CHAPTER 7

I held Imperia well into the night. Not of my own violation, mind you. She had practically latched onto me. Yes, I could have easily removed her, but that would have been cruel given her situation. I don’t know why she lost her magic, but it seemed that her body required it for basically everything.

“So, she has no muscle mass?”

“Correct. After a second scan and comparing it to an individual of the same stature. I discovered that she is terribly underdeveloped for her age, size, and just about everything else that a living organism needs to survive in her body is adapting to not having the magical energy coursing through her.”

“Sounds like extreme atrophy much like the early colonizers had to deal with.”

“That is accurate to describe her situation.”

“Then the next few weeks are going to be hell for her,” I mumbled carefully running my hand through her hair. I did have claws that could easily slice things apart. “Any theories?”

“Not without more information.”

“Sucks that everything she knows is ten thousand years out of date. Have you been able to create a rudimentary translation of the stones with her help?” Echo had asked me to have her decipher the stones earlier before the Yagi attack.

“I have it loaded, but more input is needed.”

“More, huh?”

I groaned and leaned back against the tree I was sitting by. We really needed to find civilization. Even if it brought its own share of troubles, it would be better than being stuck out in the wild with things like the Yagi. From the sounds of it, there were plenty more beasts like this thing out there.

It was close to nightfall when Echo brought back what I thought was the first good news of the entire trip. He had spotted the end of the forest during his scouting. It was two days travel time away but at least there was an end in sight.

“How long would it take if I kicked it into full gear?”

“Most of tomorrow.”

“Understood. I will see how fast Argos can keep up with and match that speed.”

“Affirmative.”

“Lex? Who are you talking to?” Imperia yawned as she looked up at me. I had laid her down so she was using my lap as a pillow.

“Myself.” Echo’s drone wasn’t around. It probably wouldn’t hurt to tell her the truth, but better to have at least one ace up my sleeve in case anything might happen down the road.

“Careful. I hear that can mean some nasty illnesses have you,” she said with another yawn.

“Oh? If you’re saying things like that I take it you’re feeling a bit better.”

She gave me a depressed nod. “I guess I’m completely mortal now. If the magic has left me, I don’t even know if I will reincarnate if I die.”

“Well. That’s life for the rest of us. Don’t worry. I don’t plan to leave you anytime soon.”

“Lex!” Imperia cried hugging me again. “I don’t know what I’d do if I was by myself.”

“I’m sure you would have been just fine,” I said patting her back.

Imperia was still tired from the events of the day and quickly fell back to sleep. I had known many people that had lost everything that had been important to them over the years. The outer colonies were a perpetual war not only against the harsh life of terraforming, but the raging Biuna outside of the Federation. It was not a place for the lighthearted, but many brave young people ended up regretting ever even thinking about trying to make a change in the outreaches.

It was a bit before morning, when I decided that it was time to get through the rest of the forest. I gently placed Imperia to the side, and got up so I could do some quick stretches. I was mostly accustomed to this body now, it was a bit shorter and I’d had to adjust my stride accordingly but it was only by a few centimeters which didn’t make it too big of a problem. It was still a good idea to double check my systems so to speak in case we run into another beast like the Yagi.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

There was a thud near the Yagi’s corpse, and I spun around drawing my sword. A large silhouette crouched next to the beast. As I took in the figure, I realized it was Argos, only he was nearly a third times bigger than he was yesterday. I spotted blood covering him mullet as well as large chunks missing from the Yagi, I must have been a bit more preoccupied by my thoughts then I had realized if he’d managed to eat that much without me noticing.

I put my blade away while shaking my head. “Late night snack?” I asked more to myself than him. I moved over and took in what remained of the corpse. He’d eaten most of the organs, and internals. Argos started to growl at me before a glare shut him up. Even if he was bigger, he was still a coward it would seem. I shook my head over the glutten’s sneaking, but it was better than the corpse going to waste.

