The next few days were more or less the same as before, preparation for the joining ceremony. On the day of the ceremony, Vect, Beverly, and Carl sat in their bunk feeling uneasy.
"It's happening," Carl laughed halfheartedly, "it's actually happening and yet I feel like I'm gonna be sick."
"Seconded," muttered Vect as he looked down at the floorboards.
"Hey come on! It's you guy's big night!" Jack threw a well muscled arm around Vect's shoulder to reassure his friend. "I mean yeah it's big. Getting joined with a spirit, opening new sensations."
"Easy for you to be calm, you aren't going to be, how did Gratz put it? 'The combination of different beings can never be precise. You will change, we just don't know how much or in what way'."
Carl looked up, "I still haven't gotten any information out of anyone about what a peryton is. No one will tell me!"
Sara caught a slight smirk from Beverly. 'Oh that's mean Beverly,' she thought.
"It can't be that bad. I'm just worried I'll end up with a horse face," admitted Beverly.
"Spontaneous gender change isn't exactly appealing either. I like being able to piss standing up."
"Thanks for that Carl."
"No problem any time. What are you afraid of Vect?"
Vect closed his eyes. "I'm afraid of not being me. Of not being ready for the merging. Will I not exist afterwards?"
"Anyone know a good therapist? Because you really need to get examined," said Lelu.
Beverly scratched just above her right breast, "gods these itch. Will they hurry up and start?"
The prospects were dressed in minimalistic rough spun clothing for the ceremony, as no one knew how the transformation would change them so they were given disposable clothing if it was destroyed in the process.
As if to answer her, they heard drum beats outside. "That'll be it, let's go."
They filed out of the bunkhouse and toward the sparring ground where the ceremony was to take place. Benches were set up facing the erected raised stage. The senior students, instructors, and visitors from the caravan had begun to be seated. Gratz could be seen center stage preparing for the ritual. Duinir and his two escorts could be seen seated near the front. Vect, Carl, and Beverly broke off and moved toward the other prospects next to the stage while their friends took their seats. The 3 most senior students stood to one side banging the large drums rhythmically, their skin adorned with tribal paints, they had spent at least 5 years here and it showed in their thick arms and the scars from past fights, especially the one scar on the side of the female satyr's head.
11 stood next to the stage in order of name with a human named Alda up front and Vect at the rear. Vect gave a side glance in the direction of Salazar Ortega, and felt his blood pressure rise. 'All things change after tonight,' he thought to himself. The drums stopped and after a few moments, Gratz began to speak.
As Gratz gave his speech beginning the ceremony Edran Orbryn, one of Duinir's escorts, leaned over to to whisper. "Why did you throw the match," he sneered, "if you had just knocked him out and won, he wouldn't be participating in this primitive ritual."
"Would you prefer I had beaten your liege into submission?"
"No of course not, but we could already be heading home and one of the heirs to the throne wouldn't be at risk of becoming some kind of freak," Edran practically spat out that last word.
"I stand by my decision. Yes I could have beaten him, and I 'did' lie to Gorg about how it would have gone, but he is getting stronger than I would have thought. He could even beat you in a few years if it continues. He's seeing more than Taegan ever will being isolated at home like their father thinks they should be. After this, he will see things no mage graduate has seen."
"Very well captain, but when will you tell him about his house's promotion to high lord? It's big news, such a jump in rank."
"High lord Tallion's betrayal was unexpected and our standing is improved now that he is gone, but the lad already has enough on his plate. Do you know what awaits him at the end of this year?"
"A pat on the back and a ritualistic scaring," Edran sneered.
Duinir groaned. "A tournament of sorts. All the first years will be putting all they've learned into practice in a tiered tournament. Winner is the leader of their class and makes the big decisions for them, kinda like a small village."
"So?"
"See that big man about 2 positions up from the young lord?"
"How could I miss the brute?"
"Gorg has told me he has singled out young Vectivus as his rival. They will fight and it will be brutal. It will be a bigger challenge than anything I could offer him. Fighting me, the young lord will always subconsciously hold back because he doesn't want to see me harmed. That thing on the other hand it'll be free game. He's a bully and Vect wants to knock him down a few pegs. It will be a most interesting fight. I can't wait to see it."
"You can't mean you're-."
"Hush, its starting," Duinir and Edran turned to see the light skinned human Alda step up.
"The skull of a Roc. Boiled into a broth." The Halfling waved his hand and a portal opened next to him and he reached in retrieving a bowl and passed it to the waiting human whispering something.
Alda swigged the liquid back quickly and gagged slightly as he passed the bowl back to Gratz. After a few moments, Alda looked at his hands and flexed them like he was trying to get feeling back into them. Duinir could see his nails thickening up, lengthening and changing to black talons. The only other apparent changes were his eyes took a yellowish tone and Alda staggered slightly. "Your new eyesight may take some getting used to," Gratz helped him to the opposite side of the stage where some senior students helped him get adjusted.
