The two humans have been arguing and crying for a bit, but I think they’re done now.

I can’t blame them, this is a hopeless situation, being held captive by an organization stronger than all of us.

Though, I won’t give up!

Today, I was able to prove that they’re a bunch of slow pokes who struggle to catch even one monster, and they didn’t even use the shock collar strapped to my neck.

Maybe there’s something about being in public that forces them to behave.

I’ll have to test my boundaries some more when I get another chance, then I’ll find their weakness.

Wyrrm Bait was smart to get away with some of the cold food, he’s warming it up in the kitchen now.

I doubt Daedalus cares about their food after it gets cold, they seem like the spoiled type that only eat it when it’s still fresh.

I kick off the sandals they put on me and crawl towards Wyrrm Bait’s room. It’s free of blood and scrap metal.

They might purchase a new cage for me later, I should enjoy my limited freedom as well, while I still can.

I curl up in the human’s bed under the blankets and breathe in his scent.

The smell somehow brings me peace of mind. I think I’ll rest here for a bit.

I close my eyes and wait for sleep.

…

A memory stirs to life. A time before, when I was still alone in the dungeon.

After several moments of wandering aimlessly in the dark, I follow a familiar smell.

Entering into a small space, I find a human, not unlike Wyrrm Bait, but they look different somehow.

I get closer and my eyes go wide with shock.

This human is dead and rotting. Maggots writhe in their flesh.

I wake with a start, desperately wanting to scream, but holding it in for fear of being found.

Slowly, my mind remembers the events that lead me to this place.

I’m resting in Wyrrm Bait’s bed, hiding under his blanket.

It was dark, almost reminded me of the caverns, if not for the bright light coming from the living room.

Shaking sleep from my head, I leap out of the man’s bed and crawl towards the smell of the warmed up, leftover food.

There are a couple sandwiches, mashed potatoes, some sort of dish with lamb, and a small bowl with a variety of fruit.

It smells amazing, but I don’t want to make any assumptions.

I look up at the human with a curious gaze, then flick my eyes to the food.

“Oh, you’re awake, I didn’t want to bother you while you were sleeping. I warmed up your food too. Do you want to eat at the table?”

Wyrrm Bait places the food on his small dining table and invites me to sit in the chair next to him.

I can’t remember the last time I had normal people food; my little distraction was worth it.

I sit at the table and try to imitate how the human eats his food.

It came back to me, shortly after the first few minutes, and I was eating food like a proper person again. I think.

I don’t know if I’m using the silverware properly, so I continue to watch and imitate Wyrrm Bait a while longer.

Good, it’s still the same as before I first came to this world.

I could not count the days, months, or even years I spent underground. The lack of sunlight made it impossible to tell when it was day or night.

Using silverware again was a nice nostalgia trip, but it feels uncomfortable now.

I’m so much more used to eating with my hands.

I drop the silverware with a clatter and start devouring the food without much thought.

Wyrrm Bait was silent when watching me use silverware before, but after I reverted back to my roots, he let out a disappointed sigh.

‘I don’t have to please you, it’s not like I’m trying to turn you into a monster like me.’

No, that was Daedalus’s objective, Wyrrm Bait was unrelated… right?

I nearly finish my food, leaving the juicy looking fruits for last.

Before I dig in, my brain reminds me that there is another prisoner in the area.

She was crying before, maybe Wyrrm Bait isn’t the encouraging type.

I don’t feel any connection with his sister, but I feel like those stuck in the same situation as me, should all feel hopeful and encouraged.

I take the small wooden bowl of fruit in one hand and resist the urge to walk on all fours. Even though it’s what I’m most comfortable with, I doubt I could carry the fruit bowl in my mouth without spilling it.

I walk on two legs towards the woman’s room. Her door is closed.

Wyrrm Bait notices and it looks like he wants to stop me.

‘You’re a terrible older brother, preaching to me about ‘family’, yet not taking care of your own. I’ll show you how to cheer up a sad person without words.’

I swing her door open. She’s not even looking at me as she grumbles something aloud.

“What do you want?”

I walk in and climb into her bed with her.

She panics and scoots away from me, after realizing that I’m not her brother.

“Karth!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think she would–”

He pauses mid-sentence, not sure how to finish it as I calmly sit on her bed, like a person, and hold the bowl of fruit out in offering.

