My temporary caretaker returned a few minutes later holding a basket filled with food. He placed it in front of me and pulled out several items. There was cheese, bread, dried meat, a small sack of grains, a few fruits and vegetables, a slab of raw meat, probably beef or pork, a raw fish and a smoked filet, insects and spiders, a piece of bark, a cane, maybe bamboo or sugarcane, and a misshapen attempt at a blueberry muffin. I eyed the pile in front of me. What was this guy planning?
“I want to know what you eat. First, what you ate before, second, what you eat now. I assume metallized and crystallized both change what your body needs in sustenance. I will go through these one by one. If you want to eat it, make one noise, if not, make two, okay?”
I hooted at him. Or I tried to. Instead of my wonderful hoot I was used to only a huff of breath left my beak. Dissatisfied, I clicked my tongue instead. A metallic clack sounded out followed by a crystalline ringing. Had even the insides of my body changed that dramatically? Maybe it really was smart to figure out what I could eat now. I knew I had to eat, I was really hungry after all.
“That will suffice. Good, let’s start with what you normally eat.”
One by one the researcher held up the items he brought.
Cheese. Clang clang.
Bread. Clang clang.
Dried meat. Silence. Clang?
Grains. Clang clang.
This way, we went through the pile quickly. A pile of all things formerly alive sat close to me while everything I had denied was put back into the basket or found its way into the ork’s mouth. Once everything was sorted he picked up a centipede and held it close to me.
“Here, try eating. We will have to see how you handle it.”
I opened my beak. It was a struggle to move my neck even just a tiny bit. Noticing my hardship, the ork moved the food into my bill instead. I pulled in the centipede with my tongue and swallowed. It was a bit of a struggle. Lying on my side did not help either. Finally, I made it. The food found its way down my oesophagus and into my stomach. I felt my body like I never had before. There were metal grinding sounds and crystalline ringing. Parts seemed to move almost like I was a machine. Nothing like gears clinking but still, I did not feel living.
My stomach did not complain at least. It seemed to be fine to eat my normal food.
“So, that worked?”
Clang.
“Good. Let me get some other stuff.”
Again, I was left alone to my thoughts. Right in front of me a pile of delicious food and my stomach near empty. It was even worse now that I had a taste of sustenance. My hunger knew it could be sated and dominated the forefront of my thoughts like never before. I stared unmoving at the pile of meat that could be my saviour. Partly because I was unable to move. I still tried. Slowly and very gradually I edged forward. My body did not react much to my will. Only my head slowly turned and my beak was able to open and close. And my tongue moved back and forth. There was an idea.
I turned my head to position my beak above the wooden desktop. Then I opened my beak and stuck out my tongue. Once it met with the wood, I turned my head. I was too weak. My neck muscles were not able to exert enough strength to move my body. I did, however, dig my beak and tongue into the wood. When I pulled my tongue back in, I shifted a tiny bit forward. This might be possible. I repeated my actions. Slowly but surely I managed to pull myself forward between the effort from my neck, tongue and beak. Only a tiny bit more and I might be able to get another bite! Then, steps. They stopped right in front of me. I had completely ignored my senses.
“Hungry, are we? Don’t worry, I’ll feed you proper. I just want to try something first.”
With those words, my tormentor put my body back into its previous position. Far away from my salvation. The items he brought were mostly dusted over. There were rocks, metal, glass, a few mana crystals looking more like slivers, some wood, flowers, most of them dried, and even a pile of dirt and sand each. Was he planning to feed me with that?
“Now, you are really hungry. I want you to think about the things I am showing you and tell me if any of this looks tasty. If it makes you crave it.”
Clang clang. I did not want to eat this stuff. Not in the slightest. How would that even work?
“Aah, give it a chance, okay? There is a warp condition that makes you crave rotten meat and other ones for similarly disgusting things. Just eating a bit would make it go away and it never even showed up in my faeces.”
Blegh. That sounded absolutely disgusting. Had he really done something like that? I coughed out a breath of air in disgust and turned my head away.
“Okay, here. Just imagine eating it and if it feels possible, click once. I won’t force you to actually eat it, just think about it.”
Fine. I clicked my tongue once more creating the clanging sound.
He went through the items one by one. This time it took much longer since I carefully considered how little interest I had in eating any of this. Only, there were actually a few things I felt not too disgusted about. Mostly metal and glass but also a few mana crystals. The metal and glass were too large to fit into my mouth but the crystal slivers might actually work. I noticed quickly only the ones holding aspects I already had looked interesting to me. By now there was a small pile of several small metal bars and a piece of glass next to the meat. The crystals went onto a separate stack.
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“I won’t feed you the crystals. The vis will only exacerbate your flux poisoning. It would be wholly irresponsible of me to even accidentally harm... someone this interesting.”
I felt like he meant to call me his test subject there but caught his words at the last second.
“Let’s start with the glass, I can break that into small enough chunks to fit in your bill.”
And so here I was. An owl trying to eat a shard of glass. Interestingly enough it was not difficult to eat because of the sharp edges cutting into my body from the inside. Just the opposite, the moment it touched what had been flesh beforehand, the glass was practically absorbed into my body. The next experiment showed I simply had to touch glass, not even put it in my beak. When doing so, a small patch of crystal started to spread where it touched and then quickly filled with a jumble of colours.
