It was deep in the night as small vibrations alerted me to the presence of intruders in my box. Before I could react something closed around my neck. The intruders had concealed their presence only dropping the cloak as the ring snapped shut. Certain that their plan had succeeded they started chatting, mocking me for my deep sleep.
Item Beast collar forcefully equipped
It hurt like crazy but slowly the metal ring started to glow, with a roar the offending piece disintegrated into molten droplets impacting all around me. It took only seconds but she intruders had overcome the shock and started to retreat. Still covered in glowing metal droplets I took chase. They managed to delay me by closing the massive door but it only gave them a small moment. The wooden door exploded as a few tons Imoogi came into conflict with its position, wooden shrapnel showering into the courtyard.
Behind me the box erupted into flames as the fresh air supply turned my poor bed into a raging inferno. The intruders used some form of grappling hook to escape onto the roofs disappearing into the shadows. Only one of them was too slow, wounded by a large piece of wood stuck in his tight, my rage focused entirely on the poor man in form of a charged Breath attack that instantly shattered any form of defense. The remains of his metal armor lasted the longest as his remains evaporated.
As my rage subsided a bit I was left with a human sized molten patch of pavement and a burning stable. Sighting deeply I shook myself like a dog getting rid of the metal residue in my fur. Chasing over the roofs was out of the question, I would decimate the entire neighborhood and most likely still not get those people.
Panic began to spread in the stables as the fumes the fire had released began to reach other boxes, locked up beasts bellowing out their distress. The rattling of chains coupled with massive doors barely containing what was inside created an eerie scene.
I was highly annoyed but with careful air manipulation the fire died down in seconds.
As if waiting for a grand entrance, that moment the stable-master charged out of his home at the head of the complex. Dressed in a white nightgown armed with shield and spear he looked utterly ridiculous, people of his stature should be banned from wearing anything but heavy plate.
Pondering my options I ignored the stable-master, my group had been attacked. I needed to make sure my family was safe. Swelling to my maximum size my lungs filled with as much air as I could contain
The other beasts instantly went quiet in this god forsaken silence I counted the seconds.
Seconds that felt like an eternity later a howl answered on the mental plane.
With but a thought I dove into the ground, unable to fly I took the fastest route available. The earth welcoming me back in its embrace I made haste towards the location my instincts urged me to head towards. Above ground commotions broke out as half the population began to panic the first alarm bells began to sound, the rattling of armored feet on stone reached even me deep underground but I ignored them.
On my wild chase I also encountered this fabled dungeon, breaking through one of the walls I crossed a large room diving into the wall on the other side. A group of adventurers currently fighting in the dungeon must have gotten a great scare.
Meanwhile deep under the castle in his private jail Lord Rexais Durmont inspected the captives in front of him. A twisted smile adorning his unwashed face. “Four little Elven beasts, did you really believe you scum could freely enter MY city?” Pacing like a cornered animal the lord continued his half insane monologue in front of his gagged Prisoners. Chained to the wall with iron shackles laid my family. Hefting his flickering gaze onto my mother “And once I have your beast that old turtle in the north can only bow to me. So I have to thank you for bringing me such a present!” The mad lord reached for a glowing iron rod slowly approaching Gale's breast, fur starting to get singed filling the stifling room with the odor of burned hair.
“Why are you not begging for your life? You are alone, gagged, drugged and your magic is sealed by the chains? What hope can you still have?”
Gale just smiled defiantly as much as the leather gag allowed her. The lord screamed in utter rage drawing back the glowing rod preparing to strike her.
Just in this moment a tremor ran through the underground dungeon, his balance broken the crazed lord fell onto his behind the glowing rod setting fire to his pompous cape.
Just in time he managed to discard the burning cloth, huffing he sat there rage drowning any reason he had left.
With a *crack * parts of the ceiling began to cave in as I shoved my head into the room.
In seconds I had ripped the chains out of the walls freeing my family. Full of concern I scanned their naked form for any kind of injury. Eyes coming to rest on Gales singed chest my rage nearly exploded.
Scanning the room for the perpetrator I found Rexais covering behind a pile of broken rocks. Then something snapped.
POV Gale
I am uncertain what had given birth to the madness the man in front of me contained.
His covered guards had ambushed us during sleep a potent paralytic poison quelling any resistance we could offer.
Our captors did not talk, they just delivered us to their master a man called Lord Rexais Durmont. Something inside the man snapped upon seeing us, talking about finally finding revenge madness began to invade his eyes. He made his guard throw us into this accursed dungeon.
