Maltus glared into the breaking dawn as the Sentinel’s horn blew for the third time in short order. Throwing aside his sheets he rose from bed and strode across the floor to stand in front of a table whose surface was a mix of bismuth and quartz bound into a ring of gold. “Show me the coming threat.” Maltus demanded and the table's surface became a view from the same telescopes his Sentinel’s used. An army of somewhere around three or four hundred, definitely less than five hundred, marched over the eastern hillsides towards his kingdom. Maltus spotted the heraldic flag of his foe and by the symbol of the winged lion recognized the invaders as the forces of Kolkin. The angle of their approach suggested that they had gone through the wide, relatively shallow and fast flowing Schwanken River instead of crossing at the Bruderschaft Bridge several miles to the south. The lack of riders and carts suggested that the decision had cost them most of their calvary, rations and other supplies. The men were better armored and armed than anything the Wizard King could hope to field. They sported full metal spears, heavy and difficult to break. Swords and shields of solid steel when the best he had was bronze. Maces, Hammer, and Cudgels that were hard stone wrapped in heavy bands of copper and adorned with iron blades or spikes. Soldiers strode forward in heavy plate, clearly comfortable in the weight that would make his Sentinels arrows as useless as a candle beneath water. Troops in ringmail moved swiftly forward, energized by thoughts of the coming raid. The swiftest of the troops were in thick leather armor dyed in the nations colors of green and golden yellow, these troops flanked the young would-be conqueror. King Harriden of sixteen summers stood alone amongst his forces in wearing a mix of plate and scale mail armor painted in the colors of his kingdom. With a sigh the Wizard King turned from his scrying and began to dress. Even if he hadn’t been woken early to deal with invaders he would be in a foul mood. His brother and sister were both missing in suspect manners. His sister had been on an active battlefield defending the land of Gerechtigkeit, but the fact that Jalnus Freed had not returned or at least been seen to have died was very curious. His brother Alus Freed was the ruler of the not so distant kingdom of Freiheit and no one seemed to know where the demon slaying King had gone. Shortly thereafter the Kingdom of Freiheit had closed its borders to all but the Church of Gefangenschaft. All of which had made running his own kingdom of Frieden extremely tiring. Still Maltus Freed would not allow his kingdom to fall on this day. Maltus stood before his wardrobe contemplating his manner of dress for the meeting. He pulled on a simple gray shirt and pants to match before selecting his favorite boots and gloves for spell working. His favorite because he had not made them, they were a gift from the first villagers to call his kingdom home. Soft strong leather dyed purple and sown together with silvery thread the toes of the boot and the back of the gloves bore his sigil focused on a cloudy quartz crystal. They wouldn’t be half as magical if he had made them himself. It was one of those curiosities of magic he had yet to fully understand. He plucked his favorite circlet from its jewel box and settled it on his blazing red hair before donning his favorite cloak, a simple affair of purple velvet with his sigil sewn into it on the back and at the shoulders. With a wave of his hand he appeared on the ground beneath his home. None but the most skilled mages could perceive the invisible towers that held his chambers aloft in the city’s central plaza. The first of the army marched in their thundering steps shaking the ground. Maltus watched with glee as their pace slowed as they spotted him, the lone defender of the city. His magic was already at work, hiding every hint of home or business from his foes while allowing his denizens to move about safely and securely. The army stopped just out of reach of arrows (though if they thought themselves to be at a safe distance from Maltus they were sorely mistaken) and gradually King Harriden stepped forward. “Know you why I have come Wizard?” Harriden shouted and pointed at Maltus with the giant hunk of metal he called a sword. Maltus was not stupid but never one to start a fight he answered courteously. “You have come to request my aid in making more and more attractive statues to clutter what little arable land you might better use for farming.” well more like trying to be courteous. “By the leave of the Church of Gefangenschaft I lay claim to these lands, the people, and spoils within that they may serve the faithful instead of heathens.” Harriden said, planting his sword in the cobble stone of the road much to Maltus’s annoyance. “Surrender peacefully and repent your wicked ways and you may live to see the sunset. “I do not acknowledge the authority of the Gefangenschaft. Nor will I surrender. Instead I shall offer all of you a