“And pounce now.” Failsafe said in Bjorn’s head.

The lizard jumped from a bush at an unsuspecting rabbit he had been tracking for half an hour. The little fur ball jumped back in surprise and zigged when Bjorn zagged. His two heads crashed into one another, and he went tumbling into another bush. Things were easier when he hunted reptiles, at least they would be too scared to run.

“Rabbit five, Bjorn zero.” Failsafe stated.

“Shut up.” Bjorn said as he uncoiled himself. “The tiger was right. I am still not used to this body because I haven’t been hunting. I think I am still thinking like a mage most of the time despite not having most of my memories.”

“You have to use every part of the beast.” Failsafe stated.

“Sooo, Frej-Tanisha is definitely a cultivator like I predicted.” Failsafe stated.

“We know she has mental projection magic, not that she is a cultivator.” Bjorn stated.

“If her magic copied part of the magic I made it most likely didn’t skip the most important part.” Failsafe responded.

“So, she is being attuned to demon magic. Will that affect us as well?” Bjorn asked.

Failsafe is quiet for a long time.

“Uhhh… I don’t know.” Failsafe sounded embarrassed. “We just found out about aether like two days ago and I am still trying to figure that out. Maybe True Humans, or whatever trapped the kid version of you in that dome used aether, True Demons use maya and every reality within the Higher Planes uses some new flavor of magic. Or aether is maya just a different name for it or application of it. Not to mention we have no idea what a demon pact is.”

“Hmmph.” Bjorn sighed. “Well, one mystery at a time. For now, I will focus on getting more used to this body.”

Bjorn tasted the air with his tongue flares. There were plenty of rabbits around so he would find another one that wouldn’t be so on guard. Ever since he leveled up, he has had an easier time moving about, motions felt crisper his magic felt more tangible but at the same time it still felt like he wasn’t himself. He had been playing the part of whatever he was but not actually trying to figure out any more about his body or capabilities.

Sure, he had Failsafe, but he had already proven he can miss things. Not to mention there were things he just didn’t note in his skills at all. His night vision, sense of smell and taste were absent from his skills analysis despite being just as part of him as his venom. So, what else could the spell have missed? He hadn’t let Failsafe control either of his heads since he found out he could breathe fire. It seemed like it would have been a distraction from his other duties.

After the attack with the bird familiar, he is reconsidering. He was too focused on the mage to even think to look for another familiar. Failsafe might have spotted it before it attacked and they would have been ready. What if the bird went after Tanisha and not him, its talons and magic would have made killing her child's play. The second head gave him a new perspective, but he found it difficult to focus on two different tasks at the same time.

“You can have the right head on this next one.” Bjorn said as he relinquished control to the spell. “It is temporary. I am still upset about the fire breathing thing.”

Failsafe immediately started bobbing with the other head and looking all around. His joy at having the other head made Bjorn want to reconsider his choice. However, in combat maybe it would be better to have him control it. He thought back to their first encounter with the shadow wolves, Failsafe was able to direct him from being stuck. It wasn’t a bad trade off but only during combat, he thought.

“Okay, let's hunt.” Bjorn said.

“Let’s go right.” Failsafe responded. “There is one over there.”

The sun was low in the distance as Tanisha finally made it to the campsite with the others in the caravan. Tyr and Bjorn along with her but neither were as tired. Well she did have to lug around twice her weight in equipment. Tyr had been more of a encouragement kind of help. She was also thankful he was there to making sure she didn’t pass out somewhere. It took the trio an additional two hours to finally make it to the campsite, but Tanisha was not going to give up.

The group walked through the campsite; where many tents were already erected while others were in the process of being put together. The villager and the merchants’ campsites were separated, but to get to the merchants' side the group had to walk around the villager camp. When Hrolf saw his son, he urged him to hurry up as he was needed elsewhere.

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“I can make it the rest of the way, Tyr.” Tanisha said as she leaned as much of her weight as possible against her staff. “Not like I have much further to go.”

Tyr looked back and forth between his dad and Tanisha, his mouth open and he wagged his finger like he had some rebuttal on the tip of his tongue. He reluctantly nodded in agreement and closed his hanging mouth.

“Yeah-yeah, you’re right.” Tyr said as he patted his hip. “Uh, I guess I better get going then.”

“Thanks for walking with me. Have a good night.” Tanisha said.

“You, you too. And see you tomorrow?” Tyr said the last part like a question.

“If I can still walk after today.” Tanisha laughed.

