Caeileera

It felt wonderful to have… that secret out in the open. That removed any power it had over me. Not being rejected because of it… it was pure bliss.

‘Still…’ Lilyth continued. ‘I don’t want to hurt you guys. I love you too much. I would never… never…’

That was a sensible worry. Luckily, Ren came to the rescue.

‘You say… that part of you is pretty animalistic. Would it see us as packmates or something?’

Lilyth pondered that for the moment.

‘Back in the Tower… she did consider Caei and Aki to be my “mates”...’

‘Wait… WHAT?’ I blurted out.

‘That about sums up my reaction back then,’ Lilyth said with a weak smile. ‘But given that it was days before you became my “mates”… I think Ren should be good too… not that… I mean…’

‘We’ll cross that bridge when it comes to it,’ Rennie laughed.

Part of me wanted to scream upon hearing this, but then I remembered that I did fuck with Ren on the station… so…

Double standards much?

I couldn't help wanting Lilyth to be mine and just mine… but… she wouldn't be as I wouldn't be ever fully hers. There was Aki and Ren too. Like… if anything I felt that I have been neglecting the pipsqueak recently.

It was so much easier… before. Will just need to make the most of what private time I will get with Lilyth. That trip we have planned… yeah. This will be fun.

‘Thank you, Ren…’ Lilyth finally said. ‘You brought me some solace.’

‘My pleasure, gummy fox,’ she laughed.

We sat there in pleasant silence for a while. Just enjoying our company. Then, I decided to ask a question that was bothering me.

‘What’s up with the hair?’

Lilyth took the orange blade of grass between her fingers.

‘Been wondering about that myself,’ she replied. ‘It was like this when I regained my… myself. Probably a memento of my… lunch.’

Her stare went blank for a moment and then she muttered:

‘Interesting.’

She shared some notifications with us.

Level 24 Helrika has been slain.

You have received 2400 experience points (9200/9500 total experience points progress to level 19)

Status: Arcane Instability removed.

New Trait Unlocked: [Minor Plant Fae]

Type: Racial - Infused

Level: N/A

Effects:

* Restores the ability to use Plant spells (Part of the Nature branch of Life Arcana).

* Plant spells are more effective in Life Arcana-infused areas.

* Increased mana regeneration in sunlight.

* Increased resistance to magical plant-based toxins

Description: You are what you eat. In this case, you really took vegetarianism to the next level.

Spell Learned: [Constricting Vines]

Type: Nature - Plant - Offensive

Rank: Novice

Effect: Grows vines from the ground that can be used to restrain targets or hold objects.

Casting time: 1 second

Note: This spell can be only used where plants can be grown.

‘So… you are now… what… part plant?’ Aki asked.

‘I haven't the fuckingest of ideas,’ Lilyth said.

‘Didn’t know flowers swore this much,’ Ren laughed.

‘Hey… Fuck you too, birdie!’

‘Let’s wait until you clean up and maybe buy me dinner first, eh?’ Rennie retorted, causing everyone, including somewhat blue-faced Lilyth, to burst out laughing.

Unfortunately, the clothes Lilyth wore were a total loss, so she used them to get as much of the remnants off her body as she could, before throwing them into a corner and getting a spare set from her satchel.

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The Huntress sure is a messy eater.

All things considered, all four of us had… some dryad soup on us, but we decided to wait to change until we got out of the Corridors.

‘As ready as I’m gonna get,’ Lilyth finally said.

She looked like an utter picture of misery, but it would have to do. One upside of my poor jelly’s unplanned meal was that her wounds healed and she got some mana back.

I pointed at the other exit from the room.

‘Shall we then?’

‘A moment,’ Aki said. ‘I was wondering… what happened in that other room? The quest we got here says something about a mystery and it hasn't updated upon the death of that tree bitch.’

That's a good point. With Lilyth nearing level nineteen… that thousand experience points would be worth a lot.

‘Forgot about that,’ my jelly said. ‘The quest, I mean. Let’s go there and check it out I guess? I didn't get a chance to get a good look around when I passed through previously. Thrashed the place real good though.’

I still can't believe she took on twenty of those things. TWENTY. We have a lot of catching up to do to be equals to her.

I looked at how absolutely miserable Lilyth was.

It will be worth it though. I will do everything in my power to ensure that every next day is as happy as it can be for her.

Lilyth

Our search of the impromptu mortuary yielded nothing. It is possible some clues were there previously, but they got destroyed in the fight. Still… it was nice to have something to do, rather than just sit and think about… what I was.

