Not waiting for the elf named Ella, Kane staggered up to what looked like a sliding door and pressed a button next to it. His sharp claw made a ticking sound as it touched the button's smooth surface. Silently, the door slid open, and Kane stumbled outside, slowly becoming used to walking in his new form.  

The hallway on the other side of the door was wide, empty, and had several doors on either side. It was equally as white, sterile, and boring as the room he came out of. He noticed a dead end on the right side, so he took a left turn and started walking. 

Suddenly, the woman appeared as if out of nowhere, looking at him strangely. Kane quickly realized this woman was simply moving at speeds his eyes couldn't follow. "What do you mean 'an unscheduled stop'? What did Lady Mána say? We don't have time!" she exclaimed, a little alarmed. 

"I didn't come here alone," Kane answered gruffly, while his walking speed steadily increased as he got used to moving in this new form. Since the woman wasn't stopping him, he assumed he was moving in the right direction. 

Immediately, the woman's expression became worried, "I— I'm sorry, but there's no way the guards left anyone alive aside from you." 

"Don't worry about that. She's alive," Kane growled, unwilling to entertain any other possibilities. "She and I are linked. I can feel her location and status." 

He turned, and narrowed his eyes at her, "Now, if you really expect to dissuade me from razing this place to the ground someday, you'd better help me get her, or I swear on my mother's name nothing you can say will stop me." 

His last words were filled with a bone-chilling determination that left Ella with no doubt regarding the truth of his words. She paused for a moment, her face conflicted, but then she nodded, "Fine," and opened a holographic display on something akin to a CyberStrap. 

They continued walking along the empty corridor, while Ella typed away on the display. Kane wondered why they didn't encounter anyone, but he didn't consider the answer important enough to disturb Ella while she was likely trying to solve the problem of Luna. 

Suddenly, a gruff, older man appeared on the display floating in front of the elf, and she quickly exchanged some words in a third language that Kane didn't understand. 

Then, she turned to him, her voice urgent, but still with that compassionate and slightly sad undertone she'd been using since he met her, "What does your friend look like, and where can they find her?" 

Without stopping his transformed feet, Kane narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her. But that just caused her to sigh helplessly, "Look, either I sent someone else to pick her up, or we go ourselves, but in the latter case, the chance we make it to the rift in time drops to near zero, and we all die." 

Kane looked into her eyes for a moment, trying to find any sign of deceit or lies, but found only sincerity.  

'I hate entrusting mine or Luna's life to anyone else," he thought angrily, "but what choice do I have at this point? This whole thing has been fucked from the start, and I swear to anyone who will listen, if Luna and I get out of this alive, I'll never allow us to be in a position like this again.' 

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

So, he nodded, "Fine," and pointed in a certain direction. "I don't know her exact location, but she's somewhere in that direction, likely coming out of the forest we were found in. She's a catling with white hair, likely wounded and headed this way. Her name is Luna. Tell them I said, 'she needs to groom her tail'." 

For his last words he concentrated a little and managed to say them in Terran. This was one of the security phrases they had agreed upon. If someone knew that phrase, it told Luna that Kane had sent them, but wasn't sure if they could be trusted. 

Ella didn't question his last words. Instead, she nodded seriously, and relayed the information to the man in her display, finishing with the Terran phrase, distorted by a thick accent.  

When she was done, the man nodded, and the display closed. "They'll get her and meet us at the location of the rift," she explained to Kane. "I promise." 

Kane didn't answer, and they moved forward in silence for a moment. They passed a few turns, and Ella pointed the way, while Kane became faster and faster as he got used to his body.  

Now that he was getting used to this body, he noticed it had never been this powerful before. Even now, he was already moving faster than he ever could before in his human form.  

'Perhaps this isn't so bad,' he suddenly thought, enjoying the feeling of becoming stronger. 'Although my blood core has also reached the fifth rank now, so I can't actually be sure how much of this is the beast form and how much is my empowered blood core.' 

Regardless], he still had plenty of questions, and he was promised answers, so he quickly put aside these thoughts, and focused on Ella, "You promised me answers," he began, sounding more menacing than he intended. 

The elf nodded seriously, as she easily kept up with him, "I'll answer what I know." 

"Let's start with why you aren't simply carrying me wherever we need to go? Surely that would be faster." he asked with a raised eyebrow. "I do appreciate the autonomy, but I can understand the need for haste here." 

Ella shrugged sadly, a seemingly permanent state of hers, "Volfar and elves live together in Alfheim, but to most elves, the volfar are nothing more than dirty beasts and slaves." 

She frowned in order to underline the seriousness of the situation, "These halls should be empty right now, and I've disabled the cameras, but if we do encounter any guards while I'm carrying you, you'll likely be summarily executed. Volfar aren't allowed to touch elves, no matter the circumstances." 

"Delightful people, you elves," Kane scoffed in disgust. 'Just another fucked up world,' he rolled his eyes inwardly, knowing Earth's treatment of beastlings wasn't much better. 

"I know…" Ella sighed softly, her eyes downcast. "But not everyone agrees with their treatment. It's one of the reasons I'm doing this." 

Kane raised an eyebrow and looked at the depressed elf next to him. 'Is it an act?' his suspicious mind couldn't help but wonder. 'Although if it is, she's very convincing…' 

But before he could ask what her other reasons were, they turned a corner, and ended up outside. 

Immediately, Kane was hit by the loud whirring of many flying car-like vehicles zooming about. The air was crisp and cool, filled with the scent of something floral and unfamiliar, while the red sun cast long, eerie shadows across the gleaming white spires surrounding them. 

They were high up in the air. Below, he could see a horde of people moving about, giving him flashbacks of Riftshade. He felt like he'd ended up in a futuristic version of his home. 

They stood on a short walkway that ended in a platform, on top of which rested a sleek, white vehicle that Kane assumed was one of these flying cars, and their goal.  

Yet, as soon as they entered this walkway, they noticed two elves, seemingly standing guard. They wore the same white armour and elegant staff weapons as Kane had seen in the forest, which immediately raised his ire. 

Beside him, Ella cursed under her breath. 

Surprised, one of the guards raised an eyebrow suspiciously at the transformed Kane, before turning to Ella, "Princess? What's going on? Is that the queen's new pet?"