Dragon Quest: Darkened Gold

Chapter Four: Nightmare

"Dad...?" Jennifer said as she had awoken in the middle of a clearing. He didn't respond, he just stayed silent. Why wasn't her dad speaking? Why was he backing away from her? She slowly walked closer to him, "Dad!" she yelled again, but when he pulled out his sword, she stopped moving. She noticed her voice was deeper and she had made a growl like sound. Her face was full of confusion. She felt a sharp pain go through her body. Her hands tingled, she looked at her hands and noticed her nails were growing longer, gaining a grey color.
"Dad! Help me!" He just stood there. Jennifer felt her back popping, it snapped into a different shape, the immense amount of pain caused her to scream. She fell onto all fours as her new backbone shape forced her. She felt her face growing out into a long snout, her mouth turning to a vertical shape yet her eyes were still on the sides of her head. Her eyes became a disgusting yellow and her teeth grew sharper. She screamed more as dark gold scales started forming on her body. Her tail bone stretched out into a long sharp tail, once she was completely changed, she was a terrifying beast. She had absolute no control of herself and padded towards her own father, her jaws opened.
"Jennifer wake up!" Jennifer jolted awake to see Warrick standing there.
"Are you ok...?"
"Yes, I'm fine..." she replied.
"Are you sure? You're sweating and you were screaming in your sleep."
"Uh, yea I'm fine I promise."
"If you say so," he shrugged and laid on the grass, staring at the stars.
"Warrick, why do people hate dragons?"
"Um, not sure if I should answer that..."
"Huh? Why?"
"You'd hate me more if I did..."
"No I wouldn't, heck if I hated you you'd still be tied to Tornic's stomach."
"Heh, fine, I'll tell you."
"Yay!" Warrick let out a sigh.
"Dad told me that long ago, dragons and humans were friends, until a betrayal. A dragon destroyed the kingdom it swore it would protect, but that swear didn't last. As time went on, more and more dragons grew scared of us as we produced new and stronger weapons they feared we would use against them and betray them back. More and more betrayals started happening till the dragons were banished, but I guess since you have a dragon they aren't banished forever huh?"
"Well...I lived in the forest where no one like you are so that makes a difference," Jennifer said slowly.
"What is that supposed to mean?!"
"I-I didn't mean to insult you I just meant that..."
"It's fine. Just, sleep," Warrick turned his back on Jennifer.
"Warrick, please?" No response. "Warrick don't make me," he still didn't respond. Without a warning, Jennifer tackled Warrick and started tickling him, Warrick was laughing.
"Ok! Ok! Stop it!" Warrick said as he laughed.
"No! Not until you forgive me!"
"I forgive you just stop!" Jennifer giggled and stopped. Tornic was just watching, interested in what was going on.
Jennifer, you should go back to sleep.
"But I'm not tired!"
"Who are you talking too?" Warrick asked, confused.
"Oh, Tornic can speak through my mind."
"Oh, huh..." Warrick seemed interested.
"Warrick...what were your parents like?" Warrick went silent for a long time.
"They weren't the nicest people..."
"How so?"
"They forced me to become a knight and abused me a lot. Part of the reason why I'm unfazed by pain."
"Oh..."
"Enough about me, what was your life like?"
"Well...when you're raised in a forest you know how to hunt a lot of different animals."
"I can see that being a thing."
"Where I was born, there was a lot of magical animals, mom was a pegasus warrior."
"What's that?"
"Someone who protects the town alongside a pegasus."
"Cool!"
Jennifer, how do you know we can still trust him? He might be using us to gain information about us, he could be a spy of the king and could report back.
"I trust him, Tornic," Jennifer said as she closed her eyes, falling back to sleep. Tornic was very worried and concerned, he didn't trust Warrick, not one bit.