One decision I made was that I would not be picking any further “slime” abilities. No need to embolden the Huntress.

Kitsune stuff feels… safe enough, I guess?

Plant-based abilities… I wasn't that sure about them. On one hand, they felt neat, but on the other… I fucking ate someone to get those.

I could view it as a form of hunting, I guess? I mean… sausages and ham require killing animals. And this was… an accident…

Still… Helrika was a sentient being…

At least she was dead… or was she?

I had the sudden image of her struggling for her final breaths, as my body turned into a shapeless lump, enveloped her and…

Shewasalreadydeadshewasalreadydead…

But what if…

The next thing I remember is Aki and Ren restraining me and my face hurting like a motherfucker.

Then there was a flash of green light and the pain subsided.

‘Wh-what happened?’ I asked in a weak voice.

‘That’s what I wanted to ask you,’ Caei asked, barely restraining tears. ‘One moment you were fine… the next you are screaming and clawing at your face.’

I looked at my fingers. Apparently, I activated my [Form Claws] ability… and they were covered in the blue and black goo that formed my body.

‘I imagined… imagined… myself… attacking Helrika while she still was alive,’ I responded, deciding not to hide the truth.

They needed to know what kind of monster I was.

‘At least I hope it was just my imagination…’ I added weakly.

Instead of horror, I saw deep concern and pain on my loved ones’ faces.

‘Lilyth…’ Caei began. ‘I think I say this for all of us… we’ve failed you. You took on this burden for us and ended up paying a heavy price for it. Again.’

‘This is our fault,’ Aki said sadly. ‘We weren't strong enough to help you with this.’

‘This won’t happen again,’ Ren agreed. ‘We can't expect you to fight all the battles. Solve all our problems.’

‘Yes,’ Caei finished. ‘We are your partners. In life and death. Time to ensure you can rely on us too. You are not a monster. We don't see you as one, and we never will.’

Aki

After we finished comforting my poor cute fox and she finished crying her eyes out, I decided to take her mind off things. She looked a bit better, but I thought that was because the deep gouges on her face already started to fill out due to her reabsorbing the bits she clawed out.

By the gods… the guilt she will have to live with due to this. The uncertainty…

Caei was right. There must have been something… anything… that we could have done to prevent that ambush.

But what?

I sighed internally. I wouldn't be able to change the past, so there was no need to rehash it, just to learn from it.

You wanted to be the leader, Aki. Act like it.

So… I asked Lilyth:

‘Why do you think those corpses are here?’

I made a sweeping gesture around the room to emphasize my point.

She thought over it, tapping her chin with a finger.

‘I see three options. One, those are Helrika’s victims. Two, those people died here for unrelated reasons. Three… those skeletons are just props.’

She walked over to one of the undisturbed bodies and pulled the sheet off it.

It was a fairly lithe, tall skeleton, which made me think it could have been an elf.

Lilyth carefully examined it from head to toe.

‘There is no visible damage that I can see.’

She took the skull into her hands and rotated it.

‘No signs of head trauma, I think,’ she muttered.

She put the skull back and pointed to the concrete beneath the skeleton and the sheet itself.

‘There are no stains visible, meaning that likely this was already a skeleton when it was brought here and covered. And that's about as much as I can tell after watching a few seasons of Bones. You would need a CSI technician, a coroner or an anthropologist to glean more from this.’

I looked at Rennie for help, but she shook her head and said:

‘Sorry… my line of work involved making corpses to analyse.’

Caei approached us and looked at the skeleton.

‘It’s weird,’ she said. ‘The skeleton… kind of looks whole. Wouldn't it fall apart by now?’

‘Good point,’ Lilyth said. ‘See any wiring? On Earth metal wire was often used to keep bones connected.’

We also knelt by the skeleton and carefully examined every bone.

‘Nothing,’ Lilyth finally said. ‘Soooo… props of some kind, but I haven't got a clue what.’

‘Magick?,’ Caei suggested.

‘Fair enough.’

‘This room makes no sense…’ Ren said in annoyance. ‘Someone placed forty skeletons here, hid twenty mannequins among them and for what… ambience?’

‘Forty-one,’ Lilyth added absentmindedly. ‘Only nineteen mannequins were under the sheets. Which… is a weird number.’

‘Maybe there were sixty skeletons, but Helrika removed some?’ I suggested.

‘Meaning if we go deeper into the complex we should find a pile o’bones,’ Lilyth said. ‘If anything this will spare us… freaking out when we find it.’

‘Let’s go look for it then,’ I said, trying to suppress a wince from the pain in my throat.