Elania turned and shoved Tanyan as hard as she could manage in the few seconds she had to react. Time seemed to slow down for her, and she could see the shock on his face turn to understanding as he rotated through the air. She worried that she had pushed him too hard, but she didn't have time to watch to see if he recovered.

She pushed off the ground and dodged backward an instant later. It was barely in time as the [Razorscale] slammed into the spot they had just been occupying with an angry hiss. It didn't seem to notice the barrier and as it slid forward it impacted the invisible wall with a heavy thud before it began to batter the shimmering energy with its clawed limbs.

Somehow it was taking more offense at being stopped by the shimmering air than it wanted to chase her and Tanyan down for the moment. That was fine with Elania. The novice's horrified screams from just inside the barrier probably was helping draw its attention, and she was pretty sure the man would have to clean his pants later.

Tanyan didn't waste any time recovering from his tumble, and she realized that she needed to move while the [Razorscale] was preoccupied as well. They both angled their retreat so they would meet some distance from the raging monster when she felt a twinge of pain in her shoulder.

Elania wiped some of the smeared blood off of the new skin there. The injury had finally managed to heal itself, but it had taken much longer than expected. She suspected that it had been related to the novice. Was it poison or acid? She didn't think so; actually, she wondered if it was something like bacteria, like the Komodo dragon used back home. Just accelerated and on a ridiculous monster scale like the [Manzitore] and Darkwalker Demon.

"We need to get some distance and wait for it to lose interest." Tanyan breathed heavily.

She wasn't going to argue at the moment, although she did want to wring the one novice's neck for locking them out of the Waystation. The thought of leaving them there crossed her mind, but her Mana Shard was there. Taniel was still unconscious from the fight, and she still needed to yell at him for attacking her when he woke up.

A roar interrupted her thoughts. Tanyan put a hand on her shoulder and directed her toward one of the cavern's entryways. It was the path they had arrived from, and she tried to pull up her mental map of the route they had taken for a nearby hidey-hole. Tanyan took the lead, and after some time after the roars had become distant, he pulled her aside to an alcove that she hadn't noticed.

"How long until it goes away?"

"It took an entire night before. It's the same type of monster that ate Yena."

"Yena?"

"Marcus's demon. Same thing happened to her almost at the next Waystation. Got stuck outside of the protective barrier, and Marcus wouldn't lower it to let her in and the Darkwalker Demon ate her. Wasn't expecting to see it at this one though."

"Shouldn't it be getting safer as we get closer to the city? Cause it sure doesn't feel that way."

"There are different bands of danger, and the cave ecology moves around a lot. There aren't any set areas that are 'safe' or 'dangerous' ; it is all dangerous, even right up to the city entrances."

If the caves changed as much as he seemed to imply, it made sense to her. She wondered how much of a nightmare it made to guard the city, though.

Elania winced as her shoulder twinged again, and she rubbed at the sore ache that seemed to have developed. Tanyan noticed her expression, and a frown formed on his face as he eyed her bloody shoulder.

"It... didn't manage to bite or cut you? You did that banging into something?"

"Uh. No, it mauled me pretty good when the spear snapped."

A look of horror crossed his face, and he suddenly moved beside her. Elania looked at him warily but sat still and let him inspect her shoulder. "What?"

"It bit you and you're still alive somehow."

He put his hands over her shoulder and closed his eyes, and the white glow thing surrounded his palms and spread over to her shoulder. She wanted to ask how magic worked in general but managed to stay quiet as he seemed to focus. She didn't have to wait long before he stopped.

"There is a bit of a problem, while it seems the wound healed over, there is a... pocket of bad humors left from the beast that is sealed in your shoulder now. That's why you're still feeling pain. I'm not sure if it will heal on its own or not, and I don't think I can use my healing on you since it is Holy based."

Elania listened. Bad humors? Right, she was in the stone age, and she guessed they didn't have a concept of bacteria or microbes. At least that was her theory; the world did seem to work the same way, mostly.

"Uhh, right. An abscess or something from the Razorscale's bite. I do have a weakness to Holy, but can’t you lance it or something? Pretty sure if we drain out the pus I will heal naturally."

