The Darkness Transforming, Episode 1

A BRIEF EXPLANATION

You may remember, a while ago, I asked about an ongoing story series in the (now-defunct) poll section. This here is the first chapter. I figured, hey, let's release on the blog's first birthday, why not? It's a touch darker than my captions, and updates will probably be pretty sporadic. Will the conclusion ever actually be reached? I don't know. But hey, should be fun finding out! And so, without further ado...

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Legend has it that, long ago, a dark mage named Lord Arandon controlled a villainous regime stretching halfway across the world. It is said that a great wolven warrior named Gabriella, possessed of speed and ferocity hitherto unheard of, finally destroyed him, freeing the people under his rule. Then she got lunch.
However, the legend continues that, one day, Arandon would return, stronger than ever. And this time, nobody would be able to stop him...

Darkness was coming, and on Mount Olympus, the Twelve were convening to hear the pleas of Haruka, goddess of transformations. At the head of the chamber sat Zeus, king of the gods.
“You may speak.” He boomed, his voice like thunder.
“Thank you, my lord.” Haruka bowed her head. “As you may be aware, a shadow is falling over Earth, threatening the lives of all that which dwells there. We must not allow this to come to pass.”
“Do not let your ties to that world taint your judgement, Haruka.” responded the king. “You are one of us now. If your mortal body dies on Earth, you will simply return here full-time.”
“It’s not that, my lord. There are billions of people down there, people who we must care for. We cannot simply stand by and watch them die!”
“Might I remind you, Haruka,” spoke Hephaestus, craftsman of the gods, “that direct divine intervention has been forbidden since the Old Times?”
“Aye, and with good reason.” continued Hestia, goddess of the hearth. “We never solved more trouble than we caused.”
“I agree with Haruka.” stated Hermes, messenger of the gods, bluntly. “Something has to be done.”
“Seconded.” Ares, god of war, raised a hand. “It has been too long since I have tasted battle.”
Zeus considered the dissenting opinions for a moment before reaching a decision. “Haruka, direct intervention is still forbidden. However, you may recruit agents to act on our behalf. Hermes, you will assist her in this task. If the threat comes to Olympus, then we will act directly. Until then, do as I have said.”
Haruka bowed. “Thank you, my lord.” She turned toward Hermes, who gave a smile and hopped down from his throne.
“So,” he said. “where do we start?”

The schoolgirl witch, Kira, lay peacefully in bed, smiling at memories of the day as she drifted to sleep. The school bully, Jack, had set out on another reign of terror, which promptly ended when Kira had turned him into Jade. Just as sleep was about to engulf her, light filled her eyes, instantly awakening her.
“What the…?” she murmured. There was woman in a white dress standing in her bedroom. She almost seemed to be glowing. “Yaah!” yelped Kira, pulling her covers up over her chest, even though she had worn a t-shirt to bed anyway. “How did you get in here?”
“I am Haruka, goddess of transformations. There is something I wish to speak to you about.”
Kira’s eyes widened. “Is this about all those people at my school I turned into girls? I swear, I didn’t mean any--”
“I know. If those transformations were not intended, they would not have been permitted. I manipulated your school to make sure everyone there was a candidate for transformation. Then it was just a matter of someone finding the bunny charm that would change them, and let them change everyone else.”
“So… you want me to turn everyone at my school into a girl?”
“Yes. Make sure to get the staff, too. But this is beside the point. I am sure a witch of your power has detected something unsettling?”
Kira nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah… It’s like, there’s something troubling me, at the back of my mind, but… I don’t know what it is…”
“Come to the recreation ground at midday tomorrow. All will be explained there…” and with that, the light engulfed her and she vanished.
Kira blinked a few times. Had that just been a dream? Was it real? Maybe it was both, you never can tell where magic’s involved. She resolved to head down to the rec ground tomorrow anyway. Even if she had just been dreaming, her classmate Brad worked a little refreshment stall down there, so she could still turn him into a girl. She smiled at the thought, and rested her head down on her pillow once more.

Deep grey clouds hung ominously in the pitch-black sky over the church. Within, there stood five people, chanting, grouped in a semi-circle around a strange circular symbol painted on the floor. A sixth person stood in the centre of the circle, completely still and silent. The others stopped chanting when he held up a hand.
“I pledge allegiance to the Dark Lord Arandon.” he stated, loudly and clearly, a sentiment which was echoed by the other five. “On this night,” he continued, “as was written in the Scrolls of Arandon, my body shall become a vessel for Arandon’s glorious return to this plane, for him to do with as he sees fit.” He gestured at a series of flasks around the circle, one in front of each other member of the cult. “The potions have been prepared which will facilitate the Ascension of Arandon into true power.” Each person picked up a flask. “Now, let Arandon’s second glorious reign begin!”
The others began to chant once more, and this time something began to happen. A shaft of red light began to swirl around the circle, and it started to rise, bursting through the ceiling of the church. A figure descended through the shaft, made of dark smoke in the shape of jagged battle-armour. The figure shrank as it neared the bottom, where it was absorbed into the silhouette of Arandon’s vessel. The chanting stopped, and the shaft vanished. The vessel stood in the middle, his mind consumed.
Lord Arandon looked up.
“The potions.”
The five each took the top off of their flask and, in unison, threw the concoctions at Arandon. For a moment, nothing happened, but then there was a great burst of force, blasting the five back. Arandon was now suspended in mid-air, in the centre of a crackling bubble of red energy. Energy which began to change him.
His short black hair turned red and grew all the way down to his hips, a bow appearing atop it. His ears remained just about visible, so it was possible to see them become long and pointed as his face shrank down to become smoother and rounder. His robes became tighter and the collar broke off, gaining frills, a bow and a skull-shaped pendant. The sleeves moved off of his shoulders and wrapped around his hands, clamping tight against new, slender arms in the form of gloves. The robes constricted against his stomach, to, causing it to slim down and curve inwards. Beneath the now-tight robes, it was clear to see his hips and butt growing outwards, before the robs split and “foomphed” up into a short dress, exposing, for a second, flat red panties which made it clear that the Dark Lord had become a woman.
The little bit of robe that remained on her legs wrapped around them and slunk to her feet, becoming stockings, as her shins slimmed down and a bit of fat built up on her thighs. Her shoes turn ruby-red and shrank to fit, the heel pushing backwards. Something began to push out from the top of her head, then, hard, brown structured which curved downwards - horns. An arrow-topped tail snaked its way out from her dress, whipping around experimentally, and black, leathery wings pushed their way out of her back, at the same time as her robes began to pull on her chest, causing each side to grow a mound which was slowly pulled further and further out, becoming bigger and rounder before ultimately settling as a pair of large breasts, the low-cut dress revealing a generous amount of cleavage. The red energy gathered in her hands, becoming long and thin, eventually fading and leaving a trident clutched in her hands.
Lady Ariadne beat her wings, hovering in the air, and surveyed her new, demonic form. She smiled.

“It’s so good to be back.”

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CONTINUITY GUIDE!

 - Lord Arandon's initial defeat occurred in "The Chosen One".
 - Haruka's origin can be seen in "Sweet Dreams", and she first noticed something wrong in the epilogue of "Happiness", which begins here.
 - Kira originated in my first-ever TG caption, "Kira's Diary", which was posted here one year ago today. Woo!