User:GreyDragon/TheRightOfDreamers1

The Right of Dreamers 1: Keymaker's Heritage

Author: Grey Dragon

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Once again was Friday 16:40 pm, as it was thousand times before, just as it will be for the rest of my life. At least I thought so, looking through the system logs before shutting down the two internal servers in the office for the weekend. There was also third server here, but it was intended for external information exchange so it should be constantly running.

Suddenly speakers of my workstation emitted high-pitched dolphin squeal. It was a signal from one of my search ‘spider’ applets hanging on many servers all over the net dedicated to the topic of shapechanging and shapeshifting. The applet had just traced down a new story on one of them. It was pleasant, but pretty surprising. There was nothing new for quite a long time. “Just the right time for a new TF story”,-- I thought to myself, clicking ‘Download’ button in a popup window.

After shutting both internal servers down, just before shutting down my own workstation, I decided to visit the server the new TF story came from, but as I clicked the link in the ‘spider’s’ log file, the only thing I saw in my browser window was ‘HTTP Error 500: Internal server error’. It was pretty strange as the server was old well known and maintained by it’s owners. Somewhat puzzled I uploaded zip archive with the new TF story to my flesh-memory card, shut down my workstation and went home.

At home I quickly made myself a light supper and just swallowed it, thinking of anything but the food. Then I went straight to my PC. It wasn’t too late yet and I had the whole weekend before me, so I decided to look at the new TF story right away.

After checking the archive for viruses and malware I finally unzipped the file. The file was named ‘Right of Dreamers’ It was in plane text format, the more I was amazed with it’s size. The story should be several hundred pages long for the file to be so big. Completely intrigued I quickly opened the file.

Right of Dreamers by YoungMagician said the title. I started reading a story. At first it sounded like an ordinary fairy tale. It was set in an ancient empire capital called ‘Stronghold of Thousand Towers’. There was a young magician working hard in the main library of the Council of Spellcasters situated in the Tower of the Council. He was looking for some kind of very special spell of the Magic of Knowledge. The spell was called Shifting Key of Grey Flame Dragon. It was one of the Dream Keys – a very special set of spells once created by an ancient mage known as The Keymaker. The mage was extremely skillful in The Magic of Knowledge. No one had reached comparable skill, neither before nor after him. The Keys he created were extremely powerful been completely useless for most mages at the same time.

Most of them had several different functions. Shifting Key of Grey Flame Dragon for example created three magical objects deep within the part of caster’s soul that enables a creature to use magic. The first object granted the caster with the ability of shapeshifting. When the object was active the caster was indistinguishable from an initially magical being capable of shapeshifting. The second object called Key of Grey Flame was intended to control the energy of artificial magical element called Grey Flame and to transform any other type of magical energy into Grey Flame. The third object called Source of Grey Flame worked as a magical generator sapling the caster with a constant flow of the special magic energy. The flow could be stopped by the caster if it was necessary.

Two of the three objects were a desire for any mage. The Grey Flame was a very special element having the properties of all the other magical elements and a long list of it’s own features that could only exist on the thinnest borders between more common elements’ properties which is unreachable in most situations. This element could turn indistinguishable from any common magical element letting the mage to use any type of magic. On the other hand, been originally created by The Keymaker himself the element wasn’t controlled by any gods, spirits or other intelligent magical existences, so the mage could freely use it without making any debts to anyone or anything. The Source of Grey Flame was capable of sapling the mage with considerable amount of magical energy. The amount was comparable with the natural energy of the most powerful of those magical beings who can’t be yet called goods, and it was the bigger the more developed was the mage’s soul. The Key of Grey Flame gave the mage the level of control and interaction with the magical element only initially magical creatures can have with their natural powers.

As the magical objects created within casters soul by one of the Keys were similar in many way to the natural abilities of initially magical beings they could, in some circumstances, easily create many serious difficulties for the mage having them active, just as the properties of initially magical beings can. Though this problem was successfully solved by The Keymaker at the very beginning of he’s work. The magical objects are not created by a Key itself. When a Key is casted it interacts closely with casters identity and creates a set of spells within caster’s memory. The number of spells created is always even as there are pairs of them. One of spells in a pair is intended to create certain magical object within caster’s soul, the other one – to remove the object. The pair spells created by a Key belong to The True Magic of Knowledge (as well as the Keys). They do not require mana to be casted as all energy they need is in the words of spells themselves. The spells are just useless sets of strange words for anyone, but the person who received them using a Key. This allows the spells to have necessary power, while been compact enough to be casted in less then seconds using them just in mind not aloud.

Unlike the spells they create, Keys can be used by anyone, but they must be read aloud and it usually takes several days to cast one of them as they are extremely long. No former magical knowledge and training is necessary to cast a Key. Nevertheless, finding a person able to use any of the Keys is a very difficult task.

The Keymaker created different spells but all of them create within caster’s soul a magical object granting him certain type of shapesifting or shapechanging abilities and for all those abilities there are default forms. On one hand, the forms themselves and some of their features can’t be changed as they are determined in the words of the Key. If a Key is called Shifting Key of Grey Flame Dragon, it will give it’s caster sapeshifting abilities and he’s default form will be a grey dragon. The dragon will be a male, as the gender of default form is also determined by the Key. On the other hand many features of the default form are determined by the magic of harmony using caster’s soul for guidance. This interaction is very deep and strong and if a caster is not truly accepting the unchangeable features of the default for determined in a Key, the pair spells for invoking and removing the shapeshifting or shapechanging abilities won’t be created, as well as any other spells the key can create, because a Key is solid magical system that can’t work partly.

When this feature of The Keys was discovered by The Council of Spellcasters, The Keymaker was demanded to change he’s spells for them to be suitable for any mage despite he’s dreams and desires. The Keymaker refused to change anything. He just said that the features give he’s spell the power they need to work therefore they can not be changed.

As most of the Keys were giving a caster some very powerful magical abilities hardly reachable for any mage in any other way, the Council decided, that the Keys should belong to the most secret magic only Council members are allowed to study and use.

The books with the keys were placed in the main library at The Tower of The Council. Council members spent thousand of years trying to make the Keys work for them, but haven’t succeed. They discovered that to use one of The Keys the caster must have a certain dream – dream to be a shapeshifter or shapechanger, and the default form desired by the caster must match the unchangeable features of a Key. As it was determined all the spells created by the Keymaker were called The Keys of Dreams.

The problem for the Council was, that the dream should be the most true and strong of all dreams a person has at the moment of casting. Such a dream can only be gradually formed by once life circumstances. All the Council members had their strong dreams, but those were dreams for supremacy and political power. The Keys were useless for them.

As years and centuries passed the Keys were transferred from the top secret section of the library to the ordinary one and finally forgotten as useless junk. Nevertheless, anyone trying to find and use one of the Keys would be executed as the Council couldn’t stand letting anyone get something they were not able to use themselves.

By the time when the young magician, who was the protagonist of the story, read abut the Keys in one of the old chronicles, some of the Key Books were already destroyed. Though the chronicle indicated, that the first of the Keys, the one The Keymaker seemed to create for himself was still somewhere in the giant library. That was the Shifting Key of Grey Flame Dragon and it was the one matching the true and strongest dream of the young magician.

At this point of the story, my excitement and fascination rose to a degree I have never experienced before. That spell the protagonist was searching for perfectly matched my own dream. Because of my state I haven’t really noticed that from this point the story I was reading had changed. It became realistic. It didn’t sound fictional even a slightest bit anymore.

The desperate search of the protagonist, he’s efforts and tiredness, the atmosphere of constant and close danger, and the bright shine of true dream and hope for it’s close fulfillment, giving both strength and courage to search despite anything were described with realism and detail unreachable even for the most talented writer in a fictional story.

The most exiting was the moment when the Key Book was finally found. It happened all of a sadden. The protagonist just touch the next book cower on a dusty shelf high above the flour in the most distant and worst maintained part of the library, and felt perfectly polished metal covered with the bulging pattern of dragon scales under he’s fingertips. He knew the description of the Key Book he was looking for. There could be no mistake. He carefully polled out the ancient volume covered in grey metal, climbed down the ladder and went to the nearest reading table. Reading this I almost felt the ancient metal cover with dragon scales pattern under my own fingertips. Real world was long forgotten. I felt like my own dream was here just a few more rows of text away. Somewhere in the distant background of my mind I was awaiting terrible sorrow, which will come to me when I’ll awake from reading the story still having the human body I was born in not the dragon body I dreamed to have. But the thought was distant as long as I had the story’s text before me. The protagonist opened the book and started reading.

Unlike any other TF stories I have read there was the spell itself. That wasn’t a description or a part of the spell as in some fantasy books and stories. The story seemed to have the whole spell right there in the text. It was written with standard transcription symbols used in English dictionaries. As English wasn’t my native language I used the dictionaries a lot so I knew the symbols quite well.

I started reading aloud. It sounded like all of hissing and roaring, howl and growl. I would say it definitely sounded like one of the native dragon languages, perfectly adapted for a human to read it aloud though. It sounded strange indeed but somehow it felt more natural and close to my identity then any kind of human speech I have ever heard before. Anyway, I wasn’t thinking about it too much at the moment as well as about what my neighbors might think hearing the sounds from my apartment.

I’m not an expert in reading transcription symbols, but as first roaring words of the spell sounded in the air it wasn’t a problem for me anymore. I just knew somehow how the next word must be properly roared or hissed or growled. Time had just stopped for me. There was no tiredness, no thirst or hunger, no thoughts – only my monitor used as a spellbook and sounds of ancient spell I was casting. Then I read the last word and there was silence around me. I continued reading the story.

After reading the last word of the spell the protagonist closed the book. Nothing had changed for him yet, but he knew he has to be sleeping for The Key to interact with he’s identity and form the set of spells in he’s memory. Though he knew he had successfully casted the spell as it’s magic was leading him through the text giving him endurance to read it all at once. He was casting the spell for two days. Now the fulfillment of he’s dream was already within he’s mind and he only needed some sleep. But it had to wait a bit more.

He knew he will have to use the abilities given by the Key to escape from the mages of the Council, as by the time he was already under suspicion. As soon as the Coucil will know that someone had successfully used the Key, the Key Book will be destroyed. He knew he could only hope for calm and free life for himself if The Council will successfully destroy the Key Book. The only chance to save The Key was to make a magical copy of it’s text and send it to a place The Council can’t even imagine. The protagonist knew of such a place.

Once been not yet a magician but a student he discovered a very strange world while studying appropriate faculty of magic. The art of magic, once very well known there, was almost completely forgotten. But the place magic took in his own world wasn’t empty. It was overtaken by science, often doing the same thing as the magic, but with completely different methods. Exploring the new world he found out that there was a scientific analog of global magical system used in he’s world to share and exchange information. It was called the Internet. By the time he already knew about the Key and was looking for a way to keep it safe after he will use it. The Internet seemed to be a perfect place for it as it took him quite a long time to find it, all the more to create a suitable system of spells to interact with it. So he stopped exploring the net for he’s activities not to be uncovered. Copying the text of the Key Book and Sending it to one of the servers in the scientific world took less then a minute. The protagonist had composed the appropriate spell years ago and prepared it as a standby pendant-spell before starting he’s search in the library. The spell had not only copied the entire text of the Key Book, translating it to the most common language of the scientific world, in the process, it also used some of the caster’s memories to create a description, composed as a fairytale. The main reason for the protagonist to make The Key useable to anyone, who will find it on the net was an old book, written by The Keymaker, he once red. The Keymaker wrote, that anyone, who can use one of he’s Keys, has the right to do it. He called it The Right of Dreamers. The second reason was hiding the text from the Council. Translation to a local language had made finding the text a much more difficult task for The Council. Finally, the protagonist wasn’t certain if the text will be safe as just a single copy on the server. He hoped that even in the worst case, if the Council will somehow find and destroy the file, local users will copy it many times by then. There was a possibility, that the Council will know the file was copied. The protagonist hoped that, if one of the local net users will be able to use The Key, he will do he’s best to keep it from destroying. There was a pretty good chance for the one to succeed even fighting directly against The Council. The Key Books were intended by The Keymaker himself, to grant The Dreamers all knowledge needed to defend themselves and The Key. There was another spell at the end of the Key Book. It had to be casted the same way as the Key. It was much shorter, though. The caster must have Key and Source of Grey Flame in he’s soul for the spell to work, as it was based on the magical element. The spell was intended to create a visual illusion floating in the air for about two hours after the spell was casted. The illusion was a high quality picture of a complicated graphical spell (another words, a magical drawing) based on Grey Flame. Once drawn and filed with the Grey Flame (there was a note, that the easiest way to fill the spell is just to blow the Grey Flame in dragon manner onto the drawing while been in the default form) , the spell created a mental package containing basic information needed to start learning to be a mage. It also contained a lot of information about the special abilities granted to a Dreamer by The Key and on how to use them properly. There was also a version of standard universal spellbook intended for a mage having the abilities granted by the particular Key. After a short period of intensive studding, the information should make a Dreamer able to defend himself and The Key against any enemies.

The words were followed by a spell, written the same manner as The Key. By the time the story was much more real for me then anything else. I just looked the spell through without actually reading it. It won’t take any affect until The Key will take effect and I’ll be able to empower the spell with Grey Flame. There was no sense casting it right away.

The last word of the second spell was the end of the story. And it looked perfectly suitable, if the story was created in the way described in it. There were no doubts for me it was. On one hand a possibility like this was my true and strongest dream, so I just wanted to believe it is real, wanted with my soul and mind. On the other hand, and that was the most pleasant thing in the situation, all the facts were telling me, that the story and spells are real. System date on my PC indicated it was late Sunday evening, so I was reading the text for almost two days and nights without a single brake, but there was no hint of tiredness or physical discomfort.

But the most serious reason for me to consider the story to be real, was a new feeling in my mind. I was actually feeling The Key in my memory and mind, waiting for the right moment to start it’s work. It was pretty difficult to think now and recalling any distant events from my memory seemed to be completely impossible. It was like my memory and mind were almost completely felled with one giant incredibly complicated thought. The feeling was strange but not unpleasant. It could be scary under deferent circumstances. In my case it was rather pleasant, as I knew for sure what it was and it was the key to my dream.

Despite all difficulties of thinking with The Key in my mind, I copied the file with the story on a CD-R before shutting my PC down. I put the disk in a small safe, where I was keeping my most valuable things (mostly data on different sort of carriers). I locked the safe, made several steps to cross the room and finally collapsed on the bed. I was now lying facedown with my hands under my chest my head turned on the side. It was the medium version of what I was calling ‘sleeping dragon position’ to myself. To assume the most dragon version of the pose I had to pull my knees under my belly and turn my head facedown. After a few moments of straggling with my more and more sleepy state I managed to take the position. It isn’t too comfortable if you have human body, but in my current state it didn’t matter anymore. Next moment I was asleep.

The very first thing for me, as I woke up, was the feeling of physical comfort. I never felt anything like this before. May be it was because my human body was never too healthy. I doubt the healthiest and strongest of humans ever felt anything near to the feeling, though. Human body (even a healthy one) is desperately week and almost unprotected from the environment. So there always are some cautions and warnings from the body. A human feels them as a sort of pain or discomfort.

By my feelings I knew that I was lying upon the remains of my bed, the air in the room is hot (for a human) and many other things of the sort, but the feelings were information, not warning. They were neither pain nor discomfort. I clearly felt wrecked wood under the bed-clothes but it was still perfectly comfortable as my skin was well protected with scales. I was in the same position as before, but it felt most natural and comfortable now. My long neck was bent in a very comfortable way. My head rested on my front fourlimbs. Bathing in the formerly unknown feeling of physical safety and comfort, I started mental selfcheck.

First thing to check were the spells. There should be six of them in my memory. With the thought they immediately came up from my memory. They were extremely powerful and short as a strike of a dragon’s claw. They were just sets of words but I could easily feel the great magical power within them as the words were part of my own self and soul. I could easily cast any of them with a single thought. Smiling happily to myself I continued my mental selfcheck. There was no need to move or perform any other special activities to explore myself. Unlike as it was for me as a human, I could now clearly feel every aspect of myself with all it’s features by just turning my attention to it. The feeling was telling me much more then I could have seen just looking on myself with my eyes, as plenty of the aspects were magical and couldn’t be directly observed in physical world. As my selfexploring went on I felt more and more satisfied and calm. The Key definitely worked just as it should according to it’s description in the story. My new body was a perfect summary of all my former attempts to imagine and describe a dragon body I dreamed to have.

In many aspects it was rather designed by extremely advanced science, then by the laws of magic. My default form wasn’t magical itself. It had most of the properties and features of the dragon’s body described in an SF story I once wrote: Intricate structure of muscles, giving my body more then draconic strength without a hint of magic, extremely strong bones and tendons to accommodate the strength and extremely sensitive and branched nerves to control it and to achieve the fastest possible rate of reaction. My eyes could refocus to see either distant or microscopic objects; they were also able to see any part of spectrum from infrared to the X-ray. Same was the situation with sounds. There was powerful sonar in my forehead. It was perfectly working in both air and water, and extremely sensitive. It was first of all a wonderful precession tool for exploring the environment, but it could be easily used as a precise and powerful acoustic weapon. The weapon was not the only one my new body had. There was a biological version of a flamethrower hidden in my neck and muzzle. I was now able to blow a long torch of white fire from between my nostrils. The fire could be either a sticky liquid (lake napalm but with the temperature of plasma-cutter’s flame) or gas (with the same temperature). There was one more intricate organic weapon originally not intended to be one, as well as my sonar. My new body had a graviradar (it functions much like the ordinary radar, but using gravity waves instead of the radio once). Been closely integrated with the biological version of gravity control system hidden in every cell of my body to let me fly having big body mass, this system is able to create impulses of gravity powerful enough to be used not only for environment exploring, but also as a weapon. I also had extremely sharp talons and a pair of horns having the form of long sharp-edged triangular blades. The talons could be pooled in as well as fingers, so there were new combinations possible. If for example the fingers are pooled in and the talons are extended, the talons can form an armored fist or a sharp-tipped hoof (very useful for running at high speed if road is suitable). My double set of teeth could be also used as a deadly weapon, though I would do my best to avoid it, because in my new body the taste of raw meat is deeply disgusting for me. My teeth are intended to chew properly a wide variety of food, as in my default form I can eat anything that can be considered eatable by any reason. This body has many defensive systems beginning from the macrophysiological level (two hearts with doubled systems of blood-vessel’s for the most important organs like brain, extremely hard scales etc ) to the microphysiological, tissue and cellular levels. All the features together will perfectly protect my body even in the most aggressive environment, as well as give me some other interesting benefits. For example I can swim to the surface as fast as I want despite the depth of the dive and I can dive very deep if I’ll be patient enough to accumulate enough oxygen in the tissues of my body through breathing exercises. The last but, may be, the most powerful line of defense is the extremely effective and fast regeneration. Any part of my body will fully regenerate, if the rest of the body will ménage to stay alive long enough. One of the most intricate and amazing in my new body was one quite small organ in my muzzle providing me with the sense of smell. It is capable to determinate any combination of substances formed by elements from periodic table and, probably, beyond it. Fortunately, my sense of smell as well as the sense of touch (also extremely sharp despite the scales) and the rest of my new set of senses was fully within deliberate control so I was able to freely change their combination and level of sensitivity. Otherwise they would have been more curse then blessing. Now all my senses were suppressed to almost human level. It wouldn’t be pleasant to do otherwise in my current surrounding.

Of course there were some differences between what I had imagined and what my body actually was now, but all the differences were caused by the matters of harmony. The biggest one was the structure of my brain. My brain didn’t have eight sections and some other features as they were only suitable for a being with 5 tons of body mass, incapable of shape and mass shifting. My brain had all the capabilities I once described in my SF story though. It was intended only for thinking as all the functions of controlling and maintaining my new body were performed by the spinal cord. Thanks to these and many other features my rate of thinking was many times as fast as that of a human. I now had a fully controlled memory that could instantly recall any information in spite of how long it had been stored there or completely erase some memories once and for all at my will. I was also able to adjust the structure of my brain for full and deep understanding of some very special thing (like theory of relativity for example) and then change the structure back to think over more common things and situations.

The most fascinating thing about my new body was, that been designed just as imagined it to myself it was fully functional and highly harmonic despite I wasn’t really understanding how this or that should actually work (as any SF or fantasy writer does). Where did the Key get the rest of information all my dreams and descriptions were leaking was a great mystery for me at the moment.

As for the magic The Key had presented me with it was very close to the one I once described in another story in fantasy genre. As with the scientific aspects all the differences seem to occur to harmonize the final result and make it capable of real existence despite the leak of information in my dreams and descriptions. In the case I wasn’t really sure if my dreams actually had anything to do with the fact or it was the only version of magic the Key was able to create and it just seemed so suitable for me because I had to have the particular dream to be able to use the Key. At the moment I wasn’t really interested to find out how it was. It was great either way.

First of all I was now actually feeling not only my physical body, but also two other fin (magical) structures. Those new shells of mine were two different sorts of magical bodies.

The first one is common for most beings. It is often called astral body or something like this. Formerly I couldn’t feel it just because leak of proper knowledge and training. I didn’t get any of those yet, but there was another reason for me to be able to feel my astral body now. It was the first magical object created within my astral body by the Key (I called the object The Shapeshifters Abilities to myself). It had radically changed my astral body. It could now be shifted and changed in many ways, sometimes even easier then my other two shells (or bodies). As The Shapeshifters Abilities were similar in many ways to the natural abilities of initially magical beings, no knowledge or training were needed to feel or use them. And through them I was feeling my astral body now as it was one of the things I could shift and change using them. I was sure though, that now as I know what the feeling of my astral body is like, I’ll be able to feel it anyway. For my feelings and inner seen as well as on the plane of mental energies and on the plane of magic my astral body looked like a very unusual and complicated structure having general shape of a sphere. It was situated in the centre of my other two overlapped shells.

My second body could also be called common but for much smaller group of beings. It was similar in some aspects to Transparent Bodies of the creatures of The Reverse Side I mentioned in my fantasy story after the author of the original book that inspired me. So I called my third shell so to myself, though it mustn’t be mistaken with the once from the book.

My Transparent Body wasn’t based on the magic and natural laws of The Reverse Side. It was rather a universal magical shell intended to let me freely and comfortably live in any magical diminution or world. It was protecting my other two shells in the world of magic just as my physical body protected me in physical world. Just as my physical body enabled me interacting directly with the physical world, my transparent body made me able to interact directly with the world of magic. Of course I could use my astral body to do it (in some cases it is the only possible way), but it would be like using telekinesis to lift a physical object instead of lifting it with my claw or using telepathy for communication instead of just speaking and listening.

The default form of my transparent body looked just like my default physical form. Transparent even in the world of magic it took the same space as my physical body. It looked like my physical body was covered with a transparent shell. Of cause I could easily shift it’s form. It could also easily change another way extremely useful to feel comfortable in deferent elemental worlds (like magical dimensions of fire, air, water etc). My transparent body (as well as the physical one) could be easily connected with the Key and Source of Grey Flame, attuned and filled with energy of a magical element. So I was capable of becoming an elemental dragon of any kind of magical element (or elements) at need. It had to be done with great caution, though and only after studying every available piece of magical knowledge as many element were hostile to each other in many cases and in my world there were many of them sometimes mixed together very closely forming the world itself. So experimenting without having proper knowledge was a deadly thing in the case.

Even with my new rate of thinking and memory capabilities, having my dream as a sort of checklist, I wouldn’t be able to complete my self-check so fully in such a short time without using an amazing inner database I discovered almost immediately as I started my mental self-check.

It was one of the scientific aspects of my default form, corresponding to my dreams. My body had it’s full and detailed description added to it’s genetic code. There were also a lot of general information about how to use my body most effectively. There was even a wonderful information package about an extremely complicated and effective martial art designed specially for my new body, just as I dreamed it to be. I was completely amazed and satisfied when I founded full analogs of the inner ‘database’, exploring my transparent and astral bodies.

As soon as I completed my mental self-check and smiled in my thoughts feeling myself definitely the happiest person in this world, my alarm clock started beeping loudly. It was time to go to work.

It was a real shit. I could spend entire day just exploring the magical plane of the world through the senses of my transparent body, there was the second spell from the Key Book I wanted to activate to get the knowledge of magic, there were my shapeshifting abilities I wanted to experiment with and many other wonderful things to do.

With one big effort I managed to hold back a laud roar of disgust and anger. Without a single thought I used my shapeshifting abilities to sprout a simple tentacle from my left shoulder and smash the clock easily aiming at the annoying sound. Withdrawing the tentacle back into my shoulder I opened my eyes to watch the perfectly rapid process. My eyes were situated slightly to the sides of my head. It gave me a wide field of view (it has 270 degrees). At the same time thanks to the form of my muzzle and the exact positions of my eyes, the front sector of view was fully binocular.

I lifted my head and looked my self over. The appearance of my physical body in it’s default form was just as perfect as everything else.

Smooth grey scales looked like if perfectly polished moments ago. My skinny dragon wings, folded and comfortably rested on my back at the moment, had the same color as my scales. Their skin is extremely sensitive but is very difficult to damage though.

I quickly lifted my left claw, spread my fingers wide and extended my talons to their full length. They had the same color as my scales and were deadly sharp even for the look, perfect as either a tool or a weapon. Especially if you know exactly how to use them right. I turned my attention to my horns. Formed of the same material as my talons and scales, long and sharp triangular blades, they looked perfectly natural on my head. I hid my talons and touched my left ear with my finger. My ears were triangular in shape, situated on the top of my head. They were constantly mowing to ketch any new sound. Feeling smooth scales on my fingertip with sensitive fin grey skin of my ear was a pleasant experience.

Just as I expected the appearance of my default form was the one of my dream harmonized and perfected by the power of the Key. My body wasn’t neither too big nor too small. The size just looked perfectly right and natural to me. It was big enough to give strength and mass to fight many times bigger and stronger enemies and small enough to feel myself comfortable within buildings and machines designed for humans.

I rolled over my shoulder to my back, than again to my belly, rolling from the remains of my crushed bed to the flour. I stood up on all four and waved my tale from side to side, hitting the wall in the process. I wished I could stay in this form at least a bit longer right now. It was so comfortable and natural. But I had no time free right now.

I stood up on my hind fourlimbs. It was also easy and comfortable. My wings and tale gave me perfect balance. Smiling to myself I looked at the lover part of my belly. It was the moment when I discovered my pants were still in their place. They just stretched wide and were torn apart in some places. It looked really fanny. With one swift mow of my right claw with slightly extended talons I removed the piece of cloth. My malehood was perfectly hidden within my belly. There was only a beardy visible slit at the proper place at the moment. At the moment all sexuality of my body was blocked. No arousal could emerge spontaneously. I had to turn my attention to it and perform a considerable mental effort to make it otherwise. It was one of the features I was sure a perfect body should have, as any sexual thoughts or feelings that can’t be satisfied at the moment they come are very unpleasant things.

To complete my self-check (or maybe following a sort of tradition I noticed in many TF stories I red), I unblocked sexuality of my body and closed my eyes, trying to find something extremely erotic to think about. Having my dragon sexuality unblocked it was an easy task. In just a few moments I felt the arousal. The feeling was very deep and strong. It was many times stronger then any human could ever feel. It was also just different from the human filings, more pleasant and rich in aspects. The feeling was jus amazing, though I knew it was just a weak shadow of what I’ll feel having good reasons to be aroused. I opened my eyes watching as my malehood showed from the slit quickly growing to it’s full size and readiness. My new member was big as it had harmonic proportions to the rest of my body. It was pink and unbelievably sensitive. As soon as it came out, the light caress of surrounding air was more then enough to keep me aroused. I instantly discovered that my penis is extremely agile as the one of a dolphin male or, maybe, even more. It was perfect tool to give a female greatest possible pleasure. Smiling at the thought of fucking my girlfriend in my default form I blocked my sexuality again. My penis disappeared in the slit even faster than it came out. There were no traces of arousal in neither my body nor mid.

I quickly closed my eyes, turning my whole attention to my shapeshiting abilities. Shifting to human body was technically a simple task. Instincts imbedded into the magical object granting me shapeshifting abilities together with the information from the inner archives I discovered in each of my current three shells were giving me more then enough skill and knowledge to shift my physical body using my current memory capabilities and memories of my life as a human. The shift would give me the exact copy of my former human body. To make any adjustments in it I would need more experience or time to gain it. But the exact copy of my former human body was just the shift I needed right no to go to work. The only but very big problem was that thinking about shifting my body from my default form to the form of human body was extremely unpleasant. I had to stand a cruel fight with myself for a couple of minutes before I managed to make myself start the transformation. The rest of it went really quick and easy.

I closed my eyes and started the transformation. My flash melted quick and easy. I haven’t tried to guide the process myself this time. I was just thinking of the result I must get after the transformation, listening closely to my feelings. Despite it was my first shift the feeling was extremely natural and even seemed strangely familiar.

Upon ending the transformation I quickly opened my eyes and looked my body all over. It looked just as it did for the years of my life before the last night. All my feelings also tolled me the shift was successful. With a laud sigh sounding more like a roar I quickly coasted the three spells in my mind, removing all magical objects of The Key from my astral body.

The feelings after it were even more disgusting then the feeling of my human body again after being in my default form. Reasons for that weren’t magical. My human body just felt even weaker and disgustingly helpless to me after having the body I felt myself truly natural and comfortable in. Removing magical structures of The Key from my astral body also weren’t painful or unpleasant by itself, but as soon as I lost my shapeshisting abilities and all the senses of my transparent body I felt myself blind, stupid and miserable. I felt myself a human again. I had learned to live with the feelings, defending myself from them (mainly by just not letting myself to notice them), but now just a few moment after the shift it was hard to recall the skills. I knew I would be in my default form again by now if I hadn’t removed the shapesifting abilities from my astral body right after the shift. The Key and Source of Grey Flame had to be removed as well. Feeling myself as I was filing at the moment there was a good chance I’d ménage to change myself back to my default form with the help of their magic without even thinking of what and how I’m doing.

I looked around.

For a moment I felt a sharp surge of irrational fear. There wasn’t anything around me mow, clearly indicating, that all that had happened with me during this weekend was real. My nakedness, the broken bed and my pants turned in just a piece of cloth laying on the flour couldn’t really proof anything.

But the fear went as fast as it came. Though my mind and memory were at the moment nothing more then mind and memory of a human, all my memories were still with me and there were the six spell created in my memory by The Key. I could still clearly feel the great magical power in their words, despite no one and nothing else is able to feel it any other time except, may be, the very moment I use one of them.

I had to hurry now if I was still going to get to my working place on time. There was already no time for anything like shaver or breakfast. I quickly grabbed and pulled on some clothes and broke out of my apartment starting my mad run to work.

I never thought I could run at anything near the speed (at least as an ordinary human). The guard’s eyes went round and he’s face turned a bit pale as he saw me this morning. I managed to get to the office on my usual Mandy time before anyone else working here, but I was all sweating and breathing heavily. The run was definitely worth taking it, though. A quick story about getting desperately late after a tiring but pleasant weekend with my girlfriend and the guard’s face had it’s normal color again. He nodded me with an understanding smile as I went on into the office. After turning both internal servers on and checking their state together with the state of the rest of network hardware in the office, I spent about an hour sitting back in my armchair and trying to relax after the mad run. As long as the local network was working properly there was nothing else I had to do immediately anyway.

The first pleasant thought that came to me after I finally came to my senses a bit, was that now I really am the guardian of The Key. In human body with human memory I was not much of a guardian of course, as I would hardly be able to write the two spells of the Key Book down from my memory or all the more defend myself and The Key against someone who might be interested to destroy it. On the other hand I needed less then a moment to cast the three spells in my mind. So anyone trying to attack me would get an enraged 5 ton dragon as an enemy. I think I can gain even bigger size then the one corresponding to the body-mass of 5 tons for my default form, using my shifting abilities. I just always considered having bigger size and body-mass to be uncomfortable in most situations. I may have no experience as a mage yet but the abilities, granted by the Key, will already be with me in any fight it may come to. I was sure that even a simple torch of Grey Flame blown out in dragon manner would be a very heavy argument in any magical fight. In addition I can fight with any magical threats directly using my transparent body for the fight. My transparent shell will also protect two others from mental and magical attacks. The thought were quite reassuring and pleasant. Nevertheless I hoped with my mind and soul that I won’t have to fight anyone or anything. In most of martial arts I know about their philosophy indicates that the best skill for a good fighter is the skill to solve any situation for he’s best without fighting. I always knew these words have deep and true wisdom within them, but only now as I was really able to fight, I felt myself ready to follow the wisdom.

I opened a browser window and typed URL of the server I downloaded The Key From, in the address bar. At the top of the news list on it’s main page was an article explaining that all the troubles with work of the server, users are experiencing since last Friday had occurred because one of server’s HDD had suddenly just melted because of unknown reasons. The server was badly damaged and had to be replaced with a new one. At the end of the article there was a promise to fully restore all the web resources hosted on the damaged server within few weeks and a deep regret of the server owners because of permanent loss of all the data once stored on the mysteriously destroyed HDD.

