When coming to, the distinct sound of whimpering was the first thing Nikolai perceived. Soft and muffled, the whimpering sounded as if the person was trying to suppress it, but was sadly failing. Furrowing his brows confusingly, Nikolai tried to move his hands but abruptly stopped as he felt a smaller one, clutching it. The trembling tiny hand seized him as if it was a life-saving rope saving the boy from falling into the abyss. While pondering what was wrong, Nikolai felt scalding tears fall onto his cheek that he soon noticed was wet, with alongside the left side of his face.
Languidly he opened his heavy eyes, and immediately, saw a little haggard boy with tears mixed with snot completely across his supple face. His lips were dyed blood-red from gnawing on it, and his small body trembled as he took each laboring inhalation.
Opening his mouth to ask what was wrong, abruptly Nikolai felt a steering pain erupt in his head, inducing him to quickly shut his mouth. Like a snake swallowing him whole, the pain was atrocious as it flourished and crushed him gradually all over his body. The discomfort caused him to groan loudly, making the grieving boy beside him know that he has finally awoken. The sobbing boy immediately stopped and swiftly looked up, his light-brown eyes shining brightly from both the tears and the now happiness.
"Niko!" Chris yelled with excitement. As if overhearing the voice, the pain in Nikolai's body triggered another round of tremendous, excruciating agony. The excitement the boy felt turned into shock, stimulating him to hurriedly let go and back up. He watched as the teen's body twitched and twisted, transforming the shape into unnatural poses. With wide eyes, the child looked at the teenager in front of him in horror. With nimble hands, Chris quickly covered his opened mouth, trying to hold back a piercing scream. The two remained in a deadlock of one being tortured alive and the other weeping silently, not knowing how to help. It lasted until five minutes later when the teen's body finally settled still.
His body was enveloped in sweat that soon soaked into the covers of the bed. Breathlessly in heavy and rapid gasps, Nikolai laid in a fetal position as he stared dizzily at the right-side wall. Information and techniques filled his mental capacity in unknown languages that he somehow understood in a matter of seconds. After everything was secured in his memory, the voice of Veles rang out "Good luck," before instantly disappearing as quickly as it came.
"Niko, are you okay?" Standing behind him, the soft voice of the youth brought Nikolai back to reality. Afraid of disturbing the person on the bed, the question was asked in a soft, concerned whisper. Disregarding the throbbing pain, Nikolai took a deep breath, before gently sitting up to be able to look on the left side of him. Fidgeting restlessly, Chris stood there staring at him in high tension. The child looked like he wanted to rush up to him, to tell him how scared he was, to share his complaints about what's been happening, but like a deer in front of headlights, he stood there not knowing if that was okay.
Gently, Nikolai replied, "I'm fine, Chris. Are you okay? I'm sorry for scaring you." Noting the distance between them, Nikolai felt depressed. Though Nikolai wanted to toughen up Chris, he never wished to be the one the boy was afraid of. The boy shook his head full of curls, as he hurriedly approached him to climb onto the wet bed. Not minding Nikolai's sweat, he tightly latched onto the weakened teen as tears fell from his weary eyes. The sudden action startled Nikolai, causing him to stiffen, but gradually, he relaxed, bringing the crying boy closer to him. Calming down the overwhelmed child, Nikolai was finally able to scout the situation around the room. He saw that besides them, everyone else was deeply asleep.
In front of the king-sized bed, Lily laid there in her biggest, tiger-sized body. She didn't move as if dead, but the occasional movement of her breathing showed that she was still alive. A strange light blue aura surrounded her whole body, causing her white fur to shine brightly. The teeth and nails that were white due to daily maintenance took on the color of metallic.
A couple of steps away from the sleeping feline was an equally asleep adult woman. Curled up in a ball on the plush couch, Charlotte laid there with hair that was soaked from sweat and a face that was covered in a shade of pink. Her usual rose-plumped lips were now dried and cracked, causing her pain whenever she breathed, which was evident by the wrinkled eyebrows. However, her baby, Fiona, was nowhere to be seen.
The discovery made Nikolai's heart fall into the pit of his stomach. "Chris… Where's the baby?" the child instantly stopped crying as he sprung up from his hold.
His voice was hoarse yet hurried as he replied, "She disappeared, Niko! When I woke up yesterday, I discovered everyone was asleep! I thought everyone was just tired, but you guys didn't wake up even when I shook you!". The words came out sounding mixed and strung together, as they were shouted out in a bunch of sentences. However, despite this, Nikolai understood what the boy said. Noticing the boy was going to continue talking rapidly, he put both of his hands on both sides of the child's face, causing the lips to pucker.
