stone knight [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcrQoldv4guyU-7l-wScOyPpnRIa0S4XZoTfJT1zuBEUC3ZMpT5qTsntdh1O5qOX8sbkwV-MpmAhRskDikqxT6qI6GgqB6D8aroMRUEv4sDvta7VixTiRXO8gxznIZDhe-slZOzMRAvpdueFn1a4vRR0o2d?key=ydQkOJdag5XUl5PwiJ-eyPnV]

A strip of light around the edges of the ceiling lit the hallway, same as her temporary cell. To the left a set of stairs headed upwards, but Rocky turned right, leading her down a straight hallway. Doors on the right opened as they passed them, showing her two more empty rooms like the one she’d been in, only they lacked the strange circle carved into the floor. If pressed, she’d guesstimate each room to be roughly five yards tall, five yards wide, and ten yards long. Each one could compare to a decently sized studio apartment, far bigger than her bedroom back home.

Reaching the end of the hallway Rocky pivoted around and started walking back the way they came. Alice followed, confused, as three doors on the other side of the hallway, now her right side, opened. The first two were more empty rooms, while steam collected against an invisible wall at the threshold to the final room. Peering inside, Alice found a line of water spilling down from an opening in the far wall into a pool of steaming water in a deep basin carved into the floor. From the door, steps walked down into the inviting water.

Seeing how she stared at the room, Rocky helpfully mimed washing under his armpits.

“It’s a bath, yeah, I got that,” she muttered. She wished she could stand under that warm waterfall and let it wash away her concerns for a time, but she had more important concerns at the moment. Also, she would need to find a towel first. Some soap, shampoo, conditioner, and body lotion or oil would be nice too.

With her acknowledgement Rocky headed up the stairs. As she turned to follow, the door to her new bath chambers closed. Alice promised the room she’d return to visit as soon as she could.

The stairs led her on a spiraling square path to the next floor. Alice half expected another set of five or six empty rooms, but instead a large empty space greeted her. The circular area was perhaps twenty five yards wide, the walls going up about five yards before curving upwards to form a spherical domed ceiling.

Strips of light radiated outward from a glowing circle at the peak of the dome, ending in a wide circle around the top of the wall. Alice noted how the strip of light from the stairwell connected with this network of light. She wondered if perhaps the entire thing was similar to a fiber optic network, the entire building’s lighting originating from the source at the top of this dome.

Rocky didn’t leave her much time to ponder as he pivoted to open a door beside the stairs. This led to a small tunnel which led to the sunny green outdoors, the end of the tunnel blocked off by a honeycombed stone grate, the holes smaller than the width of her fingers.

With the outer door open a cacophony of noises bombarded Alice. Voices cheering and shouting, distant bestial roars, the buzzing of countless insects, the calls of various birds, and even the unmistakable sound of ocean waves all assaulted her ears.

She tasted the salt in the air as the hot, humid outside air washed across her face. It was almost like she was back home, though the air smelled too clean for that. No oil smells, instead only rich earthy scents which reminded her of the time her family visited the jungles of Brazil while her dad volunteered his time to Doctors without Borders.

Once Alice cleared the door it closed behind her. Then, the grate rippled and peeled away from the middle for Rocky to pass through, remaining open until she cleared the tunnel as well.

Looking back, the barrier had closed to form a solid wall. The entire building appeared as a perfect half-sphere of stone with no openings.

Other large structures dotted the landscape nearby, most as simple large cubes or boxes while others were cylindrical, conical, or spherical. None had windows, all with plain exteriors of stone or, in one tall rectangular building’s case, wood.

Alice had little time to admire the architecture before Rocky again grabbed her attention, not through pantomime, but by growing a head taller and nearly twice as wide. His rough stone exterior smoothed to give the appearance of plate armor. Suddenly, he looked like an imposing gray stone knight.

Sir Rocky turned and held out his left hand towards Alice. After a moment of hesitation she placed her right hand in the cold gauntlet. Fully enveloping her hand in his fist, he led her down the middle of a wide road of rough stone which ran between the buildings.

