Chapter 27

Fight Fire…

I stared at the giant black wolf for a moment in shock, wondering how the hell something that big could somehow sneak up on me. I should have checked the damn thing's level. I should have backed off and let Nefen take out the giant monster for me. With the fear spiking in my heart, and my instincts in high gear, I didn't even remember Nefen existed anymore.

The first thing I did was throw my staff as far as I could, with a brief thought that it should get to safety.

Then I let my screaming instincts force me to shift. My demihuman form was great for mixing with humanity, and it was more familiar to me. But against a wolf that size, my instincts declared, it would be far too weak.

My Mana Beast form wasn't quite its equal. I was more of a minivan to its semi truck. But my instincts were convinced that I stood a chance.

I could feel the temperature steadily rising. It had only taken a few seconds to throw my staff, dismiss my attire and shift. But the small flames licking out of the wolf's mouth had grown.

After my shift I could see it tensing its muscles for something. I reached out to even the playing field.

I was entirely out of water mana. My own stupidity in releasing it all from my staff's storage, and then letting go of my connection to it in this place where it apparently couldn't exist as loose mana astounded me.

The local air mana offered itself to me, as it stirred itself into a frenzy, causing winds to whip through the canyon unbidden. I almost reached out to its familiar embrace, but the intense heat the wolf was producing made me withdraw.

I allowed the plentiful fire mana to flow into me. Suddenly the oppressive heat that was being radiated from the monster wolf felt like a nice cool breeze.

The wolf made it clear I had made the right choice, as he breathed a great gout of flame at me. It felt lovely, like a warm shower. I couldn't help but notice that it didn't seem to be in control of the mana in its flaming breath. I greedily consumed the feast it offered me.

The mana showed me how to use the energy to empower myself. My coat burst into flames, as I roared at the wolf. Challenging him to come to me.

My tail lashed back and forth, but the wolf did not come. The young mana beast's echo in my mind helped me retain enough control of my own thoughts to try to play on its instincts, it wasn't sapient, I checked.

I ran away down the canyon. After I judged that it couldn't see me from its position I stopped. When I heard rocks falling I jumped as high as I could up the opposite wall. My claws dug into the stone, I finished the trip up to the shelf with a quick scrambling climb.

The wolf came charging down the path I had run. It ran past the spot where I made my jump. Then it came to a stop, it sniffed the air in confusion.

I didn't have long, I knew it would locate me in moments, but that was fine, I didn't need long. I tensed my muscles, my body instinctively positioning itself.

The flames on my coat flared as I pounced on the wolf, it stumbled as my weight landed on its back. My claws dug deep past its thick wiry fur, burying themselves into its warm flesh.

I bit at the back of its neck. This wolf was a creature of fire, but the mana told me if I burned hot enough the creature's internal flames would shift to ally with me instead.

The beast's blood filled my mouth, it tasted like heavily spiced mulled wine. I reveled in the warmth of it as it flowed, I could hear it sizzling as it ran freely from the wounds I had inflicted.

The wolf let out a series of yelps as it threw itself into a lurching run, carrying me on its back. I clamped down harder, allowing the beast's movements to worsen its wounds. The fire running through me burnt up the energy in my core to empower itself. But there was enough free mana crowding the area of our fight that I could gulp down and restore it, I was in little danger of running out. Fire poured out of me, it flowed down the wolf's sides like water, as the mana attempted to break down its defenses.

The monster under me repeatedly tried to slam into the canyon walls to remove me. My jaws stayed clamped on its spine. When my paws were knocked loose I found a new purchase, ripping at its flesh as much as I could, making it bleed. It left a trail of sizzling molten blood everywhere it went.

I do not know how long it went on, I lost track of how many times my legs were crushed as they were slammed against the stone walls. I felt no pain, my broken claws struggled to keep me in place.

I could feel the beast's exertions taking their toll on its ability to maintain its magical defenses. It gave me the encouragement I needed to continue to hang on, and maintain my assault.

I consumed every ounce of free mana in the area, calling desperately for more to come as I burned through my reserves. Most of my mind was occupied with the mana, the pure hunger and rage of it. I didn't just want to take down the giant wolf because it was dangerous, I needed to consume it. The mana informed me that the energy it would release when its fire joined me, and its inner flame was turned on its own flesh would truly be able to set me ablaze. I yearned to feel the coming conflagration.

