Kayla was the princess of the Zadu Kingdom, one of the largest and wealthiest countries of these times. The castle she lived in was situated in the middle of the desert, on the end of the large lake of Aylen. This is where her mother and father ruled the kingdom from and her older brother, Leon was trained. The fact that she was female, and that she wasn’t the first born, had given her a small fraction of the privileges Leon had been awarded.

This was the general reason for her depression today, the fact that no matter what happened, short of her brothers death, she would always be insignificant. The princess wasn’t treated badly, infact far from it. She lived in the life of a noble lady, except for the fact that she had to work every day on odd job’s and lessons.

The reason for this, her father had always said, was that he wouldn’t allow his children to become spoiled. Someone who looked down at everyone, and thought he or she was superior, and the people were no better then dirt, was a bad leader. So everyday Kayla was given odd jobs, such as cleaning to do. At the moment she was scrubbing dishes outside on the sun, thinking about her birthday. This was the only glimmer of hope for a excellent future.

The wizard of the kingdom, Xceron had always offered to check noble children for the proper DNA to become a nonhuman creature, like a centaur. The catch was this transformation could only happen on your 13, 15th or 18th birthday. It was a part of the magic, and if he declared you positive, he would offer you a potion. The reason she hoped this would happen was to draw the attention she deserved. It wasn’t that she was self centered, but she always came second, no matter what. She wanted to be noticed.

But this could be a way to earn a position in a castle, maybe even commanded it. This wasn’t an  uncommon thing, children of the king who didn’t have heir to the throne, getting the own castle to command. It was possible to, because when she didn’t have chores, she was being taught all kinds of things, like tactics, management, politics, and all the other things a queen should know.

That’s it, Kayla thought to herself, when she was done the dishes, she would go to Xceron for the DNA test. When her father had gone, he hadn’t had it, neither had her brother. But Her mom had proved positive, but she wasn’t important enough to get the potion, as it was incredible valuable. Her mother had married the king in her twenties, but by that time it was to late to change.

The changed were respected almost as much a the king himself, because they always that positions of power. This was Kayla’s hope, to be changed and respected.
The moment she was finished she ran down to the wizards room, deep in the basement. As she descended the flights of stone stairs, she thought about what she should say. Xceron was a mysterious man to say the least, always wearing long blue robes, reading strange scrolls.

When she got the door and raised her hand to knock, but then hesitated. Did she really want to do this? Did she really want to give up her body? The answer was yes. The second time Kayla raised her hand to knock, she didn’t pause. After hitting the solid wooden door firmly she heard him call to her,

“Come in.”

Tentatively Kayla pushed the door open and walked inside. Xceron was sitting at the other end of the room in a chair. Smiling with good humour, he asked Kayla,

“What brings you here today princess?”

She winced at that phrase, she didn’t like the term princess, it seemed to. . .girly.

“Well I was wondering if you could test me to see if I could change on my birthday”
Kayla answered timidly.
The old wizard nodded slowly, before asking;

“You really want to give up your human body?”
This time Kayla answered firmly.

“Yes, I do. I’m sick of the way my life is going, I have hardly any friends because of my position and I’ve always been curious about what my life would be like if I would have the chance.”

“Hmmm,” he said nodding slowly, “Ok follow me” the old wizard said standing up and walking into the far room.
Kayla follow him without question, filled with anticipation.

When they got into the next room, he drew a pin from his desk, gesturing for her to come closer.

“I need to take a blood sample for this test” he said “so I’m going to poke a small hole in your finger.”
She nodded holding out her hand, then winced as Xceron squeezed her little finger and piqued her with the pin. He held a vial under the drops of blood collecting a small amount, then wrapped a small bandage around it. He then expertly mixed to chemicals in with the blood sample and he smiled when the solution turned a bright green.

“What’s that mean?” Kayla dared to ask.

“It means you can change” Xceron said smiling at her.
She gave a shout of joy, then asked how.

“All you have to do is drink this,” he said holding out a flask of blue liquid.

“Thank you” was all Kayla could say before she took the flask and drank it’s contents.
It tasted really strange and sour, but she was able to drink it all. She was about to head for the door when Xceron said,

“There’s no need to tell your family, I will, there is a way to break it to them slowly. Also, you will transform at eight O’clock,” he continued stressing this point, “it’s usually more comforting to be alone, in front of a mirror. But make sure you have no clothes on because it could tear the clothing and the pressure might really hurt.”

“Ok” Kayla said as she ran for the door, “and thank you again.”
She couldn’t wait for eight tomorrow night.

                                              * * *
Kayla’s birthday seemed to last forever, while she waited for eight PM that night. Her family was pleased and a bit jealous when Xceron told them the news. She had received some gifts of high value, like rings a decent amount of clothing and a new gold plated harp, but her attention was mainly focused on that night. No one could blame her.

