Chapter 7: Old Wounds
She peaked around the corner, quickly darting her head around the edge before jumping all ninja like into the kitchen to surprise her victim. The bright smile on her small face seemed to light up the whole room as her dad made a surprised sound as he dropped the ladle back into the pot laughing slightly.
“Oh you little devil!” he stated as he whipped his hand on the cooking towel on his shoulder before placing it on marble table top. “I’m Going to get you!” he exclaimed as he rushed around the cooking island with a big grin on his face arms stretched wide like a big ol’ fluffy bear.
Elaine squealed in delight as she matched his pace arriving before the cooking pot her father was making. “I’m not scared of no bears!” she cried out snatching a piece of garlic bread plopping it in her mouth as she ran towards the living room, yet her small legs just wasn’t fast enough. Her father scooped her up in a big hug and gave her a raspberry on her neck.
He pulled away swinging her slightly before setting her down into a bar chair opposite of the stove where she normally was served like the princess she was. “Now you know its not nice to steal bears food.” He stated as she plucked the garlic bread from her mouth and tried to hand it back to her father.
“Remember never feed the bears food. Toss something else to make it pause.” he motioned with a plate to set it on as he dished out some flat noodles on her plate before pouring the fresh spaghetti sauce over the top. “Because of peoples waste, the north American bear has been known to enter suburbs and even go after campers’ food.” He stated as she gave him a humph sound arms crossed.
“But daddy loves garlic bread… I wasn’t offering it to bear dad.” She huffed, her little seven-year-old brain working at full capacity. “Bears eat honey anyways; they don’t like no bread.” She stated.
Her dad gave a laugh as he walked into the living room and grabbed one of the many books he had there. When he came back into the kitchen, he saw that she had started to dig in without him or her mom. He gave a sigh as he slid a bar chair out and sat next to her opening his book.
She noticed the book because it was one of her fathers’ books. It even had his picture on the back. She didn’t know all the big words in it but her dad loved to read it to her and it always helped her sleep at night. She knew what was about to happen and groaned slightly… her dad after all worked as a zoo something, but he didn’t wear those shorts like the croc guy did. He had always left with a big pack and thick pants.
“So let me start… The North American brown bear eats…………”
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She woke with a start… her head throbbing and the pain that coursed through her whole body. She couldn’t even identify where the pain started or where it ended. All she knew was that her back hurt… her head hurt… her shoulder was killing her… not to mention the full body ache. Though what surprised her most was that her hands hurt as well. Well not specifically her hands but the tips of her fingers.
With a groan she pushed herself upwards off the ground. That’s when she noticed her hands. What the actual fuck is going on! She screamed internally as her eyes focused on the three fourth inch sharp claw like nails that extended from her finger tips. They were black and glossy with very sharp points and a edge underneath that looked sharper than what the trees felt like.
“Admire later. Your still bleeding slowly.” Seraphion stated in her head.
Elaine looked about and didn’t see the haze. Where are you? she asked
“I joined back inside of your soul.” Seraphion stated, “I wanted to feel what you felt when going through this procedure.”
My what? She thought as she sat back on her rearend looking at her now clawed hands. “why does this keep happening to me?” She asked silently. She looked at the claws and then looked at the… It really does need a name… I can’t keep calling it a rabbit dog like animal. She thought for a moment her head still foggy from the fatigue of the forced evolution. She was tired and hurting after all.
“Sooo about that…” Zee started as she rolled out of her imaginary immaterial bed giving a big stretch. “We figured it out for you while you were nappin’.” She made a movement to get Elaines attention. “It seems that your Divine Gift is tied to your thoughts and wishes of different animal traits. When you think of what you want, understand what you want, and how it is made and its purpose, it seems that your able to go through a forced evolutionary process that uses what your body has to make the evolution.”
“Wow that is a lot of words coming from you.” Seraphion stated with a bit of amusement. “And when she says we… she means I” she didn’t want Zeraphine to steal all the glory of discovery after all.
“Your right too many words… *yawn* good night.” Zee said with a mighty lady like yawn as she rolled back over. It was odd to say the least but at least Elaine was starting to get used to all the movements, or she really just didn’t care because her body was still in extreme pain.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“You… you mean that,” she paused catching her breath trying not to have a panic attack from all the information that was given to her. How?! That wasn’t possible! It shouldn’t be… but… it is? I mean here I am fighting off something that shouldn’t even exist in the first place! She exclaimed internally… “I’m doing… this to myself?”
“Why do you think and talk at the same time. It makes it hard for me to keep up with what your trying to get across, but yes your right.”
“So just don’t actively think about what I want right?” Elaine asked hoping that was the answer.
