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A black, stone monument, the dragon tablet, stood upright in front of Vur and Tafel. They were sitting on the ground with their legs crossed. Vur was staring at the surface of the monument, and Tafel was staring at Vur. “Welcome to the dragon network,” Vur said. “If you’re seeing this message, then you’re a civilized dragon—unless you robbed another dragon’s tablet.”
“What if you polymorphed me into a dragon?” Tafel asked, glancing at the dragon tablet. Its surface was glossy like obsidian and completely free of words. “Would I be able to read it too?”
Vur shrugged before turning his head towards Lindyss, who was sitting on her rocking chair not too far away. “What color is a time-manipulating dragon?”
Lindyss tilted her head to the side. “I’m not sure,” she said. “There aren’t any notable time-manipulating dragons.”
Vur blinked at Lindyss before looking at Tafel. “What color do you want to be?”
Tafel furrowed her brow. “You can always polymorph me into a different color later, right?”
“Yeah,” Vur said and nodded.
“In that case,” Tafel said, “I want to be the same shade of orange as orichalcum.” She stood up and took a few steps away from Vur and the dragon tablet. “I’m ready.”
Vur pointed at Tafel and said, “Polymorph.”
The demon blinked rapidly as her body expanded, her neck elongating while orange scales similar to metal grew from her skin. Wings sprouted from her shoulder blades, and her teeth elongated into points as her jaws enlarged. When the polymorph spell was complete, Tafel, the orange dragon, stood on her hindlegs and looked down at her front paws which she maneuvered like hands. She craned her neck to look behind herself at her tail, and with a whooshing sound, she swished her tail to the side. The movement caused her leg to stumble, and with a loud yelp, she fell over. Before she could crush her own wing against the ground, an earthen hand rose up from below and steadied her.
“Thanks,” Tafel said, glancing at the shining runes on Vur’s forearm. Surprisingly, dragon vision wasn’t that much better than her normal vision thanks to her phoenix imprint. Tafel blinked and stood up, steadying herself before dropping down onto all fours. She raised her head towards the dragon tablet, and a frown appeared on her face. “I still can’t see anything.”
“Maybe Vur only changed your outer appearance into that of a dragon,” Lindyss said. “Try casting a spell.”
Tafel blinked before holding out her front paw and channeled her mana. Her eyes, which were also orange, glowed, and a fireball blossomed above her paw as a phoenix imprint appeared on her forehead.
“Yep,” Lindyss said and nodded. “You’re still a phoenix.”
Tafel frowned, and her eyes widened as she pointed at the dragon tablet. Some words had appeared! “Phoenixes have straw for brains,” she said, reading them out loud. She blinked and scratched her head as her imprint disappeared, the fireball disappearing along with it. “Dragons don’t really like phoenixes, huh?”
“The dragon-phoenix wars might’ve taken place over hundreds of years ago, but when you take a dragon’s or phoenix’s lifespan into consideration, it really hasn’t been a long time since then,” Lindyss said and shrugged. “Some dragons and phoenixes are still grieving over their losses.”
A sigh escaped from Tafel’s mouth, and she poked Vur with her claw. “Turn me back.”
“Okay,” Vur said and pointed at Tafel. Her bones popped and cracked as they shrank, returning to their original size. Her scales sank into her skin, and her clothes reappeared as her wings disappeared back inside her body. He glanced at the dragon tablet, and another set of words appeared in his vision. “Register a username. Other dragons on the network will see your activity under your username. Usernames can be changed at any time.” Vur tilted his head. “Register my username as Vur.”
Tafel took a seat beside Vur and leaned her head against his shoulder, hugging his arm. Then, she closed her eyes. Since the only words that appeared on the tablet for her were insults, there was no need for her to keep looking. “What’s happening now?” she asked and let out a yawn.
“There’s a bunch of squares, and there’s something painted on each one,” Vur said. “When I look at one of them, it grows a little bigger to help me see better, and it shrinks when I look away again.” He blinked twice and straightened his head a little before leaning forward. “This is interesting.”
“Vur finds something interesting that isn’t Tafel, food, or sleep?” Lindyss asked, her eyes widening in mock surprise. She glanced at the surface of the dragon tablet before squinting at it. She snorted and turned her attention back onto her knitting needles. “A magic rock that only one person can interact with, a dragon definitely made that.”
Tafel opened her eyes and tilted her head back to look at Vur. Instead of looking back at her like he usually did, he was staring at the screen in front of him. “What’s interesting? The paintings?”
Vur nodded. “There’s so many,” he said. “If I focus on them completely, they grow to fill the whole monument.” He gestured towards the dragon tablet with his left arm in a broad stroke. “It looks like there’s a rectangular portal to the ocean.” He turned towards Tafel. “Can you hear it?”
“The ocean?” Tafel asked. She shook her head. “I don’t hear it. The dragon tablet is just there, not doing anything.”
Vur scratched his head before picking up a pebble on the ground. He threw it at the tablet, and it bounced off the glossy surface. “Hey,” Vur said. “Let Tafel see and hear too.”
“Ahem.” Lindyss cleared her throat in a not-so-discrete manner.
Vur looked at the ground, searching for a pebble.
“Here you go,” Tafel said and passed one to him before he could look for very long.
Vur smiled at Tafel before throwing the pebble at the tablet. “Let Auntie watch and hear too.”