The infested vulture returned from scouting the Crown’s highway, alighting on my modified shoulder. Its talons dug into where the gel like substance had crawled up my stump, covering my skin, and stopping at my shoulder. At least, I hoped it had stopped there. One benefit of the invasive arm replacement, however, was that the substance acted like a sort of armor. While the talons dug in, I felt nothing more than pressure.

And the vulture was a big one too.

“The way clear?” I asked it, attempting to convey my question the best I could in parallel.

The vulture gave a strong feeling of negation, almost shaking its head. It angled its beak to the angle, directing me a bit off course from our initial trajectory. It must have found some den or another, and was directing me around it.

Despite the vulture’s dimwits, we had been getting better at interpreting each other. In a way, the vulture was almost becoming a companion. Mother knew there was no one else to keep me company, and the wastes were lonely.

Several days had passed since I had ingested the grimoire, and during that time I had progressed southward, avoiding the denizens of the wastes as best as possible. Despite the barren landscape, there were several predators that made their homes in the crags. And of course, there were the outlaws and the hundeors as well.

Fortunately, the vulture provided some reconnaissance to avoid the worst of it.

I shifted under the weight of the vulture and kept walking, a constant trudge across a broken landscape.

We were getting close to Southbridge, I was sure of it. And finally, I would be able to integrate with the humans, and not be taken in as a pet or a mothersworn slave.

Just thinking about that made my blood boil.

Never again, I promised myself.

“Craaah?” The vulture croaked, questioning my sudden turn in mood.

“It was nothing,” I said, waving it off with my right hand, before feeling at my neck where a collar had previously sat. It was gone, of course, but the weight of it was still there, at least in my mind. As I probed the skin, I felt the alien tendrils following my spine. Emboru had promised it would prevent a collar from sealing my abilities, but I had been hesitant to test it.

Foolish, I know. I should have tested it. I had the opportunity to, while with Emboru. We had the collar, we had the key. But when they offered to put it back on… I could not. I just… could not.

I shuddered again.

The vulture pecked at the top of my head, where my ears used to sit.

That brought me out of the unpleasant reminiscent, which likely was the vulture’s intent.

I was a human now.

At least, I appeared to be, and physically resemble, a human.

Guise of the Kitsune was an interesting Spell. When I casted it, all of my ‘Spirit’ went into it, locked into place. It left me feeling drained, weary, and despondent. At least at first. While the Spirit never refilled while the Spell was active, the Spell also never broke. It had remained in place since I had first cast it, and I had been getting used to the feeling.

Relearning how to move took some effort, but I felt doing so now was better than when I was in the city.

The fact that I enjoyed my human body also affected my decision. It just felt good to be the correct species again, even if it was only by using a Spell. And not only was I human, but I appeared exotic as well.

Were this before, back home, Mother would have been–

-no, I resisted that thought. Mother was gone, not here, and I was safe. Though, I was certain others would fill the same niche wherever I traveled.

I flexed my false arm, feeling the power coiled in the tendrils, and the potential violence they contained.

The vulture squawked once more, transmitted its displeasure of being disturbed, and took flight, scratching my face with its coarse wings as it jumped off.

I watched it fly off, circling once before heading towards the road, but I quickly turned my attention back towards my false arm, my left arm, the somewhat morphic gel and tendrils, that had an encroaching silver tint, and that was apparently strong enough to break a woman’s back.

I still had yet to resolve how I would hide the arm. Even with the tendrils and morphic gelatinous substance, it still only had three fingers at most, and it was burlier than an arm ought to be, and slightly longer. I had been practicing with it, attempting to shift it into a more realistic manner, but it was slow going.

But even if it was slow going, I felt that some progress was being made. The gel seemed just slightly more compressed, and the arm felt just slightly shorter. There was no progress on the number of fingers, but I could deal with that later, with perhaps a glove.

So lost in thought was I, that I almost missed them.

In fact, if not for the vulture returning with a warning cry, I would have.

I had been following along a hill, avoiding the ridgeline, when I came around a bend and saw the road. I should have heard them earlier, but, for all I loved my human body, its senses were subpar.

The vulture landed beside me and made a hissing croaking sound, and it conveyed stress, much more than it had all the previous times it had warned me of danger.

I responded quickly, dropping down and crawling towards the nearest boulder.

I could still see the road. And there was movement along it, following the route north.

It was a group of soldiers, marking in sync, with several carts following behind them. Even more soldiers flanked the carts and followed. They were armed with artificed weapons and swords, and their clothes were fresh, hardly dust stained at all.

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They had just come from the city then.

Which meant we were getting close.

But also… Why were the soldiers traveling north? Were they attempting to remove the infestation, or was it something other? Either way, I had no interest in drawing their attention. Especially not with my left arm the way it was. If they saw that, they would likely assume I was infested myself. And, to be fair, I was not certain I was not infested.

The soldiers did not travel quickly, and I passed the time counting them. There were fifty of them, not counting the drivers, and the support staff traveling in the wagons. The number made me wonder just how large this country was, and what sort of resources they could bring to bear against me.

