Earthly Powers: The Adventure Begins

by DC Alexander

  Artemis dropped by when she wanted to and told me whatever she had on her mind. It wasn’t much of a learning experience most of the time; she would just as soon tell me about a superstition about cloud patterns or reading guts from a fresh killed deer as she would about world traveling.

  World traveling was something I should be able to do according to her. I should find a grove of natural trees, as uncut and unpolluted as possible, far away from people and roads and houses. I should put my hands on the tree and will myself to wherever it was I wanted to go.

  I didn’t know where there were any woods like that. I got Carl to take me around looking, the best I could find was some pine woods, it was quiet and pretty and peaceful but all I got was ticks. I could talk with trees and I enjoyed it, but the conversations were limited. Trees didn’t have a lot to talk about. There is only so much you can say about water and nutrients and tree eating pests.

  Artemis showed up one morning just after daylight with another friend, they were suddenly in my kitchen. The noise woke me up, they were going through the refrigerator, tasting, tossing things on the table absently. As usual she didn’t introduce the friend. She’d decided it was time for me to learn to shape shift.

  She said “We will go outside for this.” I was glad to hear it, they were destroying my kitchen, making a helluva mess. I opened the back door and went out hoping they’d follow. They did.

  Artemis said “Have you selected your primary shape?”

  “I like this one. The last time I tried changing didn’t work out too well. I’m ok just like I am.”

  “No, that is not ok. You need your alternate shape. It will teach you much that you need to know.”

  The way she was, if I got stuck in a different shape it wouldn’t bother her. She was bored and if something entertaining happened to someone else it was great. I don’t think she picked up on the idea that things were permanent for me. I wouldn’t get extra chances if something killed me. More probably she didn’t care.

  “I don’t have anything picked out. I’ll put some thought into it and be ready next time.” Another of her endearing attributes: She was an airhead. She couldn’t remember my name from one day to another. That wasn’t done on purpose, she was really that dinged out.

  “We’ll do a dog then. That will be good practice. It is easy to do. You’ll have to learn to move like a dog, but that won’t be too hard for you.”

  I had to at least go through the motions. She was a real bitch when she didn’t get her way immediately. If I couldn’t distract her I had to either run away – and she could catch me, but she’d forget why we were running – or do whatever it was.

  Maybe I could get something out of this. “How should I start?”

  “You have to get comfortable, let’s sit down out here on your spot. Now you need an example.” She waved her hand and a dog trotted up to her and licked her hand. “This is Magyuo, she is a good dog. She will help with this. Study her, learn her, and then become her.”

  That sounded easy enough. I looked at the dog. It helpfully came over to me and sniffed at me, licked me, then drove its nose into my crotch. It was a good sized dog, its head was level with mine with me sitting on the ground, and it shoved me over. I caught her as I fell and we wound up wrestling on the ground, it was a lot of fun when I stopped worrying about getting bitten.

  We paused, the dog lying across my lap, and I Looked closely at her. I could see the bones in her legs, the way the blood flowed, how her spine worked. I went down inside her and looked at the details. It was beautifully connected and very well done, she was a functional marvel.

  If I were going to change, it seemed that one part would change first, then another, and so on. It was going to be very complicated. This was going to take years of study.

  I said as much to Artemis and she laughed. “You can’t do this by thinking it through. You have to learn the shape and then release yourself to match it. The details will take care of themselves. I give you my personal guarantee that you will be perfectly fine.”

  She was a real shit but once she gave her word she was bound, from what I had seen. This was as good as it got. I didn’t see any loopholes in the promise.

  “Ok, I have it, I think. How do I start?” This was scary, guarantee or no guarantee.

  “Connect to the earth for the energy. You might not need that in the future, but it will help this first time. Once connected, clearly envision what it is you want; in this case, you want to become a copy of this dog. Once you have the vision set, use your will and become. It will happen all over at once, it is not a long drawn out process.”

