by Aaron Oster
After he’d nodded off for the fourth time, he was forced to give up and lie down. He could always finish in the morning. Roy only had a passing thought about where Ferry might be – she hadn’t returned to camp with him – before his exhausted mind finally gave in to the inevitable pull of slumber.
8
Hermit watched his sleeping pupils, as he did almost every night. This time, though, he was doing it from the center of camp, not high in a tree. There was a simple reason for this, one that he hadn’t told the others – not that they really needed to know. The trees were scripted to alert the clan if anyone of sufficient power touched them. That was why he’d avoided stepping on so much as a single root. Both Roy and Aika were too weak to set them off, so he wasn’t worried about them.
He turned his head in the direction of Light City, the powerful signatures of several Martial Artists standing out in stark contrast against the hundreds of thousands of smaller, weaker ones. There was one that stood out against the rest, and he recognized it quite well.
She’d grown stronger since their last encounter, and her Core had grown even darker. He couldn’t help but notice that the red tinge in the Core’s signature had lessened greatly, though.
“Being the leader of a clan doesn’t give one much time to fight and kill,” the Core said.
Hermit slammed the doors on his emotions closed and once again berated himself for allowing himself to slip. The closer he came to the city, the harder it was for him to control. So many memories, both good and bad, were tied up in this place, that it was hard to stay calm and collected all the time, especially knowing what he was about to face.
His Ideal demanded that he returned, and had he stayed away after what he’d seen back in the Lighted Fields, it would have destroyed him. He still wondered now if he would have been better off just allowing himself to die. If it would have been better for his miserable existence to end, just as he’d ended all those thousands of lives.
Honor dictated he live, and it would dishonor the dead if he allowed himself to die. Besides, breaking one’s Ideal wasn’t exactly easy, not when it was tied so closely with one’s identity. The longer one lived and the further they advanced, the stronger the Ideal would become. For someone like Roy, breaking his Ideal would come with minimal consequences, and though it would damage his advancement in the short-term, he would eventually recover with no adverse effects.
For someone like him, however, breaking an Ideal would all but undo him. In this way, the powerful were still shackled, if not by others, than by themselves. Still, he’d wholeheartedly accepted his Ideal, and even if that hadn’t been enough, the two youths currently sleeping next to him would have kept him from death. They’d grown on him in the last few months, and despite how he treated them, he was proud of how far they’d come.
There was a sudden flash of Darkness Essence in his Spirit Field, and Hermit turned in surprise in the direction of its source. This was quite unexpected, to say the least, as he’d been sure this wouldn’t happen for at least another month.
“Looks like the ferret is finally advancing,” the Core noted. “I wonder which direction she’ll go in.”
Though he didn’t say so out loud, Hermit already had a pretty good guess. Roy was going to be in for quite the surprise come morning, and he would be there to witness the entire thing in all of its horrific and embarrassing glory.
***
Roy stirred as light from the early morning sun practically blasted through his eyelids, bringing him from the land of dreams and back into the waking world. He groaned silently to himself, his mind desperately trying to reject the truth and go back to sleep. However, now that he was awake, all the aches and pains that had come along in the night assaulted him all at once.
He resisted the urge to groan, just barely, and tried not to move. Everything hurt. His legs and lower back especially, but his hips and shoulders as well. Everything had tightened up, and now he felt like he was just a ball of tangled knots. His leg twitched involuntarily and this time, he did groan, feeling the tight muscles pull. It was a very, very painful experience and one that he knew he’d have to face when he opened his eyes.
He could feel Ferry pressed up next to him – she must have come back at some point after he’d fallen asleep – and could feel her breath ruffling his hair. Without opening his eyes, he could feel that one of her legs was draped across his chest, though oddly enough, it wasn’t as heavy as it should have been.
In his current state of drowsiness and pain, Roy may very well have ignored that fact, however, something else stood out to him. It wasn’t something that was there, but rather, something that wasn’t. Normally, Ferry’s tail would be draped over his lower body and one of her back paws would have trapped one of his legs. Instead, he felt only the lightest brush of something on his bare feet, and that was it.
Roy’s brain finally began to work, the oddity of what he’d noticed breaking him out of his stupor. The angle of Ferry’s head was all wrong, as he could feel her breath near his scalp, instead of running down the back of his neck as it normally would. He could also feel one of his hands – half-numb by now – trapped beneath her. The fur he felt when he flexed his fingers was a good deal shorter and softer than he remembered, and he could feel skin underneath.
Roy finally opened his eyes, blinking blearily as he turned his head to find out what the anomaly could be. Perhaps Ferry had chosen to sleep at a different angle last night, or she’d simply rolled away at some point instead of coming closer. It had happened a few times before, but the mixture of odd sensations was just too much for his curiosity to bear.
“What the hell?” Roy exclaimed, his body reacting before his mind had time to fully process what he was seeing.
He jumped to his feet, springing back from the sleeping creature and trying to raise his arms in a defensive posture. As soon as he did, his entire body locked up, his muscles cramping horribly and bringing him back down to the ground with a cry of pain.
