Path of Change

Part 1

PATH OF CHANGE

By Seth Campbell

Part One

Whenever magic is concerned, being pedantic is a virtue. Every mage learns this very fast after they lose their eyebrows for the first time. And with what I was doing, I knew I had to be extra pedantic; but I'm getting ahead of myself.

My name is Cecil and I'm a Mage; but that's not as big a deal as it used to be. Just a few generations ago, only the Priests of Faihu could perform magic. But after the Revolution, their monopoly was abolished and The Council of Mages was formed. Of course, you had to get a license to practice magic; but concerning the obvious risk and danger, that's acceptable. I've studied so many Schools of Magic to get where I am that I'm surprised I didn't lose my mind.

Of course, some say that I did lose my mind...

Allow me to start at the beginning. I grew up and came of age during the Counter-Culture period and I was a huge fan. It didn't help that the most popular book at the time was Archmage Foxsmith's Treastie on the Unity of Man. Its blatant racism against Elves aside, its title is a bit of a misnomer; he tought that all of mankind was bound in concrete identity. I wasn't the only person who saw through the smoke screen. But unlike the rest of my friends, I was so pissed off by the Treasitie and its widespread popularity that I grew to resent my humanity.

We kinda suck.

Now, the obvious response was that there isn't anything you can do about it, and I believed it. I dredged through my final years of school semi-depressed. Until a representative of the local School of Magic gave a presentation about the new horizons that were being unveiled. When he got to Chimeras and the new bio-magic, I knew what I was going to do.

I was going to turn myself into something other than Human.

This was no easy feat. I didn't want to simply turn into an Elf or a Dragon. I was always pushing my immagination to the endless stress of my parents. The fact that they were from the old school Faihu adherant crowd didn't help. But they actually inspired my final design. While reading about the history of Faihu, I learned about certain mythical creatures. They're now known to just be misinformed observations of other things such as Elves or Dragons, but one was so perfect that it clicked with my rebelious nature.

To achieve this, I had to study at many different Schools of Magic. Aside from Chimeras and the new bio-magic, I also had to learn alchemy and healing. The major facet was transforming myself into a Chimera of my own invention. Since transformation was mainly alchemical, I had to create my new form by merging alchemy with Chimera creation and the final transformation by merging alchemy with healing and bio-magic.

In addition, since again the Chimera was to be an end result of transformation and not a separate entity, I had to "create" my new form as an incomplete alchemy formula, with me as the final ingredient. Creating the Chimera was the easy part. I just had to combine samples from various animals and plants: The facial fur of a male Elf, (extremely hard to come by) scales from the tail of a Dragon, (a little less hard to come by) and a wolf's tooth. (Took me a whole ten minutes to get) Then it was just a matter of combining said ingredients with their proper catalysts and channeling enough energy to ensure they bound in the way I wanted them to.

When I had my new form ready, there was just one thing left to do before I began what could be considered the ultimate journey. I now had to simply merge myself as the final ingredient for my new body. This was the hard part. I had to pull all of the stops with this final step. Circles were drawn; potions were brewed; candles were lit; and incantacions were chanted. When I finished all completion, I was ready to undergo the final ritual.

I stood at one end of the circle, naked; (all doors and windows were mercifully bolted shut) and what would become my new form at the other end. It looked like a menagerie of random things laid down in a specific pattern. A seven pointed star was painted within the circle with a candle lit at each point. There was also another circle in the middle of the star that was big enough to stand in the middle of. This was where I would be standing when this was over.

I knelt down, closed my eyes, and said the words; knowing that when I opened my eyes, I would no longer be human.

The process went off without a hitch. When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was now standing in the center of the circle. I looked down at my new feet. They were now covered in purple fur and my toes were now large thick black claws. I held out my hands in front of my eyes; they were also covered in purple fur. Above the knuckle, the fingers were covered in scales and were a solid claw below the knuckle. I flexed my fingers and toes, I could feel the claws; they weren't sharp, they only appeared to be sharp.

I walked out of the circle towards a mirror, I could feel a tail swinging behind me. It felt weird. I approached the mirror and saw my new face for the first time. It was covered in fur like that of a male Elf, I even had pointed ears like an Elf. (I didn't have wings since only female Elves have those) My teeth were now fangs like a wolf's. My hair and eyes remained the same as when they were before, because I got both from my grandfather, a veteran of the revolution. The final detail was that at the base of my spine, a long and slender tail was swaying from side to side. It was just like a Dragon's, except it too was covered in purple fur. I could look at my new self for hours, but first I had to tend to a small issue; I was still naked.

I grabbed a set of clothes I had modified for my new form and set aside on a table. I got dressed in a simple beige tunic and a black cloak with a hood. As I finnished robing, I heard the door open.