PART XXIV - ADORABLE … AND NOT
There was another round of cheering as Tazrok walked into the ring, waving to the onlookers, which helped everyone really get into the show they were witnessing. Now knowing he was excluded for a reason, and that indeed he was also going to be getting his forms, the excitement was quickly growing as to what could possibly happen.
“Corporal,” Rowani began as the cheers finally died off, “If you would assume your stealth form.”
Tazrok nodded, letting his mind drift, and shutting out the other recruits, trainers and everyone else looking at him. He looked to the stands, easily picking Callie Gnome and Blue Pixie out of the crowd, both smiling in joy alongside Lena Elf and all the rest. His friends. He closed his eyes.
WILD FORM - STEALTH
The world rippled, and he re-opened his eyes to find he was looking up at the smiling face of Trainer Rowani. In fact, he was looking way, way up at her! He looked down, seeing he was only centimeters from the ground, and then he noticed he had not Ogre hands, but a tiny paw with tiny claws, even though the paw was perfectly the right size for what he had become. He looked behind him, able to easily twist and bend, and saw he was covered in dull white fur with black highlights, and his tail was long and likewise covered in fur. Finally, he could see that the skin between his front and rear legs was stretched, and could sense it would allow him to glide through the air if he launched from a height.
“Sky Weasel!” someone in the front row cried out, pointing at the tiny Tazrok. At once, there was a unified ‘awwwww’ sound from much of the audience as they looked down at the little creature that was formerly their Corporal Punishment.
“He kinda looks like a ferret,” Callie said to the rest of her group, not quite able to make out detail at her distance. “If so, that’s absolutely adorable.”
“For stealth, that’s a great form,” Lena said. “They are incredibly nimble and able to get into some of the smallest of places. Plus you're right, they are really cute.”
“They can f-f-fly, too, sort of,” Pixyl added. “Well, they can glide really well, that is,” she amended.
With a blink, the Sky Weasel disappeared, replaced by the smiling Ogre, looking at his transformed hands. He acknowledged the few applause, and then waved up to the rest of Ogre House who were clapping along as well.
After a moment, Rowani nodded. “Flight form, if you would.” Then she quickly amended. “No flying around.”
Tazrok nodded, shook out his arms like he was limbering up, and took a deep breath. With a warble of magic, he was replaced by … a tiny housecat. The mood of the audience went still as a moment of confusion reigned, wondering why a little kitten was the flight form. Tazrok-the-Cat was a very light, tan color from whisker to tail, save darker tips on his ears, nose, and feet.
“He has become a … a cat,” Rowani called out apprehensively for those at a distance. “Most unusual.”
The little kitty Tazrok looked up at his trainer, and then extended a pair of small, feathered wings, letting out a single, plaintive ‘meow’.
“He has become a cat … with wings!” Rowani announced, confused relief evident in her voice. Then she followed up with, “I do not know this animal. Does anyone know what this might be called?”
The audience was quiet as everyone looked at each other, shrugging, having no idea what a winged cat might be. After a moment a voice called out, “I do.” Shul’an had stood, his hand raised. “I know of these creatures. They are native to my home and the deserts south of the Great Oasis. They are known as Khaprexi. They are said to bring great luck to those they befriend, and are distantly related to Griffins.”
“I see, thank you.” Rowani said, being aware for the first time that winged housecats actually existed. She then shrugged, and simply announced “Tazrok has become a Khaprexi!”
“Whatever he is, he’s really cute!” one of the female Dwarves called out, with a few more people echoing the sentiments as a new ripple of excitement rolled through the audience. A grinning Dregorio, who was the only one with domestic housecat heritage in the audience, gestured and labeled Tazrok ‘simply magnificent!’.
“A kitty and a ferret,” Callie cooed. “I wonder if the other two will be as cute and fuzzy?”
“You had to say that, didn’t you,” Lena groaned.
With a ripple, the Khaprexi kitten returned to being a gigantic Ogre, and Rowani waved her hands to get everyone’s attention so they all could continue. With a nod, she announced, “Tazrok’s Striker form.”
With another burst of magic, Tazrok changed shape. Those that were expecting another adorable creature of some kind were completely shocked when the result was anything but. Standing before them was nearly the exact opposite of an adorable creature, and a few people in the lower rows briefly screamed in surprise. Trainer Rowani herself, who had been standing close, was knocked backwards and nearly fell, before instinctively turning into her hawk form to not hit the ground. She quickly reverted back and looked up at the visage in front of her.
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“T-Tazrok has become a Hellhound,” Rowani finally managed to say, a combination of shock and dread evident in her voice, as several of the trainers instinctively had moved initially to a fighting stance. “A really big one!”
To call Tazrok a hound would be akin to calling a Dragon an ‘oversized lizard,’ it simply did not do him justice. Tazrok stood on four legs, each sporting five gigantic, semi-retractable claws. The Hellhound rose to a height of well over two meters to his shoulders, with his monstrous head even taller than that and sporting a pair of glowing, yellow eyes. He was vaguely shaped like a huge dog, but that was where the similarities ended. Completely hairless, he had taut, midnight-black skin rippling with muscles that seemed to radiate with rage and dread. Behind, a long, thin tail was weighted at its end, similar to Bratig’s Cyophroda form but without spikes, able to be swung and smashed into anything or anyone, providing the claws or teeth hadn’t already handled the problem.
