Shifter - Infinite Transformation-Chapter 65: Reunion

The Eserian Grove didn’t hide any clues. All it did was cause unimaginable pain from all the fumes and the terrifying pictures etched in the deepest parts of my mind.

Leaving the grove, feeling worse than before and angrier than ever, I headed south. Neither Fern nor Clove would have headed to the border of the Zetrian Empire. They wouldn’t have gone north either, knowing most of the Eserian’s anomalous monstrosities appeared far up north of the grove.

I considered them fleeing west, but if Maer had been right and Fern was hit, she would not have escaped to the deeper parts of the Eserian. Hence, the south was the only direction that made sense. However, it was not the direction my instincts were guiding me.

The sensation was quite weird, honestly. The south felt somewhat correct, yet it didn’t strike me as the perfect direction. As weird as it was, I pushed diagonally after a while and headed west. Then, no more than an hour after moving through the forest, I grew impatient. It was probably not the best call, but my patience was running thin. I wanted to find Fern. Reunite with her and make sure that she was alright.

I just wanted to know if she was fine. That was all I wanted.

So I overextended Shift a little bit more. The Nature Dragon’s empowerment was still active, and I decided to make full use of it.

Shift triggered, and I transformed into the Terro Sparrow and flew southwest for a while. When no monster attacked me, I put more effort into flying higher into the sky before using Shift again. I transformed into the Lesser Wisp, fully committed to sensing the energy around and within me.

The energy flow around me was intense. It grew even stronger west of me, yet it was also spotty and never the same.

My range of perception was...odd. For one, it was incredibly far. At other times, it was insignificant. So small, I barely sensed anything around me.

Studying my Accessible Shifts was part of my duty. It was a necessity to fully grasp the abilities of my transformations. Alas, I failed to separate the Lesser Wisp’s features and relied on luck and random experiments until I could sense the surroundings far and wide.

That was also when I sensed a collection of energy streams that could belong to survivors—or monsters or sentient plant lives. Regardless, I transformed back to the Terro Sparrow and descended to watch them.

What I found on the ground weren’t survivors of the Eserian Grove. They were brown-scaled salamanders the length of a carriage. They huddled together as they returned to the entrance of a small cavern. The salamanders barely fit through the entrance, and I let them be. Hunting them wouldn’t be a problem, but there were more pressing issues.

I headed southwest once more and repeated the same tactic. Hours passed, and the energy the dragon blood had provided faded, leaving me exhausted and even angrier than before. I wanted to find Fern so badly, yet my body was at its limit. Shift was about to force me out of the Terro Sparrow’s form as well. That was how bad the situation was—enough to force me out of one of my permanent Accessible Shifts.

Albeit unwilling, I descended on a massive branch of a towering ancient tree and transformed back into my main form. I barely closed my eyes when darkness embraced me.

The next moment, I was dead asleep.

***

The first sun was already up when I woke up again. Shift was still complaining, so was my body for sleeping in a stiff and not all that comfortable position. But I did rest and resumed my search.

Hours passed without a single discovery. Then, at last, the outlines of humanoid figures appeared in the Lesser Wisp’s range of perception. Their sizes fit Fern and Clove as well.

Maybe they’re together! I thought, a single ray of hope illuminating the darkness in my chest.

Shifting back to a Terro Sparrow, I burst into action and crossed the hundreds of meters separating me from the humanoid figures in a few dozen heartbeats.

My heart skipped a beat, and I nearly forgot to flap my wings when I saw the figures. Clove was the first. He looked better than one would expect someone to look after an encounter with a dragon. His hair was burned in multiple spots, yet he was energetic enough to make a campfire and skin a boar.

Next up was Fern. My heart twisted when I saw her. It was like a thousand searing hot blades stabbed in my heart and stomach when my eyes landed on her.

She was alive. That was all that mattered to me, yet that did not lessen the pain coursing through my mind and heart when I saw her limbs and the dim glimmer in her eyes. It all looked so detailed as I shot closer, yet it was the emotions that surprised me most. Not my emotions, but Fern’s.

The moment I saw her, I knew why my instincts had pulled me further west. There was something between Fern and me that transcended logic. Like... like a connection that was pulling on each other, ensuring we would always find back to one another.

Clove whipped around, his eyes meeting mine. Then, a feral look surfaced and he leaped in front of Fern, his protective nature even stronger than before.

I had to slow, which I should have done much earlier probably, but I managed. By transforming into a Blue Slime and crashing to the ground in a splash. Clove’s eyes grew wide and all the protectiveness faded from his face. He burst into a bright smile as the Blue Slime grew and turned into my main form.

"I knew you would find us!" Clove exclaimed, ready to rush up to me, but I was faster. I arrived before him and pulled Clove into a tight hug.

"I’m glad you’re alive." I sighed in relief, the stress and tension of the last two days finally fading.

The fae flinched and didn’t move even after I released him.

"You’re alive." Fern looked at me, the emerald shimmer underneath her skin even more vivid than I remembered.

"That’s my line." I leaned down to her, scrutinizing her from head to toe. "You’re injured."

"You don’t say." She rubbed my cheek even though lifting her arm hurt. "A dragon decided to whip me around with its tail."

Fern tried to smile, but the pain permeated her eyes. It clung tightly to her. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"I heard." I leaned closer to her, my hand holding hers. "I’m just glad you’re alive."

Fern wanted to say something. Her quivering lips parted as tears welled in her eyes, but the words never rolled from her tongue.

"I know." I kissed her forehead gently and pulled her into a tight embrace, hoping to share her pain. "I know."

She went as stiff as cardboard for a moment but dissolved in my arms as soon as her head pressed against my chest. Her sobs reverberated through my chest and tears rolled down her cheeks.

Meanwhile, I just stood there, engraving a promise in my heart.

As long as you stay by my side, you won’t ever have a reason to cry like that again. Never. I swore inwardly, pulling Fern even closer.