Pearls of sweat ran down my skin as I watched the monsters staring down at us from their volcanic home. I obviously couldn’t see their eyes, as they only appeared to me as beast-like shapes of orange and red, but I could almost feel their anger and contempt even all the way down at the foot of the mountain they called their home. We had just touched something dear to them, and they were not about to let us go.

The monsters were already gathering their mana to summon another avalanche to hunt us down with. I saw how their bodies darkened as they depleted their resources, planning to spend them all in one devastating attack. Before I knew it, a giant mass of red and orange was already blasting toward us, rapidly gaining speed as it forced its way down the steep mountainside.

Our frontline had already broken apart, with every single one of the paladins fleeing towards the lake’s shore, likely trying to find safety in its glowing blue water. Even the mages that had surrounded me had made their escape, with only Jona charging forward and toward the monster she had attacked just moments prior.

It took me a second before I realized just what she was trying to do. The small monster did not make a single attempt to flee even with the earth under its tiny paws shaking and the avalanche about to hit it. It simply watched it all happen, knowing it was safe from it all.

Before I knew it, I was already running towards the fiery beast as hell itself seemed about to collapse onto me. While making my escape, I did my best to shield myself with a cloak of ink as thick as I could. My magic would obviously do little to nothing against a literal avalanche of molten rock, but it would hopefully protect me from the heat at least for a little bit.

Cutting it dangerously close, I lunged myself towards the unequal pair, hoping to reach the safe haven in time and somehow evade the attack of the lava beasts.

Sadly, luck was not on my side. Just as I was about to make my rough landing next to Jona and the little fire monster, something heavily impacted my lower body, throwing me through the air like a ragdoll. Instinctively, I forced all of my remaining mana out of my body, hoping that doing so would somehow form a cocoon of ink to protect me, but it helped little to fend off the torrent of blazing heat and colors that overwhelmed me. I impacted the ground soon after, my whole body screaming in pain as I came to a sudden, brutal stop.

My ears rang in a high-pitched sound as I tried to come to my senses. I tried to breathe, but every time I managed to snap for some of the blazing hot air that surrounded me, I was rewarded with even more agony.

Coughing and wheezing, I tried to reach for the healing potions I had stored in my belt pocket, hoping they would at least give me some relief, but my arms didn’t seem to listen to this rather simple request. I didn’t even feel the item in question weighing down on me, much like most of my clothes seemed to be missing.

My legs, while mostly absent of pain, also seemed unable to help me. I did not feel them move regardless of what I did or tried. Was I even still wearing shoes? I couldn’t say.

Only my neck still seemed to be mostly unaffected by the nightmare that had befallen me, allowing me to take a look at my surroundings at least. Bracing against the pain that would soon follow after, I looked to my right, only to find a burning hellscape that allowed for nothing to survive. Colorful ink was spread around in the narrow path that had escaped the avalanche, the remainder of my makeshift protection, but other than that, there was only destruction to be seen.

Even the once-calm lake was affected, as I could see its blue mana evaporate into the air, meaning it was boiling hot. Under its surface, I could even see one of the lava balls that had somehow made it all the way down the mountain slope while staying mostly intact. I saw one of the men in the water, screaming in pain or pleading for help as he tried to escape the aftermath of the avalanche, but neither could I hear him over the ringing noise in my ears, nor was I able to do anything about his situation - or mine.

Helpless, I watched him as he half walked, half tumbled away from the shore, likely towards colder water. Within seconds, the water was already reaching his neck, and he still was voicelessly shouting.

It was at this moment that the next group of monsters attacked their defenseless victim. At first, I only saw them as vividly shining blue lights in the lake’s already blue-glowing water, but they quickly gained shape as they approached their target. It was those water monsters we had seen before, five of them, even.

I tried to shout out a warning to the man, urging him to flee towards me, but only a series of coughs could be felt leaving my lungs. The paladin, none-the-wiser of the danger that was already surrounding him to all sides, made its way even deeper into the water, only to be soon dragged under the surface by the weight of his armor alone.

A deadly struggle began as the young man tried to lift himself out of the water again. The monsters simply watched him, not once trying to attack him, instead, they seemed to nudge him with their bodies, seemingly trying to bring him back to the shore. I couldn’t believe my eyes and soon, I was already encouraging the monsters with inaudible shouts and coughing.

Sadly, even the combined strength of the dog-like creatures wasn’t enough to lift the body of the man back onto his feet, and soon enough, there was a painfully familiar flash of holy magic. He was gone, not even leaving behind a corpse.

I avoided my eyes, trying to instead search for more survivors, but there were none at the lakeside. Only when I turned my head to the other side did I find some, albeit not the ones I was looking for. A familiar, two-tailed creature stood just about fifteen, maybe twenty meters away from me, right in front of Jona, who seemingly tried to threaten the little thing with a ball of water.

