Chapter 27 - Shifting Perspectives

For several agonizing moments, an awkward silence hung in the air. I felt a chill run through my body as I realized what I had just said.

“Let’s be home in time for tea?” I heard Azalea state flatly, with just the barest hint of amusement in her voice.

My lips quivered as I crossed my arms and pouted in a very dignified fashion, and I felt my tail flicking back and forth in annoyance.

“W-Whatever, it sounded cool!”

I felt a strong hand rest atop my head and gently rub at my ears, while the deep voice of Alder rang in my ears. “You’ll get more chances at a cool line, but not bad for a first attempt.”

The infernal desire of my tail to wag as he rubbed at my ears only served to bring my frustration to greater heights. I looked up to the tall man and allowed my pout to get more pronounced. “I’d like to see you do better!”

An odd sheen ran across the length of his glasses, and the fox man pushed up his glasses. Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen Alder in his true form yet, and it fit him like one of his perfectly tailored white gloves. It was sleek, sly and cunning, reflecting the man himself in his perfectly tailored uniform. He pushed his glasses up with his index finger ever so slightly, and gave me that usual appraising look.

“Are you quite certain you wish to pursue that line of thought, Miss Iris?”

A jolt of unease shot through me, fearing that I may have upset him. The gentle thoughts that entered my mind helped to soothe those anxieties, as Lilia guided me through this social interaction.

“He’s just playing with you Iris, no need to be so anxious.”

I nodded, and took a deep breath to settle my anxiety. A giggle entered my thoughts from Lilia, and I looked up to her with a furrowed brow. “What? Why are you laughing?”

Her countenance settled into an amused smile. “It’s so cute how you are more afraid of upsetting someone, than about the monster attacking us. Cute, and a little concerning.”

Blinking, I shook my head and then nodded. We were still in the middle of a battle, and that monster had since decided to hide from us, once more blending into the background.

Alder pushed up his glasses once more and carefully studied our surroundings, while Lilia kept an eye out from her vantage point. Matthew and I, being out of our element, were standing off to the side and anxiously glancing back and forth to try and find the beast.

“Everyone, get back to back and prepare to move!”

On reflex, we all huddled together with our backs to each other. Matthew was on my right, and Azalea to my left, and Alder presumably at my back.

A dripping sense of trepidation sent chills down my spine and a bead of sweat down my face as we warily kept our vigil. There was no telling when or where the monster would strike, and my muscles were tensed in preparation to move.

“You… you don’t suppose it ran off, do you?” Matthew innocently asked. As if in response to his query, a nearby tree exploded into splinters, prompting us all to turn our bodies to face the beast. A rush of wind swept over us, and Alder lept in front to shield us from the oncoming assault.

… After several terrible seconds, nothing happened.

I blinked in confusion as Matthew resumed his nervous glances, Alder’s eyes narrowed, and Azalea looked to Alder. “What… where… where did it…?”

“Behind you! No!!”

In unison, the four of us wheeled around to the oncoming tail of the monster mere inches from our faces. Its powerful swipe knocked us over like a set of ninepins, and for a few seconds I was airborne.

Strong arms once again wrapped around me, and I felt the comforting presence of my childhood friend. “I’ve got you!”

Matthew let out a pained cry as he crashed into the ground, the pair of us rolling backwards until we crashed into a wood pile and sent its contents scattering. An intense pressure crushed on my burgeoning chest as I struggled to take in a breath of air, until finally with a gasp I got in a fresh breath.

Taking stock of my surroundings, I found Matthew sprawled against the side of the house, knocked unconscious by the impact of our spectacular tumble. Thankfully he was still breathing, and a quick application of ice cold frost magic to his cheek was enough to wake him up.

“Bweh?!” His arms lept at me as if on reflex and surrounded me in a constrictive hug, once again restricting my breathing.

“M-Matthew, you’re crushing me-”

The pressure of his arms relented, and the embarrassed expression on his countenance was absolutely priceless. “Ah, my apologies it’s just that-”

I placed a finger on his lips, knowing exactly what he was about to say. The silly boy had always been so self-sacrificing, and entirely willing to take too much blame onto himself at my own expense.

“I woke you up very suddenly and your instincts kicked in? Honestly, that one was my fault, so you don’t need to take it all on you.” I smiled, and ruffled his messy hair. He turned his head away from me in an embarrassed flush, which only made my own smile to curl up into a wicked grin.

Lilia must really be getting to me.

