You annoy Ichsis."
Leof yelped as the giant poked her sensitive sex with the quill, causing her to stumble back and dribbling a bit of ink onto the area. She looked up pleadingly at the giant, but it was no use. With a heavy sigh, he brushed her off the parchment. The lizard lady fell, flailing about in the air until she landed roughly on her back upon a cold, stone floor. She groaned and sat up, again finding herself somewhere different. Immediately, her attention was drawn to a mirror that leaned against a black wall. She got to her feet, shivering as the ink from earlier slid down her sex to her thighs. Leof kept her gaze focused on the mirror as she approached it. In the mirror's surface was her reflection, though not the one she wanted to see. The sight of the green-scaled lizardess in the mirror with her pert breasts and puffy pussy made the knight wish she didn't recognize it as herself - yet, who else could it be? Suddenly she stepped forward, tongue flicking out as an impulse compelled her to lick its surface. She stopped herself as she felt her breasts press against the mirror's cool surface.
"No," she whispered to herself, her voice higher in pitch than previously. "I'm..."
The knight desperately tried to recall what she had been doing. She had been just about to leave that terribly dark cavern and now...now what? She had endured strange trials to end up as a lusty lizard lady and for what purpose? What had been her original purpose? As before, any memories in her mind were distant and dim. Desperate, she looked to the mirror for answers, but only found the reflection of her now familiar form.
"Yes," a voice spoke to her left. "Sometimes a mirror is just a mirror."
Leof turned her head towards the sound of the voice. A dark skinned man wearing even darker robes sat upon a throne of bone, leaning slightly forward as he stared at the lizardess in front of him. He absentmindedly petted the guard drake that sat next to his throne. Leof stared into his face and saw something she recognized in it.
"Wyard?" she asked, the name coming unbidden to her mind.
The man laughed and waved a hand sideways. Immediately Leof felt a force act on her, pushing her towards the mirror. This time when Leof came into contact with the mirror, she was pushed through its surface into another place.
Leof stumbled into darkness. The only source of light was a glowing orb in the distance that illuminated the inhuman hands that resided above it. The lizard squinted and saw that the hands cupped a small, white egg between each palm.
"Hello?" she called. "I'm here..." She took a step and nearly tripped over something in the dark. "I'm here for a trial."
"You've come to a dangerous place for a trial of the mind," the voice of the hands' owner boomed in the distance. It rolled the egg onto one hand and lifted it high. "A fragile thing, the human mind. Very much like a robin's egg,"
Without warning, the hand threw the egg towards Leof. She blinked and then dove for it. She grunted as she fell onto her breasts but at least she had managed to catch the egg. She immediately stood up, cupping the egg close to her. She examined it and saw that it was only slightly cracked. Sighing with relief, Leof looked to the orb and the hands, only to find that both were gone. In their place was a glowing green portal.
Clutching the egg tightly to her bosom, the lizard lady carefully made her way to the portal. With the portal's glow the only source of light, the lizard was nearly blind while she made her journey. Thus, it was only a matter of time before she caught her clawed foot on something in the dark that sent her tripping forward. Though she held on as tight as she could, the egg slipped through her claws as she fell, flying through the air in front of her. Although she caught herself on her claws to cease her fall, the egg did not have the same capability. With an audible crack it broke, spilling its contents onto the floor while something of Leof's broke. The lizard slumped forward, mind reeling. She gripped her head, swaying slightly as her brain struggled. For a few minutes she stayed in this state. Then finally it all came together, but not as it was before.
Hissing softly to herself, the lizard lady stood up. She walked to the portal with a sway in her hips that she hadn't possessed before, grasping and groping at herself on the way. Standing before the portal, she shuddered as she teased her slit, flicking her tongue out at the green glow. Turning her head curiously, the lizard stepped forward into the portal.
With a flash, the lizard was elsewhere. Confused, she looked around at the decrepit facility she had been transported to. Grimy glass surrounded her on all sides while stained white tiles made up the floor and the ceiling. She glanced up when the ceiling opened and a silver-grey probe popped out. It floated down to the curious lizard, staying out of her reach as she moved towards it. It beeped once, causing the lizard pause. Then, two grey restraints dropped from the ceiling, wrapping around the lizard's wrists and pulling her up so that she hung suspended with her clawed feet unable to touch the floor. The lizard struggled against these restraints until the probe zipped forward, a filled syringe emerging from its surface. The lady lizard relaxed a bit when the probe plunged the syringe into her thigh and injected its substance, cooling the lizard off.
Although now somewhat sedated, the lizard felt new heat rise in her crotch. She panted and hissed, forked tongue falling out of her snout as her puffy pussy began to become flush and wet. She squirmed around, hips thrusting forward as she sought to insert her tail into her slick slit. She hissed when the probe zipped forward again, blocking her feeble attempts to provide release while another restraint came down and wrapped around her tail, raising it high. However, she was curious after something flicked out of the probe, its shape intriguing her. She squealed when it was inserted into her, purring in pleasure as it vibrated in her passage. Her inner walls clamped hungrily on it and her tail lashed while the machine did its best to stimulate her. To help, it pushed in farther and up so that the lizard's clit was directly stimulated. This and a bit more time was just enough to send the lizard into pure bliss. As she reached her peak, the machine also released, flooding her womb with adjustable essence. The lizard groaned, barely noticing as she was gently lowered and dropped to the floor. She leaned against a pane of the grimy glass, panting in ecstasy, breasts heaving as remnants of her and the probe's coupling ran down her scaled thighs.
The probe hovered above the lizard, another syringe popping out of its surface while its other used tool retracted. It floated down, injecting the lizard on the opposite thigh this time. Immediately, the lizard sat up straight, driven to alertness by a trembling running through her womb. She stared in bewilderment as her belly suddenly swelled, the many eggs within rapidly growing thanks to the injection. Her bewilderment quickly melted into a purr of contentment, hugging her swollen belly with her claws while her breasts likewise swelled, filling with milk. Finally, the probe injected her one more time, uplifting her arousal even though she was already gravid. The lizard hissed as she was helped to her feet by the grey restraints from before, shivering while fluids dripped from her needy pussy. The glass panel across from her slid down, revealing a black, empty space. Horny and out of her mind, the lizardess staggered forward when prodded by the probe. Her tail dragged behind her while she made her way towards the space. Without hesitation she stepped into the dark--
And out of a dark and slanting cavern into the sunlight. The lizard blinked from the sudden exposure to the sun, but quickly warmed up to it because it felt so good on her scales. Gravid and yet ready for love, the lusty lizard lady left the shadowy passageway, a product of a twisted mind.