chance… just one… drop your weapons, shed your armor and flee this place never to return. Else I shall make your bones and flesh as one with this land as a monument to the futility of threatening Maltus Freed! I am King of Frieden and all who call this land home shall be preserved under my Aegis! Be gone from my doorway before my temper rises!” “You can’t Intimidate us!” “Yeah! You and what army?” Maltus took a deep breath as the invaders heckled him, and released it as a stream of purple flame. The wave of fire washed over the army and he tried not to smile as the men screamed in terror. The flames didn’t hurt, they weren’t even hot, but they did destroy. Leather armor popped apart thread coming free and spooling up as the careful cuts returned to squares of processed flesh. Ring and plate melted and ran together forming ingots on the ground. Soft clothes ceased to be finished garments and returned to the bolts of cloth they had been. Every weapon carried suffered the same fate returning to its constituent parts. Maltus stopped to breathe in again; there was one still standing, armed and armored none other than King Harriden. Alone amongst his naked and cowering troops. “Well well it seems someone is wearing enchanted armor… isn’t that forbidden by the Church?” Maltus laughed as he waved his hands blocking the path of the soldiers that now sought to flee with walls of amethyst flames. “Hypocrites, Cowards, and Liars one and all. You were given a chance to leave peacefully now you are mine!” he declared, his hand rising high above his head as he clenched it into a fist. Men shrieked and cried out as they were lifted into the air by dancing trials of violet flame that slowly drew them against each other. Their bodies melted against each other merging into a steadily growing sphere. Those yet to be lifted thought to try their luck with the walls of flame only to discover they served as express tickets to the growing sphere of flesh. In only moments the entire army was fused as one and then with a turn of his wrist Maltus began to craft a masterpiece. Two titanic sets of legs descended from the flesh orb one muscular one dainty. Next a pair of interlocked hips formed one male one female their genitals joined together. Next came a pair of torso’s one broad and muscled, one thin and curvaceous, one masculine the other feminine both pressed against each other intimately. Thick muscled arms formed clutching the shapely bottom of the female figure. A woman's arms warped around the forming neck of th male statue. Both grew heads bearing great grins of blissful pleasure on their features. Splaying his fingers Maltus finished his work. A great glowing orb of rainbow flames emerged from the titanic beings whose flesh shifted hard becoming black and white marble. “It’s much harder to separate the components of a person…” Maltus considered as he gazed at the nest of souls that burned in the mid morning sky like a second sun. “... change the container though and it gets much easier.” Matlus turned his gaze back to Harriden. “You have two choices. You can leave now and never return letting all know the folly of facing me… or you can suffer a similar fate to your men and become part of my next art project.” “The souls… Demons can’t…” Harriden stuttered eyes fixed on the orb filled with rainbow streaks of light as the myriad souls danced free of the constraints or worries of flesh. “Demons cannot take souls, Nor can angels for that matter.” Maltus advanced on the young man. “But I and my family can. This is the power the church fears for it is proof. Proof that their Almighty one is anything but.” “Give them to me.” “Speak again?” “Give me the souls of my men. I will do anything to see them released.” Harriden begged and there was a gleam in his eyes that told Maltus he genuinely meant that. “You can’t simply carry them… hmm how about we make a bargain, yes? No, not a bargain, a game. Yeeess.” Maltus grinned as the idea rapidly formed. “I shall return to you as many of these souls to the world as you can bring back to it.” “Bring back to it? I am no magician, no necromancer!” Harriden replied with frustration and despair in his voice. “You have the capacity to create life as much as the next man… I will simply speed the process up by giving you a body to better facilitate this. You shall have a form that matches your spirit. The win condition is that you successfully return all of the souls of your men to flesh. Your prize should you accomplish this is that you shall return to your home with them at your back. Should you fail however I shall keep them excluding the ones you return to life and you shall become my servant.” “So be it, I shall not fail my men.” Harriden said fire in his voice. “My word as my bond and hand to seal this contract.” he thrust his hand forward and Matlus shook it, a conflagration of lavender flames consuming the other man as his transformation started and the deal was made. Maltus watched with curiosity as the would-be conquer drifted into the air as