The news wasn’t any surprise for me. I expected to find out something like this. Spellcasters of the Council had detected the spell the yang magician used to copy the Key Book. They must have used reminders of the spell or it’s traces to find where the copy of the Key Book was sent to. Nevertheless it seemed that they haven’t studied closely either the spell or the place it sent the copy of The Key Book to. There was a good chance they newer knew that the copy of the Key Book was a file and it was downloaded at least once by the time they destroyed it together with the HDD it was stored on. The destruction was too straight and rude. There weren’t too many reasons to expect farther investigations from the Council in this world. It meant I will probably have no troubles from the Council spellcasters myself.

As for the yang magician I had to be grateful to for the fulfillment of my dream, I could only hope that he managed to get to a safe place before anyone of The Council realized he had actually casted the Key. If he did he was safe by now and could easily defend himself. If not, it was anyway too late to save him.

I had all the reasons to just relax and turn all my attention to my duties till the end of the working day. So I did. The only but very disturbing problem for me during the day were erotic thoughts. I could clearly remember the amazing feeling of arousal I experienced while been in my default form and some very attractive ideas that came to my mind at the moment, but I wasn’t able to block sexuality of my current body as it was jus an ordinary completely unmodified human body at the moment. In two hours I knew that I’ll have to focus all my efforts at solving the problem as soon as I will come home. I haven’t even considered trying to fulfill any of my new erotic ideas in near future. There were many reasons for it but the most serious one was a strong suspicion mixed with even stronger hope, that my girlfriend might be a Dreamer as well. We liked each other very much. There was not only sexual attraction and the feeling usually called love, but also friendship, respect and deep understanding between us. As I haven’t any Dream Key suitable for a female at the moment, I wasn’t going to tell her anything. I was afraid that such information without a proper Key available right away could completely spoil anything if I was right about her been a Dreamer to. From all I knew about her I was pretty sure she needed a female version of the Key I used myself, except the color should definitely be gold for her. Fulfilling her dream with the appropriate Key was my strongest and truest dream now, so I was going to be very careful not to ruin the possibility to make it come true some day. I knew I won’t be able not to tell here everything if we meet, though she will understand if we won’t. She always sensed when it was time just to trust without asking questions (as I hope did I). This was the wisest solution, but it meant no sex for me for who knows how long. It wasn’t a problem for me in my default form, but I knew I’ll have to spend most of my time in human form to keep my place in this world for me. I will have my summer vacation in 5 weeks, but it’s too long to wait living the problem without a good solution. I’ll have to modify my human form to solve the problem till I have to go to work again tomorrow. I didn’t want to take chances doing it through pure experimentation though. I’ll have to use the second spell from the Key Book to solve the problem properly on time. As I founded reliable solutions for all the problems, I felt myself relatively comfortable for the rest of the day (at least mentally).

On my way back home after my working day was finally over, I was thinking on what and how should I do on coming back home. Finally I decided that I can shift back to my default form right after closing the door behind me and taking my clothes off. Anyway I’ll have to be in the form to fill the graphical spell with Grey Flame, and moving around my apartment in my default form will be a wonderful experience, as my default form was meant to be the very suitable for any surrounding.

On coming home I took all my clothes off as fast as I could do without damaging anything. Then I casted the tree ‘forward’ spells in my mind and shifted to my default form. Of course I could hold the shift back. I just didn’t want to.

I was standing on all four fourlimbs, smiling with a bright dragon smile. I was feeling natural and comfortable again. I grabbed the heap of my closes with my left claw, careful not to extend my talons, and placed it on my back between my wings. I walked to the wardrobe easily using my wings to prevent my cargo from falling back down to the flour. By the wardrobe I just moved my left wing and then made a move with my back throwing the heap of clothes down to the flour. I stood up on my hind fourlimbs opened the wardrobe and placed my clothes there taking it one by one with my front claws. I could also use shapesifting to extend some tentacles to do it, but at the moment I just wanted to make every new move I could.

After closing the wardrobe I went to my bathroom walking on my hind fourlimbs. My apartment is pretty small but it was still perfectly comfortable to move around. Leak of free space was totally compensated with the dexterity and speed of reaction I had in my default form.

My bathroom was a bit too small for me now, so was the bath, but still I had great pleasure taking a shower. My dragon body is mush more sensitive than any human body. It was especially pleasant when warm water touched my wings.

After drying myself with the biggest towel I had in my apartment I lowered to all fourth again and walked to the kitchen.

After preparing a good supper I set on the chair behind the table more to check if I’ll be able to do it then for comfort as lying on my belly was much more comfortable. While eating the supper I was carefully watching for my senses of smell and taste to be suppressed to human level. I knew that my dragon body will easily cope with nearly any biological or chemical hazard so it was perfectly safe for me now to eat my usual meal made of prepared foods if I could eat it for years in my human body. On the other hand I was just as much sure that any enhancement of taste and smell above ordinary human level won’t let me it my supper. After throwing plastic dishes cap and spoons to the garbage bucket I lowered to all four again and went to the room serving me as both a work place and a place to sleep.

I closed curtains on window and glass balcony door and walked to the center of the room. Standing on all four I started to cast the second spell from the Key Book. It was an easy task as my voice capabilities in my default form were very wide and I had full control over them. As I had casted the spell I felt it is trying to get the power of Grey Flame from the Source structure in my astral body through the Key structure. I could easily prevent it from using either the Key or the Source structure but of course I did the opposite. I let the spell to take as much energy as it needed (actually the spell needed very little energy to work).

I was amazed and happy watching with the eyes of my transparent body as the spell formed in the air as I casted it (it was a floating transparent structure beautiful and quite complicated) then filled itself with the Grey Flame and finally changed its structure a bit as it started working. This was happening very fast but my dragon rate of thinking and reaction let me watch the whole process easily.

When the spell went active I founded myself standing on a very intricate drawing. It was a very complicated pattern resembling a circle in it’s general shape. It took the whole flour of the room. There were only two inches between it’s boarders and walls of the room. Some parts of it were hidden under the furniture I had in the room. It looked like it was drawn on the flour with slightly glowing grey paint. I assumed that shape is all that really matters for the particular spell. The easiest way to actually draw the spell on the parquet flour of my room was using my talons to scratch the lines along the lines of the illusion. It was also the only way I could do it quick as right now as I had no paint to draw with. But first I had to move all the furniture out of the room to see the entire pattern.

I started with the remains of my bed. Some pieces I was able to get on me back to carry them out walking on all four. Then I had to stand on my hind fourlimbs to carry some pieces using my front fourlimbs. The work was a pleasure as it let me feel the strength and dexterity of my dragon body. When it came to dragging out the rest of the furniture I tried to do it standing on my hind fourlimbs and using my front once to take hold on the thing I needed to drag. It was easy and quick even so, though it wasn’t the most effective way I could do it. After dragging one thing like that I stood on all four again walked over to the next piece of furniture I needed to drag out of the room and turned around. Then I turned my head back bending my neck slightly to get better view. I used sapeshifting to sprout four quite thick tentacles on each shoulder and then just grabbed the thing with them. As I did, I started branching the tentacles to take a better hold on the thing. It was amazingly easy and felt as a most natural thing to do. Then I just turned my head forward and walked out of the rum dragging the piece of furniture behind me. Working in the same manner I finished in less then five minutes.

After dragging out the last piece of furniture out, I walked back to the room and closed the door behind me. Actually the room looked much nicer then before to me. In my default form it looked much more natural to me with no furniture in it. I started to walk slowly moving in spiral pattern and watching the drawing on the flour with all possible attention. After several minutes of consideration I decided to draw from the center. I walked to the center of the room, extended the talon on the forefinger of my right claw and carefully started tracing slightly glowing grey line of the magical drawing with it’s extremely sharp tip leaving deep scratch on the parquet. Slow at first my work speeded up quickly. I was never too good at drawing as a human but in my default form it was amazingly easy. Having perfect control over my muscles I could easily draw even the most intricate lines with a single move and my controlled memory let me instantly and clearly recall the whole drawing I was working on or just the part I was drawing at a moment.

When the drawing was finished I returned to the centre of the room and lied on my belly. For a moment I was just lying so without a motion again deeply amazed with how comfortable the position was for my dragon body. All my weight was easily and comfortably supported with my belly and chest. My tail and hind fourlimbs granted me perfect steadiness. I could easily use my front fourlmbs to work in this position. Thanks to my long dexterous with strong and neck with perfectly controlled muscles it was comfortable for me to look in any direction. I looked at the deep gutters of the drawing scratched in the parquet. Filling the pattern with the Grey Flame now seemed especially right. I established complete concentration watching both physical and magical planes. Then I lowered my head a bit aiming my muzzle at the magical pattern, opened my mouth slightly and made a strong harsh blow throwing out the power of Grey Flame I was feeling within the Source structure. It was an easy and natural thing to do. The power went unchanged through the Key structure (as I wasn’t trying to make it to be otherwise) then thought power-conducting structures of my astral body to the physical world. A torch of Grey Flame came from my mouth and hit the patter on the flour. The lines started absorbing the flame. It was slowly felling deep gutters of the magical pattern like a sort of strange glowing liquid. The light it was giving was bright but not as bright to be blinding, though there was no singe shadow in the room now. This strange magical fire was a very pleasant thing to look at. There were calmness and power in it’s appearance. It looked like a semitransparent gas, but at the same time it looked like water and many other things. Feeling the power of this amazing magical element flowing from the Source structure deep within my astral body through the Key structure and my astral body itself gave me deep and calm happiness. I knew I could change and form the fire in countless number of ways but at the moment there was no need to change anything. I just had to blow the magical fire onto the gutters of the spell-pattern until it fells them completely. And I blew on. It required almost no efforts.

When the entire pattern was glowing brightly, I felt a magical power, forming fast within the magical drawing. I barely had enough time to stop blowing out the Grey Flame and relax getting ready to let the magic through all the defensive barriers of my transparent and astral bodies. Then for a short moment the pattern started to glow much brighter then before as it’s power finally hit my mind. The magic wasn’t hostile and it was created to be as easy to stand as possible. The feeling wasn’t unpleasant it was just very strong and strange. I wasn’t yet accustomed to any things like this so it was a very strong experience.

For the next three hours I wasn’t actually paying attention to anything around myself. The power of the spell faded away almost as fast as it came, but as it did there was another thing completely distracting my attention from everything else. This thing was the new memories and they were the knowledge. They were perfectly clear and easy to understand as each time my mind was coming to something unknown my memory was giving out another part of new information and it was the explanation. It was like chains and sometimes they were very long, but they always gave understanding. For some time I just couldn’t stop following the chains, but finally I stopped myself as it was perfectly clear I had not enough time at the moment to finish the process.

I wasn’t very surprised when I realized that there was almost no single piece of parquet in the room. The spell had completely burned out the parquet the pattern was drawn on. I was lying on solid concrete. I haven’t noticed the change earlier as it made no deference for my dragon body. The magic left no other traces behind it. Nothing else was damaged or changed. The pieces of parquet not covered by the spell patterns were still lying in their places, but they were just useless junk now. I smiled to myself looking at the new appearance of my room, then rested my head on my front forurlimbs and closed my eyes. I still had plenty of work to do and the night was short.

I looked in my new memories for information on how to adjust my human form properly without experimenting too much. I easily found the appropriate place but to really understand it I had to follow one chain of explanations then another. Despite my very high rate of thinking (I didn’t dear to adjust it at the moment though I knew I could) the time seemed to go much faster then my work.

Finally I decided, that I understood enough to quickly solve the particular problem I was actually working on now. I stood up on my hind fourlimbs and started the transformation. I shifted to the exact copy of my former human body first. It was even easier and much more interesting now then it was the first time I did it as now I understood pretty much of what and how I was actually doing during the shift.

As I looked around standing naked on the concrete flour in my human form, my first thought was that I’ll have to buy a new bed and a carpet if I plan to stay in my human at highs. It was much more difficult to use the knowledge from my new memories now having human brain, but it was still possible. I set down on the concrete flour in Japanese manner with my legs bent under me, rested my hands on my knees and closed my eyes to gain more concentration. All my attention was now turned to the magical object deep within my astral body granting me shapeshifting abilities. I carefully started a minor shift to make my first adjustment. I could rely only on my feelings and on the just understood knowledge trying to guide the process. Of course there were also instincts embedded into the magical object granting me shapeshifting abilities, but now as I also had the knowledge I considered them more like my last line of defense, the last chance to gain the needed result when the knowledge is not enough. Finally I felt the first shift was complete and it gave me right what I needed, then I quickly started the next one. Shapeshifting was something perfectly natural and comfortable to me just like my default form and everything else Key gave to me. As soon as I started using it really controlling the process I started to gain experience very fast as if rather recalling once well known but somehow forgotten skill then learning something really new. Making two last minor adjustments needed took me less then a few seconds.

I opened my eyes and stood up, then I let my thoughts turn those sexual ideas been flashing through my mind when I first shifted to my human form yesterday morning. A strong wave of arousal immediately went through my body and my penis was rockhard and ready. Then with a considerable mental effort similar to the one I made to achieve the same effect in my default form I blocked the sexuality of my human form. Effect was completely the same as in my default form. The only difference was that in my human form my penis had no slit to hide in. After unblocking my sexuality checking the arousal and blocking it down again, I happily smiled to myself completely satisfied with my work and went to the old sofa in the living room to sleep as long as had left from the night by the time. Before letting myself finally get some sleep I set up the alarm on my cell phone and casted the three ‘reverse’ spells in my mind to prevent any problems in the morning.

Waking up in the morning at the signal of the alarm after a too short sleep wasn’t a pleasure, especially in my human form. It was much more convenient though then trying to find any effective arguments to make myself to shift from my default to human form in the same situation. Saying many different things about this world where you won’t be excepted at your working place as a dragon even if want and can be there in that most comfortable form (all the things I was saying would have been very unpleasant for the world to hear if I had said them aloud), I took a shower, dragged on my clothes, eat my usual breakfast and went to my work again. I had enough time to get there this time, so no one had noticed anything unusual in me or my behavior that day.

As I finished all necessary system checks and some other usual duties, I set back in my arm chair looking at the central monitor of my workstation and smiling to my self jus as I usually did when all the systems in my responsibility were functioning properly.

This time I haven’t started my favorite MOMRPG as I was usually doing next as now I had a much more interesting and useful thing to do. I put my arms upon the armrests closed my eyes and dived into the new knowledge granted to me with the second spell from the Key Book.

Now I had plenty of time to work on it so I tried to find something that could be called the first page if I was reading a book. Even with human brain I found it fast and easy. So I just started to ‘reading’ my ‘magic book’ carefully. The work was slow and quite tiring as plenty of things in the magical knowledge were not just new to me. They required new, sometimes very unusual and strange, ways of thinking to understand them. Finally I casted two of three ‘forward’ spells in my mind purely out of necessity as without been able to feel and explore Source and Key structures within my astral body while ‘reading’ ‘the text’ of my ‘magic book’ many things described there were just impossible to understand. I wasn’t really paying attention to anything around me as everything I needed at the time was deep inside me. Luckily everything in my responsibility functioned perfectly stable so I it wasn’t something I couldn’t afford to do.

By any consideration my working day could be called a perfect one. By the time I had to go home I could already say I had good and deep understanding of some basics in magical knowledge. I could already use some of the spells from my spellbook had there been a good reason for doing it in public.

From the office I went to the nearest supermarket working all 24 hours and bought a new bed (much stronger and bigger one) and big square white carpet. It was very thick and soft, perfectly comfortable to lie on even with nothing but concrete under it. I also bought a new electronic alarm clock to replace the one I smashed. The carpet and the bed were quickly loaded in to a delivery van with the supermarket logo on it’s board and I was on my way home sitting in the van with two strong carrier guys in bright uniform suits.

The carriers brought my new bed to it’s place and helped me to roll the carpet on the flour. They were apparently puzzled a bit as they saw my crashed old bed the rest of the furniture from my room standing all over the hall of my apartment and of course the perfect circle of concrete flour bordered with some parquet in my room.

It gave me a strong reason to try out my abilities as a novice mage. One of the spell from my spellbok I could already use by the time was a mental spell intended right for the situations like this. It was based on the magic of knowledge and could be empowered either with the Grey Flame or with the casters personal mana through using main and most fundamental skill of the magic of knowledge called Channeling of The Will (actually anyone aware of this fundamental skill was able to use the Magic of Knowledge). The spell was short and easy to cast and guide. It allowed the caster to use target’s identity features and memories to replace the unwanted memories with new safe and perfectly realistic one. It also left no magical or mental traces in the target to be detected later. The spell wasn’t actually intended to brake thought any kind of defense. It had to be combined with another spell if any resistance of the target was possible. There was definitely no need to do it in the particular case. To be sure about it I quickly used the Form ‘Eye’ empowered with the Grey Flame to see magical and mental planes of the world. The vision granted to me by the Eye of Grey Flame was somewhat deferent from the one I had using my transparent body but it was also similar enough for me to understand quite well what I see using my new knowledge. Both carrier guys had nothing magical in them. And their personalities were to week to resist any mental spells.

I quickly casted the mental spell in my mind empowering it with Grey Flame as I had no time to experiment with the Channeling of The Will being something completely new to me. I watched through The Eye as the transparent construction of my mental spell started glowing as the Grey Flame flew into it through power-conducting structures of my astral body. As the spell was empowered and ready I threw it into one of the carrier guys with a short mental effort. There were no effects on the physical plane of the world as I did it.

My spell hit the guys astral body and easily came in starting it’s rapid work deep inside. There were magical threads connecting my astral body with my spell. Guiding work of the spell using them was something completely new and unusual thought not unknown to me. I succeeded thanks to my recently understood knowledge and partly because I just had no time to doubt. As first part of my work was complete I cut the magical threads leaving the spell within the guy’s astral body, casted and empowered second spell and threw it at the other carrier-guy. Guiding it’s work within he’s astral body I was counting cash to pay those guys. As they were at the door of my apartment to go away I finished my job and cut the magical threads. The guys went away with my spells within their astral bodies. As soon as soon as they will be asked about what they have seen in my apartment or hear someone else been asked about it the spells will change their memories and disappear without a trace. The same will happen if there will be an attempt to detect the spells or as soon as the guys go asleep.

I closed the door, dismissed the Eye of Grey Flame and tried to understand my feelings about the thing I have just done. There were two major aspects of it for me. One was pretty reassuring as now I knew for sure I can already defend myself with magic in some cases. The second one was very unpleasant though as I have just clearly seen how week and defenseless an ordinary human is against anyone knowing a slightest bit of magic. As in my human form with my shapeshifting removed from my astral body I was identical in most ways to any ordinary human the danger was big to me. Thanks to my shift my astral body was actually as strong as the one of a well trained mage, so I had good chases to resist some not very strong magic but it clearly wasn’t enough to feel safe. According to the part of my ‘magic book’ I had worked through for the moment there was certain sort of defense considered best for my current situation. I had to set up a system of permanently active pendant-spells within my astral body to hide all the features of it that could tell to another mage I have magic powers myself. The pendant-spells need power to work but it wasn’t any problem for me as long as I had the Source of Grey Flame in my astral body. I should also set up another pendant-spell granting me with feeling and seen of magical and mental planes of the world. The Eye of Grey Flame wasn’t really suitable for it on it’s own. It was hard to hide from another mage and always distracting some of my attention for keeping it active. It also had to be move frequently to see what you need as it was actually possible to see only through it. Even now been a very novice as a mage I could already create something much more complicated and suitable to use as a pendant-spell of magical vision. The last part of my permanent defense as a mage for the moment had to be a special mental pendant-spell placed deep within my astral body and having close connection with it. On any attempt to use any magic or mental tricks on me it will cause me to cast the ‘forward’ spell granting me shapeshifting abilities. Together with them I’ll get back my transparent body that is a serious defense against any mental magical threats on it’s own let alone all the changes my shapeshifting abilities will make in my astral body as soon as they’ll be there again.

After having a shower I putted on the clothes I was usually wearing at home as I wasn’t going to shift to my default form for now. I put on a grey woolen robe with wide sleeves and deep cowl. It was made of camel's hair and very comfortable in both cold and hot weather. I also had a long narrow belt of the same color and material made to be used with my robe. Actually it looked like a sort of classic mage’s outfit, but I was wearing it at home mainly because it was perfectly comfortable in most situations. Going to the kitchen to have my supper before starting to build my first set of mage’s defense, I smiled to myself, for the firs time in my life had real reasons, apart comfort to wear my favorite robe.

After having my supper I went to my room, closed the curtains and set down on my new carpet covering the whole flour. I was now sitting in the center of the room with my legs bent under me in Japanese manner and my hands rested on my knees. It was silent and dark in the room as it was night outside and closed windows effectively blocked sounds of the street. The whole setting felt perfectly suitable for practicing magic.

All magic I was going to use to build my personal defense system belonged to two different categories: Magic of Knowledge and Magic of Forms. The first one was very close to classic magic as it was described in fairytales and fantasy books. It’s spells were created first of all with words and gestures though there were many other elements used in more complicated spells. The second one was much more close to almost pure art (the type of magic wasn’t mentioned by the fiction writers though something similar in many ways was described in a series of fantasy books I once read). It was based on using special magical objects called Forms. To use them a mage should have them embedded into he’s astral body in a special way. I could now use this type of magic as I had the basic universal set of Forms embedded into my astral body by the second spell from The Key Book. This set was enough to describe any process or object needed having enough knowledge skill and experience to combine Forms properly. After the form-spell was empowered by a sort of magical energy everything described by it was coming to actual existence. This type of magic was perfect for quick actions and inspired improvisations. It was extremely useful for me in particular as not only proper Forms but also suitable elements were needed to describe a process or object. As I could shift The Grey Flame to be indistinguishable from any other magical element or their combination Magic of Forms was giving me nearly endless variety of options.

I summoned The Eye of Grey Flame to be able to see what I’m doing on magical plane, closed my eyes to gain more concentration and whispered: “Sphere Eye Shell of Grey Flame”. The words were needed just for more concentration. They weren’t actually a spell. The structure I had created was a combination of three often used forms ‘The Eye’, ‘The Shell’ and ‘The Sphere’ based on Grey Flame. My astral body was now surrounded with a sphere shell having the properties of ‘The Eye’ to let me see magical and mental planes. The magical object was almost transparent even on magical plane as it wasn’t yet empowered with the Grey Flame. It was only a basic frame of the pendant-spell of magical vision I was going to build. I added several more combinations of Forms to the spell adjusting it’s properties to my needs. Then it was time to add some classical magic to my spell.

I whispered first sequence of words then made a slow fluent gesture with my arms. Actually I could perform all the casting within my mind, but using actual words and gestures was much easier and required less concentration, letting me think on what to do next in the process of casting. If anyone would have told me several days ago that creating my first complicated spell I’ll be so calm and concentrated I hadn’t believed him though it would be true. There was no anticipation, no doubts, no thoughts how cool is to be a mage. At the moment all I was doing was nether strange nor cool and I had no doubts it was real. Actually this work felt even more natural to me then working with computers and other electronic devices I was accustomed to with many years of my life.

As I had quite a lot of time for my work I was going to make my spells as complicated and effective as I could at the moment. When I finished my pendant-spell of magical vision it looked rather impressive been much more complicated then I could expect it to be. Looking at the transparent construction floating around my astral body in magical plane I realized that working on the spell I used a lot of information I haven’t yet ‘read’ in my ‘magic book’. Thinking about how to improve my spell just led me to the appropriate information in my mind. Nevertheless ‘reading’ was still necessary to gain full understanding of the knowledge from my ‘magic book’.

I smiled to myself and made the final gesture empowering the spell with the Grey Flame. I felt the power of Grey Flame flowing through my astral body into the spell. Then sphere shell of the spell went smaller penetrating my astral body. I let it go through and settle there establishing all the connections with my astral body it needed to work properly.

As the ‘installation’ was complete the amount of energy flowing into the spell descried to a lever should be called less then very small for my Source structure. I dismissed The Eye of Grey Flame and looked at mental and magical planes using my new pendant-spell. The information it was giving was rich and clear. I could freely look thought it in any direction without having to adjust anything. Of course it wasn’t as good as the set of senses my transparent body had, but it was more then good as for a spell.

I smiled in satisfaction and started building the first of the pendant-spells to hide the fact I am a mage having some abilities more common for initially magical beings. I did everything I could to make my stealth-pendants as affective as I could at the moment. Showing my real capabilities to a ‘colleague’ could course even more troubles for me then walking on the street in my default form at the middle of a day.

As I finished my stealth-pendants and the mental-pendant supposed to be a sort of my magical insurance in case of an attack too rapid for me to notice and deflect it, I was as tiered as never before in my whole life, but the defense I created was definitely worth it. It was completely dark in the room as I stood up to walked to my bed but I didn’t actually need light anymore to find my way as my magical vision pendant could be used for that as well as for many other tasks more commons for the spells of the sort. I went to sleep the same moment my head touched the pillow.

Next morning as I was waken up by the loud beeping of my new alarm clock it took me a big effort to restrain myself from throwing a ‘Sphere of Destructive Fire’ at it. Finally I managed to standup and used ‘Flow of Life Refreshing a Life Being’ instead. I maintained the spell until I was sure I’ll have no trouble getting to work in time and working the whole day, then dismissed it. It was not so easy to do as feeling pure Life flowing through the Key structure into my astral and through it into my physical body was indescribably pleasant, but I knew my astral body will be damaged if too much of the energy will flow in. I was starting to behave like if I was a mage for my whole life. An almost sleepless night to create a set of complicated spells then refreshing myself with yet another spell to be able to get up on time.

Smiling to the thoughts I went to my bath room then to the kitchen. Looking at my usual morning meal I decided that I should go on behaving as a mage should do having something like this as the only available meal for the moment. It took me less then a minute to think out a suitable combination of forms to let in my astral body a small flow of Life just enough for me no to feel hunger and thirst any more.

When I activated my new pendant-spell there was no more need to waste my time for having breakfast. I changed my clothes and went to work.

On my way to the office I activated my pendant-spell of magical vision and started looking at the astral bodies of people around me trying to find someone who could probably have some skills in magic. I even ménage to spot a man with astral body considerably stronger then those of other people but it looked more like if he just had strong soul. Nothing like pendant-spells or anything else being an indubitable sign of him been any sort of magic user.

I preformed similar check at the office with pretty the same result. Afterwards my working day went just like the day yesterday. The only deference was that sometimes I activated my pendant of magical vision to check my surrounding for any possible threats.

After coming home the day I took a shower changed to my grey robe and went to my room. I had no need to waste time for eating, drinking or even going to the toilet (my stomach and guts were long since empty by the time as I used another form-spell to clean them out last time I was distracted from studying my ‘magic book’ by needs of the sort).

Standing in the middle of the room I casted a classical spell covering the room with a sphere of sound illusion. Instead of closing curtains I just threw a classical spell of optical illusion at the window and transparent balcony door. Effects of the spells I used was limited in time as they could use only the power flowed into them upon casting, but for next ten hours no sound or optical effects within this room will be noticed outside. As the sort of defense was set up I turned my hand up as if holding a medium sized ball and whispered “Sphere of Light”.

A sphere of bright white light immediately appeared in my hand as I empowered the form-spell right after summoning it. I raised my hand holding the sphere of light and used another form-spell based on Air to make it stay there without my support. There was no real need to use spells for lighting as I could just switch light panels on the ceiling on, but it was much more interesting and pleasant to do it the way I did.

For the next two and half hours I was casting different sort of spells of those that could be used in some way in my current environment. I was doing it to gain some experience and, I have to admit, just for fan and pleasure. Then I carefully cleared all traces of my activities on both physical and magical planes, removed all spells covering the room and went to bed to get a good sleep.

For the whole time till my summer vacation my life was going in the same manner. I was at work during days using as much time as possible to study the part of my memories I was calling my ‘book of magic’ to myself. At evening time I shielded my room or sometimes my whole apartment with illusion spells and practiced in magic as much as it was possible in the place and circumstances. I turned my living room in something like mage’s lab and spellcasting chamber practicing to use the sorts of magic requiring some more things then just knowledge, power and skill to use them. My girl friend phoned me only once and our conversation went just as easy as I expected. She felt something in my voice as usual and no explanation were needed.

When my summer vacation started I quickly gathered my old hiker’s backpack, loaded it with some things I might need to practice some more stuff-dependant magic took my tracking pole and left my apartment till the end of my vocation. I took a taxi to get to the central railway station bought myself a ticket and in half an hour I was in a train on my way to Carpathian Mountains.

The ancient city of Lvov had several surprises of magical nature for me. First of all walking it’s narrow paved streets I discovered that some of the stones had some protecting magic upon them. It was imbedded into the stones in a very intricate way. Whoever had done it in the past possessed much skill and knowledge as the magic haven’t lost it’s power completely despite who knows how many years without any maintains.

I was walking down a street admiring the skill of the unknown local mage and looking around through my pendant of magical vision in case there is some more magic in this place, when suddenly I spotted an old man (he looked about fifty years old at first glance) who definitely had a sort of pendant-spell within his astral body. I was even more astonished as I realized that the pendant is a sort of youth-spell and real age of the man is a very big question. I wanted to speak to him at first, but then I decided not to do anything like this. By the time I knew enough to be even more cautious then before considering opportunity to uncover myself to another mage. I just watched his astral body as hard as I could till he disappeared behind a corner. At least I was certain of two things: first he hasn’t noticed me and second I remember the appearance of he’s astral body well enough to be able to find him with a communication spell.

From Lvov I took a bus ride to a distant village in Carpathian Mountains. Sitting on the hind sit in this shuddering piece of machinery I couldn’t get rid of thought that the bus must be older then The Carpathian Mountains it was moving through.

When the ride was finally over, I was fully rewarded for standing it with bright warm summer sun, clean air and cool mountain wind smelling with meadow grass and pine trees from nearby forest.

I adjusted my tracking pole to a comfortable height and started hiking up the ground meadow road toward a distant mountain peak to the west.

These travel to Carpathian Mountains turned to be far more easy and pleasant then those I took here before not yet been a mage. After hiking deep enough into the forest in my human form, I turned of the road under the cover of trees smiled to myself, threw my backpack down to the ground and started taking off my clothes. As soon as I was completely naked I casted the ‘forward’ spell granting me my shapeshiftig abilities in my mind and shifted to my default form.

I lowered to all four and made my senses slowly sharpen above as low as their human level watching listening and smelling my surrounding. For the first time in my life I used sonar and gravilocation to get better picture of the forest around me. There were no animals larger then a squirrel and no traces of their recent present. I smiled to myself with a bright dragon smile and started packing my clothes into my backpack. I adjusted my tracking pole to it’s shortest possible length and attached it to the right side of my backpack using straps on the backpack. Despite not been originally designed for a dragon my old backpack turned to be still suitable for me in my default form. I opened the locks holding the lover ends of backpack shoulder straps, stood up on my hind fourlimbs and carefully pulled the backpack onto my back holding it by the shoulder straps over my shoulders. When my backpack was lying comfortably on my back between my wings I just secured the shoulder stripes’ locks again. Then I locked the secure stripe holding shoulder straps together on my chest and enclosed the wide belt of my backpack around my body. I had to do some length adjustments hear and there for all the backpack straps, but as it was done I felt my backpack is even more suitable for me in my default form (it was the largest model of backpack I could find so fully loaded it looked somewhat too big even for a tall human). I deactivated my pendant of magical vision as I had the senses of my transparent body now and the mental pendant cousin me to activate my shapesifting abilities on a sign of magical attack as I was going to keep my shapesifting abilities active in nearest future. Then I started creating a complicated and strong pendant-spell of mental illusion making me unreachable for any senses of a human watching me. In case a target had any sort of magical or mental defense the spell turned into a complex of optical and sound illusions giving me an appropriate warning. To protect myself from been detected with magic I just modified the stealth pendants I already had for them to hide not only my magical abilities but my entire existence from magical detection. After whispering last words to configure the new version of personal defense I activated it with a short mental effort, lowered to all four and walked back to the road.

Standing in the middle of the road I looked at the trees on the sides of it. The road was wide enough in the place for me to fly up without a risk to hit into the trees with my wings in the process. My first flight as a dragon, I was waiting for the moment from the first day I woke up in my default form. With a loud roar of happiness and anticipation I spread my wings and flapped them as hard as I could jumping up on all my four fourlimbs at the same time. There was a strange feeling all over my body as with the first flap of my wings the biological system of gravity control embedded into cells of my body went active. I was launched into the air much higher then I expected, so there was no danger of hitting the ground with my wings on the second flap. On the third flap of my wings I was already above the trees.

With several more flaps I gained enough altitude to feel safe. I wanted to fly not very high though as I was going to look for a good place where I could set a camp for the rest of my vacation to practice the sorts of magic hard to try in town without been noticed.