The loud way in which he’d gotten up had woken the creature, and she looked up at him with bleary eyes. He had no doubt that this creature was a female, although he had no idea what she actually was.
Roy stared back, trying to shuffle away but finding his legs uncooperative. Then, the creature did something very unexpected and smiled at him.
“Good morning, Roy,” a light feminine voice sounded in his mind.
For a few moments, Roy looked about, trying to find the source. However, when the creature began to look around as well, it finally dawned on him.
“Did…you just talk to me?” he asked, hesitantly.
“Yes,” the creature said, sounding oddly delighted. “Isn’t this wonderful?”
There was something familiar about the voice, something that he couldn’t put his finger on.
“Ferry?” Roy asked, as understanding finally dawned on him.
“Wow. It only took you forever to figure out,” Geon’s voice sounded in his mind. “Someone should check to make sure you didn’t sustain a serious brain injury as a child, because I’m led to believe that you’re seriously lacking in the mental department.”
“Yes, it’s me,” Ferry said before Roy could reply to the rude Dungeon Core.
“But how?” he asked, eyeing the ferret – could she still be called a ferret? – up and down.
Ferry was now very distinctly humanoid. Her new body was complete with a curving feminine figure and covered in short, downy fur that prevented her from seeming indecent. Her face, though mostly human, still carried with it the traces of her bestial nature. This came with enlarged black eyes with yellow sclera, as well as a short pink nose and black lips.
When she smiled, he could see that her teeth were slightly larger than average, and far sharper than normal. Her cheekbones stood out, prominent and slanted, and a pair of pointed ears protruded from the top of her head. She had no hair of which to speak, but there was plenty of fur, so she didn’t seem to be bald in the slightest.
The fur covering her body varied in shades of dark black to light tan. Her face was covered in the shortest and lightest fur, and it seemed to run in a gradient as it traveled down her body. It flowed over her collarbone, over her breasts, and down her stomach. A large tail swished in the air behind her and Roy couldn’t help but notice how large she still was.
She wasn’t nearly as big as she had been, but if he guessed correctly, she’d be well over seven feet tall when she stood at full height. The more Roy looked, the more embarrassed he became, and by the time he reached her feet, which were covered in a dark black fur and contained pads on the bottom, his face was burning with embarrassment.
He didn’t know why, but seeing her like this felt strange. It was like she was naked, and he’d just stared at her openly and violated her privacy.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you like the way I look?” Ferry asked, sounding a bit unsure of herself.
“No, it’s not that,” Roy said, still averting his gaze. This is way too much for this early in the morning, he thought to himself.
“Then what is it?” she asked, crawling closer and placing one of her long-fingered hands on his thigh.
Roy jumped involuntarily at the contact, then let out a groan of pain as his muscles protested the movement.
“Oh, no! Did I hurt you?” Ferry asked, quickly snatching back her hand. “I knew that I’d be stronger after the advancement, but I thought that I was being gentle enough.”
So that’s what happened! Roy realized.
Ferry had advanced to Green last night, and her body had changed as a result. He’d heard that there were entire clans of Beasts out in the world, but had never understood how they functioned like normal humans. Now, seeing Ferry, things began to make a lot more sense.
“No, it wasn’t you,” he said, trying to relax into a more comfortable position. “My muscles are all locked up from yesterday, and I’m sorry for the way I reacted. I was just surprised, that’s all.”
He then forced himself to look up and meet her eyes. There was so much more intelligence there now, though it was clear to see that she was more akin to a human child than a full-grown adult by the way she smiled and the expression of innocence on her face.
He then forced a smile onto his lips and said, “congratulations on advancing. You look great.”
“You really think so?” Ferry asked shyly.
“Yes,” Roy replied. “You look amazing.”
It would definitely take some getting used to, but underneath, she was still the same. She was a lot more intelligent and appeared less like a Beast than a human, but he’d always known she would become smarter.
“Aww, thank you!” Ferry said, throwing her long arms around him and squeezing him tight to her chest.
“Ow, ow, ow!” Roy cried as both his body and muscles protested the movement.
Ferry was very strong, far stronger than even Aika on a purely physical scale, not that he was surprised. Her hug also pulled at all the muscles that were tight as could possibly be, resulting in a mix of searing pain from them and the crushing pain of having his ribs compressed.
“Sorry!” Ferry said again, immediately releasing him and looking guilty.
“It’s alright,” Roy said with a wince. “It’ll just take some time for you to get used to your new strength.”
Roy tried to rise again, and once again, he failed as his legs buckled beneath him.
“Do you need me to help?” Ferry asked, leaning in with a worried expression on her face.
“Maybe you can help me to my feet?” Roy asked, feeling a bit odd about the whole situation. “I need to stretch out my legs and I don’t think I can do it on my own.”
“Ooo! I have hands now!” Ferry said, her face breaking into a wide smile as wiggled her fingers before his eyes. “I can help!”
“I’m not so sure about…” Roy began, but strangely enough, Geon interrupted him.
“An advancement like this is very hard on her kind. She’s been fundamentally altered, and it will take her some time to adjust. You have to be very careful with how you speak to her over the next few weeks. So, if she offers to help, take it.”
