Year 178 of the Mason Calendar.

The primeval forests of the southern Phoenix Federation.

Essa does his best to narrow his pupils to adapt the harsh light of the blazing sun that pour s through the shaded oak forest.

His nostrils flare slightly, trying to inhale slowly.

In an instant, oak bark, oak leaves, rubber, dust, gravel, earth, weeds, mushrooms, moss, beasts, birds, insects and more, hundred scents run through his mind at once, giving him no time to distinguish or accept them.

The wind blowing through the treetops rustles a little harshly, but it can not drown out the birds chirping on the distant branches and the insects chirping at the roots of the weeds. There is also an annoying sound like sweeping leaves close to Essa’s ears.

Snap! A broken branch is blown to the ground by the wind, causing Essa to jump in fright.

Essa exclaims subconsciously, but the sound that comes out of his mouth is like, "Meow awwww!"

Essa reacts for a few seconds before remembering that he has now shapeshifted into a bobcat.

That swish sound is louder, coming from behind him. He turns around to see that it’s just his tail whipping around vigorously, scuffing up the dust and leaves behind him.

Essa hasn’t been skilled in shapeshifting, and he is definitely not used to his senses becoming so sensitive.

He lands a little hard after the jump and seems to have hurt his left forefoot. Subconsciously, he lifts his left paw and sticks his tongue out to lick it. The smell of dirt, fallen leaves and sweat oozing from his pads become a disgusting mix.

But to be honest, the soft barbed tongue’s licking does feel good and relieve the pain. Still, he gives up on this instinctive bobcat treatment and limps forward to start getting used to the body.

Once Essa has gradually adapted to the bobcat's five senses and his left front foot no longer feels painful, he begins to try jumping, running and climbing trees. It doesn't take him too long to master all these skills.

He rests on a sturdy branch of an oak tree and ponders the question: Is it really necessary for him to shapeshift into a bobcat, a wolf or an animal of the same size?

Whatever he can do as an animals, he can do either with his human body, and even more with his magic. But during the shapeshifting, he is unable to cast spells.

Although shapeshifting is the skill that every druid has to master, hasn't he survived well enough in the twenty-three years he had never really used it in his adventures?

Twenty-three years, Essa's heart feels like it has suddenly been pricked by something sharp. Those memories, have they been so long ago?

His stomach rumbles and gurgles. The bobcat’s instincts stops him from thinking further and begins urging him to hunt.

He stretches and jumps down the trunk of the tree. His ears lengthening back and opening, his nostrils flaring as he begins to search the area for some small animal he can hunt. As expected, Essa catch the scent of a squirrel. He makes a mad dash excitedly in the direction the scent is coming from.

As an experienced hunter, he is not foolish enough to rush right up to his prey and scare it away.

Thirty feet away from the squirrel, Essa stops and climbs up the trees to observe the situation.

A squirrel has been caught in an animal trap, but there is a bigger animal trap outside the trap! Essa hisses exasperatedly stretches out his claws to scratch at the branch. But the bobcat's instinctive gestures give him away.

A short, sturdy wildling emerges from tree hole and looks over.

Beneath short, dishevelled black hair, a slightly clean-shaven handsome face is painted in black and white. It’s all black on the forehead and around his eyes, and white around the nose and on the nose and cheeks.

The wildling is wrapped in clothes that barely cover his body and rudimentary armour made of animal skin. He carries a huge war hammer in one hand and a small axe on his belt.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Essa holds his breath and arches his back, ready to pounce on his foe.

He knows that his wild shape is normally no match for an adult human. But if the opponent is a short, malnourished and poorly clothed man, that will be a different matter.

The wildling also spots Essa and comes running in stride, standing a short distance below the tree with his head cocking and glaring at Essa with his big eyes.

Essa glares at him from the tree and keeps making screaming and hissing noises to scare the wildling.

The wildling is furious at Essa's provocation. He hands over his war hammer to his left hand and with his right hand he takes out the small axe from his belt and throws it at Essa. Essa figures out his plan as soon as the wildling throws out his axe. He leaps off the branch at the right moment. The flying axe falls short and plunges hard into the thick branch.

The wildling grows more furious, his pupils becoming cloudy and his reddish muscles bursting out of his clothes and armour. He hisses loudly and darts towards Essa with his war hammer.

Essa has grown familiar with the bobcat's body, but the tension of dodging the flying axe caused him to stumble again. He broke his left front foot again as he leapt from the branch to the ground.