“That is correct.” Seraphion paused for a moment while Elaine was getting her thoughts under control. “Good job human, you killed something to survive.”
Elaine paused as she was about to reach out for the… Leporidae… that was the Latin word for rabbit familia, right? Lagus… one horn… Cornu… Cornilagus Umbrapredator. That would fit right? Her mind stopped as her hand did as well, shaking slightly. She had lost a lot of blood after all and the fatigue of the forced use of her divine gift, yet that wasn’t what had stopped her.
“It wouldn’t be the…” First time… she both spoken outloud and internally. “Please… don’t ask.” She said bringing her hand back to the Cornilagus. “Not now… atleast… I need to get this sinew off the longi… longissi… longissimus dorsi muscle.” She stated trying to remember how to say the word in its entirety as she could feel slightly cold. The blood loss was not something that she could ignore nor could she let it continue. “Then… then I have to poke holes… in my… skin… to sew it up closed.” She shivered at the thought of self harm. It wouldn’t be the first time she had done so, but this was important.
With shaky hands she reached for the skin and lopped one of her nails under the skin and was surprised to see how easily it cut through the epidermis. It was really scapple like. With that she quickly went to work removing the muscle from the spine taking care to keep as much of the meat intact to extract the silver like strands. After all her life did depend on this very action. With careful hands she removed several long strands from the backstrap and went to toss the meat away.
“I would not do that… you need to replenish what was taken from your body.” Seraphion stated. “Waste not what you killed for that could be your last meal. Let it not go to waste and let it fill you with nourishment.”
All Elaine could do was nod as she set the meat back on the spine where she took it. She closed her eyes for a moment dreading what was to come next. She slipped her makeshift bandage off to reveal the still oozing blood. She nearly let what was left of her previous days meal out when she took ahold of herself once again.
“You can do this. Push beyond what is and move forward.” Zee stated with words of encouragement clear with some cheer in her voice. “Don’t dawdle, take this and move forward, your very life, and ours, depends on it.”
With that Elaine used one of cleaner claw tips and poked the first hole a small cry of pain escaping her tightly clamped lips. One… another stab… Two… the claw tip made short work of her delicate slightly tanned skin.
~Humans were not made for the survival of the wilderness, only their cunning and aptitude for learning had allowed them to live this long after all, but in the case of Elaine Willow… nature itself would bend to her wills. Due to her Divine Gift, granted to her by god, she would be able to transform herself at the cost of her own bodies biochemistry and nutrients. She must adapt and use all her knowledge to live.~
After what felt like forever, Elaine sat on the ground staring at her shoes… the meat she had sliced was on the log drying, and yet the dilemma of her feet into shoes would be the problem. She nor the voices in her head hadn’t noticed at first, but her toe nails were now a glossy shade of black, not to mention the pads of her feet were just as the same as her hands… but my kicks… she whined internally as she nudged the shoe with a fingered tipped claw.
“I think your feet look better this way. Better suited for fighting and survival.” Seraphion stated smugly.
“But… I used food money to buy those shoes. I had to eat ramen for almost a month straight.” She said with real sadness in her voice as she pushed the shoe over. “I miss home… even a pair of nail clippers and I’d be able to wear these again.” She noted looking at her shoes and back to her odd looking feet. She never really liked feet to begin with, but this… this was just over the top. The top of her feet were going to get cold now without the protection of the shoes. After all its not like I have fu…. FUCK NO! she blurted in her head tearing her eyes away and thoughts away from the cornilagus laying dissected in front of her.
She had known this was a risk, but Seraphion was right… and so was Zeraphine… she did need to eat, but she didn’t think her stomach would be able to digest that much raw meat without being properly cooked. She knew if there was fresh water nearby she would be able to fish for something and eat that raw, she did love sashimi after all, and yet she did not know of any nearby lakes or streams… and the day was starting to come to a end. She was though surprised to find that the cornilagus that had attacked her did appear to be a older male apart of the spices. That would make sense why it had attacked alone and why it probably didn’t have the strength to fend off one human. She mentally noted that down as well.
With a thought she grabbed her shoe and took the strings out of them. She was no expert, but she knew what a spear should look like. She piked up the head of the animal and brought it to a rock. She looked about for another rock and started to chip away at the animals skull to break the almost foot long horn from the base. If she could tie this to the stick, or one larger than the one she had thought would protect her she would at least have something that she could defend herself with. That would give her a bit more reach then what her bare hands and feet could produce.
“Distance would be a good thing.” Sera responded to what she was doing. “You might just be able to make something useable.”
“Yeah… I guessed as much.” She said with a ragged breath. Physical exertion still taking its toll. “I feel like this night is going to be long…” She paused looking at the long streams of light passing through the forest nearly horizontally bathing the forest in deepening shadows.