(Kind of a collection of short stories, but all are important)
"Just focus..." Aurelia spoke softly to Hina, who nodded. The spell she was trying to learn was called; "Nature Step", and could be applied to combat when one became skilled enough. Last night, a pack of wolves had attacked; Aurelia had stomped her foot, hard, and vines coated in viscous, slimy sap sprang through the dirt, coiling around the wolves and holding them down for easy killing. As of now, though, all that Hina could manage was making simple plants without any real use appear; she'd summoned a fairly massive blueberry bush, though, so that was, at least, a small win and a larger snack.
She'd said they, though, hadn't she... the whole town had packed and left, and Hina, Emily and Aurelia were leading them. The people weren't entirely sad about leaving, surprisingly. Apparently, they'd lived with a lot of prejudice and foul treatment because of their interactions with Non-Humans, and similarly because of this, they'd be more welcome than some other humans in Mir, already having good relations.
"It's not that I'm tired... but I need a break from this," Hina sighed, finally letting go of her mana. As she did, the plants stopped blooming around her feet, and Hina herself managed to relax. She was getting better at this... but it was slow going, to say the least. She'd been walking with the entirety of that town for three days now, camping late and setting out early. There'd been no intimacy with Aurelia and Emily, for some reason or another, but it didn't bother her. Through their banter, Emily had smirked and mentioned that eventually, Hina would go into heat, as Beast Men do, and be absolutely desperate... Hina just hoped that this wouldn't be in front of anyone but them, when it happened.
"You've been working hard, Hina~" Emily smiled and planted an innocent kiss on the badger girl's cheek. "If there weren't so many people around, I'd make sure to reward you properly, you know~?"
"Hey, don't leave me out~" Aurelia smirked, hugging Hina's arm and crushing her modest chest against the Summoned Hero. There was a knowing look in the Succupixie's eyes; Hina was a guy before, and something like this would probably still affect her. It did, indeed, and Hina blushed darkly, staring straight ahead.
"I could use the help getting tired at night," she muttered in answer as a way of changing the subject. Every time she lay there in the dark, horrible images swam across her mind; how she'd slowly carved a hole in the Knight's throat or halfway beheaded the other for what they tried to do to Lily. How she'd speared Yukino's head with no difficulty... her stomach started to churn, and Hina shoved these thoughts to the back of her mind.
They, all of them, were over the border now, and they could see the first city not too far in the distance. In fact, they'd all likely reach it in no less than a half hour, from now.
"Razor Spiders!" Somebody shouted.
"Try what you learned, Hina!" Aurelia, who was very interested in Hina's magical prowess, shouted excitedly, pointing to where the townsfolk were struggling to fend off a number of spiders. "I'm curious if you can manage it~"
Hina jogged closer without answering her companion, swathing her arms in Mana... she'd learned a spell from Aurelia that caused air to combust, which wasn't wholly useful, because she couldn't manage an explosion larger than her finger nail yet. However, as she used her basic telekinesis to drag a handful of small rocks into the air, causing small explosions to erupt behind them acted like gunpowder in the barrel of a gun... the rocks flew toward the spiders, killing two and tearing off several limbs. Dropping her Mana, Hina drew her knives and helped the civilians to drive the spiders back, kill them off. These were usually around a level seven, according to Lop's librarian, and so Hina, now a level six, didn't have too much trouble finishing them off.
When she finished, Hina returned to Emily and Hina, walking toward the front of the party once more.
"You did well, girl, you just need to work on your aim," Aurelia said with a small laugh.
"Let's break for lunch, before we head into town!" The voice of the village chief rang out, and was answered by a collective cheer.
~~~
The night before the village was supposed to leave, Hina sighed, sitting alone in the inn room. She, Emily and Aurelia were offered a night in the chief's Manor, but they'd respectfully declined, wanting to simply return to the nearest bed and pass out. Emily and Aurelia were gone, now, bathing, but Hina was already done; she'd told them she wanted some time alone, and both girls had respected this, dropping any sexual or playful attitudes they might have had.
However, Hina wasn't quite going to get the time alone that she thought she would. Just after she'd gotten dressed in warm leggings and a fuzzy sweater to sleep in, pulled her tail through the hole at her waist, there was a soft knock.
"Hina?" It wasn't a voice that she recognized, but it sounded familiar.
"Come in," Hina answered with a sigh, figuring that there couldn't be any threat. The door opened, and in stepped that girl. The one with the glowing, pulsing, volcanic eyes, shoulder length brown hair... she wore a simple, off white dress that fell to mid thigh and had a brown lace ribbon around the waist to cinch it. Her feet and legs were bare, as were her arms from the shoulders down.
