My first conscious thought was that I was running. My feet were a flurry of motion. But it was strange. They didn’t feel like they belonged to me. It felt like someone, some thing was controlling them. That’s when I noticed they weren’t feet at all. They were hooves. I was rocketing across the ground on six powerful legs.

What in the world is happening?

I couldn’t see, but I still perceived the landscape around me. It was like I could feel the earth shifting around me, making imprints into familiar shapes like trees and bushes. I couldn’t see the sky, but I could detect the falling leaves as they danced through it. It was absolutely breathtaking.

Speaking of breathing, I could feel powerful lungs take in air like a jet turbine beneath my giant ribs. I now had a pair of powerful elongated jaws, with two sets of large tusks protruding from my upper and lower jaws. Bristly spines coated a thick hide that I wore all around me. If I had to guess, I was trapped in the body of some kind of six-legged boar.

It wasn’t just the physical changes either. I knew I was running, but it felt more like I was gliding, surfing on and slightly beneath the earth. The boar’s instinct was somehow shifting the earth around me, raising and lowering it as I ran to give me flawless footing for every step.

I could sense the boar’s feral and alien mind. It was driven by the overwhelming need to flee. In the rush of these new feelings, I failed to notice we were being pursued.

I felt the alpha manticore gaining speed towards us. It opened its jaws, and I felt the heat rising. A jet of flame burst from its maw.

The boar did something I didn’t anticipate. It dove towards the ground, face first. I mentally winced as the ground rushed to meet us. Then we dove into the earth as though it were water.

This is absolutely unreal.

We swam through the earth with the boar’s practiced ease. Then the fire exploded above us. I felt a slight pain on my haunch, like if I had my finger over a candle for a second. But that was it.

To my amazement, we emerged from the earth and ran even faster, readily outpacing the manticore. It slowed and roared after us. The boar let out a low porcine squeal of victory as I mentally cheered. A sense of relief filled my mind. I wasn’t sure what happened to me, but I was grateful to be alive.

The relief was gone faster than it came. The manticore turned to stalk towards an easier meal.

Osner!

I couldn’t do anything before, but now, with this ally…

Turn back! We have to get him out of there!

The boar’s unwavering mind rejected my pleas, and ran towards survival with all its might. I could feel Osner stirring ever so slightly. I could feel his weak pulse through the earth. I sensed the manticore licking its lips as it approached him. Helplessness flooded my mind.

Trapped again. No way out. Osner is going to die. All I am is dead weight. I’m no help to anyone. The one person who looked out for me is going to die, and I’m not strong enough to help him.

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No. A bell of crystal clarity rang in my mind with a single defiant note. You can’t hold me. The boar’s mind crashed into mine, fighting for dominance over its body. I won’t let Osner die. I won’t be dead weight any longer! The boar made a terrified squeal as its mind began to lose ground. This body is mine!

The boar’s will broke. I was flooded with power as my mind gained total control. Its powerful instincts became my own, as if I had years of experience controlling its body.

I let out a defiant porcine cry and ran towards the manticore with the full force of my new strength. Trees whipped past me in a blur. The earth bent and shifted to my will, surging me forward like a tidal wave.

The manticore stooped to take a bite of Osner’s head as I reached it. It reacted too late. I jerked my tusked snout up in an explosion of brute force, piercing and scooping up its hind legs. It sailed end over end and landed on its feet about 20 feet ahead of me.

I rushed towards it before it made contact with the ground, wanting to keep the fight as far away from Osner as I could manage.

Those dark ruby eyes bore into mine. The message was clear. I was pork chops. It lashed out with its claws. A glancing scratch stung my haunch as I spun around it.

Too close!

I replied with a geyser of sand to its face. It snarled and shook its head, trying to free its stinging eyes from the grit. It roared out a thick rope of flame, slinging it about in wild directions. Thick smoke burned my nostrils. The fires strafed dangerously close to Osner’s shuddering form. I ran clear of the flames, kicking up sand around me as I ran.

I need to take this fight farther away.

An idea came to me. I sensed the manticore open one eye and train it on me. I ran straight ahead, away from Osner. The manticore took the bait and pounced at me. I suddenly froze dead in my tracks, using the earth around me to apply the brakes.

The manticore let out a startled yelp as it sailed through the air in front of me. If I’d have kept running straight it would have buried me. To its credit, it was amazingly agile. It turned a 180 midair and landed on all fours. At least we were far enough away now that we could go all out. Osner would be in the clear.

It ran towards me. It raised its claws. I strafed around it. This time I wasn’t so lucky. The manticore paused just a breath before striking with wicked intelligence. It split a long gash on my face.

It carved grooves along my snout up to my forehead. I wailed in agony. It hurt so bad. Pain and panic shook me. It was a small mercy that I could still “see” what was happening around me, since I didn’t have eyes. I vigorously shook my head.

Ok, time to stop running around.

I launched a wave of sand at the monster as I dove beneath the earth. I could feel the manticore pivot and turn, slashing wildly. It sought me out with claw and flame.

The last place it thought to look was under its feet. As I sensed the fiery head above me, I pulled a move I’d seen Osner use with his sword.

I shot up from the earth snout first. I heard a startled yelp above me. Too late. Like a pick spearing a sandwich, my tusks pierced the manticore’s lower jaw, upper jaw, then its skull.

The fire instantly died. I dashed to the side as the manticore slumped to the ground. Black blood pooled on the ground. The dark light drained from its eyes.

I screamed out in both pain and victory. I was flooded with exhausted relief. But there was still work to do. I thought between panting breaths.

Must heal. Must get back.

I felt like I was being pulled from a dream. I felt my body shift and lengthen. Hooves stretched into thin fingers. I felt the pressure as my long jaw sunk back into my face. My tusks retracted into small teeth. My bristly coat folded back into a frame of skin. A lingering taste of strawberry lemonade, smoke, and grit sat on my tongue.

I gingerly reached up to touch my now human face, not sure what I would find there. I was amazed when I found no wound. Not even a scar. The skin was as fresh as the day I’d been born.