  I got the connection; I visualized myself turning into this dog. Then I changed my thoughts, a copy of this dog. I made sure I wasn’t missing something, then I imagined I hit a trigger and fired the change, ‘let it rip!’

  It wasn’t painful at all, but it was totally agonizing. Every cell in my body imitated some cell in the dog’s body. Some of them combined to make a single cell where there had been several before, some split to become many instead of one. I had thought about my brain, the fact that it might need more room, and so a bigger skull to house it. That wasn’t a problem, it fit right in there. Any changes were handled without my attention. I mostly just watched from somewhere outside myself.

  “That was different!” I exclaimed, I got up, and heard the echoes of my bark. My sense of smell was overpowering everything else. I got pictures from smelling! I couldn’t see what I would have called shape, but I could tell distance and shape and heat from smelling. My eyes were mostly just along for the ride. I could see but the important stuff was the smell. I was very stable and very close to the ground, it felt natural, I could remember the incredible amount of unconscious attention it took to stay balanced standing way up on only two feet. This was much, much better. I took a step and it all went screwy, I didn’t have hands, I had four feet. My arms weren’t legs, I just didn’t have arms and I did have front legs. Everything was where it should be, but it was all unfamiliar. A tall person was making horribly loud noises and leaning toward me holding something, I knew it was Artemis and I kind of recognized the collar, but it didn’t seem to matter, I was happy, happy happy! She slipped it around my neck and it was good and soothing and right that she touched me. My tail wagged furiously, oh I was in love, um, the goodness, I had to taste her, I licked her before I could think about it and she tasted like love and sunshine and running fast as I could through the trees. I recognized speech, I had to work on it, the sound was not only louder, but rich and spread out and full of high and low notes I had never heard before. There were nuances I’d never known about.

  “..and we’ll go hunting, you’ll have a wonderful time. Good girl. Come on Magyuo, let’s take Rosalee home, that’s a girl.” She attached a leash to my collar, fastened a similar leash to Magyuo and pulled gently. We all walked together and suddenly we were elsewhere. Something wasn’t quite right but I couldn’t pin it down; it didn’t really matter, I was in sensory overload.

  Everything was brighter and deeper and there was more reality in this new place. There were more dogs, they were friendly, I was still moving stiffly and unsure of myself but it was becoming more natural and thoughtless. I thought about the way I used to be but I found it harder and harder to keep a train of thought. I got distracted with the smells, the tastes, the sounds, they were overwhelming. Horses, big cats, deer, pigs, they were all nearby. Wood smoke filled the background like a wall. There was lots of sweat, different kinds, some with fear, some with anger, and some just from work. There was old blood and death percolating through it all. Leather and weeds gave it an undertone. It was a symphony of odors. And the sounds; someone beat on a piece of metal with a steady, relentless banging. Curtains rustled as they were pushed aside, people walked, some barefoot and some with sandals. Animals made distinctive grunts, howls, knickers, low voiced conversations vied with shouts and normal tones. I backed up till I hit a wall and crouched down there with my head between
my paws so my ears were covered, the leash tugged on my neck but I let it tighten, then it loosened before it choked me.

  I separated steps coming toward me from the general background noise. They stopped in front of me and the most glorious pressure accurately found places on top of my head and behind my ears where I had desperately needed to be stroked and scratched. I couldn’t help pressing my head into it, I felt drool accumulating in my mouth and I couldn’t bring myself to care. The goodness kept on, along with low voiced talk “That’s a good girl, yes, it’s a little overwhelming, it will be ok, it takes a little while to get used to it but you will be fine. Let’s give you some time to get accustomed, I’ll take you outside tomorrow and we’ll have a great time.” I was writhing in pleasure. It just didn’t get any better than that. The footsteps left, a door opened and closed, and I was left alone in a small enclosure.