the flames began to fade. Much like the soldiers his body shifted becoming a sphere, unlike them though his armor clothes and weapons also fused into him. The result was that as opposed to pale flesh the sphere had metallic green scales. Maltus was not controlling this change; the wording of it was vague enough he had no clue what manner of creature Harriden was becoming. The sphere swelled double, triple quadruple and finally settled at five times its prior size. A bump formed and stretched out becoming a long tapering tail, the tip sharp and thin like a dirk. A quartet of claws formed like an eagle's talons emerged from the sphere pushing down strong narrow legs from thick strong thighs, the tail acting to balance the monstrosity. A stripe of golden scales that were broader and softer formed in the front before a wide horizontal slit formed and just below that a tight pucker formed beneath the base of the tail. The sphere stretched up creating a pear shaped torso from which sprouted a pair of gigantic Membranous wings that beat the air frantically whipping up a gust that knocked the Wizard King onto his ass. Maltus was in awe of the creature before him as he watched arms ending in powerful claws sprout from the torso. A thick tree-like neck sprouted as flexible as a python's body as a square jawed head adorned with a plate of bone that might almost be mistaken for a crown took shape. The titanic lizard's eyes glanced about frantically examining its body with panic. “My, my, my, You look quite the sight. So, this is the monster within you. The shape of your soul.” Maltus grinned as he rose from the ground looking at the creature in awe. “I’ve never seen the like of it bef-” but then he recalled seeing exactly one thing like it when he had peered through a portal with his brother into the Black Earth. “Not quite the Drachen of Black earth. So I dub this form as Dragon.” Harriden roared with anger and a stream of emerald flame erupted from the dragon’s maw. The magic tingled as it washed over the Wizard King but failed to singe him thanks to his own affinity with fire. “Oh what a lovely trick! But let’s not waste energy on a fight you can’t win. Instead let’s focus on revitalizing the troops.” Maltus said and with a wave of his hand the orb of souls burst apart the individual souls streaking through the air in a glorious dance as they zipped into the Dragon’s body. Harriden nearly toppled over their tail, the only thing that kept the dragon upright. “Oh my it seems someone is enjoying themselves.” Maltus said as he spotted the dragon’s slit grow damp and spread itself open. “This feeling is-!” Harriden said in a language never spoken by man though Maltus had no trouble understanding the words. The dragon slid to the ground, hips thrusting into the air as more and more souls entered the beast's body. “Pure bliss but my-?” “Your cock? It would seem you don’t possess one anymore. Indeed it seems that in trade for the return of your men you have given up your manhood.” Maltus laughed at the irony and the fact that such a change should have been obvious from the beginning. “Though I doubt you’ll mind too much. After all, you do seem to be having a lovely time.” “I am a woman?!” Harriden asked before gasping and writhing as more of the souls entered her body. Her sex fountained a sticky clear fluid as her claws dug furrows into the cobblestone streets. Maltus frowned at the sight of the damage before being distracted as Harriden’s tail began slapping the ground hard enough to shake him off his feet. Maltus levitated as the orgasming dragon craned her head around to see the last of the souls vanish into her body. “At last it’s over.” “Over? But of course you know that’s just the beginning! Surely you can hear the cries of those souls eager to rejoin the land of the living? Can’t you feel them wriggling and writhing in your womb? Can’t you feel your body readying to give life to them?” Maltus laughed at the expression of fear that came over the Dragon’s face as she realized what was to come. “Yes you’re soon to be a mother and moreover, your body is not just a reflection of your soul but ideal for bringing these souls back into the world.” Before their eyes Harriden’s belly began to swell the golden scales spreading apart till the yellowed flesh that connected them could be seen between. Harriden let out an utterly animal sound of pleasure as her sex began to drool and spread. It wasn’t long before a lime colored egg appeared from the depths of her catching briefly on the lips of her sex. It gave Maltus time to conjure a bed of hay nearby before the egg slid free of her sex to roll down her tail where Maltus’ magic grabbed it and guided it to the nest. He had only a few seconds to examine the egg noting that it was nearly three feet tall and about as wide around before the second egg emerged. Maltus watched as the giant eggs emerged from the dragon one by one, her belly never shrinking and her writhing orgasm never ceasing. Harriden clutched the ground alternately hissing