Wet.

Sniffs.

That's what Alec felt on his nose. Here's the thing, you might wonder why the boy hasn't opened his eyes and whacked whatever that was doing that to his face, well here's your answer.

He can't.

He's too frozen in fear to do anything. As far as Alec's list of fear goes, he's not afraid of anything. Except for things he can't see.

You see, when Alec was a child, his terrible sisters trapped him in a barn and forgot about him, and left him for around a day and there was a reason why only adults were allowed to be in that barn.

There was a monster. Poor boy, he fainted before the 'monster' could get a word in.

The monster was actually a Minotaur. He was passing by and got lost. The kind Ciobanu family took Adryd, the Minotaur, into the comfort of their home and gave him a map. Adryd couldn't stop apologizing profusely thinking that he hurt the poor boy but Alec's mother gave out a hearty laugh and said it was fine.

The barn was only off limits to children because of the sharp tools and weapons kept in there but young Alec told himself it was a place where monsters would hide.

Nice story, still traumatic.

Back to the current situation,

What do we do now?

More like, WWED which translates to, 'What Would Elophia Do?'

Knowing her in such a short time, Alec can't help but think that she would instead laugh and say a spell that would keep his eyes closed.

But seeing how Elophia treated Desdemona, she would do the same to help him right?

Probably not.

He was threatened at the time, and nothing is threatening about a wet nose sniffing his face.

Wait... nose?

His eyes shot open and he was greeted with yellow eyes with sharp irises.

In his sight, was a cat with feathers growing out of its body.

'Why would a cat have feathers?' The boy had questions but then again, a run-down hut turned into a cozy cottage with a blink of his eye- happened yesterday. Does he even have the right to question a cat?

Alec lifted his hand to brush the feathers off but instead the light brown cat purred and sat next to his side. As expected, the feathers stayed.

'Soft. Very cute.' He thought, and then he felt the cat's body vibrate with purrs.

Alec did the one thing that made sense.

He picked it up, hugged it, and tried to go back to sleep. The cat had no complaints and kept purring.

"Hey."

Hm?

"Hey."

It's probably nothing. This IS a rundown hut anyways. His mind was probably playing tricks on him.

"You disgusting piece of shit- sleeping comfortably after you kicked me out of my own home."

Oh shit.

Alec remembered where he was, sat up, and made himself look decent

If you're gonna die might as well look good while it happens, right?

He turned his head to look and saw Elophia's golden brown eyes staring back at him.

‘Was her eyes always been golden?’ He thought to himself.

He sheepishly scratched his cheek and smiled,

"Good morning, Elophia."

She sighed and shook her head. Elophia's lips curled up into a sly smile.

"You better step away from that cat, boy."

Alec cocked his head to the side, confused.

This small cat? This adorable fluffy brown cat with brown wings that had white tips on the end? Surely this monster of a woman wasn't talking about the cat that's cutely licking his hand.

Elophia chuckled, stood up, and took four steps back.

"Those cats attach themselves to reckless owners." Alec waited for Elophia to continue, stroking the cat in his lap.

"You're gonna have a tough time out there. These creatures are like chaotic outcomes, ensuring a tough future. "

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Dru, who was packing small jars of herbs and whatnot, laughed softly.

"That boy challenged two Gods and you thought the outcome would be bright?" Dru inhaled, pausing for dramatism.

"That's the best joke I've heard you tell in centuries."

Elophia gave out a loud scoff, turning her head away from Alec and continued to pick other things from Dru's shelves.

Dru gave a smile to Alec before winking to the boy as if to tell him to go with the flow.

"They both look fairly attached, Elo. Why not take Fluffy with you? It would be nice to have company."

Elophia snorted,

"I don't know what's more disturbing, You naming that thing Fluffy or you thinking I need company."

Dru rolled his eyes,

"I didn't mean for you, I meant for the boy. Only I know how sorry of an excuse you are to be called 'company'."

Alec swore he saw a vein pop on Elophia's forehead.

As the two elders continued to catapult insults to each other, Alec slowly stood up holding the cat gently in his arms.

It probably took him around three long minutes to muster up the courage to speak.

