5 comments/ 7668 views/ 3 favorites Spritely Fellow Ch. 01 By: DanteofSparda Hello all, this is my first posting on this site after a long time reading. This is a story that will take some time to unfold and no sex happens until later in his life fyi. This current version is a test of some of this site's features that I will rerelease most likely when I go back over it. You are welcome to read it and post any major issues you see as I welcome criticism. Enjoy Spritely Fellow Ch. 01 I tried touching it with one of the tendrils and poured a large chunk of my soul into the tip. Then I didn't so much push into the wood so much as rubbed away at it. I kept a constant motion going until the woods energy started to give. It slowly turned into a sort of putty texture and I was finally able to absorb it into my soul and turn it back into my energy. I looked down at my hand as the bark started falling off and my hand returned to a more natural shade of white. My shirt slowly switched from leaves to cloth. My hair returned to its normal awesome color and my feet were able to move again. I stood up and stretched for the first time in a month. Then I did something I wanted to do for a while now. I ran. Everything went flying past as I sprinted by it all. Breathe in my lungs, earth under my feet, and burning in my muscles. Man that was a good feeling. I ran the whole mile and a half back to school and burst out of the forest into the yard. No one was there. Even the tumbleweeds were taking the summer off here. It made sense but was still disappointing. I had really wanted to run all the way home, but my body seemed insistent that sprinting for the full mile and a half here was not a good idea. I fell on my butt there at the forests edge, gasping for breath. Once I had gotten my breathing under more control than fish outta water I laid down. As soon as I did I heard the voice again, and it was not pleased. "WOULD YOU STOP AND LISTEN YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE BRAT! I HELP YOU GET YOUR BODY BACK AND DON'T EVEN GIVE ME A THANK YOU OR A SMILE, JUST RUNNING OFF THROUGH MY WOODS!" I sat up and looked like someone had just taken a belt to by ass. I had been so focused on the feeling of running that I blotted everything else out. I immediately turned and looked back into the forest before blurting out, "Imsorryforignoringyouandthankyouforhelpingme." The voice got quiet for a while before it started giggling like a schoolgirl. "Hahaha oh wow hahaha you are so cute when you panic. Hahaha..." she continued laughing for a few minutes as my face turned beet red. Finally she stopped after laughing at me for so long and spoke in a serious tone. "You can't just leave yet. You have to learn how to control this. Stay in the forest for a few years longer." I was with her right up until that last part. "I can't stay here; I have to go back to my family. I'll come back when I can, but I have to go." I said to her in a hesitant voice. I was grateful, however I was also a bit over this tuning into a scary movie where I stay with the forest lady forever and ever and ever. She was silent a while before she spoke up again, " No you aren't ready yet, you need to be trained a bit more or else you might fully lose yourself to the essence of sprites you pull in." "Then come with me, I can take a small tree or something home and plant it..." And there was the giggling again. I thought it was pretty at the time, but being laughed at by any voice is frustrating. "Stop laughing at me I'm trying to figure this out!" I yelled into the clearing. The laughing stopped a few seconds after, with noticeable sounds of being muffled. "I am not a tree; I am the sprite of the woods. It is not that simple to move me somewhe-" The voice stopped and I could feel it looking at me. "There is a way for me to leave, and only you can pull it off. Try reaching out with your soul not your senses." I froze immediately after this, the experience of turning into a tree still in my mind. She seemed to sense this and added, "It is not the same as before, you will not be pulling in anything. I just need an energy source to tap into in order to become tangible...able to move around on my own." The last bit was added when I mouthed the word tangible to myself. "So you will be able to come with me after this?" I asked the woods. The silence after was none too comforting. Then I felt the mental equivalent of a nod. I took a deep breath and focused. I reached into myself before reaching into myself and filled up one of my little tendrils with my soul and held it out towards the trees, careful not to touch any of them. I felt something touch it and start sucking out the energy in it. Then the woods started to react. The wind picked up and carried little pieces of wood, leaves, and flower petals to the space in front of me. They started swirling in a small whirlwind before it started to stick together. It pieced together a womanly figure with a curved chest piece with petals for the top and a curved piece of bark accentuated the underside of the chest and the curves of the chest and crotch. They didn't seem like clothing but rather reference points for the body to build from. The leaves and petals mixed together to form the skin with the twigs bends out of shape to form a solid structure. Her natural body continued to build until finally the head started to be put together. The petals and leaves in the red spectrum pieced together a head proportionate to a 15 year olds head. The "skin" was smooth and the lips were made out of rose petals bent unnaturally into shape. Petals began to twist and lengthen into hair for the head until she had a pink and yellow mix of shoulder length hair that seemed to disobey gravity. Overall she towered over me at 5'3" and looked like she was a 15 year old painted using bits of nature. She was beautiful. Two petals that served as eyelids moved upwards revealing a rose petal in each eye. She landed on the ground after putting herself together. I just sat there with my mouth hanging open. She was beautiful. She looked down at me and spoke in that voice that still remained clear even when spoken out loud. "I will need a constant stream of energy to maintain this form. I will have to put something on your body in order to maintain this stream. Where do you want this mark?" I was still just staring dumbly at her and subconsciously pointed over my shoulder at my back. "Very well, hold still this should not hurt." Around this point I realized what she said as she stepped behind me and would have said something, but then I felt her soft hand on my back and was again hit by that staring stupidly thing. It was a really soft touch and when she traced down my back I didn't say anything. Then I felt an energy pressing into my back. My soul felt like something was being put onto it. Like the wood from earlier only more alive and moving. It felt like a constantly changing small sapling was pushed into my soul, and acted as a small straw as it branched shallowly into me. "Perhaps a non-physical form would be better." I heard a rustling of leaves behind me and turned around and saw a small pile of leaves and petals where she was standing. A small three inch tall version of her was floating at eye height. She floated over to my shoulder and sort of faded away. I felt around my shoulder for her until she said, "I'm still here I just switched to just energy. Similar to what you did with the trees." I relaxed once I heard her voice and checked on my soul. I found her sitting on the soul-sapling in a makeshift hammock. "This whole thing was tiring and I will sleep now." "Wait what is your name?" I called out before she turned in. She yawned and replied, "I never had a name just as these woods never had a name, but if you want to call me something call me Cassandra. A girl once went in these woods by that name and carved it into one of the trees so I suppose it is my name to take if I want." I tried out Cassandra a few times to get a taste for the name. I decided I liked it and, as Cassandra was asleep, I started heading home. While I walked home I thought about what happened. Not so much the events, but what I had found out. I now was able to do what I called soulreaching. I realize looking back that the name sounds like a dating sites motto, but I was young and it grew on me. I could soulreach to my surroundings and tell what was around me and it was as intuitive as walking or breathing. I could also feel the energy within the things around me. I didn't try grabbing or touching any of it as I had enough near tree experiences for the day, but I could feel them. I could also feel where the soulreach came from and when I used my extrasight (originally called soulgaze but I changed that for the sake of diversity) I could see my soul. I could keep my eyes closed but still see the energies around me, although it did tap my soul and since it originated from within my eyes I couldn't see behind me. When I looked at myself in a puddle and used the extrasight, my soul looked like a dull red and yellow streaked orb that was taller than it was wide. I could soulreach inside and feel that it was fluid and able to be molded. The more I tapped it, the brighter it became and the smaller it shrunk. On the back of it I saw a small little balcony was cut molded into it with Cassandra's sapling on it. It had grown the short time it was there and looked like a miniature oak tree with roots tracing the balcony. On my almost 4ft frame, my soul rose to at least five feet, and encompassed my body. I turned off my extrasight and just looked at myself. My favorite red shirt that I wore for the last day of school was torn and covered in dirt. My jeans had been completely shredded from the knees down and my shoes were gone save for the very tops of them which acted like an anklet. My skin had taken back its lightly tan color and my fire hair was surprisingly clean. It was then that I noticed my eyes had changed. Before I had my father's brown eyes, but now they were a dark red color. When I looked closer I saw a faint yellow glow from my pupil that was only visible in the dark. The light slowly faded but the red remained. I used my extrasight again and layered it over my normal sight and saw the glow become a light filling my pupil. The red slowly expanded and became a brighter shade until only the very edges of my eye remained white. Turning my extrasight back off and waiting for the effects to recede, I continued to head back home. I had about 5 soulreach tendrils out and my soul brightened to about the light of a glow stick. I noticed that when I walked near the grass when it was like this, the blades followed me as if they were feeding off the light. While it was really cool to look at it was time to stop experimenting for now. I stopped feeding the tendrils and started to jog to get home faster. It was still going to take about 20 minutes and night was coming on fast. Everyone was in their homes relaxing and so didn't notice the boy running down the streets. It was dark when I finally made it home. I used the key hidden in the dirt of one of the flowers to get in. I could see from the state of the living room that my parents were home, but the lights were all off and I really wanted to sleep. I snuck into my room upstairs and stripped down to my underwear before crawling under the covers. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. What awaited me were some...strange dreams. Spritely Fellow Ch. 02 Hello all, I have a small confession to make. I don't have a single clue where this story is going. I have a lot of ideas that I'm weaving into this, but for the most part it's just flowing out. If anything comes across as unclear, especially in sequences involving Mykris' power, tell me. Also I'm waiting for him to be older before he starts seeing things as an adult, so no sex for a while. Hang in there! Comments of all kinds are greatly appreciated. Thanks and enjoy. Spritely Fellow Ch. 02 I managed to store all the energy in the tree in a minute with incredible speed that direct contact induced. I could feel my Dad begin to come out of his meditative state. I got back to the position I was in the beginning and did my best to look like I was just getting up as well. I kept my eyes closed as I slowly got to my feet and started to turn towards the door. I opened them and looked up at my Dad. "What did you want to talk about, Dad? You seemed really serious before." I said as he turned to look at me. He screamed out and fell on his back completely mortified. He just sat there mouth hanging open as he looked at me. Looking at my hand quickly I saw nothing was wrong with my look. I turned to check myself in the mirror and immediately saw the problem. I had my extrasight active for most of this hour long session. My pupils were dilated to almost half an inch wide with light pouring out of them, and the rest of my eye was completely red. "Oh..." I uttered slowly looking back at him, "Right." I spun around to hide my eyes from him and covered them with my hands. Dad got up behind me and I felt him move. I thought he was heading for the door to go tell mom and just that thought started getting me to tear up. My mind started going into overdrive as it considered all the horrendous things that would happen when I felt my Dad's arms around my chest. He pulled me close until all I could hear was his heartbeat. It's amazing how that sound calmed me down so fast. I could feel him trembling; He was crying. Today I had seen both of my parents cry. It was not a good day. "I'm so sorry son. I was just surprised, that's all. Listen, I need to tell you something. Your mother and I, we have dealt with these things before. We just didn't...things might get confusing from now on son. Just remember that we both love you very much. You can't show that ability of yours to anyone alright? Not your mother or Aurora ok? I need to talk to your mother and that will take time." He spun me around and kept talking with his hand under my chin so I looked him in the eyes. "This world we live in is a lot bigger than you think. There are so many things you don't know. You might not understand now, but when you grow up this will make sense. Your mother and I belong to a group that doesn't have people like you in it. Despite what you might hear for the rest of your life, even if your mother and I say it, know that we still love YOU no matter what you are." Still stunned by the sight of my Dad this way, one question managed to float to the surface. "What do you mean 'no matter what I am'? What am I? I'm just me, right?" His breath caught in his throat at that. His eyes grew wide and he just froze. A smile slowly formed on his face as tears began to really pour from his eyes. "That's right son. You are just you. You are just Mykris Hale, son of your cool Dad and awesome Mom. Don't ever lose that. Don't you EVER lose that outlook." He grabbed my head and buried it in his chest and I felt the trembles form earlier become jerking shakes as I heard him begin to openly cry. "I love you son, no matter what, I will always love you!" I was crying the same as him. I didn't know what was going on exactly, but I was scared and really needed my Dad right now. We sat like that for god knows how long. He finally stopped crying, but I was nowhere near finished. He just held me as the tears continued to flow. When I finally stopped crying, he put his hands on my shoulder and pushed me back a bit. He wiped my face a bit before getting up and going to the mirror. He had just finished wiping himself off when Mom threw open the door and stormed inside. "I have been calling you for 20 minutes! I've told you time and again to put a damn speaker in here- don't repeat that word Mykris- so that I don't have to come stomping up the stairs every time!" I looked at Dad from the center of the room. I could see the look on his face, but my mother couldn't. He still had a very serious expression, but his eyes had a darker look to them. "I'm sorry honey, I just finally got through to him with meditation and wanted to have a father son chat with him," he said in a voice that didn't match his face at all, "you know guy stuff." He turned around after snapping facial expressions to the cheery one I was used to seeing. "We'll be down shortly. I hope you made some of your famous pancakes for me because after that I could go for some real food!" Although I witnessed him change expressions, this didn't feel fake. Looking back, it was more like a switch he had to change to a more cheery emotion no matter what. He looked at me and gave me a good natured wink. "I'm sure a growing boy like you can go for a big meal after all that focus." I was a little emotionally fried after that experience, but that wink of his always cheered me up. It reminded me of the cartoons I would watch. "Yeah I'm super-hungry! DO I get to have butter with it?" I looked expectantly at my Mom. "You know I make it with butter, right? Don't look at me like that. You know the rules." I intensified the puppy dog eyes. "Stop iiiiit... God, can your eyes get any wider? FINE you can have ONE piece of butter." She put her face in her hand and walked out the door. She yelled form the hallway, "What am I going to do with you. Come downstairs NOW if you want the offer to still stand." I jumped up and started for the door when I felt my Dad's hand on my shoulder. "Before we go down there let me give you a quick lesson on lying. Always base it on some amount of truth or something they can't know. Pay attention to who you are talking to and what sort of things they would and would not be aware of. Use that to form something that is believable and will hold up for as long as you need it too. Keep it simple and keep it short. Vague is good as well. Keep all this in mind and you'll do just fine. Also for your next step in your training..." My Dad then proceeded to give me a short lesson in cursing and which ones apply where. He even gave me a short course on creation of cures. He then made me swear that I never told Mom about these lessons. "Remember what I said earlier, too. Hide your abilities, even from your mother. I'll talk to her eventually about it, but until then lay low. I love you, son." He pulled me in for a quick hug with a warm smile on his face. I pulled back and looked him in the eyes. "I love you, too Dad." I said before heading downstairs for some pancakes. Then I got in trouble for calling Chad Evergreen a dickhead for the first time. Spritely Fellow Ch. 03 Hello all, I have been going over my work and discovered major flaws in my writing. Namely my word choice and repetition and repetition. I will be going back over my work to proof read and rewrite for the next few weeks. I will still venture forward with the story, as proofreading is boring, so expect more chapters. I will post rewrites of the old chapters as I go. I would like to wait until he has matured to at least 18 before anything sexual pops in. Remember that he is a kid right now and is oblivious to the fairer sex. Hopefully you all enjoy. Chapter Three "Aurora, for the last time I am not telling you alright? Seriously, it has been two years and this one thing is all I have kept from you. Shut it." She looked like she was walking up to punch so I stood up and got ready for another fight. 