A group of people from a side street joined them ahead on the road, heading in the same direction. Two of them strode at a brisk pace, shouldering a third between them. The middle man hopped along on one foot, his left leg missing from the knee down. Bloody bandages covered the stump, a tightly wound rope holding them place and making a futile effort to stem the bleeding.

Alice considered catching up and helping them somehow, but then other details caught her eye, distracting her from their crisis.

All three wore leather armor and carried weapons. The injured man had a bow poking out from beneath a shiny black cloak and wore a quiver on his waist. The one on the right had a large shield across his back and carried a tall spear in his right hand, while the one on the left had a massive hammer attached to his back. She would have called the hammer comically large if it wasn’t smeared with pulped flesh and a viscous purple liquid.

Most eye-catching, however, were the trio’s looks. Where they weren’t covered by armor, the one on the right seemed covered in shimmering green scales, the one on the left had orange and black striped fur, and the one in the middle seemed to have black feathers. In fact, what she first assumed to be a shimmering black cloak seemed to be a pair of black wings folded against their back.

The scaled man looked back, his yellow eyes with slitted pupils giving her a disdainful once over before turning back to his injured friend, causing Alice to realize she had gasped out loud.

Leaning towards Rocky, she whispered, “I thought—”

Rocky cut her off with a finger to her lips. He tapped the side of his head, where an ear might be beneath his helmet head, then pointed towards the group ahead, then back at the side of his head.

She nodded her understanding. They might hear her. And that would be…bad?

The letter had called this a human city. Was it not?

As they continued behind the strange trio she considered the issue.

Off to the left, from the direction the trio came from, a crowd continued to cheer in tandem with the rise of animalistic roars and shouts. The roars of beasts? People? Why not both?

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

The System… She’d been forcibly bonded with a seed. Would she turn into a tree girl? No. It was now connected with her mind somehow, while her body remained “unbonded.”

Is that what would happen? Would she turn into a catgirl if she bonded with a cat?

…Why was that the first animal she considered?

Given popular media, a spider would be a good choice. Superhuman strength and agility. Webs. Danger sense. Great power and great responsibility.

How deep was the transformation, though? That guy had wings, and she was pretty sure she’d glimpsed a beak. Would spidey senses and webs be worth four to eight extra limbs? Maybe. Pedipalps? …Maybe.

As for superhuman strength and agility, that would be a matter of leveling up her body, right?

Alice thought back to her goals. She needed money for that stupid contract.

…Well, no. Survival came first, money second, a way home third.

What animals didn’t need much sleep? She could get nearly twice as much done in a day if she didn’t have to sleep.

She made to reach for her cell phone, then chuckled to herself. ‘No internet?! I’m going to go into withdrawal.’

Looking at Mr. One Leg in front of her, maybe she wanted something that could regrow its limbs? Sure, they had magic potions here in this world, but judging by her debt the good ones weren’t cheap.

Lost in thought, she barely noticed as the traffic on the road increased. Most headed the same way she did, while occasional groups of tough-looking men and women headed in the opposite direction. Some of them looked entirely human. One flame-eyed man had a ball of fire floating over his head. Others had fluffy ears in need of a good scritching.

Nearly every person had tattoos on the back of both hands. The only ones who might lack the tattoos had their hands covered by gloves or gauntlets. Everyone had numbers on their right hands, ranging from the single digits up to the low twenties, while various symbols adorned everyone’s left hand. Each group which passed all had matching hand symbols, though their colors differed.

When people met up, they would cross their arms over their chests to show off both hand tattoos before giving quick, shallow bows. Alice looked back to her own right hand, the one enveloped by Rocky’s left. Was he hiding her lack of a number? What did they mean?

The few who gave her notice seemed to look at her with disdain, much like the lizard man had before.

It couldn’t be her hair. She kept it in a short pixie cut, so it never got messy. Anything else was just too hot for her, given the amount of time she spent outside sweating.

Though, she didn’t spot a single other blonde, just black and brown hair among those with human features who didn’t wear helmets. Her tanned skin seemed on the lighter end of what was common, with the normal-looking locals all having creamy brown skin tones, with some a few shades lighter or darker.

Could it be her hair and slightly lighter skin? Surely not, with so many different flavors of “human” walking around, at least half looking like anthropomorphic animals.