  I got up and investigated the enclosure. It was well lit and the floor was covered with straw deep enough to pad the stone below. In one corner a flap covered an opening to the outside. I pushed the flap aside and there was a large dirt yard, in the corner was a good place to take care of body wastes. The breeze carried an immense number of signatures. Other dogs had been here, there were markings all over. They had been content and healthy. I found an abundance of food, there was fresh, tender bloody meat mixed with grain and maybe fruit and vegetables, and flowing fresh clean water. I tried to eat the food, the meat clotted in my mouth, I hacked it out. I picked out some melon that wasn’t too badly mixed with the rest and ate it and drank my fill of the water.

  I picked up on a nearby conversation “…one of Artemis’ changelings. It will eat normally soon enough, it still remembers too much. That west pasture there, we should…” they moved away and I wasn’t interested anyway. I went back through the flap and curled up in the straw, it was warm and soothing and comfortable and I went to sleep.

  I woke up and had to go to the bathroom, I rolled out of bed and got to my feet and something was wrong. I remembered changing and going somewhere, I was different. I wasn’t at home but I had been left here by the responsible one, the master, my adored one. This was home. But it wasn’t. I heard a high pitched whining noise and realized I was making it. The light was gone and the noise had shut down to a dull background roar. The scents of night were different, richer and fuller. I pulled myself back from examining the scents to my problem…What was the problem? I wasn’t hungry, I had plenty of water. I had to go to the bathroom, yeah, that was it. I got to my feet and it was wrong, I had too many feet, I had no arms. I used to have arms. I went out through the flap and I felt a familiar presence. Warmth filled my mind, “Are you well?” a questioning feeling, deeper and more established and solid than Dirt. It watched me remember Dirt and sent “You are in a different form.” It was definitely related to Dirt.

  “Yes, I think I was tricked somehow, I can’t think what is wrong.“

  “Lie on the ground with your tattoos touching the ground” The image felt right; I lay down on my left side and the connection became deeper and more solid.

  “Use your extra personality/alter ego/ [static]/ to return to your original form if you want to.” That was a hell of a string of images and feelings and background information, I remembered vaguely what the alter ego was, as I thought about it, I felt the familiar sensation of watching from somewhere else while I acted. My alter ego invoked the change and I returned to my original form like releasing a taunt rubber band. I was naked with a collar hanging loosely around my neck along with my necklace. I lay on the dirt in a pen that stretched maybe twenty yards on a side. A stone wall ran along the pen behind me, a small opening with a flap over it indicated my sleeping area.

  I had better stay on my new friend’s good side “Thank you, help is much appreciated. May I know your name?”

  “I have been referred to as ‘the world‘or ‘Asgard’ occasionally.”

  “Then I will call you Asgard, is that ok?”

  A feeling of amusement “Yes, that is fine. Here, I see you have a token, this is much the same but for me” A flat piece of stone pressed up from the ground to my hand, it was already pierced to hang on my necklace.

  “Thank you again “I untied the leather. It was hard and unyielding and the knot was tight, I reached into it and loosened it easily. After I threaded the new rock in place I placed the thong around my neck and merged the two loose ends together, it became a continuous loop of leather. I didn’t have to think much about it, the act was almost unconscious.

  The pen was made of boards running from one post to the next, it came up to my chest and I could easily climb over it. The posts were stone and the top board was flat like a shelf. A dog couldn’t have climbed out. I went back into the little room through the flap. It was just large enough that I could crawl through.

  A stall door blocked the entry. I looked over it. A corridor stretched away in both directions, walled in stone with doors like mine every ten or fifteen feet. The building was maybe fifty yards long. Straw covered the floors; it was all clean and fresh. The ceiling towered overhead, it was at least two stories, huge beams stretched overhead, the entire building was massive and reeked of age and permanence.

  I reached over the door and lifted the simple latch. This wasn’t much of a prison. I had assumed it was a plot to trap me into dog form, but I wondered at how simply I could escape.

