Ratface was strapped onto the table, her hand resting on top of Halmir. Strictly speaking, the physical contact wasn’t required but given the ritual Suncat was casting was usually done with magical creatures they had made it as secure as possible.
Suncat started casting as she burned incense around them. Ratface could feel Halmir twitch as he breathed it in, and she could feel the glamour sitting inside her detach itself from her mind. Ratface cradled the glamour, enough to give it something to hold onto but not so much that she was clutching it. She felt it slip from her mind into Halmir’s, the only thing still connecting them a thin thread Ratface held in her mind. The urge to clutch it in case the glamour ran away was strong, but she fought it. This only worked if she could offer this small amount of trust. The glamour entered without a hitch and Ratface shuddered at the emptiness she felt.
For her, the hardest part was over. All that was left was to have faith in the glamour and Halmir. She settled in to wait.
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The glamour slipped out of Ratface’s mind into the real world. It hovered there, savouring the feel of the true world upon it.
The way it interacted with the world was different to how most species did. It didn’t really see so much as feel the world around it. Being inside Ratface was like being surrounded by a dull flavourless place, part of her being separated from magic. The real world was tantalisingly full of strong tastes. Aether ran through her for the first time in years and she could feel the tinge of emotion in it. The fear in the red goblin, the uncertain hope in Ratface, and lastly the exhaustion in the rat.
She angled herself towards that feeling and fell into it. Unlike Ratface, Halmir was filled with aether. It was too much for the little rat. His mind was cocooned in power waiting to transform into something greater. Something was stopping it though and she needed to find out what.
She found herself in a junk pile of all places. A midden. It was walled up apart from one entrance. In that entrance stood a rat noble. It was the one in robes and it stood there radiating pride through the ether.
“Of course, it summoned help,” the figure sneered.
The glamour ignored it. It wasn’t really the rat noble; he’d died with Halmir bit into him and while ghosts did exist, they wouldn’t appear like this. No, it was an impression of the power left behind.
She felt around the midden until she felt the pulse of terror she’d been looking for. A rat tried to dart away from her and her hand snapped out and caught it. She wasn’t Ratface, no simple creature could outpace her.
Halmir squirmed in her hand. He felt of uncertainty, of exhaustion, of fear. It was interesting though; the fear wasn’t at the prospect of fighting with the rat noble. The part that considered that felt only hunger. No, it was something else he feared. But what?
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“What are you doing hiding?” she asked, “you’ve caused a lot of problems for those around you.”
Halmir stopped squirming and she set him down.
“You smell like Ratface,” he said. His eyes widened, clearly, he’d been expecting squeaks to come out. He had a cute voice, high pitched like a squeak but musical in its own way. Hopefully he’d keep that when he finished changing.
“She’s who sent me to help you. She’s worried.” The glamour settled down into the junk pile and gestured at the rat noble. “What gives? You’ve already killed this chump before.”
“I can hear you,” said the representation.
“Yes, that’s why I said it so loud,” said the glamour. She didn’t spare it any more attention after that.
“Last time I fought it, I had help,” said Halmir.
“If that’s all, I’ll help you. I’m way better than Ratface in a fight.”
“No, I can take him. It’s what comes after.”
Halmir dug himself into the trash around him.
“I could feel it, you know, all of him was filled with rage, even his magic was turned into rot. Twisted into something vile. What if I end up like that?” He wiped at his fur as he stared at the rat noble in terror.
“I know what it means to be a rat. I like being small and ready to help when needed. Always in the right place when I need to be.”
“Your power doesn’t have to be like his, you’d be your own rat noble,” said the glamour, “you could even stay a rat, if you wanted.”
“That seems like a bad choice as well. Ratface and the others need more than a rat in the future, at the same time, sometimes all they’ll need is a rat.”
The glamour looked at Halmir. How like a rat to concern itself with what the people around it needed. No wonder he and Ratface were drawn to each other. Still, his concern of what to become had an obvious answer.
“Choose both,” she said.
“What?” he asked, looking confused. The glamour shrugged.
“Choose both. Be the rat or the rat noble whenever the situation demands it. No one said you couldn’t be greedy.” The solution seemed laughably easy to her. Form was just a part of the mind to her. Maybe most creatures couldn’t change theirs, but he was going through a mythical transformation, why not push the limits.
“Is that even allowed?” Halmir asked.
The glamor shrugged again. “Maybe not.” She leaned in with a savage smile on her face. “The better question is who’s going to stop you?”
Halmir thought about it, and the same smile crept onto his little rat face. He crawled onto the glamours shoulder.
“Well then, time to beat this guy again,” he said.
The two rushed the rat noble. It had to be said, he was powerful, his power had been amplified in the aether to reflect what Halmir would gain. The rot in his hand would devour either of them if he touched them.
That was if he did. The glamour was an elf, and she moved around him with insulting ease. Always just out of reach, slapping away the attacks around the rot.
Inevitably the opening appeared. Halmir leapt from her shoulder and buried his teeth into the noble’s neck. The noble grabbed hold of him, trying to rot away the little rat. It had no effect, the power he’d been using recognising its true master as Halmir drunk it in. The transformation began and the glamour let itself be pulled away.
It came into the real world and walked its way back to Ratface’s mind. A strange presence blocked her path.
The other glamour was green and filled with screaming. She could feel it smile as it grabbed the thread connecting her and Ratface.
She realised the mistake the two of them had made. The glamour had been so quiet in their mind. Only obscuring what it needed to. They’d known it was intelligent, but they’d thought it contained. She could see now it had just been waiting for her to leave. For when Ratface’s mind was vulnerable.
It severed the connection. The glamour and Ratface cried out. She could feel herself unravelling, only Suncat catching her in the crystal stopped her from disappearing completely. Yet now she was stuck, unable to see what was happening. She didn’t even know if Ratface was alive.