He spent a full day trying to make “mother” tell him a “key” for our “beast”, then he had tried to torment “father”. It was still weird to call our adoptive parents by that name, Ere had far less problems with that I envied her a little.
We had bonded in the deepest winter forming a close bond a family could hope for, still my mind struggled to address them this way, no matter how happy it made them.
But his tools had failed to even dent the physical form even his fur refused to get but signed by something so mundane as normal fire. My own fur was not that lucky the iron rod had easily burned a black gap into the Gray, threatening the skin underneath.
The puny man demanded us to beg for our lives but we knew, his end was coming. The very ground shaking slightly as rock parted around his doom. Kai was coming!
Dust raining from the dungeon ceiling was the first sign, then Kai's massive head broke through the crude stone ceiling nearly burying the mad man named Rexais.
Like a worried mother her gaze wandered over us and came to rest on the small burn mark in my fur. Her eyes widened the green pupils turning golden her head swiveled towards the fallen Lord like a possessed doll.
Deep inside at that moment Kai scared me greatly, her entire aura exuding the promise of death, easily dwarfing the once pungent odor, the entire dungeon was filled with.
A deep and rumbling voice filled the small chamber a language so foreign not a word resembled anything I had ever heard yet the meaning was clear as the sky.
Rexais , παιδί δολοφόνοι , επίορκους , οι οικογένειες λαμβάνουν υβριστής σας Απόφαση ! Μάιος ψυχή κενότητα σας Ποτέ μην αφήνετε το κάψιμο πάντα!
Rexais, murderer of children, oath-breaker, defiler of family's receive your judgment!
May your soul burn eternal never to leave the void! (for those interested it is Greek all hail g**gle translate)
The very fabric of our world seemed to buckle as the last word left her muzzle. The lord just watched, laughing like a maniac as nothing seemed to happen. But his laughing soon turned to screams as ethereal flames erupted out of his body.
He turned his head to the back of the room seeing something only he could perceive.
Suddenly his body went limp face frozen in horror, black blood seeping out of his pure white eyeballs, the dying scream never leaving his opened mouth forever locked in that twisted form.
Shortly after Kai went back to normal eyes darting confused back and forth. A big question-mark nearly gaining physical form over her skull. I was fairly certain she had as little idea as us to what had just happened and it scared her more than me.
POV Kai
The way out of the city was far harder than the way in had been, trying my best not to swallow or move my tongue. A kick hit the roof of my mouth, fathers voice howling through my head “If I get out of here alive I will train you until you bleed! And I vow to buy the biggest toothbrush in the entire kingdom gods it reeks in here!”
Using the cover of the earth our escape was successful. I am still highly alarmed by what had happened in the dungeon, my control had slipped again!
Close to a small river I resurfaced, lying flat on my belly muzzle slowly opening.
Gasping for fresh air my passengers stumbled outside. Well sorry for not being able to brush teeth with my current body!
After confirming my family's well-being I took the liberty to shrink down to scarf-size and join them in their extended bathing. That night we did not even set camp, naked and exhausted we just went to sleep next to the trees. The furious ringing of bells in the city barely reaching towards our resting spot.
As dawn hit in the morning we exchanged our experience during the stay in the city which ended in a big slightly awkward family hug due to the missing clothes.
With the immediate survival in question we took refuge on a small island in the middle of a medium lake. An old turtle living at the bottom of the lake readily agreed to share the area in return for not ending on the menu.
While unpleasant, mother had me discharge the entire content of my hoard stomach for sorting and inventory. We ended up with a huge pile of jumbled utensils and furniture from our old den. It took us two days to even bring a semblance of order to the heap.
Father had taken the duty to salvage some of the older fur-coats to create some makeshift clothes. Gale and Ere were maintaining our remaining metal utensils and mother spent the day collecting fruits, nuts and some berry. Thus our day ended with a large bowl of fruit-salad for everyone. I was happy to discover that the omnivore trait my original species held was still present, even after mixing with so many Carnivores.
No one that cannot change their size can imagine the utter glee of burrowing into a bowl of tasty food larger than yourself. I got some jealous gazes for binge-napping on a warm stone in the sun but mother made sure I got plenty of sleep. “Let her sleep I rather have her rested if we need to run again.” Was all she said to make any complaints stop.