200 times the charm? Right then the librarian poked her head around the bookcase with an annoyed look on her face. "In case you two have forgotten, this is a library! If you two cannot keep it down for the 15th time you will be banned from coming back here." She spent a few extra minutes staring us down before going back to her desk on the other side of the room. I looked back at Aurora before sitting back down in front of my books. She looked over my shoulder. "'Nymphs and Other Natural Spirits'...still reading up on supernatural stuff. You really like this sci-fi stuff don't you?" She was holding one of the books in the stack to my left. I had been researching al sorts of supernatural things to find out more about the supernatural world. So far I hadn't turned up anything concrete, but I had gotten quite the base of baseless information. "Aurora I do want to go through some more of this before I head home and I'm not telling you anything, so can you stop trying to annoy me into giving you information." I then buried my nose into the book I was reading talking about werewolves. I had read it before, but she didn't know that and I had other reasons for being here. "You are going to tell me someday, right? You did promise." YOU put me in a headlock until I promised! Oh don't give me that look like an injured puppy. Hanging my head I gave her a weak nod before she gave me a light punch on the shoulder. "I have to get home and clean up, but then we can hang." She started jogging out, which caused more yelling from the library. When I was sure she had left, and that everyone had gone back to their books, I got back to my real business. I turned back to the sprite sitting across the table. 'So Litria, did you find anything? I believe we were on necromancers, right?' Sitting in the chair across from me was the sprite for this old library. She looked like a woman in her mid forties, composed entirely out of the items in the library. I found out that was a common sprite thing. They are always composed of what they are born from. Litria's skin was made entirely out of white blank paper. She had standard librarian clothes composed out of dark brown hard covers with hair made of shredded black paper tied in a bun. Her nails, lips, glasses, and shoes were made out of red magazine covers and her eyes were small pieces of paper with a constantly shifting mass of text. How long had it been since we met? I met her a year ago when I was trying to figure out what the words in a particularly dry book meant. The library was open to the public until about six at night and that deadline was fast approaching. I had been there for three hours on one word, a word that the dictionaries were surprisingly quiet on. So after that word finally gets solved I flip the page and find another fucking word with no goddamn dictionary definition. I mean I get that the supernatural isn't exactly oxford standard, but come the fuck on. So in the midst of my mental swearing and internal yelling, I accidentally flared out my soul like one does with their hands when they finally snap. Something started tugging on the energy after it floated up there for a few seconds and I lolled my head back in resignation. After feeling it, I turned on my extrasight for the first time in months. It's like riding a bike. So I see this glowing light gathering energy above one of the bookcases, and I heard a voice coming from its core. "I believe the word you are looking for is lycanthropic enhancement. It is an old term used to define the effects of lycanthropy upon one who has gained full mastery of it. It is used to mark the physical habits and changes that mark an alpha in a group. Standard catalogue of symptoms usually include remaining in dominant position of a moving group, need to be the most vocal, larger size and more brute strength then average, and wolf behavior in human form." She finished forming herself and sat on the bookcase looking down at me. "It has been quite some time since someone came here seeking that sort of information. And for one so young to have such thirst for knowledge Is admirable, I suppose.' She drifted down to the floor and sat across from me as I checked the room to see if anyone was there. The librarian was asleep in her seat and all other people had left. I was too tired to be surprised or awestruck. I turned off my extrasight and looked her in her eyes. 'Why can I hear you in my head if you aren't IN my head?' I mentally told her, figuring it worked both ways. She looked at me with the same look bookworms get when they know more than someone. She adjusted her glasses with a smile before finally responding. 'The thoughts are sent from a soul to another soul. As I have some of your energy currently flowing into me, we share a connection. You would need to reestablish this connection to talk again.' She said in the snobbiest voice she could. My courtesy smile twitched a bit and I persisted with kindness like my Dad taught me. Chivalry may be dead, but its child lives on as courtesy to the ladies. 'My name is Mykris. What is yours if I might ask?' , I responded in a mechanical fashion. She seemed to look me up and down before responding. 'I am...Litria, the sprite of this library. This library has stood for many decades and all in this town have come to learn here. From their energy I was formed, and through yours I became sentient. I see the confused look on your face and I assume you are ignorant to the nature of sprites.' I can feel Cassandra focusing on this part and I speak to her quickly. 'Do you know what she is talking about?' She spoke in a needlessly hushed whisper. 'I am a sprite of the woods, so I know of the plants and the trees. She is one of knowledge and wisdom, so she knows of everything a book could know.' Well, that answered that. 'A sprite does not learn like a mortal does. We do not need experiences for knowledge. It is a part of us, like an instinct that connects us to a greater consciousness. We can tap into it and gain more knowledge in our area. As books were written and put in a library of some use, all sprites of libraries, books, and study could access it if we tap into ourselves. It is something you mortals have done on occasion by sheer accident.' She rose to her feet and started to gesture like she was announcing to a crowd. Moving her arms in synchronization with her speech, she continued out loud, "While some monks or inventors may have tapped into this greater bank of knowledge, we sprites hold instinctive dominion over our small realms. We can tap into this knowledge to better ourselves at will! What are you to question us? Can you tell me with your limited knowledge?" Tired and frustrated, my courtesy was running thin so I decided to take her down a peg or two. "So you can tap into any knowledge whatsoever if it's in a library? What about the Vatican libraries? Or the scrolls in Pompey? Can you tell me about some stuff on the internet? How about my Dad's diary at home? Can you tell me that?" I had at some point in that gotten up and started yelling. I was way too tired to put up with someone giving me a condescending monologue. After I yelled she looked like she was about to blow up in my face. She leaned in and started breathing heavy and took a deep breath and then- "I HAVE TOLD YOU BEFORE MR.HALE TO BE QUIET! NOW SIT DOWN AND PACK YOUR THINGS!" The librarian screamed from across the room. She looked disheveled after her nap and took a second to get straightened out. "The library closes in 5 minutes." She calmly collected herself and went to the bathroom. I had sat down immediately and when I looked at Litria she was doing the same. We both sat there after getting yelled at before we just started laughing at our situation. When we finally stopped and wiped the tears from our eyes, we both got over the apologies and began to small talk until the librarian came back. 'Will you come back?', She said as I was leaving. She had switched to her ethereal form that required extrasight to see, but I could still hear her in my mind. "Yeah I think I will. See you later." As I walked out, I could have sworn I heard Cassandra giggle as I smiled at the empty air. I packed up my things for the day and got up from my usual table at the library. Litria and I had gotten to swapping information whenever we could meet. I always felt like she didn't get to talk much since all the information I gave was just stupid stuff like some stories I had or something I'd been thinking about. In return she gave me an enhanced vocabulary and a plethora of information on the supernatural. We did it faster than usual since we could think to speak, leading to insanely fast conversation and better absorption of material. After these sessions we would just sit and chat until the library closed. As I left this time she did the usual thing of waving until I left and then giving up the form she held to merge with the essence of the library. Crap, Aurora is waiting for me today! I started to turn my walk into a run to get home. The road home from the library headed straight to a corner of the woods, before turning right into the residential area. The trip takes about twenty minutes if you walk and ten minutes running. Already late, I started running home in an attempt to get to her in time. 'You could beat her in a fight if you tried. You shouldn't hold back so much, Mykris.' Now alone, Cassandra decided to chime in with her two cents. 'Yeah and put my friend in a coma. It's not like she was going to hurt me or anything, so I'm fine letting this slide. Besides, it wouldn't be a fair fight.' 'Well then, learn the arts of combat. There is still that old boxing club on the other side of town, isn't there?' 'YOU can enter a ring and get beaten up for a few hours. I heard those guys don't mess around. They are supposed to be champs or something. I don't suppose that you know anything about fights, do you?' I could feel the equivalent of her crossing her arms as she spoke. 'I carry the domain of the forest, as you do. Unlike a certain someone, I actually use my awesome supernatural abilities.' Her invisible small form came into view in front of me with a smug look on her face. 'We made a deal to follow the promise I made Dad. I'm not going to use it unless I have to and you know that Cassandra. I can still use some of them, but not the visible stuff.' After about three minutes running, I opened up into a sprint and was still breathing steady. The plant cells in my body take in most of the cells waste, feeding off the carbon dioxide to stretch my energy about three times farther. A combination of this and my workout time had given me an inhuman endurance with a single breath lasting me a minute on average. It took awhile to wind up, but I liked using this one exception to Dad's rule of hiding. 'Booooo, this is child's play compared to what we could be doing.' She stuck out her leafy tongue and gave me a thumbs down. 'Child's play?' she put her head in her hands as she floated. I started laughing at the puns as she slowly began to giggle. She sat down on my shoulder and leaned on my necks she lost herself to her laugh. I had to stop running because I was using up all my air with laughter. She collected herself first as she got up and hit me in the side of the head with a nearby bush. 'I was serious Mykris, you've got to learn to use this stuff. If Litria is right, and she usually is, then it's likely that you will run into something dangerous.' A touch of concern entered her eyes as she looked me over. 'I can handle myself fine thank you very much. Aren't you supposed to be 'just watching' anyway?' At that she sat down on my shoulder with a resigned look on her face. 'I'm worried you won't last long enough to be as interesting as you could be.' 'Your confidence in me is overwhelming, but I appreciate your concern Cassandra.' I touched her shoulder and nudged her. 'Anytime, MICRO' She started laughing as she faded from view to retreat to the soultree. "Don't call me MICRO!", I yelled out loud as I got to my feet. It echoed through the street as I heard whispers behind me. I spun around and saw some of the girls from my school mumbling to each other while glancing at me. I felt blood rush to my cheeks as I spun on my heel and took off down the road. I heard Cassandra laughing the whole way. Just as I turned the corner to go to the residential area, something caught my eye in the woods. A normal person would have just kept on running. Go home and play with your best friend until it's time for dinner. I had a gut feeling that there was something more in that darkness. Something was in the woods moving really fast. Something supernatural was there. I could feel that the woods energy was disturbed like someone walking through a trail of smoke. Normal humans didn't do that. Normal being the key word. I jogged deep enough into the woods that no one could see me from the road, and then I cut loose. I had to bottle up a lot of energy inside of me. Ever since my powers awoke, my energy generation was far more productive. It never passed the limit of my soul, but it felt like a buzzing of my soul. My soul didn't become larger, just brighter and more active. Also it made me antsy as hell. So I would look for opportunities to let some steam off, and Cassandra's woods were the perfect spot. Our coalescence lent a sense of being at home in the midst of a forest. So when I released inside of those woods after two years of no activity, it felt really, really good. My extrasight came up first. The glow in my eyes kicked in almost immediately and the woods lit up. My soulreach stretched out after its time constrained, brimming with energy. A strong breeze came flowing from my back as a lively green soul entered the mix. 'While we should meet with Aurora, this just feels so satisfying.' I could see her stretching as she lounged against her soultree. She wasn't cooped up in there, but a change of scenery is always nice. 