That horrible, excruciating pain lasted for what seemed like an eternity. During all that time I was burning in agony. It couldn't even be compared to the pain I had previously felt from any physical injury. The flesh tore, the bones splintered, even the nerves themselves launched uncontrolled stimuli towards my disoriented brain.
I felt like I was dying. My eyes wanted to shed tears in an attempt to alleviate my emotional suffering, which accumulated as the physical continued to increase, but not a single drop had time to come out. My eyes, having forgotten how to close, were drying up. However, when I thought I couldn't take it anymore and would die from pain, it disappeared as if it had never been there.
Dismayed, I got up groaning. My body felt weird, but at least that hell was already over. Raidha was staring at me with wide eyes, not saying a single word. She seemed unable to believe anything she was seeing.
"Drayd, is that you?"
"Who else could it be?"
"Don't you... notice anything strange?"
"Apart from being completely exhausted and having been through hell... no."
Without changing her shocked expression one bit, she approached me and began to inspect me from top to bottom. She carefully went over every part of my body, until she finally stood behind me and stared at my ass.
"Hey... what are you looking at so intently?"
Without saying a word, she raised her still surprised gaze directly into my eyes, grabbed my tail, and pulled it. A little more force and she would have ripped it off from me.
"Ouch! What do you think you are doing ?! Does it seem normal to you to go pulling people by the tails?!"
Her only response was another tug on my tail.
"You are pulling my tail... Tail... Whaaaaaaaaat?!"
I grabbed the tail myself, it was real. My hand had claws and was covered in dark gray fur. I lifted my shirt, more dark gray fur. I looked into the pants, more dark gray fur. I touched my face, more fur where it wasn't before. The ears, big and pointed... with hair... At least they were in place and not on top of my head. To finish it off, my four fangs became larger. My whole body had changed, I became a werewolf.
"This can not be happening..."
—At least you already had the hole in your pants.
"I don't even know what to say right now," Raidha murmured without changing her stunned expression.
"Don't strain... Me neither... I'm exhausted, better let me rest a bit."
I let out a loud sigh that was lost through the forest. At that moment my mind was in no condition to think of absolutely anything.
"OK, wait here, I'll go find Mirthia."
"I don't think she could do anything about it."
"By asking we don't lose anything. I will take the opportunity to bring you new and clean clothes."
Certainly, my clothes were a mess. They were broken on all sides and covered in blood. At the time I looked like a wild animal that had just torn its prey to pieces.
"Okay, I'll leave it to you. Anyway, I have hardly any strength left for anything."
I lay down in the corner while Raidha sped off to the village, a village of cats.
'Living surrounded by cats and I turn into a dog... Things couldn't be worse!'
"I knew it! I knew you were hiding something!"
'I rectify... Things can always be worse!'
The cat that threatened me in the morning was standing next to the tiger, verifying that it was dead. He was shaking with fury and tears falling from his reddened eyes."
"Khesnar... All this time... This was your plan, right? You approached Mirthia to get people to trust you while looking for the opportunity to assassinate the guardian of the forest. Unforgivable... just unforgivable... I'm going to kill you!"
'And from worse... to worser!'
Without hesitation, he drew a sword that he carried. It was a short sword made from the bone of some great animal of the forest. Those cats had practically nothing made of metal. For weapons, they used claws, bones, and fangs. However, thanks to Mirthia, I had seen in person that those weapons had nothing to envy to steel. That bone sword could perfectly cut me in half with ease.
"You're kidding, aren't you? You are crazy. All this you just said doesn't make sense... That thing attacked me. I just defended myself! If it weren't lying there on the ground I would be the one there!
"Khesnar doesn't attack anyone for no reason!"
'I see... cats understand each other...', I lamented inside myself.
"Maybe won't attack you. Against us, it did not hesitate for a moment. It almost eats Raidha!"
"I'm going to kill her too!"
—This cat is a moron. I don't think you're going to make him understand anything.
'Definitely, he completely lost the cool.'
"Are you stupid? Stop the nonsense and open those damn huge ears of yours at once. We were doing our things in this place, not bothering anyone. Then that damn tiger appeared out of nowhere and attacked us. We are the fucking victims!"
"Do you think you can fool someone with that? Khesnar has lived with the village for over a hundred generations. He would never attack anyone, at least anyone who respected the forest. His only targets are those who threaten the stability of the forest or those who enter it to wreak havoc. For centuries he has been in charge of keeping Fandragoth in peace and balance. If he attacked you, it is because he considered you a threat to the forest! And it is obvious that he was right!"
"And I'm telling you that we didn't...! Shit, I…"
At that moment the cat went on the attack. I forced myself to put my fatigue aside to avoid his attacks.
"I repeat, you're wrong! Stop, I don't want to fight with you!"
He completely ignored me.
—Stop talking and defend yourself, moron! That way you won't get anything!
He was right, that cat was determined to kill me at any cost. It seemed completely useless trying to dialogue. Whoever says that people understand each other by talking has never been through real fights.
'There is no other way...'
Despite not wanting to harm the inhabitants of the place that welcomed us, I am not such a good person as to sit still trying to convince with mere words whoever wants to kill me.
"I really don't want to fight, but if you force me... I have no choice!"
Vurtalis was still in what I decided to simply call "Earth form". I was never good at naming things, so sometimes the most intuitive is the best. The pistol was out of bullets and I didn't have time to reload. Perhaps it was for the best since I simply wanted to knock him out, not kill him.
