Zylar escorted Nez and I across the border and into the village proper after officially greeting us both, even though using inspect gave away people's names. It was strange that the forest just ended. Almost unnaturally straight, although I had seen it in movies before, so maybe they cut the trees down like that. 

At the border, Emmie stopped and hissed, sounding uncomfortable, fidgeting and wriggling. When I stopped to question her, she chirruped, nudged me with her head, before turning back into the forest and vanishing. I knew that she hadn’t gone far, and would come running if I needed help, but it seemed like she wasn’t interested in the village. Shrugging my shoulders at my two companions as they threw questioning glances at me, I continued on into the village proper.

Looking around, I noticed that almost everyone in the village had the cat features as well. Amazingly, just like Zylar, Nez seemed to get more unwelcome glances than I did.

Some of the older ones went pale, or had surprised or shocked expressions on their faces when they saw me, although they never said anything to me, just whispered amongst themselves. I thought that was a tad rude, but I guess I had to expect that being an outsider.

With my cat features, I thought it made a certain sense that I would attract less attention than the human, although considering I wasn’t one of them, that made me feel strange, too.

Several other men and women came out and joined us, talking with Zylar quietly before they nodded towards us, looking a little uncomfortable, but didn’t say anything as they surrounded us to escort us in. Quickly inspecting them, none of them were higher than level 200, surprisingly. Regardless, it relaxed me knowing that none of them were higher level than I was.

“Hey, so this might sound strange, but what are you?”

Glancing back towards me as she walked, Zylar gave me a confused look. “What do you mean? I’m one of the village defenders, you can never be careful with monsters about. Especially this far away from the city.”

I shook my head. “No, I meant…”

“They’re nekokin, Revan. I was surprised that you looked so much like one, honestly, considering what you actually are yourself,” Nez interrupted, giving me a small smile.

“Oh, okay, thanks! But what do you mean? Do asrai not normally look like me?”

Nez shook her head, then shrugged. “Not that I am aware of. As far as I was aware, most look like a half-elf or full elf.”

Slowing her steps so we caught up to her, Zylar still had that confused look on her face. “Didn’t your mother teach you anything? If you are who I think you are, then you should know what an asrai normally looks like.”

I shook my head, suddenly feeling a little saddened. I hadn’t even wondered about any possible family until now. Perhaps because of the countless reincarnation stories with no families for the protagonist, or maybe it was just me. “No one was around when I first hatched, at first. I met several humans not long after I reached the shore and they attacked me. That’s how I ended up here.”

Zylar gave me a look of pity, as several of the other nekokin escorting us muttered and shook their heads. “That’s horrible. I’m sorry that happened to you.” Zylar gestured to an older nekokin who had been escorting us. “Here we are. Nez, please follow Amira, she will take care of your wounds and find you something to eat. Revan, please follow me to see the elders.”

Amira came over, greeting both Nez and I and offering to help Nez walk. My warrior companion gave me a slightly worried look before allowing the older woman to help her. I smiled and waved Nez off, sighing as the pressure of helping Nez disappeared from my shoulders. Zylar gestured for me to follow her inside of the largest log cabin I had yet seen in the village.

Just as I started following Zylar, a notification popped up in my UI.

Ding!
Congratulations! Due to sparing, then saving an enemy, you have gained the Merciful title.

Merciful
Improves your ability to kill and feed painlessly, while also increasing your ability to minimise damage done if you do not desire a kill, and to save lives.

I was curious as to what others saw when they inspected me, so I tried to use my ability on myself.

Revan, the Merciful (Legendary)
Power Level: 3,128
Class: Generalist
Warning: Asrai

Frowning, I shook my head at the warning on my, what would you call it, tag? It was no wonder people keep attacking me, sheesh. I wondered if Azalea had this kind of difficulty, wherever she was, and whatever it was that she was doing that got her the Demon Lord title. I had to wonder if I would ever get the chance to meet her as well.

Zylar stopped after I paused, stiffening my posture in surprise at the unexpected reward. Although there was no obvious sign, Zylar clearly inspected me as her eyes widened in surprise after she glanced back. 

“You are definitely an odd one,” she commented finally, giving me a small smile to show that she didn’t mean anything rude. 