Chris instantly stopped crying, facing him in a grievous puzzlement. "Calm down, no need to freak out, okay? Just tell me slowly what happened when you woke up yesterday in more detail,". The calm voice of Nikolai brought a calm sensation over Chris, the little mind that was running frantically finally calmed down.
Taking a deep breath, Chris explained "Yesterday I woke up wet, at first I thought I peed on myself, but then I saw I was wet all over my body. Thinking that I was sick, I turned to Charlotte, but she was asleep alongside everyone else. To not wake everyone up, I went into the bathroom by myself and took a shower. When I got out, I saw that Fiona was awake, crying quietly. I tried waking up Charlotte, but no matter how much I shook her, she never woke up. I tried waking you up and even tried waking Lily, but both of you didn't even make a sound. Fiona was crying so hard, so I made a bottle for her like Charlotte taught me and set her down next to Charlotte on the couch. All of a sudden I became thirsty, so I went to the bathroom to grab the water bottle I left in there before sleeping and when I came back, she was gone! I tried looking for her everywhere, but she was nowhere to be seen!". In the last half of the explanation, Chris burst out in tears. A sense of guilt crept up inside the boy as he felt like he failed to watch the child that was younger than he was. He blamed himself, as he felt he should've brought the baby girl with him.
Brushing the child's hair, Nikolai sat back on the headboard in silence. His thoughts were quickly turning from what he heard, 'Disappeared? The child is only a couple of months old, the fastest type of movement she can do is crawl'. In the middle of his thoughts, he suddenly thought of the forest and Veles. A strange conjecture appeared in his head as he connected the two situations. Looking at the sick woman on the couch, a thought flashed through his mind.
"Shh Chris, I think I know what happened to Fiona," Nikolai calmly comforted the red-rimmed eye child.
Hearing this, Chris looked up quickly from Nikolai's chest. His face was flushed out and soaked with pitiful tears. His round, brown nose took on a hint of redness as he sucked in his snot that slowly spilled out. In a weak voice, he asked, "You do?".
Nodding his head, Nikolai asked, "Did Charlotte get her fever before or after Fiona disappeared?".
Chris thought for a second before saying with a lack of confidence, "I think she got it after... Why?".
A reinsurance feeling spread throughout Nikolai's body as he smiled, "Don't worry, Fiona should be fine, Chris,". Listening to the teen, the child instantly relaxed. Ever since the baby disappeared, he's been in a constant depressive state. He made up scenarios of what happened to the younger child. He felt that he was going to get in trouble once everyone awoke, but more importantly, he felt that due to this he was going to feel the awful experience of being alone again.
"So what else happened? Anything else?" Niko asked the boy.
Chris thought before his eyes widened, "Niko, I think I heard zombies inside the house then gunshots,". Hearing this, the teen's eyes twitched, he looked at the door and put all of his focus on any sound. Vaguely, he heard sounds of crying and comforting from the other rooms. Piecing things together he retracted his snooping, staying still for a second, he softly pulled the boy off his body and got up from the bed. His legs wobbled, almost collapsing from underneath him, as he walked to the closed window. Opening the curtain, the sight startled him, as the black rain was now a bloody red.
"Is it blood?" Chris's voice asked right beside him.
"Who knows," Nikolai answered before closing the curtain blocking the sight that only seemed possible in horror movies. He shifted his head to look at the boy, whose red eyes could compete with the rain outside. Thinking back on the sobbing he heard as he woke up, Nikolai asked concernedly, "How long have you been awake?".
"Since I've woken up," Chris answered tiredly. Thinking back on the story of the boy saying he woke up yesterday, 'he's been awake way too long for a child of his age'. Sighing, he picked up the child who was nodding off already and placed him on the little bed they made for him before everyone entered a deep slumber. When he was going to turn around after settling the boy, Chris quickly grabbed onto his arm tightly and in a soft voice he asked, "I'm not going to be asleep forever like the others, right?".
The question made Nikolai pause, he then realized the truth of why the boy hadn't fallen asleep the whole time. Sitting down next to the frightened child, he held his hand as he told him, "I promise you will wake up, Chris,".
"Promise to my Daddy in the sky?". Hearing this made Nikolai stagger in his response. He looked in the eyes of the boy in front of him, who looked tired and melancholic, but still full of naivety that Nikolai lacked at this age. Not wanting to ruin such innocence, he nodded heavily in agreement. He stayed at that one spot, not moving and not letting go of the little hand even when the boy fell asleep.
Falling into a solemn silence, Nikolai looked at the closed curtain window, then at the boy who was asleep. Noiselessly, he promised resolutely, "... I promise to protect your child for you,". The sound of thunder burst out from outside as if the man heard him.
