The light of a flickering bonfire roused Ethan from his rather comfy slumber. Beneath – cold rock caressed his bulk.

So…feathery…his thoughts meandered. Like a fluffed-up pillow…a pillow with wings…

…with…huh?

Ethan bolted awake, still firmly attached to his new birdy form. He blinked his sharp eyes and inspected his wings – still strong and supple despite the one-armed swordsman’s grip.

Bastard almost killed me twice, he groaned in his own thready head.

He then faintly picked out the voices that were chattering around him, and felt the warmth of a fire caress his still-bloody feathers.

“He’s up!”

He knew that voice. Bolting upright, Ethan gazed upon the three hybrids that had come to his aid. The spunky catgirl – Tara, the ditsy rabbitgirl – Fauna, and the gruff wolfman, Klax. The three of them were sitting around a bonfire atop a craggy mountain – a silent wind roaring gently through spires of rock that rose all around them.

They eyed Ethan like three pilgrims eyeing an object of religious significance to their cult.

Trust me, you don’t know how right you are…

Ethan felt a pang of relief travel through his new dark form. It was a comfort to know that the sassy Sys was still there, just as disdainful as ever.

“C-Careful,” the rabbitgirl squeaked. “We don’t know what might…you know.”

The girl had said this as Tara knelt down beside him, her eyes trailing all over his form and settling on the single crimson eyeball that stared back at her, unblinking.

A sly, toothy smile spread across her face.

“We hit the jackpot!” she cried. “You can possess monsters, can’t ya? That’s your Archon ability.”

Well, yeah…Ethan stuttered, attempting to nod his bird-host’s head in agreement as best he could. I think I demonstrated it quite clearly…

“That much…is already known,” Klac said as he got up from beside their bonfire and straightened his back. Ethan could see that his wounds had been bandaged.

“What we need to do now, is to tell him exactly why he’s here.”

The eyes of the wolfman found Ethan’s, his Lycan features framed by the bright flame of their fire.

“Because you don’t know, do you?”

Ethan had his guesses. He’d at first assumed he’d simply been brought to his world as another Isekai’d shlub, here to increase his stats until he got as OP as possible (which he’d still be doing, thank you very much, Mr wolfman). Still, in their flight from the human militia that had been intent on flaying them all alive, it had suddenly occurred to Ethan that these hybrid creatures clearly saw him as some sort of hero figure…

What did that old bastard call me? Their ‘savior’…

So, he nodded his new form’s head, much to the dismay of the prodding Tara.

“Gods have a sense of humor, even Kaedmon,” she said as she poked at Ethan’s wings, intent perhaps on finding some secret to his powers. “Looks like you were right, Klax. We’re gonna have to fill him in.”

The wolfman then nodded to Fauna, who closed her eyes and bent down next to Ethan, rubbing her hands together and kicking up some pretty radiant sparks.

Then one hand reached to caress his eye.

H-hold on, miss rabbit! he pleaded in his mind, his form bobbing away from her touch. Not that I’m doubting your abilities, but it didn’t look like you had the best control over your magic before…

“Don’t worry, Archon,” Tara grinned next to him, showing her pearl-white fangs. “Fauna might be a Wildglance, but even she can’t fuck up this spell.”

Ethan buckled, his wings stretching out in panic. But the rabbit girl seemed strangely serene in this moment. Her pale, buxom breasts pressed against his beak as her hand finally made contact with the stem of his hatty body. And as she closed her eyes, he felt power rush through him.

…at least, I think that’s power…

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

SPECIAL Skill Transfer: Complete!

New (Passive Skill) learned: Universal Communication

The rabbitgirl then moved away and flashed him a blissful smile. He looked around him at the hybrids, watching their expectant faces.

“What are you all waiting for? A pat on the back for saving me? Afraid I’m kinda handless at the moment…”

Ethan stopped as he realized that the voice that had just emanated from the beak of his raven host didn’t belong to a stranger. It was his voice.

"Holy shit!” he yelped. “I – I can talk! And…damn. So that’s what I sound like.”

It was his old, deep, bassy voice that had earned him more than a few strange looks in life. He cringed as he heard it, almost wanting to shove it away and let the rabbitgirl take back her gift.

But when he then looked up at the hybrids around him, he saw nothing but complete adulation.

“Ha, ha!” Tara screamed, rubbing her face in Fauna’s breasts. “It’s him! It’s really him!”

“I-um-yes. But – please be careful Ta-“

The catgirl lifted her compatriot into the air and squeezed her with force totally unbecoming to her thin, lithe form. “The Archon’s back, baby! Run and tell them all the way from the Ashpeaks to Grenbelm, from Azar’s Isle to the goddamn spires of Caer Krea! WE GOT HIM!”

“TARA!” Fauna screamed. “I’m gonna break!”

The catgirl dropped her friend abruptly before this became a very different kind of story.