'Well, as natural as a demon with [Regeneration] anyway...'

She smiled at him as he looked at her in confusion.

"Uhh, what?" Tanyan stammered.

She almost sighed, pulling out the knife. She made sure to thoroughly wipe the blade off and make sure it was clean of any of the Fenicia residue before offering it to him.

"Here, you can use this. You were able to tell where the abscess was, right? Poke it and squeeze the pus out. Normally that's a bad idea and can spread the infection around, but I have Wolverine levels of healing so I should be fine."

"Uhh." He still looked at her blankly, like he only understood a bit of what she had said. She didn't want to push him, but she had noticed another consideration. Her 'Power' meter that she had managed to set up as a 'Hud' element was ticking downward at an increased rate.

"Look, I can't reach around my back and do it myself. I think it would heal on its own eventually, but it is sore and I think it is draining my 'Power' slowly. So drain the 'bad humors' out and everything will heal on its own."

It took a few more moments of him considering, but he finally agreed.

"Alright, I think I can do it, it is a bit deep and it is going to hurt a lot, but I should be able to 'lance' it with the blade then draw out the bad humors with magic. There isn’t any way I can ‘squeeze’ it manually. It'll be uncomfortable, but since you only have 'Weakness' and not 'Anathema' to Holy, the knife will probably hurt more."

New term. ‘Anathema’ --- things to avoid. Elania filed it away with all the other things she needed to learn as he took the knife from her and she turned away.

"This is going to hurt, going to need you to stay still."

"Don't worry. It'll be fine, Tanyan. Just do it."

 

---

 

Everything was not fine.

The knife had hurt, and without the rush she usually got during a fight, it was a lot harder to ignore.

But that wasn't the issue. No, when Tanyan used his magic to pull out the pus, pure agony radiated out of her back and through her entire body. She'd stifled a scream and tensed up, but that wasn't the worst of it.

She felt every little trace of his 'holy' magic as it spread inside of her, each little droplet of magic a small star of pain, until suddenly something rose up inside of her and started actively trying to force it out. Thankfully Tanyan had already pulled away his hand away and informed her he had been successful at getting the goopy crap out.

“It’s…done…”

She caught him as he leaned forward into her, suddenly passing out.

"Tanyan?"

He didn't respond, and she wasn’t sure what had just happened, but she adjusted his position to be more comfortable with his head on her lap. Did the magic use up all his energy? Was mana exhaustion a thing? He didn’t seem to be in any distress, he’d just suddenly fallen asleep. She decided she’d let him rest like this for a while. It was the least she could do since the primitive surgery had worked; her shoulder felt fine now.

'Fuck. Let's not try Holy Magic again though.'

She looked down at him and studied his lines. His face was a bit softer than Taniel's was, and she thought either of them would have easily been considered handsome. 'Not my type though... maybe if he grew a beard.'

Wait. Why was she thinking of something like that right now? She looked away in a hurry before fighting back a yawn. She realized she hadn't had her nap in... a day or two. She sighed and looked around the small cave to make sure everything was fine and then closed her eyes.

 

---

 

Ralfots were fleeing in a mad stampede through the caverns. She raised her nose and sniffed the air, their scent coming to her clearly, despite the stillness of the cavern air. Suddenly, she was a flash of movement, leaping from stone to stone, as she relentlessly devoured the distance between her and her prey. A young Ralfot suddenly yelled in fear as it turned a corner and almost ran into her.

She was the one in danger, as it nearly ran into her, and the stampede was right behind it. She leapt upward and perched herself on a rock, claws digging into the stone to keep her from falling into the mass of bodies below.

She waited. The timing needed to be perfect, and when the herd had mostly passed, she pounced. Flinging herself into the air and slamming into one of the slower Ralfots. It weighed more than she did, but the force was enough to knock it off balance. Her claws raked its side as passed and she clamped down on the beast’s throat. The sense of blood in her mouth filled her with a sense of success. The hunt was good.

