Alex was in the simple room again. He was sitting at the same desk, with the same rings on the table. He examined himself and found he was back in his human body; only it had changed. The same black scales on his dragon form had begun growing in patches across his arms and legs, and his nails were replaced with short pseudo-claws. He had also shrunk, with his feet now barely reaching the floor. His wavy blonde hair was now dark gray and straight, with little nubs poking through where his horns were as a dragon.

There was much less magic emanating from the rings this time. All but three of them had died out completely. He sensed two rings much more strongly than the other surviving one. Those must be the two taken from the thing that took his form. The glow of magic released by them burned as strong as a campfire, while the other slowly sputtered like a dying candle.

Alex picked up the weak ring and yelled into it.

“Hello? Are you still in there? What were you trying to tell me last time?”

Alex got no response. He shook the ring, then lifted it to his eye and looked through the hole, then brought it to his ear and listened. When none of that worked, he finally thought t put on the ring. He tried sliding it onto his ring finger, but the ring was too big for his finger, and it slipped off. Only his thumb was still large enough to wear the ring.

After donning the ring, he felt a familiar rush of warmth, and this time, rather than just a voice, he saw a ghastly form of an orc materialize before him.

“What the fuck?!”

He jumped back in surprise and accidentally tilted the chair, toppling it and him backward, hitting his head on the ground. Even though he was in a dream, it still hurt like hell.

Yet the pain vanished instantaneously. He looked up to see the figure had walked over and was offering their hand to him. He took it, and the figure helped him up.

“So… Who are you?”

The orc levitated a few inches off the ground, and when it spoke, there was no sound. Thoughts appeared in his mind, similar to his inner voice, but distinctly different.

“I am Slainte, the first healer orc of the forest.”

The voice echoed in Alex’s mind, making him dizzy.

“As you may have noticed, my ring has lost much of its power. I used most of it to heal you from a distance. I’m using the last of it to reach you in your sleep.”

Alex didn’t know what to say. Who was this figure? Why was it helping him?”

The orc grabbed his arm and felt the scales growing from it.

“It seems your condition is worse than I thought…”

“What? What do you mean worse? What’s wrong with me?”

The figure closed its eyes, and magic flowed from it to Alex’s arm. Wherever it touched, the scales disappeared, fading back into skin. After ridding his arms of scales and his hands of claws, Slainte collapsed onto his knees.

“That… should hold it back… for a while,” the orc heaved in between breaths.

“What did you just do to me?”

The orc shakily stood back up, supporting itself with the table.

“I repaired your spirit. It’s changing to fit your current form. If you don’t get your body back soon, it will fully become a dragon, and you’ll be trapped in that body forever.”

Slainte collapsed again, unable to hold himself up even with support from the table.

“My power is fading… I’ll be gone soon..”

“No! Don’t leave yet! How am I supposed to get my body back?”

“The thing that stole your body… It is a Whiddsoul… A fae that steals its victim’s body and drains their spirit. They feed off them to live forever… You escaped, somehow… Kill it, save future souls… You’re still linked to your body… Take it back, and the fae will die”

Alex reached down to help Slainte, but instead, his hands went right through, dispersing the mist. The ring on his thumb lost its glow completely, and Slainte’s figure disappeared. The warmth coursing through Alex’s body faded and was replaced by a cold sense of dread. He quickly pulled off the ring and awoke with a start.

“What? What is it? Is he coming?”

Alex looked up to see Parker on high alert; he had dark circles under his eyes from watching the forest all night. Alex laid back down and lowered his head to the ground. Parker had been paranoid about running into the imposter for the past three days. His compass was in his bag, and without it, he had no way of navigating out of the forest. The thick treeline covered the sun during the day and the stars at night. They were lost in the forest with a monster chasing them.

Alex had been acting as a sensor, alerting them if he felt the presence of the Whiddsoul. There had been a few times where he felt it nearing, but they quickly rushed off every time. Parker and the orc were switching off night watch, leaving Alex to sleep. He was a very deep sleeper, unless the fae was nearby. Once he sensed it even in the slightest, he shot up. Parker was right to be concerned: when he learned it was a false alarm, he sat back down.

Alex felt bad about leaving them to watch every night while he slept and did nothing. He was supposed to be an adventurer, yet here he was with a posse wearing themselves down to keep him safe. Although, his guilt wasn’t nearly strong enough to overcome the feeling of a good rest every morning. He rolled onto his side and was met with the face of the sleeping orc inches from his own. She had taken a habit of snatching him to her side while he was asleep. The night before, he’d been woken up by the orc rolling over and nearly crushing him to death. He was barely able to weasel himself out from under before he suffocated.

Alex had easily climbed the trees to orient them, but no matter what he did to tell them, they didn’t understand. He didn’t even try running off. There was no chance he’d be able to outrun or outfight the Whiddsoul; staying in the group was his best bet. He remembered his dream and went to check the rings the orc had attached to her ear. He stepped up onto her head and examined the rings. Sure enough, while one released plenty of magic, the other had been utterly drained.

Suddenly, Alex’s legs lost contact with the ground as the orc sat up. He tumbled down on his back into her lap. After being stuck together, she had finally learned some boundaries. While Parker led them around in circles through the forest, they had developed a system. Alex would walk most of the time, and when he got tired, he would jump onto her shoulder and rest there. This new body wore out much too quickly, and he found himself falling asleep any time he got the chance. Not all his dreams were meetings with ancient orc heroes, though. He mostly dreamt of eating some good food or punching the dreaded imposter’s head off. Any time he didn’t spend walking or sleeping, he spent eating. All that food did not go to waste, though. During their stint in the forest, he’d grown at least an inch. This may not seem like much, but it was almost a tenth of his total height, so he took it as a win nonetheless.