“Do you want some?”

I ask softly, knowing they won’t understand my words entirely.

The woman remains still, looking between me and the fruit.

I can tell she’s scanning me with her eyes, wondering what my motives are.

Caution is a good thing to have, kept me alive for this long.

Her eyes shift to her brother now, then back to me again.

I plead to her with my eyes, to take my offering, though, I know it would be rude to force it onto her.

I place the bowl down on her bed and scoot away from it, letting her know that it’s all hers, no tricks.

She reaches for a small slice of watermelon, eyes it warily, then takes a bite.

The room is silent, except for the sound of the woman eating a watermelon slice.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Her eyes wander around, then she glares at Wyrrm Bait with a hard expression.

“If you think teaching her to act like this is going to change anything–”

“What?! I didn’t teach her anything, we were just eating lunch.”

“Right, then what did she come in here for?”

“I don’t know. One moment she’s using silverware, then she drops it to eat like an animal. I look away for a second and find her walking on two feet into your room.”

I can’t tell what’s being said, but maybe they’re trying to make it up with one another?

I scoot closer and push the bowl towards the woman.

“What are you teaching her, why is she doing this?”

“I don’t know. I can get her out if she’s bothering you.”

I scoot even closer and lean against her, holding the bowl in one hand now.

I pull a piece of fruit out and offer her to take it from me.

“Get out. Get out, both of you.”

“I’m sorry.”

Wyrrm Bait quickly moves to pick me up.

Shocked, I place the fruit into the bowl and hold it tightly, not wanting to drop any of the fruit as I’m carried out.

He closes the door behind us and places me onto the floor.

I stand there on two legs, dumbfounded as to why that didn’t work.

‘Does she hate me? Maybe she was allergic to strawberries…?’

I don’t think I’ll know any time soon.

Wyrrm Bait crouches low and looks me in the eye, searching for something.

“Who taught you that…?”

My eyes drop to the floor, uncertain of his meaning.

‘Is he scolding me?’

The human walks back to the kitchen to deal with the dirty dishes.

As he’s looking away, I open the woman’s door again and peer inside.

“Karth!”

‘Yeah, she hates me.’

I slide the bowl of fruit in her room and close the door myself.

As the man approaches, likely to drag me away again, I bolt off on my own, into his room.

‘I didn’t do anything wrong; I’m just trying to be nice.’

----------------------------------------

“Who taught you that?”

The question keeps going over in my head.

Alice dashes away and leaps into my bed, hiding, as if she did something wrong.

I quickly finish rinsing off the dishes and disposing of the trash from our meal before I hear a notification.

I pull out my smartphone and see a message from an unknown caller.

“What happened?”

I message back.

“Who is this?”

“It’s Silver Lining. Check the media.”

He sends images and videos containing web posts and local gossip.

“Did you see that beastborn girl running through town?”

There’s an image of Alice, running from Red Mountain.

“Yeah, I saw her too. She looked like she was having fun, and she was fast!”

There are videos from different people’s perspectives.

I unintentionally mumble aloud,

“Oh no…”

Thankfully, none of the posts are negative.

Silver Lining messages again.

“Do you have her?”

“Yeah, she’s here now.”

“I’m coming over.”

Great… I’m not too excited to have to explain how we almost lost the girl.

Placing my phone onto the counter, I walk back to my room and approach the bed.

Alice leaps out and runs into a corner of the room.

I just wanted to see if I could comfort her, after how my sister treated her, maybe she still wants to be alone.

I know it’s not easy on any of them, but I make up the excuse that, ‘it’s probably just a female thing’, to help myself feel a little less guilty.

***

There’s a knock at the front door and I drag myself out of bed to answer it.

Opening the door, the young dragonborn pushes past me without invitation.

“Karth, where’s the monster?”

“Alice? She’s in my room.”

“Good. What happened to the chalk?”

He points at the ground where the ritual drawing was before.

“Leina must have cleaned it up.”

“That’s fine, I brought something easier.”

From the rucksack on his back, he retrieves a thick chunk of wood that gets thinner and wider as he unfolds the attached pieces.

It’s an older make of the portable ritual boards. Usually, people would use them to set up quick teleportation zones, or controlled bursts of magic for work related use.