'oh, it's been so long since we have done this. I think I'll go out for a bit to enjoy my woods, you know?' I saw her ethereal four inch tall form sit on my shoulder as she lounged against my neck. I only vaguely noticed this as I was too busy feeling good. I was stretching both my boy and soul. Not in that metaphorical yoga and mountains way, but in the way that scratched a very real itch. My soul energy unfurled into my soulreach tendrils, giving the area around me a liquid fire glow. I grabbed the energy Cassandra was trying to let out and added it into the mix, putting little strands of green all around. A breeze generated by this started blowing all around me as her energy was strengthened by mine. All the trees began to bend around me in time with my breaths. I looked around and took in the scene as I slowly began to laugh. Even my hair was glowing with the sheer amount of energy I was letting out. With the wind whipping it around, it really looked like fire. In the midst of this display of considerable power, a twelve year old boy with flame hair started a childish, innocent laugh. I wiped the tears from my eyes at laughing so hard. To this day, I don't know why I laughed. Was it the release? The raw power? The colors? I don't know, but I do know that that moment in the woods felt so satisfying on a primal level, that I wouldn't be able to go too long without it. I didn't want to hide anymore. After finally calming down, the search began. I pushed my senses into the trees and rapidly pulsed my tree eyes outwards to scan the area. It seemed like nothing was wrong until I came to a large tree in a clearing with large amounts of bark missing and several large claw marks scarring its surface. I pulled my senses back and ran over to that tree. I had begun to glow from the energy pouring out, giving me a slight luminescence in the dark forest. My limbs had taken a wooden composition up to my forearms like I was wearing long gloves. I checked out the claw marks while Cassandra checked the area. My Dad's tracking lessons came into play here. The scratches were about three feet long and 4 inches deep. There were four cuts spaces over an inch apart. There were two things fighting here, given the state of the crumpled grass and cuts on he ground. Both were similarly sized, and one got pressed up against the tree. The placement of the sctratches indicate that the attacker pushed the other animal belly first onto the tree, and the victim tried to get purchase using it's claws. There was a large amount on animal blood on the base of the tree, but very little in the surrounding area. The attacker was practically hugging the victim against the tree. The only animal that does that is... "CASSANDRA! GET BACK IN THE SOULTREE NOW!" Only one animal does that. Only one supernatural being mimics that animal. And a feral one just tried to kill a former member of its pack. The tracks, tree, and the fact there were only two clicked for me. A werewolf just went feral on a friend, who then barely escaped. Problem with this scenario: the feral one is still here. As if on cue a massive fucking wolf came lunging out of the dark. How slow did it move for me to not notice it? All I saw was a hulking mass of black fur coming out of nowhere and slam into my side. It was trying to daze me for an easy kill, but you might find it is hard to daze a tree. Instinctively, I literally planted my feet and solidified my body so that he effectively tried tackling an oak. I poured a little excess in for padding so that my short 4' 9" frame was as large as a normal tree. After the lycan slammed into the base of the tree, I separated from the trunk and backed up. It hurried to its feet and cautiously began to circle me. Lycans look mostly like wolves except for a few things. It had five claws on each paw, its main body was a tad bit wider than your average wolf, and it was fucking massive. Standing, the thing would have been over eight feet tall. On all fours, it was still at my eye level. Its claws were turning pitch black from the inside to the tip and the eyes on this thing were starting to turn from yellow to blue, but in a way that looked like the blue was an invasive thing. Its fur was missing patches from both wounds and some sort of sickness. Its breathing was ragged, as its ribs were likely broken. Some of you might be thinking rabies, but Lycans don't get rabies. They do however have a tendency to go feral, which is worse in a whole lot of ways. Feral means that the human part is falling back, but the subconscious is still swinging. This makes the lycan very agitated and causes its brain to overload. Side effects include: Attacking friends, losing hair, non human parts dying, and the generally unpleasant habit of killing everything on sight. Cassandra had successfully retreated, but was doing nothing to help me. Sensing this thought process, she quickly stated, 'I am merely observing, I won't help you unless it was me who got you here. I don't mean to be cold, but it is your life I am interested in- I will not taint its events.' Before I could make the remark about me not having the ability to grow fucking TREES prior to meeting her, I was interrupted by the attention stealing aspect of a wall of fur and claws charging me. Spritely Fellow Ch. 03 I poured my energy into my right arm and shaped a shield. Using my soulreach to mold it and my arm to channel energy, I made a tower shield in less than 3 seconds. I then reached into the trees around me and weaved my energy in to give me a home field advantage. This came naturally to me. The tactics were childish at best, but the manipulation of my soul was instinctive. I just knew what I could do. Of course, power without knowledge never succeeds. The feral tore into my inch thick shield and quickly tore it off my hands. I barely disconnected it in time. It was standing on two legs and reaching for my arm to try and hold me down. I grabbed the nearest tree mentally and quickly had it shoot out thick barbed branches to make a thorny wall in front of me. The lycan started tearing into the wall in an attempt to get to me but I just backed closer to the tree spawning the wall. I wasn't able to get scared after my whole tree incident, but I was very concerned for my safety. Then the strangest thing happened. It backed down. It looked at me with these tortured eyes that were filled with suspicion. They looked human. It backed off and started trotting towards the dark when something entered my extra senses. There were numerous pitch-black werewolves moving to the forefront. There hulking forms came in from the other side of the clearing. The one on point was easily a foot taller than the rest and seemed to be barking orders at the rest, no pun intended. The pack spread out to get a half circle and started closing in on the feral. Litria had told me about werewolves. She had said that ferals were a threat to the whole species. They attacked everything on sight and thus built hostility towards every lycan. Ferals were the things they wrote stories about. This one would be executed right here. It started swinging its head wildly looking at all of them closing in. It was trying to keep them all in its field of view, until it backed into my wall. It jerked and turned around to look at me. The pack took that as incentive to lunge out of the darkness. Everything slowed down when it should have sped up. I saw five lycan come flying out of the woods with their jaws wide and ready to strike. I saw the feral's ears perk up as it looked at me. I saw its eyes, and they were filled with fear. I made a decision, one that I would repeat a million times. I chose to save it. I retracted the wood to give it an opening and then made a dome around it. I had to let it into my area to do this, but it was better than just letting it get slaughtered. It may seem childish, but I still stand by the principle of fair fights. There might be a story that justifies it, but until I hear that story I'm backing the underdog. The lycans crashed into the dome I created and landed hard on the ground. All but the alpha got up and started thrashing at the wall. That wasn't going to happen. I grew spikes all over the wall and put a barb at each tip. Only one lycan continued trying and got a few two foot long piercings for his trouble. I poured energy into the spikes in his chest to create little arms that pushed against him and pulled out the spike. He roared loud enough to put some ringing in my ears, but I refused to flinch. I was pissed. Or as pissed as I could get at twelve. Only one of the Lycans had wounds, and given the pattern, it was him that pushed the feral into the tree. Five on one after you already injured it severely? I don't care if that's the rule of the jungle, it ain't gonna fuckin happen. Not while I'm there. The alpha began to have his fur pull into his skin as he began to shrink. His claws shrunk down to long nails as his ears found their home on the side of his head. After about thirty seconds, the transformation was complete. A seven foot tall white man got up and walked calmly towards me. He wasn't naked per se, but seemed to have channeled a partial transformation to get thick fur from his waist to his knees. He had shoulder length black hair and a rather chiseled figure from all the wolf activity. His hips were a little wide by about two inches, but other than that he looked normal on the outside. He walked up to the wall and looked down at me. Fuck, he was tall. "Give us the feral, boy. It must die." Already not on my good list, this guy wasn't scoring any points. I walked up to him and considered my options. This guy was an alpha and I wanted him to leave the woods and never come back. These two things were important to keep in mind. As an alpha, he couldn't be persuaded off of this. Placating him would only be a temporary option and just scaring him, while challenging, would just make him fall back. I needed something that would make him never want to come back here again. Something Cassandra once said came back up. It was something about me having control over her dominion. These weren't just her woods. They were mine. "You dare to come into my woods and demand things of me? You think you have some power here? This my domain and I will not have it trampled upon by someone as insignificant as YOU, mutt!" I channeled my rage and a little bit of Litria into my voice. I was pissed off enough to have a controlled, but noticeable tremble in my voice. As I spoke, I channeled my energy into my body to have wood come creeping out from my limbs. Tree roots grew out of my legs and crawled on the ground towards him as my arms became a sinister bunch of wooden tendrils taking up the area around me. I pulled back the wall as I came to full posture. I bent the trees away from me to give me room to operate. I looked like Mother Nature's attack dog, pun intended. "Leave now wolf. I will give this one bit of mercy to you to go back from where you came. This one," I gestured with my 'arms' at the feral "has taken asylum in these woods. It is now MY concern." I knew this would start a fight. I knew about lycans and so I knew the alpha would fight no matter what, but I needed the background so that they would never come back to "my domain" for fear of what might happen. I could see he had no clue what I was, and the unknown is terrifying. He had enough testosterone going through him that he would fight anyway. Besides the whole plan hinged on me winning, if that was possible. I stepped out from the cage of wood and closed it behind me. They would not sneak in and finish the job now. The wood coming out of my feet sprouted new spikes in front of me and detached from the spikes at the rear in a destructive sort of walk as I moved forward. My extra sight had been active long enough my eyes looked like two balls of light with red at the edge. The breeze coming off of my soul was strong enough that the alpha had to plant his human feet as he snarled in anger. He transformed back into a werewolf and fell to all fours. I could see hesitation in his eyes and feel anger in mine. The wolf on my right jumped up first expecting me to turn and fight him leaving me open. I could feel the wood still in him from the spikes. Without even looking at him, made the splinters grow exponentially and he yelped as spikes started coming out from the inside of his shoulder. The one on my left was already in mid leap expecting me to have turned my back. He realized too late his mistake. I put barbs on five of the branches coming off of my arm and made them grow to about a foot wide. I grabbed him with all five and slammed him into the ground. The force of the impact put a small crater in the ground as he howled in pain. The branches began to slither up and down his body dragging the barbs with it until he was completely immobilized by it. I detached those branches and turned to the other three. Two were in a defensive stance in front of the alpha. I would normally let them go, but I had to see this through to end this for good. I pulled the energy from my arms back until my arms were human. I then rose up five feet and detached from the spikes. As I fell I gather my energy in my feet. As soon as I hit the ground I let it explode out. Vines and roots started racing towards the group as it weaved in and out of the ground. The two in front didn't have time to do anything before the wood shot out of the ground and spiraled around them, tightening until they couldn't move. The alpha jumped seven feet in the air trying to get over them, but the rest of the wood shot up in spikes and vines grabbed and constrained his limbs. The spikes cut into his left shoulder down to his right knee. Not very deep, but enough that he felt it. To his credit, he didn't howl like the other two, just a grunt and a grimace. I lowered him until he was face to face with me. I could see a glow on his face from my extrasight. Those eyes looked defiant, but scared. With a wooden gauntlet over my hand to get a good grip, I grabbed his throat and pulled him closer. "You will never enter my woods again. If you do, I will decimate your pack until naught but blood and meat remain. Gather your wounded and go. Remember the feral is mine." I was really good at mimicking the tone from Litria's first speech to me. I pulled back the wood from the wolves and they staggered to their feet. The one I dropped second tried charging me and I turned to face him. The Alpha then growled form behind me and he stopped. I let go of the alpha and walked over to the feral as they gathered themselves and left. As the alpha left he turned and looked at me with barely contained malice. So much for solving this permanently. I turned to the feral and slowly sat next to it. It looked up at me before passing out. With all threats gone, I had no more drive to stay conscious. I put my hand on the side of its massive head and slowly before settling in to sleep next to it. Right before I slept I pulled back my energy and turned off my extrasight. I was immediately assailed by intense fatigue as the drain from the fight set in. I didn't have a chance at staying awake and welcomed the embrace of sleep. Spritely Fellow Ch. 04 I'd like to make a quick note here. If you want to sleep soundly and have normal dreams, don't get involved in the supernatural. Seriously those fuckers take a sleeping mind to be a sign that you are open and willingly asking for business. They don't make you tired physically, but it can leave you frustrated and mentally strung out if you had a bad day and want some alone time or, gods forbid, sleep. I woke up after the fight with the lycans as drained as I had been before sleep. My soul was drained far beyond what I had done in my two training sessions and had sort of thinned out to compensate. It fell to about half its normal size during the fight and for the time I was tapping into it with my extrasight, but as soon as I had relaxed my soul swelled out to its normal boundaries with what energy it had. This incurred a feeling similar to if you get up to fast, only ten time's worse. For a better analogy, imagine a jet pilot in a nose dive. So you can imagine I was quite content merely laying there on the dirt. That biting cold dirt. I tried shifting to a more comfortable position before I froze, in more ways than one. Dirt was not this cold. I had gained the motivation to get up and look around. I was no longer in the forest I had slept in. A white blanket of snow covered everything as far as I could see. Some flakes were drifting out of the sky in a slow march. The horizon did a familiar curve upwards into the ceiling. There were mountains several miles away, although it took me a while to gauge their full size as they seemed to crawl up the walls. I knew this type of place. I was in someone's soul. I REALLY wanted to sleep. Getting to my feet, I noticed I had torn up my shoes and pants. I would have some trouble explaining that, but figured that war for another time. I didn't see anyone around for miles, so I decided to head for the mountains. I got about twenty feet before the whole "no shoes in the snow" thing registered. I turned my feet into wood and grew an inch of bark to make do. The cold still seeped through, but it was workable. After about an hour of walking, I started to get a little upset. I was tired, cold, and in dire need of some homemade dinner. Whatever was planned needed to happen sooner rather than later. Triggering my extrasight, I re-swept the horizon, picking up a few signatures. I immediately noticed there were several lycan souls around. They seemed to enjoy running around in packs in this terrain, as they didn't seem to have the stern seriousness about them that they usually have. It was the first time I really paid attention to what the soul of a lycan looks like. A standard human