“Kora! Wake up!” My sleep is disrupted – quite rudely if I say so – by Pola and Olka violently shaking me and loudly shouting at me. “Are you all right?!”
I open my eyes to see worried – if not outright panicked – faces of the Beastkin; I realise I am the cause of their distress. “I’m OK” I say quickly, to calm them down. “I’ve just had a really freakish dream. But why are you…?”
“Thank Gods!” Exclaims the Lisitha as she suddenly hugs me. “Your Aura suddenly disappeared and we thought something happened!” Well, that explains the commotion.
“So… what happened?” Says the Risitha. “And what is it on your neck?”
I reach there in confusion and find something I definitely didn’t have last evening. And I know what it is – even if I have trouble believing. So to be sure, I search for a clasp and open it, removing the item from my throat. I immediately notice the change in the environment and faces of my friends, as they notice it too. Realising that it is the item I hold in my hand that caused the change, they look closer at the thing. I do that too.
Lying there is a studded collar, made from black leather. Sticking out of it are small, dull spikes made from metal that looks like iron at the first glance, but is black in colour, with a subtle orange sheen to it. Not to mention that there are barely visible lines of writing and symbols, coloured orange as well, similarly to the spikes. Finally, there is a layer of thin, black padding – very soft and velvety in touch. I can hardly believe my own eyes, but here it is – a boon I received from my creator in my dream. Or was it really only a dream? It seems not.
“It’s a long story” I sigh. “I’ll tell you while we prepare breakfast.”
Turns out that the retelling of my dream took more time than I anticipated, so I couldn’t finish it before our food was ready. Even though – not being sure where to start – I skipped the bizarre family antics, going straight to the talk with Alchemist. To my surprise, my companions didn’t ask any questions during my monologue, letting me say everything I deemed important. And while I tried not to hold anything back, my grumbling stomach made me speedrun to reach the conclusion faster.
“So: you met your Maker in the Snevsiet” Olka starts summarizing, and I nod as I start wolfing down the food. “To settle some grudges both of you had” I cringe a little, but can’t deny it outright; still, I think I am the only one who had any negative emotion towards the other side. “Then you discussed our dragon problem and that our current trip will end up in failure, as we won’t be able to speak to the Great Oak” I affirm her words once more. “What's more – we might not even need to fight the monster, as Zherymans might have already slain it – but if we need to, we will have to prepare carefully” correct. “So we need all the ingredients we gathered” and will gather. “And, finally – you were given the magical artefact that can hide your Aura.”
“Yes” I say between bites. “You’ve got pretty much everything.”
“Well, no” Pola interjects suddenly. “You forgot about the most important point!” We all look at her and see her eyes shining with passion and a smug smirk plastered on her face. “We now were given a confirmation that you are indeed the daughter of Goddess Alarana!”
“What?” I say with incredulity.
“This alchemist person said so! That they are not your parent, right? In this incarnation, I mean” I nod – and she beams the triumphant smile. “You were given a Beastkin form – so it must have come from the All-Mother. And your fire power? You said it yourself – it comes from an elder soul, so it must be from another deity” she strikes a pose like in one of those Ass Attorney games, right before the MC presents the evidence that saves the defendant from going to the Horny Jail (in Horni Police, Czechia). “That means your other mother is Zorya, the Warrior of the Sky!”
I open my mouth to protest and clarify a few things, but stop midway. I realise that if I were to explain about IT, the Primordial soul added to me – especially that IT is, well, a part of me now – she would probably understand it as me being a literal reincarnation, or an avatar, of said goddess. And besides... is it really that big of a deal? This body does not have parents, so…
On the other hand – what if gods are real in this world and me claiming ancestry from them will offend them in some way? Alchemist indicated their existence, after all. My creator also made it sound like this specific misconception about my lineage should not be a problem… or did they mean it only in short term, to let me… well… propagate the species, as they would say? Then again, I was assured that they do not wish harm upon me and that my death would be a great loss of potential, so… I think that I will let Pola do as she wants. It’s not like I claim anything and I did protest initially. And it’s not like I know how I was made and what materials were used. Maybe I really am a demigoddess? Hmm… it seems I will have to learn more about their gods from them – maybe they are a chill bunch, after all? Assuming they really exist, of course.
But… is that really the case? I look back to my talks with Alchemist, especially the first one. I know I am missing something – I was told as much. But I also can’t shake the feeling that all of it is about semantics. Like, what does the word ‘god’ even mean? Does it refer to the specific type of being? A state of being? A natural phenomena? Is the faith of believers necessary or not? Does it in any way influence the one referred to as a ‘god’? I have a gut feeling that at least the answer to the last one is ‘yes’. And it has some negative consequences – or at least detrimental to my creator.
“…tell her Kora!” I am suddenly and abruptly pulled from my flood of thoughts by irritated Risitha. I blink and look around; my companions – namely Pola and Olka – are apparently quarrelling over me. Or rather – over the interpretation of my words.
