Shifter - Infinite Transformation-Chapter 24: Soldiers

It was the third day after meeting Fern, and I had to say that life was not all that bad. As stressful as some of those fights had been, I felt much better. I even started to gain some mass after all the meat and bread I’d been eating, and all that despite Shift consuming a lot of energy.

My Power made me hungrier than I’d ever been. It was terrifying, or would have been if I didn’t have more than enough meat pocketed away.

What was a little hunger compared to the hours I spent with Fern, talking about Eserian, her grove and people, and my life? And all that Essence I was getting, as well as additional Accessible Shifts, of course.

Core: Tier-1 (8.4%)

Accessible Shifts – Human (Main form), Blue Slime, Arok Serpent, Hnoll, Greyskin Borillar, Kerink, Spiketail Trout, Herculean Ant

Neither Spiketail Trout nor Herculean Ant were extraordinary shifts, but both came in handy. The weakest Herculean Ant I defeated in the last three days was only the size of my fist. It fit in places I would never be able to reach otherwise. Herculean Ants were also highly durable monsters and rather strong for their size. They merged well into their surroundings, too.

If not for its other characteristics, its size and ability to blend in would surely come in handy at some point. The Spiketail Trout shift would as well. I didn’t think it was possible to fight in that form, but that wasn’t what I’d use it for in the first place. I couldn’t transform into the Spiketail Trout permanently yet, but the transformation lasted long enough to carry me a decent distance through the Esar.

Traveling through the stream was safe and fast. It also allowed me to hide several pouches filled with meat as well as weapons at the bottom of the stream. Only other maritime monsters could find the weapons underwater, whereas the pouches were safely secured in a net Fern made for me using vines.

Thinking about Fern, I wondered where she was.

She is late.

Fern didn’t seem like the type of person to be late. Or to disappear without a word. Something felt wrong.

I hope everything’s alright.

There was no need to worry about her. She was ridiculously powerful, which had been confirmed the day before. A group of Hnolls, unlike the scouts I’d encountered earlier, had crossed our path. As much as I wanted to test my strength against even stronger opponents, Fern didn’t let me. She stood before the Hnolls before I could even say something.

A moment later, their heads were no longer attached to their necks.

Not even the Hnoll that stood two heads taller than its brethren could do anything against her. It died just like that.

As scary as that should have been, the power she wielded only made her hotter than she already was. Power had an appeal I hadn’t even realized before, and I wanted to reach the same level as her. To stand beside her, but also to never have to fear getting kidnapped for my Power. To face the people who desired to control me and what I could do.

I should search for her... Never mind. I don’t even know where her grove is. A mirthless chuckle escaped my lips. I felt closer to Fern than before and knew a thing or two about her past, yet the present still eluded me.

Then again, what would change if I knew where the grove was? It wasn’t like I’d barge into the Eserian Grove to complain to Fern that she’d been late to our date. That was a bad idea in more than one way. It would also end with me dead in more than one scenario.

"Why do I sound like a clingy boyfriend?" I let out a laugh, but the last word rang in my head. Shaking it off, I finished breakfast in silence and readied my pack to go out hunting alone.

***

The Eserian forest was a marvel of Essence. It was a horde of wealth that granted the Zetrian Empire as many benefits as it caused them harm. After all, opportunities never came without risk. Natural treasures were exactly the same. In some ways, they were the worst.

Not even Fern knew about all the monsters of Eserian. She didn’t seem to mind and actually sounded impressed by the creatures birthed by the forest’s wealth of Essence. But it was not only monsters created from the Essence in the air. Eserian’s plant life had evolved and mutated over the course of thousands of years, creating a vast variety of Essence-imbued plants.

Fern knew a lot about the commonly found plants and shared interesting information about those her people tended to gather every season. Yet even she couldn’t tell me what treasures Eserian’s core region was hiding.

I was curious. Of course I was. How could I not be, after all Fern had shared? But the depths of Eserian were dangerous. Not even the Zetrian Empire dared to venture too deep into the forest. Fern had been proud of that, mostly because she contributed to it. She, along with many others of her kind, protected Eserian just as the forest protected them and the Forea Alliance from the Zetrian Empire’s forces.

They got rid of pests like Hnolls, Kerink, as well as those foolish enough to enter the forest. Humans.

She killed them. Many, from what I could tell. I’d already suspected as much, but it was still unsettling to hear her speak of the deaths of fellow humans so casually. The pit in my stomach was natural. So was the anger churning in my chest when Fern told me what those same humans had done to her people–how they treated them. Violated them. Enslaved them.

It wasn’t fair. All they wanted was to live a life worth living, yet human soldiers infiltrated their land, burned down their villages, and enslaved them. Not because they belonged to the Forea Alliance. The Eserian Grove was more a settlement of outcasts than a part of the alliance. No, it was because they were Fae rather than human. Because Fae were seen as a resource instead of sentient beings.

Fern’s anger burned in the depths of her bright eyes when she spoke of humans. She loathed them for what they had done to her people, yet...she hadn’t killed me. She only killed those deserving of death. The innocent she spared.

It had to be true. Otherwise, she would have killed me. My scent wouldn’t have mattered if her hatred burned that deeply.

I, on the other hand, struggled to understand the gods’ inaction. They could have done something, yet they did not. Just like the tales said, the gods watched the realms in amusement but did not intervene, not until they could gain something from it.

That was why I shouldn’t have been surprised when I heard the sound of combat.

No – of a massacre.

Screaming women, some voices high enough to resemble children, echoed through the forest, followed by deep roars and excited cheers as steel carved through flesh. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

I didn’t want to see what was happening. I should have stayed away from trouble. But my feet carried me forward anyway, dragging me toward the source of the sounds.

They led me to a clearing adorned with a mesmerizing field of flowers. Or at least, it must have been before steel boots trampled the field and corpses littered the ground.

Blood flowed through the clearing in streams as my vision settled on half a dozen humans–soldiers wearing the same emblem as the men on the flying ship I’d seen in the days before my escape.

They were Earl Nuer’s soldiers. And not just any soldiers. How could I ever forget those fucked-up faces?

They were the very same men who had starved me to death.