Sixteen-year-old Peter Strong could hear something lurking outside of his small cabin door. He extinguished the fire he was sitting in front of, and peeked outside a nearby window. Sheets of snow and ice blurred his vision, but he could see a burly and round shape outside his door. It was half covered in snow.

"Peter?" whispered a voice under him. "I don't like winter."

Peter looked down and saw his seven-year-old brown-haired younger brother. His blue eyes flashed with fear. "I can't do this now, Andy. Not now," Peter said.

"There's something out there, isn't there?" Andy whimpered.

Peter nodded. "That's exactly why I can't have you go wandering around in the middle of nowhere. Father died exploring the Forest of Ghosts, you know," he said.

Andy shivered. "When is Ma coming back to Stonewall Cottage?" he asked.

"Soon," was all Peter said, and then turned back to the window. I have to get rid of that thing before it hurts someone, he thought. Opening the window slightly so that he could see the lump clearly, he squinted to make it out.

It was moving.

Although snowflakes obscured his vision, he knew what it was right away. It had a long, slender body, and brown, black, and white fur peeked out from under the snow. A mane protruded from its thing raised its horned head and sniffed the air.

"Andy," Peter whispered. "Get me some hay."

Andy tiptoed off into the kitchen, and came back a moment later with an armful of hay.

Peter took the hay. "Andy," he said quietly. "Stay in here, no matter what."

Andy nodded slightly.

Peter walked to the front door and hesitated. This is a risk that I'm taking, but it's for the best, he thought. You'll be alright. He slowly pushed open the door, holding the hay in front of him. Don't make a sound, he thought. He stepped outside, snow whipping against his face.

The unicorn looked up. It made a half neighing, half yawning sound, and walked over to Peter. It took the hay from Peter's hands and gulped it down.

"More," it said.

Peter just stood there. Why did I just hear it talk? Am I crazy? "Did you- Did you just talk?" he said, making sure to not frighten the unicorn.

It neigh-yawned again, and tipped its head back, as if saying, "Yeah, you dumbhole. Of course I talked to you!"

"But-" Peter began, but the unicorn was transforming. Its snout became a nose. Hooves became hands and feet. The mane and horn became a crown. It was a human boy. Peter looked up. It was day. "How-"

"I am Lord Icefang. You may not know, but you are a Weredragon. You remember the transformation, don't you?" said the boy.

Peter nodded. "Oh, yes, that. That was like a year ago," he said.

Lord Icefang threw his head back and laughed.

Peter shook his head. "But Ice- er- Lord Icefang, I couldn't possibly be a Weredragon!" he said, and added in his mind, Whatever that is, even though I've transformed before.

"Boy, you must believe! You are the last of the kind, rightful king of Asyl. The current king, King Aqua, is ruling by force and terror," Lord Icefang said.

"I thought you were the lord," Peter said.

"The lord is one rank under the king, my boy. You must come back and defeat him," Lord Icefang said.

"Er- who exactly is King Aqua?" Peter asked.

"He is a ferocious killer... He took my family from me. Watches animals get tortured and killed for entertainment. He threatens to kill me next and we believe him," Lord Icefang said.

"I thought you unicorns could transform into anything," Peter said.

Lord Icefang shook his head sadly. "He has taken all powers from those known Werelords or Wereladies so that we must live in pain and agony. The only power we have left is turning into humans. The one thing he fears is the dragon, and you are the only one who can save us. I had posted unicorns around the land of Asyl, and not a single dragon was found."

"No, but what is King Aqua?" Peter asked.

"He is the king! How else could I say it?" Lord Icefang said, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

"Like, what creature is King Aqua?" Peter said, trying to make the question as clear as possible.

"Sea serpent," Lord Icefang replied.

Peter gaped at Lord Icefang in horror. "Sea serpent?" he whispered.

"Come, boy, and I will show you," Lord Icefang said, turning back into a unicorn.

"I-I can't!" Peter said. "I have a little brother, and my Ma is coming home in a few mo-"

"Peter!" screeched a woman who had just pulled up in a car. "What is that thing?"