I shrugged. “I’m me. I can’t help people's reactions or prejudices about that.”

Before I could step into the cabin to follow Zylar, a large male nekokin stepped past my escort, frowning at Zylar, then scowled at me. “What are you doing, Zylar? Bringing a monster into our village, and leading her directly to our elders, are you stupid, or a traitor?”

Quickly I inspected the man, assessing his threat level.

Dunt Kale
Level: 156 Hunter (Common)

I glanced at Zylar. “Case in point,” I said, amusement tingeing my voice.

Looking a little embarrassed, my nekokin escort glanced down at her feet for a moment, ignoring Dunt. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

Waving her off, I gave her a smile back. “You’re fine. I didn’t mean you specifically, sorry.”

Several of the nekokin who escorted us looked a little uncomfortable, clearly unsure how to react.

Dunt clearly didn’t appreciate being ignored as he growled and puffed up his chest. “Don’t ignore me, girl. I asked you a question.”

Zylar gave the man a sharp glance. “You might be the Lead Hunter, but you have no jurisdiction with Defender matters, Dunt. I was specifically asked to escort Revan in to visit the elders.”

“And I am sick of people thinking I am a monster when I have done nothing to be called that,” I chipped in, glaring at the older man, fighting the urge to bare my fangs at him.

Glancing between Zylar, myself, and the escorts, who continued to look uncomfortable, but refused to look him in the eyes, Dunt growled again, before storming off without a word.

“Well, he was a pleasant man. I hope I get invited to his Christmas party.”

Ignoring my comment, Zylar stepped deeper into the cabin. Following quickly, I stepped through, followed by my escorts. “So, what’s his problem?” I asked.

“His problem is that he wants to be an elder, but continually gets knocked back,” Zylar answered.

“Can’t see why,” I muttered sarcastically. 

As my vision adjusted to the dimmer light, I first noticed a small fire in the middle of the room with about a half dozen older nekokin sitting around it on pillows. It was merely a pile of glowing coals at this point, but it made the room a lot warmer than I had expected a log cabin to be. Although, looking around, I could not see any gaps between the logs, so clearly it was well made. 

“My Zylar, information about our ways should not be shared so freely with a possible stranger. This you should know already,” one of the older nekokin men said, looking at Zylar with clear disapproval on his face, before he sighed and looked at me. “So, you are the one that my brother gave his life for, young one.”

So that was what the daemon meant, about me being from this village? I thought maybe she just meant that I looked like a nekokin.

“Sorry, my father,” Zylar said, bowing her head slightly, before glancing at me.

As was my new habit since I had discovered the ability – when I remembered, or had the time – I inspected the man who spoke.

Zar Greensmythe
Level: 420 Elder Shaman (Epic)

Feeling a little nervous at all the eyes in the room turning to look at me, I fidgeted with my hands. “Ah, well, all I know is that my father is dead. One of my racial skills would suggest as much. Unfortunately, I don’t know who my mother was, as there was no one around when I hatched.”

Possibly because he might be family, I felt like I could trust him and so I explained what had happened during the first hour of my new life, then followed that up with a rundown of the rest of it – what little there was of it, at least. Skipping over gaining thousands of Power Levels in an instant because of some kind of connection I have with a… what? Soul sister? Though I did mention falling into that evil pit, and as I recalled the memory, I couldn’t help shivering, despite the almost stifling heat inside the cabin. The memory of those weird lights, and how cold it was, was hard to shake.

Partway through my story, Zar accepted what looked suspiciously like a hookah from another elder, confirming my thoughts a moment later when he put the mouthpiece to his mouth and breathed in deeply, slowly breathing out light green smoke after. The smoke seemed to morph into strange shapes, with little sparks of light flashing throughout that Zar and the other elders studied with interest before they faded away.

Once I had finished speaking, and the smoke cleared, Zar nodded slowly, giving me a gentle smile. “Thank you, my Revan. The spirits have spoken, you are indeed my niece.” He paused and glanced at the other elder nekokin sitting on mats around him, watching as each nodded their head – some more reluctant than others – before turning to look at me again. “You are welcome in our village as family any time. We are agreed.”