Could people still be so petty as to— Who was she kidding? Of course they could. Still, she didn’t think she was that different looking. Not enough to warrant all the glares.

Her clothes were perfect, not a single wrinkle. Maybe she’d tied the belt wrong?

All around her the locals wore drab clothes and well-used armor, much of it torn and in need of repairs.

No one wore clothes as fancy or colorful as her silk robe, nor as clean.

…Yeah, her clothes were the problem.

After a moment’s thought, she decided to ignore the glares. She couldn’t do much about what she wore—quite literally. It’s not like she owned anything else she could change into.

“Came for a look-see at the arena, eh?” asked a muscular shirtless man as he approached from behind to join her on the road. She would have thought him bonded with some kind of gorilla, given his broad shoulders and overly-long arms, except he was covered in fine, dark jade green scales and had slitted yellow eyes. “Didn’t see you in the crowd. Must have been in one of the suites?”

Alice blinked. “I—Uh.”

Rocky squeezed her hand. She spared him a glance, and he shook his head slightly from side to side.

“No. I had…other reasons to be here.”

The man’s yellow eyes darted between her and Rocky, and their clasped hands. “I see, I see. Well. Fruitful endeavors.” He crossed his big arms over his chest and gave them a slight bow.

Alice’s heart raced. The man had a ninety nine on one hand and on the other a red tattoo of a snake slithering through a pile of bestial skulls, the topmost one having a pair of wicked antlers which dripped blood the snake had its mouth open to drink.

She didn’t know what the numbers meant, but his were the highest she’d seen around here by far.

Rocky squeezed her hand tighter, hard enough to hurt, and cracked his other hand against his chest. Rather than a bow, his helmeted head turned to stare at the gorilla-snake man.

After a moment of hesitation Alice did similar, crossing her untattooed left hand over her chest before giving him a quick dip of her head and torso. “Fruitful endeavors.”

The man said nothing else, giving them another once-over before slowing his steps and returning to somewhere behind them.

After a minute where Alice’s heart and mind raced as she tried to figure out if she had messed up during the brief encounter, Rocky tugged on her hand as he veered to the right to join a short line of waiting people.

She blinked and looked around. The foot traffic had slowed to a stop ahead.

Before them, a massive translucent golden dome shimmered in the air, encapsulating what must be the entirety of Bloomhaven. Just inside the dome stood a white stone wall at least three stories high which spanned along the inside of the dome.

Ahead, guards in bright red tabards and silver helmets with mirrored faceplates talked to each person who entered the golden barrier. Everyone seemed to be required to cross their hands over their chest and answer a few questions before they were allowed to proceed through the open gate and into the city.

Soon enough it was their turn to step through the golden barrier. Once through, Rocky let loose her hand to cross his arms over his chest.

This was it. She was up.

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the faceless guard before her. “I wish to become a resident…is my purpose.”

The guard waited.

Oh. Right. She was supposed to say something else first. What was it?

“...I’m new to the cities of humanity.”

Dang it! Two lines, and she messed them up! Now what?

The guard gave her a once over, then studied Rocky. “You, head on inside.”

Glancing over, Alice saw the golem had produced some sort of metallic disc to display on his forehead while he crossed his arms. She couldn’t make out what was engraved onto its surface before the disc sunk back into his forehead. Some kind of “I’m a friendly golem” pass?

Rocky patted her on the head, mussing her hair, before striding towards the tunnel through the city wall.

“Follow me,” the guard told her. He walked in the same direction as Rocky.

Alice followed, confused, until she saw the two metal doors facing each other halfway down the tunnel through the thick city wall.

The guard led her to the door on the right. He pressed his hand to a metal square in the center of the door. After a beat, it swung open.

“Sergeant!” The guard did the arm cross and slight bow, not going inside.

“Trouble, Private?” came a quick response from inside.

“Smooth day so far,” her guard said in a normal voice. “Got an induction, sir.”

“Truly?”

“By the book. She’s… Well, you’ll see. Had one of those Council golems as escort.”

The Sergeant grunted. “Send her in, then.”

“Sir!” he bowed again, then waved her inside before walking back the way he came.

After a moment’s hesitation, Alice stepped through the door.