serin is a people now

Once he’d uncurled himself as best he could, he spread across the entirety of the lake. He had been made from it, and he fit inside it perfectly snug. It wasn’t a tight, uncomfortable fit. The dragon felt at home in the lake, filling it completely with himself.
The longer he ignored the call, the louder and more insistent it became. A buzzing sounded in his head accompanied by a mild ache over every inch of his body. Despite knowing what was coming, he had hoped he’d have more time to relax and completely wake. The call was having none of his time-wasting.

Bubbles formed around him, this time not from his own movements. The force which commanded him began to pull physically on him, applying pressure and forcing himself upwards. A red light formed around him, radiating warmth not unlike sitting in the sun after a cool swim on a hot summer day. He knew there was no fighting this call, even if a part of him really wanted to.
With a snap of his tail, the dragon began the ascension.

The closer he grew to the source of the call, the harder it pulled on the dragon’s essence—on everything that made the dragon real. The familiar something tingled inside him as if it were trying to yank out the metaphysical bits of him. The aura which called called him grew louder the closer he came to it. He sped up, both through his own action and the haul of the red light.
It didn’t take long at all for him to break the surface, and when he did he moved so quickly through the water that it whirled around him as it threw him into the air. The water wrapped around his body, pressing as close as it could with the red light in the way. He realized then that the light was physical and reached out to touch it. Heat bathed his claws as if he’d dipped them into a hot bath to test the temperature before sinking in.

Delicately he was lowered to the surface of the water. A ribbon of blue swirled upward from the lake, twirling around him until it covered him completely in a transparent barrier.

His sore, unused muscles shifted fluidly into a new shape. There was no pain in the change, but it wasn’t comfortable. All his mighty, sapphire mass was shrunk and stretched at the same time until it fit compactly into a costume of pale skin. He extended his claws over his head—still clutching as tight as ever to the pocket watch—as blue scales gave way to white palms. A groan left his human mouth as he brought his hands down, running empty fingers through his newly formed mop of hair. Plucking one free, he got a look at the blue strand before he dropped it into the water beneath his bare feet.

Stray rays of sun from the trees above made the white of his body shimmer like the water in the lake, sparkling ever so slightly. The blue ribbon of water which whirled around him flowed over his skin, tightening its grip. It snuck under the red light, leaving behind a cloak as blue as the scales he’d abandoned. The remaining water fell back to the lake.
Again the lake was still, peaceful and slumbering without its dragon to keep it company.