Nikolai closed his eyes for a moment before letting go of the boy's hand. At a steady pace, he went to the closet where all of his clothes were stored, before taking clothes and a towel with him to the bathroom. Turning on the showerhead, he watched closely at the sprouting hot water. Seeing that everything looked clear and there was no smell that he could detect with his hyper nose, he sighed in relief.
"It seems the filtering is still working", he sighed to himself. Taking off his clothes, he entered the steaming water, being fully encased in the downpour. The water spontaneously contacted against him before trickling down his tan skin, causing the taut body to finally relax. It felt like years since he felt such sensation, it felt nice.
Putting his head against the wall, he thought about his encounter with Veles, along with exploring the information he had attained. The information is full of instructions on shapeshifting, alongside with the history.
Many Gods and Goddesses from different worlds and religions have Gods who could shapeshift. The Outer Seeker was the one who created such ability, alongside other strong powers. The Outer Seeker was greatly interested in whatever its companion, The Eye of All made. However, the main ones were animals. Feeling inspired, they obtained different types of humanoids and Gods, before they began experimenting. Gradually they made werewolves, vampires, mermaids, and other half-human creatures. They even went as far as making the Gods and Goddess see no difference between them and the other creatures, creating more of such creatures more naturally. However, The Outer Seeker was still not satisfied and gradually made the abilities to shapeshift to not one, not two but into a bunch of different things. The Outer Seeker was then finally satisfied and gradually went on to do other things.
It was a while before The One Who Knows discovered these abilities and expanded on them. Thus, three categories were created, Humanoid Shapeshifting, Animal Shapeshifting, then finally the last one being, simply called Shifter.
Sighing, Nikolai felt his head hurt with all this information. Turning off the shower, he reached out to grab the towel and wrap it around him. Slicking his hair back, he looked in a mirror in front of him to see a person in it who looked completely different from how he felt. The olive skin took on a healthy glow, while the slick back brown hair showed strands of dark blues. Even his dark brown eyes didn't miss the appearance upgrade, as he now had a tint of sun gold in them.
From the information, he should be an Animal Shapeshifter. A person who can transform into any animal.
This thought reminded him of the statue of himself in the forest. A man mixed with multiple parts of a beast, who stood up so tall that it could compete with an apple tree… something so inhuman. A sense of dread went down his spine, causing his heart to escalate in his chest.
Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath as he comforted himself, 'Niko, you are fine. Not everything is a curse, this could be a blessing to protect those you care for. You did not turn into a monster. You did not turn into a monster. You're not a monster. I'M NOT A MONSTER!' A sudden sound of cement breaking was heard, breaking Nikolai out of his thoughts. Opening his eyes, what greeted him were a pair of marvelous golden orbs staring back.
His breath hitched as he stepped back. The golden eyes were similar if not identical to those of a lion. His brown hair took on a more yellowish color and looking down, his nails grew into large, sharp claws with cement pieces still stuck on some of them signifying what the noise was.
The sudden transformation startled him. His heartbeat exploded and the calmness, he forcefully tried to maintain, was slipping away from his fingers. He bit his tongue to bring his mind back, to not go into a deep road of anxiety. He pressed his back onto the wall and slowly collapsed against it. Bringing his legs up, he stuffed his head into his knees with his arms wrapped around him.
Deep memories aroused from the depths of his mind. The memories of his mom looking at him with distaste, the memory of his father yelling at him for being a disgrace, his brothers brought over friends while he watched in the corner alone.
His fingers buried deep into his hair and his eyes were squeezed closed. The memories plunged into his mind, making a burning headache explode in his head.
His head emptied and the only thing he saw was a land full of white. He was laughing and playing with the young Lily, having a fun time as his brothers left him behind to go play with their friends. He was having such a good time until a woman's high-pitched voice was heard, "Nikolai!".
The voice made him freeze and shivers quaked through his body. Stiffly, he turned around, and his mother came up to him with heavy steps. Her face was pale while her lips were crimson red, her brown eyes showed bouts of anger as her hands clenched on the dress that she held up, traveling through the snow to get to him.
The scene made the boy want to run but as if chains from the ground were strapped onto his feet, he didn't move a muscle, having his head faced down.
"What are you doing here?! You should be with your brothers and the other boys, not dancing around like a little ditsy princess!" Her voice shrieked loudly, making the boy shiver in fright. His heart pulsed and his back broke out into a cold sweat.
"The- the other boys didn't want to play with me, so they left me behind..." he said feebly.
