After me and Thomas pass out on the bed, we wake up with several Centaur in the room.
“Well, they’re up! We were worried! Anyways, let’s get you fed up!” A huge brown stallion with a muscular human upper body tells us.
The other few centaurs in the room, not worrying about clothes, much like the first, are slightly smaller than the first, but just as magnificent. There was a female that was a white mare that had a beautiful body. There was also a colt that looked young, but still taller than me. He was a black stallion, like the older horse.
They lead us into a giant bakery, crowded with more equines, and we look around. It’s huge!
“Well, travelers. I must admit, I had doubts about you, but I will be happy to accompany you on your quest to slay the dragon.” The female says. I noticed how muscular she was before, but I never quite realized how tall she was. She was a good three feet towering over my head.
“Helping us with our quest? We don’t need help.” Thomas says, waking me up to reality
“Hang on, let’s let her come. We could use someone like her.” I say, smiling.
A baker holds out a small piece of bread to me. “Try it” She says, happy. I bite into it, and it is delicious. It is like the best thing I ever tasted, but everywhere. I felt instantly better, not even realizing I was sore and cramp until after I was healed up. I was more aware of my surroundings, and I had insights that I wouldn’t have had before. I felt myself growing, but don’t think of it as anything.
“What did you DO?” Thomas yells at the baker.
“Well, you can have some as well, boy. It helps with the clarity of mind, as well as the soul. Nothing feels better than being a centaur.”
Huh? What was she talking about. I feel a cold breeze across my chest, but my legs are warm. They… Feel different, as well. I look down, and see my chest is bare. I am much more muscular than I was before, and I have four legs. They are furry, and I realize I’m a Centaur! Woah! “Excuse me, what happened?” I say, politely, surprising myself.
“We gave you our transformation bread. It only works on those willing, and your friend here” She gestures to Thomas, “Is unwilling. You can take it as much as you like, and it wears off in about 2 hours. You have better insights, and will think like a centaur. This means you are polite, and smarter than you would be. We also have a more potent variety of bread, which turns you into one permanently, but you shouldn’t take that until you grow used to the Centaur anatomy.”
Wow. That’s a lot to take in. Already, though, am I getting used to being shirtless. It feels good. I never felt this good when I was a man, and it is amazing. I feel revitalizing, and I realize I never even knew my age! That really is insightful! Now that I think about it, I looked and felt about fifty. I look down, and see that I am turning younger. I feel about twenty, and look twenty now. With my new knowledge, I just seem to know that is because Centaurs age a lot slower, but the bread won’t let me get to young. These centaurs have worked out everything!
“I… Really like this. Say I do become a permanent Centaur, what happens?” I ask the Baker.
“Well, you for one would need to buy a home, which your friend can stay in as well, and you couldn’t go out anymore, unless the council calls on you for a quest, in which you would have to go out on whatever quest the council needs done, and usually with a female; we find that the two genders work better together than apart. You would then have to settle down into our society, which is very complex. Soon after, you would want to get a mate, since Centaurs age 8 times slower than humans, and we mate for life. You are expected to have kids in this society. Take your time, but don’t wait too long. It is important, here.”
Huh. I thought it would be simpler, but I guess that would be okay.
Suddenly, the female gallops up to me. “Time to go, sir. That bread rejuvenates your stomach to, so since you and your friend had some, we can go.”
Thomas hops onto my equine back, and we gallop. I never even realized she left, and she looks much more beautiful now that I am a Centaur as well. About an hour later, we stop at a huge tree.
“Heddo” I hear a deep voice
“Heddo? What kind of word is that?” I say, out loud.
“Heddo. I am a tree. I am tree of dife.”
That makes sense. The tree was the tree of life! Ancient trees that speak to mortals, because they get bored sitting around for all eternity. This tree was big, but Trees of Life are absolutely huge, and this was a little smaller than it should be. Maybe it was a baby? It seems to have trouble pronouncing words, as well.
“Well, Life Tree, mind if we use you as camp? You could wake us up if danger comes, and have to be silent until danger or we tell you to. Like a game!”
“Dokay! Tree of Dife dikes games!” The tree of life says excitedly
“Okay, we’ll sleep, and you play with us!”
Suddenly, I feel something strange happening. I fall forwards, and get cramps in my ankles and feet, and my back is sore. I feel 50 again. I get down, and see the bread wore off.
As I’m about to eat another piece of it, the lady centaur says “No, don’t eat it. It’s hard to sleep as a Centaur. You much rather sleep as a human.”
Oh. That would have been uncomfortable. I’m glad she pointed that out! I realize I’m still laying down, and I can hardly get up. The ground seems to spin, and I am wobbly. I miss the stabilization of having four legs, and the balance on the ground is terrible. This stinks. The centaur is probably right, though.
“Oh, and my name is Chei. Let’s get some sleep.”
We all go to sleep, and I have good dreams about me and Chei…