Tyr pet Bjorn and waved as he took a few steps back, nearly tripped on a rock, caught himself and finally turned around to run to his father. Tanisha found herself watching him run a little longer than she meant to and looked down at Bjorn. She swore that he was giving her a look.

“What? I just made a new friend.” Tanisha said as she looked away from the familiar. “Gah, let's go.”

The merchant camp is much smaller and quieter than that of the villager refugees. The three wagons made a semicircle around a campsite and chairs had been set up around the fire. All but one occupied which she presumed to be hers was occupied. There were not any tents out, only a few goblin-sized sleeping sacks near the fire. Sabec looked to be cooking a few skewers of something that made Tanisha’s stomach rumble.

Everyone cheered at her arrival but she only had one thing on her mind, rest. She dropped her bags, alchemy case and everything else but her clothing. She found her chair and sat down next to Joha. Everything hurt or at least everything that mattered. She was low on mana since her mana muscle saturation was active the whole day. Her muscles screamed and she would like nothing more than to just curl up and sleep for a week straight.

“Good job on your first day.” Joha said with a laugh. “Before you eat, we need to begin. How are you feeling?”

“Like I was carrying a bag of rocks all day.” Tanisha stated.

“Really, you need to start now? It looks like the poor girl is going to pass out.” Helina stated.

“It needs to be done while her mana is low, and her body exhausted.” Joha stated calmly.

Sabec took two of the skewers away from the fire. “Sabec will save these for Tanisha for when her training is complete.”

“Good, thank you Sabec.” Joha nodded. “And how much mana do you have left?”

Tanisha closed her eyes and looked inwardly examining her mana core. Most of her core was still unruly, it was like a knotted mess she could not control. She instead followed the familiar contract and found something else there as well. It did not interfere with the contract but instead stayed localized within the pure mana that she could use. It was another tether of power. This one was far weaker than her own mana and the familiar bond. She noted that none of the new power she saw interacted with the bond whatsoever.

She refocused her effort into identifying how much mana she could still use. She was surprised to find that maybe she could have used mana muscle once more but she was pretty much out of mana entirely. She told Joha as much and the tiger demon smiled and clapped his hands together.

“That is great news.” Joha said happily. “Can you stand?”

Tanisha thought the question was rhetorical until she tried to stand up. Her legs would not respond as if she used every ounce of strength to get to that chair and had nothing else to give.

“No.” Tanisha said, slightly embarrassed.

“It is fine.” Joha stood up and walked over to her. “I am going to increase the presence of maya in your body. It will root inside of your mana core but will be expelled by your body's natural defenses against foreign magics. When that happens, it will coalesce into the new maya veins the smoking pipe has created in your lungs and throat.” He held up his hand to stop Tanisha from asking any questions. “The burning sensation you were feeling when you first started breathing in maya. That was the beginning of the process to create new maya channels. Maya is breath and how you utilize that breath will determine how strong you become.

“Without a patron you would not have been able to access maya to create these channels. It is for that same reason that you need a patron to continue to utilize maya. You are connected to me, and I, the Infernal Planes. The process will not be pleasant but should be over relatively quickly. When the maya is expelled from your core and first enters the new mana channels you will feel the Infernal Planes for a moment. They are not pleasant places and remember that no matter what you see or hear, just know you are safe. We are all here right beside you.” He knelt down placing a hand on her shoulder. “Are you ready?”

“Wait, how will this effect Bjorn or the Familiar bond?” Tanisha asked.

“It shouldn’t have any bearing on either.” Joha stated confidently. “Once the maya is expelled from your core it won’t travel into the bond you have with anyone. I am not a patron of Bjorn, nor has he used the smoking pipe to create the proper maya channels. The only way it would affect him at all would be if he already had the proper channels for Higher Plane energies.”

Tanisha centered herself, took a deep breath and looked directly into the tiger demon's eyes.

“I am ready.” Tanisha stated.

As soon as Tanisha spoke those words Joha placed his hand on her heart. Black smoke escaped his mouth with every breath. The pungent odor of burning embers surrounded her. The smoke continued to flow faster until everything was dark. Strangely Joha himself remained visible as the only clear image she could see in the darkness.

The temperature rose hotter and hotter to the point it felt as though she was on fire. Her insides felt as though they were boiling. She stopped breathing as the air in her lungs felt more like coal. She heard whispers in her mind of secrets she shouldn’t know or understand. She felt clawed fingers ripping at her flesh starting at the neck but leaving no part of her unmolested, untainted and without pain.

Then just as suddenly as it started it was over. The pain, the heat, the secrets, all of it vanished. She looked around and no one was looking at her. Instead, all heads were turned, and she followed their gaze.