--The names of the people in this story are merely random and the events mentioned have no physical       basis.

Darkness fell over the forest as Brandon closed his eyes and knelt in the circle.  He had been making his preparations for some time.  He knew he would need all of his concentration tonight if he wanted this to work.  The circle had been cleared of all leaves and sticks, the large rock he had found had been cleaned, and it now lay holding what he would need to cast his spell.  He didn't really want to cast this spell but he didn't know what else to do.  His life had been in a shambles recently.  He had always been a mediocre student, but now his grades were slipping. The main reason for the spell, though, was a girl.  Her name was Casey and she had done something to him that no girl had ever done.  

When Brandon had realized how much she meant to him, he told her, and though she'd acted as if she cared at times, she really hadn't.  He had fallen so deeply for her he didn't know what to do now, and she was after some other guy, a friend of Brandon's.  He put up a good façade, but he was incredibly hurt.  So he had decided, after a long time of thinking, that he wanted to change.  He knew what he wanted and being the way he was wasn't going to cut it.   

He had come across this spell in a book from a friend and he thought that if it worked it would be exactly what he needed.  He did some research and waited until the moon was in the right position.  The circle was ready and as the time approached, Brandon threw a match to the fire in front of his altar.  Being made from dry moss and bark, it burst immediately into flame.  Brandon chanted for a while, describing his problems to the forces he knew were gathering in answer to his calls.  He went to each quarter of the circle and beckoned to the elementals and powers that lived there.  He bade them enter his circle and help him with his problem.  After the four quarters had been called and Earth, Wind, Fire and Water had been pleaded to, Brandon stood in front of the fire and summoned his final guide.  

His hands in the air, Brandon called to the Chaos Dragons for help.  He asked them for their power and wisdom.  In a sudden gout of flame, they arrived.  The fire jumped three feet high into the air and Brandon felt the four elements streaming into the fire as he chanted.  Sparks the color of midnight, yet gleaming with their own inner light streamed down from the sky as Brandon continued his chanting. As the dark sparks streamed down and surrounded Brandon, his eyed widened and he chanted faster.  With an audible roar the fire dimmed and was reduced to embers.  The sparks which surrounded Brandon suddenly burned deep into his skin.  Brandon screamed with pain as he felt them enter his skin, but then the pain was gone and Brandon changed. 

In his mind's eye he saw himself standing in the circle.  He stood in front of a doused fire and fell to his knees.  His hands went to his arms as they started to swell and grow.  The process seemed painful, but Brandon could sense no pain. His hands now swelled and inhuman claws ripped from them as scales as dark as night, accented by swirling colors, pushed through his skin to form a new skin.  Brandon's face altered, scales pushing through skin, bones rearranging themselves, forming a more angular jaw.  When the process was over, Brandon stood on legs that were not his own.  He looked down at what he had become. He was larger than he had been, taller and more muscular.  His hands were now talons, with dark and evil-looking claws.  His whole body was now covered in scales, dark in color, but seemingly alive as they pulsed with streaming swirls of color.  Brandon stretched and felt corded muscles ready to obey his commands.  He suddenly whirled at a nearby tree and with a swipe, destroyed that section of the tree's trunk.  With an agonized groan, almost as if the tree was appealing to some god to save it, the trunk snapped and fell to the earth with a crash that silenced the oncoming night.  Brandon let his head fall back and an inhuman scream erupted from his mouth, letting the forest know he was there.  A smile slowly crept to his lips and he knew why he had been given this power, if only for a short time.  Revenge could now be his; he could hurt those who had hurt him.  A split second later he bounded off in the direction of his town, hisbody almost invisible in the night air.  He moved faster and with more sureness than the best human could hope to obtain, but he was more than human now.  With the power of the Chaos Dragon humming in his veins, he had power such as men dream of and could use it however he wanted. Tonight he wanted to make others suffer. 

With a scream Brandon leapt out of bed and fell to the floor.  He was breathing hard and his eyes searched ever corner of his room.  What a weird dream he had just had.  He would never hurt people like that.  He had been hurt, but he didn't want revenge, did he?  He didn't think so and as he climbed back into bed he was sure it had just been some food he ate.  However, a seed had been planted in his head.  Whether or not it ever grew to maturity was Brandon's choice... but the seed had been planted.

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