“Ehhh!” I take a deep breath and sigh. Then look the only men in the group straight in the eye. “And what do you think, Nugund?” Right after the words leave my mouth, I feel bad for him – both the other women turn to him, after all. I feel sorry for him – but I have no idea what the conflict is even about.
“…” The Wolfman looks intimidated – even his ears are put down. “Look, if we continue to argue we won’t reach our goal today” he finally says. “Besides – it seems like while you two were quarrelling, Kora had some, seemingly important to her, thoughts of her own – I don’t think she heard any word you’ve just said” I blush to that – but he isn’t wrong; it seems my deflection backfired. “I also think she wasn’t able to finish her introspection.”
“Umm…” I am embarrassed at how well he read me – but to my surprise, Olka and Pola are too; it seems they immersed themselves in their debate, they didn’t notice I wasn’t listening. And – if my memory serves me right – I was the reason for their quarrel! “Don’t worry about it! It’s just… there’s a lot on my mind after my meeting with Alchemist” I sigh and continue. “I feel as if I’m on a verge of grasping something” I pause for a moment. “Well, not really understanding it, but getting closer to the truth, I think” I shrug. “It doesn’t matter in the end; I wouldn’t be able to explain it anyway” I shake my head. “But what about your quarrel? Last thing I remember hearing is Pola’s idea I can be a daughter of Goddess Zorya” I say, changing the topic.
“Well…” starts the Lynxgirl. “I objected to it – I think you can guess how it went” I nod – they obviously discussed my alleged ancestry – and look to the Foxwoman. She shrugs and confirms, adding that calling it a ‘quarrel’ is a bit to much and ‘disagreement’ would be more fitting. Then both apologise – to me and to each other.
“Finally!” Nugund clasps his hands. “So as everything is settled, let’s finish our breakfast and go on our way; we have a long day in front of us.”
“It’s beautiful” mutters Pola with awe, Olka and Nugund soon joining in agreement. I smile with nostalgia – I felt the same when I first found Boromir. The monumental proportions, the white and silver colouration – and the Aura; the Aura I now can – as I know what to look for – properly sense and read. And it is massive! We felt it long before entering the grove – but it hits differently up close. Only one thing is off – it feels dormant. It appears Alchemist might have been right and our attempt at contact will fail.
“So… what do we do now?” I say after the moment of basking in the oaken glory. All my companions blink and then look to the young Risitha. She’s an apprentice witch – it is up to her to contact the Great Oak, so it's only natural that she takes a lead here. “Do we set up a camp and rest first, or…?”
“You set up a camp” she answers quickly. Then she turns towards us. “You need rest – it was a long day; but I don’t want to waste any more time, so I’ll start preparing the ritual now.”
“On an empty stomach?” Asks the Foxwoman with a smirk, which makes the Lynxgirl abashed; she mutters she will dine with us, then walks up to the tree, saying she will come back when we prepare the meal. We all chuckle and get to work – the Lisitha and I start the fire and food preparation, the Volkhlun sets up a shelter for us to sleep; there shouldn’t be any rain tonight, but it’s always better to be prepared. We do all that quite a way from Boromir – and I inquire the other two why; turns out that the ritual requires the participant to sleep on the same bough I’ve slept all that days ago – and they need to do it while naked. I get it now and the only payment for that knowledge was my embarrassed blush; thankfully, the Lynxgirl didn’t hear that!
As we work a reminisce about the day. The day that was indeed quite long. And surprisingly busy for me! Mostly focused on the training and experimenting with my new collar. We discovered it can hide not only Aura, but even the smell and the sound of the wearer – except the voice when speaking; interestingly, all those effects can also be lessened at the cost of Aura. I’m also not the only one who can use it – it seems its effects are the same regardless who has it, but only when it is worn on the neck, as intended. If it also provided invisibility, it would be the perfect assassin tool. Or hunter tool – it’s strange how similar both of those activities are in concept.
Anyway, we decided that since I need to learn to hide my own Aura, I will not use it for now. On the other hand, it apparently can be used to slowly improve Aura control and output, so for now I gave it to Olka and Pola; the latter is wearing it currently. I cannot help but to admit – it looks good on her. I would love to see her with it being the only article of clothing on her. I start daydreaming about it, and… well… inadvertendly, something wakes up down there.
I burn in shame as the sexy Vixen throws a quick glance at me, followed by a knowing smirk. I look away, unable to keep my feelings in check. But then I feel a sudden, sensual touch on the back. “Would you like to take a walk before sleeping?” She whispers into my ear in a sultry, flirty voice. I turn back to her, whispering my desperate agreement – to which she smiles and kisses me on the cheek, then gets up and goes to get the Risitha to eat. As she walks, she sways her hips and tail in a clearly exaggerated manner – definitely for me. It seems the night is going to be steamy.
I open my eyes to see worried – if not outright panicked – faces of the Beastkin; I realise I am the cause of their distress. “I’m OK” I say quickly, to calm them down. “I’ve just had a really freakish dream. But why are you…?”
Well, by swallowing all the suspicious plants found in nature that your new hippie friends show you, it's normal that you end up having weird nightmares.
Hmmm... but was it really a nightmare?