soul is a colored ball the size of the torso. It is big enough to have all the organs in it, but nothing else. The lycan soul is shrouded in a mist. The mist covers an area large enough for the entirety of their transformed body to be covered, but it doesn't have the density of souls. The mist itself makes it hard to pin where they are with the extrasight, yet I could still make out the vague shape of their soul in there. When I looked closely, I saw a human and a wolf. They both seemed like nothing more than a shadow in the fog, both phasing In and out of sight, but it was clear that they both existed there at the same time even if one was more dominant than the other at any given time. Sometimes it would be a wolf head, and then would change to a human head. One moment it was a paw, the next it was a hand. I was entranced by this shifting existing. It seemed like it should be confusing, but there was a natural flow to it. I couldn't put my finger on what it was, but there was something primal that was guiding this change. The cold began to penetrate my core as I walked up to the mountain. I had made a pretty steady pace in this cold because the snow didn't seem to pile up here. As I approached the base of the mountain, I was reminded of Everest. It wasn't that tall for a mountain, but it was completely covered in snow and was capped by a large ridge that looked like a giant knife edge. Something about it just seemed to beckon anyone nearby to climb. I started the ascent, determined to do it without my abilities. It felt wrong to do it any other way. The feeling is hard to describe. It was a subtle, yet overpowering compulsion. Another hour of climbing saw me a quarter ways up the mountain. It only seemed like 1000 feet up, but it was all sheer cliffs straight up. The very stone seemed to be trying to discourage me, as it cut deeper than it should and burned with the cold. If I was more equipped or sturdier, I might have made it the whole way. As I was at the time, I saw a ledge on my right and climbed to it. It seemed to lead to a ledge with a frozen pool about fifty feet across. I climbed up and rolled onto the stone edge of the pool. Completely exhausted and out of breath, I did not see the lycans walk onto the lake. There were six of them, a full pack, complete with an alpha to lead them in. The pack noticed me and started moving towards me. I almost deactivated my extrasight to conserve energy, and then I remembered the whiplash it caused last time. The alpha looked very different than the other lycans. He stood easily eight feet tall and had three inch claws on each paw. His eyes were completely yellow with a large black pupil and his teeth seemed longer than usual. The part that stood out was his fur. It was such a brilliant white and was riddled with scars. He wore rudimentary satchels around himself that were organized to show every battle scar. He looked ferocious, deadly, and very pissed to see me. Instead I looked down to check the size of my soul. It had shrunk to a foot shorter than me. It was brighter than I had ever seen it before, about the level of a black light, and the soultree had a smaller balcony cut out for it. I wagered it was about 60% smaller. I would normally just o what I did last fight, but I didn't want to push it as this was my life essence. Instead I took in my situation and tried to think it through. The ledge was three feet behind me, leading to a seven hundred foot drop. They might be able to climb, so that was out. They entered from a pathway that was 60 feet away. I would have to give them a diversion to pull that off. The cliff continued straight up everywhere else. Maybe they weren't hostile? No, they were moving into a half circle and closing in. My back was to the ledge so there was no retreat. It seems like I invaded their territory, so I wouldn't be able to scare them off either. I then thought back to my fight with the lycans. A cold lump settled in my stomach as I realized the only plan that could work here. I wasn't sure I could pull it off, but I wasn't about to just roll over dead. "Hey, listen I didn't mean to come here, so I'll just be on my --" The two on the corners started moving to my sides. Well, I tried. I formed wooden spikes from behind my thighs to use as support and took a stance like I was about to wrestle. The other four wolves put the alpha in the back with a football line of the other three. 'Fuck territorial instincts.' I had enough time for that one final thought before the two to my sides charged. I released the energy I had stored in my feet to make two long stilts shoot out. The lycans collided and snapped the wood with their bodies as I reformed the stilts into spikes. The two outside linebackers saw my plan and lunged at me. I smile das my plan worked perfectly. While the first part of their plan was thought out, the second part was pure instinct. Wolves try to bite and lunge. It was a powerful, lethal, and predictable. I shot the energy through my spikes to plant them into the spikes I had placed from my thighs. The connection gave the leverage necessary to create two large elastic wooden whips and redirect the lunging lycans at the two on the ground. It took every ounce of coordination and focus to pull this off. I was rewarded with the sight of the four lycans careening off the cliff to their deaths. The last two stood shocked at the sudden change in the tides as I landed on my feet. I checked my soul again and saw I was at 30% capacity. I needed to end this quickly. Taking the initiative, I charged the lycan in front of me and grew three spike arms from my wrist. I moved them around to make sure they would bend properly to my will. Putting my right hand on point, I extended them like four lances. The lycan ducked to my right and lunged. I was not expecting the speed and got tackled for my weakness. I didn't touch the ground for way too long before I hit the rock. The mark on my back took the brunt of the blow, but my eyes still flashed red with little black spots everywhere. My extrasight didn't fail thankfully, so I could still track their souls. It wasn't reliable for pinpoint, but I could tell he was over me with the mist everywhere. A wolf materialized in front of me in the soul. It looked right at me and snarled. I should have been scared. Should have regretted the way I was about to die. Your life was supposed to flash before your eyes. The only thing I could see was the spots going away and my vision coming back. The lycans massive maw was coming towards my face. The ledge was right there, if I rolled off I could've made it with my abilities. I could run away and hope it didn't chase me. It sounded smart, but didn't really register as an option. I had to do something else until the end. I had to fight. And so I reached my arm back to punch that lycan son of a bitch in his smug giant head. I poured every single bit of the energy I had into my entire arm. My arm reeled back before shaking with tension. It was like a tree branch bent back hard. It slammed into the side of his head knocking him out cold as I sat limply against the wall. The alpha stood close behind and looked at me. He growled in rage as he walked over to me. He dropped to all fours in front of me, turning the growl into a full snarl with his teeth showing. I looked him in his yellow wolf eyes and took a deep breath. Then I roared right back with the residual energy in my arm pouring into my voice. My immature little twelve year old voice mixed with the wind and fury of a forest. A typhoon's roar entered my lungs as I yelled and screamed my defiance to this wolf. He leapt back a few feet and took a defensive stance. I laughed with the last breath in my lungs before I passed out. Everything rushed to black as my head fell limp. I heard one last thing, from a voice I had never heard before. It had a deep rumble to it, but showed a surprising degree of emotion for a lycan. "You have some fight in you, boy. You might be just what I need." I woke up back in the forest completely tanked. I want you to realize something; I was a durable little dude. I was more mature than others because of my constant conversations with forces of nature. I could take more at twelve, than some can take at twenty. I still couldn't change the fact that I was twelve. I would love to blame what happens next on being tired, but that's not entirely true. As I got to my knees in an attempt to stand, I was assailed by a searing pain throughout my entire body. I fell onto all fours and the impact of my hands onto the dirt caused even more pain. I shut my eyes against the agony as hot tears streamed down my face. I fell to my side, unable to hold myself up any longer and was hit by another spike of pain. It was too all consuming to scream, instead my mouth was locked open into a silent scream as air wheezed out. I have heard people say that it hurts to breath, but the breath itself felt like fire going in and out of my throat. I lasted about five seconds of it before I blacked out again under a smooth light of green. I awoke again, terrified of the pain returning to those horrifying levels. I froze and felt my heart rate soar. That pain had been...crushing. It was like thermite put under my skin and in my lungs. My entire body felt like it was tearing at itself using my nerves. After a full hour of sitting there with my eyes closed, I finally mustered the courage to wiggle a finger. Sensing nothing I stretched my leg from the fetal positionI have never in my entire life been happier to just have cramps everywhere from sleeping on the floor. I slowly got to my feet, carefully moving bit by bit to not cause more pain, and dusted myself off. The pain looked like it was gone for good, and I was young enough to completely lose all apprehension once I thought that. I stretched out as many muscles as I could to get some of those kinks out of my body. After a few minutes I looked up at the sky to check the time. I must have been out for the night and then some because it was at least three in the afternoon. That's about when I checked my surroundings for the first time. A few things became evident, all of which held great importance: The feral was gone, my clothes were missing, I had scars on both of my shoulders shaped like claw marks, and the area around me in a perfect circle was now a six foot wide charred crater. Threat-wise, the lycan was the biggest threat. Given my interaction with eleven out of twelve lycans, I wasn't in a very welcoming position. Despite my dread of the possible pain, I had to check my assets. My extrasight kicked in with no incident, but now I could feel it coming into effect. I felt the energy streaming up to my eyes and filling them up. I then stretched out with a single tendril of my soulreach and felt every bit of its motion. I tried tweaking it into positions that I couldn't do before to no avail, but it definitely felt like I had more control of it. It was then that I took inventory of the most important part, my soul. It had changed dramatically to something more...fierce. Before it was a liquid blob with stubs for my arms and legs, but now it was completely defined. It was now a full body representation that seemed to swirl around me like a fire given form. I looked at my arms as my soul raged around my physical limb. It looked like I was wearing an oversized gauntlet with sharp, defined edges at every joint. The fingers were all slightly longer and ended with a spike and the arms looked formidable as well. I needed a better look at myself, so I used the trees around to give me a better vantage point. My soul's surface was a full four inches away from my skin. The exterior was a slower moving red energy with a faster paced fire raging past the first inch. It spiked at my shoulders and at the tips of everything, but in a way that seemed to accentuate the overall shape. It looked like a violent suit of armor over me, but it felt right. In hindsight, it was my soul so it makes sense that it looked natural to me. I tested my how it looked as I moved and saw all the joints actively change shape to compensate. I also notices that extremities seemed to leak as I moved, leaving a smoky trail of my soul as I moved. When I stopped it seemed to refill from my core and look more solid. I immediately turned around to check on my soul's tenant. Cassandra's soultree remained on my back as it had been before. It seemed more like the edges were clearer, but overall it looked the same as before. Instead of a roughhewn chunk cut out at my back, my soul seemed to have a platform held up by what looked like support beams. The roots draped over the side and plugged into the beams and I could feel my energy flowing into it. The drain itself felt less strong than it had before, but I figured i had just gotten used to it. 'Cassandra? Are you okay?' I saw her appear on the platform beside the tree and she nodded in the affirmative. She didn't look at my body, but instead at the eye in the trees I was looking through. She looked unharmed, but something seemed different. 'I am unharmed, thank you. I was about to ask you the same, but you seemed to have come out better than before. After you went to sleep, I saw your consciousness be pulled out of your body along with your soul. I tried to follow, but your body began to fail after you left and I was forced to remain in order to keep you alive. After you returned, your soul was but a spark. I was scared that you had died or ended your own life in the realm you were brought to until I saw it slowly begin to grow. Something from that realm reached at your soul and took a piece of it. I tried to stop it, but I couldn't. I swear I tried, but it was too strong. I...I wasn't strong enough to help you and you were dying. Your soul was so fragile that I was sure that you had been killed.' She began to shake as she spoke. I could see her rose colored eyes shift around in a desperate attempt to keep from tears. 'The piece was returned a few moments later, but it had become more ancient somehow. It altered your soul as it grew into what it is now. The ground burnt from the energy the changes gave off. I was barely able to contain it to such a small zone. I couldn't stop it or even slow it down...' She leaned against the soultree and covered her face in her hands. 'I thought you said you wouldn't save me?' I said in a soft joking voice. My Dad taught me many things, including how to comfort someone. Sometimes they just need a distraction. It was clear she didn't get it completely as her head snapped up. She looked pissed and was about to speak until she recognized I was joking. Her face froze when she saw me holding in a laugh with a wide smile. I poured energy into our connection so she could take full form. My smile softened into a small grin as I hugged her. I pulled back and looked at some dirt as I got some emotions out. "Thanks Cassandra. You probably just saved my life again by keeping me together, so don't go falling apart on me, okay?" Not exactly Shakespearian prose, but it seemed to have gotten the point across as I finally got a smile on her face. It really lit up when she did that and I was able to stop fidgeting. I could see her face starting to tremble as she quickly pulled me close. Her breath caught in her throat as she nestled her face in my hair. I felt something warm on my head that began to flow down to my face. I pulled back from her to feel my head for an injury. My hand came back with a tinted yellow liquid. "What is this stuff?" I looked up at her to see her eyes brimming with the stuff. She was crying. A supernatural being with no tear ducts was producing tears. I don't know what it says about me that this concerned me more than her emotional state. "How are you able to cry? What happened to you?" I looked closely and finally put my finger on what was different. All of her colors and placement were the same, but she was no longer made entirely of plants. Her skin was no longer a mesh of leaves and petals, but instead was a translucent green-tinted skin. Underneath this was a flurry of the old materials blowing as if she was a self-contained typhoon. Her eyes still had the rose iris, however it was now contained on a leaf green eyeball. She looked considerably more...human. "I think your souls awakening had an effect on me through our connection." She was looking at her hand as if this was a normal thing. "It's possible that this is a variation of what happened when you first tried to manipulate your soul. Our coalescence seems to have the potential to transform both of us." "Is this a big deal?" I was panicking while she was her usual calm again. "Wait, does this mean that our connection could change you completely? I don't want to change you Cass." "It could potentially render me unable to use some of my abilities, however I can keep tabs on my energy to counter these effects in the same manner that you do." Her hand dropped again to her side as she looked back at me. Her face had instantaneously returned to that royal indifference that I was