"You're the other summoned Hero, right? Who isn't human, I mean." Hina wasn't really asking, though; that was what this girl said before.
"My name is Nao, and yes, I'm one of the others. There were two, another like me, a kitsune... but she was killed before we made it to this town. In the Capitol, she and I were constantly paraded around, but controlled, constrained, not allowed in the field... so we ran. We'd heard about you from Yukino, we thought we'd try and join up... but, the King simply gave the order to track all three of us and kill us, that seven heroes would be enough."
"Then, they did, manage to get the other one... I'm sorry," Hina murmured, not quite sure who or what it was that she felt sorry for, exactly.
"It's alright," Nao sighed, sinking into a chair in the corner of the room. "Unfortunate, but maybe she got reincarnated again, now that we know reincarnation is real. I hope that's what happened... but I pressed on, and got here just as a gang of knights tracking you arrived. It's a miracle that we managed to force them back, and of course we have to leave in the morning... you know, I get it, with our stats and all, but where the hell does Starria get off summoning kids- or even adults, but especially kids- and forcing them to fight? You look like you're barely an adult, and I'm seventeen... she was only fourteen."
Hina nodded slowly, trying not to let her mind wander from this conversation. She hadn't killed a ton of people, but when she'd seen Lily in trouble, she'd lost control and gotten vicious, almost feral... was that her beast side, or was that all herself?
"It's good that you're safe," Badger Girl said quietly, closing her legs and rubbing her knees together idly. "Will you stay with us, when we begin to travel?"
"I will, yes," Nao said quietly, slowly standing from the chair. "I wanted to introduce myself properly; Nao Oba, a Chochin Obake. My specialties are fire and stealth, but I don't have much real combat experience, yet."
"Hina Nakamura," Hina returned. "Beast Girl. My specialties are defense and shape shifting; I can take the form of anybody I touch."
"Really? I'd love to see that sometime," Nao said curiously, and headed for the door. It was with a different voice that Hina, suddenly Aurelia instead, answered where she sat on the bed.
"Have a good night, Nao."
"Wha-?! Aha, I get it... good night, Hina. Try to remember that you saved a lot of good people, doing what you did, when you lay down to sleep." Nao exited into the hall, and Hina let go of Aurelia's form.
"Am I really that easy to read...?"
~~~
Aerendyl smiled, sitting back in his seat. It was a small inn room, and a bit dusty, but the bed was warm and there was a bath down the hall; these were the only things that mattered. His magic was many things; destructive and powerful, stealthy and silent... but, he possessed a magic that even most full blooded elves did not. This was a magic thought long lost to elven kind; forced prophetical visions, to put it bluntly. Scrying, voluntary premonitions, whatever you wanted to call them.
With his eyes closed, a scene was unfolding for him. Hina, but, different. Her hair was much longer, tied back into a ponytail. She wore shorts, stockings, boots and a dark jacket; the jacket was open, revealing a flimsy bikini top underneath, but he knew that this was a ploy. Magical armor without much physical coverage, to lull enemies into a false sense or security. She was walking toward him, flicking the blood off of a short katana in her hand.
"Wait!" Aerendyl found himself screaming in his head. "I get it, I do! Non-Humans are just as strong as us! N-No stronger! Please, we don't need to fight!!"
"You threw the chance for peace out the window when you...!" Her words became faint and murky as her sword pierced his eye socket, but he wasn't truly dead, and watched as she twisted the blade viciously, then ripped it free.
The scene faded, and then Aerendyl was looking down from the air at a marching army. He couldn't make out anybody in particular, but they were marching toward the capitol of Starria, chanting and shouting. It was a massive band; Starria didn't stand a chance against such a number, and judging by the colorful army, there were many races other than human. The scene was becoming blurry, though, and Aerendyl was drifting further and further away... finally, his mana ran out, and Aerendyl was forced to let the vision go.
Slowly, he stood, and pulled on his shirt once more before leaving the room and headed down the hall.
"Director?" He asked quietly, stepping into the other man's study.
"Bold of you to enter without knocking, Aerendyl... what is it?"
"You'll take care of Hina, won't you? I worry about the girl, some. She's naturally strong, yes, but..."
"I understand, I do... and, yes... I'm going to try."
~~~
(Author-kun knows what he said and apologizes, but this chapter can't reasonably be as long as normal. I'll return to the normal 3-3.5k word chapters after this))