I just relaxed rhythmically flapping my wings and carefully watching not to let my mind go on thinking about what and how should I actually do to fly. Flying that way was easy safe and extremely pleasant. Having no experience yet I could fully rely on the perfect system of instincts my default form had. The instincts had two sources: my shapeshifting abilities and scientific design of my default form.

Flying low over the forest I was just bathing in the long awaited pleasure it was giving to me. I was listening to the feelings in my body trying to explore and experience them in every slightest aspect. There were so many of them: the special high tension of the muscles all over my body to hold it stiff enough to lye on the air been supported only by the wings attached to my shoulders; slightest moves of my body neck and tail to keep the vertical while flying; rhythmical efforts of my strong chest muscles upon each flap of my wings and the indescribable feeling of the air being a reliable support for my wings; the cool air gently flowing all over my body as I fly; special deep rhythmic breathing timed with the flaps of my wings giving enough oxygen to my chest muscles to keep moving my wings; and countless number of other feelings natural for a dragon during a slow relaxed flight.

I wasn’t flapping my wings all the time. Sometimes when my wings started feeling a strong upward stream of warm air I was just keeping them spread almost without a motion letting the stream lift me upwards, then I was gliding back down starting to flap only if there was no other upward air stream in my way by the time I was down at my former altitude. Sometimes I slightly changed the direction of my flight on spotting a good upward stream of air or to ride a wind blowing the same direction I was flying. I had more then enough strength and endurance to fly all by myself without using winds and warm upward steams of air, but using them was a pleasure.

I spent several hours on slow relaxed flight before I started to look for something more then the flight itself. Then I started exploring the land I was flying over. Of all the set of physical senses my default form had I was mostly using seen (with my eyes refocused for best seen despite the altitude), gravilocation and the sense of smell. Even without using the senses of my transparent body they let me easily find and classify every trace of human activity within their reach. The senses of my transparent body I was mostly using to find more distant spots of human activity.

I had traveled to this mountains many times before so I knew them quite well either from detailed maps or from my personal experience. Having no trouble with recalling any information from my memory I didn’t actually need a map to know my location. Thinking about how to watch my actual course and speed while flying I remembered that wild birds flying for long distances (like gees for example) are using the lines of magnetic field for navigation. With a short mental effort I brought the appropriate part of spectrum to my field of view in addition to the picture given by the ordinary light. After several minuets of watching and thinking I figured out a suitable way to use the picture of Earth magnetic field for navigation. From the moment all my attention was focused on the search of a suitable place for my long-time camp. It should be hidden by good natural cover and distant enough from any human settlements and routs to let me freely practice in magic without been uncovered.

By nightfall I started to feel the weight of my backpack. I wanted to land and cap for the night, but after some consideration I decided to solve the problem with magic and just continue my search as doing it the way will give me some interesting experience and will be much more effective then wasting my time for rest.

First of all I used several small ‘Shield of Air’ to cover every part of my body touching to my backpack. Then I turned all my attention to my shapeshifting abilities and started attuning my transparent body to the magical element Air. By the time I studied the appropriate part of my ‘magic book’ well enough for the knowledge to compensate my lack of experience. The attuning shift went fast and easy. My feeling of world started to change as Air was becoming more and more native element for my transparent body. As the shift was complete there was no more tiredness for me as flight was now the only suitable form of existence to me and the air around me was giving my transparent body enough energy to fly as long as I’ll be alive. It was the same for my physical body despite I haven’t attuned it to Air. It was because my two shells were connected through my astral body.

The words ‘pleasure of flight’ had now much wider deeper and stronger meaning for me. I think only the magical beings having very close connection to Air can really understand it. For the next two hours I was just exploring the incredible feeling. I was now able to do many otherwise impossible things as the air itself was now sensitive to my will and motions of my body. I was now mowing more like a dancing wind, swift as most of the winds are, but also strong as a dragon. That was my nature now -- a dragon with body of wind. I easily covered my backpack with an extremely strong shield of motionless air, before letting myself fly in the speed and manner feeling most natural for me now.

As soon as I was able to think about anything else then just flying in the night sky among the blowing winds trying to find the actual limits of what I could now do on the flight, I started my search again.

The process turned to be much deferent now as I could now directly use the Air for gathering information. It was completely different from any magic I used before yet not completely unknown to me as the principals of it were very well described in one of my ‘magic book’s’ ‘chapters’. There is an expression like ‘winds can see and hear everything’. Now I knew they can also smell and do some other thing and I could easily use it in my search. Actually it was much like using the whole system of military and NASA satellites just to find the best spot to spend summer vacation, but unlike the situation my activities were not creating any troubles to anyone (including myself as it was very difficult for a mage to detect the sort of activities unless he knew what to look for and where it will happen). So I had no serious reasons to restrain myself from doing it the way. It was not only a very interesting and pleasant thing to do but also a very good experience for me as for a mage.

Despite all the magic I used for my search it took me full nine days of flying all over the Carpathian Mountains to find what I was looking for. I always suspected that finding a really safe natural hideout for using magic would be a very difficult task to accomplish. Now I knew it for sure.

I removed the Shield of Air protecting my backpack, used my shapeshifting abilities to shift my transparent body back to it’s default state and started the landing slowly circling over a large round clearing in a very old pine forest high in the Carpathian Mountains.

I landed in the center of the clearing, folded my wings on my back and looked around using all the senses I had.

The ground on the clearing was mostly clay with some sand and dead pine needles over it. There were no animals larger then a squirrel and no traces of their recent present around the clearing for as far I could reach with my senses. I stood up on my hind fourlimbs and threw my backpack onto the ground. Then I lowered to all four again and looked at the sky. It was darkening very fast as the night was taking it’s place. No longer being something close to a high-level elemental I felt pretty tiered at the moment. The chance that I’ll be disturbed by anything or anyone till the next morning was very close to zero here. Nevertheless I knew I’ll feel much better if I’ll set up appropriate magical defense before sleeping. Actually I just hate taking chances.

I started walking slowly along the border of the clearing whispering a classical spell named ‘Medium Ring of Alertness’. In certain spot on equal distances from each other I was stopping to draw supporting runes in the clay using my forefinger talon. After drawing each run I aimed my muzzle at it and blew a torch of Grey Flame for a short time to give additional power to the runes. After a short period of glowing the runs were absorbing the energy returning to their former physical appearance of just intricate drawings in the clay. After finishing with the ring I walked to the center of the clearing and used a combination of Forms reinforced with some addition of classical magic to protect everything within the clearing and the clearing itself from been detected in either magical or physical ways. Finally I walked over to my backpack and took a clawfull of glass crystals of special shape. I had crafted them myself by melting and reshaping bought pieces of glass in my ‘laboratory’ at home. They had some alchemic ingredients and incasted magic added in the process of crafting. The small artifacts were intended to be magical anchors for the longtime stationary spell-systems like the one I was building. I also took a glass bottle with greenish-brown liquid out of my backpack. The potion was to make a connection between my spell-system and the clearing it was covering. It allowed my spell-system to absorb some part of natural mana flows the place had as a part of nature to support itself. After implanting my glass crystals into each of the support runes tying appropriate parts of my spell-system to them and pouring some of the channeling poison on crystals and runes I used control threads of the spell-system to configure it properly. In some way it was a bit similar to configuring a very intricate firewall. I was lying on my belly in the center of the clearing near my backpack lying on the ground to the right of me. My head was rested on my front fourlimbs, my eyes closed and my body completely relaxed as I dived deep in configuring of my first stationary magical stealth and alert system. Practicing magic at home I preferred setting appropriate magical cover each time at the beginning of my work and carefully cleaning any traces of my activities and the cover at the and. It required some time and efforts but it was much safer that way under the circumstances. It also gave me lots of experience in practical usage of magic I needed so much. As the configuration was complete I just ‘let go’ the control threads of my magical defense and fell asleep.

My wake up the next morning was the most pleasant in my whole life. I was waken up by the warm touch of summer sunlight to my wings and scales surrounded by the sounds of forest not yet damaged by any human activities. I rested well and needed no more sleep but I could just lye on the worm sun as long as want to as there was nowhere to hurry.

Thinking about how wonderful the situation is made me to ask myself if it is perfect. My answer for the question was negative. I knew that to make the greatest happiness and pleasure perfect one must share them with a person the closer and more loved the greater is what is to be shared.

At the thought I opened my eyes, raised my head and smiled. My happiness could be made perfect as I had a person I could share it with. It was my girlfriend Lucy. Of course an appropriate Key is still needed to do it. The only way to get it I knew so far was through the young magician from another world who uploaded into the net the one I used myself. So far the only thing I could do was hoping that he is still alive and will try to contact with those who read he’s file. I had already made some preparations for the case. As soon as the server once used by the yang Dreamer was up and running again I left special message in the part of local forum intended for those who were looking for the data once stored on the destroyed HDD. The message contained a short poem in the ‘distorted language’ often used to create spells. A short note indicated that writing is as close to the actual form as possible with English letters. The thing sounded pretty nice to read so it was left there by the moderators as just another piece of weird but nice looking art. Actually it was a short mental spell based on Grey Flame. The only thing it gave the caster was my E-mail address. Everything I had to do now was checking my E-mail. I pulled my backpack to me with my right claw and opened a big side pocket. There were my laptop (one of newest models especially designed for extreme lovers) and my satellite phone (it took me two years to fully pay out the bank loan I took to buy it but it was more then worth it) plus some other stuff to connect them together and too keep the charged. I placed the laptop on the dry worm clay ground in front of me, connected the satellite phone to it and put it to the ground as well. I opened the laptop and turned it on, then turned on the satellite phone. Both devices still had enough energy in their batteries to work for some hours. As the laptop finished loading I opened a browser window and typed the appropriate URL in the address bar. I was feeling no anticipation as I typed login and password to access my mailbox. At the moment I just felt too great to believe that something unpleasant can really happen to me right now. I was certain that the letter I was waiting for is in my mailbox. My faith was deep strong and calm.

The only new message in my mailbox was titled ‘Greetings colleague’. Senders address was ‘Dreamer1@hotmail.com’. I smiled to myself and opened the letter.

Greetings, colleague.

I’m glad to see that someone was able to use The Key in this world. I hope You’ll agree to provide me with some assistance so I can fide a way to live in Your world. Unfortunately I see no other way to keep the heritage of The Keymaker safe from destruction. If I can hope for Your cooperation please use the spell below to contact me as soon as You read my letter.

Next there was a standard key fragment to be used with the classical spell call ‘Distant Speech’. The letter was signed ‘Seltinos The Dreamer’. I quickly looked at the date and time in the letter attributes. It came 5 minutes ago. I extended the talon on the forefinger of my right claw and started drawing the rune version of Distant Speech spell on clay ground to the right of my laptop. As the drawing was ready I placed my claw onto it and let the Grey Flame flow through to empower the spell and then whispered appropriate words incasing the key fragment from the letter. Immediately I felt a clear mental connection through another Distant Speech spell with the same key fragment.

• Greetings, mater Seltinos

• Greetings, master ?

• Call me Storm, mater Seltinos.

• Storm?

• That’s a dragon name I used for many years playing my favorite computer game.

• I see. Well, master Storm, I’m very glad to have Your answer so fast. I assume You agree to provide me with some assistance.

• I’ll be glad to do everything I can, master Seltinos. I’m glad You managed to get out from the library of the Council.

• Two times already to be precise, master Storm.

I felt the yang mage was smiling and smiled myself.

• Not bed. What were You looking for going there for the second time?

• Another key, master Storm. I studied everything I was able to find about The Keymaker so in a certain way I knew him good enough to tell what and how would he do in a situation. There could be no doubt he knew what will be the reaction of the Council about he’s Keys. He presented them to the council for them to be put in the main library. Being a full righted mage himself he used he’s rights to access the library and live a sort of magical note easy to find for a Dreamer but not for anyone else. Then he just gave the Key Books to the Council. Those were just suggestions, but checking them was still worth any risk.

• I assume Your suggestions were correct, master Seltinos.

• Yes, master Storm, they were. It took all my skill and power to get to the library once more as they were waiting for me. Finally I managed to sneak through and get to the main hall of the library and it was there right on the ceiling -- an intricate spell-structure incasted deep into the stone. Actually it was using the power from the tower’s defense spell-system for selfmaintains but it was never noticed as it’s almost impossible for someone with no morphing abilities of the sort as The Keys are giving. Believe me, it was obvious, muster Storm. So I touched the structure with my claw and started a minor form shift making my fingers a bit longer. The structure went active immediately. It worked like a mental spell. I received a short message of the Keymaker. He was telling that anyone who received this message may come to he laboratory and join him in he’s work or use the information from the books stored there to continue the work on he’s own if The Keymaker won’t be there by the time, as that is The Right of Dreamers. There were also detailed instructions about how to get to the laboratory.

• I assume You were there already, master Seltinos.

• Actually I’m still at the laboratory, master Storm. The amount of data stored here is unbelievable. Books, scrolls, heaps of paper and that’s just a small part of it as the place has a very complicated and powerful stationary spell-structure for storing and processing data. This place is protected very well but creating a full copy of all the information from here in Your world, master Storm is still the best option for protecting it.

• As my world has not so many considerably strong magic users of it’s own and it will be quite easy to keep the information safe from destruction even having just us two as the guardians.

• Exactly, master Storm. As for the number of Dreamers to guard the heritage of The Keymaker there are at least three for the moment.

•  ??

I felt Seltinos is smiling with a bright smile of perfect happiness.

• The women I love, yang sorceress named Jainara, is a shifting white dragoness of Grey Flame now, master Storm.

• I’m deeply happy for You, master Seltinos, -- I smiled brightly myself. I hope also I have a great reason to be happy for myself to. Are there any other versions of Sifting Dragon of Grey Flame Key ready to use at the moment?

• More then for any other Key, master Storm, as it was the first Key created by The Keymaker. I assume You know another Dreamer in Your world.

• I hope so with my heart and soul, master Seltinos. Is there The Sifting Gold Dragoness of Grey Flame Key?

• Yes, master Storm, there is.

My happiness turned almost perfect.

• I think there is a good reason to try using it before we do anything else, master Seltinos, as the only strong and reliable source of magical power, that we can use without any risk to uncover our activities, I know of in this world for now is my Source of Grey Flame structure. We will need all the magical energy we can get without uncovering ourselves to copy the heritage of The Keymaker fast safe and effective. It will be much easier to do it if we have the power of one more Dreamer to support our magic.

I felt Seltinos started laughing.

• For all the secrets of magic, master Storm, -- said the yang mage as soon as he was able to speak again. Everything You said is perfectly correct, but You really don’t need the arguments to get The Key for the woman You love. If there is any chance she might be a Dreamer, it is my duty and an honor for me to give You the Key for her. That is The Right of Dreamers. It mustn’t ever be otherwise. Please give me several minutes and I’ll send You the Key through this channel. By the way, it’ll be much better if You’ll be in Your default form receiving The Key.

• I understand, master Seltinos. I’m in my default form now. I’ll be waiting for Your transmission through this channel.

The feeling of mental connection became defferent. I knew the meaning of it. The Distant Speech spell created by Seltinos was still active, but he wasn’t ‘listening’ to it any more. He connected he’s astral body with the spell by a magical thread to support the spell with the energy of Grey Flame from he’s Source structure and went away from it to find The Key Book I needed. I created the magical thread to my spell as well. Now I didn’t have to keep my claw on the drawing to support the spell. I won’t also miss the moment when Seltinos will be ready to start he’s transmission. There is a way to send a sort of ‘incoming call’ signal I’ll feel through my magical thread right away.

I looked at my laptop and started building the first information-processing spell-structure in my life. This type of magic is complicated, but I head more then enough knowledge in both computers and magic to use it.

I centered the information-processing spell-structure on my laptop turning it into a sort of magical artifact for the time the structure exists. Several magical threads connecting my astral body were needed for three things: controlling the spell-structure, empowering it with Grey Flame (at the moment it wasn’t empowered and looked semitransparent even on magical plane of the world), and transferring the data I’ll receive from Seltinos.

When my memories to file converter was ready, I opened a text editor and started composing an appropriate letter for Lucy. I was sure the Key will work anyway but I wanted to make a sort of preamble for it to lead Lucy to the special mental state I was in when I started reading my version of the Key.

I just finished writing, when a signal came from Seltinos. I answered the call immediately using the magical thread.

• I had found the Key Book and prepared a spell to transfer it’s content as a mental package through this channel. Are You ready to receive it, master Storm?

I quickly saved the file I was writing, closed the text editor and connected the magical threads from the two spells in the way needed to lead the mental package from one spell to the other without letting it through my memory. I closed my eyes to gain more concentration and empowered my data-processing spell-structure with Grey Flame. All I had to do now was controlling the process using magical threads.

• I’m ready master, Seltinos.

Immediately I felt the mental package started flowing through the Distant Speech spell. I used magical threads from my spells to guide it where I wanted it to go. The whole transfer took the same amount of time as the transmission of a plane text file of corresponding size through a 100 Mbit Ethernet adapter takes.

As the process was complete I looked at my laptop. The system was certain that the new file created in the ‘Incoming’ folder just came from a computer in the LAN the laptop’s Ethernet adapter was connected to at the moment of transmission, but now the laptop wasn’t connected to a LAN anymore. I smiled to myself.

Spirit and honor
Future and past
Magic and science
There mustn’t be less

The sort rhyme I composed many years ago came to my mind as I was thinking about what had just happened.

• Package received sucessfuly, master Seltinos. Give me a minute to send it to my girlfriend and ask her to read it and we will discuss what to do next.

• Certainly, master Storm.

I added the text I wrote to the file with The Key and sent the file to Lucy’s E-mail address. Then I closed the internet connection, took the satellite phone in my claw ad dialed Lucy’s cell phone number.

I asked her to read the file I sent her via E-mail and call me on my cell phone when that is done. Lucy answered that she was sitting at her home PC right now so she can do that right away. I told her that’s great and that I’m waiting for her call.

Upon ending our short conversation I putted my cell phone to the ground and smiled happily to my self. All I had to do now to turn my happiness to be perfect was waiting another two days. I knew that won’t be hard as I had plenty of things to do.

• How do You actually plan to copy The Keymaker’s heritage and store it in this world, master Seltinos?

• The copying itself is not a problem, master Storm. A system of spells to copy all the books, scrolls etc the same way I did with the Key Book You used Yourself, master Storm, is ready. For two experienced magicians able to use The Grey Flame that was easy and fast to do. I had also reconfigured the data-processing spell-system of the laboratory to copy all the data stored there in the same way. In fact we just need a similar spell-system or a computer with huge HDD array in Your world to store the data.

• How big the HDD array must be, master Seltinos?

As he named the number in terra bytes my eyes went big and round.

• That big? Are You sure, master Seltinos?

• There is a lot of data that will turn different types of media files like video, sound, extremely complicated 3D models with highest resolution textures, large mathematical models, special calculating applications etc.

• I see. In that case the only option we really have if we want to start in the near future, Is to create a data-processing spell-system here in my world.

• Are You sure we can’t use a computer, master Storm?

• At the moment I don’t have the money to by a server strong enough to handle the data. I possibly could take a bank loan big enough to buy it but it will take quite long time to finish all the paper work on one hand and will result in lots of questions hard to answer without uncovering real situation on the other. Actually taking the big bank loan is very doubtable as my salary is too small at the moment to be a good warranty for any bank if I’ll ask that much money. On the other hand I have found a pretty safe place to practice many types of magic at considerable level of power. I think we can easily establish a suitable stationary data-processing spell-system at the place and a system of defense strong enough to hide and protect it of any threat. I have some supplies with me already and some more can be gathered in the wilderness around the place, so we can use some stuff-dependent magic in our work. The only real problem here is getting enough magical power for the spell-systems we need without been uncovered. Magicians are rare in my world, but on my way to this place from my home town I have seen a man who was most likely a very old and powerful magic user of a sort. So we still need to be extremely careful as the real power knowledge and skills of local mages are completely unknown to us yet as well as their real number and desires.

• Actually I have a solution for the power problem, master Storm. The Keymaker knew everything about Grey Flame as any creator should know about he’s own creation. He created powerful magical artifacts called ‘Domain Crystals of Grey Flame’. Each of the crystals can function as both Source and Key structures of Grey Flame using some amount of mages personal power trough the magical thread leading from the mage’s astral or transparent body. They can provide perfect support for the spell-structures we need. Actually that is what they were first of all designed for. They also can be use as very powerful anchor-objects for binding the spell-systems based on Grey Flame to them and for some other things. Technically we get the power of as many Source of Grey Flame structures as many crystals we will have active.

• Sounds great, master Seltinos. But if I get it right at least one of us will have to stay constantly near the crystals to keep them active.

• In fact You are right, master Storm, as the farther is the mage supporting the crystals from the crystals themselves the harder task for him is to maintain the necessary magical connection. Never the less I not consider it to be a problem for us at the moment. Jainara and I both will be strangers in Your world, master Storm. It will be much easier and wiser for us to stay out of anyone’s sight maintaining and protecting the outpost we will create with our magic, then to try to find our place in the society of Your world. We are both fullrighted experienced mages but that’s not enough to live in the society of Your world, as we can’t officially work as mages to get the many for living. Neither I nor Jainara feel like to learn any new professions as magic is more then enough for us. Actually that is the reason we really need Your help, master Storm. You have Your place in Your world already and You know how to live in the type of society. I hope You will agree to take all necessary interactions with it on You.

I smiled to myself at the words.

• It will be an honor and pleasure for me to do everything I can, master Seltinos.

• I’m glad to hear that, master Storm. Now let’s think what supplies we’ll need. The less will be the number of teleportations between the two places in our worlds the better is the chance the activities won’t be noticed.

• First of all we will need the crystals. How many of them can we use? They must have extremely complicated structure and therefore be difficult to create.

• We can use as many as we need. The laboratory is well supplied with them as well as with many other stuff useful for stuff-dependent magic. Creating the crystals is very difficult and intricate task indeed, but one of the things they can do if put in the appropriate mode is growing. After growing as big as double of original size the crystal will part and form two identical once having the normal size. The only problem with this process is the time. It takes quite long to complete itself. The crystal must be permanently kept active during the process, but it can’t be used for anything else as soon as the process is initiated and until it is fully over.

• I see.

We started discussing what type of permanent stationary stealth and defense spell-systems will be most suitable in our case and what supplies we’ll need to create them. Then it was fully decided, our discussion went over to creation of the appropriate data-processing spell-system. At a point our discussion became the conversation not of two but of three persons. Jainara’s mental voice was very similar to the one of Seltinos been clearly famine though. Their manner to speak and the ways they were thinking were very similar. I smiled to myself as I thought that when I participated in a conversation together with Lucy it looked exactly the same way to anyone taking part in the same conversation.

I was pleasantly surprised as I realized that discussing all the complicated aspect of creating the extremely complicated spell-systems with the two experienced fully trained magicians from another world I feel myself on the same level of knowledge and skill my partners are on. As I mentioned it in our conversation they just laughed and tolled me that there was nothing strange as I received my knowledge from the best magician of Knowledge of those they know about. I received it all at once (that was a considerable advantage as well) composed in the most effective way The Keymaker could think out. Counting these all together all the knowledge and skill they received by studying magic in The Academy of Spellcasters were giving them very little above what was granted to them with the second spells from the Key Books they used, so practical experience was nearly the whole deference between them and me as mages.

When we started discussing creation of the data-processing spell system it quickly turned clear that I have to lead the conversation myself. Seltinos wanted to build the spell system for it to be suitable for embedding a server easily into it as soon as we can get one. Science and magic had to be twisted in it as close as possible for it to be most effective. Seltinos had good general knowledge of what computers and computer networks are from the time he was exploring the internet actively after discovering it’s existence. Jainara also knew enough to understand what we are talking about as Seltinos gave her some of he’s memories using psionic faculty of magic. I could do the same to give them part of the knowledge I had working as a system administrator for many years. But they proffered just to let me think about the computer related features of the spell-system we were discussing, so I just tried to do my best using my knowledge and experience as a computer specialist and as a mage.

As soon as we were finally sure that we know the full list of stuff to be teleported here from The Keymaker’s laboratory Seltinos and Jainara started the preparations in their world and I turned off my electronics, put them back to the side pocket of my backpack, stood up started preparing a stationary version of ‘Secret Passage’ spell-system. This teleportation magic was suitable for teleporting large amount of objects (life beings and cargo) either between two locations in one world or between different worlds with an extremely small chance for the event of teleportation to be detected. It was just what was needed now. As many other extremely powerful an effective spells it required large amount of work to prepare it. It was especially inconvenient to use as the magical structure created with all the preparations could be used only once.

With my wings spread out slightly to get more energy and pleasure of warm summer midday sunlight I started mowing around the clearing drawing different parts from the large set of magical drawings required to create the Secret Passage. Scratching the appropriate drawing in stone-hard dry clay ground is a difficult and annoying task unless you have sharp talons and strength of a dragon. In two hours when the huge magical pattern was finally ready, I walked to it’s center stood up on my hind fourlimbs and started what looked like an intricate dace as the encasting the appropriate magic in to the drawing on the ground required movement of my whole body. The movements involved my wings, tail and talons as the version of the spell I was using was the dragon one. The sound part of the spell was similar to some sort of a strange song. It couldn’t be just whispered as the sound level was a part of the spell and therefore had to be changed properly. ‘Dancing’ and ‘singing’ weren’t all I was doing at the moment. There was also third type of activities as there were certain combinations of Forms to be implanted into the spell as it was casted and it could be done only at certain moments along the process.

After finishing the ‘song-dance-and-sculpting’ part I used some supplies from my backpack to finish the spell. The stuff requirements of the spell were not a bit as complicated as the rest of the preparations. The simple stuff I was able to create in my ‘laboratory’ at home from the ingredients I could get without been asked unpleasant questions and for prices I could easily afford was enough to finish the spell.

As the spell was ready I carefully secured the magical threads going from it to my astral body took my backpack (it was much lighter now the before) and went almost to the boarder of the clearing still walking upright on me hind fourlimbs. On a small patch of clay ground not used for the magical drawing I put my backpack to the ground and lied onto my belly beside it facing the magical ‘landing pad’ I had created. I quickly drew pattern of ‘Distant Speech’ spell on the clay ground before me, sprouted a fin tentacle from the right shoulder of my transparent body, touched the my spell with empowering the spell with Grey Flame, whispered the key fragment incasting it into the spell and sent a ‘call’ signal trough the spell.

• Yes, master Storm.

• The Passage is ready, master Seltinos.

• We need some more time, master Storm.

• I’ll get some sleep here then call me when You are be ready.

• I’ll do so, master Storm. Have a good rest.

• Thank You, master Seltinos.

I rested my head on my front fourlimbs and closed my eyes. I wasn’t too tiered but some sleep was a good think for me now. Before falling asleep I deactivated all my personal stealth-pendants. There was no actual need having them active while been in the clearing protected with similar system of spells. I just didn’t want to waste any tame for deactivating theme the last minute before Seltinos will be here (just leaving them active I considered to be a sign of bad manners in the particular case).

I was waken up with the ‘call’ signal coming through ‘Distant Speech’ spell. I opened my eyes and rose up my head. It was ten minutes till midnight. It wasn’t too dark around though as the sky was covered with thousands of bright silvers stars and glowing moon was full. I opened the mental connection.

• Yes, master Seltinos.

• The stuff is ready, master Storm. I’m coming with it. Jainara will stay here to control and empower copying when we’ll be ready.

• Understood, Empowering the Passage now, see You soon master Seltinos.

I terminated the mental connection, then terminated the flow of Gray Flame supporting the Distant Speech spell and withdrew my transprean tentacle.

I sent a strong flow of Grey Flame into the magical structure of Secret Passage. These time the amount of energy needed was larger then ever before. Controlling it required considerable efforts. I was watching with curiosity as the intricate structure of the spell-system started to change on magical plane as it went active. On physical plane there was bright glow of Grey Flame within the gutters forming the magical patter, clearly visible trembling of air over the drawing as if it suddenly became extremely hot, and a clear and strong feeling as if a very strong thunderstorm was about to start over the spell pattern. As the feeling became even stronger I saw some shapes starting to form upon the ground covered with the spell pattern. The shapes were coming to actual existence with each passing second but they were even more difficult to see now as the trembling of air was turning stronger even faster. On the magical plane I could already clearly see a huge heap of cargo (some of it had strong magic of different kinds in it) and a life being. To be more precise it was a male dragon. Having many magical capabilities similar to my own he obviously belonged to a dragon kind different from my own in he’s default form though.

Suddenly the process was over. With a final flash of Grey Flame within the gutters of spell pattern the spell-system of Secrete Passage stopped existing on both physical and magical planes. There were no signs of all the work I have been doing for so long on the clearing. The huge heap of cargo and a grey dragon standing on all four on the top of it were still here thought. Seltinos looked around. I had to admit he looked beautiful standing like this in the glow of moonlight. I smiled to myself as it meant I must be looking beautiful to.

I stood up on all four and lowered my head in greeting.

• Greetings, master Seltinos.

• Greetings, master Storm.

Seltinos also lowered he’s head in greeting, then he spread his wings, made two short slaps to take of the heap of cargo and glided down towered me. I was watching him with curiosity. He’s movement were graceful, felled with deep inner strength and power. He’s body was considerably different from my own despite we were both grey male dragons of the same size. Looking at him I understood that he’s appearance resembles that of one of magical dragon kinds. It couldn’t be different after all as he’s dreams went different ways been based on different knowledge.

He landed in front of me fouled he’s wings on he’s back and also watched me with curiosity considering my appearance.

• I have never heard of any kind of dragons with Your appearance.

I smiled with a fangy dragon smile.

• I can tell the same about Your appearance, master Seltinos.

The Dreamer was apparently even more puzzled as I opened my mouth.

• Looks like You have huge number of teeth, master Storm.

• Full double set, to be exact, master Seltinos, suitable for chewing anything that can be considered eatable.

Seltinos smiled.

• Including grass?

• Of course, but I prefer wood when it comes to eating vegetation. Grass has more water when nutrition in most cases.

After considering my words for several seconds, Seltinos nodded in agreement.

• Interesting indeed.

I moved my right wing in the direction of my stealth and alert spell-system around the clearing. Seltinos explored it for several seconds with senses of he’s body (he didn’t have anything like my transparent body though he had the same level of natural magical capabilities in he’s default form as he’s physical body in the form was magical itself) then nodded again.

• Good work, master Storm, a very good solution for the case. I think we can just take some sleep now. We’ll start creating the stronger defense at the dawn.

As he said that I felt he is nearly existed. I nodded quickly in agreement and lied down to the ground. With a motion of my left claw I offered Seltinos to lie down to the left of me and get some rest. He nodded, turned around to face the same direction as me and more collapsed then lied down onto his belly.

He turned he’s had and gave me one more attentive exploring look. This time he was considering my appearance on magical plane. It was perfectly clear he was puzzled with my transparent body. Seltinos knew much more then me about The Keys and The Keymaker and he never expected to see a result of using the same Key he used for himself to be so different from he’s own. Seltinos wanted to ask me something but he was too tired to start questioning me right now. He just shook he’s had a bit with the same deeply puzzled look on he’s muzzle, then he rested he’s had on he’s front fourlimbs, closed he’s eyes and fell asleep.

I was watching him for a while. He’s physical body was deeply different from my own. It’s physical properties were twisted and mixed in an extremely solid and intricate manner with very powerful magical properties of strange and extremely intricate nature. He coulden’t be a nonmagical creature when he was in he’s default form. I myself on the other hand could easily turn to a nonmagical creature while still been a scientific dragon. I would just have to cast the apropreate ‘reverse’ spell removing sapeshifting abilities from my astral body to remove my transparent body representing the natural magical capabilities of my default form. I could also use my shapeshifting abilities to remove my transparent body or to shift it’s bindings to my astral body in the necessary way to let it stay with me after I remove my sapeshifting abilities from my astral body with ‘reverse’ spell. In the last case my transparent body would become not as shiftable as usual but still considerably shifty and flexible thanks to it’s own features. I could use the trick on my second day after my first shift instead of creating the pendant-spell of magical vision and the alert mental-pendant as I actually did, but at the moment the straight magical way was looking much more suitable then experimenting with my shapeshifting abilities to gain experience and full understanding of how the intricate sifter’s trick can actually be done. Nevertheless it was possible as well as plenty of other intricate tricks my pattern with nonmagical physical and magical transparent body in addition to my shapeshifting abilities was granting to me, just as I dreamed it to be. Now I knew for sure that the aspects of magic The Key was granting it’s caster with were actually controlled with caster’s dream as well as many other things.