used to seeing. Only the slight glistening wetness on her cheek remained as evidence of any emotions showing in the first place. I was always awestruck by her self-control and ability to return to calm after any emotion. It was like a switch. If I was an observant man I would have seen this as a problem to be solved, but I wasn't observant or a man. Besides, I had bigger problems that were rushing back into the spotlight. It served to push my concerns for Cassandra to the back of my mind. Spritely Fellow Ch. 04 "Where is the Feral? I'm not very comfortable with a giant, insane wolf hunting me." I turned from her to check the surrounding woods with a cautious eye. I changed my stance to make as little noise as possible as I started to move away. Just like hunting foxes. Cassandra floated silently beside me, slowly fading to her ethereal form as she returned to the soultree. Normally hunting a large predator unarmed was unwise, but normal didn't really apply to me. I channeled more energy into my extrasight to scan the area. Off in the distance, near the ravine was the soul of the feral. It had changed significantly since I last saw. It remained the same as a lycan soul, only the color had turned to sheer white and the wolf and human parts had merged and were both completely solid at the same time. The change seemed negligible, so I crept silently towards it. As I came closer to the ravine edge, the trees began to thin out. I could finally see directly to where the feral was, but the its soul was blocking my sight. I turned off my extrasight and saw the feral's human form for the first time. At least a part of it anyway. It seemed stuck in mid transformation as it sat awkwardly on the edge. Its left arm was still full lycan and its ears were still completely wolf-like, but the rest was human. It looked to be around my age with smooth, unnaturally white skin to match its new silver hair. I was so intrigued by the changes she had gone through I almost came out of hiding to see the feral from up close. I even took a step towards it before I remembered my track record with lycans. First one tried to maul me, the next five tried to systematically kill me, and the next group jumped me on a mountain cliff. With a new appreciation for stealth and caution, I returned to my hidden position. I still wanted to get a closer look though. I snuck to a bush on the cliff edge off to the feral's side to get a better look and noticed something. Something that I had not noticed before, but was incredibly apparent now that I could see its front. The revelation was so sudden that I couldn't help but blurt it out. "You're a girl!" She was startled by the sudden noise breaking the silence I had painstakingly maintained. Given my experience with lycans so far, I was expecting her to spin around and prepare to maul me. The response I got made me tense up even more. She quickly turned her head and relaxed when she saw me. A warm smile spread across her face as she recognized my face. "You must be Mykris Hale, right? Fenrir told me you would be coming. He said you saved me from my pack while I was transforming." She got up from the edge, careful to not lose her balance with her lycan limbs, and slowly walked in front of me to sit. It was impossible for her to cross her feet because one of her legs was a bulky wolf leg, so she set her human leg straight and bent her other one beneath it. There was something disarming about the way that she came over. A comfortable sort of clumsiness that felt like something close friends would show to each other. That subtle feeling gave my curiosity an edge over my caution, allowing me to come out from the bushes and into the clearing where she sat. I thought over what she had said for a few seconds before responding. "Wait, who is Fenrir? And how does he know me?" Just once I want to meet a supernatural person and not have the first words out of my mouth be a question, but they never seemed to present the opportunity. She tilted her head at my question and looked quizzically at me. Her eyes had changed from the yellow she had as a feral to the pale blue you see in arctic wolves. Now that I was this close and actually looking her over my curiosity disappeared and embarrassment rushed in to take its place. She was completely naked in front of me and the positioning of her legs let me see her most private parts. She opened her mouth to answer me before I cut her off. "You know what?" I said as I spun around and turned beet red, "You find some clothes and we can figure this out later. Sound good? Yes it does. I think it sounds great don't you?" the words came flying out of my mouth as I completely stiffened up. I wish I had kept talking because the silence that followed seemed to last forever. After what seemed like forever she finally made a noise. It was muffled so I couldn't quite make out what she was doing. Then she inhaled loudly and started laughing. She laughed and giggled until she didn't have any breath to keep it up anymore. I could hear her breathing heavily after that as there was a rustling sound behind me of her sitting upright again. She cleared her throat and spoke with mirth still evident in her voice. "I don't have any clothes. Lycans usually stay close to home because we have to come back nude. We don't have a problem with it." "I do. So where do you live so we can get you dressed?" the silence that followed wasn't very comforting. "You do live around here don't you?" "I don't know." "What do you mean you don't know? You said lycans don't change away from home so they can get clothes so you live nearby, right?" "That doesn't apply for ferals. I don't remember half of what I did and that means I don't know where I went. I'm sorry that this doesn't help." She sounded genuinely disappointed that she couldn't help me. That put some ice on the heat coming into my voice. "Ok, I guess that makes sense. Um...oh I know what we can do!" I took of my shirt and threw it behind me. "Put that on. You look a little shorter than me so it should work to cover everything. My parents just left like a week ago, so we can head to my house and find you some clothes. Maybe Aur-" I froze as I remembered that I was supposed to meet Aurora at my place. She was going to kick my ass for this, but I didn't have any other options. I sighed and slumped my shoulders as I turned around to check on her. The shirt went to about the middle of her thigh. IT might have looked indecent, but the shredded arms took attention away from the lack of pants. Or at least I hoped it would. "Okay you need to change to full human form before we can go." "I can't." "What?" I looked her dead in the eyes. "I've been trying but I can't get the fur to go away. I could usually just dig inside for my human form, but I feel all jumbled right now." She scrunched up her eyes and tried again to no avail. She let out a small sigh before looking at the ground dejected. "I'm sorry master..." I decided to throw the "master" remark onto the ever growing pile of questions. We needed to get this fixed and soon. It was going to be night again soon. Knowing Aurora, theres an ambush waiting at my house. I was supposed to meet her for our weekly video game contest and I was a day late. I started sweating when I imagined what cruel and heinous tortures she would put me through. "Sorry to interrupt, but it is getting really cold out here." The feral was hugging herself to stop from shivering. I felt the cold, but it didn't bite deep at all. It was actually refreshing to feel on my bare upper body. Resigning myself to my fate, I started leading the way to my home. As we trudged through the woods to the main road, I asked her one last question. "What is your name? I can't keep calling you 'the feral' forever." "My name is Valeria Lowell, master." "Hmm, Valeria...It's a cool name. Oh and drop the master bit please." "Yes, sir." "That is even worse." "Master it is then." The woods echoed the noises of my frustrated yells and Valeria's barely contained giggles. When we made it to the road it was completely dark out, which really helped to calm me down. I was worried that someone might see me walking with her and tell Aurora. She would bring another level of ass whooping if she found out I ditched her for a girl. There I was, walking with a half transformed lycan down a suburban street and I was worried about my friend getting pissed at me for not playing games with her. Twelve year old priorities are truly top notch. When we got to my house I kicked on my extrasight to scan the house. I could see Aurora's sky blue soul in my room in the closet waiting. She had the patience of a sniper. I pushed my senses into a tree inmy front yard to look in my window and saw what could have been confused for a real life mousetrap game board. She even built a makeshift cage for me to fall into at the end. It scares me how much time she put into this. I turned the trees eyes towards me to see how we looked. My soul looked just as imposing as it was in the woods so that seemed permanent. Valeria's soul had changed however. While lycans had the mist surrounding their soul, Valeria's soul was crisp and solid. I realized that there wasn't two separate souls in the mists, but rather a single entity that would have parts of itself change into either a wolf or human variant. Her soul had become similar to my new one in that it was now shaped like a human with clearly defined limbs and head. Where her body was still transformed, the soul was shaped like a lycan and everywhere else was human and...womanly. Her soul looked like a twenty-something year old lady. There were no defining features as her soul was smooth, but the size and curves were readily apparent. I realized I was looking at what shape she would take in her prime. An idea popped into my head to fix her transformation problems. If her soul was anything like mine, maybe she could control it the same way. I motioned for us to go through the side into the backyard. IT was further away from my room and had ample room to test this out. "Valeria, we need to get you to be fully human before we go in. My friend Aurora is waiting inside and doesn't know anything about people like us yet. My dad said we shouldn't let other people know about our abilities. We need to look normal." I summed up the situation as best I could so that she would understand. She had sit down on her knees and her wolf ears were perked up attentively. The moon light seemed to accentuate everything about her, especially her silver hair and pale wolf eyes. It gave her snow white skin a glow. I needed to focus. I turned around and began to pace as I described my experiments with my own soul. When it got to my first time meditating, I skipped over the emotional details. "Basically, you have to imagine your soul looking like a wolf in all the transformed parts. It helps if you look at your soul and pull your human soul over the wolf part." She looked realy confused at that. She looked down at her wolf arm and back at me. "What is it?" "Master you said to look at my soul. I can't do that." "What do you mean you can't?" Déjà vu. "Only Watchers can see a soul without any tools and those tools are only handled by the governments and higher ups." "But that can't be true. I can see your soul just fine." I activated my extrasight to demonstrate my point. I could see the light from my eyes reflecting off of her hair. Her eyes widened in shock and she resisted a gasp. "You are a Watcher? I saw you manipulate the wood to your will! How can you be a Watcher and a Treant?" So apparently I had the traits of a Treant and a Watcher. I knew Treants were people who could manipulate and pull nature into themselves. I thought that Cassandra had made me one when we merged together. "Hold on I need to ask Cassandra about this." "Cassandra?" I had already looked away to try and contact her as I responded. "Yeah she is a...never mind." I needed to figure this out now before I could do anything. 'Cass do you know what a watcher is?' I had learned a while ago that the best way to get answers was to ask the questions one at a time. 'I remember a Watcher roaming into the woods near London a few years ago. He was able to see me when he focused, but it took a great deal of his energy away from him. The knights he traveled with were attempting to hunt the sprite of those woods after she had slain a small group of loggers.' Knights? I feel 'a few years ago' was an understatement. 'He is the only one to ever enter the woods and he seemed human beyond that. Even when the sprite retaliated against them, he never showed any other power. I would assume that Watchers cannot do anything else.' 'Couldn't he have been hiding it as a trump card?' 'The knights formation focused on keeping him alive, and even as he died he did nothing extraordinary.' 'Alright, what about Treants?' 'You aren't a Treant.' Normally I would be upset with a short answer, but Valeria was getting cold. I needed a solution for my current problem, not my identity crisis. 'Do you know how she can change back? I'm out of ideas.' 'I will not intervene with, nor change your life.' If I had a nickel for every time she said that, I could afford locks for the windows that Aurora kept slipping in through. I needed to figure this out by myself and soon. I scanned my backyard to find a good place for us to sit down and work on this. My backyard had a small swimming pool in the center with lawn all around. On the far wall was a cluster of trees with a bench in the middle. I used it as a place to talk with Cassandra and meditate. The fence was lined with vines and rose bushes that my mom kept meticulously cared for. I figured the trees would be a good place to rest and get Valeria off of the grass. I walked over there and sat down. Valeria sat where she was until I patted the seat next to me. She dutifully got up and sat next to me. "How do you usually change?" I figured I could use what I see as a starting point to figure out what she needed to change to transform. Valeria was silent for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. When she began speaking, her eyes were focused on her transformed claws. "We have a tightness inside of us when we are in human form that we just sort of...release. To change back we just imagine packing ourselves up tight. It's hard to explain." She looked like she was searching for the right words before she gave up and looked at the floor. "Hey it's okay. I'm just as lost as you are, but I think we can figure this out together." She seriously did not like letting me down. Why? Add one to the pile o' questions. "Do you feel the tightness now?" "No but I feel like I have springs in my muscles. It's like how I feel as a wolf, but now it is there all the time. I also am more in control of my wolf bits." To demonstrate she swung her relatively massive limb in front of me and wiggled her fingers. I noticed that her human upper arm was able to support the heavy claw and forearm. So she is stronger than any human and in more control than any lycan. "It sounds and looks like the two forms have merged into a single form that has the best of both worlds." I looked at her again and noticed something else. She was only like a wolf at her extremities and ears. Just like when I had accidently turned my arm to wood. I snapped my fingers when the realization hit me. "Your energy is pooled! You just have to pull it back into yourself, hopefully." As in 'hopefully wolf energy is less stubborn than wood.' "How do I do that?" I was silent as I tried to figure out how to describe it. "Imagine that your fur is water or light or something. You have to suck it back into your core through your arm. Not your torso, but the core. The same place that tightness was, I guess." Fucking top notch explanation skills right there. She thought over what I said before looking at her arm and trying to stare it down. She was too tense. "Try closing your eyes, it helped me my first time." She closed her eyes and let a sense of calm wash over her. After a few moments like this, I saw the fur begin to pull back into her body as her limbs shrunk. Her wolf ears dragged down to their normal position and reverted to their normal shape. After about ten seconds, she was back to normal. She opened her eyes and smiled when she looked herself over. She got up and ran in circles. It was nice to see her move without having to throw the weight of her limbs around. I cheered after she stopped and stared at me with pride bright in her eyes. With the physical problem solved, I now had to worry about the mental part. Valeria continued running around and doing cartwheels as I tried to sort out all the questions in my head. Maybe I could peel a few off the pile if I tried. How do I explain this to Aurora? How do I avoid her wrath? Wait, not getting her mad might be a bad thing. With all my questions, I missed the really important one. "Valeria, when will you be able to head home?" "My home is with you, master." "WHAT! WHAT THE HEL-", I clapped my hand over my mouth and looked at the house to see if Aurora had heard. No lights had turned on and no footsteps stomping downstairs so I was still good. Valeria was cowering in front of me with her eyes wide. If she still had wolf ears, they would be flat against her head. I clamped my mouth shut as I pushed emotions down a notch. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before I opened them and looked directly into her eyes. "What do you mean that your home is with me?", I spoke in a controlled whisper. Valeria had fallen backwards and was inching away from me with one hand in between me and her defensively. She was still scared from me yelling. This girl who could transform into a massive killing machine was absolutely terrified of me. She managed to gather enough courage to actually say something, even if it was in a shaky whisper. "Fenrir told me that if I was saved from my pack during the transcendence, I had to be loyal and subservient to that person until I could rise to my destined role. This person would watch over me and help me grow in power until I was capable to take my position." She saw the question in my face and spoke quickly to avoid anymore yelling. "Fenrir is the god of the hunt and the primary deity of the Lycans. You spoke to him when you entered his realm." When she finished talking, the silence made her start fidgeting in place. I was not comfortable with this fear she had of me. "You don't need to be scared of me. I'm not going to hurt you. Besides you can turn into a giant lycan and smack me across my yard, so why are you afraid?" I slowly reached for her hand to help her up. She looked up at me and searched my eyes. I smiled until she finally relaxed and gave me a small smile back. "I remember a frozen mountain and fighting some lycans there, but I don't think I saw you or this Fenrir there." "He was the one who led the pack against you. I was instructed to watch from the ridge above to witness your power." "You were watching? Why didn't you help me?", I said with my hands on my hips. I could see her beginning to look back at the ground again. "Don't get all mopey on me. I told you I wasn't going to hit you or anything. You are a lycan so be more...strong or something. You even got the attention of your god which I'm pretty sure doesn't happen often, right?" She thought about that for a moment before she nodded to herself held her chin up and looked me directly in the eyes. She even puffed out her chest to try and look bigger. That's more like it. "Fenrir was testing you to be my master. If you failed you would have died, but you managed to impress him and so I became your omega. I could not intervene under his orders. You did not seem like you needed it either." "Isn't an omega the shunned member of the pack? Why would he put you there?" "It is only that way for wolves, master. Lycans put their youngest or pack members in training in that position." I was quiet as I mulled that over. This silence felt more comfortable than the last and served to calm us both down. I figured could use this to get on more level terms with her. "I did need your help, by the way. I nearly died in that fight." Spritely Fellow Ch. 04 "That's not what I saw, master." "Then we need to work on your observation skills. I was literally back against the wall and ended up blacking out. I was completely defenseless for who knows how long. That Fenrir guy could have finished me off in his sleep." "That is the amazing part. In my old pack, we would often run together in our shared sleep. We would spend our nights running through his realms. Many would face his pack of fallen alphas as a rite of passage for omegas. The rite consisted of survival for an hour with Fenrir's pack hunting them. You didn't survive, but as an inexperienced combatant you managed to slay four of his pack and incapacitate another. Only those who later became alphas did this, and even they required practice and many attempts to stand a chance." "They didn't expect me to have any powers or anything. They jumped me and I got a good surprise attack in before that took four of them out and the last one took all I had just to knock out. I was still tired from fighting your pack off of you." "You managed to surprise five of the most experienced and powerful lycans in existence with the energy you had left over from fighting my pack. That is an extreme degree of power for someone so young." Seriously I'm amazed I didn't grow up with a massive ego. "Is that why you were all scared of me? Because I killed those lycans? They were trying to kill me so I don't really think that was my fault." A psychiatrist somewhere else in the world ears perked up and he can't quite figure out why. I am equally amazed I didn't grow up to be a serial killer. "I was not scared!" ,She crossed her arms and huffed indignantly. "I was told by Fenrir that you had saved me and that you would protect me, but I was kinda... unsure after I saw you fight. I might have hidden towards the end and the last thing I remember before waking up was the sound of the wind's fury ripping through the canyon. Still, Fenrir said to trust you and so I do." She stayed in that pose for a while before adding, "When you yell, I heard the same voice I heard in that storm. Your eyes also had that glow when you fought. I keep thinking you are going to fight me." She looked away from me and began to shift uneasily under my gaze. So she thought I was going to go off at any moment. "As long as you don't threaten me or anyone I care about I won't get like that." There was yet another silence as I let that sink in. I figured it was time to digress. "So you're like my servant now?" "I am, master." "Stop calling me master or sir or alpha. My name is Mykris Hale" I said in my best chiding voice. Her ears were turning red with cold so I had to finish this up quick. "One last question before we head inside: what is this position that I'm supposed to help you get to anyway? "I am to be the next god of the hunt, master. I will need your strength until then." I froze as she said that. My entire body went rigid as the realization hit me. I remembered the lycan from the mountain looking me over. He wanted to be sure I was strong enough to train a god? That's what the test was for? I may be unique but I'm not stronger than a god! "I don't think I'm the one who should teach you. I don't deserve that sort of respect-or fear." I put my hands up in front of me as I back pedaled. She looked at me incredulously. "You can't back out of this, master. Fenrir chose you and only you." "Well then he can unchoose me. I can give you a place to stay, but I won't be of any use." I was already walking into the house as she started to chase me. "Where am I supposed to go then? My pack will continue to hunt me and has no doubt informed the elders of my ferality. I can't go back!" "You have a GOD backing you up! He can tell those elders and the entire lycan race what to do. You don't need me and I can't help you." "Even Fenrir can't convince lycans to go against the elders. I have nowhere else to go, master."I kept walking inside and no longer heard her footsteps behind me stop. "Mykris PLEASE!" she pleaded. I stopped and slowly turned around. Her fists were balled at her sides and her eyes brimmed with tears. She was scrunching up her face to try and hold back her emotions, but she was losing the fight. She was keeping her chest puffed out and trying to keep her chin high. "I can be strong, just don't tell me to go away. Please..." That's cheating. She could have told me to convert to Taoism or cut off my arm then and I would have seriously considered it given the way she looked. The full moon was out in all its lunar glory tonight. The moon beams caught her silver hair as it fell around her face. Her eyes shone with a pale luminescence that complimented the white glow her skin gave off. I watched a single tear catch the light as it rolled down her face. When it fell from her face I snapped out of it and walked towards her. I couldn't leave her like this. Regardless of how she got here, Valeria Lowell was depending on me right now. She needed me and I wasn't about to walk out on her. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close. She kept her arms at her sides fearing that her movements would let all the tears out. I put my hand on the back of her head and let her bury her head in my shoulder. She felt so damn cold against me. "Alright you can stay. I'll figure everything out so don't worry. You will have a home here with me until you can move on by yourself." I could feel her arms grab my back and pull me closer. Her fingers were like ice. God, how cold was she? "Let's get you inside." I kicked that part of my brain responsible for lies into overdrive. I had about twenty seconds before Aurora flew down those stairs and took a swing at me. Reviewing the how the situation would look and taking into account our appearance I formulated a story that would work. "My friend Aurora will be down here shortly and will only falter for a second when she sees you. Don't freak out when she comes here and just remember. Your dad's name is Fenrir Lowell and he is a total asshole." A small payback for the pain I felt when I woke up. She didn't even question it and just nodded. On cue, I hear stomping coming downstairs. Aurora comes downstairs in a tank top and some sweats. She still had some chip dust on her fingers from eating all of the snacks in my pantry. "I swear to god Mykris i'm going to put foot so far up your scrawny little ass that-" She stopped right at the entrance to the kitchen where I had sat Valeria with some milk to drink. I was sitting next to her with my arm rubbing her back for comfort. I turned and gave my best "how can you be so insensitive" look. I got up from the table and pulled Aurora into the next room. Her confusion was just barely keeping her from beating me. I had to play to her pity and hope that Valeria crying affected her as much as me. "That is Valeria Lowell. Her dad kicked her out of his house a few days ago and I found her wandering in the woods yesterday. You see those scars? Her dad fucking beat her Roara. I'm letting her lay low here for now." I slowly started guiding her back into the kitchen and kept whispering to her. "It took me all of yesterday, today, and my shirt to get her to trust me. She is really attached to me right now." "Why don't you just call Child Protective Services or something?" That is an excellent question. I sighed as if this information was dramatic to buy some time. In a second I had it. "Her Dad works there. He is really high up in the food chain and knows all the places that kids in these situations go. He doesn't know here though and he thinks that he is probably dead in a ditch somewhere. He had her with a mistress and never reported her. He lives a few states over and won't look for her here. C'mon you saw the scars Aurora. I'll let you beat me up tomorrow, but today she needs me." Channel your inner Dr. Phil. Oh wait I forgot to make to make it a secret between us. "I need you for this. I can't tell anyone else, not even my parents." Channel your inner wounded puppy eyes. She stared at me for a while to make sure I was serious before sighing. She smiled at me and put her arm on my shoulder. "You can count on me Micro!" The relief that flowed through me suppressed my need to remind her of my name. I let a little of the relief show, but not enough that she would know I was lying. I gave her a hug that lifted her off the ground. IT took a little extra juice but I pulled it off. "Listen, I need to help her calm down a bit more, o just wait upstairs for me." She nodded with a serious look before her eyes widened and she froze. I resisted spinning around to see what she was looking at, fearing it was a eight foot tall white lycan. She nodded rapidly before turning and running up the stairs. I didn't see anything behind me, but understood why when I heard the sound of a hammer wrenching out nails from wood upstairs. Right. The trap. Walking into the room, I saw Valeria had finished her milk and was turned around in her chair staring at me for the result. I walked up to her and took her hand so she could stand. "You can stay. Valeria Lowell, welcome home." She nearly broke my ribs with her arms squeezing around me. Spritely Fellow Ch. 05 Sorry for the massive delay, but real life events coupled with a biblical scale writers block stopped me from writing. This is about revision twenty of the same part of the story. It's not near perfect, but I will get nowhere unless I move forward. Also I do intend to make this into some sort of book after I get better at writing and can really hammer out some quality stories. Hope you all enjoy. Please leave me any and all comments and criticisms so that I might get better. ***** I had never been to an actual rainforest before, but I would imagine it wasn't as peaceful as Cassandra's soul world. There were no animals or insects here except for the ones she conjured up directly. Thankfully that meant no howler monkeys or noisy insects. No, her forests were serene and warm with a gentle breeze always present. It made a place where doing anything more than relaxing was almost criminal. I was seated on a branch near the top of the canopy with a book in my hand. I rested my head on the trunk of the tree and let the warmth of the sun wash over me. I had read the book before, but I had not bothered to get a new one from Litria to bring into my sleep yet. I was beginning to think this book had run its course when Cass materialized further down the branch from me. "Perhaps you could try Pride and Prejudice again." she said with a barely controlled straight face. "Never again." I hated that book. "I recall that book leading directly to your... discovery of your elementalist nature." She barely contained a snicker. I really hate that book. "If by "leading directly" you mean I was enraged enough to try setting it on fire with my mind. IT worked but the fucking thing keeps growing back." I wish I could define just how much I hate that book. "I think there is something romantic in the caution those lovers gave each other." Cassandra pulled her red "hair" over one shoulder to look at my reaction. I refused to give her the satisfaction. "Oh I can see the allure that constant worry over "ifs" for people like them." I stretched out over the branch so I could nudge her with my feet as I worked the kinks out of my neck. "What time is it anyway?" "Its nearly five I believe." I scratched my head as I tried to remember what I was forgetting. When I finally figured it out, I pinched the bridge of my nose. "It's Wednesday isn't it." I looked at Cassandra and her satisfied grin as she nodded. I groaned and leaned back into the tree. "I was wondering when you would figure it out. I would be willing to bet that Valeria is already waiting for you out there." "That's a safe bet. I am seriously beginning to doubt that she sleeps and just hides in my closet until Wednesday." "In your vanity cage? Your the only one that would spend more than a second in there." She was trying to get a rise out of me and it wouldn't work. I had several large mirrors in my closet that I salvaged from an old tailor shop that shut down a few years back. I actually needed it so that I could make sure there was nothing supernatural about my appearance before going downstairs to my parents or to school with friends. I once went the whole day with a wooden sheath around my neck without even noticing. It moved just like my skin an d I didn't have reason to scratch there. Valeria pointed it out right as I got out of school, but it was still spread around the school only reinforcing my nickname as the tree. "It's not a vanity cage and you know it's necces-" She was waving at me with a grin on her face. As I opened my mouth to ask why a blaring noise started echoing throughout the soul world. I grabbed my ears as my surroundings fell away and morning grogginess crept over my senses. I was laying in bed with my arms at my side. It's always disorienting to come out of the soul world and take control of your body again. In related news, I am not a morning person. The alarm continued to sound for a few moments as my lethargy outweighed my annoyance at the sound. A few more screeches later and I finally slung my arm in the direction of the alarm to no avail. After mustering herculean strength I lifted my arm again and reached for the alarm. It stopped moments before my hand reached it. Instead pf the cold plastic of the snooze button I was aiming for, I instead felt the warm feel of flesh that was turning off the alarm. I sighed heavily I flopped my arm back onto the bed. "Good morning Valeria. Did you sleep well? Or sleep at all?" It probably sounded less sarcastic through the early morning slur. I forced my eyes to stay shut as I tried to trick myself back to sleep. It was too early for pretty much anything right now. It would seem Valeria did not sympathize with my plight. "It's Wednesday, Master." I was very well aware of that