It did not take long and our equipment was sorted, this time a vastly more orderly pile was left for me to store. Mother had decided that we would travel by foot in the coming weeks to reduce the chance of detection. She had studied the map and marked our next destination, an old temple dedicated to an old Moon goddess.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
The reason was unclear why she wanted to head there but without better alternatives we readily agreed. We waved goodbye to the turtle, which quite unexpectedly was quite sad to see us leave. Clothed in the leather tunics my father had made we looked pretty much like a group of ragged refugees most travelers passing just ignored us.
I spent most of my time in the most comfy place of the group, buried between Ere's breasts only my head sometimes peeked over the leather that served to stabilize my jiggling housing. Every time I looked outside I got some weird glaces from Gale but I could not place the message it might contain.
It may have been three days until Gale waved Ere closer to herself, my sleep was rudely interrupted as Gale's hand ripped me out of my makeshift bed. Glaring at Ere she stuffed me inside her own bra. Unfortunately for me, Gale's “assets” lacked sorely in the comfort department. Not that I was stupid enough to lay my claw on one of Gale's most sensitive topics, I had learned that the hard way.
With my sleep broken I kept my head peeked over the leather, only retreating down when other travelers passed us. The roads became better the further we neared the capital while the times we encountered soldiers increased daily. Whole battalions were on the march towards the north.
All those marching soldiers did not even spare us a second glace, there was mo joy on their faces it looked like they were headed directly for war. Sadly we had no way to aquire information as most travelers, even the refugees refused to converse with “lowly beast-kin”.
With the general enmity we avoided the larger camps used by the common people and kept to ourselves. The low speed however allowed us to fully explore the rich and changing nature all around us. Especially after our long winter everyone took great pleasure in seeing the bustling nature.
It was a normal evening after a few weeks on the road as we got company. Loud cursing surrounded a huge human male with a woodman's ax alerting us of his coming long before we see him. “Stupid wagon, the axle is fine! So much for his unbreakable woodwork, if I get my hands on that swindler!”
Spewing profanity that would make most sailors turn in their graves the man was inspecting the trees obviously searching for a replacement for his mentioned broken axle. So engrossed with his search and cursing he nearly stumbled over us. He hid his shock quite well as he greeted us as fellow travelers, only a slight widening of his pupils telling of his blunder.
POV Horgbert, right hand to the owner of “rich harvest caravan” That damn swindler! How could Samuel fall for that damn hoax of a woodworker? We had gotten one of our wagons repaired but only two days later the damn thing broke again! Stuck in the middle of an average patch of forest the entire caravan was forced to halt. If bandits got winds of our predicament the entire mission was in danger.
Making my way through the woods I was searching for the perfect tree to replace the broken beam as I accidentally stumbled into a small camp. Four hooded figures sitting around a burned down fire, they had reduced their presence obviously intent on keeping to themselves.
Reading my ax just in case I greeted them, the target of my search a very straight tree sprouting just in the border of their little encampment. The large hooded figure pointed questioningly at the tree to which I responded by nodding. Sighting deeply he stood up, never in my life had I seen such a mountain of a man, the sitting position had concealed his maximum height. Intimidated by the sheer size, unconsciously I took a step backwards.
Swiveling his shoulders the giant grabbed the tree, his muscles bulging the trunk snapped with a brisk sound close to the ground coming off cleanly. I stood in awe before this display of brute strength, the giant proceeded to offer me the tree with one hand. Dumbfounded I accepted the log only to nearly collapse under the sudden weight.
The giant gave off a sound I could only guess as chuckling and returned to his old spot obviously intent on returning to his nap. “Thank you kind stranger in place of my master let me offer you a warm meal for your help!” The man had just saved me half an hour chopping down the tree, greatly reducing the time we had to spend in this cursed forest.
The giant only looked into the direction of the middle sized person seated on a bedroll next to him.
That person responded by nodding, I deeply bowed in that persons direction he obviously held high reputation in this group if even that giant had to ask for confirmation. Like on command all four stood up, nearly making me gasp. Even the smallest of the group easily overshadowed me not to mention a second one close to the size of the giant.
The man shouldered the tree gesturing me to lead the way. I made haste towards the caravan, the strangers effortlessly keeping pace as the sounds of battle echoed in front of us.
My biggest fear had come true BANDITS!
A large group of bandits had encircled the caravan, the wagons formed a circle with the guards securing a small parameter outside of it. Women and children in the center of the wagon-ring the situation was not looking great the bandits had the advantage of numbers by five to one. While we had thirty guards with proper gear the situation looked hopeless.
My legs began to shiver as I saw the impending slaughter. Suddenly the giant handed the tree to the other giant gesturing towards the bandits like a parent telling its offspring to prove itself. The other took the tree without hesitation bloodlust billowing from his presence then he charged towards the bandits.