"Ma, this is Lord Icefang! I'm a Weredragon!" Peter yelled.

"Shut up, you little chicken! Of course you're not a Werethingy!" Peter's Ma yelled back.

"Show her," Lord Icefang whispered into Peter's ear.

"But I don't know how," Peter whispered back.

"Just relax and picture yourself as a dragon," Lord Icefang whispered.

Peter closed his eyes and let his body loosen. He picture a dragon with red scales and blue eyes, with spikes along its back, running down to the tip of his tail. Peter's nose began to grow, turning red and scaly. His body grew red scales. Peter grew larger, his muscles bulging. His hands and feet became talons, and wings sprouted from his back. A spiky tail grew behind him.

"Peter! What are you doing?" his Ma screamed.

Peter roared, shooting a stream of fire at his Ma's car, melting it. His Ma screamed and leaped out.

"I get it! I get it! Get out of here, you monster!" his Ma yelled.

Peter pictured himself as a human, and immediately transformed, fully clothed. "Elizabeth Strong, you are not to order me around!" he screeched.

Elizabeth backed into the front door, then ran inside.

Andy was watching with awe at what had just happened, and ran out. "Peter, you are soooo lucky!" he said. "I wish I could be a Werelord!"

Lord Icefang flicked his tail at Andy's back. "You are one too," he said. "You are a Werephoenix. You were destined to help Peter. Just imagine a phoenix."

Andy closed his eyes, and started transforming into a phoenix. Hands became wings, feet became talons. his mouth and nose merged to form a beak, and tail feathers sprouted from the end of his back.

"Now turn back!" Lord Icefang yelled, and Andy became a human once more.

Andy just kept gaping. "I am a Werelords or Wereladies."

Peter turned to Lord Icefang. "I thought you said that nobody remembered their first transformation!"

"I said usually. My boy, you must listen!" Lord Icefang said.

"You guys are no sons of mine! You're just monsters! Get out now!" Elizabeth ordered.

Peter shrugged, and turned to Lord Icefang. "So, when do we leave?"

"Now," said Lord Icefang. "Follow me." Then he ran off.

"Turn into a phoenix, Andy, and follow Lord Icefang. We should be able to keep up with him," instructed Peter, turning into a dragon and rising into the air with a few flaps of his wings.

Andy changed into a phoenix and followed Peter, not sure whether to trust this "Lord Icefang" or not. But since Peter trusted him, Andy could say that he trusted him, too. "Peter, where are we going?" he asked, although he knew that Peter probably didn't know either. Ah, so we can talk in this form, Andy thought.

"No idea. But I trust this person, and I know that this place would be a better place to live than Stonewall Cottage," Peter replied, not looking back. "Elizabeth probably hated us, anyways. She might not even be our real mother!"

Andy looked at Peter's back in disbelief. "Not our real mother? Peter, that's impossible!" he said.

"Hmph. Well deal with it, it could be true. And anyways, when, or where, did we inherit the Werelord gene anyways?" Peter said. "It could be that our real mother was also a Werelady, but she died, so someone adopted us! It could be that our father was a Werelord, but he died in the Forest of Ghosts. Maybe he didn't die, maybe he turned into whatever he turns into, and ran away, never to be seen again. We could be looking at him right now and we wouldn't know!"

"But Peter-" Andy was cut short by a howl and a neigh.

Peter stopped. "Where did Lord Icefang go?" he said, scanning the ground. "Please don't tell me that was his neigh. Let's go down and see!" Peter flew down onto the ground and became a human once more, Andy on his heels.

"Peter-" Andy began, but Peter silenced him by slapping his hand across his mouth.

Peter indicated to Andy to be quiet, not looking back.

Andy gestured frantically to his clothes, which were too small for him, waving his hand in front of Peter's face to get his attention.

Peter turned around, exasperated, and stumbled backwards when he saw how small Andy's clothes were.

"Your first transformation makes you age so that you are the proper age for a Werelord or Werelady."

Peter and Andy spun around frantically, trying to find the source of the voice.

"I lured you here-" began Lord Icefang, stepping out of the shadows in human form.