`We are agreed,’ echoed around the room as one by one, each and every elder repeated it.

Zar towered over my much shorter stature as he stood up and slowly made his way to me, his arms outstretched in an offering for a hug. Hesitantly, I stepped into his arms, my breath catching as he encircled me in his warmth. Gulping back tears, I sighed while melting into his embrace, enjoying the unexpected kindness. I hadn’t realised that it was something I was missing up until now.

Would you like to take ‘Greensmythe’ as your surname? 

Yes No

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Zar asked after I stiffened in surprise in his arms.

Looking up at my newly found uncle, I bit my bottom lip and felt my fangs press against my skin before I answered. “I was just offered your surname.”

Zar smiled widely at me. “That’s great! As you should have from the very beginning, my niece! Go ahead, as the eldest patriarch of our family, I am letting you know that you have my blessing to accept what is technically already yours. The system will just now reflect that.”

The world blurred a little and I hugged Zar tightly for a second while I mentally pressed Yes. Nothing changed outwardly, but I felt more complete in myself, like finding a piece of myself that I hadn’t realised was missing.

Zylar was suddenly there, a warm smile on her face, pulling me into a hug after Zar took a step back, his eyes glimmering with unshed tears. “Welcome, my cousin! This is so exciting! I do hope you let me make fun clothes for you and play with your hair. My younger sister let me do that all the time before she got her class and left to gain world experience once she felt she was ready.”

It took me a second to work out what Zylar was talking about, she was talking so fast. Once I did, I found myself nodding along happily. Wearing different clothing and doing my hair up sounded like a great way to unwind after my weeks of almost constant fighting for survival.

“Come, my Zylar, let’s show my Revan about, and introduce her to her new family,” the elder said, placing a warm hand on my shoulder to steer me outside. 

The difference in temperature from outside to inside was noticeable, even for my limited awareness as a cold breeze blew through the village. While temperature didn’t seem to affect me like it used to when I was human, I could usually tell whether it was cold or not, at least to a limited degree, and I noticed that the days had seemed to be getting cooler slowly.

Zylar thanked my escorts, before dismissing them. As they left they all welcomed me to the village, and into the Greensmythe family while doing so. I could not detect any ill will or deceit in their welcomes.

“Forgive me if this is too sensitive to ask, but why did my father sacrifice himself?”

Zar sighed and had a sad expression on his face when he looked down at me while we walked. “It was a dark time for our village. About a decade ago, we were getting raided nightly by undead monsters. We had put out calls to adventurers to help us, and at first many came. Some for glory, most for gold and experience. But try as they might, no adventurer seemed capable of discovering the source of the undead, and why they were hellbent on destroying us.” The elder stopped walking, sighing and shaking his head.

“Adventurers aren’t cheap, and eventually as our gold supplies ran low, so did the amount of adventurers showing up. The undead just weren’t high enough Power Level to give them much experience to offset staying in our village to defend it.”

I shivered as I listened to his tale, recalling encountering the allosaur. That was a fierce and unnerving enemy to face. “Don’t you have defenders, like Zylar?” I gestured at my cousin, who grimaced, her ears twitching, and frowned for a moment, but didn’t reply. “Sorry, did I say something wrong?”

Looking over at his daughter, Zar squeezed her shoulder before letting it drop. “She isn’t aware of our culture, my daughter. We will need to educate her.”

“You’re right, sorry, my Revan. I forgot for a moment that most cultures don’t use the possessive ‘my’ in front of names.”

Grimacing, I apologised. I had noticed the way they spoke of course, but I was never one to judge others if I could help it. Once they accepted me into their village, I figured I had plenty of time to learn more about them. 

“There is plenty of time to learn about our ways later, but for now, let’s focus on answering your question about your father, and how you came to be,” Zar interrupted. He still looked sad and his tail drooped, but he also had a determined expression on his face. 

My tail curled around my middle in worry of what my uncle was going to say next. After all, we were discussing how my father died so that I might exist today. Leading us over near the communal fire I had first noticed when I saw the village from afar, Zar sat us down on a timber bench and stared into the fire. 