"So you stayed here playing with the cat?! You should've followed them, please them! How did I raise such a fool!". The boy furrowed into himself in fright, causing the woman to be more furious.
Her hands were slick and quick as she grabbed onto the boy's arm. Her hands were tight, making the boy flinch and cry out in pain. Turning around, she pulled him back into the house. She didn't greet anyone as she made her way with sharp, familiar movements upstairs.
Seeing where they were going, the boy's face turned pale as he tried to break free. "Stop struggling! Who told you it was okay to be a bad boy!".
"I'm not a bad boy! I'm not a bad boy!". Nikolai yelled, sobbing pathetically.
The cat, that was following them, ran up in speedy motions and scratched the woman's leg.
"Ouch! You damn stupid cat! Who the hell is your master here?!" Unleashing the boy, in a swift movement, she kicked the cat into the wall.
"Lily!" The boy hastily ran to her but was once again locked in his mother's iron grip, without realizing what he was doing, he bit her on the hand, causing her to scream and let go of him. Quickly, he went to collect the injured cat.
"Lily! Are you okay?" his voice was filled with worry as he watched the cat give him a weak purr as if comforting him. Seeing that she seemed fine, he slowly relaxed. However, suddenly, a hand gripped his hair, pulling him backward. Letting go of the cat, he raised his hands to latch onto the bigger one that was dragging him throughout the hallway.
"What did I do to get such a monster like you?!" the woman yelled as she opened the closet door and threw the child in. Closing and locking the door, she turned around and said a bunch of profanities as she made her journey downstairs.
The boy in the closet yelled morosely, saying that he was a good boy, that he wasn't a monster. He was Nikolai.
The memory made the teen feel sick and tired. A mental strain put him in an unstable state, causing the transformation to extend to the point that his hair turned into a mane and behind him, he felt something growing out of his lower back. In pain, he stayed there breathing slowly in a slow and precise manner on the bathroom floor, feeling exactly how he felt in that narrow closed-off closet.
Suddenly, he felt a small body land on him. Looking up, he saw a small baby girl with hair of that of fire staring at him dazedly.
"Charlotte bring your child back to your space, it's not safe out here with me," he said trying to hide his body from the eyes of the baby trying not to make her feel scared of him. He listened out for five minutes before lifting his eyes once more thinking Charlotte listened, but what met his eyes were blue tiny seas staring at him innocently.
When the baby girl saw him look at her, she giggled softly before crawling up to him. Nikolai froze before trying to stop her with his hands, but when he saw his nails, he stopped suddenly. The baby girl, though crawling, was fast as she grabbed onto the extended hand.
Nikolai briskly froze. He watched anxiously as Fiona looked at the hand in fascination. He went in deep thought on ways to move his hand before he felt something wet hit his palm.
Fiona was giving little kisses onto his palm before squeezing her cheek on it while looking up at him with a big grin that showed two of her bottom teeth. The anxiety that overtook him went away in seconds as his heart felt like it's wrap in a blanket. A gentle sensation overtook him, causing tears to fall from his eyes. Sniffling, he gathered the baby girl in his arms, and the two of them laid on the floor in silence. Both in peace with each other's presence, which fully relaxed the agitated teen.
It took about three hours before the animal's parts disappeared and Nikolai's upgraded appearance appeared again. Nikolai felt tired but relieved, he stood up with the sleeping baby girl in his arms as he finally exited the bathroom. The storm outside was still going on, and the others were still asleep.
Walking up to the sleeping boy, he gently shook Chris.
In a daze, Chris asked, "Niko? What's wrong?". He tried sitting up, but Nikolai put his hand out to keep him down.
Smiling, Nikolai responded, "Nothing much. Look who showed up," He showed the sleeping baby girl in front of the tired child. Seeing her made the boy smile gently.
"I'm so happy, Nikolai. I thought I lost her… I'm so happy you were r-," The voice disappeared as the boy went back to sleep.
Laughing quietly, Nikolai walked to the sleeping woman and put Fiona next to her.
"Thank you, for bringing her to me and trusting me to not hurt her. You can bring her back now, I promise I'm fine,". The baby girl that was laying on the couch gradually disappeared, leaving only a single figure on the couch.
Breathing out a sigh, he made his rounds around the room. He made sure the doors and windows were secured before walking up to Lily to check her condition before taking a fresh blanket and laying back on the bed. Wrapping himself up with only his eyes showing, he stared at the wall in a daze. Slowly his eyelids pulled into a close, and he finally got his peaceful rest.
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"Ding! Chosen Player, Codename: The Beast of All, has passed the mental trial. Next trial will start in two months with Mentor Loki! See you next time!".