[Would you like to Accept?]
Those words were in bright green letters right in front of my face as the pain from being bitten lessened and another feeling took it's place.
I felt a sensation of loneliness and longing coming fromt the so called 'Ember Hare'. I looked down at it as it nibbled my skin and it looked at me with big round eyes that showed a full range of emotion, this thing was intelligent and it was instictively trying to use it's cuteness to win me over.
"Haha, fine yes I accept. You don't belong here do ya buddy? You're not like the other rabbits here, so where did you come from exactly?"
As I accepted I could see a transparent line starting to form from my heart to the Ember Hare's body. The connection grew stronger and thicker as me and the creature kept eye contact the whole time. The line then fully materialized but nothing else happened for a few seconds until another screen popped up.
[To complete the Pact process, please provide name to pet.]
"Oh I have to give you a name?" I asked while focusing back on the rabbit, then it actually nodded to me as I could feel it understand my words.
"How about since your powers seem a little Fiery how about.... Wait are you a girl or a boy?"
I felt as soft fluffy sensations flooded my mind. Something was being presented in my mind that led me to think Girl.
"Got it... So Calepus... It's a mix between Calida, which is a name for a fire goddess I think and Lepus which means rabbit in latin. What ya think?"
The little Hare looked at me for a few seconds before it shook its head.
"Hmmm, well ok? Soooo you're cute, a little fluffy, and have the power of fire.... Since I can't call you snowball.... and since you have a bit of a reddish fur I can only thing of, Merida?"
The Hare looked at me a few seconds longer than last time as it thought of the name. Then it nodded it's head happily and jumped up for me to grab it. I held it like alittle baby and started petting Merida who sat in my arms and was sending me mental feelings of happiness.
[Alaric Dyrrun has completed Pacting with the C grade monster now named: Merida]
A rush of energy covered the insides of my chest as a burning started to emerge near my heart. I felt a searing pain almost like someone was tattooing something onto me. I felt like crying but before long the pain subsided as I knelt down and started breathing heavily.
Shortly after Barton came back through the Tear.
"Ric what's up man, we've been waiting for you but you never came thro-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? RIC GET BACK IT'S A GRADE C MONSTER IT'LL KILL YOU!"
I was still panting but I held my hand up to stop him as I saw him start to pull on something near his hip.
"Stop.... It's my.... Pet..... Pact"
I couldn't say any more as my head was starting to pound and the world around me was starting to swirl. Before I knew it the edges of my eyes were turning black and I was losing control over my body and I was falling onto the floor passed out.
The last thing I heard was Barton yelling in surprise and Merida jumping from my arms so as to not get squished. I felt Barton grab my and start to drag me but the nothingness took me seconds after.
------
"Well look who finally shows up... You know for someone who takes my power you sure don't show any appreciation." A booming voice said as I opened my eyes to reveal a completely pitch black area with swirls of dark colors of purple and red making up the only things I could see. I was confused and looked everywhere but all I could see were the constant swirls.
"You're not dead so don't worry to much, I just took this opportunity to have a little chat with the person who inherited my power of Shifting."
"Where are you? What are you? Where am I?" I fired off questions one after another as the panic started rising higher and higher.
"Calm down, Here maybe this will help." The darkness around me started to change and shift as walls startd to emerge from the ground and in the middle was a set of chairs with a table in the middle that was made of some kind of Dark Marble. Soon a figure emerged from the floor and took a seat as it's features started to solidify from a formless mass of Darkness to the face and body of a young man that looked to be in his early 20's.
"Come, sit, have some homebrewed tea." The man then waved his hand and on the table was quickly forming a black teapot with visible steam rising from it and two cups in front of each chair.
I didn't get any closer and instead asked again. "Who are you? Tell me now!"
The man sighed and audibly groaned. "Ugh, look I only have so much time right now. I'm a little weak and my time is short. In the future I hope you will gain more strength so that I too can get stronger and get my body back.... But right now you need an introduction and some truths I'm guessing? So just sit down and indulge me please? I promise even if I wanted to I can't hurt you. You are the owner of my powers and only you have the power here. I can just manipulate the space because I was born from this."
I walked warily towards the table and chair while constantly being on alert. Something felt off, but other than that I didn't feel any malicious intent in his words so I decided to try and see what he had to say.
"Good, good, thanks for agreeing. SO Down to business, You have absorbed my powers, I am.... or was, known as the Ancient tier creature known for absorbing and utilizing millions of creatures abilities. I was infamous for hundreds of years, I had tons and tons of abilities that I evolved and customized for my own unique purposes, I would absorb whole bloodlines to gain power... That is until last year....."
The Man's eyes started to look down and pensive as if a traumatic event replayed in his mind.
"They killed the only Human I spared soley because she cared for me.... I used my Shifting skill to turn human and become a part of society for her sake and to live a life with her..... But those damn Unseen figured out that I was interacting with the Human world and with powerful Ancient magic that even I was scared off..... They pulled me back into this world and tortured me for months for the reason I was able to leave and enter the Human world without anyone noticing and to even take a human woman for my own, They fear the Humans as much as they use them for food and toys." The man was starting to rattle on but he stopped talking for a few seconds before coughing and continuing.
"Anyways, You know have my power..... I wanted to warn you before you got to ahead of yourself, I can see through your eyes and the two old werewolves were part of the team that dragged me back and eventually killed me. They know the skills I used so just be careful around them. I want to get my revenge on them as soon as possible and that's only if you can gain power yourself and fully use my skills as your own. Fuck.... I ran out of time, before I go I suggest you take a blood sample of your pet rabbit, I think her fire could be handy very soon."
Without warning the world around me started to show holes where bright light was shining through. The darkness was evaporating quickly as I started to hear something faint like a voice from far away.
"RIC! RIC! Alaric Can you hear me!? WAKE UP!"
I opened my eyes to a bright light shining straight into my cornias. I slapped it away before looking towards the source of the voice. It was Bryan as he sat next to me on the ground.
"Holy hell kid... That was a heart pounder for sure. I though something may have happened back in the Tear and you lost it. Good work on getting a pet though, I here it's pretty rare to see a monster outside of the Tear."
I looked around as I realized that I couldn't feel Merida around me and I looked more panicked with each second. But soon I calmed down as a warmth was being spread through me and another team member who I never met before placed her greenish bright light hands over top of me and I started feeling more and more relaxed.
------
Staring out of a large window stood a man in a suit as he watched as his son and a member of his guild helped take care of a peculiar young man that showed off something interesting. He then shut the blinds and turned towards another older looking man that was sitting in a red leathery chair that was positioned in front of a desk with various old folders with the Title(True Shifter) Inked in blood red over the top and photos and reports were strewn from the inside all over the desk.
"You don't think he really came back do you?"
"Hell no, you and me made sure to destroy every single piece of that monster. If even an atom was left he would have already been here and draining us of our bloodline before chewing us up like a snack before razing this whole country to the ground. And that is just because he needed to warm up."
"Yes, true, but then care to explain how Alaric Dyrrun not only shapeshifted his neck and head ONLY, but then he also used an ability that is only available to Old werewolf Elder Alpha's like us. I mean if I wasn't an Old man and my knees were weak, I could have sworn I felt like kneeling down for a split second when I heard that roar..."
"Fuck.... so that wasn't just in my head. If you felt it too than that can only affirm that either this guy is insanely powerful for a newbie Werewolf... OR."
"OR.... He has somehow gained the Powers of that monster."