Seltinos astral body was much different to. On one hand it was because the difference of our physical bodies. On the other hand, he was a much more experienced mage then me. I could clearly see the considerable difference it made to our astral bodies. There were also the differences because of our personalities but I wasn’t paying to much attention to them as I considered an appropriate permission necessary to study one’s personality in that way (especially if the person is your friend). Seltinos had a much wider array of pendant-spells then I. One of it’s most noticeable features was a relatively large number of powerful combat spells for both attack and defense. Looked like mortal fights between mages were at least common in he’s native world. I felt very sad at the thought. Who knows may be in near future I’ll have to use magic for combat myself. Our world is more then cruel sometimes and it can easily make you fight for your own life or for someone you love or just for something that is worth fighting for it to you. There can be many such thing after all and If you are mage you will use magic for combat. The thoughts made me feel really bad. Then I thought about Lucy. Overlapping with the previous chain of thought it felled my soul with a mixture of love courage and cold dragon rage to anyone who might try to harm her. For her I will fight with everything I have from magic to claws and fangs. The thought made me smile. I may not be able to change this world for better for now but my capabilities (including those of combat) are still incomparably greater now then they were in recent past.

I rested my head on my front fourlimbs and closed my eyes. Slowly drifting to sleep I was steel smiling thinking about Lucy. She will be the most beautiful dragoness of all existing worlds, was my last thought that night.

I woke up as the morning sunlight gently touched my body and wings with it’s warmth. I opened my eyes and rose my head up. Seltinos was still sleeping. I took my satellite phone out of my backpack, turned it on and put it onto the top of my backpack. I was awaiting a call today and there were very few things having comparable importance for me. Then I looked at the heap of stuff from another world towering in the center of the clearing like a small mountain. There were plenty of different items in it: crates and boxes made of thick oak planks, many chest of deferent sizes made of different wood and metals (or their combination), big and small sacks made of different types of cloth, wooden and metal barrels of different shapes and sizes and plenty of other much more unusual things. I smiled to myself with a bright happy smile. For a mage having good knowledge of stuff-dependent magic it was like to see a piece of paradise in all it’s shining glory. I stood up on all four and walked over to the heap of stuff. There were no labels on most objects in it, but I could quite easily tell what was inside a particular crate, chest or barrel as I could feel the magical properties of items inside with the senses of my transparent body.

I pulled a big wooden chest out of the heap. It was about two feet long and quite heavy. I opened the chest and smiled to myself again. It was full of Domain Crystals of Grey Flame. They were lying along the chest. The two feet long crystals head the shape of triangular pyramids with quite sharp tops. Each side of a crystal was about an inch long at the base. It was hard to tell what material they were made of but they had the unmistakable color of Grey Flame. Actually they looked like if been made of it despite it wasn’t moving and glowing as usual. I set down on my tale (in fact I was sitting like a cat now) and took one of the crystals with my right claw. It felt like a perfectly polished crystal (like diamond or quartz) changed with the power of Grey Flame. Actually it was what the crystals looked like on magical plane. It was very pleasant to hold the crystal in my claw as it was perfectly relative to the power of Grey Flame within me. I was clearly feeling the extremely intricate magical structure of the crystal. It was very similar to a close combination of the Key and Source structures I head within my astral body but there were some considerable differences and certain parts neither of my inner structures had.

I sprouted a bunch of tentacles on each shoulder of my transparent body to pull all the crystals out of the chest and hold them together in the air above my back. On physical plane it looked just like using telekinesis. The actual difference was that I sprouted the tentacles I was using to do it not from my astral but from my transparent body. I smiled looking at the bunch of crystals floating in the air above my back lowered to all four and walked to the first rune supporting the defense system I head built around the clearing.

I set on my tail by the rune and sprouted some more tentacles from my transparent body. I used them to grab the magical threads tied to the glass anchor-crystal I embedded into the rune. Now I was using my transparent body to support the part of the defense spell-system like the support rune and the anchor-crystal were doing. Then I used some more tentacles my claws and talons to detach the magical threads from the anchor crystal and the rune and hold them free. Finally I removed the anchor crystal from the rune and dismissed the rune itself absorbing the energy of Grey Flame from it with my transparent body and clearing out the rune on both magical and physical planes. On physical plane it looked like I was doing something with the rune for a while using my claws and talons and then completely erased the rune with a move of my right claw. In fact I was using the claves and talons of my transparent body to work with the rune. It was just easier to work mowing the corresponding parts of my physical body as well. I could actually use my astral body for the work as any mage having no transparent body would have to do but it felt much more natural using my transparent body. In fact it was much the same as working with physical objects that way. Holding all the magical threads ready to attach them to a new support object, I placed one of the Domain Crystals in place of the Rune and pressed it about two inches into the ground. I used a form-spell ‘Reinforcement of Earth’ to make the ground hold the crystal in place even if it will be hit with something. Then I used the transparent tentacle I was holding the crystal with to connect my astral body with the crystal. As soon as the crystal became part of my astral body it went active. I felt the power of Grey Flame within it the same way I was feeling it within the Source structure in my astral body. I started attaching the magical threads once supported by the rune I dismissed to the Domain Crystal. Once it was done I guided some amount of the Grey Flame from the Crystal into the defensive spell-system. As the Domain Crystal could be used to control external magical energy and/or to convert them into Gray Flame just as the Key structure within my astral body I changed the magic absorbing natural mana from the surrounding to maintain the defense spell-system to create a strong connection between the Domain Crystal and the clearing. It was important on creating an extremely powerful stationary spell-system. When the magic was changed properly I went to the next anchor crystal and support rune to replace them with a Domain Crystal of Grey Flame. The tentacle I was holding the active Domain Crystal with was now a very strong magical thread making the crystal a part of myself. In fact for the one who was supporting the crystals keeping them active the spell-system tied to them was mostly like a type of magic centered on the mage himself.

I was installing the fourth Domain Crystal when Seltinos woke up and turned he’s head in my direction.

• Good morning, master Seltinos. Have You rest well.

• Good morning, master Strorm. My rest was good and fully refreshing. I see You are working already, not wasting Your time even for a breakfast.

I smiled brightly at the last words.

• I solved the problem effectively with a Life-based pendant-spell. Actually I dreamed of something like this for years.

• Interesting solution, master Storm. A bit uncommon of course and completely out of traditions as they are in my world but most effective at the same time I must admit. I think I’ll just follow Your example now as any more traditional way of providing myself with an appropriate nutrition will be wasting of time we can not afford at the moment. May I just use the spell You designed, master Storm.

• It will be an honor for me, master Seltinos.

He lowered he’s head slightly expressing appreciation and started building the nutrition-pendant as I continued my work installing the Domain Crystal.

• I must admit it feels just great, muster Storm, -- Seltinos said to me as he finished building the spell. I think I should take the work You are doing of You now as You have something much more important to do at the moment.

He smiled brightly to me.

• You have to be ready to take the women You love here from the place she is in at the moment. It must be done as fast as possible as soon as she finishes casting The Key and the way You use to do it must be as hard to uncover as possible. I think You should use a graphical version of the ‘Double Long Step’ spell. It can stay inactive but ready as long as needed as soon as You prepare it and You don’t have to maintain it. It also gives perfect protection from been uncovered.

I smiled.

• And requires considerable efforts to prepare and much more of efforts and power to use it. To be honest, I was planning to use the spell from the moment I sent The Key to Lucy, master Seltinos.

Seltinos smiled as well.

• I see You can’t be called lazy by any matter, master Storrm. Using Long Step is a tiring thing indeed.

Seltinoss stood up on all four and walked over to me. He sprouted two sets of tentacles on both shoulders of he’s physical body. I gave him all the purely magical and semiphysical objects I was holding with my transparent tentacles at the moment. He took the objects with the tentacles sprouted from he’s physical body just as easy as I was holding them with my transparent tentacles and continued the work I was doing. The double nature of he’s body in it’s default form allowed him to treat magical and semi-physical objects similar to purely physical ones.

I withdrew all my transparent tentacles back into my transparent body, went far enough from Seltinos not to interfere the work he was doing with what I was going to do myself and started drawing a magical pattern on the clay ground using my talons for the work. By the time I was already accustomed doing it that way so much that using any other tool would feel unnatural an inconvenient to me.

The outer frame of the spell was a circle. It was rather small as I was going to shift to my human form before using it. Drawing the intricate pattern covering all the space within the outer circle was a long and intricate job. The pattern had a huge number of small elements having very intricate shapes and they had to be drawn with perfect accuracy for the spell to work properly. The magic to be enchanted into the drawing as it was ready was on the other hand quite simple and using the spell required from the caster only to stand on the drawing and empower the spell through a magical thread with the type o magical energy it was based on. The particular version I used was based on Grey Flame. As the spell was empowered the only thing the mage had to do to get to a distant place in the same world was to make a step out of the drawing. The place the mage was going to get to by using the spell had to be familiar to him good enough otherwise it was hardly predictable where the spell will actually bring the caster. In addition making the step required much efforts and magical energy from the caster. Using double version of the Long Step spell wasn’t to convenient on one hand as the caster had to stay in the same distant spot he came to using the spell to be able to come back using the same spell, but perfectly suitable I certain situations as all the caster had to do in the distant spot to come back was to make one step back (the second step required as much efforts and magical energy from the caster as firs the one). The spell required no magical support from the target point and that actually made possible using it for the particular case.

As the spell was ready I looked at my cell phone lying on my backpack with a bit of anticipation. The next moment I smiled to myself as I knew almost exactly how much longer I had to wait for Lucy’s call. I looked at Seltinos watching him on both magical and physical planes. At the moment he was deep in he’s work creating the part of the defense system most closely depending on the Domain Crystals. I could of course join him but it could create certain difficulties as no one of us had real experience of shearing high level control over a spell-system based on Domain Crystals. In fact I had strong suspicions that it will be a pleasure only for two being of opposite sex been in love. Helping Seltinos effectively using lower level control was quite difficult at current stage of work he was doing. I watched him for some more time admiring the complicated process on the magical plane of the world (there was not much to see on physical plane at the moment as all the Domain Crystals were in their places already glowing with Grey Flame inside them and Seltinos was just lying on he’s belly by one of the Domain Crystals with he’s had rested on he’s front fourlimbs and he’s eyes closed), then I just walked over to the heap of magical stuff in the center of the clearing and started moving the items in it to make some free space and to sort all the stuff at the same time.

The work was interesting and pleasant. It looked quite impressive on physical plane as I was just lying on my belly by the huge heap of stuff using a huge bunch of tentacles sprouted from shoulders and back of my transparent body to make different items fly allover the clearing at high speed gradually forming several smaller ‘category’ heaps at the boarder of the clearing but far enough from it to allow free access to the boarder itself.

As the work was complete, I withdrew all my transparent tentacles except one back into my transparent body. Then I shifted the one I left to create an eye on it’s tip and a circle of several smaller tentacles around it about two inches below the tip. Using this more complicated tentacle I easily found the thing I needed in one of the chests. As I found it I withdrew the tentacle almost completely into my right shoulder leaving just enough length to hold the item in about a foot over my right shoulder. Then I stood up, walked closer to the center of the clearing and lied to my belly again. I moved my transparent tentacle and took the thing I was holding with it with my right claw. It was a bright-green magical crystal shaped like two faceted sharp-tipped cones put together with their bases. The crystal was intended to anchor and support spells or spell-systems based on magical element Earth. It was also capable of storing big amounts of the type of magical energy to empower the magic it was supporting. I withdrew my transparent tentacle into my shoulder and hit the ground before me with one of the sharp tips of the crystal punching it into the ground for a half of it’s length. Then I put my claws over the crystal touching it with my palms. It is the easiest and most comfortable way to work with it. I closed my eyes to gain more concentration and stated building a spell-system to control simple Earth elementals created with Magic of Forms. The spell-system had to stop them on certain conditions and make them perform the next task until the next conditions occurs. Elementals of the type I was going to use were not summoned but created by the magic. They didn’t have any personalities and were not aware of their existence. It was very suitable as they could be used for any task and just dismissed when no longer necessary. On the other hand they were not very intelligent so any complicated task to be done by them had to be split into a sequence of elementary tasks. They had to be stopped on time and given their next task to do the work properly. It could be done either by the spellcaster controlling them or by a spell-system like the one I was building.

It took me not very long to create the appropriate spell-system using both Classical Magic and Magic of Forms. Having as good magical item for anchoring end supporting my magic as the crystal I was using it was an easy task to create a spell systems capable of controlling several times as many elementals as the maximal number I could control by myself at my current level of experience.

In fact configuring my spell-system properly took me mach longer then actually building it. The work I needed to be done by the elementals was simple but as the commands actually given to them had to be much simpler yet figuring out the proper sequence of theme was more then tricky task at times. I had two serious advantages at doing the type of work. First, the work was similar in a way to creating computer program and I had considerable experience as a programmer. Second, I spent plenty of time creating elementals of the type and controlling them when I was practicing magic at home.

When my magical control-system was finally ‘programmed’ properly I felled the supporting crystal with large amount of Earth elemental energy (I just used some of Grey Flame from my Source structure turning it into Earth with my Key structure). All I head to do now to have the work done was creating elementals, tying the magical threads controlling them to my control spell-system and activating the system itself.

I placed my palms onto the ground for the crystal to be between them and used Magic of Forms to create the first elemental whispering ‘Being of Earth’ for concentration. As soon as the small magical being similar to a small cloud of glowing green light on magical plane emerged in the ground near me I rebound the magical thread connecting him with my astral body to the spell-system centered on the crystal. I was repeating the process until there were as many elementals bound to the spel-system as it could control. Then I started the next part of the process, upgrading the elementals. It was as simple as creating them as for now I needed them to have only one upgrade but it should be repeated as many tames as the number of elementals. “Gift Being of Earth with Talons Changing the Earth”, -- I whispered combining the Forms to upgrade first elemental.

As I did the same for the last one, my cell phone started ringing. I activated the spell-system controlling the elementals, jumped up and ran to my backpack as the elementals moved to the center of the clearing and started their work.

I grabbed the cell phone and hit the ‘call’ button.

• Yes.

• Storm, I just finished reading the text. It took me two days and a night but I’m not tired at all just as you wrote, and my head it feels so full now. It feels like one big thought took almost all space in my head as I finished reading and just stayed there waiting for something. I feel so sleepy.

I smiled to myself. Lucy always called me my dragon name from my favorite MMORPG when we were alone as she knew I prefer it that way.

• Don’t go sleeping now, Lucy. Please, wait for me. I’ll be at Your place in at most a minute.

• Alright, I’ll wait for you, my wizard. I guess You are going to use a spell if You think you can get here in a minute.

I felt she is smiling.

• Actually I’m a mage, -- I smiled to at the words, and yes I’ll use a spell to get to you and take you to a hidden place well protected with magic at the moment.

• So be it, mage. You have to hurry up though. I start your minute now.

• I hear and obey, my lady.

Pressing the ‘hung up’ button I heard Lucy’s lather. I put my cell phone back down onto my backpack and ran to the pattern of Long Step spell.

Stopping at the pattern I realized that my fingers were withdrawn and my talons extended and clutched together forming sharp tipped huffs as I was running. I smiled to myself. I used the feature of my default form without thinking about it and it was right and natural just as it had to be. I extended my fingers, pulled in my talons, stood up on my hind fourlimbs and stepped onto the magical drawing.

Before using a transparent tentacle to empower the spell with Grey Flame I shifted to the adjusted human form I had mastered. I haven’t being feeling naked in my default form despite having no clothes on, but now as I was standing naked on the drawing in my human form the feeling of nakedness was quite strong. It wasn’t a problem though as the only one who will see me at the target spot will be Lucy. I smiled at the thought, empowered the spell and made a short step forward off the magical drawing.

As soon as I started the step I found myself in the middle of nothing and nowhere (saying of the physical plane). As for the magical plane I still could see and sense something around me but I had no time to explore it. I was still in the process of making my single short step forward and it was incredibly hard doing it now. I knew I was doing the effort with my transparent and partly my astral body but it felt much more like an incredible physical effort though. In addition to the sort of difficulties I had to control the powerful flow of Grey Flame needed to support the spell. I concentrated all my attention on my memories of the room in Lucy’s apartment where her PC was standing, trying to remember as much of any detail and atmosphere of the room as I only could. At the same time all my will and power were concentrated at making my step forward.

When I finally managed to make it I found myself standing in the room in Lucy’s apartment in the very spot I picked up from my memories. The time I spent making the single step felt much like ages to me, but I knew my teleportation was actually instant.

I was standing in the middle of the room. Lucy was sitting in an armchair at the computer desk to the left of me looking at the clock on the screen. She was dressed only in a white silken robe been completely naked under it as she was usually dressing being at home alone or just with me.

• Hello, my beautiful lady.

There was no surprise or astonishment on her beautiful face when she turned around at my voice. She could easily believe in unbelievable things having enough reasons for it. Shortly saying, she was a Dreamer.

• Hello there, mage. I’m glad you were quick indeed.

• Actually I’m supporting a spell at the moment my lady and it requires considerable amount of power. I also can’t walk off the spot I’m standing at now to be able to use the spell to return us to the spot I came from. So You have to come to me Yourself for me to be able to take you on my arms.

Lucy smiled looking at me.

• Guess I have to be naked during the teleportation.

• Actually it isn’t really necessary, my lady. But I think you will need no clothes from tomorrow morning. At least at the place we will teleport to now. So I suggest you be naked as anything I’m taking with me through this teleport requires additional efforts and power for getting through.

I smiled.

• Besides it will be very pleasant for me to hold you naked on my arms.

• I see, -- Lucy also smiled brightly with sparkles of strengthening lust in her eyes. Wait there then.

She quickly turned of all the electronics and the lamp lighting the desk. Then she moved the armchair away from the desk, stood up and threw down her silken robe to stand completely naked in the evening sunlight coming from the window. She turned around and walked over to me moving in extremely seductive manner. Watching her coming to me in a light and swift step looking more like a beautiful dance I was extremely happy my human form was adjusted in the way it was as it would be almost impossible to stay in place thinking of anything beside sex otherwise.

Lucy came to me and put her arms around my neck pressing her worm naked body against mien. She obviously was surprised seen my member having no signs of erection, but she wasn’t offended. I took her on my arms. Her naked body was light but strong. Se was lying on my arms safe ad comfortable. I smiled to my love and stepped back.

And again I knew Lucy was a true Dreamer as been unable to reach anything but my body with her feeling she just held a bit harder on my neck. I had to make much greater effort and direct more power into the spell this time but it was nothing for me as all my thoughts were focused on getting Lucy to a more comfortable place then the magical nowhere as fast as possible. This time the period I spent for making the step felt similar to the time necessary to make an ordinary step.

I put my feet down on the clay ground and we were in round clearing lost in Carpathian mountain forest under late evening sky. The air was warm even hot and the light forest wind was gentle so been here naked now was comfortable even for a human. Lucy looked around and smiled happily. Then her eyes grew bigger then she saw Seltinos still deep in he’s work.

• A mage and a dragon. Nice.

Her voice was voice of a Dreamer.

• In fact two mages with shapeshifting abilities just on is in he’s default form and the one holding You on he’s arms is in slightly adjusted human form. That’s master Seltinos, a very experienced mage and a brave traveler from another world. I’ll introduce you two later as he is extremely busy now building appropriate magical cover and defense for this place.

• A mage-shapeshifter with dragon default form. So all you wrote in the file you sent me is true.

Lucy’s voice was full of unlimited trembling power coming from anticipation of real and close fulfillment of her strongest and deepest dream. The power was so great and pure that there were no more doubts for me what was giving The Keys the enormous amount of energy needed for them to work.

Lucy let go of my neck and jumped of my arms with perfect seductive grace.

• Please, show me, Storm. Shift to your default form now.

I nodded and started the shift. She watched it with deep astonishment and happiness in her eyes. As my shift was complete I walked back, lowered to all four, and lowered my head spreading my wings a bit in dragon version of courteous greeting.

• Dragon Storm -- Grey Flame mage and shapeshifter at Your service, my glorious lady.

Lucy burst with happy lather.

• You always dreamed to be able to say it like this, didn’t you?

• As long as I know you, my love.

She made several graceful steps and hugged me pressing her face and naked body against smooth scales on my chest and neck. It was a pleasure.

For a moment we were just standing like this, then Lucy walked back again and looked my body all over.

• You are so beautiful, -- she said in certain and happy voice; and warm.

• In my default form I’m the type of ‘scientific’ dragon I dreamed to be. Remember we were discussing the model once? So I’m warm-blooded.

• I see, -- Lucy’s eyes were full of her own dream. I hope I’ll be a female of the same kind in my default form.

I smiled in perfect happiness.

• You’ll be exactly as you dream to be. All you have to do now is take some sleep to let The Key do it’s work.

Lucy nodded and looked around. I quickly moved my right claw, throwing a ‘Shield of Air’ form-spell on the ground in front of me. The shield was big enough to be a comfortable bed for Lucy.

• Make two steps forward and lie on the ground. I covered it with a shield spell based on Air. I hope it will be comfortable enough as a bed.

Lucy nodded and stepped forward right on my shield spell. She smiled and lie down.

• I don’t feel the ground at all just a flat surface of solid air. You were right it is much more comfortable then my bed at home.

I lie down to my belly and smiled.

• The form-spell is usually used as a combat shield, but using it as a bed for a beautiful women is a much better and more pleasant application for it.

Lucy smiled and turned to her side looking at me.

• Holding a combat shield spell for the whole night might be hard.

I smiled.

• Not at all. As soon as you will feel the power of The Source of Grey Flame structure within your astral body you’ll understand that holding the spell any time long requires no considerable efforts. Especially if the only thing the shield must resist is your falling to the ground. By the way I think you better take the ‘sleeping dragon position’ before you asleep. That way you’ll be in the most natural and comfortable position, as you shift to your default form.

Lucy smiled and took the position. She knew what I was talking about as I told her plenty of things I never told to any one else as only another Dreamer could understand them right.

Lucy was asleep the very moment she relaxed and let herself go asleep. She was indescribably beautiful sleeping naked in front of me. She looked perfectly natural in the ‘sleeping dragon position’ despite not yet been a dragoness. I rested my head on my fourlimbs and was just watching her guarding her sleep and waiting to see the beauty of her first shift to her default form.

It took the rest of the evening and almost the whole night before anything new started to happen on physical plane within the clearing, but the magical plane was full of events and power for all the time. The magical defense system Seltynos was building was turning more complicated and and powerful with each passing minute, but I wasn’t paying to much attention to it as what started to happen within Lucy’s astral body as soon as she was asleep was the most astonishing complicated and powerful magic I have seen for now. The process was unbelievably beautiful and pleasant to see and feel as the magic was based on knowledge and harmony guided and empowered by a true and strongest dream.

As the set of six ‘personal’ spells was formed in Lucy’s memory the huge and extremely powerful magical structure of The Key started to fade leaving no traces, but before the process was complete it worked as a much simpler mental spell causing Lucy to cast the three personal forward spells without waking her up.

As soon as she did there were no traces of the Key spell-structure anymore and Lucy started her first shift still been asleep. As this quick and extremely beautiful process went on my happiness was gradually turning perfect. Lucy shifted to an extremely beautiful golden dragoness of the same kind my own default form belonged to. Lucy’s default size was also perfectly matching my own. She had a transparent body of the same kind as well and it was as famine and beautiful as her physical body. I smiled happily thinking what having sex using our transparent bodies will be like and then sighed with deep happiness and relief at the thought that our physical and transparent bodies were able to block or unblock not only their sexuality but also the reproduction functions. It meant we can have as much sex as we will like to without risking it to end with unintended impregnation for Lucy and the consequences for both of us. Looking attentively at Lucy’s body on magical plane I noticed that her sexuality and her reproduction were both blocked now as well as those of mine. It was actually the best way it could be as in fact we had no time for sex until the base on this clearing will be ready enough to copy all the data from The Keymakers lab to the local data-processing spell system. On one hand it was the way it had to be. On the other I just couldn’t consider any sex pleasures for me and Lucy to be a right thing until Jainara will join Seltinos here and they will have opportunity to do the same if they want.

I carefully dismissed the Shield of Air, as Lucy no longer needed it for comfort been in her default form. Then I stood up on all four careful not to wake up my love, walked to the left of her and slowly lied down to my belly again. Our bodies were touching now. I covered her gently with my right wing, rested my head on my front fourlimbs, closed my eyes and slowly drifted to sleep feeling perfectly happy.

I woke up as Lucy’s warm scaled body moved slightly under my wing. I opened my eyes. Lucy rose her head and was looking her self all over smiling happily with a perfectly famine version of a fangy dragon smile. Her golden eyes were sparkling with joy.

• Good morning, my scaled beauty.

I rose my head and fouled my right wing. Then I stood up to all for and walked away a bit to look my love in her default form all over again.

• Hello, my male.

Lucy stood up slowly first to all four then to her hind fourlimbs. She spread her golden wings almost fully open and looked herself allover again mowing with perfect famine grace and beauty. She set on her tail, extended her golden talons on her right claw and looked at them for some time obviously considering more their appearance then their effectiveness as either a tool or weapon. Then she lowered slowly to all four again and folded her wings on her back. She walked over to me moving with extreme seduction in her every move and in her whole body despite her sexuality was still blocked.

• I have never seen anything more beautiful and seductive in my life.

I said looking at her and that was perfectly true.

• Wait till we unblock sexuality of our bodies and you will see much more.

Lucy said with sparkles of joy end anticipation in her eyes. I felt the same myself but it wasn’t right time for anything more now so I was very glad then Lucy started moving with no more seduction but just perfect grace and beauty in her every move.

• Do you remember the second spell from the file I sent you?

I asked Lucy as she came over to me. She nodded turning serious at once. I smiled.

• Let’s go then, we have to give you the knowledge a sorceress should have.

We went to a suitable place at the clearing giving enough free space to draw the spell shown with the illusion spell from the Key Book. We were walking close to each other for our body to touch as we moved and it was a deep though purely asexual pleasure.

As we were at the right place I stopped and covered Lucy’s back with my wing.

• Just read the spell aloud and let the Grey Flame from your Source structure flow into it.

Lucy nodded and started reading the spell.

As she finished casting the clay ground around us was covered with magical illusion of a large and very intricate pattern formed with slightly glowing gray lines. It was very similar to the one I used myself but there were certain differences as well.

It wasn’t surprising as the ‘magic books’ the spells were creating in casters’ memory contained much information about different types of gender-dependant magic (including magic intended for sexual and erotic matters).

We started drawing the spell together and it took us very short to finish as I already head considerable experience in drawing graphical spells and Lucy didn’t need any extra experience to keep up with me been a great artist and experienced web designer.

As the magical drawing was ready, I quickly explained Lucy what she had to do to use the spell. Then I walked back and lied onto my belly and Lucy slowly walked to the center of magical pattern and lied down there facing me. Se smiled to me, aimed her beautiful gold-scaled muzzle at the drawing she was lying on, opened her moth slightly and started blowing a strong glowing torch of Grey Flame filling deep gutters of magical pattern with it.

As the gutters were felled and Lucy stopped blowing Grey Flame into the them there was a bright flash of Grey Flame within the gutters and the next moment Lucy was lying in the center of a perfectly clean and flat piece of clay ground in shape of a perfect circle about half inch lower then the surrounding land. She was smiling to me with a happy smile. Suddenly I noticed a very familiar expression in her eyes (they were all the same despite been golden dragoness eyes now). The next moment Lucy moved her right claw and my ears caught a loud whispering “Sphere of Fire”. I instantly moved my right claw in front of me with a loud whisper “Shied of Grey Flame Protecting Life Being from Fire”.

The medium sized ball of orange fire Lucy threw at me with her right claw was easily resisted by a slightly carved rectangular shield glowing with Grey Flame I set before me. We both lathed joyfully, as we dreamed to be able to play like this at least as long as we knew each other.

• Now as you to have knowledge of magic I think we better use all our knowledge and power to finish the work I and Seltinos started here yesterday as only as it will be finish we will have time for just the two of us.

I smiled happily with love and anticipation in my eyes and was answered.

For several minutes we were discussing what Lucy could already do to help me and Seltinos regarding the fact she had no experience as a sorceress yet. As it was decided I helped Lucy to create the ‘nutrition’-pendant I designed within her astral body as it was making life even more comfortable and made considerable amount of time free for work. Then we just started working.

To not interfere Seltinos’s work that was almost done by the time I started creating stuff-dependent part of the defense and reinforcing magic for this place using the supplies brought from the Keymaker’s laboratory.

As my work went on the clay grounded clearing in the Carpathian forest was gradually turning into a civilized place looking magical even on physical plane.

In the parts of the clearing where the work was done clay ground was covered with an extremely intricate magical pattern made of small slabs of many deferent materials shapes and colors. The clay ground under it was covered with another magical pattern formed with deep gutters with different types of magical crystals pressed into the ground allover it. The gutters were felled with different sort of stuff: from liquids and oils of different colors to all sorts of powders and very small crystals of different shapes. The ground was also painted with special paints much closer to powerful potions then to any ordinary paint. All this together was slowly forming a big and very intricate multipurpose spell-system based on stuff-dependent magic but having many parts created with Classical Magic and Magic of Forms.

Where was a big hole in the center of the clearing. It was the entrance to the underground of the magical base we were creating. It was created by the bunch of Earth elementals I created and upgraded yesterday. The small green magical crystal supporting the spell-system that was controlling them was still sticking in the clay ground near the edge of the hole.

Elementals had actually changed not too much under ground yet. When we were discussing creation of this base with Seltinos and Jainara they mentioned that the kind of magical dragons their default forms belonged to had great natural skill and some special magic for building most intricate underground lairs. Regarding that, I ordered the elementals to create just a small underground structure of several cubic rooms connected with round tubes large enough to be suitable for a creature twice as big as myself in my default form and size. The structure was intended only to serve as a temporary store to keep the magical stuff brought from The Keymaker’s lab. The walls and ceilings of magically changed earth were much stronger then those of best modern concrete so working either on the clearing or under it was perfectly safe.

While I was working on creation of the stuff-dependant spell-system on the surface of the clearing, Lucy was mowing the magical stuff not needed right now to the underground chambers to free the surface of the clearing.

At first she was enjoying the work very much as mowing cargo from one place to another can really be a very pleasant thing if you can use a bunch of transparent tentacles to make the cargo fly in the air. Though when she noticed that the work I was doing was very similar to creation of a huge and very intricate painting on both physical and magical planes she said that asking her to just move the stuff while there is the sort of work to be done means just wasting her talents as an artist. I had to admit she was right as her talent and experience as an artist were more then enough to compensate her leak of experience as a sorceress on doing the particular kind of mage’s work.

Working together we quickly created an Air-based controlling spell-system centered on a magical crystal similar to the one I used yesterday but intended to support Air-bases magic (it had shining bright-blue color) and a bunch of Air elementals upgraded with ‘Air Web’ form-spell for moving the cargo.

We just couldn’t restrain ourselves from laughing as the gang of small semi-transparent flying beings started rapidly moving rest of the cargo to underground chambers. The crystal supporting the spell-system controlling all the activity was freely hanging in the air above the entrance to the underground high enough not to be an obstacle.

When we continued ‘decorating’ the clearing (as Lucy called our work) working together I clearly understood once again that knowledge and talent can give very much even with almost no experience added. In short time Lucy was actually the one leading our work despite me having considerably more experience as mage. She didn’t actually need any knowledge or experience on doing many things, as she was just seeing or feeling them as a talented artist. The senses of her transparent body and the power of Grey Flame granted to her by The Key were just a new set of instruments she started using to create new sorts of art.

Our work was going easy and fest. We were enjoying everything: our bodies, the power of Grey Flame within them, our knowledge of magic and the magic we were creating, our environment, but most of all the presence of each other to share our pleasure and joy of the rest. We were actually paying not much attention to what was around as until we heard Seltinos’s laughter.

• You look very nice together and work even better as I can see, master Storm. You definitely have to introduce the beautiful and talented golden lady to me.

We both stopped working and turned around to face Seltinos. He was standing at the entrance to the underground looking at us with a friendly smile. I quickly looked around the clearing exploring the spell-system on it’s boarder with the senses of my transparent body.

• The work You have been doing is perfectly finished as I can see, master Seltinos. Allow me to introduce You with lady Lucia. She is my love and from the last night the most beautiful dragoness of this world. She is also a very talented artist and web designer and a sorceress from this morning. My lady, this is master Seltinos a brave mage from another world who made fulfillment of our dreams possible with he’s courage and efforts.

Seltinos spread his wings slightly and lowered he’s head in greeting. Lucy greeted him the same way but in clearly famine manner. Her movements were full of grace and respect as well as those of Seltinos.

• My lady, You are much more beautiful then I could imagine. You are definitely the most beautiful dragoness in this world. The only dragoness I will always call the most beautiful I know is sorceress Jainara as she is the lady of my hart, but she was born in my native world not in this one.

• I’m glad to meet You, master Seltinos, -- Lucy smiled to the Dreamer with a bright friendly smile full of respect and appreciation for all what he’s bravery gave to her and to me.

• As I can see You are doing good and fats working together. There is no better mage for working with the sort of magic then the one who is also a talented artist. I won’t distract you two from your work and from each other, -- he smiled. I’ll go see what should be done underground. Of cause if you don’t mind, master Storm.