For someone as old fashioned as him, I was surprised he uses mobile phones.

“You didn’t tell me you had a phone.”

“I don’t, that was Madam’s. She came to me, worried that all her work had just gone down the drain.”

“Oh.”

“I had to leave work early. Now grab the catilyss and let’s begin.”

“What?”

“I told you I was going to come back and ask her more questions, she should be fine, now that she’s seen a life mage.”

“O-okay.”

I have to admit, I also really wanted to talk with Alice again. Hearing her be able to speak her mind makes me feel like I’m helping her gain a bit more freedom and individuality.

I also really wanted to help teach her how to speak the common tongue without using magic.

When I get back to my room, Alice starts, and watches me suspiciously.

‘Sorry.’

She runs off to another corner of the room when I approach her.

“Sit still.”

I grumble and chase her in circles.

This isn’t helping.

Silver Lining must have heard the commotion.

He walks in, closes the door behind him, and places the portable ritual in the center.

“You seem to be having a bit of trouble. Was she like this when you went out?”

“No, she was holding my hand and walking with me. Something scared her when we went to Marvin’s Grill, and Red Mountain chased her around town.”

“Where were you?”

“I chased after her too, at first, but Red Mountain insisted it would only take him a moment to grab her. I went back to watch over our food.”

“Why did you leave?”

“I– Actually… Alice told me to go back for the food.”

“What?”

“Yeah, it was strange, but when she was up in the tree, she pointed at me and told me to go back. It could also be because… I hurt her, and she was just telling me to scram.”

“Why did you hurt her?”

“It was an accident.”

“What happened?”

Silver Lining finishes preparing his spell and waits to activate the ritual.

I gesture for Alice to come, but she just watches us impassively.

“There was something off about the life mage we visited earlier. I was upset and accidentally squeezed her hand a bit roughly. It was only for a moment, but I could tell she was upset.”

“And now she won’t listen to you…”

“Yeah.”

“Can I see the slate?”

“Yeah, I still have it in my pocket.”

I pull it out and hand it over to Silver Lining.

He deactivates the transformation, and Alice reverts back to her original, monstrous form.

“Her fur grew out, but that’s to be expected.”

The dragonborn presses down on the third rune and Alice suddenly sprawls on the ground in spasms.

“What the hell?!”

I tear the onyx slate from his hand, but he doesn’t seem bothered.

He casually walks over to the poor girl and carries her into the ritual circle against her will.

“She was being difficult.”

He complained, before pouring out magical energy into drawings.

Alice picks herself back up to a seated position, not facing either of us, and prepares to leap away.

She slams into an invisible barrier, which was not part of the spell last time.

“I had the feeling she would try something like this.”

I let out a sigh of annoyance, and Alice stands up to face us, but her eyes drop to the floor, downcast.

Silver Lining clears his throat before speaking.

“What are you?”

The question caught me off guard. It’s obvious what she is, but maybe he wanted to know what she thought of herself.

“I… I……”

It seemed to have caught her off guard as well. She’s thinking over her words carefully.

“I’m.. a slave.”

Those three words carried the most sadness I’ve ever heard in my life.

It sounded like she was about to cry again.

“A slave… to who?”

“Daedalus.”

“ “Daedalus?” ”

Both Silver Lining and I echo in surprise.

The dragonborn glares at me accusingly.

“Who is Daedalus?”

The girl looks up in confusion.

“You don’t work for them?”

“No. Who are they?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Karth, she’s talking about that stupid name you gave her.”

“ “What?” ”

“That was… just a name you gave me…?”

Both Alice and I are even more confused now.

Her eyes dart around, struggling to piece information together.

Silver Lining asks,

“Why do you think you’re a slave?”

Fear and betrayal shadow her eyes.

“You… all of you kidnapped me. You took me from my home… and you put a shock collar on me… What do you want with me?!”

She’s crying… again.

Guilt eats me up inside. We’re hurting her.

“You were on the verge of death. I heard as much from Red Mountain, but I came back to confirm with Karth. We saved your life.”

“Saved my life…? You stole it away.”

“Do you want to go back?!”

“Yes! … or no… I–”

She heaves a sob and forces herself to speak clearly.

“I don’t want… to be a MONSTER anymore! I’m scared… I want to feel safe.”