The Truth About Taranza

    "Hey! Let's go, Magolor! We're starting our adventure in Dream Land today!" a Halcandran called. His name at that time isn't important, and you'll later see why. 
    "All right," Magolor, the Halcandran's best friend, said. He floated up, hovering over his bed and going into his closet to change. A few minutes later, he went into the hallway dressed in his signature blue outfit with a white scarf and cloak, with his hood decorated with a gear design. The other Halcandran was wearing similar clothes.
    They ate their breakfast quickly, and started the ship they were staying in, the Lor Starcutter. Magolor had stolen it from a dragon. 
    "You ready?" Magolor asked.
    "You bet!" the Halcandran exclaimed, bouncing up and down excitedly. Magolor pressed a button to open a star-shaped rift in space and they flew through it, the portal closing behind them. 
    "Your ship is so cool," the Halcandran commented, opening the door to the ship when it landed in Dream Land and floated out, looking around and trying to take in all the sights, but he was moving too fast from being so excited. 
    "Yeah, but just calm down long enough to look!" Magolor pointed to a beautiful, vivid rainbow in the sky.
    "I wonder what else is up there?" the Halcandran asked, and before his friend could stop him, he was already halfway to where the rainbow appeared to be. He flew past it, and saw a beautiful group of floating islands; six, to be exact. He flew above them, taking it all in, and eventually arriving at an island that looked really different from the others. He saw a sign: "ROYAL ROAD." 
    "This place is amazing!" the Halcandran marveled, flying down to Royal Road. There were a whole bunch of insect-like creatures around, and the Halcandran took a liking to them. "Hey there, guys!" he said.
    "Who are you?" one of them asked.
    "A friend, if you want me to be," the Halcandran responded.
    "Do you know of Queen Sectonia? She's a kind, wonderful ruler who treats us all fairly."
    "No, but I would love to meet her."
    "Great! Follow my lead!" The insect, who told the Halcandran he was an Antr, led the Halcandran to the highest point of Royal Road. There was a huge castle.
    "I knew Dream Land would be amazing but I didn't realize it was this amazing!" the Halcandran said awefully. 
    "Oh no. We're above Dream Land. This, my friend, is Floralia," the Antr said.
    "Is Dream Land this cool?"
    "Almost." The Antr and the Halcandran entered the castle. They went into a big room at the center of it. A queen-bee-like creature was waiting there, floating right above the ground, her wings shimmering. 
    "Welcome," she said. "I see you've brought someone. Who are you? I am known as Queen Sectonia."
    The Halcandran told Queen Sectonia his name. "I'm a friend. Your land is beautiful."
    "I would love to have you stay here," Sectonia said. 
    "I don't exactly fit in, though," the Halcandran said.
    "No... is that okay? I would like my land to be mainly inhabited by Antrs, like your friend here, but it would be fine for you, I suppose."
    "Why don't we just see how it works for now?" 
    "Agreed." Queen Sectonia was obviously very friendly. She wouldn't always be that way, but how was the Halcandran supposed to know that?
    He floated back down to the ground, scanning the land for Magolor, who was exploring in a big forest that made him hard to spot. His outfit stood out against the dark green and brown when the Halcandran was close enough, though.
    "Magolor! Mags! MagolorMagolorMagolor COME LOOK!" he shouted.
    "Sheesh, I'm coming! I bet the Waddle Dees a mile away could hear you at that volume!" Magolor said with an annoyed tone in his voice.
    "Up there," the Halcandran said. "Floating islands called Floralia. And friendly bugs live there. But not bugs that you'd squish; I like them. You would too. C'mon Mags, let's go see!"
    "I don't like bugs," Magolor said with a disgusted look on his face. "You go ahead."
    "Fine, but you're missing out." The Halcandran went back to Floralia.
    For the next few weeks, Magolor explored Dream Land and his best friend stayed with a few Antrs in a small house.
    "This is kinda weird," one of the Antrs said on the sixteenth day the Halcandran was there. "I mean, he's not even close to being like us."
    The Halcandran winced and wished he had a way to be more like the Antrs. He didn't really have much of a family back home in Halcandra anyway, and he thought he wanted a new life. And he now knew he wanted Floralia to be where he started it.
    So he went to talk to Queen Sectonia. "Your Majesty," he said, "do you know of a way that I could be more like you and the other citizens of Royal Road?"
