Author's Note: This story will cover a wide range of categories, but seeing as it involves alternate worlds and dragons and the like, it will be classified as Sci-Fi & Fantasy. Just know that there will be elements of NonHuman, Group Sex, Anal, BDSM, Toys, and likely others along the way, as well as being every kind of queer your heart could desire.
I am so appreciative of the warm reception Chapter 1 received. So, with that said, I hope you enjoy...
Chapter 2: The Rules
"We need to talk."
Caroline had texted Aubrey that thirty-six minutes ago, and had not received a response. She was still curled up on her bed, unable to really process exactly what was happening to her. Between Aubrey's horns, her own now-reptilian eyes, and Xix's appearance in her dreams, she figured
something
must be happening, but she didn't know what to do about it.
She nearly flew out of her bed when the silence was interrupted by a rap on the door.
"Caroline, are you in there?" Aubrey's soft voice filled her ears.
She slowly made her way over to the door, trying best as possible to flatten out the wrinkles in her outfit which had arisen from the last six hours of slumber. She opened it a crack.
"Hi," she said, meekly, "How did you get in here?"
"Joey let me in."
"Do they..."
"No, I haven't told them anything. Can I come in?"
Caroline opened the door, and, after Aubrey had entered, she quickly shut it again.
"I'm sorry I ran out on you like that, it's just..."
"I get it. This is overwhelming, and I was being rather forceful back at work, so let's try this another way."
Aubrey sat on the edge of the bed, patted it a few times, and continued, "Ask me any questions you have, at your own pace. I won't have all the answers, but I will do my best."
Caroline sat down next to her, and sighed, before beginning with something simple. "So, magic is real, huh?"
"Yes it is, and more prevalent than you'd think."
"Yeah, there was a customer with a tiny griffin before you got in this morning. How have I never seen anything like that before?"
"Well," Aubrey replied, taking off her beanie to reveal her horns again, "Some of us are able to hide in plain sight with some careful planning, but there are plenty of ways to get people to disguise something, make people immediately forget what they saw, or simply look the other way. Soon, you'll notice all sorts of things about the world which you hadn't noticed before."
"But why hide it? Why is the world not aware of magic?"
"It wasn't always this way. Historians like to say that there is often at least some kernel of truth in old myths, it just happens to be there is slightly more than they bargained for. That's not to say that the myths are all true, but the ancients were more right than we give them credit for.
"As far as I can tell, and I'm just telling you what others have told me, things changed a few hundred years ago. Magic started retreating. Less of it sprung up, and what did spring up started being persecuted."
"Witch trials?" asked Caroline.
"Still mostly paranoia and misogyny," Aubrey replied, "but as with the myths of old, there's a kernel of truth in there."
"So, why me? Why now?"
"That's what I was hoping you could tell me. What's happened?"
Caroline chose her words carefully. "There's a dragon named Xix who I've met in my dreams and who has talked about 'awakening' me, and how it has been trying to do so for some time."
Aubrey nodded. "Many of us have some sort of patron guiding our magic. We take on traits of our patron and they take on traits of ours when we bond. I met mine about five years ago, and soon after I got my horns. I became a hat person pretty quickly after that."
"And these bonds form how, exactly?"
"Well, it all depends. There are all sorts of bonds, and that seems to be the source of your power. A lot of magic users hundreds of years ago used worship, for example. The strongest ones were always the most devout. So all you need to do is figure out what the nature of the bond between you and Xix is."
Caroline steeled herself. She figured a moment like this would have to come. She'd known Aubrey for a while now, but its not like they were close enough to just openly talk about their sex lives. She tightened her core slightly, then released it, and plunged into the discomfort.
"Well, the relationship that Xix and I have is... intimate."
Aubrey's eyebrows raised slightly, "A romantic bond? Fascinating!"
Caroline could feel her face burning, "Not... exactly..."
For a moment, silence hung in the air as the implication set in.
Aubrey's reaction caught Caroline by complete surprise. She practically shouted, "Oh, thank all the gods of the highest heavens!"