Elania felt something stirring against her and she shifted her weight and stretched from head to tail as best she could. A small noise nearby had her ears rotating as she deduced it’s location and then something was yelling and tugging at her and making a lot more noise. She realized that the pliable warmth she had plastered herself against while napping was squirming fiercely. She wanted to ignore it all and nap a bit longer as she let out a large yawn.

The noise grew louder, and she cracked an eye open, but it was the sudden hand pulling an ear that caused her to act. It was a bit too rough! She twisted away from the hand and then headbutted the source of the twisting. The yelling stopped and she rubbed her cheek on his face before getting up and stretching her back pleasantly.

She moved over enough to sit on her rear haunches while licking a paw. The thing scurried away. It finally stopped some distance away in a sudden halt. She didn't chase after it; if she had been sleeping against it, it clearly wasn't a threat. Besides, she felt the need to clean between her claws.

"Elania?"

Elania tilted her head to look at the man, his face plastered with an unhealthy bit of worry. It was Tanyan. She remembered who he was though and tried to answer.

"Tanyan?"

The only thing that came out was a feline call through the filter of an oversized female Darkwalker. Tanyan obviously didn't understand her, if anything he looked even more worried, so she got up and approached him.

He looked torn between trying to flee and in amazement as she gave him a friendly nuzzle.

"Ha...Ha...Ha... Elania, why are you an oversized Darkwalker?"

She didn't know. She started to try and vocalize that when he held up a hand.

"I don't understand you, let's try yes and no questions, alright? Tilt your head left for 'No' and right for 'Yes,' alright?"

Ha! This was easy. She settled into a relaxed posture on her haunches and tilted her head to the right.

"Are you Elania?"

Head tilted to the right. 'Yes.'

"Ok... umm. Do you know why you are a Darkwalker?"

Hmm. Elania thought about it. She did know why--- it was that stupid transformation option she used in the big fight, now it was activating on its own--- but she didn't think that was what he wanted to know precisely.

She didn't know why she had transformed this time, so she tilted her head left. 'No.'

"Alright... do you know how to transform back?"

Uhm. Right, transform back. Elania wasn't sure what to do, and when she tried to call up her 'Status,' nothing appeared. Apparently, the [System] was now broke, or maybe it just didn't work when she was transformed?

'No.'

"Alright... well, just wait a moment. I'm going to try and see if the Razorscale is still nearby."

Her ears pricked up at the mention of the Razorscale. If he wanted to find it, she thought she could sniff it out now; everything had a much more distinct smell. Maybe she could even hunt it down. Her claws were sharp. Even if it was larger, she thought she would be faster.

She let out an annoyed breath out of her nose, she had no way to tell Tanyan this, so she had no choice but to let him do as he wished.

Tanyan sighed and looked toward the exit, and she watched as he traced his hand in the air, fingers taking on a white glow. He closed his eyes and seemed to focus, but Elania quickly lost interest in the scene.

She wasn't hungry. She could take a nap.

Unfortunately, whatever he was doing didn't take long enough, and he started to bug her right after she had made herself comfortable and closed her eyes.

"Nothing as large as the Razorscale between us and the Waystation. The barrier is still active, but that's to be expected. Let's head back." He reached forward toward her side as if he was going to wake her.

Her ears went back and she growled at him in a warning. Tanyan jumped backward and tripped, falling on his rear, which was a bit of an overreaction and uncalled for in her opinion.

"Elania, you remember not to eat me right?"

She tilted her head left.

His eyes widened, but then a bit of indignation formed. "That's not funny!"

She tried to laugh, but it came out as a deep purr instead. She tilted her head to the right.

Tanyan went to collect her things left on the ground, including her primitive leather outfit. Watching him pick up the scraps caused a surge of unhappiness to swell up in her, and a distinctly human thought came through clearly.

'I'm going to end up naked again when I transform back. Fuck.'

It was distinct and otherwise clean compared to the muddiness the Darkwalker transformation made of her mind.

One thing was sure though, Tanyan stayed a reasonable distance back as she passed him by; her now sour mood somehow conveying itself in her movements.

That mood didn't last long as they continued, and Elania found the ease of movement liberating. Suddenly she padded ahead to scout the next cave with a light step.