  Magyuo was in the next stall. She leaped up on the inside of her door and whined. I reached over the door and patted her. She was human. I saw the changes in her when I used her as a pattern. She might be happy with the way she was, she might not want to change back, or she might be trapped as I was; and there was no telling how long she had been trapped that way, if that was the case. I let myself into her stall and knelt down to face her. I took her head between my hands “Do you want to change back?” I whispered. I had no idea if she could understand me, but Artemis had spoken in English; I could only hope. She bounced in place, wiggled, her tail wagged frantically. I decided to take that as a yes.

  “Come with me”. I wiggled through the dog door into the open area. “Lie down here.” She lay down, watching me closely. I contacted Asgard, “Can you speak with this one? Can you help her? She wishes to return to her original shape.”

  It replied “She must supply the shape she wishes and I can supply the power.“

  I asked her “Can you remember what you were? If you want to change back, you have to set your other self in motion to do it.”

  She looked at me quizzically, tilted her head, and then flowed into a young woman’s shape. Pale, the color of milk, she was so white she gleamed in the moonlight. Her hair was dark, I couldn’t see color. It covered her like a blanket, thick and abundant and flowing. It must be a bitch to brush that out. She stood uncertainly and I stood with her, she staggered to one side and I caught her around the waist to steady her.

  She shoved her head into my chest and made an odd snuffling noise, her arms and legs worked spasmodically.

  “Easy, now, just take it easy. How long have you been stuck like that?” It must have been a while, she moved like she had never stood on two legs before and she was licking me.

  “Hey, cut that out!” I whispered loud; she darted back, her legs tangled and she fell, hard. “It’s ok, you just surprised me, come on.” I squatted down and embarrassed, she crawled back over to me with her head down and I swear I could almost see the tucked tail.

  “Can you talk?” She nodded and looked down shyly, peering back at me out of the corner of her eyes; she said “I not talk good.” Her success perked her up “I am good dog, each day, happy, eat, hunt, sleep, and not talk. Not need talk. You know, you good dog.”

  “Yes, I do know, we didn’t need to talk. Do you have a home to go to?” I was going home and I would help her if I could, she was vulnerable to the first person who came along like she was.

  “Home broke, was dog, run, hide. No home there. Home here.”

  We worked for a while, what I
got was that she didn’t know of any reason for Artemis to be angry; she didn’t know the way home but she could get back to her world. She was insistent about that, this was a different world. And she wanted to go back. She needed to sneak because someone would kill her if they caught her. She was an intercessor with the gods. I substituted priest, that seemed to work. She was in danger, it sounded like some sort of religious persecution. She assumed I was a priest. I told her I wasn’t, and she pointed to my tattoos and compared them to her own, yes, I was a priest, she was convinced. I wanted to get moving, I wasn’t as sure that Artemis wouldn’t be upset with us, I would feel a lot better on my own ground. I asked her how to get back, she went through the dog door, through the stall door, and ran out the end of the building. I chased after her. She started off slow and fumbling, she became more sure, then she accelerated and I realized she was accessing Asgard so I did the same. Strength and speed flowed through me, I could run as fast as I wanted as long as I wanted to and not tire.

  Magyuo led us to a sort of forest. I saw the trees in the distance and they looked a mile or two away. After a half hour, they looked just a little closer; after another half hour I realized they were on some other scale of size, they were huge, it was like running toward a mountain. They got larger very slowly.

  We finally arrived at the base of the first tree; it rose above us like a wall of rough bark, it was bigger around than my house. She passed the first one up, looking for a particular tree maybe? Or getting away from the edge of the woods, at any rate we got a few trees deep and she selected one and put her hand on it. She stood there waiting for me.

  She said “Fare you well. Thank you for good. This home me, you home close.” She nodded her head and turned to the tree, I said “Wait! What are you doing?”

  We worked around the pidgin English, I understood she was going home via the tree. It was a trail to where she was from. “Can you show me how to find a trail to my home?”