Shifter - Infinite Transformation-Chapter 64: Burned Grove

Fear gripped my heart at the sight of the Eserian Grove. The grove, if one could still call it such, had become a field of death and ash. The undergrowth stood no chance, nor did the tree houses nor the huts.

Everything had been burned to the ground—almost. The ancient trees prevailed. At least, some of them did. Massive claw marks hinted at the being capable of such destructive force, but it was not like I needed them. I knew exactly what had destroyed the Eserian Grove.

The Nature Dragon.

She hadn’t burned all of the ancient trees to the ground. Instead, the trees were still smoldering, some burning alone, surrounded by ash and smoke, yet they were still alive. It was marvelous, or would have been if I hadn’t been in a full-blown panic attack.

I transformed back to my main form mid-landing and stumbled to the ground. The heat hit immediately, the smoke surged into my throat, and I immediately knew I wouldn’t be able to stay long in this place. But I had to be here. Find her.

Fern. My head snapped left and right in a desperate attempt to find survivors, but all I could see was death. I rushed to our hut but couldn’t find anything. The charred body of a woman scared me shitless, yet it wasn’t Fern. When I realized that, I sighed in relief. Then I felt bad. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

How could I be relieved that someone died? Even if I was just relieved that the corpse wasn’t Fern, how...

Get your act together! I slapped my cheeks.

The Insignia flashed, and the cold liquid within stirred. My breathing regulated shortly after, and the thousands of thoughts flashing through my mind faded, leaving only the truly important behind. Then the Trickster Demon appeared on the back of my hand.

It squealed at me, pointed fingers in a visibly angry state, only to end up in a coughing fit when it breathed in too much smoke.

"Stop telling me to calm down when you’re acting like that," I grunted, but the corner of my lip curled up anyway.

The Trickster Demon’s existence, as well as the Bond, left me with a myriad of questions, yet it also helped me regain my composure.

It stabbed my palm with too little force to cut my skin, but the sentiment was clear. The newborn demon didn’t like me making fun of it. So be it. It wasn’t like I was trying to bind with it. Nor did I know what that meant, how to dissolve the Bond, or what to do with the Insignia of Dominance.

"Fern." My mate was more important than either of those.

The Trickster Demon climbed up my arm and sat down on my shoulder, its tiny legs dangling over my chest. Ignoring the demon, which was already far too capable and communicative for something not even a day old, I searched for Fern or any signs of her whereabouts.

Rather than my beloved, I found others. Dead fae, most burned to a crisp. Young and old. The Nature Dragon didn’t differentiate. She’d been a natural disaster and attacked people who did not deserve her wrath.

Yet she spared me. Despite that, anger bubbled in my chest. She should not have done that.

"If you killed Fern, I will skin you alive." I growled, the promise forming in my heart.

As for the others, I was angry for them too. Yet, I was not particularly close with them. Elder Taria had been quite controlling, and the others I didn’t know.

Clove. He’d been a good kid. The others surely had been pleasant and kind to be around as well, but Clove was the only other fae I had grown close to, and I found neither of them.

Even when I transformed a dozen times from my main form into the Lesser Wisp to search, approaching the charred and crushed corpses before turning back to analyze them, I couldn’t find them.

The Trickster Demon, fed up with Shift and how often my transformations into an ethereal wisp had it falling from my shoulder, ran across the dead land. It was also none other than the newborn who found the only survivor, if one could call her that.

Maer, Medium of the Beast, was still alive. But she was dying, for the lower part of her small body had been squashed.

"You survived." The small fae snorted. "Lucky you."

"What happened here?" Even though I could already tell what happened, I had to know.

"A...dragon..." Maer coughed up blood. The light in her eyes was growing dimmer, yet she smiled through the pain. "I did not think I would ever see a dragon. Or...Or to get killed by one."

Seeing Maer like that was odd. She was on the verge of dying, yet she didn’t look unhappy. If anything, there was a trace of satisfaction in her eyes. It was almost like she was satisfied with the turn of events.

"Are you..." I shook my head. There was no way Maer was happy about this. Then again, being the Medium of Beasts, her perception of the situation was likely different from the rest. "Where is Fern? Is she alright? And what about Clove?"

Maer’s lower body squirmed. Blood gushed out, and I nearly vomited when intestines squirmed out of her abdomen.

"Fern got hit. Clove...I haven’t seen." Maer shrugged, the life in her eyes fading as she spoke. She said more words, but they grew less and less comprehensible with every second.

The last words I could comprehend were as simple as they were painful. "Find your mate. Don’t lose her again. And don’t...don’t be too angry. Nature gives and takes—"

Her eyes grew dim, the last words stuck in her throat. I cursed and shouted, unsure where to channel my emotions. I was angry, frustrated, but most importantly...I was helpless. Fern was nowhere to be seen, neither was Clove.

Maer’s last words had been odd. They hadn’t sounded like anything the Medium of the Beasts would have said to me. If anything, she had been rather aloof and distant around me. And now she was dead, her last words lingering in the back of my mind.

Fern had been struck. That too lingered on my mind. In the best case, she was injured. In the worst, she was dead.

No, Fern is alive! I nearly shouted out loud, and something deep within me resonated.

She was alive. She had to be.