That night, Ariara has a strange dream. It's easy for her to recognize she's not in reality when, getting up effortlessly, almost as if gravity has no effect in the plane of existence, the Harpy spots flying islands and generally pieces of land floating everywhere in some kind of red void, herself being hosted up by a small patch of grassland. Other islands floating around including water, sand, and even snow moving around in a not very decisive direction, bumping into each other and changing directions.
Between all of the floating madness and difficulty getting used to almost no gravity, Ariara is able to spot something... Even more peculiar, on an 'island' made of red liquid, which Ariara has every right to guess is blood, a figure effortlessly standing on the blood as if it's solid.
This figure has a skeletal structure, or so the Harpy guesses since, apart from the head showing off a skull, the rest of the body is covered in a blue coat adorned with a dark blue color. If anything, the coat conceals more than Ariara would like, hiding any other kind of garments or special weapons the true monster has, which she definitely assumes to be a Lich, a high-level skeleton-like monster wielding magic and resurrecting powerful, undead allies. Not only for the overwhelming power this monster could have solely based on her past experiences in-game with such powerhouses this one especially seemed to reek with dark energy, an aura of some sorts coming out of its coat, darkening it's surroundings from Ariara's view and only furthering her thoughts of how doomed she'd be in a duel against it, especially in her already weakened form, the hole in her wing still being there despite it being a dream.
"Human, heed my words!" The Lich says, raising its hands in the air, them coming out of the robes to show their skeletal form, various rings with crystals and other kinds of garments on them, possibly magical, definitely magical. "You have been summoned to even out the power struggle, despite your dirty origins you are now a Monster. A creature made of magic and strength, hunted by those you might've once called fellow humans. I will command a great and powerful army, and together we shall eradicate humankind. There is only darkness for them, and death for their people. We shall sail until each of their city has been extinguished." The Lich monologues, Ariara listening attentively, shocked, to say the least. That's the reason she was summoned? To become a monster in an evil army..?
"You are to cause destruction and death to the humans around you, with every resource, my heroes. You have been spread through the world sparingly, to combat the heroes the humans summon." The skeleton says, its words starting to weigh on Ariara, her still stuck digesting his first monologue, but suddenly its voice rings through her ears "Awaken." A simple, but directive command is heard throughout her head.
As this command comes to a halt the Harpy jumps up from her sleep, seemingly still surprised about the dream, looking at her wings, trying to digest everything that happened with a bit of time. Her left-wing seems to have had some kind of medical attention, or at the very least someone to take care of it considering the makeshift leaves forming some kind of adapted patch, all of it wrapped up in what seems to be some spider's string, which... Surprisingly seems very sturdy, when trying to stretch her wing it hurting a bit, keeping it tied.
Afterward looking confirms her placing, her now seemingly being in a cave, just near the cave entrance, which immediately begs Ariara to ask herself the question of who brought her here, and why they would patch up a monster... The last thing she saw before blacking out was, after all, just a bunny... Right? Her head starting to wonder a bit, could she even look down upon such monsters? It definitely wasn't a common bunny after all...
Sighing out loud the Harpy heads outside, checking left and right before heading down from a little hill the cave entrance is placed upon, hearing the soft moving of water nearby she heads in that direction, soon finding an extension to a river, which she assumes to be the same river she's been moving around all of yesterday.
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Looking into the water, two dark eyes stare back, the small guilt of a forced killer painted over a bit of them, other than that she isn't much to look at, brown short hair and an around average height for a human, if not a bit taller... Not that she's one anymore, a slender build resembling the one she had back home, now paired with two brown wings, at least from what she can tell, despite her innate color blindness, which seems to have carried over. Moving a bit closer to the water she can see her legs also changed, instead of human they now more so resemble chicken or bird legs, with two sharp talons at the end of them to grab or shred with, something she sadly already had to do. Her face at least seems to resemble a tiny bit of what she used to be like, no beak or anything that would stop her from at least using her mouth to move around things consider her lack of hands.
With a sigh, she looks again, in her mind the image twisting and twirling, was she really a monster? Despite this... Humanoid look, she was now hunted by humans, and she killed three... Would she really have to side with the Lich? Genocide isn't something she's looking forward if so... Nevertheless, she comes to the conclusion that she can't stop now, she needs skills and humans want her dead, she needs all the help she needs, even if the help is... Someone that evil.
Getting herself together she decides to test out her new skills, but first of all, status. Considering how she's been bleeding up until she got patched up and how she still didn't know how fast mana regenerated
Ariara the Harpy
Level 7 (69/70 EXP)
45/Temporary Max 45 Hp
38/38 Mana
Skills
Bird of Many Feathers (LVL 1) - Colorful Harpy (LVL 2) - Fire Starter (LVL 1) - Self Pluck (LVL 2) - Flight (LVL 2) - Harpy Eye (LVL 2) - Grass Blade (LVL 1) - Chlorophyll (LVL 1) - Natural Mana Hijack (LVL 1)
Titles
General of Warfare - Traveler of Worlds - Reincarnated One - High Ranker - Opportunist - Skill Holder Apprentice - Minor Nature Affinity
The first thing to catch her eye, her harpy eye is the temporary max hit points, she can't forget how before she had more than 45, guessing that the injury will probably weigh her down in that maximum until it's properly treated or regenerates. After checking her status is 'fine' the Harpy turns to a tree, focusing with her eyes almost closed and with her right-wing pointing forward, leaves and grass around starting to slowly gravitate towards the tip, forming a floating grass sword, although it isn't as fast to cast or as sharp as when the original owner used it, it still seems like a good weapon for a monster.
Trying to move it around, the monster quickly figures she can only move it around where she moves the wing as if it follows a steady, imaginary hand, curious about the limits Ariara goes to one of the nearby thick trees with the berries on them before trying to strike it with a sideways cut, the result being expected but still quite hurtful. The sword bashes against the tree, not sharp enough to cut through it but bludgeoning it, in result though a vibration of pain goes along all of the harpy's body, starting from the right-wing which immediately retracts from the position against the tree, the sword falling to the ground and losing its shape.
From this, the Harpy deduces that it's not a good idea to go around bashing it, like a real sword she also suffers from fatigue using it and definitely feels pain if she hits something she can't even cut. To add salt to the wound one of the fruits fall on the harpy's head, quite comical, but not what Ariara was going for, and she would cross her arms if they weren't big wings. Drawing a big sigh she crouches down to get the fruit with her mouth, starting to nom on it for breakfast.
Thinking of her next skill test however she notices how inefficient it'd be to use the hijack skill without anyone around, after all it was meant to kill many small targets, and she'd seen how useless it is against just one person. As she's really focusing however something takes her attention. A very loud, and scary, bear growl fills her ears, turning around she sees the source: What looks to be a grizzly bear with fur the color of ice, a cold chill hitting Ariara's body as she understands who's the prey the bear is heading for.