"Next Beverly Bolton, the horn of a unicorn," Gratz repeated the process as he did with Alda, again a liquid. Once she drank it she gave a shiver, her legs stepping uneasily. The brown fur on her lower half shifted to white as her tail hairs became silver colored as did the hair on her head save her eyebrows. She clutched her head as if she was fighting off a headache. A bulge began to push out of the center of her forehead. Beverly knew what was coming as a spiral horn broke through the skin and pushed out to about 7 inches long and 2 inches thick at the base. Beverly rubbed the white horn curiously trying to see it as best she could. Gratz held up a mirror to her and she chuckled slightly, "this isn't so bad, no horse face." She trotted off stage and was attended to while Carl Falcone stepped up.
"The feathers of a peryton."
Edran leaned over," what's a peryton?"
"Wait for it," smiled Duinir.
Gratz pushed a long, what looked like a peacock feather against Carl's bare chest and it melded inside. Carl shifted on his feet in anticipation. After a while he clutched his head in discomfort. Soon enough his hands were forced away from his scalp as 2 horns forced them away after reaching 5 inches long, they began to branch off into more points. The growth stopped at close to 10 inches long with 4 points on each antler. The wings on Carl's back flapped as his discomfort increased. He felt something pushing out his rear and he pulled down the back of his roughspun pants to let the growth continue unopposed. Long vibrant green feathers grew outward and spread out behind him like a large fan matching the feather that fused with him. The feathers on his wings changed from their dull brown to bright green on the leading edge and blue at the ends. Lastly, his height seemed to increase slightly from 5' 4" to 5' 11" not including the antlers and he got more hair on his chest that resembled deer fur. He seemed relieved upon seeing his fan tail but it evaporated quickly once he saw the antlers. He left the stage idly rubbing their length up and down trying to get a grip on the size of them.
The process continued as usual. Once it reached Salazar Ortega however, several in the group tended up slightly. 6 years in fighters schools mastering various techniques faster than some masters had made him deadly with any weapon, this just added to his already vast arsenal of talents.
"To Salazar Ortega, the heart of a green dragon. Be prepared, it will be a painful change as many can attest to from their own joining," Gratz motioned to 2 of the druid students in the crowd. One a short dwarf with curving black horns of a black dragon and a few patches of obsidian black scales. The other an average height harpy with a single large horn on top of his head and blue scales covering his arms, legs, and chest, and a tail could be seen swinging idly behind him.
Ortega snorted and accepted the heart in one hand. Disturbingly enough, the heart was still beating in his hand. "How am I supposed to eat this? The heart is too tough, especially a dragon's," Salazar asked annoyed.
"The hardest part is the texture trust me," responded Gratz.
Shrugging, Salazar Ortega bit down into it vigorously tearing a chunk out and swallowing it whole. 'Am I going to have to do that,' Vect thought to himself as he felt his stomach turn slightly. In a few moments Ortega had consumed the heart and stood waiting for the results. He didnt have to wait long before he began to feel like acid had been poured into his veins. Ortega let out a grunt of pain as he doubled over. To many in the audience this was the highlight of their week watching this bully get some sort of payback for his terrorizing the first years.
First it was continuing the sparring training well after the opponent had yielded, then it became him goading others into challenging him. He would then toy with them in the ring. To Vect it was a moment of catharsis to watch him squirm. Until he remembered he also had to go through the same process, then his smile disappeared.
Patches of green scales began to appear on his body seemingly at random until most of his body was covered in the dull green scales. Ortega began to breath heavily, each exhale letting a small cloud of venomous green gas flow out of his mouth. Gratz quickly put up a barrier around him as the gas came out quicker and in greater volume. Soon the barrier was filled with the fumes, obscuring everyone's view of the transforming man. After several minutes of waiting, a large 5 fingered claw pressed up against the barrier and the gas seemed to dissipate. Except it wasn't dissipating, it was being absorbed back into a large creature kneeling in the barrier. Gratz dismissed the spell and the creature stood up at it's full height of 7' 3" tall, its dragonic head turning slowly, scanning the crowd. The roughspun trousers had shriveled away and the transformed Salazar stood fully nude, his organs tucked away hidden under scales. The frill that ran from the top of his head traveled down his spine ending at his rear with no tail in sight. He stepped off the stage wordlessly, the area that had been under the barrier had been severely rotted away by the poisonous gas.
The ceremony continued and soon Vect was up. As he slowly walked up to the halfling shaman, he could hear his heartbeat in his ears. All eyes were on him now. "And lastly, to Vect Whitewood, I present the heart of a red dragon." He opened a portal and began to reach in when suddenly......