The ork tried the same with his metals. There was a piece of gold, which did not react to my body. Similar, a bar of metal with a purple sheen and a distinct feel of magic did nothing at all once in contact. The thaumaturge had a few other materials though. First was what I thought to be iron or steel. It flowed into me like the glass, forming a large metallic patch. Another bar with a golden red sheen showed the same reaction. As it bonded with my form, I felt a hint of change being contained within. I suddenly knew it was an alloy, two metals changed to become one. The last piece he had prepared was a dark blue, almost black colour. It combined even better. There was an idea of order with the metal aspect in it. The dark patches formed a fine network and started to sort and separate the colours and materials making up my body.
“Hmm, indeed, very interesting. There was no change to your status, it seems. Did your hunger get sated?”
Clang clang, I clanged angrily.
“Fine. Here, have some.”
And with that, he finally fed me some actual food. While I carefully swallowed the bites the ork started to write down his findings on some new sheets of paper. Whenever I wanted more I had to catch his attention and he would feed me absentmindedly. At some point, I was no longer hungry and my eyes started to close. Just before I fell asleep, I heard the ork speak again.
“You’re going to sleep? Good idea.”
As he yawned my eyes closed.
----------------------------------------
I woke up feeling much better. I could even move my wings and body a bit. I was not able to fly quite yet but it should be possible to walk a few steps.
Species: Great Eagle Owl (fledgeling)
Age: 0
Name: Fio
Gender: female
Status: sapient, healthy, mana enriched (major), crystallized, metallized, ordered, flux overcharge
Level: 13
Class: [Assassin lvl 43], -
Strength: 15
Constitution: 12
Dexterity: 21
Perception: 22
Intelligence: 28
Wisdom: 26
AP: 0
Skills:
Racial:
Utility: [Owl Senses lvl 5], [Preening lvl 3], [Owl Stomach lvl 4], [Soundless Flight lvl 4]
Offensive: [Solid Grip lvl 4], [Intimidating Screech lvl 4], [Owl’s Shadow lvl 6], [Aerial Combat lvl 4],
General:
[Maths lvl 4], [Identify lvl 4],
Assassin:
[Sneak lvl 5], [Surprise Attack lvl 4], [Mingling lvl 3], [Eldritch Shift lvl 4]
Even my Status showed I was no longer poisoned, only overcharged. The other effects had not yet disappeared though.
The ork was sitting on the desk in front of me and writing again. Did he ever run out of ink? Since I was able to move, I carefully rightened myself up. The movement let out loud noises of metal and glass scratching on each other. I tried my best to ignore it. The researcher on the other hand sat there curled up and holding his ears.
“Aargh! Stop! Stop! Stop! Don’t move! That’s way too loud!” he screamed.
I was elated by his suffering and slowly spread my wings. No matter how horrible this sounded, it was apparently a great weapon. Since I was unable to use my mana yet, [Sneak] could not dampen the sounds at all. Or so I thought but it actually lessened the noise, although not completely silencing it.
“Pah! Much better. Still, don’t move if it isn’t necessary, okay?”
I nodded with another screech. If I could grin he would think I was trying to eat him.
“Don’t look so smug, girl!”
Heh.
I slowly edged forward, this time actually being careful about not making a sound. I realized I had a lot more fine control about how my feathers moved now that they were magical metal.
“Interested in my research, are you?” he asked.
I clanged and looked at his magical tome.
“Yeah, it’s about you after all. I’m not letting you read my Thaumonomicon though. Unless you want to become my pupil and become a thaumaturge yourself?”
Thaumowhat? Who decided on such a stupid word? I shook my head to answer his question even though it sounded rhetorical. I would not drop my [Assassin] Class. I liked it a lot, or at least the Skills it gave me.
“Well, I can’t put the pages about you in there anyways. I need to sort them first and make it an entry on magical beasts. Though it would be weird if there were more of you. I am sure someone would have figured out some details on beasts able to fully absorb a major aura node.”
I tilted my head and hooted. Well, instead of a hoot it sounded more like an organ pipe.
“You are getting better I see. Once the flux overcharge is gone we should be able to figure out how those other effects really affect you.”
I shook my head. I was getting out of here as soon as I could move fully.
“Mhm, I get you don’t want to, but you did break into my home and destroy my most important possession. The least you can do is help me with this new curiosity I have found and let me research you. Let’s make a deal. I will get to do my experiments for a week and then you can go wherever. I promise not to hurt you intentionally! Okay?”
Intentionally, huh? That sounded not very convincing. But a week was not too long and I could learn about what had happened to me as well. I pointed at his book. If he let me read while I stayed, I would agree.
“No. You don’t get to read my secrets. The warp would be too dangerous with the two of us here. You can read anything else that catches your interest, but not my Thaumonomicon!”
I shook my head. I was warped far worse than he could imagine. Right! He was holding a feather to write on paper. There was an inkwell next to him too. I walked up and grabbed his quill. He was too confused to protest so I started writing on an empty sheet of paper. Somehow, I was able to keep my balance and sketch something resembling letters onto the paper.
Warp is weak
I wanted to write more, but it was really difficult.
“Wow, that is a claim I can only call insanity. However, warp is insanity in a sense, so it does make sense.”
With great struggle, I formed a few more lines.
You are weak
“Hah! Now I want to know what makes you think that! Fine, read the Thaumonomicon! If the wardens kill us both, it's your fault!”
Turning back to his research he muttered to himself while shaking his head. “This is madness. This bird broke everything you thought you knew. Turns out it can even read...”