“First things first,” Klax then interjected. “Archon, welcome. I’m Klax – Lycrae monk. That bundle of bloody joy over there is Tara the Minxit rogue, who is currently squeezing Fauna the Hopla Wildglance to death. We are honored to be the first of our kind to meet you.”

The ‘Minxit’ dropped her friend and followed the monk’s lead in a bow, so low and with such grace that Ethan would be getting the vapors if he were still a mortal man…

“Eh, thanks?” he said. “But I’m still a little confused here. I’m guessing me being the Archon is a big deal to you hybrids. But I’m guessing it’s also a big deal to those humans back in that forest. Particularly that old, crippled charmer with the dead eyes and broken sword.”

The hybrids shared a knowing look, and then Fauna began nodding incessantly, her fluffy feet practically hopping with excitement of their own accord.

“Should we tell him now, Klax? Hm? Can we?”

The venerable old dog hunched his shoulders.

“It’s…a long story,” he sighed. “If Jun'Ei was with us, she'd be the one to tell you it all from the beginning...But, yeah, you’re important, alright. In fact, you might be our last hope at finding a place in this world.”

The three hybrids grew solemn at those words. Ethan got the impression this mission had been something that they’d been following for their whole lives.

“Let’s show it to him instead!” Tara shouted, her sudden tenacity sending the flames flickering into the night. “What are we waiting for?”

The other two shared an incredulous look before smirking down at Ethan.

“Hey,” he chirped at them. “I don’t mind what you guys do. Just so long as I’ve got time to buff myself up. Ethan Hawke ain’t one to back down from a fight. And I think I’ve found my big boss in this world.”

“Ethan…” Fauna whispered. “The name of the Archon...”

“Sounds…human,” Tara murmured, eyeing her savior with some suspicion. He met the stare with a sigh.

Guess I gotta come clean, eh, Sys?

Oh? Here I was thinking you were a compulsive liar, too.

Congratulations! You have [surprised] your System!

“Alright,” Ethan then said aloud. “I don’t know what you’re expecting from your Archon, but I have a little confession to make…”

He told them everything (minus how he died – no need to cloud these fine felines’ impression of their hero). He let them know how he’d been occupying his time in their world, and how he’d learned about his abilities and exactly how they could be employed to kick ass.

When he finished, they sat back, amazed, and looked on him with even more shock than they’d already harbored in their fanged faces.

“The Archon…has a human’s soul,” Tara whispered. Then, with a little catty chuckle: “Well…seems like even Gods have a fair sense of irony.”

“That – that is no coincidence!” Fauna yipped. “It must be why the Lightborn’s blade broke as he attacked him!”

“…yes,” the wolfman agreed. “This is…most unusual. But the only question that matters now, is how the Archon himself feels about his task.”

Ethan glared at them all as the fire began to fizzle away. In the distant skies, a cry of vultures pierced the air. Likely they were seeing their strange black cousin chatting with the hybrid creatures below and wondering just what the hell was going on.

And they weren’t the only ones.

“Question?” Ethan asked.

“If you come with us, you will have to kill,” The wolfman said. “This is not outside your realm of expertise, of course, but you will have to kill many of your own kind. Many more than you have already slain will die by the hands of those you choose to inhabit, Archon Ethan. Our mission was to find you and bring you to our base of operations in these mountains, it is true. But we will not force a sentient being to turn against its own kind.”

Tara double-blinked at her leader. “Uh…we won’t?”

“No,” Fauna agreed. “It wouldn’t be right. Not after what we’ve been through. Could you really turn against your own species? Archon Ethan was – well still technically is – a human, after all.”

Klax turned to him again and leveled his gaze, making it clear that what he said was perfectly true.

“If you wish to follow us,” he said. “Know that you shall have to fight against your own. You shall have to leave your humanity behind, if you would know your place in this new realm of Argwyl. I ask you now, Archon Ethan, can you forsake the being you were?”

All of them stared at the recently hatted bird, passing over its dead eyes to the single one that blinked back at them like they’d just asked him the answer to a basic arithmetic question.

When he answered, his Dark Raven host gave a little contorted chuckle that could send a shiver down even the most resilient paladin’s spine.

“I know we just met, but all this madness recently got me thinking that I never was cut out for human life,” Ethan replied. “You’re asking me if I feel remorse for killing my own species? I say they never treated me with any more dignity than a shit they’d stepped in. Just point me at what needs killin’, and you’ll have yourself a good ol’ heap of corpse.”

Ah yes. The Hero’s speech – his valiant statement of purpose before he undertakes his quest with his quasi-suicidal allies.

This is what you mortals refer to as your [Popular Phase] is it not?

Though Sys seemed beside himself (as usual), the hybrid’s bestial grins only grew as they consumed his response like moist, succulent breadcrumbs.

“Then it is settled,” Klax said. “Our first job is to remove that pesky Bounty from your head. And to do that, we’ll have to get you to the Sanctum.”