"DISAPPOINTING?!" she asked me once more, breaking my paralysis.
Lowering my head, eyes set on the ground, I answered with a shrug. It wasn't my fault it was disappointing; why was she angry at me?
"Someone tore a soul out of a body, a human soul out of a human body, and shoved that soul into your bear body. Do you know how outrageous that is?" she asked, blue cheeks flushing purple with anger.
No, I guess I didn't.
"Even the best mages in the world are frightened of dealing with souls. One mistake and that wisp of energy will either fizzle out harmlessly or blow up with an explosion so massive you'll be thrust all the way to the heavens. And the best part is that everything you do and can do with a soul is a mistake. All of them: errors, mistakes, faults in your methodology. Yet, despite all of this, someone took a soul and transferred it into you." She was calming (very slowly) as she explained this as if her anger was deflating with each word.
"Do you even know why the System is so special? The Gods grouped up together, sick of seeing humans tossed around by monsters, and crafted the System to optimise their progression paths and give them a fighting chance. But, through this, they tipped the scales so far in humanity's favour that they took over Taldrea in the same length of time it takes you to blink. It was made to kill monsters like you, and now a monster has it—"
She stopped mid-sentence, eyes glazing over. "But, Tal, what if he's the Gods' way of balancing the scales now? Who else could play around with souls so frivolously?" After a moment, she shook her head decisively. "No, it can't be - the Gods act in mysterious ways but it wouldn't be this mysterious if they were trying to balance the scales. If that was the case, they wouldn't power up a bear in the Forgotten Forest, they would power up the troll king or the vampire lords. No, this was something a human did, maybe while testing the possibility of inter-species System transfer."
She must have finally remembered me again as she turned around and stared at me, really stared at me like trying to catch sight of my soul. My two souls? God, this was all so confusing.
"You thought something about exceptional arcane talent before, right? Show me what you can do," she said, eyes still trained on my soul.
This was why I had wanted to learn how to protect my mind from her. So bothersome. Despite my comments, she didn't react until I showed off my mana skills.
"Strengthening and creation, one a simple skill, the other beyond difficult, and yet you do both with ease. If nothing else, we now know the human soul must have come from an exceptionally talented mage." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "We need to see this mage's memories to find out what happened. Well, I guess if I'm actually going to do this, I might as well do it properly. Listen, I can make a potion, a certain potion of recollection, which could work but for it I need a cockatrice's feather. It's fine even if it's from a baby but I need one at least."
Why don't you go get it? Oh wait, you're imprisoned here, aren't you?
She arched an eyebrow up, then rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm stuck in this prison so you'll have to go get it."
As I had thought. It made sense given how much of a headache she was; if I had the power, I too would lock her away but very far away from me. Hearing a rumble, I turned to notice it was actually Tal growling.
"Who the fuck are you calling a headache, you damnable bear?!"
****
Lowering myself against the reeds of swamp grass, I watched the baby cockatrice arrogantly toying around with a frightened giant toad. With two skinny chicken legs, a gleaming green reptilian torso, and rooster head, it didn't appear dangerous from a glance. But after watching it for several minutes, I had discovered its talons could shear the toad in half with ease if it wanted and that its beak was deadly fast and equally sharp. In addition, its small, supple wings somehow supported its weight and allowed it to fly.
I would have usually avoided an enemy with this dangerous an arsenal of weapons but right now I was hungry and, just like Tal, I also burned with curiosity about this second soul inside of me. Besides, I wanted to test out my mana creation against a worthy foe. Pooling mana into my legs in what Tal would call strengthening, I prepared myself and leapt out, murky water exploding up with each sloshing step.
The cockatrice turned instantly but just stared as I neared, its putrid yellow and black eyes watching me. I leapt, forelegs swinging, and the proud chicken didn't even move to dodge. Instead, it pecked my shoulder as quick as a blink and watched me roll over and crash into the swamp. Fur soggy, I glanced down to see a river of red streaming from the open wound.
Fury numbed the pain, and I struck again and it sidestepped with ease - it was as if I was moving in slow motion. Holding still for a second, I tried a surprise attack but found the same result. Tal had mentioned something about not taking a cockatrice on, not even a baby, unless I trusted in my luck, and right now I wished I had listened.
Seeing me stop, the monster jerked its head around curiously, a hint of amusement across its crooked, bloody beak. My anger was still simmering inside of me but I had to keep cool now: there was a time for anger and a time for calm, and this was a time to run away.
Just then, the cockatrice lifted its leg and extended the spread-open foot as if to grab me. I'm not sure if it thought it could pick me up or whether it was just teasing me with the provocative motion but it didn't matter. Catching its gaze, I bared my teeth. Stupid, stupid birdbrain.