19 – CALVIN

Tommy heard a knock on the door. It was faint, as if coming from behind a veil of water, or of rushing wind. He opened his eyes, and exhaled, feeling the sensations come from his body again. He left his meditative state, and the veil of rushing wind and flowing water lifted itself away. He got up from where he was sitting at the foot of his bed, and slightly opened the door, careful to keep the chain holding it closed still secured to the wall beside.

“Who are you?” He asked, as soon as he saw the person standing in the corridor.

The figure in the corridor shifted on his feet, and Tommy saw a faint glint in his eyes, deeply set in a face full of shadows. He felt that he recognized those eyes, even though they looked different than any eyes he recalled he should know.

“It’s me. Quick, we have to go!” the voice seemed young, and oddly similar to his own.

He opened the door. “Mateus?” he asked, tentatively.

“Yes, yes.” The figure replied. “But do not speak that name until we are far enough away.” He said, and took Tommy’s arm and started to drag him around the inn and towards the door.

The young demi-human felt relieved that his friend was still alive. He was confused at first at his choice of disguise, but soon he understood. They left in a hurry. As they passed by the barn, Tommy asked what it was going to be of the cart and the horses, but his companion told him they were going to leave them behind.

“But what about the cube?” He asked.

The other person, now barely as tall as he was, turned to look at him. He saw his slitted brown eyes contract for a moment, and stared in wonder. Mateus had managed to reconstruct a wolf-kin body almost perfectly despite never having consumed one. Even the dark brown tail was naturally swaying, and his ears reflected his state of mind, pressed against his skull.

“It’s gone, I used it.” He said.

“It didn’t go well with the inquisitor, did it?”

Mateus shook his head. Tommy felt his throat dry and constrict for a moment, but relief washed over his mind. A greater evil had been averted, then. It was acceptable, although it left a bad taste in his mouth, and a feeling of weightlessness in his chest that made him feel sick, and disgusted.

“I’m sorry.” Tommy said, looking down to conceal the complex look on his face. Relief was dancing dangerously together with guilt and a myriad of other emotions.

“I should have expected it.” His companion said, as they were crossing one of the side entrances to town, making their way towards the surrounding hills. “I have been too naïve, trusting the good judgement of people. Twice have I been fooled already. It’s time to change that.”

Tommy nodded. They were walking low on the ground, hidden by whatever small bushes grew here and there in the rough terrain of the hills. As soon as they were over the first crest of rock, dotted here and there by small trees, they could allow themselves to relax a bit more, unseen by the scouts perched on top of the city walls.

And as soon as they were out of danger, Mateus changed his form once again to assume a human identity. His skin rippled silver and gradually changed shape as if he was made of water, and in a matter of seconds he was looking completely different. He was tall and lean, with a bit of muscle all around the body, with golden hair and deep blue eyes.

“Too much.” He muttered, and started changing again.

“Perfect.” He said. Now, he looked perfectly normal, unassuming. He was of average height with dark hair and eyes, and a sturdy build.

“Are you sure the disguise will work?” Tommy asked.

“It will, as long as the inquisitor thinks I’m dead. Which he does, I checked.”

Tommy smiled faintly. “Good. So, basically as long as they don’t actively check your body you will be undetected?”

“Yeah.”

They walked towards the forest, back where they came from before arriving in Pyee. There was quite some distance to cover before getting there, but with his body that never tired, Mateus was confident in reaching the first trees before nightfall. After a few hours of trekking through the fields, keeping a good distance away from the road, Tommy was starting to feel very tired. He was used to long walks and surviving in the wild, but he could never hope to compete with a body made of mechanical parts that seemed to never run out of energy.

His legs felt heavy, and there was a sway in his movements. His mind could not think of anything besides putting one foot after the other, painfully aware of where the soles made contact with the dirt and the rocks. After crossing a ditch, he swayed once again, but this time he felt that the whole world was spinning wildly, and he could not find purchase with his feet. His legs were not listening to him. The air was damp and hot, yet chilly and sharp. He fell down, backwards, towards the little creek of icy cold water used to water the fields.

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A strong hand caught him, and tossed him like a doll on his back. Tommy found himself sitting on the neck of his savior, legs dangling forward towards his chest. It was comfortable, and Mateus’ body did not feel cold, or hard, or uncomfortable in its inhumanness.

“Thank you.” The boy said, suppressing a blush. “I just needed a little rest, that’s all.”

“We can’t rest. I am very low on nanites, and need to restock at the forest as soon as possible.”

“Couldn’t you use the plants in the fields? Or some iron tools we could find scattered around? I saw you consume steel blades, after all.”

Mateus shook his head. “I need more mass if I want to process harder materials. And, I think consuming vegetables from the fields around the city would not be a smart thing to do.”

“I agree.” Tommy replied, and just looked around for a bit, in silence.

His breath was slowly becoming deep and steady once again. Now that he was being carried, he felt as if lulled by the bouncing motion, up and down, of the walking. He felt so comfortable, so good, and his head felt so heavy. Seeing his little friend fall asleep on his back, Mateus smiled and held him in place with a little silver rope that grew from his back.