Valeria. "I bet it is. Give me like, 5 more hours and I'll be good to go." I tried to wave her off. Some small part of my tired mind wanted to believe that she would actually let me go back to sleep. It was outvoted by the logical parts. "You said we could practice today. You even said I could pull you out of bed if you refused." I may have said something similar to that in order to placate a werewolf last week so I could sleep in. Past me is an asshole to the present me. I slowly pulled one hand to my face as I rubbed what sleep I could out of my eyes. She would actually pull me out of bed for this. She still insisted on calling me master and seemed to take everything I said as law, but she would disregard all of that if I jeopardized morning practice. I don't think I ever had that much motivation about anything at the time. I might have admired that gusto if it wasn't waking me up so early. I swung my feet over the edge of the bed and struggled to sit up. When I finally got upright, my head fell into my hands for support. I peeked through my fingers at the clock next to my bed to see 5:14 and groaned. "Master we don't have much time before Aurora takes her morning jog. We should really get to it.", Valeria said with some degree of impatience after my silence for a few minutes. After that sunk in I managed to climb up out of bed. Only 20 minutes to get out of bed after getting woken up. Pretty sure that's the all time record. "Alright let's get to it then." I slurred as I rubbed the last of the sleep out of my eyes. She hopped to her feet and clapped her hands excitedly. Giddy would be the term for it, I believe. She was practically bouncing on her heels as I turned my head to stare. She immediately froze mid clap and we stood there locking eyes. I broke into laughter first as she blushed furiously and sidestepped as fast as she could out the door. I wiped the tears from my eyes as I got control of myself and cleared my throat. That woke me up. I turned on the light for the closet as I walked in and closed the door. "Wait there for a sec, Val." "Of course, Master.", she said with the embarrassment still clear in her voice through the door. Once inside the closet I pulled on the left mirror to open my wardrobe and pull out some jeans and gray shirt. I peeled off the loose fitting pajamas and slid the clothes for the day. "Don't forget to check for any sprouts." Cassandra piped in as my shirt was half on. She materialized above me in her small form sitting on a branch that formed out of the air. Sprouts were our word for any supernatural changes to the body as the word "growths" puts the wrong image in the mind. I paused and thanked her as I pulled the shirt off and started checking my body. I turned my head slowly, using the mirrors to thoroughly look myself over. No bits of bark or lines of leaves seemed to be anywhere, save for under the skin of my back. I looked up to Cass and she nodded to confirm I was clear. I reached my arms up to put on my shirt, but paused as I looked myself over and sighed. The reinforcement from my coalescence with Cassandra to my skin and muscles meant I hadn't bulked up as much as I'd like over the years. While I had grown to the considerable height of 6'9", my muscles hadn't maintained proportion. While I did have muscles that were of no small strength, the wood that was laced throughout my body meant my body was supernaturally stronger. Basically my muscles were more efficient and didn't need to grow as they were hard to tear. There was still some bulk to my mass with shallow lines to define the muscles, but my height made me seem thinner than I should. This led to my nickname of "the twig" which Chad hadn't hesitated to change to "the tree" as I grew. His inadvertently accurate nickname stuck. My hair had settled on a blend of blond and red hair that never seemed to grow past a few inches in length. My eyes had set into a dark red color that my dad marked as brown when he filled out medical paperwork. Besides the obvious color palette, there were a few things that were becoming... off in my visage. My teeth were coming in just the smallest bit sharper than normal. My ears had a ghost of a point to them if you squinted hard enough. My skin seemed unnaturally clear for a guy my age who didn't wash his pillowcase as often as he should. I had a serious expression on as I leaned in closer and touched my ears. Cassandra floated into view behind me with an eyebrow raised. "What is it Mykris?" I looked at her and seemed to notice for the first time that her ears which had once been formed of leaves retained their point as she developed her skin. My eyes widened and I opened my mouth to speak as she dematerialized and the door cracked open. A curious face framed in silver peered in to check on me. A single surprised gasp escaped her lips as she looked at my bare back. I had told her of the mark , but I think it was the first time she had seen it in detail. I paused a moment before turning around and leaning into the mirror with my back. I leveled my gaze with hers as her face again flushed with blood and she closed the door. "Sorry I thought you fell asleep again. I should have knocked, Master." Valeria was close to stammering in her flustered state. My ego began to inflate from the thought of me throwing her off like this and might of continued had Cass not cut in. 'I believe she was marveling at my addition to your skin," ,she said with her own vanity, "rather than your own...improvements if you can call them that.' Right where it hurt. I was proud of what few muscles I had gained. Any sign of my former elation was now thoroughly put in its place. I put on my shirt as I silently tried to compose a comeback before deciding it was a losing battle. "Well, that's enough of that.", I answered to both women as I stepped out. I started walking out the door past Valeria, who was still facing away, as I tried to pull my mind back to the revelation I had. 'So the changes are working both ways. Cassandra?' I asked, knowing the answer. 'Beyond the stuff I can hide, I'm going to keep turning into... whatever I happen to be?' 'The changes that the coalescence has on your body are completely unknown, but yes it seems to be getting more intense.' She seemed like this had been weighing on her for some time before I noticed. Not surprising since she watched my soul for the better part of the day and could see these changes happening in real time. "Valeria I'm dressed let's get to training." I was getting better at keeping track of multiple conversations at once. I couldn't do anything about the changes and could tell that Cass was keeping tabs on it, so I pushed it to the back of my mind and focused on now. I started with the mood. " So what are we doing today Val?" "You know its been two weeks, but I'm pretty sure its cardio, Master." It's times like these in which I remember why I always won the gambling games we played. "I'll start stretching!" Valeria cut in front of me as she hurried to get outside. If she got outside it would be hard to reason with her. The adrenaline makes her hard to handle. That and the fact she turns into a giant wolf creature capable of outperforming me in every physical test. "That's interesting because I seem to recall that we had cardio two weeks ago." Quite clearly as I always lose every race with her. "Are you sure you aren't being forgetful, Valeria? You wouldn't be trying to skip soul training would you?" "Oh no, I wouldn't dare try to skip such riveting training. It must have slipped my mind." Her smile quickly turned to pouting as she stepped into the yard with a diminished gusto. I turned to stop by the kitchen before following. A glass of milk with ice before the work out to get my engines primed. Normal people would be freezing this early in fall, but the cold didn't get to me since my soul changed. The chill woke me up enough to ensure I wouldn't fall asleep if I sat in a comfortable position for two minutes. I rinsed the glass and headed out back. "So Val, you gonna finally tell me where it is you sleep every night?" I asked as I closed the door. I had asked this many times before, but to the same answer of- "I can't seem to recall, master." I didn't need to look at her to know she had that coy smile on her face. I always asked and she always answered the same. That little game still managed to get a chuckle out of me. I wasn't even sure if lycans needed sleep. I offered for her to stay at my house, which she said she did, but I scoured that place and never found anything. She shows up in my room for morning practice on Wednesday's and in front of the house to walk to school every morning . This made me wonder something entirely different. 'Cassandra do you need to sleep? I realize my soul doesn't need rest mentally, but you are a physical manifestation. Don't you need to like... recharge?' A laugh echoed through my head. 'I needed rest long ago when we first met, Mykris, but no longer. Not since your soul evolved five years ago.' 'What does my soul changing have to do with you?' 'We are connected. When you changed I became...never mind. Valeria is looking at you and waiting to start. We will talk later.' I finally manged to force the door into place enough to keep the cold air out. It might not affect me, but the chill makes it uncomfortable for everyone else. I turned around to start training, but my words caught in my throat. Valeria sat on her knees in the grass with the beginnings of dawn lighting the sky. The awakening sun gave a shimmer to everything in the yard, including her form. Over the years, her form had filled out into the shape her soul had taken. With her clothes removed, her form was far more visible, but still covered by a garment fashioned out of wood I created. Her hips flared out into a beautiful curve leading to wonderful legs. Her hair had a golden sheen to the silver tide that framed her face as it came to rest on her shoulders and chest. Arms remained sturdy in her lycan physique, but all the muscles lay softened under a thin layer of cushion that smoothed out all the edges in her form. Her ample chest was contained in the wooden garment I designed just for training purposes. Those intelligent, beautiful eyes looked at me, waiting for me. I shook my head to regain my senses. She was utterly beautiful and waiting on me to stop being an idiot. "Let's check the gear first." I managed after clearing my throat. The wooden gear I mentioned was a thin willow-like set of armor that clung to her flesh via her soul. I created it to be nearly drained of energy so that it sticks to the wearer to sustain itself. As such it transformed when she did, thus removing the problem of her being naked after changing. I say "problem" only because there was no way in hell I would focus on anything if someone with a form that attractive was naked in the vicinity. Still I had to design the garment to balance movement with modesty. It started below the collar bone with a flat piece across the top of her chest. A second piece covered bottom with a small hole in the middle to allow for ventilation. After that was several v-shaped pieces that overlapped like an armadillo shell. None of these pieces reached close to the side of the torso to allow full movement which added to the allure of them somewhat. Her pelvis was covered in a single piece shaped similar in shape to underwear with no sides and more bands to cover the front and sides of the legs and arms. It left a very large amount of gaps from which her smooth white skin could be seen, but it was better than nothing at all. Or worse depending on what your looking for. Her soul wood gear was in fine shape, as was she. My eyes were having trouble focusing, so I needed to move on. Soul training offered one advantage that let me focus again. I could let lose as well and that feeling was near unbeatable. The engines in me were primed and I finally got to fire them up. It felt like sludge burning out of my system every time I felt the fire in me start roaring from its stagnation and the wind scream into my lungs. My extrasight came rushing back to me as my mind connected to all the trees in the area. I could see the life all around me as the light of the morning faded away in favor of the brilliance I witnessed. Valeria's soul remained as crisp as it had been that night, but she could now freely control the partial transformations and had more energy to do so. Her pale soul shone brighter than before with more precision to its details than ever before. I let the energy flow from me some more, growing branches from one hand and absorbing them in the other and the wind swirled around me. I finally let it settle as I looked to Valeria. She seemed a little distracted by my display. "Alright Valeria, soul training warm-ups. Partials for each limb followed by a rolling full transformation. 5 reps." I watched as her soul sprung into action and swelled its energy without activating it. "You don't need to worry about speed, just get the form down. If you fall behind your own rhythm you decide whether to let it slide or restart. Its your soul and you know how to use it instinctively." It was early in the morning, but it didn't hurt to be careful. I let my energy run down my feet and race to the corners of the yard. Knotted rods of oak grew straight up to fifteen feet. They ended in an orb into which I moved my extrasight. I focused into each house checking on the inhabitants. All the souls that were up were busy getting ready or still not back from graveyard shifts in the city. Satisfied in our privacy for the moment, I turned my attention to another potential threat. From the middle of my yard I need look next to our house to see the problem. Aurora was not only already up, she was in her shower stage of getting ready. That meant we only had a little over thirty minutes before she was out for her jog. I must have been smiling, because when I looked back Valeria looked a little peeved. "What?" She looked away and crossed her arms for a few seconds before sighing and turning to me. "Are we going to start training soon, Master." she said with a bit of annoyance clear in her voice. I did one last quick sweep of any potential onlookers before nodding to her. A wooden cage formed around her clothes on the ground before raising up on a stump. "Alright, one full transformation cycle to get your soul prepped, then straight into partials and speed shifts. Ready?" Her expression got serious as she moved to the other side of the stump to stand in the center of the yard. She checked the white wood on her wrists and joints before bending her knees slightly and nodding. I held my hands apart a moment as she tensed, then slammed them together. I wasn't sure if you needed to "warm up" the soul before use, but I wasn't going to test it. Besides watching her shift was a thing of beauty. The aura around her seemed to pulse outward and increase in mass as it wrapped over itself into a dense fog that went into her and flooded the body. Everywhere it went, her body and soul reacted by swelling and spreading. Her core swelled first, depleting all fat reserves to help fuel the transformation. She hunched her back a moment, then unfurled as the energy raced down her limbs and up to her head. AS it started to pool in her head, the soul finished changing to the crisp form of an apex predator. Her body followed soon after with pale skin turning to silver fur. Her fingers lengthened several inches before capping off with black claws. Her foot lengthened to an extreme length until her heel became a joint itself and the balls of her feet became paws. Her head was swarmed by fur as her facial features blurred out of view. Her face seemed to swell outwards as tooth and fang became visible. Her eyes opened to show the large wolf eyes, intelligent and fierce, as her ears perked up and twitched. There she was after only a few moments, standing to a full height of eleven feet. Spritely Fellow Ch. 05 Her armor had followed suit and grown cover the increased surface area by feeding off the excess energy. It now looked like light armor composed of white wood. It surprised me by creating an opening on the hip to allow her to run on all fours. She looked like a true lycan warrior of old in that moment. I was taken aback every time by the stoic majesty of her profile against the morning light. Of course I couldn't stand for a serious air now that I was awake, so I quickly set to ruining it. I killed the extravision and crossed my arms. I started to circle around her with a scrunched up face like I saw something wrong. I went around inspecting her fur and occasionally tugging on the armor. Every now and then I would stop and shake my head. It was having the desired effect of making the stoic, graceful lycan very self conscious. Her giant, fearsome arms unconsciously shifted to cover the small slits of exposed midriff. I was having trouble maintaining a straight face at the site of a nervous, feminine predator. I stopped at her back and stared at the black tips of the fur on her upper back. I knew she was particularly conscious about the dorsal cape that had formed on her fur. I leaned in to look at it and held pose. Her muscles were all tense as she waited to hear what major flaw I had seen. "Are you getting fat or is it just me?", I said with a mock concerned voice as I grabbed a handful of fur at her waist. "I should take you on more walks, or else we might have to take you to the vet soon." She turned her head to look at me in wide eyed shock. I couldn't keep the facade up anymore. This giant apex predator was trying to cover up with her arms and buckling at the knees like an embarrassed schoolgirl. I doubled over in laughter as she relaxed all at once with an unamused look on her face. She crossed her arms and turned her chin up waiting for me to stop. It wasn't happening. A pouting lycan was just too funny. "Val its okay you don't have to worry we can go running to work it of-" The swing of a lycan backhand is a very efficient way to stop someone from laughing. Five feet away from where I was before, I slowly put some breath into my lungs against the will of my entire right side. Average people would have powder for ribs and blood in all the wrong places, but I was hardly the average person. My reinforced skin took the brunt of what was a relatively small blow for . Valeria laughed as best a lycan could, a sort of excited wheezing noise, as I rolled slowly over and groaned before getting my bearings. I got up and wiped the grass off my back and pants while gathering myself. 