A single glance at the woman was enough to know she was at the end of her strength, as the mana inside of her body was nearly spent, leaving her as a dark blue silhouette in the otherwise brightly colored hellscape that surrounded her.

Jona wasn’t alone with the little monster, no, about a dozen of the supposed kings, each of them nearly towering over the blue mage while glowing in a dark orange-red, stood surrounding her. Still, despite having a clear advantage, the monsters did not dare to attack or move other than their tails restlessly swishing from one side to the other. This could only mean they were fearing for the safety of their smaller mate.

The standstill lasted for a painfully long minute or so, with neither Jona nor the monsters daring to make a single move, then, suddenly, the ball of magic dropped to the ground, bringing it all to an end. The water magician had spent all of her mana, leaving her with no way to defend herself or force another standoff.

Jona climbed to her feet, before taking a single step back, then another. But before she could make a run for it, the monsters descended upon her with a vengeance, all of them jumping at her seemingly in an attempt to bury her with their bodies. And that was exactly what they did, as her dark blue shape was consumed by a pile of red and orange soon after.

A sudden flash of holy magic ended Jona’s struggle, confirming her death. It took a while for the monsters to realize this, then they slowly gathered themselves to search for their next victim. And it was quickly found, as I was right there, in the middle of colorful ink, as if presenting them with a gift.

Soon, the monsters approached me with slow steps, seemingly wanting to savor their victory like a fine wine. Even the supposed hostage followed after them, although the little beast needed far more steps to keep up with its much bigger protectors.

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Before long, they had already gathered at my side. I could feel their blazing heat on my skin, adding to the overwhelming agony I had already felt.

I tried to shout at them, tried to make them leave me alone, but there were only more and more coughs. Soon enough I was fighting for my breath, trying to struggle for a little more, as to hopefully be saved by Aspen, his men, and especially the remaining healer who was hopefully still at their side.

They never came. Instead, the small monster walked towards me with painfully slow steps, its two tails waving behind its back as it climbed on top of my chest. Suddenly, there was a flare of fire magic, and all my pain was gone. I still couldn’t feel my legs, nor were my arms listening to me, even the cough was still there, but none of those issues seemed to matter to me anymore.

The monster’s magic felt strangely warm as if somebody had gently covered me with a blanket. I felt it invading my body, easily bypassing the blessing that was still waiting to do whatever it was meant to. The fire-attributed mana flooded me, easily filling my reserves to the brim and making me feel strangely hopeful and elated.

The monster didn’t stop there. It kept pouring its mana into my defenseless body, numbing all of my senses as everything around me was set ablaze. Even my ears seemed to play tricks on me, as instead of a high-pitched ringing noise, I could now hear a soft, almost inaudible purr, much like that of a catkin. The monster was somehow enjoying doing this to me and honestly, so was I, as something told me to just let it happen.

The equally weird and precious sensation lasted for a few more moments before something deep inside of me suddenly gave in. A flash of holy magic now consumed me, and before I knew it, I was already falling into a white abyss, my consciousness long stolen away before I even hit the ground.

- - -

A gentle, motherly voice made me come to my senses. I couldn’t understand what the stranger was saying, nor could I open my eyes to find out just who it was that had saved me, but I knew there was no woman in our raid group with a voice like that, let alone one that could heal my surely fatal wounds.

Instead of grass, dirt, rock, and the blazing heat of the inferno surrounding me I only felt a warmth that seemed to embrace me from all sides. There was a soft fabric protecting my body, which couldn’t be quite true as I could have sworn the fire had burned all of mine away and nobody wasted precious space in their backpacks just for an extra change of clothes. But it was still there, puzzling me quite a bit.

Even stranger was a foreign feeling towards the end of my back, where there shouldn’t be anything but my behind. Instead, there was something there, something that felt equally as warm and comfortable as the clothes that were given to me.

As if that wasn’t enough, my ears felt strange as well. My right one itched right at this moment, urging me to scratch it, only the itch felt somewhat wrong. Instead of the side of my head, it was on the top of it? I knew it was my ears. But what happened to them?!

The voice once again spoke up, as if trying to explain my experience. But yet again I failed to understand a single word. Instead, I was left behind with dozens of unanswered questions.

She, whoever she was, seemed to realize this, too. Once again she spoke up, saying no more than three words, before I was suddenly assaulted, no, gently carried away by a feeling of sleepiness, denying me any chance to find out just who my savior was.

- - -

Two hands shook me awake, treating me rather rough compared to the woman I had met in what could easily have been the strangest dream I ever had.

“Wake up,” a female voice demanded. “You have to wake up!”

Reluctantly, I opened my eyes, only to find a foreign face leaning over me. “Who-”

It was a stupid question. I knew this woman simply by taking a single look at her mana. It was Jona. But what was that color in her face? She didn’t have access to sand magic! And what is that weird shade of fire magic in her hair?! The mana didn’t even glow!

