10. Shyfting Changes

As they awkwardly embraced, suddenly, there was a strong gust of winds that battered at them. The sounds of wings beating accompanied the wind. Just as Pandrea tried to pull away from Sigardus, five large dragons came down with earth-shattering thumps.

Between the wind and the sudden tremors, there no chance Pandrea was going to be able to keep on her feet. Then, suddenly Sigardus was there protectively grabbing her. This gesture made her face brighten with a blush.

Of all the times... Pandrea thought, cringing as she finally became fully aware of the dragons surrounding them. Five radiant glowing dragons surrounded them; none looked happy to find them here.

As the two separated, Sigardus looked to the largest of the five, a massive white dragon. Its head was almost as tall as Sigardus, and it looked more realistic then Aethereal. Sigardus stepped forward to the mythical monstrosity, speaking in a low and even, but respectful tone.

"We mean you no harm, Prince Valkiarus. We are just passing through your land, heading north. We are not interested in trouble," he finished with a low formal bow.

The prince in dragon form sneered at Sigardus and stepped forward, so they were no more than a meter apart. From this range, they could smell sulfur and brimstone. It was like a wave of a thousand matches lit at once. There was something else, another scent that was not as strong, but it made Pandrea put her hand over her mouth. Rotting flesh.

"Harm? What harm could some common trash such as yourself, cause to me? No, step aside, little faery dragon, I can smell that weak spirit on you. It is the other one that interests me. Yes, she smells different. An old power similar to my own, but a weak and faded version," Valkiarus said in a condescending tone.

Sigardus began to pull Pandrea backward, trying to move her behind him. It did not look good for them. Sigardus yelled for her to run, and he pushed her.

When he did this, he tried to breathe in Kira. Sigardus barely started when Valkiarus's right claws pinned him to the ground. The force knocked the wind out of him. With the pressure of the massive, draconian hand, he was having trouble getting his breath.

"Pathetic. How dare you try to challenge me Fae, your tricks will not work here. I should crush you for even trying," the prince roared.

"Stop!" Pandrea screamed and drew in as deep of a breath as she could.

The prince looked from Sigardus then to the screaming girl. There was something wrong with this picture. Two colors were swirling around the girl. One golden and the other brilliant blue, swirled around a blackness that was covering her body.

Just then, Valkiarus heard a gasp and a thumping noise behind himself. He turned to see another dragon gasp and disappear, all the ethereal energy that formed it flew towards the girl. Now, the two knights were picking themselves off the ground, looking at each other in disbelief.

As the Prince turned back to see what the girl was doing, he heard a roar. When he turned around, the girl was no longer a girl. A three-meter tall black wolf that stood on two feet, and it was only getting bigger. Now, instead of two colors surrounding the beast, four pulsated and spiraled inwards.

"This is impossible!" The prince roared. Green and brown now circled the beast mixing with the gold and blue.

Then, the beast sharply inhaled, and all four colors converged. This action caused a burst of intense light that made the prince and the other dragons turn their heads. When they turned back, the wolf had changed.

"How did she do that?" Asked one of the bewildered knights who were in human form.

"Shut up, you fool, Drakorus, Phalidine, attack that beast!" Prince Valkiarus bellowed.

Pandrea didn't know what was going on, but she was mad. Too many times had she watched stupid shows with bullies and evil people. This prince was just another bully.

The moment he got knocked down and she seen Sigardus couldn't breathe, she had lost control. She had meant to only take in Kira and her blue Shyft, but she had lost control and didn't know what was going on. Two more Shyfts came into the vortex, and then everything went black for a moment.

When her eyes opened, they were not her eyes. At least she could see through them, but she wasn't in control of their motions. Pandrea felt rage course through her body and tried to move her body, but nothing happened. As she began to panic, a familiar voice called to her.

"I had to take control, there are too many minds in your head," the familiar voice of Calimus said to her in her mind.

"What happened?" She asked, still very confused. "I saw more color when I tried to take the two Shyfts in."

"This is a unique ability that allows the Partner to draw in Shyfts from others with weak or cooperative wills. This is something I have only heard about and never seen before, but this is too much without training," said Calimus in her mind.

Things were happening slowly outside her mind, almost like her sub-conscious was slowing time. The dragons had reared back to shield their faces as if they had seen a blinding light. Calimus darted forward and scooped up Sigardus, then jumped back to lay him on the ground.

With the flash of light, Sidgardus finally felt the mountainous pressure release of his chest. As he gasped for air, another set of golden claws instantly grabbed him and darted backward to set him on the ground. Coughing and trying to get his breath back, he looked up and almost lost his breath again.

In front of him stood something that stretched even his imagination. Where Pandrea had been now was standing her wolf form, but ultimately changed. Where she was two and a half to three meters tall when she changed before, now she was over four meters, and that wasn't all.

No, her entire body had changed. The legs and feet were thicker and looked like stone. The arms and hands now had gold to the elbows, and blue water like energy spun around each like steams of water cords. The most significant change was the glowing green wings protruding from her back.

"What is going on?" Sigardus tried to ask but cut off when a red dragon slammed into Pandrea.

Even so, the impact did not have the intended results, and the massive wolf-thing grabbed it with one golden hand and flung the dragon into the waterfall. This impact caused a gigantic splash, along with some rocks breaking and crashing down. The red dragon disappears, and a knight was left splashing in the water.

The other dragon tried to leap at Pandrea but became grappled with cords of the blue energy coming off her. The massive head of Pandrea turn to look at the grappled purple dragon, and the ropes began to tighten around it. The purple dragon thrashed to no avail, and then it dragged down towards Pandrea. It met a solid kick from one of the stone legs that sent the dragon crashing through the forest.

The large white form of the prince took a step back and let out an ear-piercing roar that made Sigardus brace himself and cover his ears. This noise caused Pandrea to step forward and open her jaws wide. If the sound that came out of the dragon's mouth was considered loud, then the sound that came next deafened him and knocked him off his feet. While the sound persisted, he was without breath again until it stopped.

Finally, the deafening roar stopped, and Sigardus could breathe again. Looking up, he could see The wolf-thing bend its legs, getting ready to attack the prince when something happened. The shape immediately began to shrink, and the energy poured off her. She became engulfed by the energy rising until her form became lost in the clouds. As the four Shyfts streamed off her, and soon she was lying unconscious on the ground.