“And in what way am I ‘getting to you’?” She icily asked in my mind, prompting a chill to run down my spine. I craned my head back to see her fluttering just above us, her arms were crossed in a manner to convey her disapproval at my quip.

“Well, anyways. You both seem to be okay. Lady Azalea and Alder are both hurt, but still standing as well.”
A bird’s eye view of Azalea and Alder flashed into my mind, seemingly the pair of them went tumbling together as well. Alder’s barriers likely lessened their impact, and they were standing up already.

“That beast is much more cunning than we’d initially thought, it slipped past you and attacked from behind.”

The crashing of a nearby tree interrupted her, and I hastily grabbed hold of Matthew and rolled us out of the way before the beast could crash into us.

“Gah!” Matthew cried out in pain as we made impact with the ground. A sympathetic pang crossed both our thoughts from Lilia, who had perched just a few feet above us.

He gave a strained smile, giving me a full view of his gritted teeth. “I’m fine really, I think I just bruised my ribs.” On reflex, I bit my lower lip, about to chastise him for his needless sacrifice, but the sound of gigantic footsteps behind us chilled my thoughts. I whirled around, attempting to throw up a wall of Ice to slow the incoming blow.

“Oh no you don’t.” We both heard Lilia’s voice in person, as she swooped down to pluck the both of us up like a mother bird. Matthew let out an undignified yelp as the maid effortlessly carried the both of us up to a nearby rooftop, away from the oncoming swipe that took out the remnants of the wood pile.

Setting him down against a nearby chimney, Lilia undid his black vest and unbuttoned his shirt with practiced ease, to examine his wound, while I nervously hovered nearby.

Lilia extended a hand, and I watched in awe as her mana coalesced into a stream of gentle light that closed up the injury. Matthew’s discomfort visibly faded as he let out a sigh of relief.

Healing magic was considered a great rarity amongst practitioners of magic. It was relatively easy to manipulate natural forces like fire, lightning or water, but the knowledge of how to heal the body was a different matter entirely. Thus, only a rare few possessed the ability to work spells that would bring succor, and of the few I had met who possessed the talent, none could explain how it worked apart from “I just do it.” I made a mental note to question Lilia more about this later.

With a flick of her wrist, the stream of healing light dissipated, and she let out a soft sigh. “You’ve done enough for now, let us handle the rest.” The maid’s tone was gentle, yet firm in its delivery, brokering no opportunity for an argument from my butler.

For his part, Matthew let out a sigh and slumped back against the edge of the roof. “All right, fine. But let the record show that it wasn’t by choice that I retreated from the battlefield.”

Lilia sighed, and gently flicked him in the middle of the forehead. “The record will show that you would have rather selfishly died, than living on to help those around you. Do you think Iris would be happy if you weren’t around?”

Matthew looked over to me, and I to him. Just a few short hours ago, I was in emotional agony about whether or not I even wanted to see him again, and yet now my chest constricted at the thought of his absence.

“We… We’ll have a lot of catching up to do, once this is all over. Until then, please stay alive Matthew. … Th-That’s an order!” I stammered out the last part with all the confidence I could muster.

Matthew’s ears turned a bit red, and Lilia let out one of her infamous chuckles. “My, my… someone’s getting confident!”

My own ears drooped in embarrassment, and I turned to look away. I guess technically I was Azalea’s maid now, so was I allowed to give Matthew orders?

Lilia snapped me out of my thoughts by ruffling my ears, which prompted my mouth to curl into a pout. “H-Hey, I’m being serious here!”

The head maid returned the smile and gently booped my nose, which was now starting to feel just a bit wet and turning black. My hands reached up to gently touch my new nose. The changes to my body were still strange, but they filled me with a level of giddiness. If Lilia and the others weren’t around to help encourage me, then would I still be feeling the same way?

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning shot through my mind, and a piece of the puzzle clicked into place. I looked down at the ruined homes, and I caught a glimpse of the monster, now out in the open with no camouflage. The lizard-like beast had green scales, a head reminiscent of a chameleon, and an excessively long tail that it had battered us with previously. Its head was leaned over and panting, while its body was slumped over in exhaustion.

Monsters were the result of animals becoming infused with an excess of magic, causing their bodies to rapidly mutate and change to become something far deadlier. The monster was still unaccustomed to its new body, and after rampaging for so long, it had reached the limits of its stamina.

This was a good chance for us to overpower and take it down, but as I stared down at the creature, I felt nothing but empathy.

“Lilia, I know what we have to do now.”