• Not at all, master Seltinos. In fact, I was trying to change the underground as little as possible creating several storage chambers to free the surface to begin the work we are doing. The bunch of Earth and Air elementals I created to build the storage chambers and move the stuff into them has no job at the moment and I’ll be glad if the can be of any help for you.

Seltinos smiled with a bright dreamy smile.

• Thank you, master Storm. But I don’t think I’ll need much assistance for digging a good lair while been in my default form.

• May be You should rest for a while before starting a new piece of work, master Seltinos? I feel You are considerably tiered now.

• I will rest much better, my lady, having at least a small but properly built lair chamber to sleep in. The special magic used to build a lair and keep it safe and stable despite anything also gives very much to the dragon living in the lair.

• I see, -- Lucy was silent for a moment thinking of something, then smiled. I actually don’t feel any necessity of having a lair myself.

• You are a ‘scientific’ dragon, my lady, just like master Storm. Your default form has no magic in itself, so it has no special needs or restrictions an initially magical being might have. But You also don’t have some special benefits having an initially magical body might give. Believe me, my lady, taking a good rest in your own properly build lair is a great pleasure for a dragon of my kind, -- Seltinos smiled again with the same special bright and dreamy smile.

• Then I wish You to have a good rest, master Seltinos, -- said Lucy with an understanding smile.

I just nodded joining her words silently. Seltinos nodded to both of us, turned around and went to the underground. We looked at each other and smiled with silent lather in our eyes. As we continued our work I started to think over Seltinos words. It was clear now that the kind of magical dragons Seltinos’s default form belonged to was a strongly territorial one. It meant that Seltinos personality had corresponding features as well. He’s love lady Jainara was exactly the same as they were just as close as me and Lucy. In fact they were perfect guardians for the base we were building and for the Keymaker’s heritage. Sitting here together in their perfectly built and protected lair guarding it and continuing the work once started by The Keymaker was obviously the most pleasant way of life for the two of them. As for me or Lucy it wouldn’t be too much of a pleasure living that way for really long time. Freedom as full and perfect as possible (only limited with the matters of honor in best case) was too valuable for both of us. I fact working as ‘field agents’ in the surrounding world was a much more suitable long time task for us.

It took us several days to finish ‘decorating’ the clearing, despite the work was pleasant going easy and fast so we were taking only a relatively short break to refresh ourselves with an effective combination of sleep and gradually working refreshing magic. At night time our ‘construction side’ was brightly lighted with a big (approximately two and half feet in diameter) ‘Sphere of Light’ hanging high in the air over the center of the clearing. For all the time Steltinos stayed underground. We were meeting only if I, or Lucy was going to one of the underground storage chambers to take some stuff we needed in our work. Nevertheless we were clearly feeling the work Seltinos was doing underground with the senses of our transparent bodies. He was using some of the magic I and Lucy knew from the ‘magic books’ granted to us by second spells from the Key Books we used for ourselves, but mostly he was using a sort of very strong and special, clearly natural magic and some of the magical stuff brought from the Keymaker’s lab having very unusual magical properties.

As the work we were doing was complete, I went underground to call Seltinos up as we needed him to combine the multipurpose spell-system we created on the surface of the clearing with the stealth and defense spell-system he created on it’s boarder. In fact it was turning the clearing to a small perfectly protected magical world giving high number of different benefits for both practicing magic and just living in perfect comfort within it.

What I saw underground as I went down a passage leading down from the relatively small storage structure created with my elementals (Seltinos had left it unchanged not to make any problems for me and Lucy) was really impressive. The most suitable thing to compare it with was a perfectly designed T5 Helian lair somewhere in the world of my favorite MMORPG, but the structure I was walking through was much more intricate in design, had incomparably more beautiful decoration inside and was much bigger in size. Neither the ground nor the solid rock of Carpathian Mountains under it were, obstacles for the magic used by Seltinos. All walls, flours and ceilings were made of an intricate mixture of ground or rock strongly changed by magic with different sorts of special magical stuff. Some of the stuff was often showing from the inner surfaces creating beautiful decorations also having some magical power in their appearance. All the underground structure was surrounded with the magic protecting the boarder of the clearing as well as a considerable arrear above it, but the magic implanted into each and every wall of the lair was more then sufficient to protect and hide the lair all by itself and make it’s insides as suitable for practicing magic and comfortable for living as the decoration on the surface was making the arrear above. Nevertheless I clearly felt and saw that the special magic of the lair was carefully designed to be combined into one system with the rest of the magic our base had.

I was especially astonished then I found round hall as big as a half of the clearing it was under. It was brightly lighted with several long sharp-tipped crystals on the ceiling. They were glowing with white light living no place for shadows in the hall. From the magic this place had it was perfectly clear it was intended to be a server-room for supporting both magical and scientific parts of the data-processing system we were going to create on this base. The air in the hall was cool and dry. There were special structures designed of polished stone perfectly suitable to place all the necessary electronic equipment in a most comfortable way for a dragon to work with it. There were also special magic structures here that could be easily used to empower standard plug sockets with electricity though they wasn’t configured yet for the electricity flowing from them to have necessary parameters. In one place on the wall just above the flour the magical structure of it was designed to let easily create a suitable channel for an fiber cable communication line. There were also plenty of powerful magic to support the magical part of our main server but the creation of the data-processing spell-structure itself wasn’t yet started as it was decided that I’m the one who will do it best under the current circumstances.

I smiled and went out of the hall through the single passage leading to it. I continued looking for Seltinos very pleased with what he had done to help me with my part of the work.

I found Seltinos in another big hall perfectly equipped to serve as a mages lab suitable for leading any most complicated research work in magic. There were also some structures intended for instillation of scientific lab equipment as Seltinos knew enough about science in our world to admit that it can be a great help in magic researches if used properly. Just as with the scientific part of the data-processing system for this base the main problem with the scientific equipment for this lab we had was getting enough money to buy it.

As I went into the lab Seltinos was lying on he’s belly in the center of a big round arrear in the stone flour of the lab that was made of special white clay changed by magic. It was big enchanter’s circle of the lab mainly intended for using any magic that requires drawing or painting.

Seltinos’s head was rested on he’s front fourlimbs, he’s eyes were closed.

Watching him on magical plane I smiled as he was already finishing the work I was going to ask him start doing. It wasn’t surprising at all as Seltinos was supporting and controlling the defense system of the base and he could easily watch and sense anything going on within the base or far beyond it’s boarder’s on both physical and magical planes.

I just lied onto my belly by the wall waiting for Seltinos to finish what he was doing. In several minutes he opened he’s eyes and rose he’s had looking at me with a bright and very satisfied smile. He didn’t need to move or turn he’s head to face me as he was facing the lab’s entrance and I was lying by the wall near it.

• Greetings, master Storm. You and your lady have done an excellent work together. She is a very talented artist indeed and she will be a great sorceress in short time as all she needs now is experience and she is gaining it very fast thanks to her talents and your help.

• Thank you, master Seltinos. I’m glad you consider our work to be done so well, but I must say the work you have done hear yourself in the same time looks much more impressive.

Seltinos smiled clearly pleased with my words.

• Thank You, master Storm. I mast say the work was more a pleasure then a job for me jus as the work You were doing on the surface was for you and your lady. In any case our stronghold or as you call it in scientific manner our base is completely ready now. I’m going to rebuild the arrear underground you used to create the temporary storage chambers but I’ll do it later when you will finish creating the data-processing spell-system. I’ll have less stuff to move to the storage chambers I built doing it that way.

• In that case I think I’ll just call Lucy to the server-hall and we’ll start our work right away.

Seltinos stood up and nodded.

• It is just what I was going to ask you to do, master Storm. The sooner we will copy the whole heritage of The Keymaker the better it will be by any matter. I myself will help you two with everything I can.

I nodded, stood up on all four and quickly walked out of the lab. In a second Seltinos was walking to the right of me keeping shoulder by shoulder. As we reached the upper storage area build by the Earth elementals he turned to one of the storage chambers to start selecting the magical stuff necessary to begin the new stage of our work and I went out to the surface.

The on ground arrear of the base was now looking like a large brightly and intricately decorated round yard. It’s boarder was clearly marked with a ring of sharp-tipped Domain Crystals glowing with the power of Grey Flame. There was also a bunch of other big crystals floating freely in the air high above the ‘yard’ of the base. They had many different shapes sizes and colors. Some of the crystals were transparent, looking like huge diamonds of unusual shape. Some of the crystals were glowing slightly but most of them were just reflecting the bright summer sunlight at the moment. The crystals were forming an intricate and extremely beautiful three-dimensional pattern in the air above the base’s ‘yard’.

Lucy was lying on her belly in the center of an enchanter’s circle similar to the one down in the main lab of the base. Her head was rested on her front fourlimbs and her wings spread on the ground. She was enjoying the brightness and warmth of summer midday sunlight. Her eyes were closed and her whole appearance was full of relaxed calmness and deep satisfaction with her existence.

I slowly started walking toward the enchanter’s circle giving myself some time for admiring the perfect famine beauty of my beloved dragoness. Finally I stopped at the boarder the circle and called Lucy in a soft voice full of love and admiration.

• Wake up, my beautiful golden lady. We have to finish one more interesting and complicated piece of work before we’ll have time to find out what making love as dragons feels like.

She slowly opened her beautiful golden eyes. Her look was full with happy anticipation.

• I wander why there are considerable amount of information about erotic and sexual magic in our ‘magic books’, -- she said thoughtfully, standing up, folding her golden wings on her back and walking out of the white clay onto colorful slabs covering the rest of the base’s yard.

• Because The Keymaker was the wisest mage ever born in he’s world, -- I said with a happy smile as we were walking side by side across the yard to the lair entrance in it’s center.

Touching Lucys body heated with lying in midday summer sun with my own dragon body that could be extremely sensitive at need, feeling her strong muscles moving under her scales and skin and the extremely sensitive surfaces of our wings rubbing each other as we were walking was an unbelievable pleasure. Newertheless as soon as we walked into the storage chamber where the stuff we currently needed was stored we were able to concentrate on the work we had to do as sexuality of our bodies was blocked.

Moving the necessary stuff from the storage chamber to the server-hall took almost no time. We used the same gang of air elementals me and Lucy head created to move the stuff here from the surface. The spell-system controlling them as well as the one controlling the Earth elementals was now embedded into the huge integrated spell-system forming the magic of this place. As soon as Seltinos gave us magical keys from the main spell-system (those were special short spells based on the magic of knowledge designed in personalized manner so each of them was useless for anyone except me or Lucy respectively) giving us highest level of control over the magic of this place possible for someone not supporting The Domain Crystals by himself, we were able to configure the spell-system to give the new task to the elementals as well as to do plenty of other things using magic our base from anywhere within it’s external defensive perimeter.

Our work at the serve-hall was much similar to the one we were doing on the surface as the first thing we had to do was to create an appropriate magical structure using mainly stuff-dependant types of magic. This work took relatively short time as we were doing it three of us all together.

As this the server-hall was properly ‘decorated’ we installed a considerable number of magical crystals having all sort of sizes, shapes and colors in the formerly reserved and prepared spots of the intricate magical pattern now covering a considerable arrear of the flour in the center of the hall.

The last set of crystals installed, were several Domain Crystals of Grey Flame. They had to serve for several things. On one hand they were intended to empower the data-processing spell-system incase all the power of the main spell-system of the base normally used for it was used for something else. On the other hand all the parts of the data-processing spell-system based on Grey Flame were centered on The Domain Crystals. They also were the main terminal of the system giving the one supporting and controlling them the highest level of access to and level of interaction with it. Once the system is build and configured the ‘terminal’ can be use to rebuild it completely. At the moment we were going to use it to build the data-processing spell-system.

As all the preparations were complete Seltinos said he is going to move the magical stuff left in the temporary storage chambers I built to the main storage structure of the lair and rebuild the uppermost part of the lair, then left the server-hall. The rest of the work to build the data-processing spell-system of the base had to be done by just the two of us Lucy and me. The reason was the same that prevented me from helping Seltinos when he was creating the magical defense of the base using he’s connections with the Domain Crystal to do it. On the other hand I and Lucy were just the particular case when sharing the highest level of control over a spell-system through the supporting connections with the Domain Crystals supporting the spell-system was perfectly suitable. We both knew enough to understand it will going to be a very strong and special pleasure pretty impossible to imagine without trying it at least once.

We were full of anticipation as we took our places at the double main terminal of the yet not existing data-processing spell-system. We were now lying on our bellies side by side in the center of the intricate decoration on the flour of the server-hall that was the part of the data-processing spell-system visible on physical plane. There were small enchanter’s circles on the flour near us comfortably reachable with our right claws. The arrears each of us was taking on the flour to rest on were surrounded by complicated sets of specialized magical crystals capable of crating different sorts of most detailed and high quality magical illusions. Those were magical terminals of the system intended for indirect access. In front of each of us and all over the hall were the structures intended for mounting different scientific interface devises such as a mouse and keyboard, a set of screens and loudspeakers and even the equipment for the projection touch screen invented by Microsoft several years ago. Our two workplaces were surrounded with a carved chain of Domain Crystals of Grey Flame and that was the terminal we were going to use right now.

I sprouted a set of transparent tentacles on my left flank and used them to activate a half of Domain Crystals. Several seconds later Lucy did the same with yet inactive crystals to the right of her and I clearly understood why a pair of beings doing this must be of opposite sex and in love.

The connection between us established through the already existing part of the spell-system the crystals were supporting was almost as close as if we were sharing one astral body for our two identities. For us it was a pleasure, impossible to describe with any ordinary human language. But it was not only a pleasure but a perfectly suitable state for the work we had to do now as no efforts and time were needed to coordinate our actions. Having the special sort of super-close communication, the power of Domain Crystals in addition to powers of our personal Source structures and a perfectly established stuff-magical base to support anything we create on magical plane made our task just a childe play in many of it’s aspects.

Our work went considerably fast despite being extremely complicated as we were both high qualified IT specialists with big experience.

At some point of our work as we felt that a good advise from Seltinos as a mage much more experienced then both of us together would make our work more effective we quickly figured out that we actually can easily communicate with him as the spell-system we were working on was connected to the main system of the base he was connected to. It was not only fast and comfortable bat also safe as the connection between the two spell-systems wasn’t close enough to create any problems for us.

The ‘connected’ state was so pleasant and comfortable for us that we decided not to ‘disconnect’ as we had to take some sleep to rest. We just used our rights of control over the main spell-system of the base to use it for making our rest as effective as possible and went to sleep.

Sleeping like this turned to be an even more special experience then the ‘connection’ itself. As we were asleep our connection to each other became even closer then before. Our dreams were one for two as well as the deepest and most secret thoughts and memories, feeling and desires.

While we were ‘connected’ the time was going in much different way for the two of us. On one hand we were working very fast on the rate hardly reachable otherwise, on the other hand all what could tell as the rate of time in the rest of the world was considerably distant for us in the particular state. We could easily get the information in several different ways, but we weren’t concerning us with the sort of thing.

Finally the data-processing spell-system we were creating was fully ready. It head a very intricate but perfectly stable operation system based on the rules and laws of magic but capable of effective interaction with scientific IT systems. The part of interface similar to it’s scientific analogs had two main levels: a command based interface (it was available either in text or in voice-sound mode) and a very beautiful and effective graphical interface (it looked like high quality three-dimensional holograms having not only color and shape but also feel-able textures giving much information to the user and sensitive to both movement and touch) that was mostly Lucy’s creation. In addition to purely magical ways of interaction the system also had a mental interface suitable for both mages and users having no knowledge and skills of magic.

I did everything I could to make the system invulnerable for any IT threats both scientific (like viruses of any sort and types or hackers attacks through the internet the system will be connected to) and magical (any attempts to destroy or control the system using a sort of magic). Protecting the system from scientific IT threats wasn’t actually a big problem as it was based on the laws of magic not science, but still I did my best to create a good set of tools to fight any sort of viruses and hackers by the rules of scientific IT. Actually the set of tools could be easily used to defend any computer connected to the internet or to hack one of them. The task of hacking any scientific machine using the spell-system was very easy as been based on the laws of magic it was working thousands and thousands times faster and more affective then any existing scientific machine. The data-storing capacity of the spell-system was even more impressive especially on attempting to measure it with scientific units of measurement. As the connected state was very pleasant for both of us especially now then the system was built and it could be easily used for creating what could be called virtual reality using scientific terms we spent considerable time to test the system as hard as possible at the moment. Nevertheless, we finally came to a moment then all building and testing was over and there were no more technical reasons to maintain the connection of highest level with the system.

When we had disconnected from the system it took full five minutes for me and Lucy to realize where and what we are and fifteen more to get used to not having the connection between us we used to have been connected to it.

As soon as I was able to do anything I used the magic of the base to call Seltinos to server-hall. Just as I expected he answered my call immediately and appeared in the server-hall in less then a minute.

• Hello, master Seltinos, -- said Lucy as the Dreamer came into the hall moving on all four at what can be called a fast dragon trot. How your work on rebuilding the upper part of the lair is going?

• Almost two weeks as it is successfully complete, my lady, -- Seltinos answered with a smile.

My eyes went round.

• We were connected that long, master Seltinos?

The Dreamer smiled again.

• Actually two weeks and five days, master Storm, and you two used the time perfectly well I must say.

It was perfectly clear that Seltinos is really satisfied with our work and it was very pleasant for me as for an IT specialist and as a mage. Lucy silently lowered head in appreciation of Seltionos’s words. She was also very pleased with them.

• Thank you very much, master Seltinos. The words are best reward for our work I can imagine, -- I also lowered my head in deep appreciation. Now as the IT-central of our base is established and has enough functional capabilities to store a full copy of The Keymaker’s heritage I consider my work as the system administrator of The Order of Dreamers to be fully accomplished for the moment and I ask your permission as the archmage and leader of our order to use my time for my personal needs while there will be no need in my farther assistance to The Order, -- I said that with as extremely serious and official voice as I only could but with a bright smile on my muzzle an with lather in my eyes.

• I have similar request, master Seltinos, as a sorceress and a leading web designer of The Order,-- Lucy added in just the same manner.

Seltinos moved he’s scale-covered skin over he’s right eye like if rising up he’s eyebrow.

• The Order of Dreamers?

• There are at least four of us at the moment and if I have right understanding of what The Keymker expected us to do using the abilities given to us by The Keys and the knowledge copied from he’s lab, we must find every Dreamer we can in this world and enable them to use The Right of Dreamers by providing them with appropriate Keys. The easiest way to accomplish the task is creating a website on one of the internet servers. It must be a sort of fantasy game. On a main page there should be a plot description composed to be highly attractive for Dreamers on one had and to be considered fully fictional and common enough not to lead anyone reading it to any unwanted thoughts or suspicions on the other. Despite the particular features needed to protect The Keymaker’s heritage and ourselves from any troubles it should actually be describing the real situation, our order and it’s goals. As the next stage of the game there should be a category-based system of branching selection allowing users select a currently available transformation matching their true desires or to live a description of such if it is not yet in the list. On clicking a link indicating the desired transformation a user should see a short text asking him to read aloud the text he will see at the and of the message followed by a small part of the appropriate Key with a link leading to the rest of the text at the end. If a user is a true a Dreamer and the Key is right for him it will work and he will be able to contact us using the knowledge and skill of magic granted to him by second spell from the Key Book and a short spell similar to the one I used to contact you, master Seltinos. We can just add it’s text at the end of the text from the Key Book. If the user is not a true dreamer he will just leave considering our site to be just another strange and stupid web-based game and having no suspicions. In fact he might even help us indirectly telling of the game he saw to a Dreamer. Finally if a user is a true Dreamer but there will be no suitable Key for him in the list he will keep visiting our site living comment and suggestions. I’m sure that comments left by a true Dreamer will be easy to distinguish from those left by flooders of any sort. The comments will guide the research you and lady Jainara are going to lead here using the Keymaker’s heritage. The work will be much more effective that way as creating a new Key you will know for sure that there is at least one Dreamer it will be suitable for. To create the sort of site we need at least a good name for ourselves and a structure of our organization to use them in the plot description. That is why I mentioned The Order of Dreamers and our roles in it, master Seltinos.

The Dreamer was listening thoughtfully with his head slightly turned to one side (like some lizards are doing listening carefully to something). When I stopped speaking he was silent for a short time then smiled.

• Well, Your understanding of the Keymaker’s goals competently matches the one I and lady Jainara have ourselves, master Storm. I consider the plan you suggested to be effective and safe enough to be accepted as our primary strategy at the moment. Finally I accept the duties and rights of archmage as the most experienced mage among the Dreamers I know for the moment and the duties and rights of Dreamers’ leader as I was offered to. With my first decision as the leader of the Dreamers I confirm that The Order of Dreamer’s is now created as you had just suggested, master Storm. As you have already given me the information needed to access the main data-processing system of our base some time ago you and lady Lucia may use your time for your personal needs until I will fully finish copying the Keymaker’s heritage to the data-processing system you two had successfully created. As this is done however I ask both of you to start creating the web-site of our Order as you have just described it to me for it to be uploaded to a suitable internet server and fully functional as soon as it is possible.

• Actually the site is ready, master Seltinos, -- said Lucy with a happy and satisfied smile. Storm had described me he’s idea as we were testing the system after it’s creation was finished. As there were no doubts for us the idea will be accepted we had prepared all the necessary design and programming for the site. All we actually need now for it to be fully functional and ready for uploading to an internet hosting-server is the specific data like the appropriate plot description for the main page, full list of Keys already created for the moment and of course the texts of the Keys.

• Thank you lady Lucia, that is a great news to hear indeed, -- Seltinos lowered he’s head with deep appreciation. And now, you two, dismissed! The entire base it yours and I have plenty of work to do here, -- he smiled again with friendly lather and understanding in he’s eyes.

We stood up to almost simultaneously to all four and went from our working places towards the entrance of the IT-central.

• Greet lady Jainara from me and Storm as she will be on the base if you will meet her before we will, master Seltinos, -- said Lucy as we and Seltinos were passing each other going opposite directions. There were the same friendly smile on her beautiful muzzle and the same understanding in her eyes Seltinos had moments before looking at us.

He just nodded silently on the words been already deep in he’s thoughts.

We were walking slowly along the wide corridors of the base brightly lighted with white magical light having no source visible on physical plane. Our bodies were touching again as we were walking side by side toward the surface. Suddenly I felt an unmistakable trembling of extremely powerful arousal and anticipation of sexual pleasure in the body of my beloved dragoness as she unblocked her sexuality. I checked, if the reproduction functions of her physical and transparent bodies were still blocked, using the senses of my transparent body (they still were) and unblocked the sexualities of the two of my shells as well. I felt a double wave of arousal and sweet anticipation of sexual pleasure thousand times brighter and stronger then anything I had felt or imagined ever before. My penis immediately went rockhard and ready, occasionally touching the stone flour as it gained it’s full length and started rhythmically moving up and down under my belly. Lucy smiled happily to me and started moving in the most seductive manner rubbing affectionately with her sweetly trembling body against mien as soon as she felt my new state. I answered her actions moving as seductively and erotic as I only could and rubbing her body with mine. Our arousal and sexual anticipation was fast and constantly growing all our way to the surface.

What had started the moment we went from the underground into the bright sunlight of hot summer morning is hard to describe for it to be understood by anyone not been a dragon himself. By the moment our lust and anticipation had roused beyond the limits where it is possible to control the actions by thoughts and mind. In addition we had no experience of using our bodies for making love so we actually needed a lot of slow and careful experimentation to understand what and how should we do to give and get pleasure making love in our default forms. Our state at the moment wasn’t suitable for the sort of pleasant but slow action though. What saved us from confusion and allowed us to give and get what we desired and even more were our bodies and extremely complex and complicated sets of instincts of our ‘scientific’ physical bodies, our transparent bodies and those embedded into the magical objects granting us our shapeshifting abilities. The parts of those instincts corresponding to finding most affective ways to give and get all possible sexual pleasure using our bodies turned to be as wide and perfectly ‘worked out’ as the rest of them. As there were only desires and feelings in both of us by the time we just used the instincts to get and give the desired pleasure without wasting any time for thinking. The round yard of the base was luckily large enough to give us enough space for an appropriate foreplay.

At a moment I found myself standing on all four behind Lucy and sniffing deeply the aroma of her beautiful genital slit winking in anticipation. My sense of smell was adjusted to highest possible level of sensitivity and the aroma of Lucy’s dragon lust and her full and willing sexual readiness was literally driving me crazy. The sort of sexual madness was more pleasant then anything I had experienced before though. I used my long narrow forked tangle to give my beloved dragoness more pleasure. It easily went inside her slit and I started to explore it gently searching for the most sensitive spots. It made Lucy moan and roar of pleasure and I received a strong flow of her wonderful tasting love juices mixed with some urine as she had her first orgasm. The next moment I heard a loud roar full of begging and command at once. No words were needed to understand it. Lucy was ready for the next stage of pleasure and she demanded me to mount and fuck her at once.

With a loud and happy roar of strength and anticipation I rose to my hind fourlimbs. As I was able to walk or run standing upright on my hind fourlimbs just as steady and easy as on all four I was able to be perfectly gentle with my female mounting her. Lucy was holding her tail raised and moved aside giving me full access to her slit. I quickly made several steps forward and the tip of my penis hit her scales near the slit. It’s seeking movements became even more rapid and the next moment the tip entered inside Lucy’s slit. As soon as it happened her wonderful wet and soft vagina started to move tightening around my penis and working on it to give me even more pleasure. It was similar to what dolphin females are doing as I could imagine it from the descriptions I read but much more pleasant as Lucy’s vagina was even more manipulative and much stronger then those of any dolphin female. Straggling hard to hold back my orgasm I quickly stepped forward pushing my penis into Lucy with maximal hard and long frictions of my hips to enter her as deep as I can before my orgasm. The next moment I suddenly realized that been in my default form I can actually hold my orgasm back as long as I want. It will just make the final pleasure even stronger. Nevertheless I kept pushing forward as hard as I could as I clearly felt it was just what Lucy wanted me to do. When I entered her with the whole length of my penis making her pussy feel wonderfully tight and strong around it I bent my body forward took a hold on Lucy’s hips with front claws and started fucking her with maximal hard short frictions at medium rate of speed. At the same time I was moving my penis inside her vagina more like a very strong and dexterous tentacle to give her maximum pleasure. It was very pleasant for both of us, but it still wasn’t exactly what Lucy wanted from me at the moment.

• Please mount me, Strom. I want to feel the whole weight and strength of your body as you fuck me, -- she said turning her head to me.

I nodded, let go of her hips and bent forward in deferent way. This time I took a firm hold of her shoulders with my claws gradually resting more and more of my weights on her back cowered with her folded wings. Her muscles under her skin and scales grew bigger and her body stiffened a bit as she was using more and more of it’s strength to support my weight. I clearly felt it was a pleasure for her. Confirming my feelings she said she wants all my weights on her back. I rested my whole weights on her and just kept fucking her gradually changing the manner of my actions to find the one most pleasant for Lucy, but she didn’t want to wait so she just told me what she wanted. She wanted to feel the strength of our bodies so she asked me to fuck her as hard as I only could with fast medium length frictions using my whole strength and weights like if I was going to push her forward of her front fourlimbs and down to the ground with my action. I was more then happy to hear that as it was just the sort of action I wanted most of all at the moment. I started fucking her in the manner, gentler at first then harder. She started to push back hitting my belly hard with her ramp. It was an unbelievable pleasure. The feeling of the strength of our bodies was turning us on even more and hitting hard with our bodies in the process was also a pleasure as they were perfectly protected with strong muscles, skin and scales.

As some time passed in the sort of action I knew it can last for very long time as I could just hold my orgasm right beneath the final pick having the constant pleasure of it’s growing strength inside me and Lucy was just having a chain of orgasms holding each of them back long enough for it to gain the exact strength she wanted it to be of. The only thing that could actually stop our action was tiredness, but our bodies had more then dragon endurance. We quickly found out that our long and dexterous necks let us easily kiss in the position we were using and it gave us yet another way to give and get even more pleasure. Actually the whole action had three deferent levels. The first one were fucking and kissing, next there was a strong flow of pleasure we were giving to each other using manipulative capabilities of our genitals and there was the third flow of very strong and unusual pleasure coming from our transparent bodies involved into sexual interaction on magical plane of the world.

As we felt desire to add some diversity to the incredible strength of pleasure we were giving to each other we started experimenting with deferent positions for sex.

The first one we tried out was a dragon version of the human ‘missionary’ position. I stood up on my hind fourlimbs and Lucy easily rolled onto her back still having part of my penis’s length in her pussy. Then I set on my tile behind her and finally lied on her with my belly. The position was interesting in certain way as it let me use my front claws to carries and tickle Lucy’s body (Lucy could use also claws of her hind fourlimbs to do the same for me as she was lying on her back and claws of her hind fourlimbs was just as dexterous and manipulative as those of the front ones) while resting on her with my whole weights just as she liked it most of all. I used my hind fourlimbs to lift the hind part of my body and then just let it fall down using my weights to make my fucking strikes more powerful.

Next I offered Lucy to try out ‘riding’ on me. We just rolled over in the ‘dragon missionary’ position for me to lye on my back then Lucy rose her body and ‘set on her tail’ on the lower part of my belly. Her hind fourlimbs were standing on the ground and she could easily move her body up and down riding my penis. She looked extremely beautiful that way in her golden scales shindig in bright sunlight especially then she spread her splendid golden wings letting the sunlight go through them. The process of fucking was actually only a part of what was giving me pleasure in this position. Lucy was always extremely good at ‘riding’. Her movements were a perfect dance of beauty and seduction as she was ‘riding’ me and it was thousand times more beautiful now then she was in her default form. Admiring it’s beauty gave me an interesting idea. I asked Lucy to try mowing her hind limbs backward to stand on the ground to the sides of my body not with her hind claws but with her knees to ride me in a more human position. Her eyes sparkled with even stronger lust on my words. Doing something in ‘human’ way having a dragon body was obviously much suitable, interesting and exiting (if it was done while fucking) then trying to do anything in dragon way been a human. Just as I expected Lucy’s hind fourlimbs had more then enough dexterity for my idea to work. She just lifted one hind fourlimb then the other moving their hind claws to make them go from under to behind her just like human feets do in the same position. Now she was sitting on me in the exact ‘riding’ position holding my flanks with her hips and knees and it was something as it let her use all the beautiful seductive moves of the ‘riding dance’ she used been a human without having to think out suitable dragon version for them. There was yet another position we used having sex as humans that turned to be something much more pleasant and exiting for me now.

It was blowjob. We quickly found out that the most comfortable way of doing this in our default forms is a dragon version of ‘69’ position when I’m lying on my back and Lucy is standing over me on all four. I must say that it was much more comfortable doing it that way then any position we used doing the same as humans. My long and dexterous neck gave me perfect access to Lucy’s slit as she was just standing over me in comfortable and natural position. My tangle was a perfect instrument for cunnylingus but I could easily use my whole muzzle in the process for kissing nibbling touching and blowing powerful jets of air into her extremely sensitive pussy using my nostrils or mouth. At the same time features of her neck, tangle and mouth let Lucy do incredible wanders playing with my penis. Her long muzzle allowed her to take in a considerable part of my penis without using her throats, she was using her tangle to wrap the whole length taken in or to lick and tickle my extremely sensitive penis in countless different ways. Her lips were now much more manipulative and sensitive, then those of her human body, but the most exiting was her full double set of teeth. I always liked then she was squeezing my penis gently with her teeth when giving me a blowjob, but now when I had dragon penis and she head dragon teeth it was thousands of times more pleasant and exiting then ever before. Though the most extreme pleasure started for me as Lucy found out that she can easily take in the whole length of my penis using her throat and hold it like this for very long time without feeling urgency of breathing.

Another sort of extremely strong and special pleasure was the handjob. When Lucy squeezed my penis with scaled fingers and palm of her front claw and started moving it up and down the length of my malehood my pleasure was indescribable.

We spent the entire day using the capabilities of our dragon bodies, their instincts and our former experience of having sex as humans to find the highest limits of pleasure and to get beyond them.

When finally we both felt we had enough for today we discussed the matter of choosing the best position for the strongest final explosion of pleasure my single long built orgasm and powerful ejaculation was going to be for both of us. It took us short too decide I should mount Lucy again and fuck her hard for some time then let out my orgasm as she will build a strong enough orgasm of her own holding it back long enough.

I mounted Lucy same way as before but this time I started with fucking her anus just as hard as I was going to fuck her pussy some time later. The sort of fucking was a very strong and special pleasure. Of cause Lucy’s anus wasn’t as extremely sensitive as her pussy but it’s insides could be made very sensitive at will (with considerable mental effort) and unlike her human anus it was capable of stretching to necessary size and then resuming it’s default one without any pain.

