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Lava. Eti turned up her nose at the smell. Thankfully, her employer had given her a Firecloak, complete with cloth to cover mouth and nose. Without it, Eti would have died long ago. The mission, she reminded herself. Think about the mission. What was it again? Oh, right. "Find the Dragon Scale Monument, and bring me back what the tablet underneath it says." It was, perhaps, the strangest mission Eti had ever been given. She was a mercenary, and most of her employers had given her the task of killing someone, or at least doing something towards that end. But Conrad was a scholar, only interested in obscure artifacts and their long, dull histories.
Eti shook her head to clear it. Perhaps it was the sulphurous fumes that steamed up from the many vents in the volcanic cave, but ever since she had started this infernal mission, her head had been muddled and her mind dizzy. She forced herself forward, focusing all her strength on being as light and quick as possible. Some of the rock would sink slowly into the melted mass of magma under her weight, and even her Firecloak wouldn't be able to save her then. Eti had never exactly been light on her feet, so this task was especially tricky for her.
I'd much rather be swinging my sword around in the practice yard - even without a job - than this, she complained to herself. But then she looked up and saw what she had come for. A huge statue of a dragon, its wings outstretched to either side. "There you are," Eti muttered, stepping forward. What she didn't realize was that she was not alone...

Eti slowly moved forward, entranced by the unspeakable beauty and power the statue symbolized. Dragons were far from extinct, she knew, but dragons were such seclusive beings that face-to-face encounters with them were exceedingly rare. Naturally, this particular dragon lair was empty, and had been for decades. At least...
A drop of sweat slipped down the back of Eti's neck, even under the protective cool of her Firecloak. Conrad had certainly seemed certain this cave was deserted. But then, he had never even been here before, so how was he to be sure? You're being foolish again, Eti told herself firmly. If there was a dragon in this cave, you'd be barbecued already.
Nodding in satisfaction, she stepped up underneath the towering, ten-foot dragon statue. She glanced up and noticed two dark, identical stones were set into the empty eye sockets. In the glow from the lava behind her, they looked red. She shook herself, bent down, and began to read aloud the plaque between the dragon's hind claws. That was the only way she would be able to remember what it said.
"Step back, stranger, or beware the danger and beguilement of this dragon's lair. Unless you wish to stay and see the fabled trickery of me, for then I must ask you to choose what you will gain and what you will lose: Steal a treasure, choose to gain death. Walk away peacefully, suffer the Dragon's Breath."
Eti straightened up and shook her head in bewilderment. "Whatever that's supposed to mean."

Eti blinked, but almost immediately grinned. "Well, mister, you needn't be afraid of that. I don't have anything to shoot; just my sword here." She patted the wide, two-handed blade strapped to her back. Suddenly she frowned. "But surely you don't believe all this nonsense? This is an old, abandoned lair, everybody knows that. Besides," she sniffed, ignoring the tiny voice in the back of her mind that told her she was going to far. "I don't believe there are creatures such as dragons."
"Oh, you don't?" A huge voice boomed from the shadows, and a whole section of the wall seemed to drop away. But then a hulking, serpentine creature stepped into the light cast by the lava, and Eti instantly knew both she and this new stranger were dead. The dragon's scales were rather horny and black, perfect camouflage against the walls of the cave. The dragon bobbed its vaugely triangular head, stretching its long neck to get a good look at both of them. Smoke curled lazily up from its nostrils, and a green fire seemed alight in its deep, emerald eyes. "Don't even try to escape, humans," the dragon snickered, a forked tongue like a snake flicking out to taste their scents. Eti stared up in horror at the dragon, who turned its head momentarily to look straight back at her, and in that moment, she realized the dragon was female. Her voice had been so deep that Eti had been mistaken for a moment, but something in her eyes was unmistakably female.

((these dragons are almost like a mix. they're not exactly noble, per se, but they're not just domokun if you get my meaning lol. they don't like destruction, but most aren't overly friendly. they WILL take a bribe if they deem it worthy, and are usually pretty gracious when they make sure that their treasure holds - which most of them have, as a status statement more than due to greed - aren't endangered. so, our chars' lives aren't in too much danger, really ^_^))