When I was about to head back over to Imperia, the scent of something tantalizing washed over me. It wasn’t the blood, as that had been in the air all night. Almost despite myself, I reached into the corpse and clawed out the delicious smelling morsel. It turned out to be the heart of the beast, the hole from my round yesterday clearing showing. I licked my lips as I brought the melon sized piece of flesh to my mouth.

It was too late, by that point. The instinct of my body kicked in and I lost all control over whether I wanted to eat the thing or not. It was almost as if watching from a third person point of view as my jaw unhinged and my mouth split almost to my ear. In three bites, the organ was gone.

As I felt the flesh move through my body, I regained control with almost a violent level of suddenness. As I tried to rationalize what just happened, I felt my chest grow tight. I dropped to the ground as I felt my chest started to grow before my eyes.

The breast that my transformation had given me were small enough that I could have pulled off being a boy with girly features. That was no longer the case as my breasts grew nearly two sizes. The burning deeper in my chest grew stronger as well forcing me down to my knees from the pain.

“Echo!” I called worried that my DNA might be mutating again. It might have been that the lack of nutrients had been slowing the process down.

“Scan is already seventy precent complete. I noticed a spike in heart rate and returned focus to the host. Ingesting the Yagi had has prompted what I believe is the Biuna’s adapting mechanism. It is incorporating the superior heart as its own.” Your chest has grown to be able to house the larger organ.

Proving his point, the burning vanished almost instantly leaving me disoriented from the sudden lack of pain. I patted my chest and breathed a sigh of relief that it was over. “That’s going to be annoying going forward.”

“We will have to be careful that your body doesn’t attempt to absorb something that could end up changing your brain function. Too much change could result in my chip being destroyed.”

“It would seem I have little control in the matter, but I will figure something out. I really don’t want to accidently make myself any stranger.” The strangeness over for the moment, I moved back over to Imperia and picked her up. “Argos. Try to keep up.”

I cracked my neck and pointed to the south as I kicked off. I rapidly gained speed as I maneuvered around the trees. It would be a bit harder if this was a jungle rather than a forest, but thankfully, the forest paths were clear. Occasionally, a bush or some other foliage would hinder my path, but thanks to Echo, I was usually ready to jump or avoid them.

I made sure to check, but Argos was able to keep up with me at my maximum speed. In fact, I think he was holding back some. Looking at him, it was like seeing a wild animal that wanted to run more, which I guess he was.

Around two in the afternoon, local time. The trees really began to thin out. It allowed us to make even better time without having to change paths to avoid obstacles as much. We’d basically run through a few different territories of beasts, but our speed usually didn’t give them time to chase after us.

“How much further, Echo?”

“Approximately ten minutes and you will be out of the forest.”

Hearing that we were so close, I put even more pep in my step and managed to speed up a bit more. Argos seemed to relish the challenge and sped up to match me. Thanks to that, nine minutes later, we burst out of the tree line into a large plain of rolling grass that came to our waists.

Jogging to a stop, I took in the sky for the first time without any trees crowding the picture. I pulled in a deep breath, enjoying the smell of the new plants. It was still going to be a challenge to find civilization, if there even is one on this planet, but at least my first objective had been met.

“We finally done running?” Imperia asked. I glanced down and saw she was trying to fix her hair that had been made a mess from the wind. Mine was probably just as bad.

“Yep!” I said cheerfully as I moved towards a nearby boulder. I careful set her down then hopped up to sit next to her. She moved her legs in some simple patterns. At least she was improving, that was a good sign.

We still had about an hour before sunset, but it would be pointless to set out during the night. The forest had plenty of beasts that would make children have nightmares, the outside areas were surely just as bad. Plus, while she weighed almost nothing, carrying her and the stones that let us camp around for the entire day still made my shoulder stiff.

“This would have been the Zara Plains before. I wonder what it is called now?”

“Hopefully, there are people to call them something in the first place.”