Essa tries to move but only to find he can not jump or run. It seems there is no way he can dodge this rampaging wildling's attack in this situation. He decides to shift back into his human form.

At this moment, the wildling is less than fifty feet away.

Essa dismisses all distractions in his mind and his connection to the Power of the Earth reappears in the depths of his mind. The keen five senses from the bobcat gradually fades away and replaces by his five senses as a human. He can see that his human palms are bracing the ground and the bobcat’s fur below his chest is fading into his original clothing.

At this moment, the wildling is less than twenty feet with Essa. The war hammer swings up with a strong wind and the stench of the wildling’s body towards Essa.

Essa stands up, takes a few thorny branches cut into small pieces from his pocket and throws them at the wildling’s direction. Instantly, countless thorny branches sprouts from the ground ten feet around the wildling, covered with sharp spikes. Some branches grow upwards to waist height, some extend in all directions across the ground. The wildling is trapped in the thorn area.

Essa has by now regained his full human form. His raises his right arm and points to the sky above the wildling’s head. A blue-purple lightning bolt bubbling from his fingertips, drawn and uncharged.

"Hey, friend!" Essa shouts at the stunned wildling, "I advise you to hold still now, or even if you can break through the thorns in front of you, you won't be able to avoid the lightning bolt above your head."

The wildling looks up slightly and see the lightning flickering faintly in the dark clouds above his head. But it clearly doesn’t frighten him more than a bobcat turning directly into a human.

With the slightly distraction, his body begins to sway and his feet go weak. Several cuts are inflicted instantly on his thighs by scraping by the spikes of the plant. And the pains cause him stepping on a few thorns, which make his feet bled.

He curses in pain, "Ahhhhh! You son of a bitch bobcat!"

Essa holds back his laughter and says to the wildling, "Look carefully, I am a human being. It’s me shapeshifting into a bobcat, not a bobcat becoming me. Can you understand?"

The wildling nods his head half-heartedly, and the muscles bursting out of his clothes begin to contract and gradually become less red. Seeing that the wildling is ending his rage, Essa drops his right hand. The lightning disappears and the dark clouds clear instantly.

He asks the wildling, "Can you now promise not to attack me again?"

The wildling says in a jarring voice, "If you are a bobcat, I will hit you. But if you're a human, then I won't hit you."

Essa laughs out loud this time, "So do you think I'm a human or a bobcat?"

The wildling says, "Human. A bobcat won't let grass stabs me, or lightning strikes me."

Essa withdraws his spell and the thorns area disappears immediately.

The wildling sits down with a huff, tosses his war hammer aside and begins to examine his injuries.

Essa walks over to him and holds out his hands to the wildling’s injured thigh and feet, two soft white lights envelope and heal the wounds and slowly.

The wildling looks up at Essa, "Thank you, you are amazing."

Essa smiles, “It’s just because I hurt you.That's all for now, goodbye pal." He gets up and is about to leave.

"Wait!" The wildling calls out to him. "Could you please do me one more favour?"

"What favour?" Essa is a little upset.

"My axe is still on the tree, can you get it down for me.You see, I, I don't know how to climb trees." The wildling’s voice grows smaller and smaller with his eyes lower and lower, not daring to look at Essa.

"All right!" Essa looks at the young helpless wildling with compassion. He climbs up the tree, removes the axe, and incidentally repairs the branch that has been cut by the axe.

"What would you do if that was a real bobcat in the tree just now, and it was hit by your flying axe, and both the bobcat and the axe were nailed to the branch?" Essa asks the wildling from the tree.

"I don't know, I haven't thought about it." The wildling looks at Essa with his big innocent eyes.

"Sooner or later you are going to starve to death in this forest." Essa mutters in a small voice as he climbs down from the tree and hands over the axe to the wildling.

The wildling takes the axe, pins it to his belt again and says, "That's exactly what another person has been holding me lately. Alas, it seems that I am indeed not fit for adventure."

Essa says frankly, "Indeed, not much of an adventurer in these primeval forests. By the way, how did you come to be in this forest?"

The wildling blinks and smiles for the first time, while his black and white face looking a little creepy but cute, "My family is in the Ember Moon Wetland, just south of the forest. I wanted to venture out and my family wouldn't let me, so I ran out on my own."

"I admire your courage and boldness pal. But there are times when it is right to listen to your family. Well, good luck my friend. See you again sometime!" Essa walks away without looking back.