Though Roy really didn’t want to, he decided to take Geon’s advice. Not because the Dungeon Core told him to, but for Ferry’s sake. She’d been with him through so much already and was the first living creature to befriend him – he didn’t count Geon. She’d saved his life on multiple occasions, and if he would have to suffer through some pain over the next few weeks for her sake, he would do so gladly.
“On second thought, I think I could use your help,” he said, forcing another smile.
His smile became real as he saw the transformation of her face. It went from forlorn and sad to elated over the span of just a few seconds, just like a child who’d been scolded, then told that they could have a treat.
“And for the sake of all that’s good, stop being such a weirdo and look at her!” Geon snapped. “She’s a beast and she’s got loads of fur. She isn’t naked, and she doesn’t care!”
“But I do!” Roy snapped back.
“Suck it up then! Stop being such a baby!”
“Fine!”
“Good!”
“Asshole…”
“I’m not an…”
Roy slammed his mind shut on the Dungeon Core and let out a long sigh.
“Is something wrong?” Ferry asked.
“It’s nothing,” Roy replied, forcing himself to look at her and not avert his gaze.
It was still strange, and he felt like he was looking at a naked woman. But Geon did make a good point. Ferry didn’t seem at all bothered by the fact that she wasn’t wearing any clothes, and she was technically covered in fur. Right now, the only one making things awkward was him and that would confuse Ferry more than anything.
“Okay,” Ferry replied chipperly. “So, what do I do?”
9
Roy took a deep breath, then pointed to his ankle and knee.
“Place your hands there, and slowly begin to straighten my leg. I’ll tell you if you’re going too fast.”
Ferry nodded eagerly, then did as she was told. Her grip was firm but surprisingly gentle, and as she began to straighten the leg, Roy was glad he had someone here to help him do it. It was only then that he realized the camp was completely empty. Both Hermit and Aika were gone, and when he expanded his Spirit Sense, he couldn’t feel anything.
Granted, he could only accurately feel something a few feet away, but he could get a vague sense of another living being for at least a few hundred yards. He couldn’t sense anything now, though. Nothing at all.
“Do you know where Aika and Hermit are?” he asked as Ferry pulled his leg straight and held it there.
“Oh, yes!” Ferry replied. “They went to look at the city walls. Hermit said that we needed time to adjust, whatever that means, and that he and Aika would give us space. Aika didn’t seem happy for some reason. I wonder why?”
Roy could think of a few reasons, though he didn’t say any of them out loud. He winced as Ferry pulled a bit harder on his leg, and she eased up a bit.
“I have a question for you,” he said to distract himself.
“Really?” Ferry asked, sounding eager. “You can ask me anything! You’re my best friend, after all, and friends don’t keep secrets.”
“Yeah,” Roy said, feeling oddly touched by her sentiment.
He’d known Ferry liked him, that much was obvious, but he hadn’t known she considered him to be her best friend. He’d have thought that honor would belong to Geon.
“Why are you still talking to me with your mind? You have lips and a different tongue now, so why not speak out loud?”
“Oh. Well, I can’t,” Ferry replied. “I don’t know how.”
“Sorry,” Roy said, realizing that this might be something of a sensitive subject, and Geon had warned him to avoid those.
It stood to reason that a Beast that had just become humanoid and had never spoke alou
d before wouldn’t magically know how to speak now.
“Can you talk to anyone else yet?” he quickly asked, trying to gloss over the last question.
“No,” Ferry replied, her bottom lip beginning to quiver. “I did try to talk, but I couldn’t make the right sounds.”
“It’s okay!” Roy said quickly, reaching out a hand and placing it on one of hers. “I can teach you.”
“Really?” she asked, her voice sounding hopeful.
“I learned how to do it,” Roy said with a shrug. “So how hard can it be?”
Ferry smiled once more, nodding in agreement. He winced as the movement tweaked his leg once more, but this time, there was a bit less pain. Once she was done helping him stretch, he was going to have to cycle. He needed to get more Essence into his body if he wanted to soothe the sore muscles. For now, though, he needed to be able to move, so stretching was his first priority.
Hermit and Aika returned to camp just as Ferry was helping him stand up. The horrific, cramping pain was gone now, though he was still quite sore.
“I see you’ve gotten acquainted with Ferry’s new look,” Hermit said, dropping a bundle of clothes on the ground. “These are for her.”
“I don’t need clothes,” Ferry said, wrinkling her nose.
“If you’re telling Roy that you don’t need them, think again,” Hermit said. “You might be comfortable walking around like that, but you won’t be allowed into any cities. I should also warn you that the further you advance, the more human you’ll appear, so I’d recommend getting used to it.”
Ferry pouted but did as she was bade, lifting the bundle from the ground and awkwardly trying to put it on.
“Here,” Roy said, already moving behind her. “Let me…”
“I’ll help her,” Aika quickly said, moving forward and practically shoving Roy out of the way.
“I want you to help,” Ferry complained, but Roy only shrugged his shoulders.