After fucking Lucy’s anus as hard as I could for full ten minutes I pulled my penis out stepping back in the process, then I mounted her again. This time I entered her pussy. I entered her slowly this time and her pussy was completely relaxed as I was doing it. I rested my whole weights on her back and we started gentle and affectionate kissing. Then her pussy squeezed my penis in one strong sadden effort. I started pulling my penis back with strong but short efforts. Pulling my dragon penis like this was giving me a great pleasure. Then her pussy relaxed a bit and we started extremely pleasant and complicated genital play using the manipulative capabilities our dragons genitals. I slowly pulled my penis out of her fussy for a half of its length and started fucking her with long and extremely strong strikes pushing my penis trough her pussy as she was tightening every time I did it. As the tension of her orgasm I could easily feel in her body grew stronger my strikes gradually went shorter but faster and stronger. For some time I was fucking her with very short and strong strikes as all the length of my penis was in her pussy and I was puling it out just a bit with a move of my hips for next strike. Then when Lucy decided the orgasm already built inside her is strong enough I pulled my penis out some more, gathered my whole love and admiration for her and the whole last and strength of my two bodies and finally fucked her with one final most powerful strike letting go of my long built double (as the whole action was going for both my physical and transparent bodies on corresponding planes of the world) orgasm and collapsing on Lucy’s back to relax for incredibly long and pleasant ejaculation. At the moment Lucy collapsed to the most steady, comfortable and relaxed position, lying with her belly on the ground. She just completely relaxed letting the most powerful and pleasant orgasm she had today shake her body with waves of sweet trembling as the powerful jet of sperm from my penis trembling with it’s whole length within her contracted pussy was supporting her pleasure on it’s highest level during my ejaculation.

As the final and most powerful stage of the sexual pleasures we had today had ended we were just lying for sometime without a motion bathing in the sweetness of it’s afterglow as powerful and long as the pick pleasure itself. Then I stood up on all four and slowly walked aside letting Lucy stand up from the ground if she wanted to without having to lift me as well.

Looking at my golden dragoness beauty just for the pleasure to see and admire her splendid perfection I noticed a white pool of my sperm slowly growing larger on the ground under the base of her tail. As a sign of my potency as a male it was considerably erotic thing to see, but there was no new arousal in my body for now. In fact I felt very strong, deep and pleasant sexual satisfaction mixed with traces of the afterglow from my orgasm. Analyzing my feelings and comparing them with the corresponding data from the inner ‘database’ added to the genetic code of my body I realized that I can ‘reset’ the sexuality state of my body with a considerable mental effort to be ready for new portion of sex as soon as possible. Otherwise my current state full of deep and calm of sexual satisfaction can last for very long time. I smiled and looked at Lucy to see a clear reflection of the same state of her body’s sexuality in her beautiful golden eyes. In fact she was resetting her body’s sexuality after each orgasm she had while we were having sex without ever noticing what she was doing, and now as she wasn’t in mood for more sex right away the feature of her body let her keep her satisfaction and pleasure of the orgasm she considered to be last for today. Who or whatever created the actual design of default form for both my physical and transparent bodies using my dreams to guide the process where it was possible and the matters of strongest possible harmony with them in the rest of cases it was truly perfect in my opinion. I was extremely happy that our discussions of the dragon body I dreamed to have, been enough for Lucy to have female dragon body of same design as her default form.

I looked at the sky over the yard of the base. It was covered with big and bright stars surrounding the moon slightly covered with some light clouds. According to what I saw and to my inner sense of time (extremely precise in my default form thanks to it’s features and almost as good thanks to the current development level of my astral body in my human form) it was late night already.

• Shell we go down to a suitable sleeping chamber in the lair or just stay here for the night, -- I asked Lucy with a smile having no doubts in her answer.

• Why should we bother going elsewhere if staying here will be perfectly comfortable for us in our default forms and we may stay here, -- she answered with a smile full of deep and calm happiness and satisfaction.

I nodded, walked to the left of her and lied onto my belly close enough to touch her body with mien. I covered her with my wing feeling calm, safe and happy. We were not tiered at all so we talked for a while lying like this under the bright sky of Carpathian summer night. We were talking about our life comparing our feeling and considerations of all given to us by The Keys, about the heritage of the Keymaker and the Order of Dreamers as we could imagine it to be when it will have considerable number of members and the potential provided by their personal magical powers and the sorts of political or financial power some of them might have in our world. We were trying to find any suitable way of turning The Order into something more then it was planned to be for now to use it’s potential capabilities to change our world for better, but our knowledge and capabilities of our brains (default for our default forms as we decided it wasn’t a right moment to try any experimentations with changing the structures of our brains using the features of our bodies) were still clearly insufficient to find any suitable decisions even in pure theory. Nevertheless we were satisfied with our conversation. We just liked talking like this as there was deep understanding between us and we could tell each other of any thoughts and ideas we had without been afraid of a fatal misunderstanding. The fact that our attempt of finding suitable solutions for problems of our world using our new knowledge and capabilities failed as well as all formerly taken similar attempts wasn’t even disappointing for us as we wasn’t actually counting on any success.

Then we just rested our heads on our front fourlimbs, closed our eyes and slowly drifted to sleep with the feeling of calm happiness and comfort presence of the other was giving to each of us.

I was waken up with flapping of dragon wings in the air right above my head and a wave of strong magic I felt with the senses of my transparent body. I opened my eyes raising my head and knowing already what I will see. I knew the magic I felt. It was known to me from my ‘magic book’, a very strong and special magic intended to be used been in default form. The magic was called ‘Shadow Flight’. It was somewhat similar to Long Step spell but unlike the spell the magic was mainly intended for traveling between different worlds, dimensions, universes etc. It was very hard to detect as the caster was using the magic on himself. In fact it was effecting he’s transparent body (or magical properties of physical body as it was in the case with lady Jainara) to make it easier for the caster to do certain things using it. The magic had to be casted while flying. After using it the caster had to use he’s will and capabilities of he’s transparent (or physical) body to start changing the world around himself while flying forward to gradually make the world look more and more similar to a place in another world he needed to get to. In fact doing it the caster wasn’t actually changing the world around himself but moving himself to another world where the place he was changing was always looking as it should look been ‘changed’. When the world the caster was flying over was indistinguishable from he’s destination it meant that he is actually flying over the place he was going to get too (if there were no mistakes done in the process). The splash of specific magical energy I was waken up with could actually be detected only in a very small arrear (a sphere less then 30 feet in radius) centered on the spot where the magic of ‘Shadow Flight’ was stopped by the caster to let him fully enter the world, time and place of he’s destination. The magic could also be used for getting from one place in a world to another or to get to another moment of time either in future or in the past (actually the caster could shift all three parameters during ‘Shadow Flight’ at need) but the particular magic required much efforts, skill and experience of a mage for been used successfully.

As I opened my eyes I saw that Lucy is also awake and looking at a spot of morning sky above us with expression of admiration in her eyes and a friendly smile on her lips. I looked in the same direction.

There was a white dragoness of the same kind Seltinos’s default form belonged to. Her body was strong but clearly famine in appearance (she was also somewhat smaller then Seltinos).

Lady Jainara (under the circumstances there could be now doubts it was her) was unbelievably beautiful circling slowly above us in the brightness of morning sunlight. Watching her graceful flight as she continued her landing following a spiral pattern within the volume enclosed with the defensive magic perimeter of the base I was thinking that I can honestly repeat Seltinoce’s words of the ladies of our harts if the places taken with names of Lucy and lady Jainara will be switched in the statement.

As lady Jainara had landed lightly on the yard of the base near it’s boarder and folded her white wins on her back I stood up on all four and walked in her direction to greet her in our world and on the base. Lucy fallowed me walking shoulder by shoulder close enough to touch my body with hers. At the same time Seltinos showed up from the entrance to the underground part of the base walking fast on all four. He nodded us shortly for greeting and went on towards he’s lady. Jainara also started walking in our direction. As we gathered near the center of the base yard Seltinos and Jainara greeted each other lowering their heads and spreading their wings slightly in graceful dragon versions of courteous bows.

• Master Storm, lady Lucia, allow me to introduce sorceress Jainara the lady of my hart and the most beautiful dragoness of all I know, -- Seltinos smiled with a bright and perfectly happy smile. My lady, the grey dragon with bladelike horns is master Storm, the first Dreamer in this world who used The Shifting Key of Grey Flame Dragon. He is actually the one who suggested the idea and name for our order as I had described it to you recently and the leading IT specialist of our order. The splendid golden dragoness almost as beautiful as you, my lady, standing to the left of him is the love of he’s hart lady Lucia. She is a very talented artist, the leading web-designer of our order and a sorceress since she used The Shifting Golden Dragoness of Grey Flame Key.

Jainara greeted me and Lucy with another graceful courteous bow. We answered her the same way.

• Master Storm, lady Lucia, I’m glad I meet you in this world. Your idea as Seltinos described it to me is exactly what we need to do what we must start doing. Now as The Keymakers heritage is fully copied to the IT-central of this base I ask you to start working according to your plan immediately. The list of the Keys created for the moment with their detailed description and our suggestions on the plot description for the main page of the site are already prepared. Seltinos showed me the website you have developed and we agreed that it needs no changes we could suggest.

• It is a pleasure and honor for us, my lady. We will start right away, -- I said with another bow. Lucy just joined her bow to mien silently confirming my words.

Then we turned around as fast and graceful as we could do it on all fours and went to the underground at medium speed dragon version of trot. On one hand we were really glad to start realization of our plan as soon as possible, on the other hand we both knew we should leave Seltinos and Jainara alone as fast as we can this moment. There was clear expression of understanding on Lucy’s beautiful muzzle as we were trotting the corridors of the base to the IT-central. It made me smile myself, wondering if Seltinos or Jainara were watching me having sex with Lucy and if one or both of them were watching for some time using the magic of the base controlled and supported by Seltinos will they use anything they saw for their own sex pleasures.

As we took our working places at the double main terminal at the IT-central I used the magic of the base to find my backpack. It was now lying in a medium sized sleeping chamber comfortable for two creatures of my default size (it was intended as a ‘private’ territory for me and Lucy). Then I used magic of the base to just teleport my laptop right to my claws and my satellite phone with some other equipment I might need to the flour to the left of me.

Of course by the time my portable electronics actually needed recharge or energy sapling from external source to work. I smiled thinking of how to solve the problem most effective and fast, while Lucy started final construction of the Key selection system for our site using the data prepared for us by Seltinos and Jainara. She activated one of the magical crystals surrounding her working place using a colorful three-dimensional magical illusion as a screen, but she wasn’t mowing as she worked as she used mental and magical interfaces for input.

I turned my head in to one of the spell-structures intended for supplying the electronic equipment at the IT-central with electrical power and started configuring it properly using my rights of control over the magic of the base supporting the structure. As the parameters of the electricity flow the spell-structure could provide were suitable for my electronic equipment I had to create an additional spell-structure based on a properly configured ‘Web of Copper’ form-spell to use it as a set of plug sockets for plugging in my electronics. On physical plane it looked like several small constrictions of flat copper wires formed suitable to properly hold the power conducting parts of standard scientific plugs. The construction was cowered with semitransparent layer of solid air intended to cover the power conducting constructions and support the plugs in proper position (the construction was based on ‘Shell of Air’ form-spell). I connected the two spell systems and plugged in my electronics.

Then I placed my laptop in front of me at the place intended for the main keyboard and the rest of desktop interface devices working by the laws of science. As the data-processing spell-system was from the very beginning intended to work as a part of highly integrated structure including scientific computer equipment the only thing I had to do to work with some data stored in the spell-system using my laptop was wrapping it with appropriate part of the spell-structure and configuring the part properly to integrate my laptop and the spell-system.

I smiled and lathed shortly several times exploring the data-processing spell-system through my laptop. Despite the laptop ‘saw’ only a small part in the segment of the spell-system designed to be ‘understandable’ for scientific computers it looked more then impressive.

I opened a browser window on my laptop loaded the site we created with Lucy to see how it was looking for anyone browsing it using scientific equipment. Lucy looked at the screen nodded with satisfaction and we started to discuss the exact text for plot description on the main page of the site and features of sorting The Keys into categories for the search system of the site.

We spent several hours for final development of the site mostly using the data-processing spell-system for our work. My laptop was needed at the moment to check the actual effects of any changes we were applying to the site for scientific computers and software. As the development including proper linking of the texts from existing Key Books was complete I had to find a way to establish a reliable internet connection through my satellite phone despite been deep under ground. I started with thinking of how to create a suitable antenna and feeder line using capabilities of magic but in short time came to conclusion that it will be much easier and effective if I’ll solve the problem in a purely magical way. I just used magic of the base to remove distance between the volume taken by the satellite antenna of my cell phone and a volume of the same size situated high in the air above the center of base’s yard just below the upper boarder of external magical defensive perimeter. As magic of the base was extremely powerful end complicated it was easy to do even when I made the ‘connected’ volume enclosing the satellite antenna of my cell phone mobile to be able to move the device at need without loosing connection.

I connected to the internet through my satellite phone and laptop and started looking for a suitable hosting-server for our website. I wasn’t attempting to work too fast as quality meant much more then speed at the moment.

Finally I peaked up a suitable hosting-server with perfect reputation for the level of defense and privacy they were providing for customers’ data. They were capable of providing an amount of disk space considerably larger then our site was at the moment and haven’t had a bad habit to ask their customers too much questions about who they were or what they were doing. It was expansive indeed. Though considering the fact neither I nor Lucy actually required buying and eating food to live we could quite easily afford paying the rent for the most featured version of hosting using just our salaries.

Paying money for anything you can get through or in the Internet using a credit card is much easier and faster then earning the money if you know well enough how to do the electronic version of all the necessary paperwork.

After spending considerable time to properly configure the security parameters for the account on the hosting server I started the upload process. It took quite long time despite I was paying to have maximal speed of connection through my satellite phone, but at least it wasn’t too expansive as the sum I was paying for the connection wasn’t online-time or traffic dependant.

As uploading of the site was completed I dived into configuring proper defenses and parameters of access to it and Lucy started adding the URL and description of the site to the databases of biggest web-search engines and posting the information on the forums and link lists of most suitable web resources (first of all TF dedicated once).

When all defense I could create for The Order’s web site as it was hosted on an external server was created and properly configured, I switched to helping Lucy with the work she was doing.

As the work was finished as well, the only thing we had to do was monitoring the site itself and comments about it all around the net to know the situation and react as fast as possible at need.

We both knew that a considerable period of time was needed for our site to star having a number of visitors. I configured an appropriate system of notifications using the corresponding system on the hosting-server, the data-processing spell-system and magic of the base for me and Lucy to know of any events on our website at once despite where on the base we’ll be or what we will be doing as they occur.

As it was done we smiled to each other and started may be the most pleasant part of our work. We started sending E-mails.

By the time I first met Lucy we were active members of several TF- dedicated web communities and projects (in fact I first ‘met’ Lucy on one of the old and well developed TF-dedicated forums). I myself as well as Lucy had many good friends in the communities I knew well enough to suggest they actually were Dreamers. In many cases I could even tell the exact Keys they needed being quite sure I’m not mistaking. Sending the E-mails to help at least some of my friends to fulfill their dreams using The Right of Dreamers was a very pleasant thing indeed. Nevertheless it was quite difficult as well. I couldn’t just write them E-mails describing the situation as it was. It was a rather matter of mercy then a matter of security or trust. There always was a chance that for some of my friend their TF dreams weren’t deepest, strongest and truest dreams of all the dreams they had. In that case they weren’t true Dreamers. I wasn’t sure if there was a suitable way to make a dream strong enough to use The Right of Dreamers if the dream wasn’t strong enough at first. To save my friends from the pain disappointment of been unable to fulfill the dreams they were considering true, despite having a chance to do it, I had to right each letter very careful to make the reader go to the site of The Order and to try the Key I was considering suitable for him/her or looking for a suitable one him/herself without telling a word of the fact that the Keys uploaded to the site are actually magical. Those reading my letters had to have no slightest suspicions of the real situation. Some of them might not understand that if the Key they consider suitable for them didn’t work the only thing it actually meant was they wouldn’t have been really satisfied and happy having the default form granted by the Key if it would have worked for them. In the case some of the might start to think they have been strongly offended by The Order of Dreamers and it could create many serious problems for the order.

During the next week I have seen neither Seltinos nor Jainara too often. I and Lucy were spending most of our time at IT-central of the base either working in the net or sleeping. Seltinos and Jainara on the other hand were spending nearly all their time at the main lab of the base working with The Keymaker’s heritage to learn all and every capability of the incredible knowledge and to finish creation of the Keys developed by The Keymaker only to a degree by the time he had stopped working in he’s lab because of some reasons.

We were glad to see that as time was passing by a considerably big, active and interesting community started to form around the site of The Order. The plot description we had developed and the descriptions for the Keys listed in the search system of the site turned to be more then enough material for the visitors of the sight to start using the site as a base for playing a new role-playing fantasy TF game. Watching other user of the site playing it and taking an active part in the play myself as a system administrator and head moderator of the site I had to admit the game was much more interesting then any similar project I have ever seen or heart of so far. In fact the site turned into what it was clamed to be in the description. Been provided with enough of good material the players were quickly developing the game by them selves without too much help from me or Lucy.

The most exiting moment during the time came for both me and Lucy when we received the first letter to the E-mail address hidden with magic. It was extremely pleasant to read. In fact it could be indubitably called ‘the fulfillment of dreams’ for me as system administrator of The Order of Dreamers.

Greetings, master Storm.

I assume the key statements of initial description for TF fantasy game called The Order of Dreamers are actually real facts as well as the existence of the order.

I achieved much in my life. Thousand of people will say I’m extremely luck person. I have created my own business and it gives the amount of many even really rich people will call big, despite been purely legal. Nevertheless I wasn’t even near that happy as some might think and I’m sure You won’t ask me why as You know the feeling Yourself, master Storm.

Life of any ordinary human is purely senseless and only two things, true love and true dream can actually change that. Until one can’t find he’s true love and fulfill he’s true dream he won’t be really happy despite anything else.

Finding true love is a difficult thing in most cases and fulfillment of my true dream I always considered impossible as knowledge of magic is long forgotten in our world. Nevertheless I was never forgetting my dream. There just was nothing worth to replace it for me.

Your ‘game’ gave me both my dream and my love. I was just visiting the site for some time without reading The Key leading to my dream. I thought it to be just a game, but the game was good. I just didn’t want to spoil my pleasure. It was so pleasant to play the game letting myself imagine that my dream is one click away that I just have to click the appropriate link and read the text to fulfill it. Then playing the game I met a girl I started to like the more the more we were telling to each other. There was very much in common for us and among many other things we had the same dream. Finally we decided to meet in person. As we did my new girlfriend suggested we should try reading ‘our’ Keys (she never read her Key not to destroy the pleasure to think it might work just as I was doing myself) starting to read at the same time. She said that may be our affectation will make them actually work. It was just a joke at first but as we were talking about it, our thoughts were gradually changing. We were discussing it more and more serious until at some points all thought and understanding of the fact the spells we were going to cast are just part of the game with no actual magical power in them were gone. We said something like “See you after my first shit” to each other and I clicked the link leading to The Shifting Key of Dancing Water Seafighter.

I spent the next two days casting The Key. As I finished casting, it was impossible for me to think that The Key wasn’t actually magical even if I wonted to. I was feeling the spell within my mind and memory.

As soon as I spoke the last word from The Key I heard the ‘incoming call’ signal from my Skype client. First thing I heard upon answering the call was the happiest girl lather I have ever heard in my whole life. It was my girlfriend. I began lathing myself. It took us several minutes before we could really say anything through the happy lather mixed with tears. The appropriate versions of the Key worked for both of us.

When we were able to speak again I said that we should get to a seashore before going to sleep as shifting to a seafighter been many miles away from a sea is a perfect example of spoiled pleasure. We quickly found out that we are actually in two different countries and both of us are far from any seashore. It was the first time in my life my financial capabilities made me really happy. Three car rides at maximal possible speed two flights on charter jet plane and in several hours we were standing together on an empty beech looking on the waves of Atlantic Ocean. We went to sleep lying naked on the warm sand just above the surf.

We spent the entire week swimming, playing and making love in the ocean before we could thing of anything but the pleasure the sort of life was for both of us. That’s why I’m writing this letter such long after using The Key.

I hope we will be accepted as the members of the order so we can be among the people with capabilities and features similar to our own. I also hope that my place in human society and my financial capabilities will be useful for The Order as it will give real sense to keeping the human part of my life giving me possibility to support something what is really worth supporting.

With respect, WaveRider.

I immediately wrote an answer to WaveRider confirming he and he’s girlfriend are accepted as the fullrighted members of The Order of Dreamers and asking is there any problems The Order might help them with. I was also asking the name of he’s girlfriend as he never mentioned it in he’s first letter. He answered that he as well as he’s girlfriend WaterBlaze had successfully used the second spells from their Keys and now they are learning to use the knowledge of magic granted to them by the spells living in a small house on the shore of Atlantic Ocean and spending most of their time in the ocean itself. For the moment, they were having, no troubles neither with learning magic nor with keeping it secret. It was pleasant and not surprising. The new members of The Order could easily spend most of the time in their default forms without having to hide their appearance with magic to avoid troubles and questions. Seafighters were very similar to big dolphins (like Stenos or other species of similar size). The only feature letting easily distinguish them from dolphins were gills. They are similar to shark gills but unlike many species of sharks seafighters are able to move their gills to pump water through them so they can easily breathe staying motionless in the water. The gills of seafighters look like two sets of four vertical slits in their smooth dolphin skin situated on both sides of their bodies’ right behind their heads. When seafighters are able to breathe air through the holes on their heads the slits of their gills are closed and impossible to notice from any considerable distance. Anyone seeing them from the shore will think those are dolphins. The DancingWater that was the same in the magical abilities of WaveRider and SeaBlaze as the Grey Flame in the abilities of Lucy, Seltinos, Jainara or myself, was a magical element similar to Grey Flame in it’s origin and capabilities, but designed to be especially suitable and powerful then used underwater. WaveRider and SeaBlaze could easily practice big part of the magic described in the ‘magic books’ granted to them by The Keys without any risk to be detected by nonmages as the magic was intended to be used underwater.

At the end of he’s letter WaveRider was also asking if he can be of any help to The Order at the moment. After discussing the matter with Lucy, Seltinos and Jainara I sent my answer with another E-mail having a big .xls file with a detailed list of all the scientific equipment we needed for the base.

He’s answer came in two days. He was asking how we are going to move the equipment from the warehouse it was to the base of The Order. We spent some more E-mails discussing possible options. Finally we decided that the best way to do it will be using the ‘Nowhere Bridge’ spell. It was a version of ‘Secret Passage’ spell that required no preparations or magical support in one of the spots the spell was connecting during teleportation. It required even more complicated preparations in one of the spots and much more magical energy then ‘Secrete Passage’ spell, but it wasn’t a problem in our case as we had plenty of magical power we could use and as much time as needed for preparations. WaveRider sent me the exact geographic coordinates and dimensions of the warehouse. I found detailed astronomical maps of the part of the sky corresponding to the coordinates on the net. As Seltinos and Jainara started the calculations necessary to target the spells using the astronomical maps, geographic coordinates and the dimensions of the target volume, Lucy started the part of preparations involving plenty of drawing and I was building the necessary spell-structures that could be created before the drawing and calculations were finished.

As all the preparations were finished we gathered at the IT-central and Seltinos activated the spell using the great level of control he had over the magic of the base supporting The Domain Crystals of Grey Flame the magic was powered with. This time no one of us had to use personal power to empower the spell as it was empowered with the magical energy from Domain Crystals. Through my own level of connection with the magic of the base I felt powerful flow of magical energy and then huge splash of magic as the spell went active. It was very interesting to watch the effects of the spell on magical and physical planes using magic of the base while staying in the IT-central well protected from what was going on at the moment on the yard of the base. I knew that standing anywhere in the yard wouldn’t have been much of a pleasure at the moment though. The ‘Nowhere Bridge’ looked much different from ‘Secret Passage’ on magical plane but effects the spell caused on physical plane when it went active were very similar. They were much stronger though as all the energy supporting the spell was concentrated in one point unlike the case with the ‘Secrete Passage’ supported from both ends.

As the effects caused with the spell on physical plane had faded I saw another impressive heap of cargo taking almost the whole space on the ground within the magical defensive perimeter this time.

I exchanged bright happy smiles with Lucy and we left the hall of IT-central galloping shoulder by shoulder on all four. First of all an artist and web designer Lucy was also a network specialist much enough to share my excitement on seen the complete set of newest computer, network and lab equipment for the base.

We spent considerable time walking among the cargo and exploring it using both labels on the boxes and containers and senses of our transparent body. Then we started sorting the cargo using the magic of the base to move it. As the cargo was sorted into three mane categories, equipment for IT-central, lab equipment, and different scientific equipment we were going to install allover the base we used the magic of the base to send all items of first category to IT-central, and all the rest of the cargo to two separate storage chambers in the storage arrear of the base. We just couldn’t do much simultaneously as there were just Lucy and me to do all the work. Seltinos and Jainara said they don’t have enough knowledge of scientific equipment for now and they will only waste their and our time trying to find a way they could help us with the work. Our knowledge, skills and personal powers of magic also couldn’t be of too much help in the particular case as well as the magic of the base. Those could be used to replace tools but not to do most part of the work.

As the yard of the base was once again free from heaps of cargo we galloped back to the IT-central with happy smiles and anticipation on our muzzles.

The first thing we had to install was impressive number of plug sockets. It was easy as we were using magic of the base instead of screws and screwdrivers to secure the plug sockets in appropriate places but together with configuring supporting spell-structures for them to provide all the plug sockets with grounding and electricity of necessary parameters it took us considerable time. Then we had to install a set of powerful UPS units as I didn’t want the electronic equipment of IT-central to be completely dependant of magic. As everything was ready to power the electronics we started installing scientific interface equipment. Several flat plasma panels covered the stone walls of the hall almost to every last inch as we mounted tem in their places using the magic of the base. Massive rectangle black cases of big loudspeakers were looking like strange pieces of complete darkness managing to hang by the walls just beneath the ceiling despite the white glow of magical lighting crystals living no place for shadows in the hall. Finally we installed the set of equipment for Microsoft’s Everywhere Screen and started unpacking the minor interface devices placing them on the consol structures in front of each of two workplaces of the main terminal. As it was done the workplaces were finally looking just as they were designed. In addition to colorful surrounding of magical crystals and white clay arrears of small enchanter’s circles each of them now had a set of three big flat liquid crystal monitors, full set of loudspeakers and subwoofers, one standard and two specialized keyboards, multi-baton optical mouse and a set of more specialized devices usually used only with the most advanced workstations for graphic design. As the interface equipment was installed powered and checked we used the magic of the base to unpack four Hightower server frames and install them to their places. They were looking quite impressive forming a chain carving by the wall of the IT-central opposite to the entrance. The arrear on the wall behind the server frames was nearly the only piece of wall in the IT-central not covered by a plasma panel. Then we installed an impressive set of RAID-frames placing them between the server frames. By the moment the RAID-frames would be equipped with full number of HDDs they could support the data storage array of the computer system would be more then enough to store the whole data copied from the Keymaker’s lab without using the capabilities of the data-processing spell-system of the base.

To be able to connect all three servers and the RAID-frames into one single mainframe controlled with one operation system we installed several specialized external controllers having their own separate frames. There were also several frames holding HUBs and routers intended to be the centre of the base LAN.

As the part of work was complete we spent a minute just standing near the center of the server-hall and admiring it’s new appearance, then we started the long but exiting process of gradual unpacking, sorting and installation of internal hardware into the server frames.

Assembling and configuring of the new scientific data-processing system of the base was going slow but steady. I had no problems with the work. The only thing slowing me down was that I was doing it almost alone. Lucy had to spend much of her time to maintain the site of The Order. Instead of my laptop she was now using one of the extremely advanced and expansive desktop PCs we received as a part of misc. category equipment for the base, but my satellite phone was still providing the only internet connection we had. To change the situation I had to run the mainframe server system on one hand and to lay a fibro optical communication line from the base to the nearest repeater of a currently existing line on the other. Laying the line wasn’t a problem by itself as by the time I had all the necessary hardware for creating the line and I could use magic to create an appropriate underground channel and safely push the preassembled line consisting of fiber cable and repeaters with power and control cables for them through the channel. Though there still were serious problems I could hardly solve by myself. The fiber cable from the base had to be connected to an existing line on legal bases. Any attempts to do it without all necessary permissions using magic would extremely increase the risk that some one will sooner or later start an investigation about the line. On the other hand to connect the fiber cable on legal bases the place it was leading to had to exist on paper having a suitable legal status. We couldn’t afford cheating with the law using our capabilities of mages as it would have meant loosing our own honor and dishonoring The Order of Dreamers. In addition it would with high probability have made all local mages of considerable power and all the other organizations of magic users in this world (if there actually were any) to stand against us. Just as it was with the scientific equipment for our base the only member of The Order currently capable of solving the problem was WaveRider.

Reading the answer he sent after I had described him the situation I clearly felt he was smiling writing the letter. He wrote that in many other countries of the world solving the problem would be a difficult task even with he’s financial capabilities but we were lucky to establish our base in Ukraine so it haven’t taken him too much of either efforts or money to make the appropriate peace of land he’s private property as soon as he knew it’s coordinates. From the moment the base of The Order of Dreamers had started existing on paper as a private recreational facility belonging to a highly respected and reach businessman accepted to the ranks of The Order as WaveRider.

Soon after it had happened I realized that I can’t continue working for the firm I was formerly working for. On one hand it was perfectly clear I just wouldn’t be able finish installing all the scientific equipment on the base by the time my summer vacation will be over. On the other hand neither Seltinos nor Jainara were going to watch and maintain all the equipment. They have had neither necessary level of knowledge and skill nor any desire to have them. It was pretty the same with Lucy’s current employment as monitoring and maintaining the site of the Order was taking her whole time and endurance. Our summer vocations were not over yet but we decided to quit our former occupations right then to give our employers some time to find specialists capable of doing our jobs. But just disappearing from human society quitting one job and having no farther employment visible on the paper could create questions and problems. I wrote an E-mail to WaveRider asking if he could hire me and Lucy to give us legal status while we are working for The Order on the base. Once again reading he’s answer I was clearly feeling a cheery smile of simultaneously a man and a male seafighter in each and every word. He wrote that it will be both pleasure and honor for him to hire the IT specialists capable of proper handling with the huge heap of the most advanced equipment he bought for the base working on their own. Settling all the formalities took relatively short time as all what was needed could be done over the internet.

As it was done I started feeling that my work is going much faster now then before. I knew that the feeling had actually occurred because I wasn’t concerned with the matter of time anymore. Nevertheless the feeling was pleasant.

By the time I finished assembling the hardware of server mainframe, installing and configuring the necessary software and finally enveloping the scientific system with the magic of data-processing spell-system making them one highly and intricately integrated whole, the number of members in The Order of Dreamers had grown up several times of what it was as I started the work. There were 52 Dreamers in the ranks of The Order.

The Keymaker definitely knew not only how to create The Keys but what kind of Keys should be created first of all. So far every true Dreamer who tried to find a suitable Key in the list of Keys created by The Keymaker was able to find what he needed. Most of the new members of the Order were considerably different persons in all but the fact they were true Dreamers. Though there were already several more pairs formed by members of the Order. In some cases the pairs had formed before they used their Keys. The rest were formed after the Dreamers joined The Order.

We had to establish another web resource having highest level of protection we could provide at the moment. It was intended only for actual members of The Order. Creation of the new resource as well as keeping the open site of The Order safe and running wasn’t a big problem any more. Soon after WaveRider hired us to provide us legal status and cover, he suggested we could use one of the server’s belonging to he’s firm to host the site of The Order. We accepted the offer and it saved us plenty of time and nerves when we had to create the new covered resource to provide all the members of The Order with an easy and safe way of free communication with each other. The pairs of Dreamers formed after the Dreamers entered The Order were one of many pleasant and interesting things the free communication resulted in.

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I hit the ‘Enter’ key on the main keyboard in front of me looking on the central monitor of my working place. Grey rows of text start sliding from bottom to the top on black background of the screen. They move at rate far beyond capabilities of any human eyes, but for me in my default form that’s the most optimal speed: effective and comfortable at once. I smile feeling deep pleasure and satisfaction as the full detailed complete system test log stops flowing through the screen upon end of the tests. Finally, IT-central of the base is fully operational and ready as one single highly integrated whole of scientific-magical nature.