Tazrok raised his head to the sky and roared, the sound a deafening cacophony of horror. As the roar ended, still echoing in the distance, everything went silent.
Callie stared in awe at what her friend had become. His soul rattling, horrific roar reminded her of the roar of Godzilla, and a part of her instantly felt sympathy for anyone, or anything, that might be on the receiving end of Tazrok’s Striker form. Then she wondered, if this is his Striker form, what could his Guardian look like?
“He’s still a little cute,” someone said hesitantly, breaking the awed silence, “in a terrifying ‘going to eat you’ kind of way.”
That comment served to break a lot of the tension, allowing the initial shock to end and everyone to get a much better look at Tazrok-the-Hellhound. As scary as he was, he really was a magnificent animal. Everything about him was custom built to intimidate or destroy whatever might get in his way, yet you could still see a vague sense of Tazrok in its eyes, letting you know the Ogre was still in there.
Rowani finally broke the moment, asking Tazrok to return to native form, which he did immediately. Returning to her announcer duties, she said “Now for his final form. When you need a Guardian, you only need to call upon…” With that, the Catkin gestured to the Ogre, who nodded once and took a deep breath. While the Hellhound had elicited a few screams of shock, now there were several screams of actual fear.
Callie was one of those that screamed in horror, and she actually hid behind Lena and Vanis, peering over their shoulders and between their heads.
Rowani was speechless, although not terrified like some of the others, but simply having no words to say that would be close to appropriate.
Tazrok looked all around him. This was confusing, because he could look all around him, in all directions, without even moving his head. He held up his hand, which was covered with a very light layer of dark-blue hair, ending in three sharp claws. His arm, which was now very long, was likewise covered in a sparse amount of blue hair up to his elbow, and then black hair above that. As was his other arm, and his other arm, and his other arm … and his four other arms, too. Behind him, his huge, chitin-covered abdomen was also layered with a light covering of black hair, and he knew at his rear he had a long, venomous stinger that could pierce through even steel armor. He was a spider. A really, really, really, big spider.
Standing at slightly under three meters, Tazrok had become a giant Blue-footed Cave Spider. Normally, even in the deep caves they often dwell in, they would never get much larger than about forty centimeters tall, although reports have been made of them reaching almost one-and-a-half meters. The Cave Spiders were venomous with a potent limb paralytic in their bite, and they would span the tunnels with webs in the hope to catch bats, rats, and anything else small enough to get tangled up in them. Once ensnared, the Cave Spiders used their sting to deliver a highly-effective sleep poison, allowing them to keep their prey alive until it was time to eat them. They were sometimes territorial and could be aggressive, especially if encountered in numbers, or worse, in a nest. Tazrok, a few years previous, had helped to clear out such a nest that had invaded a subsection of the city sewers, and unfortunately captured and killed a few Goblins before they could be dealt with. Now, Tazrok Thunderfist, had become one, and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of that.
It took nearly a minute for everything to calm enough for the assembly to continue. Several recruits were still quite terrified, obviously dealing with an acute attack of arachnophobia, while a few others were more curious as anything, having never seen anything like Tazrok-the-Spider.
“I guess I don’t have to say the obvious,” Rowani began, “but Tazrok is a spider.” She gestured weakly to the huge beast, before quickly signaling Tazrok to drop form. He did so, and a wave of relief went through many. “So just know, if you see a giant spider walking through the camp, it’s probably friendly.”
“‘Probably’ isn’t really great odds!” someone shouted out, being quite serious, but actually managing to break some of the tension that Tazrok’s Guardian form had created. The levity lasted a few moments, before Rowani cleared her throat, and quickly everyone settled down, returning their attention to the front, seeing there was more to come.
“There is a reason why Tazrok was done separately, after the other three,” Rowani said, now that she had everyone's attention again. “Something happened that I have never known possible. Tazrok, who is only Iron Tier, received a fifth form.” A subtle murmur went through the audience, especially the trainers, who were quite familiar with what was normal for Druid recruits.
“Yes, it was quite a shock for us all, and we did have Tazrok try it out, unsure what it was. So while not a surprise to him, I think you will all be quite impressed. Tazrok, if you would assume your Draft form.”
The big Ogre nodded as Rowani stepped several paces away. With a deep breath, a moment of concentration, and a wobble of magic, Tazrok’s huge Brontorn form replaced his own. Gasps went up as they looked out at the gigantic beast. Master Trainer Thorn was awestruck, having been around even Platinum Tier Druids for years and never seeing something this enormous. In an instant, his mind started to spin with the combat possibilities of such a huge animal, and he realized he would need to have some serious conversations with both Tazrok and Rowani about the form’s limitations and possible tactics.
Rowani walked up to Tazrok, and patted him gently on the side of his giant head. “I present to you, Tazrok, the Brontorn!”
Surprisingly, several recruits wanted to inspect Tazrok close up, having never actually seen a Brontorn before, and they rushed forward. Quickly, at least twenty people surrounded him, touching his legs or horns. To his credit, Tazrok remained still, allowing everyone to check him out and occasionally grunting out nonsensical responses to a deluge of random questions. It was only when someone suggested riding the beast, that Rowani had to put a stop to things, ordering Tazrok back to Ogre form. There was a collective groan of disappointment, and everyone returned reluctantly to their seats.