Or, better yet, what sort of resources I could acquire.

Once the soldiers were out of sight, I began traveling southward once more, though I kept far enough from the road to remain out of sight.

Evening set in, and in the distance, I saw the glow of a city.

Honestly, considering the mixed technology I had seen so far, I was uncertain that the city would have a glow. But it did. It also had plumes of black smoke rising up to join the constantly overcast skies.

We were getting close.

I was almost there.

Soon I would see the city, figure a way to hide my arm, and infiltrate. From there, I could acquire resources, do some light espionage, find Emboru’s sibling, liberate, and escape. Once that was done, Emboru would hand over the Mist Egg, and help me hatch it. Apparently, it would provide some sort of boon, or companion. The egg had already bound to me, taking up a spot for a Major Glyph on my ribs, so the egg really was a sort of an anchor tying me down to Emboru.

I would be glad to be finished with it.

And then from there… ?

I… might not have had any ambitions from there.

Truthfully, I had never really been the sort of girl to have ambitions. I was told what to do, how to do it, where to do it, and that was that. Deviations were punished.

Freedom was a new concept, and I felt some excitement, but also trepidation.

These thoughts kept me busy as I approached the city. I dodged another group of soldiers marching north, but otherwise the travel was uneventful.

When I crested another hilltop, I finally saw the city proper.

It was a massive sprawl, seemingly divided in two by the highway. Strangely enough, the city itself was not walled, but the highway was. In fact, the highway almost seemed to pass through a carved canyon, in a straight line through the city, leading up towards a bridge which I could just barely make out.

The buildings themselves were ramshackle and brick, at least near the highway. On one side, anyway. On the other side, things seemed a bit nicer, with parks. On a hill, overlooking the nice side, there was a fortified position, what might have been some sort of castle, though I had no knowledge to judge that sort of thing. There were stone walls, battlements, and towers. I assumed that was where the local ruler lived.

Obviously, the nice part of town was where I wanted to land. I could probably find a nice hideaway to serve as a base of operations, and go from there.

Obviously, that was when the world decided to ruin my plans.

I was crossing the highway, from the east side, to the west side, where the nice part of town was, when I was spotted.

The roadway had been lined with towers, and I had thought I was far enough north to avoid them, but one of them must have seen me crossing the roadway.

-fppsh-

A light flashed past me, hitting just in front of me on the stone, leaving a burnt spot on the ground. I froze midstep, looking at the spot. Then following the direction it had come from, until I spotted a tower that had been lined up to watch the road.

Why it was there, I was unsure.

But despite the mile between the tower and I, I could almost see the glint from where the soldier was watching me.

A flare went up from the tower, towards me.

From the base of the tower, several soldiers emerged, and began jogging towards me along the road.

Why were they doing this? I wondered.

I needed to move. I could not afford to be detained, especially not now, not with my false arm the way it was.

The soldiers were getting closer. I had no doubts I was in the crosshairs of the tower.

I had been so foolish!

But, recriminations could come later.

Dare I move? If I had Spirit available, I could cast an Illusion and likely escape.

But… dropping my disguise would still leave me drained, at least until my Spirit pool refilled, and even then, what would the soldiers think if they suddenly saw a purple haired girl turn into a purple furred non-human?

My bet was nothing good.

I needed to escape!

I needed a distraction!

A wail came from overhead, where the vulture flew, reacting to my distress despite the distance. It circled once, taking in the situation, and then flew towards the tower, approaching quickly from above.

A moment’s worth of hope filled me.

Another pink flash.

The vulture was gone.

In an instant, my companion for the past several days was gone. Vaporized. A smear on the sky, a clump of smoking feathers falling towards the tower.

I clamped down the emotions.

This was my chance.

I moved, running for the nearest cover I could find. I turned, keeping my left side towards the tower, and I ran.

-fpppsh-

Another flash.

Eschiver: 7/9 (+1)

My left arm smoldered, the shot passed through the false arm and grazed my stomach. I stumbled from the pain, worried I had been disemboweled, before catching myself and continuing.

The soldiers were running towards me.

And then I was behind the hill, out of sight from the tower.

I continued running for some time, until I was certain I was safe.

Why had the soldiers been watching the road? Was it because of the infested? Could I sneak in another way?

It was dark enough and I was weary enough that I found a nook to curl up and sleep in. It was then that it hit me.

The vulture had perished. I was now alone.

I only had myself to count on.

I was determined to avoid letting myself down.

Blessings: Rank (1/9)

* Body: 65

* Mind: 75

* Spirit: 49

Talents:

* Athleticism (3/9):

* Climbing I (2/9)

* Featherlight I (2/9)

* Inversion (2/9)

* Stealth I (5/9)

* Trackless Tracks I (3/9)

* Area Coverage (3/9)

* Alchemical Immunity (ineligible for growth)

* Eschiver (7/9) (+1)

* Evasion (6/9)

Spells:

* Illusion I (5/9)

* Touch (8/9)

* Guise of the Kitsune (1/9)

* Closed

Gifts:

* Obsession (3/9)

* Closed (0/9)

* Closed (0/9)