Think, Eti, Eti told herself desperately as she felt another bead of sweat make its way down her neck. She carefully wet her lips and said, her voice slightly muffled under the protective cloth over her mouth and nose, "I'm sorry I said that, Great Dragon." She forced as much meekness into her voice as possible. She wasn't afraid of the dragon, not really, but it wouldn't do any harm to make it appear otherwise. She even cracked an apologetic grin, though the dragon wouldn't be able to see. "I was just...showing off, I guess."
"Ah," the dragon murmured softly. Softly for a dragon, that is; the rumbling in her throat echoed all around the room. "A common failing in humans, I have come to see. But pride is not an altogether unforgivable sin. Tell me, humaness, why have you come? What did you hope to attain?"
Eti glanced nervously at the dragon statue still looming above her; its eyes seemed to be laughing at her. "I've been paid to come in here and read that inscription." She pointed at the plaque in between the stone dragon's feet. "It's this scholar guy; I don't know why he wanted to know."
The dragon cocked her head slightly, her green eyes gazing at her skeptically. "And how come you to know the dragon tongue? I heard you read the words no human voice has uttered for a century, at least not in my hearing. And believe me, humaness, I have lived here in peace for much longer than that."
"Well, I'm something of a scholar myself," Eti confessed. "I like learning languages, and I managed to get my hands on a scroll that taught Dragon."
The dragon suddenly swooped her head around to face the strange man who had been lurking about as well. "And you, human?" she asked in her booming voice. "What are you questing for, that you trespass into my lair?"

"Hmph," the dragon snorted. "Pride. A failing that recurs again and again in humans, and one that both of you, though backgrounds and personalities so vastly different, share alike." She paused a moment to glare calculatingly at them both. Eti hoped she wasn't sizing them up to see who would make the better main course. But suddenly the green fire in the dragon's eyes seemed to dance, and Eti realized with a jolt that she was smiling. "Let this be a lesson to you both, humans," the dragon said in an almost laughing tone. "You have many failings besides your mutual pride. I am not able to remedy them; they must be realized and healed by yourselves. But...perhaps I can help you along."
The dragon reared up on her hind legs, towering high above their heads. Here it comes! Eti screamed in her head. She screwed up her eyes, but nothing happened for several long moments. Cautiously, she cracked one open and peeped up at the dragon. What was she doing? The dragon's eyes were closed, and her whole body pointed upwards towards the ceiling. Her leathery wings were open, brushing the sides of the cave. And then the dragon began to breathe, softly but steadily. Eti squinted in amazement. She nearly thought she could see the dragon's breath hit the ceiling and then swoop down towards the stranger and...her.
Eti braced herself, but though the dragon's breath howled around her ears, it barely lifted the strand of hair that had fallen over her eyes. It was a strange sensation; it didn't exactly hurt, but it wasn't altogether pleasant. In one strange instant, she understood the workings of fire, steam, and smoke. Something about her was changing, she felt. She couldn't tell exactly what, but something weighty had settled on her shoulders and her eyes prickled. But worse and more glorious than those physical changes was the change that seemed to take place somewhere deep inside her, in her heart or in the pit of her stomach, she couldn't tell. But something was vastly different, and she was almost afraid to discover what.

A strange humming sound filled the cavern, and the sudden, strange idea popped into Eti's mind that the dragon was laughing, though why humming should make her think of laughter, she had no idea. Her eyes popped out at Penden's bat-like wings...and scaled tail...as he approached her, and suddenly she looked behind her to find the very same features on her own body. She whipped her gaze back up to the laughing dragon. "What have you done to us?!" she croaked, pulling the suddenly-stifling protective cloth from her face.
The dragon smiled again, the green fire dancing in her eyes. "I have helped you," she murmured. "The only thanks I ask of you is that one day, when you look back on this moment, thank the old dragon Amarynth in your hearts, for I feel we shall not meet again." She gazed sadly upon them and addressed the stranger, who suddenly didn't seem all that strange to Eti. "When you have heard that I am dead, then...well, at that time you will know what to do."
Moving slowly and laboriously, Amarynth the dragon turned around and lumbered back into the shadows. A deep, echoing voice rumbled back at them, "You may leave!"

((oh, by the way, go ahead and make your scales be any color you like))

Eti barely heard him. She felt numb, cold...a very strange thing in a volcanic cave. She experimentally flexed her new, red-scaled wings with feeble, new muscles, and swished her tail a little bit. She could still feel them tingling as they grew, and if she stared hard, she could see her companion's wings growing. But then she shook her head. "What's done is done," she muttered, half to herself, and followed the man who stumbled ahead of her. She concentrated on not tripping over his - and her own - tail, folding and unfolding her wings all the while. By the time they emerged from the small alcove where Amarynth dwelt, she began to feel slightly more comfortable with her new limbs, and wistfully thought they were just about finished growing.
She turned with a small smile towards the boiling lake of lava she had crossed not too long ago. She found it strangely humorous that it was the same day, the same hour that she had heard Conrad's words and let her jaw drop in astonishment, never dreaming she would return completely changed. Still smiling a little, she turned to the man beside her and asked cheerily, "So, what's your name? I'm Etienne Titiana, but you can call me Eti." She stuck out her hand.

"What do you think I did, fly?" Eti scoffed, turning to look for the stepping stones she had used earlier. She found, however, that they had slipped under the glowing red waves of lava. "Hmm..." she mused, not overly perturbed. "Well, looks like we can't get out by walking." She suddenly grinned mischevously. "But I bet we could fly with these funky new wings of ours."