During the moments I felt secure enough to do so, I shook my head, trying to tear the flesh away. My hunger extended to the physical, I would eat my prey alive if I could, but its flesh was too tough for me to rip away the chunk I was clamped onto so easily.

A particularly energetic collision with the canyon wall jolted me as I was twisting my head to the side. One of my horns was pushed into the monster, penetrating its flesh. An energy I could barely feel had been building up in them as I struggled to tear into the monster wolf.

I had been so distracted pushing all my energy at the wolf in an effort to overcome its defenses and consume my prey that I didn't even realize I had triggered it. The charge was released from both horns reflexively when one of them pierced the great wolf's flesh.

My eyes had been closed as I tore at the back of its neck, but I still saw the flash, and heard the accompanying crackle.

I felt the muscles of my prey stiffen under me. It went crashing to the ground as it lost control of its limbs. It skidded along the canyon floor.

Its magical defenses crumbled, the mana connected to me was finally able to infiltrate its body.

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The wolf's inner fire was undefended, I connected with its energy, and urged it to turn on its host. The monster began to burn from the inside.

As the flames ate their fill, the creature's flesh turned to ash in my mouth. It's whole body crumbled beneath me. The energy released as its body was consumed by the fire mana surged into me, was invigorating. But I was still ravenous. I knew where the forest was, there would be so much more to burn there. Parts of my body were broken, the bones in my legs were shattered, the ones in my forelimbs might as well be dust. Some of my ribs had been broken. Both sides of my body had been bashed against the rocky walls numerous times. The fire roared in my mind, telling me that I could not only fully restore myself, I could use the energy as fuel to grow as much as I needed to battle whatever it was that I had seen in my dream.

I took one shuffling step through the ashes of my foe towards the tantalizing call of the forest before the flames cut off, and I collapsed on the ground.

Really? You know what, I'll leave the scolding for the others. Keep up the leveling. I can't tell you much, but I can tell you that your instincts are totally right, that dream wasn't random firing in your brain. You need to be at least 100 before the month is out. But you certainly shouldn't try and get there by creating a disaster. It would absolutely violate your contract.. Best of luck. That damn little dragon was supposed to have ten whole minutes to converse, but he dispersed immediately after yelling at me it seemed to be the norm for him.

Normal senses returned to me, and I felt like I had been hit by a truck, I let out a hacking cough. Every part of me felt burned on the inside. I held onto consciousness like I had held onto that wolf.

I searched for life mana to help me heal. There was were only a few stray glimmers of it, not enough to foster a real connection. Not enough to fix what I'd done to myself. The mana crystals that I carried inside my body had been mostly burned away as fuel for the fire mana. The tiny embers of remaining life energy did their best to keep me going.

I asked air to help clear the ash that had filled my lungs and was making each breath a herculean task. It readily complied, I helped it work with great painful hacking coughs.

I tried to eat the local mana, hoping to fill my core enough to use my own energy for healing. The bulk of it was fire. It was highly unpleasant, like biting into ghost peppers. My whole mana system ached with a searing pain.

When I had lost myself to the fire mana in the arena, I failed to notice one small detail, since everything had reset when the fight ended.

The aftermath.

When I had fire running through me, I felt no pain, flames soothed me, I burned through almost everything I had to spare as fuel for more fire.

I wasn't just burning mana, everything about me felt weakened. My pathways felt abused, brittle, burnt from the inside.

I pushed myself up onto paws that were broken in many places from when the wolf had slammed them into the stone walls. My right foreleg had been shattered practically to dust with an especially hard hit, but it somehow still supported me. The pain was excruciating. I needed to get to a place with life mana.

I heard someone clear their throat, and looked to see Nefen just standing there, relaxed in his pristine robes.

I chuffed at him, where had he been?

"I have notes." He stated simply, he didn't seem terribly bothered by my state.

I was in so much pain I didn't realize that none of the damage that I had incurred was visible.

While in my Mana Beast form, I was still a flesh and blood creature, but my body didn't follow all of the same rules. I was able to exert will to hold myself together, to give a veneer of wellness. I was instinctively forcing my shattered forelegs to hold my weight. My instincts were flaring, causing me to hide my weakness.

