The Dominion's Bane

Chapter Two: Mysterious Transformation

Ma'dran groaned and tried to open his eyes-but this just resulted in his vision being bombarded by an army of tiny spots. Eventually he was able to open his eyes fully, but his vision was still very fuzzy, as though he was drunk. A shadow fell over him, shielding his eyes from the bright light that filled the room he was in. Ma'dran took advantage of this and sat up, looking around the room.

Where am I? He wondered.

Then he felt an iron grip grasping his shoulder. He tried to shake the hand off, but it refused to move. The man who was gripping him stepped to the side, and Ma'dran was once again attacked by streams of light. He blinked rapidly, trying to force his eyes to adapt to the brightness. The hand on his shoulder wrenched him up and then another hand (presumably the man's opposite hand) wrapped itself around his waist, pinning his arms.

"What in Oblivion are you doing?! I demand you release me at once!" Shouted Ma'dran, trying to headbutt his captor.

"Calm down. It's me, Cassius," came an even-toned voice from behind Ma'dran.

Ma'dran immediately stopped struggling. "Cassius?" He breathed. "What happened? And why are you doing this?"

"I'm doing this for good reason. Last time you woke up you tried to kill us all."

"Last time I woke up? I don't recall..." said Ma'dran, confused.

A large male Cathay-Raht unidentifiable in Ma'dran's groggy state stepped into his line of vision. He showed Ma'dran his right and left arm, which both had several stab marks, most likely inflicted by a knife. Ma'dran then raised his gaze and looked in horror at the Cathay Raht's face, which was covered in long, jagged scratches.

"You did this," rumbled the Cathay Raht.

Ma'dran just stood there for a moment, mouth gaping, before saying, "Who are you?"

"I'm M'draza," came the short reply.

"A man of little speech, eh? I like that," Ma'dran told M'draza. "I'd pat you on the back or something, but you see, my arms are pinned to my chest. Can we settle for a headbutt?" His awkward attempt to change the tone came across obviously.

M'draza just stared at him in stony silence, finally saying, "What?"

"Forget it," said Ma'dran. "Now, I'd appreciate it if I was let go."

Cassius sighed. "You know I can't do that. Even if I wasn't heeding legion protocol, what's to stop you from going wild again?"

Ma'dran contemplated this. "Well, you'll just have to trust-"
He abruptly cut himself off, his eyes turning from their normal blue-grey to a deep shade of orange, his muscles and body growing to twice their normal size. While he was undergoing this strange and rapid transformation, two guards marched in, a male and a female. They both grabbed long double-bladed axes from a weapon's stand next to the doorway, and locked blades, ensuring that no one could leave. Cassius just gazed at Ma'dran for a moment, before coming to his senses and immediately letting go of him and pushing him onto the stone floor, where he continued to writhe and shake.

M'draza had since retreated back to the wall, and looked on in complete silence, not even blinking.

Then the transformation was complete. Ma'dran raised himself onto one knee, and stared almost hungrily at M'draza, who was his nearest target. He shook his tail, and seemed to be calculating his chances. Then, an expression appeared in M'draza's eyes that had appeared once before that day: fear.

Cassius saw what would happen too late, attempting to catch Ma'dran mid-spring-but it was in vain. Ma'dran landed on M'draza's upper body, who shook like he was on fire.

Ma'dran raked his long claws across the left side of M'draza's face, then executed a flip in the direction of Cassius-but Cassius was prepared. He drew out short iron shackles and sidestepped. Ma'dran fell to the floor in a heap. Cassius hurriedly fastened the shackles around his friend's wrists, locking them. Thazara, one of the guards who had been standing at the doorway, came from behind, grabbing Ma'dran's hands and attaching the shackles hanging off of them to the wall. The last thing Ma'dran saw before losing consciousness, also for the second time that day, were her armored boots coming towards his face...