and letting out a loud squeak as each egg pushed from her body. It was quite obvious to Maltus that she was loving the sensation of motherhood despite (or perhaps because) the size of the eggs. Maltus counted over twenty eggs and realized he needed more nesting material. Harriden didn’t stop if anything the process got faster. It seemed her body had fully adjusted to the eggs width and height. The Wizard king had no sooner finished expanding the nest than finding it full again with the count now being at a hundred. “Stuck?” the dragon said, clutching her still egg filled belly peering over it. The wizard king saw what she couldn't: the egg was not stuck; it was larger than her previous ones. In addition as it slowly spread her sex open pushing more into the air he realized the shell of this one was a deep sapphire blue rather than the lime green of the others. At length the egg finally popped free and Maltus was startled to realize this egg was five foot tall. Nine more eggs just like that popped free and placed in a special nest. The next ten eggs were of similar size but this time sporting bright rose red shells. The ten after that were bigger, amber colored and each no less than six feet tall. Maltus looked at the clutch of eggs sorted by color into giant nests. “Hmmm that’s not right…” the Wizard King said, focusing on the eggs to better understand what was happening. He saw that each egg contained a soul of Harriden’s army just as he had intended. He nearly slapped himself for failing to guess what he discovered next. The beings in the eggs were not exactly the creature Harriden had become. The magic of affinities meant that those who were most like the king would resemble her new form the most and those who were least like her would be different in accordance. Furthermore the difference in sizes among the eggs was down to the maturity of the soul within the most childish being reborn in the lime colored eggs. Ten eggs more in rose red followed by another ten in Sapphire and ten more in Amber. Another fifty in lime and Harriden’s belly finally seemed to deflate. Ten golden eggs, the biggest yet at seven feet tall emerged from her sex and joined the giant clutch. The dragon crooned as her sex stretched open wider than before and slowly ever so slowly did a purple egg emerge from her sex her belly going totally flat as it passed from her. This singular egg was nearly twelve foot tall and blessedly half that around Harriden rolled on to her belly sex slowly closing. She stood shakingly. “Is that… is that all?” Harriden asked and somehow her words sounded softer, more pleading as if begging for him to say no. Maltus closed his eyes and looked into the dragon not sensing any soul but her own. “Hmmm it would seem so you’ve returned every soul I took to flesh. Congratulations… though I sense that the idea of going home to rule now that you have experienced the many miracles of birth is not what you have in mind.” Harriden turned her head refusing to meet his eyes but did not refute him so he pressed on. “No you loved this feeling and you’re new body. You can not wait to see your children hatch. You wish to be a mother again. Perhaps even to have proper breeding?” Silence hung thick in the air as the seconds stretched into minutes. “Yes… I want to be… made a mother again… I love this body and I will forfeit my kingdom to you if you can make me- if you can give me more children.” Herriden admitted looking slightly ashamed. “I’m more than happy to agree to such a bargain. I’ll take your kingdom and lands and in return I shall provide you and your offspring with mates.” Maltus chuckled. ---- 1 year later ---- The ground, rivers and skies of Kolkin teemed with Dragonkind. In the rivers Lindwyrm and his serpentine brethren patrolled devouring poachers as they breathed water as easily as men did air. The air was home to Wyrm and his forces, the winged serpents proudly bearing the weapons and armor of Frieden’s making. Wyvern and his brethren bore Sentinels on patrols, their wider wings and two strong legs making them the only easily mountable dragonkin capable of flight. On the ground Drakes stomped forward their impenetrable hide and firebreath making them ideal transports. Kobolds moved with the supplies, their numbers, natural weapons and sheer durability coupled to the restless energy they possessed made them ideal scouts and lookouts. The Draconians humans with the visage of dragons made up the bulk of Frieden's military due to the rapidity of their maturation and their high sex drive. True Dragons like Harriden were only now reaching the double digits; there were very few who could endure the lengthy transformation. Harriden looked at the remains of her old castle torn down by her own claws And being transformed into a nest for the next clutch. She had left a Conqueror and returned to conquer in the name of another. She could not be happier with the results. Even now the sentinels armed with magics from Maltus claimed the souls of what remained of her old army.