After the banquet that was thrown for her she was sitting on her bed staring at the clock.
It was seven fifty. Kayla decided to get ready, so she locked her room door and striped quickly and stood in front of the mirror. She was wondering was she would become. A centaur would be nice, because then she wouldn’t need a horse anymore.

Maybe her clock was off or the transformation was, but it started six minutes early. It started with a slight pain in her legs and when Kayla looked down she saw they were browning and lines were appearing. The sensation grew stronger between her les as  they began to draw together.

Kayla lost her balance and fell on to her bed. She noticed that the tingling grew stronger and on her legs scales were appearing! She scratched them and hardly felt it at all. The scales were very, very hard.

Then the truth hit her. She was becoming a Naga.

Her legs had completely zipped together now, and the bones were dissolving. Throughout  the transformation Kayla was experiencing a high from the hormones in her body to make the change immensely pleasant.

Kayla’s lower body began to stretch out wards as the scales made all the way around her tail, and the bones reformed, sending yet another pleasant wave through her.  When she noticed herself again as the tingling retreated, she saw a ten foot long snake tail in front of her. The scales on her belly were a gold brown, the ones on her back were a darker shade, though they had enough control that she could slither on her front or back. Up until now her waist up had remained the same but what Xceron hadn’t told her is that her upper body would change a bit to.

Kayla felt her canine teeth grow pointed and venom sac develop, then her tongue changed into a forked shape. When she flickered it in and out of her mouth there was an incredible sense of taste. It was tasting the air, for things like people and prey.  

When she looked in the mirror, she saw that her eyes had slits instead of pupils and instead of emerald green they were sparkling gold. When the tingling moved to her scalp and her shoulder length hair grew down to her waist it turned from brown to golden blond. She continued to watch in the mirror as the excess fat on her body moved up to her breasts, enlarging them a bit. She now had a perfect upper body.

When she looked at herself, she had a ten foot long snake tail that was immensely powerful, a forked tongue, sparkling golden slitted eyes, perfect G shapes breasts on a immaculate hourglass figure of  perfectly tanned skin. Her shoulders had slimmed a bit, and her hair had grown. She marvelled at the way she glided around the room and the flexibility her tail had and upper body had acquired.

Xceron had told her to stay in her room after the transformation over night, and get used to her body. Her family would wait and not pressure her to come out. Of course, she couldn’t stay in her room all night! That would be boring.

Kayla waited the room for a while until the guards out side went to bed then, not even bothering to put any clothes on, opened he window, and slipped out on to the roof of the castle. Her snake tail had much more balance so she could move around on the steep roof with ease and she was pleased to discover she had night vision. When the roof got boring she dropped down to the sand. She slithered around and burrowed enjoying her new body. This was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Finally she got back in her room through the window, and curled up on her bed and fell asleep.
                                                        * * *
In the morning after presenting herself to her astonished parents she took a book off the shelf about general naga knowledge Xceron had given her.

Her parents couldn’t believe how beautiful she had become as well as her tail.
She coiled herself on her bed and began to read. She could have went on reading forever, but a knock a the door forced her to stop.

“Who issssss it?” she called.

The tiny voice of her maid came from the other side of the door.
“It’s Alexis”
Alexis was a maid in training, so she was only twelve years old. Kayla couldn’t have a real maid before now (it was a weird rule) so she got the trainees.

“Come in” she called “try not to panic.”
Kayla under stood that her body might alarm a little girl, so she warned her to be prepared.  

When Alexis opened the door she gasped.

“Is that you Kayla?!” Alexis asked in wonder.
She smiled at her and replied,
“Yes, close the door, come in and have a sssseat,” she said gesturing to the bed.
Alexis closed the door and walked tentatively up to the bed.
Kayla grinned at her,
“Oh relaxss, there’s no need to be nervousss, even though I can, I don’t bite.”
  Kayla cursed herself and tried to stop hissing on the S sounds.
Alexis didn’t seem to mind because she ran up to the bed and jumped on to it. Kayla gestured to beside her making room. Alexis sat down and snuggled herself between the coils.

“Your really warm” she said to Kayla.
“I know its becausssse I’m part cold blooded creature and part warm blooded. That means the cold won’t ssslow me down, but in a warm environment,” Kayla said, gesturing outside to the desert, “ I will radiate a lot of heat unless it’s below zero.”

“Cool!” Alexis exclaimed, burying herself deeper in the coils, so only her head was sticking out, then added,
“Don’t mind me just keep reading.”

Kayla smiled to herself. What a sweet little girl.
She flicked her tongue out a few times and memorized the taste in the air Alexis gave off. It might prove useful in time.

Suddenly Kayla’s future was looking much, much brighter.