"Answer me citizen! Who are you! What is your name?"
"The hatchling opened his eyes again, "Citizen?! What does she even mean?"
Unexpectedly, the hatchling's vision was blocked by long colorful strands of… hair? He raised his claws to part the locks, but they weren't claws? He stared down at the new appendages he had, hands with a light, caramel tone to them, but he could see remnants of his wild, purple scaling retreating beneath.
Gaze shifting up towards the voice he saw golden laden armor, it was the Captain! The transformed whelp cringed and shifted uncomfortably, but it seemed like the Captain's glare softened a little.
"Ah, a half-orc beggar," she sheathed her sword, "Rather rare sight, I'm sorry about your poor condition, people can be cruel because of your unfortunate heritage."
The Captain extended a hand, "Now let's start over here," she lifted up the now half-orc man as he stumbled to his feet. "What is your name, citizen?"
"A- a name?" he contemplated over the thought, "I barely even know what I am, and I have to have a name?!"
Wracking his brain over everything he has seen and experienced he sputtered out, "I- I ah, B- Blackrock… er Nefari… fellow?"
The Captain just motioned for him to stop, "It is alright, you clearly are in a daze, I'm sure the quake also startled the whole of Goldshire!" she gave a bit of a grin beneath her helmet. "Come on! I hate to see anyone out in the cold, and it's almost dusk!"
She grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him towards the entrance of the inn. Turning towards him the Captain slightly whispered, "Oh, and don't mind the weird looks you are about to get! I suppose that comes with the tusks, but I'm sure you are used to it!"
"Tusks?!" The thought barely hit the hatchling's mind as he was shoved into the inn.
The entire tavern seemed to have recovered okay, and the patrons were all back to laughing and partying over drinks, but the hatchling could feel something was a little bit off as he walked through. There were a few disgusted glances as the Captain led him to the main bar table.
The barkeep took a glance upward at the half-orc as he was washing a glass, and then over to the Captain. "Hey there miss, how can I help you?"
She dug into her pocket and pulled out a few pieces of silver, "Just a single night's stay for this one right here," motioning over to the half-orc.
Placing a key into the palm of the Captain's hand he mumbles out, "Upstairs two doors down."
Scurrying past the other patrons as the Captain guided him forward, the whelp looked amongst the patrons of the inn. Their expressions no longer the jolly smiles they wore, some seemed dazed and still recovering from the quake, others returned back to their drink ignoring the event entirely, yet some as the whelp walked through just stared daggers into the where he was.
He knew he was probably the cause of the quake, but they wouldn't know about that, would they? As he reached the stairs, he hastened his pace as he attempted to evade their gazes; eventually, heading down the hall to where his room for the night would be.
The Captain placed a hand on the hatchling's shoulder just before the room's door, "There will be a wagon to Stormwind tomorrow morning, head to the barracks and give this paper to the main recruitment table. I won't force you to do this, but a job offer is better than living on the streets anyways. You also might want to change your hair up a bit, it looks like the barber tried pulling a cruel joke." She then gave a small smirk. "Besides I think this gives me an idea for a punishment I was working on for someone…"
The transformed half-orc shifted around a little and managed to croak out, "Th-thank you for this." As he gave an awkward little bow.
The Captain gave a soft smile and wave, "Take it easy soldier, and good luck!"
As the door finally clicked to a shut, the hatchling nearly collapsed to his feet, feeling all energy empty out for his body. Taking note of the entire room, he located a mirror and stepped in front of it.
The Captain was right about one thing, the hair was a bit much, violet strands draped all over flowing out like a waterfall from his face to his shoulders, intermixed with golden strands and a bright cyan at the roots. This body was built a bit muscular, and dressed in dirty brown clothes as if a sack was just put on his body.
The hatchling's fingers drifted up to his mouth as he lightly touched the small protruding tusks by the edges of his jawline, memory flashing to a similar pair grinning down at him as he was helplessly pinned to the floor.
Shaking off that feeling of dread he instead shifted his focus to how this transformation occurred. The thoughts running through his mind right before his draconic body shifted into this one. Thinking on how that transformation occurred, the hatchling closed his eyes and tried focusing. After a few minutes of clenching his fist, trying to think about fire, and even giving a random roar and chant nothing happened.
The now stuck half-orc groaned in frustration at his predicament looking down at his hands. "Am I just trapped in this body now?" his frustration turned to an eventual grim acceptance, "Perhaps this is better than being that monster… at least for now."
Suddenly a shine from the window caught his eye, he opened the sill and peered out as his eyes widened in amazement.
The sky was melding into an array of colors as the sun set over Azeroth; an endless blue horizon slowly melting into a deep purple sky, held up by a soft red bed as the sun went deeper and deeper to spell the arrival of night.
The colors washed over the whelp's eyes, holding his hand out towards the sky, and imagining his old reflection flying into the horizon. Looking back at his hand he was surprised to see a flash of scaling appear across his arm, the same brilliant colors as the sky soon disappear back into his skin.
Still gazing out the window, his mouth slowly turned upward into a soft smile as he whispered, "Dusk…"