"We should head back to the guild, we can cover my notes on the mission when we get there. You should change into something more agreeable for mixed company. I believe the hunters who tend to pass through this area are avoiding it for now, but one should not take chances." Nefen said, reasonably.

I snarled at him. I wouldn't be able to function if I changed, I knew it in my broken bones. I didn't know how long I'd be able to force myself to function as it was.

"That is uncalled for, where is the nice young man I've met?" The half goblin man said sternly.

It finally dawned on me what I was doing, that he had no way to know how bad off I was. So I used my never reliable spirit beast speech method to send him my situation.

He yelled and clutched his head, his knees gave out, as the sensations I sent him seared his mind. I chuffed a laugh at him, sharing one's pain always lightened the mood.

"You need a healer." He stated, his voice shaking from his experience.

I shook my head and started to walk stiffly, painfully, and with shaking limbs towards the place I knew I would find life mana.

"How are you even standing? You shouldn't push yourself like this. You should not even move, do you have any idea how much more damage you'll do to yourself? There are still two miles of canyon, followed by a merry jaunt through dense forest. You can't just walk back to the guild in that state." He waved his hands through the air as he spoke.

I felt mana move. The air solidified around me, lifting me slightly, taking the weight of my paws, and arresting my forward movement.

I growled, and spit at the indignity.

"Act like a stubborn animal, get treated like one." He said harshly, I could hear some strain in his voice. "Things would be much easier if you weren't so damn big, don't worry, I'll get you back home safe. I just have to come up with a way to do so without you being seen like this, assuming you care right now. I cannot hold you and make you invisible at the same time."

Maybe he had a point, my demihuman form was a bad choice though. It was too human, too susceptible to pains this form could partly ignore. I had other forms though, even if I had never felt inclined to try them.

When I reached for my ability to change I quested for those alternatives that I had only seen listed on my ability list, and only experienced second hand through the web of life.

The ability unleashed a torrent of information into my mind when I touched it like that. It let me know that I had not been using it to its full potential. I had more control of the forms I changed into than I had been using.

I also realized that I had been misplacing the blame for the changes that had occurred to all my forms when I spent enough time in the web of life. Life mana certainly could change me, it probably did create the initial alterations, but my instincts were at fault for keeping them every time I changed. I could feel them pushing on my consciousness as I received the information about the ability.

The reality of how things really worked was revealed to me. If I changed without really pushing it, I was effectively ceding control. My instincts would push the strengths of each form into every change, and attempt to eliminate anything they perceived as weakness.

It's why all my forms had the ram's horns, they were a powerful addition. With practice and focus I would be able to manipulate my forms to the same degree as my instincts had.

I could even have a demihuman form that looked almost human. My instincts let me know how much weaker they judged that form to be though, I knew they would fight me if I tried.

It occurred to me that, the information would be useful someday, but it hardly helped my current situation. I pushed the ability to let me know more about my alternate forms. Something I really should have done long ago. The ram was originally a monster. If I changed to it, I would be much larger and stronger than the ones I had observed, since my core forced any animal I changed to, to become a spirit beast. I wasn't sure how big it would be, but it did not matter, the form would not help me.

The tree was a nonstarter, I felt how my injuries would cause its wood to be cracked and brittle. If I was to shift to it, even if I was in a good place to take root, I would likely die. I also wasn't able to ascertain how my mind would work in a form that had no brain. I wasn't sure that I would ever take that form, I feared what would happen if I wasn't able to think clearly enough to switch back.

The squirrel was a good choice, it too would be a spirit beast, however something about it told me it would remain small. It also had a very special ability, instead of pure mana, in that form my core would transmute everything to life mana. It was perfect.

I began to try to change, if I could use that form, I would probably be able to heal myself. My staff, which had recently returned to floating near me, could carry me home while I healed. It seemed pleased with that prospect.

My instincts interfered to alter the result, they did not like me shifting into a prey animal, I let them have their way. I focused only on the need for life mana generation, and small size. The rest was details.

I felt the change take hold, as my body began to shift pain shot through my senses. The sensations as the injured parts of my body started to move as the shift tried to put them where they were supposed to go and change their size brought agony. I blacked out midway through.