I look around the hall more to move my neck after many hours of looking straight forward onto the monitors. My feeling and the whole situation itself are unbelievably similar to the unforgettable Sunday evening when I finished casting my Key. Everything is ready and now just like it was then I have to wait overnight for my first shift: a shift to be a net-dragon. I smile to myself at the thought. The shift won’t be direct but it will be just as radical and desired as the one I first experienced in sleep that Sunday night. Just like the first ‘forward’ spell grated to me by The Key is giving me capabilities of my default form physical and transparent bodies in actual world, the fully operational IT-central will give me the same in virtual world of the net. I looked at four Hightower frames of the sever mainframe glowing and blinking with color lights of indicators. They will be my physical body in the net. It won’t be as perfect and strong as my own physical body in my default form is. There are more powerful scientific computer systems then this one. Nevertheless my network physical body will have more then dragon capabilities in compare with most machines connected to the network. I look at the extremely intricate web of data-processing spell-system glowing with thousand of colors and shapes on the magical plane of the world. Most of the colors and shapes have no names or even relative descriptions in any ordinary human language. This magic will be my transparent body in virtual world of the net. Just like my own transparent body envelops and covers my physical body on the magical plane of the world magic of the spell-system envelops and covers the server mainframe of the IT-central. Like my transparent body is giving me extreme advantage over a more common mage having nothing alike in real world the magical capabilities of the IT-central will give me hardly measurable advantage over any one using purely scientific computer system (even if the system is the most advanced of existing). When the IT-central will be properly connected to the net I will have full freedom and grate power in virtual world of the net. There are already many things to do worth using as much of the power as necessary. I smiled happily to my self thinking about them. First of all I must defend The Order in the net, defend all the computers belonging to Order members from any IT threats. It will be big responsibility and honor for me. It won’t be too difficult though. In fact there will be much more pleasure then efforts in doing the work with help of the IT-central’s system. The magical part of it is capable of doing most of the routine work all by itself perfectly handling even the most intricate threats far beyond capabilities of not only any existing scientific software but of many IT specialist having lower then highest qualification. The intricate AI software having both scientific and magical aspects intended to do the work I had designed myself and it was my silent pride. I called the system ‘Dragon Scales’. In fact as long as I will have it to my aide I’ll be able to provide complete IT defense for all computers all over the net The Order will consider worth defending despite the actual number of the computers. Designing and developing ‘Dragon Scales’ as well as gathering all the necessary information of all the computers all over the net to be defended by the system took me plenty of time and efforts. Now as the work is complete I’ll just have to start the system as soon as the IT-central will be connected to the internet with fiber cable. No other type of connection is capable of handling necessary amounts of traffic. Another most important thing I’ll have to do for The Order in the net will be finding, gathering and analyzing of information. To be capable to do the work with all the speed and quality reachable for the IT-central of the base I designed another software complex based on using capabilities of both science and magic. I called it ‘Dragon Senses’. Just as the ‘Dragon Scales’ the complex was capable of doing incredible amount of work on it’s own even if the work was of highly intricate nature. Both ‘Dragon’ systems are highly integrated so most part of highly intricate but routine work on monitoring the net in search for information on any new IT threats and the ways found to handle them will be preformed automatically as a nonstop process as well as majority of adjustment of ‘Dragons Scales’ system necessary for keeping it capable of handling all existing IT threats. Mostly I’ll have to handle non routine search and defense tasks.

To avoid been drowned in the endless flow of relatively simple tasks I designed an interface system I called ‘Dragon Gates’. It will grant members of The Order with certain level of remote control over ‘Dragon Scales’ and ‘Dragon Senses’ systems through their own computers and the net. I did my best to make the interface easy to use and intuitively understandable for anyone having basic knowledge of both computers and informational magic. On the other hand the interface can be easily reconfigured to give widest possible set of capabilities to an experienced user. I have done all I could think of. Now I can only hope that it will be enough to convince all members of The Order that it is much easier and comfortable to do all they need to be done for them with ‘Dragon Senses’ or ‘Dragon Scales’ systems by themselves using ‘Dragon Gates’ then to contact me asking to do it for them. If I’m lucky enough for it to be so, me and Lucy will have considerable amount of time for ourselves and for the interesting and attractive projects that were only discussions for us so far as they require IT-central of the base to be fully functional and properly connected to the net to be started.

I use the controlling spell-system now integrated into magic of the base to check the earth elemental I had sent creating the underground channel for the fiber cable line some time ago. The small magical being was waiting for farther instructions in a foot-thick wall of stone and ground separating the channel it had created from concrete wall of an underground tunnel where was situated the nearest repeater of an existing fiber cable line. The far end of the fiber cable line leading to the base was right behind the wall the elemental was hanging in. The whole miles long line consisting of the fiber cable itself, necessary number of repeaters and control and power cables leading to the repeaters was still enclosed with a complicated spell-system of both Form and Classical magic I used to drag it safely through the underground channel. The main element of the spell structure was ‘Air Shell with Talons of Air’ form-spell. The shell was enclosing the line protecting it from damage while the talons on it enabled me to move the whole construction forward through the channel. The spell structure also has elements I was using to see and feel the surrounding as I was dragging the line through the channel using it. As the spell structure was ready I bound it to the magic of the base not to have to support it by myself and spent considerable amount of time ‘programming’ the spell- system controlling the Air elementals upgraded with ‘Air Web’ form-spell once created for moving cargo, to make the gang of magical beings gradually assemble the fiber cable line of it’s element while I would be dragging it through the channel. When it was done and the earth element finished creating the channel (it was to deep underground to be detected from suffice with any scientific equipment, carving gradually for both ands to be on necessary level) the rest of the work to lay the fiber cable line was more like an interesting and exiting game. I was controlling the dragging spell through the magic of the base and the magical threads it was bound to it with while the Air elementals were gradually assembling the line at the IT-central on highest possible speed but with perfect quality. Controlling the dragging spell was much like riding a very fast train in an underground tunnel. I had a lot of fun doing it while Lucy was lathing a lot watching as the gang of Air elementals was assembling the line. Now the line was completely assembled and almost lied through.

Through the magic of the base I take control over the Earth elemental at the far end of the channel. I order it to move through the earth stone and concrete, then use it’s senses to check what is coming on in the tunnel with the repeater the line must be connected to. There is no one in the tunnel. I order the elemental to finish the tunnel, then take control over the dragging-spell and drag the fiber cable line through living enough of it in the tunnel for it to be connected to the repeater. I use another part of the spell structure I used for dragging the line to spread the secondary cables of the line on the walls of the channel and secure them as well as the main cable and repeaters in the walls of the channel using the same method the earth elemental was using to create the tunnel. The line is now secured properly. It looks like if walls of the tunnel had melted to hold cables and repeaters properly. I dismiss the spell-structure I used for dragging the line through and securing it’s parts properly within the channel. Now there is nothing magical in the channel except the small Earth elemental. The channel was created with magic but it isn’t magical itself. I order the elemental to close the tunnel enclosing and securing the fiber cable with earth and concrete wall of the tunnel it leads to, then I order the elemental to stay within the concrete wall of the tunnel right beneath it’s surface. I configure the spell-structure controlling the elemental for it to send me a signal using magic of the base when senses of the elemental will detect humans in the tunnel with the repeater.

I send an E-mail to one of the new members of The Order. He’s occupation allows him to send IT-engineers to the tunnel for them to connect the line to the repeater. Then I send a request for the work to be done for it to be the official reason for sending engineers to the tunnel. I can do it directly thanks to my current occupation. Now I have to wait for confirmations. I turn my head to the right to have best view of Lucy’s beauty. She is sleeping in her workplace by the main terminal covered with my right wing. Her head is rested on her front fourlimbs her eyes are closed. She is completely relaxed, calm and unbelievably beautiful. I’m just admiring her beauty until the E-mails conforming that the request I sent is accepted and that the engineers will be sent tomorrow morning come to my mailbox. The only thing I have to do now is waiting the morning.

I’m considerably tiered, but much more then good sleep I need a long walk. I spent many days lying on my belly in my working place by the main terminal. As soon as hardware assembling was complete the rest of the work needed to make the IT-central fully operational could be done without leaving the workplace. As the place is perfectly comfortable for me to take some sleep at need and I have no physiological needs to make me go elsewhere since I’m using my nutrition-pendant I just have been staying in place as long as was needed to finish my work. It was just perfectly effective and comfortable. Now as the work is done I feel urgency for movement. It is purely psychological but nevertheless very strong. There is no reason for me to restrain myself from fulfilling the desire right now.

Carefully not to wake Lucy up I fold my right wing, stand up to all four and start to walk slowly to the entrance of the IT-central. Using my right of control over the magic of the base I make the magical barrier sealing the entrance let me through, and walk out to the corridor. The magical barrier has no effect on physical plane except just not letting anyone or anything trough, but it is clearly visible in magical plane and even basic knowledge of magic is more the enough to understand that getting trough it is just as difficult as getting through the walls of the lair around it. If the base is a lair for Seltinos the IT-central is a most private territory for me and Lucy. In fact only Seltinos can enter the hall without my permission as he is supporting and controlling magic defending the hall as well as the rest of the base. In any case Seltinos has the right to access the IT-central any time as the current leader of The Order. Though, it’s a very difficult task for me to imagine anything to make Seltinos to come to IT-central while he can always use magic of the base to communicate with me and Lucy. The only three things really interesting for Seltinos are: lady Jainara, practicing magic (first of all working with The Keymaker’s heritage) and teaching magic (from the moment he has students to teach). I smile to my thoughts slowly walking along the corridor on all four.

The students Seltinos is teaching are the members of The Order who have enough time free from duties of their human lives and enough interest for deep learning of magic to spend most of their time on the base. Bringing them here was a difficult task at first. Seltinos had to create a long time stuff-based structure for using ‘Double Long Step’ spell and then he had to work as carrier bringing he’s students to the base in the way similar I used for bringing Lucy here. The students had sent mental illusion spells created with magic of knowledge via E-mail to give Seltinos the information he needed to get to their places using ‘Double Long Step’ spell. The worst thing in it was that creating similar structures outside of the base was risky and each time one of the members of The Order was leaving the base and then wanted to get back Seltinos had to carry him/her through again. After several ‘rides’ of the sort lady Jainara said that Seltinos is a dragon, an archmage and the leader of The Order of Dreamers but not a steed for he’s students. She started a complicated magical research work to solve the problem and demanded Seltinos to help her with it instead of caring he’s students back and forth. Actually that’s was when I first fond out that lady Jainara is an extremely talented and skillful in creating magical artifacts. Seltinos has full right to be called the archmage of The Order in any faculty of magic but not in creating artifacts. Having the help of Seltinos and those of he’s students stacked on the base as he had to stop helping them to get back in not to confront lady Jainara, perfectly equipped magical lab and all necessary supplies (some leftovers from the huge heap of supplies brought from The Keymakers lab and those Seltinos’s students were able to find in this world and gather without risking to be asked unpleasant questions) she developed a very complicated and effective magical artifact to solve the problem. It was a real masterpiece of Artification by any consideration.

First of all in spite of long and complicated research it required to be designed creation of new artifacts of the same type turned to be not too complicated as the research was successfully finished. All the more the artifacts required only the materials available to The Order in any necessary amounts this or that way. The artifact turned to have not one but two functions as the research was complete as it was easier to lead the research that way then to start a new one to create another artifact for the second function. As the artifact was created it was right away called the order or the sign of Dreamers. In fact the names were perfectly suitable considering it’s appearance.

It was a small (each side was an inch long) eight-angular plate made of stainless steel. It had extremely intricate (and beautifully looking) engravings on both sides. Each of the engravings was a stabilized graphical spell for one of the artifact’s functions. First spell was a modified and stabilized graphical form of ‘Long Step’ spell. To use the spell the caster should empower it and make a step forward, then he was just disappearing without any effects on either physical or magical plane. The process of teleportation was similar to the one with ‘Long Step’ spell though it required much less efforts and magical power and no concentration on the target spot as the spot was already determined by the spell itself. This spot was the yard of the base. The engraving on the other side of the plate was stabilized graphical form of ‘Distant Speech’ spell. The brilliant spell designed by The Keymaker was an indubitable masterpiece as it allowed many sorts of communication between any two points of a world or between two points in different world (the second case requires more magical energy) requiring not much of magical energy or skill to use it (the only case requiring considerable power and skills is communications between different moments of time) without letting the fact of communication to be detected in most majority of cases. The artifact (it has a small hole and can be worn as a medallion) was giving to it’s owner two very important things: safe and multifunctional communication with anyone having similar artifact (in case the owner knew the key features of the ‘Distant Speech’ engraving on the other’s artifact) any time from anywhere, and a fast and safe way to get to the base of The Order from any location. The artifacts also had a very important feature similar to the one of the spells created in casters’ memory by The Keys: they had to be made individually for each member of The Order as there was no magic in them anyone but the person a medallion was made for could use or even detect.

As all the members of The Order received The Signs of Dreamers, the order became more solid and much stronger. In fact it received a new dimension of actual existence. There were no more troubles with getting to the base for any member of The Order. In the same time no one except me and WaveRider knew the actual location of the base in this world so it could be still considered a secret and safe place. Even those of the members of The Order who never attended the base before started coming here from time to time. Some of the Seltinos’s students who considered the process of teleportation with standard version of ‘Long Step’ spell not to uncomfortable for them started using the long-time stuff-based structure for using the spell once created by Seltinos to get to a necessary place by magic. They just used their Signs of Dreamers to get to the base and then used the ‘Long Step’ structure to get to their actual destination. It made me smile then I first hared of it. It was very similar to the way it was in the game world of Istaria: recall to the shrine, use town portal to port to Bristago or Abundant Island and use a suitable portal to get to an arrival pad nearest to actual destination. In fact it was even easier in real life for members of The Order after creation of The Signs as the ‘Long Step’ structure on the base had much better capabilities then the Istarian portals. After creation of The Signs of Dreamers lady Jainara had to start working as a teacher just as Seltinos was doing. She was glad to have respect and recognition of her talents as an artefactor and to have an opportunity of teaching novice mages secretes of her favorite faculty of magic. Several of her students turned to be very talented for the art themselves.

As a consequence there were several attempts of starting complicated research projects to create some new artifacts inspirited by the students.

Most of the artifacts were not too interesting for me even to hear about. I prefer to depend on my own power knowledge and skill. There are mach more possibilities for a mage to do something without using any stuff then let’s say for an engineer and that’s one of the strongest reasons for me to like been a mage. Having to much of stuff to carry is often uncomfortable especially for a shpeshifter. Carrying stuff can roughly limit the freedom only a shapeshifter can have. Nevertheless having certain thing (like appropriate clothing for example) is an unavoidable necessity if one needs not to be noticed in a society where caring the things is common (like in the case when most of the society are not shapeshifters and the just need the things to feel as comfortable as their bodies allow them to). I wasn’t the only one among the members of The Orders who came to those conclusions. Two of the projects on creation of new artifacts were in fact attempts to create items able to accommodate their owner upon shapeshifting.

The first project was called ‘Staff of Any Shapes’. It’s goal was creation of a powerful mage’s staff with universal capabilities, capable of shapeshifting. There was no urgency in creation of anything like this as artifacts of the sort were actually useful to use extremely powerful and complicated magic having not enough time for casting or all the more any more time-consuming things like drawing magical patterns etc. Situations like this were possible first of all in highlevel magical combat or by attempts to save some one or something from an immediate global threat using magic (like stopping an earthquake or tsunami to save a city etc). Probability of any members of The Order to be involved in any situations like this was (and still is) quite low. On one hand there are still no signs of any considerable number of powerful mages in this world. In all the cases reported so far the magic users detected by members of The Order were incomparably weaker then any member of The Order (even if the member had used a Key just a day ago and has nearly no experience as a mage yet) and there is no need in any magical artifacts for the members of The Order to be able to defend themselves incase of any confrontation. On the other hand as long as secrecy is considered necessary for The Order anything like appearing in front of a tsunami wave holding a staff glowing with Grey Flame to stop the wave in a second before it hits a city is to be avoided by the members of The Order. Nevertheless general benefit and necessity of having artifacts of the capabilities and power available to The Order was indubitable especially if the artifacts were going to be design specially for mages capable of shapeshifting.

The second artifact creation project that had turned my attention to it as soon as I heard of it’s main idea was called ‘Shapeshifter’s Robe’. It’s main idea was to create a clothing (one item or in worst case a set) capable of shafting to any form necessary or comfortable for it’s owner in any particular situation. Of course in best possible case the clothing had to have any additional magical capabilities (first of all of defensive and augmentation nature) possible to add to it on creation without having to use too much of additional resources and efforts for doing it. The second project was an indubitable necessity and as many members were saying even urgency for The Order as necessity of taking their clothes off before shifting to a nonhuman form and putting them on after sifting to human form again was more then annoying. An important achievement of both projects was creating the final designs of the goal artifacts for them not to require any hardly getable resources for their creation. It meant in fact that each member of The Order could have a personal set of those two artifacts. It was very convenient for the members and good for The Order as the more capabilities and power each of The Order’s members was having the more powerful was The Order itself.

I wasn’t really watching development of the projects as I had plenty of my own work to take all my time and attention. Nevertheless I knew both projects were successfully finished with results much better then anyone had ever expected at the start or during their development. There were several serious reasons to explain this.

First of all The Keymaker himself had worked much on creation of similar items. He never completed any of the projects before leaving he’s lab but still what he did meant much. On the other hand there were many other attempts of creating different artifacts capable of shapeshifting preformed by different mages in different times. As shapeshifting and artifiction always were two favorite faculties of magic for lady Jainara she had learned everything she could about all those attempts. Unlike The Kemaker lady Jainara didn’t have to devote her whole time skill knowledge power and efforts to creation of The Keys as they were already created so she could and wanted to devote all her efforts sills and talents to the work once been an interesting but not really important project for The Keymaker. Finally there were her students helping her in the work. They were extremely different from any mages of her native world including herself. Thanks to The Keys they received knowledge of perfectly trained mages and much higher personal power and magical capabilities without having any considerable experience of practicing magic. They were not thinking like the mages who had received their knowledge in more common way so the were capable to notice things come to conclusions and decisions too uncommon for the commonly trained mages. They were accustomed to a completely different world where magic wasn’t considerably developing and widely known, but there were many things completely unknown in many worlds where magic was developing wide and fast. It was very important as well.

I smile to my thoughts. Some comments I have heard from other members of The Order on those artifacts were interesting and exiting. I have no real need in any of the three artifacts creating complete Order’s Outfit as some of the members are calling it, especially staying all my time here at the base, but I just like really good equipment very much. I have all my time free till the morning so the moment is more then right to go to the artefactors’ lab and get a suitable outfit for myself. Actually I started to feel myself uncomfortable without having my Sign of Dreamer after they turned to be a common thing for the rest of The Order, but neither I nor Lucy had enough free time even just to go to the artefactors’ lab to get our Signs. Lady Jainara had to come to the IT-central herself to record necessary parameters for creation of our Signs. That moment I was so deep in my own work that I just made necessary mental efforts to let her magic through my natural defensive barriers without really thinking of what I’m doing. Now as my mind and time were free I was a bit embarrassed recalling my behavior. It was hard for me to consider it to be anything else but bad manners despite lady Jainara wasn’t offended at all. My controlled memory let me easily recall the expressions of her eyes and her muzzle the moment. There was nothing but deep understanding and a bit of lather in them. Then suddenly I thought that we could easily switch our places in the situation if for example I had come to artefactors’ lab to install some electronic equipment while lady Jainara had been concentrated on her research to create an extremely interesting and complicated artifact. She wasn’t offended as she knew the kind of state I was in that moment from personal experience and considered it to be worth respecting. The last thought makes me smile, returning full calmness and comfort to my soul.

I peak up some speed and start trotting heading to artefactors’ lab. My sense of time is telling me it’s actually night already, but it’s hardly noticeable here deep underground in the corridors and chambers lighted with white glow hawing no source visible on physical plane or with magical crystals in the ceilings glowing with similar light leaving no place for shadows. For those members of The Order spending considerable time on the base changes of day and night were having no real control over actual rhythm of their lives. Trotting along corridors of the base I occasionally meet other members of The Order walking, trotting, galloping or even flying somewhere. They either have come from a time zone where it is still early enough now or just haven’t been living the base long enough to switch to it’s underground rhythm of life independent of day and night. Total number of Order’s members is not yet really big and only some of the members are at the base now. Nevertheless after a considerable period of time then where were only me, Lucy, Seltinos and Jainara here on the base it feels more like crowded place to me now. I’m answering nods and greetings without reducing my speed just as the others are doing.

I stop at the entrance to the lab. The entrance isn’t sealed at the moment so I just walk in and look around with curiosity. I have never been here before. The lab is perfectly equipped with both magical and scientific equipment. I smile feeling satisfaction and deep gratefulness to those members of The Order who devoted their time, efforts and knowledge to install necessary scientific lab equipment. In fact they have done much more. They installed all the necessary scientific equipment all over the base. I just had to plug in the cables to connect the LAN they established on the base (with high level of skill and knowledge I must admit) to the IT-central. The lab is almost empty. There are only three members of The Order discussing something by one of the lab tables. Those are lady Jainara’s students, they are relatively yang. All three are in their default forms. Most of the members of the Order shift to their default form as they come to the base for any considerable time. For many of them it’s the only real opportunity to spend some time in the most comfortable form without risk to make big problems for themselves.

For some time I’m just standing silently watching those three around the lab table: a yang centauress, a unicorn stallion and a winged black tiger with silver stripes having the same size as the unicorn. The centauress is extremely beautiful in her both parts and absolutely naked. Her firm ideally shaped medium sized human breasts with big tight dark-brown nipples require no supporting for comfort. Lucy is much more beautiful in her default form and I doubt there is more perfect combination for a highest pleasurable sex then our default forms, but I always wanted to try some combinations in sex like fucking a mare/centauress in man and/or stallion/centaur forms. There are also many other interesting opportunities for sex experimentation for me and Lucy as we are both shpeshifters of the same kind. Time for trying something like this will come for us not to soon though. To think of something like this wide diversity of sexual pleasures mast be more desired then the intricate and most powerful pleasure we can get having sex in our default forms.

I look at the three Dreamers on magical plane. All three have different kinds of intricate and powerful natural magic in their default forms, but nothing similar transparent bodies. Their magic is in their physical bodies as it is common for many natural initially magical beings. Most part of their natural magic is concentrated in certain body parts. For the unicorn the most magical part of he’s body is the horn next are the hoofs. For the centauress those are hoofs. For the tiger those are wings, talons and fangs. All three have Signs of Dreamers on their necks, but the medallions don’t look like any sort of artifacts at the moment either on magical or on physical planes.

I walk closer to the group around the table.

• Hello, Hiroshi.

The winged tiger turns he’s head to me. He’s name is Hiroshi Minamoto. He is from Japan, extremely serious and strict as most japans (especially those from ancient samurai families) and one of best fighters and combat mages of The Order as it is now.

• Hello, Joan. Hello, WindChaser.

Centauress and unicorn turn to face me as well.

• Greetings, muster Strom, -- Hiroshi lowers he’s big black-furred head in a tiger version of perfect Japanese bow.

Centauress lowers her women torso and makes a graceful move with her forelegs in a splendid perfectly famine bow full of both women’s and mares grace. The unicorn just lowers he’s head in a stallions bow full of both respect and honor. I answer them with a dragon version of courteous bow. I haven’t made to much bows in the part of my life before I met Seltinos and Jainara but they were so accustomed to different sorts of bows that it took me very short time to get a new and strong habit as soon as I met them.

• Actually I came to ask if my Sign of Dreamer is ready and if there is any available pair of shapeshifter’s staff and robe I could take for myself.

• Everything is ready long time ago for both You and lady Lucia, master Storm, -- said Joan.

The beautiful centauress gracefully turned around and walked to another part of the lab. Hiroshi and WindChaicer turned to the lab table again and renewed their discussion of some extremely complicated matter from the faculty of artification and I just lie down onto my belly to wait till Joan will come back.

She came back in several minutes holding three items in her hands. Only one of the items was looking jus as I had expected it will. That was my Sign of Dreamer. The other two were the staff and the robe (I could even make a good guess what is what) but none of the two items was actually a staff or a robe. First item (I concluded that must be the staff) was an intricate construction of connected stripes. The stripes were made of a material looking like faceted transparent crystal. It was clear though, that the stripes are actually flexible like a sort of steel once. It was obvious that the frame should be put on my right front claw in a way. The item was looking beautiful and comfortable for wearing but there were no slightest hint of magic I could see or feel within it (at least from first glance).

The second item (that had to be the robe if my first guess was correct) was looking like a stripe made of some unusual grey metal with no signs of any lock on it. The thing was perfectly flexible and had sooth edges with no hint of sharpness. Looking at it I had a strong feeling that it’s perfectly suitable for me to wear it while I’m in my default form and size, but it was hard to make any good guess of how I should actually put it on. There were no sensible hints of magic in the item as well.

• Looks like those things were made to fit my default form with theirs.

• Absolutely right, master Storm, -- Joan was full of deep happiness and partly of silent but visible pride when she walked over to me holding the items. It was perfectly clear she was among those who developed their design.

• Actually those are standard dragon models of default appearance. Staffs and robes are not created strictly individual for each user as the Signs. They only differ in their default appearance, that is divided into several standard categories, and by the type of special magical energy used by their owner. In Your case the energy is Gray Flame, master Storm.

I nodded and set on my tail to have more comfortable position to speak with the centauress as she came close to me.

• Despite not been created strictly individual the items can actually be used only by their first owners. To use them You mast first attune them to the magical objects within Your magical body granted to You with the spells Your Key had created for You. Only after You will attune the items You will be able to feel and use them as magical and You will be the only one capable to do it.

It was hard to hold my mouth shat listening to her words. I wasn’t paying much attention to the faculty of artification so far so I had very few experience in it but I had the knowledge and skill in it granted to me with the second spell from The Key Book. They were more then enough to clearly understand how difficult it was to create the artifacts and how powerful and complicated they were.

• The sort of extra close attunement can make owner of these thing considerably vulnerable as he may be attacked through the items.

• The items have strong and complex magical defense for them selves in addition to other properties. Braking it through is much more difficult then supporting it unbreakable for any attacks. Even in the worst case if the defense is broken through the only thing the attacker can actually do in most cases is destroying the items themselves. He can’t take over control on the items as they aren’t attuned to him and can’t attack You through magical channels connecting the items with You as most of the time there aren’t any of them. If You have created any connections You can always remove them and it will be much easier and faster for You to do it then for the attacker to hit through the channels.

She handed me my Sign of Dreamer. I took it by narrow stainless steel chain intended for wearing it, opened a small but strong lock on the chain put the chain around my neck and locked it. The chain slide down my neck and the medallion takes it’s place on my chest right where it will look suitable despite my position (upright or on all four). The chain will be a bit too long for the medallion to lie in the most right place if I shift to my human form but it’s not a big problem. Joan smiled.

• Looks nice.

I smiled as well.

• Thank You, my lady.

She handed me the stuff. I took the intricate thing in my claw trying to think out a way to put it on. Centauress smiled again and showed how to open intricate locks, completely invisible in locked position. I put the intricate frame of flexible crystal stripes on my right front claw and lock it, then I start mowing my claw. It is perfectly comfortable. I can feel anything on my claw only concentrating on the task.

• Perfect, -- a masterpiece of design.

Centauress hands me the grey metal stripe of the robe. She is obviously pleased with my words. Now when I know what to look for I quickly find and open a lock connecting two end of the stripe, but how should I wear it.

• Put it behind Your wings then let the ends of the stripe go forward between Your body and Your front fourlimbs then up over Your shoulders and lock the ends together behind the base of Your neck, master Storm, --Says Hiroshi.

He turns around to face me. Now I can see a similar stripe hiding in the black-silver fur on he’s chest. Unlike mien Hiroshi’s stripe is black. I can actually see it only where it crosses silver stripes on he’s fur. The stripe is going from between he’s body and he’s front fourlimbs over he’s shoulder’s behind he’s neck. Hiroshi turns again and spreads he’s left wing. The stripe is going behind the bases of he’s wings. I nod in appreciation.

• Domo arigato, Hiroshi san.

The winged tiger nods and turns around to continue he’s conversation with WindChser.

I turn to Joan with a smile.

• Looks like the robes’ default appearance can be customized to a degree after all.

The centauress smiles as well.

• Color alteration is a small adjustment, master Strom. It requires no considerable efforts on creation of the item.

She puts her hand on her mare shoulder just below the line where her women part connects to the mare one. Now as she shows me where to look I can see the stripe of her robe going from behind her woman’s torso between her front legs and her mare’s chest over her mares back. The stripe is of the same bright-brown color as her mare’s fur. It’s hardly noticeable not knowing where and what to look for. I nod with a smile, then I put the stripe behind my wings then under my front fourlimbs and over my shouldes to finally lock it’s ends together behind the base of my neck. Not bed – simple and comfortable. The position won’t let the stripe slide of my body. This thing is just as imperceptible over my body as the frame on my claw.

Joan smiles and nods in satisfaction.

• Now You have a full outfit of The Order’s member, master Storm. I think I should instruct on the process of attuning Your staff and robe for Yourself for You not to waist Your time on exploring the artifacts and finding the proper method Yourself.

• I would appreciate that, my lady.

The centauress smiles and stats explaining me details of the process.

It turns to be easy, logical and quite simple when knowing how actually it must be done. I decide to begin with my staff. This incredible magical item is mainly made of many different magical crystals combined and melted together to make one indivisible whole. The centre for this intricate combination of magical crystals is a Domain Crystal of Grey Flame and for the external shell enclosing the combination of crystals to hold them in their places protect and make the item one sihftable whole is used a very unusual magical substance none as the ‘Shifting Crystal’. It was created by one of lady Jainara’s students and has very impressive capabilities those can be called priceless for creation of shiftable items. As The Domain Crystal gives the staffs owner additional magical power an extra deep and featured control over all the crystals forming the stuff and their magical capabilities through the connection used to support the crystal active so the Shifting Crystal enables the owner of the stuff to shift it’s form mass and material using he’s shapeshifting abilities the crystal is attuned to. In fact magical capabilities of the staff turn to be a part of it’s owner personal magical capabilities and it’s shiftable substance turns to be just another part of the owners shiftable body. Unlike The Domain Crystals and Shifting Crystal themselves the staff as a whole changes it’s properties in a certain way as the magical bindings with it are established by a mage for the first time. The change makes the capabilities of control over the staff stronger and wider for the particular mage, but at the same time it makes the staff complete useless for anyone else.

I reach the staff the same way I would do to turn a Domain Crystal of Grey Flame active supporting it with my personal magic, but unlike the case with just a Domain Crystal I reach the staff simultaneously with my astral and transparent bodies to see if the staff is capable of fully attuning itself to the double nature of my personal magic.

The crystal frame on my right front claw starts glowing with Grey Flame like a Domain Crystal. Now I feel my staff as an intricate and perfectly balanced system of numerous magical crystals with their magical capabilities bound to the Domain Crystal I reached. In the particular case the bounds are closer much more featured then it would be in a similar magical system created in a more common way. I clearly feel the change in the magic of my staff as it attunes to my personal magic. Just as I expected the magical system was perfect and flexible enough to properly attune to both parts of the magical bound I established with it.

Now as I feel the staff I reach it with my shapeshifting abilities through the bound I have just established. At the same moment I do it I start feeling the staff as a part of each of my three shells: astral, transparent and physical. Feeling and capabilities of the new part are different from those of the rest of my shells’ parts, but the new part is under my full and complete control just as the rest of them. I’m fully attuned to my shifting mage’s staff.

I try to feel and understand the whole range of it’s capabilities by performing a sort of quick check, but it’s pretty the same as trying to understand the whole knowledge from the ‘magic book’ in my memory all at once without ‘reading’ it. It seams possible in theory but turns to be impossible to accomplish as an actual action. Nevertheless, just as with the ‘magic book’ I can understand and use some things from the first moment.

The intricate magical system of the stuff actually has several subsystems (the division is purely theoretical and can be used just for classification as the whole system has extremely strong integration).

The first subsystem enables the staff to be a perfect instrument for a mage. It is intended for controlling supporting focusing and enhancing any most complex and powerful magic. The stuff can easily support high number of most intricate magical pendants or be a controlling anchoring and supporting object for one or even several big and complex magical systems. In fact it can provide all necessary stuff support for almost any most complicated magic.

The second subsystem is intended to defend the stuff itself making it invulnerable for any magical threats. The system can also be used to provide additional magical protection to the staff’s owner.

The third one is a stealth subsystem effectively hiding magical nature and power of the staff from anyone except it’s owner. Like the protection subsystem it can also be used to provide cover for the staff’s owner.

The last subsystem of the staff is based on it’s shell formed of Shifting Crystal. It is intended for shifting staff’s properties on physical and magical planes and for protecting the item from any physical threats.

All subsystems of the staff are mainly empowered by The Domain Crystal, but there is a vide variety of possibilities to empower them in different ways at need.

I easily shifted my staff, smiling with a bright smile of deep happiness known to any engineer who ever received a pricy and complicated device of perfect design been extremely useful in he’s work and capable of widening the range of accomplishable tasks many and many times. Shifting the staff was just as easy and natural as shifting my own body.