That cat was armed with a simple short sword, therefore Vurtalis' rank was vastly higher than his. In addition to the blade's controllability, made it a weapon to be feared at medium range. Using it like a whip, I started to attack. Compared to the tiger, he was a slow opponent. However, I noticed the difference between him and a wild animal right away. Since he was an experienced warrior, the difference in combat performance became clear from the get-go.
I attacked from every possible angle, taking advantage of Vurtalis's ability to bend. Still, he dodged or deflected it as if it were simple child's play. I brushed it from time to time, but I only managed to pull out a few hairs or make a superficial cut that he did not seem to notice. During the morning he seemed a mere fool to me, yet he was proving to be really good. He practically reached the level of Mirthia. I was simply avoiding being overwhelmed thanks to keeping combat away from melee.
"Earth, respond to my call and fulfill our pledge. Become a weapon with a sharp edge. Sand blade."
I was fully focused on maintaining our distance, so I was careless about ranged attacks and that cat seemed to notice it. He conjured a blade of sand that flew straight at me. It had never crossed my mind that he would attack with magic. I thought that just staying at medium range would be fine. I made a huge mistake. At that distance, it was very difficult to dodge that attack.
The distance between us was less than six meters wide and the blade was lightning fast. I was barely able to react at the last moment and jumped to the left with all my might. I managed to get out of the way far enough so that it didn't split me in half. I saved my life, but at the cost of sacrificing my right arm, which was easily severed. It fell to the ground while the hand was still holding Vurtalis.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
Blood shot out, followed by a terrible pain that shook my entire body. I fell to the ground, writhing in agony once more.
'Pain before, pain now, pain even before all that. Pain, pain, pain, and more pain... I can't take it anymore! How much more will I have to endure?!'
I held the wound tightly with my left hand, enduring my suffering. My concentration was lacking considerably because of that, but I did not lose sight of the cat, who conjured a new blade and threw it at me. That one, I wouldn't be able to dodge from my position.
"Don't screw me... I'm not going to die like this!", I yelled with all the air of my lungs.
I had to defend myself and I could only do it in one way. After all, I could control the earth too! I bit my lip so hard that it bled heavily. I sank my left hand into the ground, trying hard to ignore the pain and focus as hard as possible. I sent my power to the ground, right in front of me, and tried to erect a wall with one strong jerk. The ground lifted just as the attack arrived, blocking the blade and breaking next to it. I was a bit surprised, compared to what I did previously, that was somewhat easier. There was no doubt, my power increased considerably after becoming a dog.
"I see. I didn't take into account that you could also use magic. It doesn't matter, this won't help you."
"No... I can't use magic... Consider that I'm the earth itself!"
I unleashed my power completely. The earth began to shake, which puzzled him quite a bit. I attacked him using the same earth like a hammer. He didn't even see that blow coming, which knocked him down. He rolled a few meters but immediately got up, only somewhat dazed. I hit him with the odd attack, but there was no sign that it had really hurt him. It just seemed to cause him a bit of pain and grogginess.
He could use earth magic, so he probably had his body hardened to some degree. It must also be added that the land earth was not exaggeratedly hard. Its offensive power was relatively limited, and I wasn't able to create a cutting edge just with sand as he did.
'I need something sharp or penetrating, but I don't have time to draw the pistol... Anyway, I won't be able to load it with one arm either.'
Then I thought about the bullet I made using carbon and looked again at Vurtalis new aspect, which looked like a little tree. Trees are practically made of carbon, if I could somehow harden them like the bullet… but that would need a lot of time that I did not have.
'Wood element, playing with plants... Well, I'll play with plants too!'
I approached the surrounding trees and focused on them. My first plan was to use its roots to bind him. Those roots began to come out of the ground from different places, chasing the cat. Some reached him, but he was able to cut them with his sword.
'Okay... maybe it wasn't a good idea... How can a bone sword cut a root that easily? It shouldn't be possible!'
"You're a complete newbie. I'm going to show you how to do this! Life that is born from the land, I lend you my power to grow and stand!"
Out of nowhere, directly under my feet, a large number of roots came out and entangled around me. They tied my legs and left arm, completely blocking my movements. The only thing that didn't tie me was my right arm, basically because there was no arm that I could tie.
"You see? This is how it's done."
After finishing with those words, he rushed to me with his sword in front, directly aiming at my chest. The time to act was scarce. I had to break free right away. I tried to control those roots directly, but they ignored me no matter how much energy I sent them.
'Can't I control something created with magic?'
Fear assailed me when I saw that I could not free myself and the cat was already in front of me. I only had time to close my eyes as I released all the energy I could at once, at the same time that I moved the only half limb that I had free in an attempt to block the attack. I expected the worst, however, that attack never came.
I slowly opened my eyes and looked ahead. At that moment I couldn't believe what I saw. Branches that were fused with my body grew directly from my severed arm. The skin suddenly changed to wood and a multitude of pointy branches grew forward, where that cat was impaled between them, with blood coming from his mouth.
"But what is this?" I murmured.
"Gaaaaaad! Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!!!" A familiar voice yelled from the entrance to the clearing.
"Mir... thia," the cat said, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
And at that very moment, Mirthia and Raidha arrived.
'Definitely, everything can always be much worse…'