'You should have known that was coming, Mykris.' 'Shush' "Alright, so uh," I got back to where I was before and tried to regain some composure as a teacher. "go ahead and change back so we can continue." Her body shuddered and began to compact back into her human form as the energy used to transform reactivated.. I turned on my extrasight to watch over her change back. It looked like steam escaping as it swirled around her. A human image began to take shape amidst the fog. Fur was replaced with skin, fangs with teeth, paws with palms. It was much smoother returning to human form. Instead of forcing energy into the body, the lycan force deflated outwards. It took longer unless forced, but the muscle fibers all returned to original size as the energy left along with the fur receding and dissolving back into soul energy. After the the soul was reformed, the excess energy was turned into fat for the body. She seemed so skinny for a moment before swelling slightly as her bust and rear plumped back up. The thin layer of body fat returned as well, albeit a few pounds less as cost for the transformation. "Good form, Nice even spread. Soul is stable almost everywhere-check your leg joints, Val. Timing was a bit slow, but acceptable. Alright, let's get onto your physical warmups." From my own experience, not warming up properly had its repercussions, but I didn't know if lycans needed it. Better safe than sorry. Valeria let out an exasperated groan. "Master I told you I don't need to do any warm ups. Lycans muscles transform ready to go so why are we wasting time?" Every time with this argument. A sigh escaped as I readied the same explanation as before. "When we get to combat exercises you might pull something. While that would normally be nothing, if you do it DURING a transformation you will get seriously hurt." She crossed her arms and readied her retort, but I held up my hand and cut her off. "YOU may not care if you get hurt, but I am never going to risk hurting you. Now drop it." Valeria's eyes widened a bit at that declaration. The implications left me a tad embarrassed as I formed a chair behind me to sit. Val thought for a few seconds before switching back to lycan form and sprinting laps around the perimeter of the house. It was a little noisy, but with her ears she could hear if someone was walking around, so instead I sunk into thought. 'Cassandra you said you didn't need rest because you changed. What does that mean?' 'You don't need to worry about that yet, Mykris.' She said, trying to dodge the question. "You and Val both with that 'don't worry' bs." I muttered in frustration. 'Cass that's not possible when you are literally on my mind most of the day. Now please tell me what you mean.' She was quiet a while as she thought of how to word what she needed to say. When she spoke, it was laced heavy with trepidation. 'Mykris, I am not a a sprite anymore. I am a spirit.' Silence fell as she waited for the other shoe to drop. I didn't really understand what she meant though. 'So like a... dead person?' Best guess and primary concern. 'NO, oh gods no. No I am not a ghost or residual entity of some human. Before I evolved, I was a sprite for the woods behind the forest.' She was quiet again. 'And now you areeeee...?' I still didn't really grasp what she was saying. 'A spirit of the wilds. My domain from which I draw strength and control has opened up to include every forest and their inhabitants on the planet. I now have all knowledge for everything that is native to those forests as well.' Again the wait for the other shoe to drop. 'That's...awesome? That doesn't sound like a bad thing even if I don't really understand, but how exactly did my soul changing do that? Am I going to have to do that again?' It would be a problem if I had some freak mutations in the middle of somewhere public or something. 'No your soul is fully activated and that can't happen again, but the change in itself didn't make me ascend to this.' Cassandra was choosing her words to dance around something important. 'Cass what is it you aren't saying here?' 'Mykris, I was changing slowly all the times you funneled your energy through me and from passively siphoning from you. When your soul activated in that forest, the surge of energy pushed me to the next stage.' 'Wait so my changing turned you into a spirit? And what is so different between a spirit and a sprite?' 'No-it's...it's hard to explain, but I will tell you later. I promise.' there was something big I wasn't hearing or understanding, but I could tell she wasn't ready to tell me. 'Hey, it's alright. I'll ask later so don't worry about it now.' Something of a mental smile occurred as Cassandra slowly relaxed. A thought came to mind that I needed to get in. 'Wait. Real quick question. Does my soul energy go to Fenrir?' 'How do you mean?' 'I have his mark to establish the whole pack relationship between me and Val. Does it give him some energy or power too?' I didn't want to give him anything. He wasn't an asshole or anything, but he wasn't on my "give supernatural strength"list either. It's a short list. 'I can't say one way or the other, Mykris. I can sense the bond between you two and I can sense it altering her behavior into the omega, but I can't tell unless you use the mark.' That raised an eyebrow. 'Wait, I can use the mark? Can I turn into a lycan or something?' 'No it is not a mark of coalescence like what we share. Ours lets us share each others soul and utilize it to the fullest, but that mark is more of a license. It lets you utilize your alpha status to issue a command. Don't get any ideas. If she doesn't agree with it then she will not follow it. So don't think of her doing what your thinking right now.' a smile formed on my face as images came to mind. 'You don't know she would say no. I certainly wouldn't mind if she asked me.' 'Somehow I don't think you have the same allure to her that she has to you. It is a mystery how you haven't ruined your relationship by acting on those thoughts. Outside of you attempts at voyeurism.' 'I am not apologizing for looking at an incredibly hot lady in athletic clothes. Besides you know I wouldn't go for her. Not even with an order using the mark.' 'Of course. After all she is out of you league even though she only knows you.' I pressed my hands over my chest and gasped. 'Oh my poor ego. What has the tree lady done to you.' The sound of Valeria coming around for the third time. 'Don't call me tree lady, Micro' 'Then don't call me Micro, tree lady.' I crossed my arms and huffed. The pose held for about three seconds before a laugh broke in my head. It sounded of a refined lady that finally gave in to the mirth. In the face of such a pleasant sound, I could not hold my facade. A laugh rose between us until my mind and surroundings were filled with the sound. As Valeria turned the corner for her last lap, her run slowed to a trot. Her legs locked into a bipedal stance as she stared at me laughing at nothing. My few of the sky was clouded by the white mist of Valeria's soul as she changed back. Her heavy gait slowly changed to a near silent noise of grass underfoot. Without looking at her, I spoke up. "Was that ten laps already?" I dropped my head to see a raised eyebrow and a question on her face. Cassandra's existence was still hidden from everyone. Hell, I hadn't even explained how my powers worked to anyone beyond what they could see. As far as Valeria knew, I was only able to manipulate the essence of trees and I intended to let her keep thinking that. "Why the look?" "Who were you talking to, master?" It was more accusatory than curious. A raised eyebrow and a confused look was my response. Valeria crossed her arms and cocked a leg out as she stared me down. "I heard what you said earlier; Lycans have excellent hearing. 'you and Val with that don't worry bs'." 'Did I really say that? Damn it.' I had been careful about telling what I was saying in my head and out loud, but when I spoke out loud I would mutter mentally and vice versa. I stood up and dusted myself off to buy time and when I had done all I could to stall, nothing had come to mind. So I tried playing it off. "I was just talking to myself. You know all those arguments I only win in my head.", I said in a joking tone. Walking past her, I shot her a quick smile and patted her arm. "So onto the exercises." Needless to say, she didn't buy it. I wouldn't have bought. I didn't follow any of the rules my dad set for lying and it showed. She looked angry, but she was trying to hold it back. One last chance to amend the lie and keep the secret to me. "No you keep doing this. It's not the first time you've talked to someone else when I turned my back. Just come out and say it. Stop hiding it from me!" Valeria crossed her arm and stood waiting for a response. 'Just tell her, Mykris.' the recommendation was punctuated with an exasperated sigh. I must have looked shocked because Valeria seemed suspicious at my change in expression. She looked behind her and then back at me. The anger seemed worse, but my mind was too occupied to notice. 'What? After all this time keeping it secret, you want me to tell her.' We had kept it a secret from EVERYONE and that hadn't been an easy task. Cassandra had insisted on it after I told my father. I looked away for a moment and ran my hand through my hair. I don't know how Valeria responded to that, but i'd take a guess and say it didn't placate her. 'She already has to hide her own existence because of her connection to you and the ire of her family, so the secret will remain with her.' I looked back at Val who had turned to fuming waiting for my answer or at least my attention. My brow furrowed as I attempted to think of an alternative. There was one, but it felt like cheating. I sighed, a full body deflation as all my worry and tiredness left me to be replaced by acceptance. I formed a chair behind Valeria and gestured for her to sit as I did the same. "Val you will want to sit down for this. I'll tell you who it is I talk to when I'm alone." I sat heavily as I considered any way to say this. My mind was just not cooperating this particular morning, so I just said what came naturally. "I have a sprite in my head. Or spirit apparently. And that's how I get my powers. The tree ones not the fire ones. Oh wait you don't know about those ones. She has a tree on my soul that I can funnel my energy through to use hers...it's hard to explain, let me just start from the beginning." I had finished piecing together the first incoherent explanation and was working on part two when Valeria got up and started walking away. I sprung up and called out to her, making sure to absorb the chairs as I left. "Val, wait up where are you going?" "Mykris you can just tell me the truth." Her back stayed to me and her arms were crossed. The notable replacement of 'Master' set off red flags. Still my brain was willing to go down with the ship and refused to give me results. "I am trying to tell you the truth. It just so happens that I am evidently bad at it." a laugh started in my throat, yet was quickly stifled when Val spun on her heel. "JUST SAY IT. If you don't want to be around me that bad we don't have to do morning practice. If you would rather spend it talking with her then GO AHEAD!" With that she spun around and began to storm out of the backyard. Confusion slammed into me as I realized just how lost I was. One thing was clear: If she walked away now then repairing whatever damage I had dealt would be through. I made a a stupid decision using the thought process of a tired desperate mind. I tapped into Fenrir's mark and made a command. My soul reach tendrils touched the mark and urged it into activating. I grabbed the energy it produced and funneled it through my mouth to give the order. The exact words are lost to me, as the surge of energy stifled whatever they were. I only know I wanted her to come back, to talk to me and tell me what was wrong. The problem was, I hadn't bothered trying to narrow it down to just that so every single thing I felt at that moment got sent over the line. My exasperation, my feelings towards her, my admiration, my pride, and everything else turned into a behavior altering mess. The mark wasn't doing what I wanted it to do, it was taking my thoughts and desires, bundling them up and sending them. The energy drain left me weak in the knees. Everything felt muffled, like my blood wasn't where it needed to be to function. I checked my hands for any signs of sickness. Sweaty, but healthy. A few moments later, I go to my feet leaning heavily against the wall. Cassandra's voice was there, saying something with urgency. I shook my head in an attempt to clear it and stood up. A deep breath gave me back my clarity, but a fog still covered me. A distinct white fog-like soul energy swirled around me. 'MYKRIS YOU NEED TO GO!' Someone went from zero to sixty decibels in under a second. I grabbed my ears to defend from the noise. 'AH JESUS, Cass could you stop yelling? What's wrong?' My senses slowly returned as I looked where Valeria was to see she was missing. 'I was wrong the mark didn't just issue a command. It pushed Valeria into an instinctive state.' 'What does that mean?' I looked up with a bewildered expression as a pale hand snaked over my shoulder. Startled, I jumped away from it and spun around. Val was there, but her anger was completely gone. In it's place was a downright predatory look in the carnal sense. A smile grew slowly as she walked towards me, her hips swaying more than they normally did. Her hand reached up and caressed my cheek as she watched my reactions. "Sorry for getting mad earlier, master. I just get a little jealous sometimes. Worried I might lose you to someone, but I just figured out how to keep you." She spoke in a way that milked every word for all it was worth. Her eyes roamed over my body and I became blissfully aware of hers. Her smell had changed and something in it made my heart beat faster. Something was wrong, but in that moment I didn't care. My hands unconsciously reached for her hips wanting to pull her close and take her right here. 'MYKRIS SNAP OUT OF IT!' A piercing voice accompanied by verdant soul energy pierced the veil that had descended. and lust turned to suspicion. I jumped back stood ready to fight. I had noticed her lips and figure, but now I could see the problem. Her eyes were dilated and her breathing heavy. Valeria's soul was still surrounded by the veil and it looked like it was halfway through transformation and not moving. 'What the hell happened!' I kept my distance as she took a step forward. Valeria laughed in a low seductive manner, willing to play this game. 'I know what that is, as other wolves have had similar reactions in the wilds. She is in estrus, Mykris.' I recognized the word. Female wolves would go into estrus during mating periods to prepare for a mate. 'Okay so I sent the wrong order. Why did you yell like she was trying to kill me?' A smirk appeared on my face as I looked at Valeria moving off the patio onto the grass. Cassandra scoffed at my reaction before taking a peeved tone of voice. 'Because Mykris,' Valeria stepped up to the edge of the patio and dropped to a crouch before jumping, leaving the wood she was standing on in splinters. 'Lycans can't control themselves when they act on instinct.' I watched as the apex predator in a Gorgeous women form lunged at me with her ungodly strength unchecked, images of mangled corpses flashing through my now VERY alert mind. "Oh."