I blinked open my eyes, finding myself ensconced in darkness. Instinct screamed it was a trap, and I nearly panicked until I felt the fur beneath me. He was there!
Drawing a deep breath, I scanned the surroundings. It must have been late in the night, with only a faint glimmer filtering through a double window, each pane consisting of six small squares, two wide and three high. If I craned my neck, I could catch a glimpse of the blue moon Frigg casting its chilly light over the ground.
The window, the familiar scent, the simple masonry, and the fresh paint hinted that I was in our room at the way station. My ears twitched, picking up distinct noises, including the echoing snores from nearby chambers.
“Lynx?” I called out, and a reassuring growl confirmed his presence, his paw gently pressing against me.
Initially, I wondered why he was present. Had they changed their stance and allowed him in? But a more urgent thought surfaced, about him having seen me... ahem... having my lunch. My mind scrambled to connect disjointed memories.
“Did you tell them?” I instinctively growled back, surprised by my newfound ability to converse in Lynx.
“Nothing to fret about,” he reassured, his massive tongue sweeping over my face, erasing my concerns.
I breathed in relief and chuckled, then stretched my limbs with a yawn.
"What's all the growling about?" a sleepy voice asked from a nearby bed.
I turned to see Ju's head emerging from under a blanket. She yawned, propped herself up on her arm, and opened one eye to look at me.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, still keeping the other eye closed.
Scanning the room, I realized we were the only ones there.
"I feel alright," I replied. "What time is it?"
"It's two arcs in the morning, a day later!" a crestfallen Ju said, yawning again. "You've been sleeping all this time. I've been here waiting for you to wake up so you could drain life from me to recover faster, but no, you didn't wake up, so I stood all the time and waited and now when I went to bed you woke up!" she explained.
"Thanks, Ju!" I said, then turned to Lynx. "How did you manage to get permission to come inside the way station?"
He chuckled, but before he could say a word Ju answered for him.
"He just walked in," she said. "It caused a bit of commotion, but nothing major. Nobody has dared to try and chase him out yet, but I heard they complained to Alice."
"I'd like to see them try," Lynx said with a shrug.
Ju rolled her eyes.
"Can't we just go back to sleep?" she asked with another yawn, looking visibly tired.
I turned to Lynx, locking eyes with him. "I need some answers," I stated firmly. "I don't understand what happened."
He glanced at me, then turned to Ju.
"Ju, let us go inside the ring for some privacy," he suggested.
She objected. "Alice warned that it's more dangerous now, as the ring is dangerous! Wouldn't a privacy field be enough for you?"
He shook his head. "No, there are things we need to discuss. I hope it doesn't collapse on us right now." She met his gaze, sighed, and nodded. "Fine."
She rose, her satin pajamas gleaming in the moonlight. She reached for the blanket, wrapping it around her shoulders. "I'll make myself some tea while you two chat," she said.
As soon as she opened the portal, Lynx nudged me slightly with his nose, then leaped in. I followed, and the portal closed behind us.
"So," he began once we were alone, his clear eyes locking onto mine, "tell me what happened."
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
I glanced around at the wobbling walls, noting their deteriorating state. This artificial cavern seemed on the verge of collapse. With a sigh, I turned back to him. I had expected him to provide answers, but perhaps he was right; he wasn't aware of my experiences. So, I recounted the events as I had lived them, omitting no details.
"Hmm, a strange story," he mused. "I believe that your true self played a role in your survival. You've been 'demoted,' as you put it, but there's a true power within you, a Lores, which remains potent. It's constrained, only trickling through to you, but it's there behind whatever demotion spell is affecting you. That power likely kept you alive when anyone else at your level would have perished."
“Does this mean that I cannot die?” I wondered at the surprising revelation.
He shook his head, his expression serious.
"That would be a dangerous assumption to make. Of course, you can die. You've died several times already, and there will come a point where it's final. The shadowmeld spell seems to restore you, likely based on the memory embedded within the spell. It's a potent and fortunate spell, but it relies on your mana. If you were to run out of mana, well..."
I swallowed, understanding the gravity of the situation.
"And what if they had captured you alive?" he continued.
"Actually, they tried to do just that, but I transformed. I don't know how I escaped from their clutches," I confessed. "Did you help me? They had me pinned down with a spear through me. How could a lynx escape that? I thought I wasn't going to survive, and yet..."
"You're not aware of it, are you?" he asked, raising his head to look at me with a slanted gaze.
"What do you mean?" I inquired, puzzled.
“As a lynx, you seemed to be significantly stronger than you are now. I think that once transformed, this 'demoted' state does not work anymore. It may eventually work only for your demon form.”
It was surprising news to hear, but thinking about the events, it did make sense.
“So, you mean there's a way to evade the demotion? That I was a level one hundred four lynx?” - I wondered.
“Exactly,” he said with a nod, “I cannot gauge your level with that precision, but I felt your power in that form.”
“Uh. No wonder that I destroyed them, but how could I recover from a position where I was stabbed and restrained by a net?”
“Those were mere toys in comparison with your power. True, you were wounded, but you had a vitality that far surpassed your current state. Frankly speaking, I don't know how it works when you transform into such a beast, but I can imagine that it wasn't so difficult to escape.”
“But that spear was passing through me!”
“I guess it just broke into pieces when you transformed. It was certainly uncomfortable for you, but your body must have simply dissolved it or rejected it.”
“Dissolved it?”
He shrugged.
“Well, not quite dissolved, but broken in tiny pieces. It must have hurt like hell and made you mad enough to eat them...”
“Please, let's not bring that up again! That didn't happen, okay?” I pleaded, a note of panic in my voice.
He sighed.
“It's a common instinct for a beast, but I won't mention it again, of course. But what I don't understand is how you were able to transform into a lynx.”
I met his gaze briefly, then cast my eyes downward, feeling a tinge of shame.
“I... I was considering offering you that option... if you're interested in visiting human towns... you could stay with us for a while and pass as a human...”
“So you can transform at will into a lynx?” he inferred.
I nodded.
"It seems like I can."
“Cool, maybe sometime I'll teach you some real hunting!” he said with a happy grin.
This is his conclusion over my new capabilities? No interest in being a human? I couldn't abstain not to ask.
“So you are not interested in seeing how human society is?”
He answered with a grin:
“But of course I am, I will be traveling with you and use my abilities to fulfill my curiosity. I'm curious if the king has enough security from blocking me visiting his palace!”
I rolled my eyes. Not exactly the answer I was expecting. I made another try.
“But being able to swap to human would make it much easier for you!”
He shook his head.
“As a human I would lose most of my abilities if not all. I would be a high leveled human without skills and to top it all, weaker than I am. Why would I want that? Besides, now we can communicate, I can growl to you, while you can answer in English.”
I sighed deflated.
“Yeah, everybody would think that I am nuts and talk to myself, but you are right, we could do that!”
We were just planning to leave when the portal opened and Alice came in.