    Queen Sectonia thought for a moment. She was a very powerful being and she had the capacity to do exactly what the Halcandran wanted. And she'd have a new friend, which she later thought of as a minion. That was after this, though.
    "Yes, I do have a way, my friend," she said. She waved her floating hands in the air, summoning a glittering, bright pink crystal. The Halcandran marveled at its beauty. "Just float in the middle of it and close your eyes."
    "What are you going to do?" he asked, a little apprehensively.
    "Magic," Sectonia said. "Nobody will be harmed, don't worry." The Halcandran did as the queen bee told him, and Sectonia waved her scepters in the air. A spiderweb-esque aura surrounded the Halcandran, and when the spell was complete, he opened his eyes and looked down at himself.
    "What the..." the Halcandran said, startled. He was wearing green and red, which he hadn't liked much before but strangely liked much more now. He wore a green cape with spiderweb designs, unlike his old one, which was blue with gold trim and gear decorations on it. And he saw the whole thing with compound eyes - another one of his new features. But the one he decided to pay attention to the most was the amount of floating hands he had. He'd always had two, just like everyone else on Halcandra. But now six hands floated next to him. He could control them just as easily as he'd been able to before, but now he just marveled at the fact that there were six of them.
    "I don't know whether this is good or bad or I'm dreaming," the Halcandran muttered, pinching himself. "No, not dreaming." He turned to Sectonia, which wasn't really necessary because he could see behind him now. "What's going on? Do I still have my powers? What do I even look like?"
    Sectonia held up a particularly reflective gem, and the Halcandran looked at himself. He was no longer wearing his hood; instead, his straight gray-white hair was completely visible. He took in the image, eventually recovering from his original shock and now thinking about how much he liked how he looked now. 
    "I have six hands," he told himself. "I have six hands. That'll come in handy! Wow, unintentional pun. Still. This was not a bad idea." He was doubting his decision a little. What would Magolor say? Would he be able to go back to normal? Or was he going to have to start calling this normal? It was cool, but the Halcandran didn't see himself actually getting used to his new form.
    "Uh... yeah," an Antr said from the doorway. 
    "Welcome to Royal Road, for real this time... Taranza," Queen Sectonia said.
    "Taranza?" the Halcandran asked.
    "Yes. You're joining us, right? It's too late to back down now."
    "Yeah. Yeah, I'm joining."
    "Okay, then."
    "YEAH! Welcome aboard, Taranza!" a young Sectle Dee jumped up and hugged the Halcandran, who figured his name was now Taranza. 
    "Thanks," Taranza said, hugging back with his six hands (which he still thought were really amazing).
    After all the welcomes and hellos and "nice-to-meet-you"s, Taranza went back to find Magolor and tell him the news, although he wasn't sure how well Magolor'd actually take it.
    "Ahhh! Who are you?" Magolor asked.
    "It's me! Your best friend!" Taranza said, saying his old name to remind Magolor but then saying, "I've joined the guys up at Royal Road. My name's Taranza and I just wanted to say, well, bye. I mean, we can still be friends, but I'm going to live up there now and-"
    "First you completely ditch me to fly in the clouds, then you turn yourself into a spider!?" Magolor yelled. "I don't want to be friends anymore. It's like I hardly even know you anymore!" He sniffed a little, and Taranza realized he was trying to hold back tears. He tried to give Magolor a hug, but Magolor just pushed him away.
    "I'm sorry! I just wanted to find something new! You can still visit the castle at the top of Royal Road, the highest island of Floralia, if you change your mind!" Taranza tried, but Magolor said, "Just go." He went back to the Lor and flew away, leaving Taranza in the middle of nowhere. He went back up to Floralia.
    For the next few months, Taranza bonded with the Antrs, Queen Sectonia, and the other insect-like creatures living on Royal Road. He spent most of his time in Sectonia's castle, for the two had become good friends. 
    But one day Taranza came into a room where Queen Sectonia was floating, holding up a mirror and looking at herself. "I am so beautiful, now that I truly come to appreciate it," she said. "In fact, my beauty rivals the divine..." This was the last day Taranza and Sectonia were friends. Sectonia came to think of Taranza as her lowly minion and things were terrible. 
    And yet, Sectonia was a force to be reckoned with, and Taranza had no options but to go along with his corrupted queen...