The smallest of the group sighted deeply and began to follow towards the bandits. I tried to stop him, but the giant stopped me, placing “paw?” on my shoulder shaking his hooded head. The bandits had noticed the approaching threat preparing to intercept the charging lunatic with cold steel.
Digging its feet into the ground bulging muscles transferred the energy of the reckless charge into a mighty swing. The darkness had concealed the tree and now shouts of panic and alarm spread as the mighty lump of wood mercilessly crashed through their rows.
With brisk sounds arrows were launched, a second unit of bandits hidden in the shadows had opened fire on the hulking berserker with his his bloody tree. The shout of warning was stuck in my throat I could already see the poor man riddled by arrow as the night turned to day, the clap of thunder blindingly bright.
Not a single arrow reached its target as glowing arrow-tips rained from the sky harmlessly falling into the short grass. The second stranger stood next to the caravan crackling lightning arcing between his paws, another thunderclap thundered through the night followed by the smell of burning meat. A MAGE!
But even with their overwhelming strength the bandits organized themselves going back to the offensive. Still the two remaining strangers kept perfectly still silently watching the unfolding fight. Then the tables turned again, the silvery scarf of the small stranger came alive, a concentrated beam of fire cutting through the bandits like a hot knife through butter.
No bandit could get close to the mage which proceeded to decimate their ranks.
With their numbers dwindling the bandit-leader finally ordered a retreat, as sudden as they had appeared the men disappeared in the thick forest. The two strangers returned to the two waiting ones and received a pat on the head?
Suddenly the those four strangers looked far more like a family, just in this moment Samuel the owner of this caravan appeared out of the wagon ring. The small woman made her way towards us, the countless pouches and bags sewn to her kilt jiggling with their mysterious content.
Samuel reached us in seconds her gaze scanning the four strangers. One endless moment she continued her relentless scan until she nodded satisfied. She bowed briefly “Welcome strangers to my humble caravan, I see you have already met my right hand Horgbert, my name is Samuel. As leader of this caravan I offer you our hospitality and friendship feel free to accompany us as long as you see fit.”
The four strangers took down their hoods, sharp gasps running through the assembled members of the caravan. One of the guards tried to draw his sword but before he even managed to get it out of its sheath a deep red handprint bloomed on his cheek.
“How dare you Duris son of Mogra to draw your weapon towards MY guests?! If I say you kiss their feet you will do that! I don't care what grows on their skin and if its mushrooms you WILL kiss them, are we UNDERSTOOD?”
The fuming Samuel stood in front of the young guard Duris, hand nearly smoking from the strike that had just imprinted itself on young Duris face. In this moment I was happy to not be on the receiving end of Samuel's legendary fury.
POV Kai
The fight against the bandits had been very refreshing, Ere had utilized her training well taking the position as vanguard. Gale ha gotten very good in the manipulation of lightning one of the advanced elements of air and water manipulation. Originally I did not plan to participate as well but those bandits were far too organized, it felt like fighting a military unit so I was forced to help out.
The leader of the small caravan Samuel had invited us to accompany them for a while, with the prospect of information mother had readily agreed. We handed the “slightly” bloody tree to a horrified woodworker and followed Samuel's invitation to her private fire.
The Samuel woman and mother instantly got along very well, chatting for hours. Both exchanged information on the recent events. The state of the kingdom did not look very good, the explosion of our home had triggered far wider events than we were aware of. The Dwarves and Elves had allied against the Humans and Beast-kin, both sides accusing each other of using forbidden magic. The hardliners of both sides used this as an opportunity to call for war.
With the army setting out to secure the borders one of the northern lords had apparently killed his long time rival. This had destabilized the region as the children of the lord pressed for revenge. With external and internal threat many of the common people fled the regions of conflict further destabilizing the already bad situation.
As trader Samuel was most interested in the state of Hercs and “the lost island” as they started to call our old home. The other people in the caravan while reserved at first slowly started to thaw up. My father got his hands on some high quality leatherworking tools which immediately started producing miracles in his paws.
Many of the guards began commissioning new sheathes for their weapons and replacements for worn out leather binding of their armor. Mother displayed her talent as healer curing many small and large aliments, in bad cases she still had to rely on my help.
Gale had made friends with an old man that called himself “enchanter” while lacking in some areas his command of runes was superb. That way most of us had something to do, Ere spent her time sparring and training while I tried to get my core to evolve to the next stage.