Gaffer was a very high-affinitied beast, so his transformation was a bit too dramatic.
With just one roar, cracks had spidered across the ground as Gaffer's body expanded. Scales surfaced along his arms and spine, overlapping unevenly as heat radiated from it and made the air hot and tight.
The air smelled like it was burnt—too dry, too sharp. This was how morphing worked. Especially when it was a forced one.
Linda stopped at the door which was wide open.
She looked at him and remembered how they met in the beginning.
There was no trace of panic in her face or expression. Instead of she was thinking of ways of stop his transformation.
Gaffer was too hot.
That was the core problem.
His breathing was irregular. Each exhale expelled heat faster than his body could dissipate it. Left unchecked, the transformation would complete whether he wanted it to or not.
Linda, who is in her human form gladly found her way to get a big basin.
She set down the basin that was shallow, stone-lined, and filled to the brim with water.
Her feet burned from the footwear because of the hot ground.
She was literally bathed in her own sweat just from stepping in the same air as Gaffer.
If there was a giant humidifier…. Perhaps….
She tipped it.
Water rushed across the scorched ground and steamed instantly. The sudden temperature shift made Gaffer jerk.
His sharp dragon eyes found her and he froze.
His claws dug in, tail lashing once before freezing mid-motion.
The morph stalled. Partly because the air was getting cool which was not good for his morphing. The other time he had the hot scorching sun backing him up and whole nature space to breathe fire to.
But even an ounce of cool in the air wasn't good.
Partly, seeing Linda unafraid and doing these things… it was the best chill a beast could ever feel. What human boldly shares the same room with a dragon?
Seeing the morphing was interrupted, Linda poured again, wishing there was a spray bottle or something…
This time she aimed for Gaffer's forelimbs—areas where scales had not fully hardened yet.
**Psssh! **
Steam rose sharply, but beneath it, the scales dulled rather than ignited.
Gaffer's breathing hitched.
Linda refilled the basin and lifted it higher after climbing his table, letting the water fall in a steady sheet across the ridge of his neck and down his spine.
That area reacted immediately. His wings twitched and his joints locked halfway through expansion.
Linda didn't train dragons because they were considered mythical but she read about them in fictional education books. Dragons regulated heat through their spine first.
The ground shook as Gaffer lowered himself slightly, confused by the cooling cycle interrupting his transformation pattern.
Linda slid the basin forward and nudged it closer with her foot.
Then she dipped her fingers into the water.
She traced slow, circular motions against the stone floor.
Once.
Twice.
Again.
Gaffer's breathing began to sync with it.
Heat receded and scales stopped spreading.
Linda moved closer to him at last, but only after his claws relaxed.
She poured the last of the water directly along his spine, careful not to splash his head. Dragons reacted poorly to sudden stimuli near the eyes.
The transformation failed. It was like it simply… gave up.
Gaffer's body sank heavily to the bed directly. The glow beneath his scales dimmed. His wings folded in fully this time, muscles loosening as his mass stabilized.
Linda placed her palm flat between his eyes. Gaffer exhaled deeply like he was so tired.
When his breathing evened out, Linda withdrew her hand and stepped back, watching him for several seconds to confirm stability.
Only then did she relax.
Gaffer had fallen asleep again. Just like the first time they met. In… the beginning.
****
After Linda left the room, the lead doctor came in with Scliff.
Inside the master's bedroom, Gaffer was lying on the bed. His face was pressed into the pillow, and his body still. At first glance, he did not look asleep. He looked like someone lying down, deep in thought.
No one spoke immediately.
Then Scliff said, "Lead doctor, I think you should begin now."
It had been a very long time since the master went into hibernation. Very long. In fact, many of the people present had never seen it happen before and that was because of his condition. That was why no one immediately thought he was asleep or could ever be asleep.
Scliff continued, "I was with the madam earlier. I went out to get some things. When I came back, I heard the master had gone into a rampage."
That made the scene even stranger.
Because the person lying on the bed did not look like someone who had just rampaged.
He looked a bit too calm.
Both of them thought he was simply lying there, thinking. It was common for the master to lie awake for long periods. Sleeping, on the other hand, was rare for the master.
Only the lead doctor and Scliff knew the truth about why.
The master's body was very weak. So weak that his affinity reactions no longer matched his rank.
Gaffer had the highest affinity in Scales Tribe. When someone like him morphed into their beast form, it should be instant and violent. There should be no gradual change. No delay or control.
But Gaffer's transformations had been slow after his illness.
His transformation now resembled the transformations of low-affinity beastmen. Hair replaced by horns first. Skin replaced by scales second. Partial changes before the final form. That was not normal.
High affinity with low-affinity behavior meant imbalance.
Because of this condition, the master almost never slept. He could not fully rest. It had been years—over 500 years—since he last entered true hibernation.
And now, suddenly, he had gone into hibernation like few days ago.
The lead doctor frowned. "So were telling me before that the master suddenly went into hibernation?"
Scliff nodded, "yes."
"And just now he was on a rampage, transforming to his beast form?"
Scliff nodded again, "Yes. It's obvious from the cracks on the walls and ground. But lead doctor… how can the master be lying on the bed in human form?"
According to the lead doctor's private reports, the master's condition was critical. His system was weak. His body was failing. His survival time was uncertain. That was why these reports were never made public.
Earlier, Scliff had urgently called him, saying the master's skin was no longer pale which was the result and evidence of hibernation. It is a good thing. But how? The report says it was impossible due to his condition.
And how can a beast in rampage revert back to human in calm within… just minutes?
He didn't even destroy much. Aside the cracks in the walls and on grounds, no heads were off their necks.
The lead doctor stepped forward.
"Don't ask me such questions," he said then. "Even I don't have answers to them."
The lead doctor had treated countless severe cases. Across all tribes. No other doctor in the beast world could compare to him. That was why he treated the master and the young master personally.
And yet, every time he treated Gaffer, he felt like he didn't know what he was doing. He felt quack~
One treatment worked one day and failed the next.
One symptom appeared, then vanished.
Nothing ever stayed consistent.
Ever since Linda appeared, things had become even more confusing.
The young master had changed. And the master had changed too.
Scliff knew this fact but refused to tell it to the lead doctor.
He knew the moment the rampage ended without destruction was because Linda was inside the master's room. He knew Linda had something to do with the master's calm state when Linda hopped out of the room calmly, as if nothing had happened.
But he still chose to not tell this fact to the lead doctor.
How could he explain that a small, silent rabbit—possibly defective, possibly abandoned, worthless and useless—had done something the lead doctor could not?
So he stayed quiet.
"I will go and check the master. He must be deeply in thought seeing as he didn't even acknowledge my presence. He must be exhausted of staying awake and not being able to find sleep."
The lead doctor finally reached out…..