The crystal frame on my right front claw gradually changes it’s form. It transparent substance gathers itself in my palm and then sprouts from it up and downwards forming an eight-angular faceted crystalline staff with cone tips of medium sharpness. The stuff is still glowing with Grey Flame. It’s diameter is just right to be perfectly comfortable for me to hold it and the length is matching my height then I’m standing on my hind fourlimbs in my default form and size. The lower end of the staff is touching the flour. I rest some of my weights on my front fourlimb holding the staff. The item easily stands the pressure. Actually it seems much easier to break the stone flour of the lab despite all the magic reinforcing it then to break the staff. Feeling the power and intricate magical capabilities of the item is a pleasure hard to describe. In fact the only stronger pleasure of the same kind I know so far is feeling my personal magical capabilities.

• Now I can see, the thing can actually be a staff, my lady.

Saying that to Joan with a smile she answers, I shift my staff back to it’s default form. Now it is time for my robe.

I reach the item the same way I did with my staff and send a flow of Grey Flame through the bound empowering the item. Now I can feel it’s intricate magic, just as it was with the staff. I reach the item with my shapeshifting abilities to finish attuning it.

Despite having a changed version of ‘Shifting Crystal’ as it’s frame substance the robe is an item created in different way and for different tasks then the staff. The item doesn’t have a source of magic in it. Deferent parts of it’s magic either should be empowered by robe’s owner or don’t require empowering to perform their functions. The robe can be used as an anchoring controlling and support object for magical pendants and magical system in similar way and at similar level as it is with the staff. It also can be used to store big amount of different magical energies just as the stuff can be. The rest of the robe’s functions is different.

One of two main proposes of the item is shifting. It works in considerably deferent way and has different capabilities then the shifting of the stuff, despite having the same main principle (the items is felt and controlled by it’s owner as a part of he’s shiftable shells).

The second main propose of the robe is defending it’s owner and itself from any physical and magical threats as well as hiding itself and it’s owner from physical and/or magical detection. The functions of the item are extremely complicated and powerful. They are also highly controllable and can be easily configure to perfectly suit nearly any particular situation.

Until I have my Order robe on me I have no need of any additional stealth or defense magic in most situations. Nevertheless magic of the robe is perfectly suitable to be used as an element of extra powerful integrated defense system including also defensive capabilities of Order staff and those supported by myself. It is nearly impossible for me now to imagine anything capable of braking through the defense on maximal level of intricacy and power possible for it, or a situation where the level of defense can be real necessity, but just having the capabilities is a much bigger pleasure for me then using them to defend myself been in a danger of comparable level.

With a smile of deep satisfaction I dismiss all my stealth pendant-spells and the alert mental pendant. Supporting them either in active or all the more inactive state wasn’t anything difficult for me but having the bit of my magical capabilities I was using to do it free again is still a pleasure.

I start to think over an idea of a suitable combat outfit for my default form to be created using my robe. The idea came to me from memories of the Istaria game world. Dragon characters in the game are using different types and levels of plates called ‘scales’ to cover their own scales for extra protection and magical benefits.

After a few moment of thinking over the idea I start shifting my robe trying to turn it into suitable dragon armor. The grey stripe of my robe starts widening. It’s substance is gradually covering my body. It‘s shape is changing in the process forming a new layer of scales resembling the appearance of my own once. Joan is silently watching the process, looks like she have never seen anyone else in The Order doing something like this.

When my whole body including wings and eyes (scales covering eyes are bulging and transparent) is covered with external scale armor I lover to all four bending to the left to stand aside of Joan standing close in front of me.

I start walking to a biggest arrear of free space in the lab I can see from my position. The armor covering my whole body is completely imperceptible. I can feel and control it as a magical item but I have to fully concentrate my attention to feel it on my scales and wings. A dream of a fighter, the armor is perfectly strong and reliable but I still feel myself as comfortable and free wearing it as when I’m naked. I turn around to face Joan and slightly spread my wings.

• The thing feels perfect, but I’m not really sure about my appearance at the moment, -- I say with a smile.

• You look like a dragon in a perfectly designed combat armor. In fact it is pretty impressive and nice as to my personal taste.

• I’m glad You like my design, my lady, -- I make a slight bow of appreciation. Look’s like I need a good mirror to consider my appearance myself.

The centauress smiled brightly.

• Actually we had created a very useful artifact for similar cases. It creates a very detailed mental illusion of your appearance in both physical and magical planes as you empower it with your personal magical power. Unfortunately it can’t be empowered with special magical element like for example Grey Flame. There are many different types of natural magic granted to casters by different Keys. Making the artifact based on one particular kind of the magic could be inconvenient for some members of The Order and using different kinds for one artifact or creating separate artifacts based on each particular kind would be difficult and senseless. The mirror artifact requires not much magical energy to function. Even the base level of astral body development granted to a member of The Order by the Key as he or she uses it is more then enough to empower a magic requiring much more power using personal power. Your astral body is considerably developed above the basic level, master Storm, so there is no chance You will have any problems empowering the artifact.

I smiled in my thoughts feeling deep satisfaction. I wasn’t actually thinking too much of the additional development of my astral and transparent bodies been a consequence of practicing powerful and complicated magic. I just had no time for the thoughts having too much work of both scientific and magical nature I just had to do as good and fast as possible. Nevertheless realizing the fact I can’t be actually called a novice as a mage anymore was very pleasant for me. I smiled.

• Can that thing be empowered with my personal power transformed to a neutral form or it has to be in it’s initial literally personal form, my lady?

The centauress smiled with understanding on her beautiful face. The question was natural and obviously expected. The personal magical power produced with astral body of being (not necessarily a mage a being having no proper knowledge and skills or natural features juts won’t be able to use the mana produced with it’s astral body) has unmistakable individual features determined with the being’s astral body and it’s personality. Using the type of mana to empower any magic was much the same as signing the magical activity with personal signature. It was useful in some special cases but had to be avoided in general as it could course many problems for the mage. On one hand he could be easily trekked by other mages by the ‘signature’ on he’s magic. On the other hand using the sort of mana could have a wide variety of unpleasant consequences of magical nature. There was a number of methods of converting the personal mana into different neutral forms developed to avoid the troubles.

Joan smiled.

• The artifact can be empowered with any type of neutral mana of those described as most common and standard in the ‘magic books’ grantable by The Keys, master Storm.

• Good. Where on the base is the artifact situated, my lady?

• We placed it in the chamber with the long-time structure for using Double Long Step spell. The artifact can be configured to use different methods and levels of power for detecting Your appearance on physical and magical planes and we continue to upgrade it’s capabilities. It is very useful for checking if once stealth magic is configured properly before leaving the base.

• A wise decision indeed. I thank You for help, my lady. Could, You, please bring me the outfit items for Lucy? I’m going to return to the IT-central after using the mirror artifact to check my appearance in full combat outfit so I’ll just bring the items for Lucy.

• Certainly, master Storm, -- centauress nodded and went to another part of the lab.

Waiting for her I folded my wings on my back lied down to my belly and started attentive exploring of defense and stealth capabilities of my robe using the magical connections with it. I was still keeping them established as well as the magical connections with my staff. In fact removal of those connections was necessary only in specific hostile situations. Thinking over possible configurations of my robe’s stealth and defense magic suitable for different situations I haven’t noticed Joan’s return.

• Here You go, master Strom.

The centauress was standing before me holding Lucy’s outfit items in her arms. I set on my tail and took the items with my right front claw as she handed them to me. The only deference of Lucy’s outfit set from my own noticeable at first glance was the color of her robe’s stripe. It was golden perfectly matching Lucy’s scales color. I nodded in appreciation. Joan answered my nod and walked back to Hiroshi and WindChaser still discussing something near one of the lab tables.

I shifted my robe forming a scale pocket on my left shoulder. Putting the items I was holding into the pocket I smiled. Having certain staff can make a shapeshiftr’s life even more comfortable if those items have proper capabilities. The scale pocket was big enough to store Lucy’s outfit items but still hardly noticeable on my scale armor.

I used magic of the base to teleport to the ‘step-out chamber’ as it was called by some of The Orders members. It is a medium sized round hall on intersection of several corridors. The intricate drawing of stabilized Double Long Step structure takes considerable space on the flour by one of the hall’s walls between two corridors’ entrances.

The mirror artifact I needed at the moment was placed on the flour by the same wall near the drawing. It was a big transparent crystal as high as a toll standing human it had a bit less then a foot in diameter. It’s shape was similar to a cylinder gradually shifting to a smooth-tipped cone at the top. The crystal had several big rectangular facets along the whole height of it cylinder part and several wide triangular facets on the sides of it’s cone top. It wasn’t too impressive on physical plane, but it was completely different on the magical plane. I spent several minutes just sitting on my tail and exploring the intricate magic of the artifact with the senses of my transparent body. My main emotion at the moment was deep admiration. The structure was really something on magical plane even now when it was inactive.

Finally I lowered to all four and walked over to the crystal. I sprouted a transparent tentacle from my left shoulder and touched the crystal then I created a magical pendant within my within my astral body to convert my personal mana to the most frequently used type of neutral one and empowered the artifact by directing necessary amount of my personal mana into it through the converting pendant-spell and transparent tentacle I was touching the crystal with.

On physical plane the crystal started glowing with bright white light looking like a big lighting crystal similar to those on the ceiling of the hall as it’s magic went active. On magical plane it looked much more complicated and beautiful. After studying the picture for some time, I used several more transparent tentacles sprouted from my shoulders to configure the magic properly and activate it.

The artifact created a dynamic mental illusion directed on me. When I let it through the defensive magic of my robe and then through natural defensive berries of my transparent and astral bodies I saw an illusion of a rectangular image similar to those used as screens by the data-processing system of the base. The image was floating in the air in front of the crystal and it was big enough to show myself standing in front of the mirror artifact on all four. In the illusionary mirror I could see both physical and magical planes. The magical plane looked considerably different of what I could see with the eyes of my transparent body as the capabilities of the artifact were deferent from my own, but the picture was very good even now as I configured the artifact jut to medium level of sensitivity. I could see my transparent and astral bodies in the illusionary ‘reflection’ with all the details visible to the artifact at the level of sensitivity as I had deactivated all stealth magic of my robe right after attuning it. Despite relatively short time of existence The Order already had some traditions and doing otherwise here on the base would be considered as extremely bad manners.

I looked myself all over in the ‘reflection’ of physical plane. The version of combat scale armor I shifted my robe to was looking good to my taste. At first glance I was looking like having nothing except my own scales on my body even to myself. The only features of my appearance letting easily notice my combat outfit, were on my eyes and wings. My wings, usually skinny, were now covered with scales as the rest of my body. I knew I would still feel myself fully comfortable flying with those artificial scales on my wings though. They were completely imperceptible with no concentration just as the rest of my armor.

The transparent armor scales protecting my eyes looked similar to my own second eyelids situated under the external scaled once, but they were more bulging letting me move both pairs of eyelids under them and unlike my second eyelids capable to move horizontally under the external once opening or covering my eyes the transparent armor scales couldn’t move (at list without shifting my armor to change it).

It was actually possible to notice that my body is covered with flexible armor perfectly resembling the appearance of my own scales but only with considerable efforts and concentration knowing exactly that the armor really exists.

My Sign of Dreamer lying on my chest supported with the silvery stainless steel chain lying around the base of my neck was looking perfectly suitable to.

Completely satisfied with my appearance on physical plane I set on my tail and started experimenting with the stealth magic of my robe using my transparent claws and tentacles to reconfigure the operation of mirror crystal at need. On physical plane it looked like I was just sitting on my tail in front of the crystal glowing with white light sometimes mowing my front fourlimbs like if touching and changing something invisible with my front claws.

In half an hour I stopped experimenting completely satisfied with the results. I gained enough experience to properly hide myself either on magical/physical planes or on both at once without wasting even a moment on thinking how to do it using capacities of my robe.

I shifted my robe almost to it’s default stripe like form. A patch of it’s grey metal-like substance with a pocket on it was still covering my left shoulder. There were two stripes of the same substance holding the pocket-patch in place. One of the stripes was going in circle around my left front fourlimb and other one was going from the patch to the main stripe going over my left soulder.

I spent some more time before the mirror artifact to be sure that there is no need for my whole body to be covered with my robe for it’s magic to hide and defend me properly. Actually I knew more then enough to have no doubts about it but I always proffered checking important things rather then jus rely on my knowledge about them.

Then I deactivated the mirror artifact pulled in all transparent tentacles back into my transparent body dismissed the mana-converting pendant-spell lowered to all four turned around and started walking at medium fast rate heading back to the IT-central and feeling myself even more calm and comfortable then before. The three items of full Order’s outfit were not only a powerful addition to my personal magical capabilities they were also a symbol. Wearing them by full right I’m not just a person with considerable knowledge skill and powers of magic granted to me by The Key, not only a shapeshifter and owner of powerful magical artifacts, I’m a mage of The Order of Dreamers, system administrator of The Order and of all it’s members borne in this world I’m a member for longest period of time.

Only now walking on all four in my default form along corridors of the base in full outfit of The Order’s members and answering greeting of other members of The Order having different default forms and natural magic but wearing same outfits as mien I fully realized that The Order turned from just an idea into real and powerful organization.

My thoughts of the power of The Order were happy and calm. I don’t know if it was a result of The Keymaker’s intentions and efforts or there were some other reasons, but all I knew about already existing Keys and about the ways and methods allowing to create new ones was leaving no doubts that anyone able to use a Key doesn’t and won’t have evil desires and intentions. All the power The Order already has and all it will gradually gain in future as new members will join it’s ranks, can help people of this world and protect them or just be used to help and protect members of The Order but it will newer be used for evil and harm. The statement is much more reliable then any other I know as it is determined not by intentions of The Order’s leader or members but with the extremely powerful magic o The Keys all power and existence of The Order are based on.

When I entered the IT-central, Lucy was already awake. She was typing something on the main keyboard looking at the central screen of her workplace, been obviously well rested and happy.

• Hello, my beautiful lady, -- I said with a happy smile walking to my workplace at the main terminal.

• Hi, -- Lucy also smiled without interrupting her wok.

She was glad to see me, she just knew that I won’t be offended if she won’t interrupt her work turning her head to me.

I lie down onto my belly in my workplace and cover her with my wing. Lucy nods slightly in appreciation. She likes this dragon sign of affection and care. I activate my workplace and start helping Lucy.

As we finish with the portion our duties on monitoring moderating and maintaining both open and covered sites of The Order I take out the Lucy’s outfit items. We discuss them for some time admiring the incredible creations of best artefactors of The Order. I shift my robe and staff demonstrating their capabilities to Lucy. She tells me she likes the combat scale armor and the form for my staff I designed myself as I show them to her. It means a lot for me. Lucy is an artist she is much more talented and skillful in appearance design then I. Her recognition for a design is a thing to be proud with for it’s creator.

Then I show her how to put on the frame of her stuff and the stripe of her robe and instruct her on attuning the items to herself. She shifts her outfit items to staff and armor of my design to experiment with their shapeshiftig abilities. When I ask her why she is not trying any other forms she answers that the items are perfectly suitable in their default for just wearing them on the default form of her body and the forms I designed for them are best instrumental and combat forms matching her default form in her opinion. She will try other forms for them when she’ll be in a mood for shifting to some other form herself, but it won’t be now. Then she shifts her staff and robe to their default form. I also shift my robe to it’s default form as I don’t need the pocket-patch on my left shoulder anymore.

We start experimenting with stealth and defense magic of our robes. It is much more interesting now when we are doing it together. On one hand we can use our personal magical capabilities to check the actual quality of defense and stealth cover of each other changing configuration of our robes’ magic and that is many times more reliable then all the capabilities of the mirror artifact. On the other hand we can discuss what we are doing and just share our pleasure of experimenting with the splendid magical items.

Then we start discussing different things and cases where our outfits would be really useful and different ways to use them in the situations.

We just lied back down to our bellies after taking a good look on Distant Speech engravings on Signs of each other to know their key features and be able to contact each other using them, when I got a signal from magic of the base. The Earth elemental hanging in the wall of the IT-tunnel with the nearest main fiber cable had detected humans in the tunnel. It was down outside already.

Using magic of the base and senses of the Earth elemental we were watching as the IT-engineers connect the cable leading to the base to the repeater and then leave the tunnel. Senses of the elemental gave us enough information to know, that the engineers were puzzled to a degree on seen a fiber cable hanging from tunnel’s wall with no usual signs of a channel lied and sealed with scientific methods around it, but definitely not enough for it to be a matter of concern for The Order.

I configure the controlling spell-system for it to return the Earth elemental back to the external perimeter of the base, let it through the magical defense using my rights of control to give necessary commands to appropriate parts of the base’s magic, lead the elemental to it’s standard waiting place within the base perimeter, order the elemental to wait for the next order in the place and finally switch itself to just supporting the elementals and awaiting for farther commands.

Then I start testing all systems of the IT-central and the so long awaited fiber cable connection. When I’m fully sure everything is fully and reliably functional I download all the custom data from hosting arrears of both open and covered sites of the order and load the data into the versions of the sites hosted in the system of the IT-central. Those sites are mostly exact copies of the remote hosted sites for the latest moment. There were some differences in the local version of the covered site of The Order. Those were descriptions and explanations about the new capabilities the fully functional and connected IT-central of The Order’s base is providing to The Order and to each of it’s members. There were also rules of using the new capabilities worked out during long discussions on the remote hosted version of the site. The information won’t be any news for the users as the change of The Order’s capabilities in the net the moment the IT-central of the base is properly connected was longed discussed and awaited.

The work requires short time as I prepared the system of IT-central to the operation some time ago and both systems involved it the data transfer are connected to well maintained main lines with fiber cables.

As the operation is complete I activate ‘Dragon Senses’ and ‘Dragon Scales’ systems. Using them I make necessary changes to make the old URLs of both sites of the order lead to the new location. The switch of hosting servers is now complete. I send an order to one of IT-engineers maintaining the server formerly used to host the sites to remove and destroy the HDDs the sites were hosted on. The order may sound strange in many circumstances but not in the particular case. The server is used by WaveRider’s firm to store their most secret and valuable data so orders of the sort are considered common by the personal maintaining the server. Using my direct rights provided with my occupation at the firm I warned the personal some time ago that the order has to be expected.

I receive conformation that the order is received understood and it’s realization is started.

While waiting for conformation that the task is accomplished, I configure ‘Dragon Senses’ and ‘Dragon Scales’ systems for them to perform the longtime routine tasks I have received requests for from members of The Order along with general task of providing complete protection from all types of IT-threats for the system of the base itself and for the computers all over the net considered worth defending by members of The Order. At the same time Lucy is sanding E-mails with notifications and password generating spells providing access to the covered site of The Order through the new security system and access to the ‘Dragon Gates’ interface for all members of the order. As the E-mails are sent she makes final configurations to an intricate program she designed for performing routine operations on monitoring maintaining and moderating of both sites of The Order. The program is using both scientific and magical capabilities of the system at the IT-central. The intricacy of problems it can solve on it’s own is of the same level as those in capabilities of ‘Dragon Scales’ and ‘Dragon Senses’ systems.

When ‘Dragon Scales’ and ‘Dragon Senses’ systems are configured for the current list of tasks they mast perform I activate ‘Dragon Gates’ interface and begin testing of all the three systems. Lucy activates her program and starts testing it.

In two more hours I receive conformation from IT-engineers at WaveRiders firm. My order is accomplished.

• Looks like this thing is really capable of what I expected it to be and it is even more stable then I expected, -- says Lucy turning to me from her screens with a perfectly happy smile on her beautiful muzzle.

I answer her with similar smile as all my test are complete and results are considerably better then I ever expected. In fact from the moment the system can work on it’s own for some time.

• Same here, looks like we finally have some free time just for us two, my lady.

Lucy smiles.

• Hope so, and the only place I can think out for us to have some rest from our duties is somewhere outside the base.

• Well, not necessarily outside, my lady, in fact I have some other suggestions. I’m sure You will find them interesting, -- I say to Lucy with a smile been a clear suggestion itself.

She smiles in similar way.

• I can count all your suggestions using talons of just a single claw, you lustful dragon. I have similar set of suggestions myself just for a bit later time. I feel that if we will leave the base for some time before ‘discussing’ the suggestions we’ll have much more pleasure.

After thinking over her words for several moments I nod slowly in agreement. I know she is right. Been a female and a talented artist she has much faster and deeper understanding of things then it comes to emotional matters then I have myself. If we’ll spend some time outside of the base in our human forms been surrounded by ordinary people before returning here and devoting a considerable period of time to most intricate and powerful sexual pleasures after shifting back to our default forms it will sharpen our sense and the pleasure of using the wide capabilities we have now in many times. It may look not too nice from some points of view, but nevertheless it’s true. A trip out of the base will sharpen the feeling of our difference from the majority of people and it will be very pleasant as the difference is a great happiness and pleasure for both of us. I hope some day all true dreams of people will be harmless enough not to ruin each other on their fulfillment and I hope the day all the dreams will come true. I hope we will find a way to help turning things in this world that way and that the united power of The Order will be enough to accomplish this task. This hope gives calmness and support to my soul just as the hope that my true dream will come true some day was supporting me before for many years of my life.

I disconnect and turn of my satellite phone then use magic of the base to teleport it back to my backpack still lying in our sleeping chamber. We haven’t been using the chamber ever before but now I’m really glad we have it as our private territory. With so many persons on the base as it is now no other place here looks or feels suitable for just having lots of good sex.

I incast the key fragment from the Distant Speech spell on my Sign into appropriate structures of the base’s magic to be able to use the Sign for remote interaction with the magic. Lucy nods watching my actions and starts doing the same. Then we spend some more time configuring the system of IT-central for it to send all occurring warnings and notifications to us using magic of the base and our Signs.

• I hope with my hart and soul it won’t be necessary, -- I say to Lucy checking my configurations.

• Me to, -- she answers with a smile checking her part of the settings.

Then we deactivate our workplaces at the main terminal of the IT-central stand up to all four and go out of the hall walking shoulder by shoulder close enough to touch with our bodies. I feel tender skin of Lucy’s wing with scales on my flank as my own wing is still covering her back.

We pass the magical barrier sealing the entrance to the IT-central and I use magic of the base to ‘turn off’ the crystals lighting the hall. Now it is lighted only with blinking colorful lights of numerous indicators on scientific equipment.

We walk slowly along corridors of the base heading to the ‘Long Step Chamber’. We answer greetings of those members of The Order we meet on our way. Many of them congratulate us with successful accomplishment of the complicated and important task we were working on. They smile looking at us with expressions of friendly joy and understanding in their eyes.

As we come into the ‘Long Step Chamber’ there is no body else in it. We walk to the mirror artifact. I activate and configure it to ‘reflect’ both of us. When I see the ‘reflection’ I start understanding why those whom we were meeting on our way here were looking at us in the way they were. The image ‘reflected’ by the mirror artifact is full of perfectly clear and deep affection care and love we feel for each other. For some time we just stand looking at the ‘reflection’ with perfectly happy smiles on our muzzles. Then we standup on our hind fourlimbs and start our shifts.

I watch with great admiration as our bodies grow smaller, our necks and muzzle grow shorter. Our wings pull into our shoulders and our tails in our backs. Our limbs and bodies gradually change their shapes and proportions assuming those of our human form. Our scales sink in our skin as our shifts com near to their endings but we are not naked. Together with our bodies we were shifting our robes and staffs. It felt most easy and natural as the three shifts were preformed as three perfectly synchronized parts of a single process.

We stand just as close as before and the image reflected by mirror artifact is full of the same emotions, but we are in our human forms now and our robes are shifted to human clothing.

Lucy is dressed in her favorite dark-blue jeans suite with numerous flat pockets. It perfectly fits her toll slender body outlining it’s perfect shapes. Her feet and ankles are covered with toll black tactical boots created by Adidas for one of German special task force squads. The boots are compact enough to look suitable for a female. Lucy’s staff is now looking like an intricate and extremely beautiful bracelet: a massive tore formed with numerous narrow stripes of transparent cut glass twisting in intricate three-dimensional pattern. The bracelet looks perfectly suitable on the bronzed skin of her right wrist. Her Sign is lying on her chest under her clothing.

I’m also dressed in my favorite human clothing -- a full army-style tactical outfit painted in standard camouflage pattern: shirt pants and jacket with numerous pockets and gears for hanging tools and equipment. My feet are protected by a pair of best and most expansive tactical boots I know of for now. No doubts my outfit is not as stylish as the one Lucy sifted her robe to but it is perfectly comfortable for my body and soul when I’m in my human form. My Sign is lying on my chest under my clothing and my staff is now a massive eight-angular bracelet made of polished stainless steel enclosing my right wrist. The bracelet is strong and heavy enough to stop a swords blade.

In our human forms dressed in human clothing we still look perfectly together. Lucy is an image of slander famine beauty mixed with dexterity and strength. My toll and muscular body is full of strength, swift dexterity and calm confidence of a perfectly trained martial arts fighter.

Again we spend some time just standing before the mirror artifact exploring our ‘reflection’, then Lucy nods in full satisfaction with our appearance on physical plane. I deactivate the mirror artifact. We turn to face each other and star configuring stealth and defense magic of our robes checking results for each other.

As our defenses are configured properly I use magic of the base to teleport all leftovers of cash and my credit card from my back pack to one of my pockets. There is not much cash but it won’t be a problem. I receive a considerable salary on my current occupation at WindRider firm. The salary is a part of my cover as well as the employment itself but it is real and I have full right to use it for my needs, especially now as all computers belonging to the firm are protected with ‘Dragon Scales’ system and the ‘Dragon Senses’ system is finding collecting and analyzing information on several WaveRider’s requests. I haven’t been using any money spending all my time on the base so there is a considerable sum on my bank account. It was all the same with Lucy but her credit card was at her apartment. Anyway I always preferred to pay for two when we were together.

We walk to the Double Long Step structure. I take Lucy on my arms standing on the magical drawing. She embraces my neck and we smile to each other. The situation is similar to those the day I brought Lucy to the base using different version of the same teleportation spell.

I sprout a tentacle from right shoulder of my transparent body (it shifted as well as my physical one and still resembles it’s shape) touch the spell-structure with it and direct a flow of Grey Flame through the tentacle empowering the Double Long Step spell. Then I make a single short step forward out of the magical drawing.

This time the teleportation feels much more comfortable to me. The process itself hasn’t changed but there are many other things that had. My experience as a mage I gained practicing different types of magic make the efforts needed for the sort of teleportation to be much farther below my current possible maximum so the teleportation feels much easier. Lucy feels perfectly comfortable in the magical nothing and nowhere during the Long Step as now she is an experienced sorceress herself and it gives calmness and comfort to me.

I step out to the physical plane of the world in the center of the same room in my apartment where I was casting my Key. It was less then half a year ago but for me the time feels much more like several ages. The room is full of bright and surprisingly warm sunlight. It is late autumn but the particular day looks much more like one from the very middle of summer.

Lucy jumps of my hands and starts circling around the empty room in a sort of graceful dance. I laugh full of joy and happiness watching Lucy and feeling the same emotions in her soul.

We leave the room and then my apartment holding our hands together. We walk along the corridor then into the elevator. Most people are at work. We meet no one on our way from fourteenth flour to the first. We leave the building and walk in relaxed manner along the narrow asphalted sidewalk heading for the bus stop.

For the first time in my life I walk on a street having all my personal magic active. Everything surrounding me feels strange unusual and even wrong. After spending a considerable period of time been constantly surrounded with powerful and extremely intricate magic of both the base and the IT-central I’m strongly accustomed to feeling high density of different magic on the magical plane of the world around me. Here magical plane is almost empty there are only natural magical flows and structures no traces of any mages’ activities in it. The mental plane on the other hand is most similar to an enormous, heavily boiling caldron and the potion boiling in it is the strongest poison I have ever seen. Sorrow and regrets disturbance and anger, sadness and pain of all and every possible sort are the main background. Any positive emotions are rear and mostly short. They are like sparks of golden fire quick dieing in the black poisoned background. I suppress most senses of my transparent body almost to zero sensitivity trying to save some of my own happiness and good mood. I look at Lucy. She suppressed most senses of her transparent body as well. She smiles to me. Her smile is still beautiful and full of love but now it is also sad. I answer her smile having no doubts my own smile looks pretty the same. Lucy squeezes my hand lightly with her fingers looking for reassurance and mental comfort. I do everything I can do without using magic to give them to her. There maybe no trace of other mages’ activities around but using any magic here still feels very risky. Our robes easily hide magical capabilities we have within ourselves but any magic thrown outside is another matter.

Despite perfectly pleasant weather the world around us feels and looks perfectly grim. Every object around us created by humans is actually more or less damaged. Buildings and other smaller structures, cars and fences asphalt under or feet and everything else looks old tarnished and very dirty. Any vegetation is weak and heavily suppressed by the surrounding, but the most unpleasant thing to look at, are the people. They are just a perfect reflection of the poisoned background of local mental plane. They have no time to think or feel. The whole life for the majority of them consists of one endless straggle to get enough money just to support their farther existence for the same straggle. Those who are capable of the straggle consider themselves lucky ones as there is nothing else in the life and the only alternative to the straggle is complete and total despair.

There are no traces of beauty in their common appearance as they have neither any desire nor real capabilities to change it for better.

We took a bus ride then metro. We were not attracting any attention neither sitting in a bus nor as we walked in the flows of crowd at the metro station. We were looking perfectly health unlike most people around us and our clothing were much better then those of common level but it wasn’t something attracting to much attention. There were a considerable number of people with similar features of their appearance. Their number wasn’t big but enough to let me and Lucy be just one pair of many with certain type of appearance. Our magical capabilities were perfectly hidden with our robes and most of our joy and happiness unusual for the surrounding was already wiped with it from our souls.

Nevertheless there were certain pleasant thoughts and feeling for me as well as for Lucy while we were sitting side by side on a sit in a metro car. The feeling was deep and strong pleasure of extremely sharp and clear realization of my magical power and capabilities as well as the unbreakable safety and supreme advantage they were providing to me and Lucy in any hostile situation possible in the surrounding that was the only one I knew for my whole life until as recent as less then a half year ago. For the firs time in all the half year period I was feeling no usual discomfort in my human form. I finally fully realized that despite having again a form similar to the one I was born in my sapeshifting abilities as well as all other magical capabilities are still with me. I realized as an unchangeable fact that as long as the knowledge granted to me by The Key is with me I’m a shapeshifting grey dragon a mage of the Magic of Knowledge and an adept mage of Grey Flame and Magic of Forms despite any particular form or any configuration of my personal magical capabilities I may have to assume accommodating some surrounding or situation. I spent some time considering any situations I could think of when I could have lost the knowledge as a result of something. It took me not too long to come to conclusion that there is no real possibility for the particular knowledge to be lost for me. There were plenty of different situations leading to loss of some or even all of my memories, but the information granted to me by first and second spells from the Key Book appeared in my memory in completely deferent way then any other memories. The information was actually bound to my identity and as long as I exist it will be with me. I smiled to myself at the thought. The Keymaker definitely knew how to defend what he had created from any possible threat. Another thought that gave me a big wave of pleasure was that Lucy has similar package of information bound to her identity in the same way and she will be able to defend herself in any possible situation.

From the very moment the thoughts came to me my emotions and thoughts about everything around me had radically changed. The grim surrounding was unable to suppress me anymore, I was perfectly calm. There was nothing in it to be pleasant for me but Lucy was with me. She was the lady of my hart my love and my best friend in whole actual existence and anywhere in the flow of time. As long as she is with me I’m the most happy of all existing beings. I realized it as sharp and clear as never before. In fact till the moment I never even suspected that the level of realization actually exists. Holding Lucy’s hand in mien I came to a new state. Perfect happy and calm it is absolutely invulnerable for anything but a direct threat to me or her. Some people say that it is the common state for deep and true love. I agree that without such love it is absolutely impossible but I have very strong doubts the state is reachable unless the love is not protected with capabilities of the same level as those granted to me and Lucy by our Keys. Looking at Lucy on magical and mental planes I was clearly seen that she is going along the same chain of thoughts and conclusions. At a moment the process was over with same result as it was for me. I smiled. It wasn’t any surprise our love and friendship were to true and strong for it to be otherwise.

We left the metro train on the central station called Krestchatik. We easily went through the flowing crowd on the station been no more depressed by our surrounding. It was perfectly bright and warm autumn noon when we came out to the surface. Walking on the asphalted sidewalk of the main street in ancient capital of our home country we were getting used to the whole depth of the new emotional state we had found for ourselves.

Then we set down on a bench under a very old and big chestnut tree to discuss the result of our trip out of The Order’s base. I suggested that achieving our current state was it’s main and only goal, as it was impossible for us to go along the necessary chain of emotional states thoughts and conclusions without leaving the base. Lucy agreed with the suggestion. I said that been a female and a talented artist she was intuitively predicting the result of our trip without been really aware of it. And again she nodded slightly in agreement smiling to my words. Then we were just sitting on the bench holding each others hands and we were happy as we had all we actually needed at the moment.

September 12, 2008 Kiev

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