"I knew it!" Andy blurted out. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted him!"

"-so that you had to accept the job of saving Asyl," Lord Icefang finished. "You have no choice but to accept it."

Peter shrugged. "I was going to accept it anyways," he said.

"Just in case you changed your mind in the middle of it," Lord Icefang said, a grim look on his face that didn't give anything away.

"Well, I'm up for it," Peter said, his voice steady.

"Wait, Peter," Andy said. "Not yet. I still don't think we can trust this... thing."

"Andy, like he said, we have no choice. And anyways, if we don't do this, then Asyl is going to be destroyed. Think about it. To not do it and have Asyl destroyed for sure, or to do it and save Asyl."

Andy sighed. "Fine, have it your way, and we'll see how it turns out," he finally said after a moment's hesitation.

Lord Icefang turned into a unicorn. "Turn into a dragon and a phoenix," he instructed. "This part will need to be- Wait, no, I shouldn't tell you, should I?"

"Yes, you should," Andy insisted.

"Nah, I think I'm fine," Peter dismissed.

Andy stood up to his now-full-height, towering over Peter by half a foot. "He will tell us," he demanded.

"Fine!" snapped Peter. "Be like that! And I won't do it, and you're also not my younger brother! Are you happy?"

"No!" Andy said, punching Peter in the forehead.

Peter stumbled backwards a few feet, landing on a patch of dried pine needles. "You wanna pick a fight? You wanna pick a fight?" Peter said. "I'll give you a fight!" He charged at Andy, who stopped him by holding out his hand and pressing it against Peter's throat.

"Don't. You. Make. Me," Andy said through gritted teeth. "And picking a fight against a Werephoenix is not gonna be easy."

"And why would that be?" Peter demanded.

"Because phoenix tears have healing powers," Andy said. "Duh." He shoved Peter back, who landed on his back in the dirt.

Peter could feel his throat burning from Andy's grip. That guy is not my brother, he thought. "Andy, please," he whispered, his spine still throbbing from the fall.

"Never!" roared Andy, turning into a phoenix. "You will listen to me, older brother! This thing here-" he gestured towards Lord Icefang with one wing- "is a fraud, I tell you! He will rip your soul out, I can feel it!"

Peter took that seriously. If Andy could feel it, then he should trust him, because Andy had a natural thing with mythology and such.

"I am not a fraud!" Lord Icefang said, clearly offended.

"He's the King Aqua thingy! I bet you that King Aqua, this guy, took all other powers and used it for his own greed!" Andy yelled, smoke rising from his beak every time he opened his mouth.

Peter could tell Andy was fighting to keep his own temper controlled. "I know, bro, settle down! I'm on your side, okay?" he said.

Andy's raised wings lowered to his sides and he transformed back into a human. Wisps of smoke still curled around him. "Of course you are," he said, glaring at Peter.

"But... Hey, Andy, you, yeah you Andy!" Lord Icefang said to get Andy's attention.

Andy turned around to shoot his piercing gaze into Lord Icefang's eyes. "What do you want now?" he snarled.

"But... sad thing is, you're not as important as Peter," Lord Icefang said.

"Now that's true, because you want to kill me more than you want to kill Peter. But you still want to kill both of us," Andy said, averting his gaze.

Lord Icefang shook his head. "No, King Aqua wants to kill you-"

"And you're King Aqua!" Andy said before Lord Icefang could finish his sentence.

"No, I'm not!" Lord Icefang said.

"Oh, I can just picture him! Majestically green, with white scales down his back, and a huge trident in his fist... Oh man, that tail though! Aqua blue, with an arrowhead tip," Andy said, trying to get Lord Icefang to imagine it.

And he did. "Lord Icefang's" horn disappeared, and his tail became... well, a sea serpent tail. The slender body scaled over and elongated while hooves became giant fins that could grasp things. His head became a sea serpent head, and his eyes reddened. "So you say, smart one. Now you have no choice but to die," he hissed.

"Never!" Andy spat before he could hold back.

"Andy, no!" Peter screamed as Andy dive-bombed King Aqua as a phoenix.