The Radiant War

Chapter 22a

     Malone looked at himself in the full length mirror.

     He looked completely human. His mouth had narrow lips, a pale pink where they blended into the pale skin of his face, growing redder in towards the lines of his even, white teeth. His nose was long and straight, completely covered with pink skin, even between his narrow nostrils. His eyes had turned grey, and above them were thin eyebrows that looked as if they'd been trimmed by a professional stylist. They hasn’t been, though. It was just the way they’d turned out. His ears lay almost flat against the sides of his head, so that only their outside edges could be seen through his dense mop of dark hair, and his chin and upper lip were covered by a three day growth of stubble. He was going to either have to learn to shave or grow a beard! He hadn’t decided which yet.

     Across the rest of his body the changes were less noticeable. From the neck down he’d been almost human already, but he could still see where his back and legs were straighter than they had been before, better adapted to an upright posture, and he found himself able to walk across the room with an effortless grace he hadn’t had before. Even his feet had changed. They had fully developed arches now, and his toes were longer than they had been, the claws fully changed into nails like the ones on his fingers.

     He turned side on to the mirror, to try to see his back, and saw that the tiny stump of his tail had completely vanished. Almost all his body hair had vanished, remaining only on his head, in his armpits and around his groinal slit. Everywhere else was just smooth, bare, pink skin beneath which the lines of strong, healthy muscles could be seen.

     Benjamin watched with a smile as his former prisoner admired his naked body in the mirror. “Well?” he said. “What do you think?”

     “I look human!” said Malone in amazed delight. “Completely human!”

     “You are completely human. As a wizard, I am authorised to officially declare you human and I hereby do so. From now on, your name is Malone Hedley and you are my son. My completely human son.”

     Malone grinned despite himself. To be human! To finally, after all these years, be human! “I hadn’t expected it to happen so fast,” he said.

     “It would normally have taken a year or two,” agreed the nobleman. “I hurried it along with a blessing. It means you don't look quite the way you would have if we'd allowed the process to proceed naturally...”

     “No, no! I'm very happy with the way I look.” He turned to look back at the nobleman, then positioned himself so that he could see him and his own reflection in the mirror at the same time. “I look like you!”

     “Of course, since I’m the one you're parent bonded to. Or, I should say, the one you used to be bonded to. Now that you're human, the parent bond will begin to fade. You'll become your own man.”

     “Aren't you afraid I'll try to kill you again?”

     “Not at all. The change isn't just physical. It's mental as well. A bonded child develops a personality similar to that of his parents, and since I'm your only parent...”

     “I think like you now.” Benjamin nodded, smiling with pleasure. “I can never thank you enough for this.”

     “Thanks aren’t necessary. It was my pleasure.”

     “When I think back on why I came to your house...”

     “Our house now. You are my heir. You belong here.”

     Malone’s smile broadened. “I feel so foolish! I came here to kill you! It seemed so obvious at the time. So necessary. Now it just makes me want to cringe. I feel such a fool. So embarrassed!”