A moment passed by as I tried to understand what I was seeing, then it finally clicked. I wasn’t seeing mana, not only, but also colors, real colors! It was as if I had splashed Jona all over with ink magic, painting right on her skin as I tried to remember what faces were supposed to look like. I could still see the pale blue flowing through her body, but she also had red lips, blue eyes, and hair that seemed to share the color of falling leaves.

Even stranger, however, was a faint, white light that intermingled with Jona’s mana, indicating that somebody or something had forced holy magic into her body.

I shook my head. It was more than that. The mana seemed stable as if it had been carefully worked into her body, a sign of natural growth. For a moment, I even believed that she always had it and I had just overlooked it, but that couldn’t possibly be true, as mages with access to more than one school of magic were exceptionally rare. I would surely have noticed.

As my eyes wandered over her face and hair to take in all of these colors, I noticed another addition I couldn’t remember Jona having. On top of her head were two large, fluffy ears, much like those of a beastkin. They had fluffy, white fur on the inside of them, with the outside being as orange as her hair. Both ears ended in black tips, which was a more than rare sight for beastkin, at least I couldn’t remember even having seen something similar before.

My eyes inevitably ran down her body, finding it covered in an unfamiliar, black dress that had a big, fluffy tail stitched on its front, covering her belly. The tail was orange just like her hair, with its tip being dipped into white instead. And as if that discovery hadn’t been enough, I could even see the real thing half-hidden behind her body. Even her hands seemed to be healed. In fact there wasn't a single injury to be seen on her whole body!

“What- what has happened?!”

“That is what I am asking you,” Jona protested. “What happened to us?!”

“Us?”

A shiver ran over my skin as I looked down my own body, only to find it clothed with a strange attire. It was made from some foreign to me, thick and heavy fabric that seemed to offer some kind of protection, at least for those parts that were actually covered by it. Not only were the legs short, reaching only a third of the way to my knees, but there were also big holes in both of my sides, allowing one to look freely at my skin and belly - if it wasn’t for both being protected by a white shirt of some sort.

On my stomach, there was a large pocket waiting for potions and various other items to be stored. A cute, big-eyed creature that seemed to match Jona’s new features was stitched onto the thick fabric. It looked as if it was being carried in the pocket, with both of its paws holding onto the front layer of the pocket for security.

There was even more to be discovered, like metal buttons that secured two straps that ran over my shoulders, which in turn were seemingly tasked with keeping the weird dress from falling down once its big pocket was filled with items.

I was just about to look at my feet when Jona’s hands suddenly invaded my field of vision. They reached behind my back to grab something, and when she did, there was a sudden tug on my body, in a place where there should be nothing to be found.

It didn’t take the water mage longer than a second to present me with her find, a long, silky black tail with a tip as white as holy attributed mana, the very thing that could now be seen weaved into every single fiber of my being. With its long fur, the tail was looking very soft, making me reach out for it without hesitation. And when I did so, I was rewarded with a weird sensation that seemed to crawl up my entire spine, from its new end all the way up to my head. It felt good, far too good.

Jona didn’t give me the chance to further examine this unexpected addition to my body. She took my hand that was trying to pet my tail into her own before once again demanding an answer.

“What happened to us?! And why is your eye so weird now?”

I held my hand in front of my eye, trying to find out just what she had found, only to almost immediately realize that doing so was affecting my newly gained vision. When I closed my left eye, all of the colors I had regained were gone, leaving behind only the ink magic’s version of my surroundings. Naturally, I tested the opposite as well, closing my right eye instead. And indeed, there was no mana to be seen, only pure, natural colors, precious treasures I had missed for far too long.

Tears rolled down my skin as I realized what this meant for me. I could still use my ink magic as a quick test revealed, a small bubble of black now hovering over my healed hand, but I would now be able to see tears, smiles, and anger - any emotion I could think of. I could even see the blue in Jona’s eyes!

Jona was just about to ask again when she realized I was having a precious moment, so she instead sighed loudly before standing up and walking over to the four men I hadn’t realized were here with us. A quick check revealed that I knew every single one of them as paladins that had accompanied us, but they no longer wore any armor, nor did they have swords and shields on the ready. Instead, there were now big, fluffy ears and even more fluffy tails, all of which matched their natural hair color. Their clothes, however, I couldn’t help giggle about.

After watching the men for the better part of the minute, I explored the room, only to find it familiar as well. It was the prayer site that had welcomed us once we had entered the dungeon, with its main statue still being flooded with holy magic.

It was only when I read the name on the statue that it clicked and I realized just who I had met in my dream. I had even laid there just like the girl in front of the goddess!

Shivers ran over my skin as I quickly faced the statue, closed my eyes, and prayed. There was so much to thank her for…