“As I said earlier. Everything looked dire for our village. We were losing several defenders every few nights, even more once the adventurers cleared out.” Zar clenched his fists, almost spitting out the word adventurer, before his shoulders relaxed. “That was when your mother showed up. At first we were wary of her – who wouldn’t? Even to this day, none of us knew exactly how strong she was, no one could read her Power Level or class. She came with an offer to help track down the source and destroy it.”

“What happened after that?” I asked when Zar paused for a moment. In the light of the fire, I could see the patches of grey in his fur and hair, making him appear even older, almost as if recalling events was draining his life.

“We refused at first and she left without comment,” he replied, smiling wryly at me. “A week later, she reappeared and offered her help once more. Again, we refused, and again she left without a word. She didn’t reappear for two weeks after that, but by that time, we elders had discussed at least talking with her, find out what her deal was. Many of us, myself included, were still wary of her motives at the time. There have been a great many things said about your race, my Revan, and most of them bad. A lot of people view the asrai as the boogeyman, the monsters that hide under the bed to eat children who disobey their parents. Whether deserved or not, it is still the case, even to this day.”

I sat there horrified by the thought that that was what people were going to think when they saw me and even more horrified by the fact that some asrai may have actually been these monsters. It made me wonder why and how my new family could accept and take me in so easily. 

Just as I opened my mouth to ask, Zar continued. “Once she came back offering to help, we were ready to listen, having become even more desperate by then, and so we sat down with her and she made her offer. Someone willing to sacrifice themselves to give her a daughter, in exchange for help to find the source of our undead problem and destroy them, just as she had stated the first time.

“My brother volunteered. He had lost his wife and child to childbirth, and had never remarried. I argued with him over giving his life, but he was adamant that he could do one last good thing for our village. He was no longer capable of fighting, he had lost his vision to one of the undead weeks earlier. The last I saw of my brother was when he left with your mother. A day later, the undead stopped coming, and that was that, until you showed up today.”

We all sat in silence for a minute or two, just letting the sounds of the village preparing dinner wash over us as the sun began to set. It had been a very long and tiring day, both physically and emotionally.

“You never found out what sent the undead after you?”

Zylar chimed in after her silence during her father’s story telling. “No, never. There has been a lot of speculation, but never anything concrete.”

“I wonder if the daemon had something to do with it?” I wondered aloud.

My uncle Zar gave me a sharp look. “You mentioned her in your story. You said she appeared to control that undead allosaur that’s been terrorising the woods lately. It certainly fits the facts better than most theories that I’ve heard.” Zar’s tail flicked in agitation as he sat and thought for a moment. “Yes. Back when adventurers went into the woods, they always said they heard giggling, but never found the source. If I can recall correctly, daemons are supposed to be able to make themselves invisible, and control the undead. If that’s the case, and there is another one, then we are in trouble.”

I watched as Zylar gave her father a nod, before she smiled at me and strode off with clear purpose. Turning my questioning gaze towards the elder, Zar smiled reassuringly towards me, and stood up slowly, groaning slightly. “Don’t worry, she has just gone to warn the village defenders. They will need to up their patrols, and make sure the village shield is fully charged. It will keep anyone from sneaking in invisible.” Offering his hand to help me up, he pulled me up onto my feet after I took it. “Now, come on, let’s go and find the rest of our family. I just know that they will be eager to meet you, although don’t be alarmed, there are a few of them.”

The old nekokin smiled warmly again, before leading me deeper into the village. While trying to not panic over meeting new family members, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I was being watched, though, unfortunately looking around, I couldn’t see anyone in particular giving me enough notice to cause that reaction. Looking out into the forest, I shivered as a cold breeze blew into the village, causing the trees to sway. The wind felt more than cold, almost as if it brought death with it. With that cheery thought, I turned away, intent on following my newly found uncle, and hopefully I could get a break from fighting for a few days.

“You’ll love them, don’t worry,” Zar said suddenly, patting me on the back.

I smiled at the old man. “If they are anything like you, or Zylar, I am sure that I will.”

Zar grinned at me fondly, before shaking his head and laughing. “Now is as good a time as any to tell you about using possessive words for family members, and why it can be considered rude at least if you don’t.”

And with that, my education on nekokin culture began.