A Windy Pedestal

Ceri awoke to a sharp breeze, lifting her clothing, seeking its way towards her skin. Opening her eyes, she saw nothing but blue sky, above and all around. But she lay atop something solid at least. Shaking off the last of the grogginess, she tried to get her bearings and her memories in order. She lay on a stone square, with no walls or ceiling, surrounded completely by open sky. The pedestal beneath her was sheer marble and its depths disappeared into the clouds she now stood above. She was alone. Nothing but herself and the wind as it buffeted around her pedestal. Although her scrapes and cuts no longer bled, the wind seemed to find each and every gash, surging against it to make it flare, almost seeming to blow into each and into her very soul. The cuts were the openings the wind needed, that She needed, to create the first of the changes.

Ceri was left alone on that pedestal for weeks. She was hungry and thirsty at first, but she never starved or grew dehydrated. The wind was her only companion. No matter how much she wished to die from the loneliness of it, she could never bring herself to jump, and her body never stopped just living. Slowly, over the course of weeks, months, Ceri's body and mind were changed, molded. She became the wind. Her skin cooled, thinned, and changed from fair peach to fair gray, reminiscent of the grayish skies on a stormy day. Her lungs expanded, her blood changed, and instead of the oxygen filtering through her lungs into her blood, the wind blew through all of her body. She was the wind and the air. And all that she knew was the air that surrounded and flowed through her.

At last, She, the Lady, came to visit. Ceri was sitting on her pedestal, the wind swirling around and through her, when a glinting reflected light sparkled in a thin spot of clouds. Ceri had to blink a few times as it had been so long since she had seen something above the clouds. The glinting light flickered, moved, became more, until a very large white dragon twisted and rose out of the clouds. Ceri scampered to her feet, moving to the opposite side of the pedestal as the dragon circled and pulled up just above it, its massive wings spread wide. The dragon let its enormous taloned feet just touch on the tower, and with that light touch began to change. Its size, scales, wings, its entire body began melting away. In a whirl of shifting colors and textures that lasted only seconds, the most beautiful women suddenly stood before Ceri upon the tower. Her silver hair streamed around Her in the wind, framing Her face perfectly. Her eyes held a slight tilt, anchored up along very high cheekbones. She smiled, and a chill ran over Ceri at her expression.

"How are you, my pet? Have you been holding up alright up here? Of course you have, you're still here aren't you. And your new look, I bet my hands would move right through you." She reached out as She said that, but rather than find out the truth of that statement, Ceri stepped to the side out of reach. She was overwhelmed by this Lady, and had no idea what to expect from her.

"Oh, don't want to see the truth of your new form? Ah well, you will learn to appreciate what I have given you as I continue your transformation. That's right, you are not done, my little one. You see, although your current form is useful, the tasks you will perform need a bit more personalization. And when that is obtained, well, I want everyone to know that it was I that took them. So, you need a bit more of Me in you." And with that, the Lady grabbed Ceri's arm and dragged her off the tower. As they fell, the Lady transformed once again into the dragon and Ceri was wrapped in its strong talons. And once the ground began to close up fast, the grip loosened and Ceri fell...

...into the lion pit. It was suddenly fight or die. So she fought. She used her airy qualities to their fullest, flowing quicker than her opponents, blowing to intangible when she was overwhelmed. And she won that brawl. And the next and the next. With that night's competition won and over, Ceri was worn out. Heaving deeply, she collapsed in the arena. Two hobgoblins lifted her above their heads and took her to the top of the arena. They dropped her on a new, smaller pedestal than the one she had spent so many months upon. This one, was just big enough for her to stand or sit upon, with little movement. They sat her up, positioned her, told her not to move, then left. Exhausted, she struggled to hold this position, but it was not long before she fell. Wind buffeted her back to the pedestal, while searing pain racked through her. The pain continued until she regained the position. She kept the position as long as she could, and any falter produced the body-racking pain until she was back in the perfect position.

And that became her new existence. She fought for her life in the arena, then sat atop the arena as a gargoyle, looking down on the others' fights. She was forced to learn to fight, using any methods possible. Then she was forced to sit pretty and frightening as a gargoyle atop a castle. And, as before, her body began to change. Her body grew musculature and bone structure that didn't before exist to assist in her fighting. And all of this was formed into a pleasing form which showed off as she held her pose above the arena. She became the form the Lady wanted, an example of her draconic side made visible upon Ceri's body, wings and all.