"Um... Excuse me-"

"What?!" Dru and Elophia said in unison. Alec swallowed the lump in his throat before he said,

"W-where can I shower?" He felt awkward for asking that to Dru who looked like he never showered. Elophia slowly lets out a cruel loud cackle.

Wait what?

Why did she laugh like that-

"Oh!" Dru exclaimed with excitement, "I took the liberty of casting a spell on you so you won't have to worry about those things again! Those things being, urine and feces of course. As well as showering." Dru gave out a happy and satisfied smile while Alec stared back at him with a dumbfounded expression.

Should he feel grateful? Offended? Harassed?

While it IS convenient to not think about all those things while traveling, Alec had far too many questions about the spell Dru spoke of.

How was it cast? Was it in the tea he drank last night? And where does it all go?? Do the feces and urine just vaporize out of his body? Teleport to the nearest toilet bowl?

Before Alec could continue his bullet train of thoughts, Dru interrupts him.

"The spell was cast by that mark on your arm."

Alec's eyes trailed down to where Dru was pointing.

A strange letter or shape was written on his upper arm. It was small but noticeable if you looked hard enough. Dru cleared his throat, signaling his continuation.

"I insisted that the mark be somewhere near your bum or hips, but Elophia stopped me, telling me to respect your boundaries. So that's why it's on your arm instead. Forgive me, it has been a long while since I've been in contact with human society so I don't understand the whole... personal space Elophia told me about."

“Oh! and if you eat food, you won’t poop it out but you will have to sweat it out. So, make sure you exercise!”

Dru paused so the boy could process everything he said. Human children in this day and age are very sensitive to new information and given how Elophia emphasized how weak this child was, It's better to take things slowly rather than ramble off.

Dru glanced at Elophia and she signed for him to continue.

"As for how and where your urine and feces goes, well."

Dru looked nervous but he continued to speak.

"The spell took away your sex as well because urine comes out from there and there are also other purposes as to why we all don't need your sex. Like, Desdemona for instance. We don't want that to happen again, do we?" Dru laughed sheepishly, the air felt awkward and tense after his rambles.

The silence broke when Elophia took a look at the poor boy's face.

Alec looked like he was going through the five stages of grief.

Elophia cackled once more as Dru tries to comfort Alec, going off on more of his useless rambles.

-

It took a while but Alec cooled off. It was painful to lose something you love, you know? But as long as it means the Desdemona case doesn't happen again he'll take it.

Still, very sad though. He and.. Himself, were very good friends.

Alec was given special equipment to take care of Fluffy while they go on their journey.

A list of rules and a small jar of catnip.

The list contained three important rules and a detailed explanation on how to take care of Fluffy when she has a tantrum.

It's a cat with feathers, how hard could it be?

Every idiot who said that ended up being very wrong.

So instead of being that idiot, Alec read the list very thoroughly and memorized it in case he loses the list.

He didn't want to make things hard for Elophia, considering how she was forced to help him.

He would prefer if everything would go smoothly.

For both of them.

"You ready?"

Alec's head snapped up, looking at the woman in front of him.

When did she get here?

Nevertheless, he nodded. He felt nervous, heart pounding out of his chest as he breathed.

Elophia smacked his shoulder and said,

"Relax. I told you I can kill Gods, didn't I?"

Somehow that made the butterflies in his stomach get worse. Elophia ignored him.

"We are going to Derfen next."

"Derfen?"

Elophia smiled proudly.

"A kingdom of dwarves and many other races of creatures. They like to gossip, and they have a keen eye for making enchanted items. We'll go there for rumors and things we need for war."

"How are you so sure we're going to war?!"

Even Dru stared at Alec like he was an idiot.

"Well," Elophia brushed her hair behind her ear.

"When you're handling something that prideful, you'd be an idiot to not bring something to defend yourself with."

Alec was still confused but brushed it off.

"When are we going?"

"Right now. Bite this."

Elophia shoved a piece of candy into his mouth and he bit into it.

The next thing he knew, the view changed from Dru waving him goodbye, to a kingdom he sees two miles away.

The journey begins.