He hopped out of the orcs lap, and she reached into her bag and gave him some more of that meat. He gobbled it up as fast as he could. Parker found a few herbs that could be used as seasonings, but they weren’t as strong as the ones Alex used to cook usually. Even with these spices, nothing he could make could compare with the orc’s meat. It had a flavor he couldn’t place, and he just couldn’t get enough of it. Thankfully, she was saving it all for him and hunting other food for herself. She grew up in these forests and had no trouble finding food on her own. Parker, on the other hand, was not so skilled. He barely found anything to eat, and the orc wasn’t giving any handouts. Well, at least not to him.

The orc rubbed her eyes and grumbled something at Parker, who whined back. They all got up and continued walking. Alex could hardly believe it. They were finally moving in the right direction! As long as they didn’t get turned around again, they’d be able to make it out by the next day. Once Parker brought him back to the academy, he’d finally get access to real alchemy equipment. Maybe then, he could find a way to change himself back into a human. This nightmare of an adventure may finally be ending.

Parker was done with this nightmare of an adventure. He’d gathered enough research on dragons. At this point, he just wanted to get back to his office at the university and dissect whatever they brought him. He wasn’t built to handle orc diplomacy, or dragon raising, or conspiracies of his fellow alumni. He just wanted to get out of there and forget it ever happened. He could publish his research on dragons and leave this whole thing behind. Taking it to the academy was too big of a risk. If anyone found out he was harboring a danger to society as a whole, there was no doubt they’d kill the poor thing. Plus, it would ruin Parker’s career.

All his stuff was gone, he was lost in the woods, and he hadn’t eaten in days. That damn orc was sitting pretty with all the animals she caught, and wouldn’t even share a bite with him.

“You’re lucky I’m sharing my water with you,” she told him. If it weren’t for him ramming into Alex, her head would’ve been chopped off, and the only thanks he got was a few sips from her musty leather canteen.

Now they were walking through the woods after he was woken hours before the sunrise to keep watch.

“Why is it that I always need to watch in the morning? You get to sleep before we start moving, and I’m stuck exhausted from staying up all night.”

“We both sleep the same. You just do it earlier. Stop complaining.”

The dragon certainly didn’t seem unhappy. It had taken a much greater liking to the orc than him. It was completely unfair, too. She gave it meat spiced with crimson mint. Disgusting to people, but irresistible to carnivorous animals. When it was dried and rubbed on meat, it left a red coating, and when cooked, it charred off, leaving behind an overpowering blood flavor. That, and whenever it got tired, she would carry it around like a personal chauffeur. He tried to hold it, or pet it, or anything, it would just growl and snap at him.

After a few hours of walking in silence, the dragon jumped up onto the orc’s shoulder.

“You know, why does he like you so much? You caught him and kept him in that cage, with broken bones, and when I freed him, tended to his wounds, fed him, and gave him an actual bed to sleep on, you chased us around the forest!”

The orc gave him a tight-lipped frown.

“Well, maybe you’re just such awful company, you make me look good in comparison. Besides, I didn’t keep him in that cage. Those idiotic goblins did. I had only a few minutes to look at him before you came and snatched him from me. If you’d just minded your own business, we wouldn’t be lost in the forest. You’d be in one of your cushy human-castles, breathing air and making weapons to wage war and steal my kind’s land, and I’d be out exploring the world with him.”

“Hey, I don’t do that! I’m a researcher, not a weapon manufacturer! And if I hadn’t shown up. Alex would’ve gone to your camp and slaughtered you all! Whatever he is, there’s no way you’d be able to beat him! Besides, if you’d be such a great dragon parent, how come you haven’t even named him yet?”

“Well, you haven’t either!”

“I wasn’t planning on keeping him. I just wanted to collect some notes on juvenile dragons. Sketches, diet, activity, you know, research. You, however, want to pluck him from his natural habitat and keep him. Besides, now you have those rings. You don’t need him anymore.”

“Fine! I’ll name him.”

The orc stood still for a few moments, scratching her chin.

“Sparky. Cause he shoots lightning.”

The orc grabbed the dragon off her shoulder and held it in front of her.

“Sparky? How about that?”

The dragon just turned his head in confusion and looked to Parker.

“How would you like that? Do you like the name Sparky?”

In return for his translation efforts, he got a growl, and, ironically enough, a shock,

“Well, I don’t think he likes that name.”

The orc placed him back on her shoulder, and they continued walking.

“Why not? He growls at you all the time. He doesn’t even understand you anyways.”

The orc turned her head to face the dragon.

“I’m going to cut you up and use your bones in my stew, you ugly little runt!” she cooed at him.

The dragon just stared back.

“See? Nothing. It’s not about what you say, it’s about how you say it. It’s not the name he doesn’t like. It’s you.”

“Well, he doesn’t understand orcish. That’s why I always talk to him in English.”

“Oh, the baby dragon speaks your native language fluently, but not mine. That makes perfect sense!” The orc threw her arms out in frustration.

“Whatever. I don’t care if you believe me. Once we get out of this forest, I’m leaving you guys anyways.”

The orc turned away from Parker and yelled.

“Fine!”

“Fine.”