Tommy awoke after a short while, hearing the familiar sounds from the woods. The forest was drawing near, and the sun was setting. The tall triangular conifers were swallowing up the last rays of the sun with their pointy leaves, and little wisps of mist were already rising from the watery ditches scattered amidst the fields behind them. The forest was silent, but it was no longer scary, now that he was not alone.

He noticed that, every now and then, Mateus would stop to check his surroundings to see if they were being followed. Before entering the forest proper, he checked one last time and then exhaled loudly, as all tension left his body. Tommy felt it, and briefly wondered how a body that was nothing more than a simulacrum could even be tense as it was, but could not find an answer to his question. He felt that not even Mateus knew, and asking would be pointless. He too allowed himself to relax, although not before being deep enough inside the forest that there was no way they could be spotted by a random ranger roaming the plains.

They entered a little cave in the side of a rocky formation, with trees growing on top of the natural hill. As soon as they were inside, Mateus let him climb down from his back and settle on the ground. The cold stone was hard and a bit painful, and he quickly got up so that the sensation would not crawl up his legs and body.

“Rest, I’ll be right back.” Mateus said.

“Can I come?”

He nodded. Tommy followed meekly, carefully observing both his surroundings and his companion. He saw an entire tree get covered in a carpet of silver that slowly contracted, leaving behind nothing. The more trees were consumed, the more little cubes of compressed silver matter started to litter the floor, until Mateus connected them all with a thin wire of nanites and had them grow literal legs. They lifted themselves off the forest floor and walked towards the cave with the two, and once inside they transformed into beds, a table full of delicious steaming food, a warm fireplace and a wall of rock that sealed off the entrance to the cave.

“Don’t worry, the fire will not consume out oxygen.” Mateus waved his hand.

Tommy nodded confusedly. “I see…” He said. He went to sit at the table next to his friend, and looked at the rich assortment of food there.

He exhaled. Before digging in, however, he spoke again. There was something that had been floating his mind for a bit, something that in his opinion had to be said.

“Mateus?”

“Yes? Is the food not to your liking?”

He shook his head. “It’s perfect. And I’m very thankful. For everything, really. Seeing all this food on the table, sleeping in a comfortable bed, no longer scared of the dark and of the night. You changed my life. You saved my life. Thank you.”

“I told you. There is no need. You are with me now; I will never leave you.”

He blinked back a few tears. Before he could speak again, he found his plate filled with food.

“Now eat. The food’s getting cold.” Mateus replied, and he too ate although with a pensive look throughout the evening.

After they ate, they sat for a while beside the fire. The air in the cave was pleasantly warm despite the chilly winter wind outside, and it was comfortable. Even the rocks on the ground seemed warm and pleasant, compared to how they were before.

“I need a new name, to go along with my new identity.” Mateus said, looking at the fire. “I can no longer be Mateus the Hero. To all, he is dead. And now, he is dead to me too.”

Tommy agreed. He had been meaning to tell him this for a long time, but never found the right occasion.

“What will you call yourself?” he asked.

“I have an idea, perhaps.” He smiled warmly, with a hint of mischief as he stared at the wolf-kin’s face. “You got any ideas?”

The little wolf-kin though for a while. While he did so, the cave finally reached the temperature that Computer had been instructed to warm it up to. It sent a notification, which was promptly dismissed.

“Will you keep this form?” Tommy asked.

“Why?”

“I think you need a name befitting of your form. But, I don’t know if this form you have is how you would like to think of yourself, or it’s just because you needed to escape and look unassuming.”

The other person, now without a name or an identity, hummed in agreement. He had thought about this implication for long now. He now had the possibility to be whoever, whatever he wanted.

“What should I be? Tall, beautiful and fair like an elf? Short, strong and steadfast like a dwarf? No. I don’t think that’s right.”

He scratched his chin. Then, his eyes lit up. For a moment he was just a humanoid figure made of silver, like a mirror that reflected the surrounding cave, distorting it. Tommy saw himself reflected in that silvery cocoon, and he stared into his own eyes for a moment.

Then, the silver faded. A pair of eyes, identical to his own, stared at him. For a moment, he even wondered if he was still looking at his own reflection. But he was not. He was speechless.

What he was looking at, was what the former hero had decided to become. A wolf-kin, just like he was. This filled him with joy and happiness, and for some reason he felt his body grow warm. It was like waking up from a pleasant dream, safe inside the warm blankets of his own bed. But there was more. In the slitted eyes of that person, he saw his own golden eyes. On top of them, a head of dark hair and a pair of dark wolf ears with a faint hint of white. Behind, a majestic silver tail.

Tommy was looking at his own big brother that he never had. Tears flowed freely down his cheeks, and he saw a kind and caring smile on that face, patiently waiting for a name to call his own.

“Calvin!” He said enthusiastically, and ran to embrace his newfound big brother.