He brought a few heavy and a few thin books from the dusty old rack, slamming them onto the table in front of her as he dusted his dirty hands. He grabbed a nearby cloth and dusted them up, then placed the books back in front of her.
" As far as I know, you have not shifted yet, is that right? "
~Shifted? As in shifting houses, perhaps? Maybe because of all those important books and family valuables in our house?~
" What do you mean by shifted? "
He stared into her eyes, somewhat intrigued by just how ignorant she could be.
" Did you not even read any of our family books yet, as I said you would be allowed to after it happened? To think you do not even understand what I mean by the word... "
He sighed, and plopped down in the chair beside hers.
~This is gonna be a hard one. Goodbye, solitude and sanity!~
He thought.
" Oh, yes, about that. I tried to read the book of an Introduction to Therianthropes but it wouldn't open! All its pages are stuck together, and it says I will be able to open it only if I am a true Therianthrope, but I don't even know what they are... "
~Where have I gotten myself this time?~
They both thought.
" A Therianthrope, to be exact, is a human being who can metamorphose into an animal by means of shapeshifting. "
~What? Excuse me?~
" So, let me be exact, so you're saying that we can turn into animals? "
" Not just any animals, you dumb girl... "
" You have no right to call me dumb, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about at the moment only because you did not think it was the right time before to tell me something this important and huge! "
~Well, she's not wrong...~
They both thought.
" You were not ready! "
" I don't see what changed in me to make me ready today but not a few days ago! "
" You are still not ready, I simply do not have a choice anymore due to the urgency of the situation I must prepare you whether you are ready or not! "
" Ugh! Fine ! Continue! "
Regina crossed her arms to express her anger towards him, yet her inquisitive eyes shone with curiosity as she wondered with bewilderment if this could be true...
~He said it quite seriously, surely it must be! If monsters can exist, then perhaps.. shifters can too... in this world right now, anything can exist... ~
" In order to access your full potential, you need to learn shifting into whatever your animal is, as soon as possible. I will be your guidance and you may question me whenever required. "
" Let's try right now! What is your animal? "
" That you shall see later on. You do not require to watch me shift in order to learn, that shall be of no use. I shall give you the instructions and you must try on your own. "
" Won't my animal be inherited from either you or mother? "
" Not just us, your animal may be inherited from any of your family members in the previous few generations. However, there are a few animals I believe you may be as they or the most common. "
Regina's father spread out a few plastic sheets in front of her, each plastic sheet had many pictures of any certain animal... He started by placing the dog sheet, on it's backside were wolves and foxes. Along with that sheet, he spread the rest of the sheets all around the table, placing the commonest animals near Regina.
" We'll need your blood. "
Regina pulled out one of her pocket knives, making a small slash on the side of her wrist.
" With your fingers, apply a small amount of your blood on any one picture of each sheet on your side of the table. "
Regina did as instructed to then grabbed a bottle from the window sill and washed her hands. She wondered what he intended to do but she had a feeling she would known soon.
" If you are any of the animals you left your bloody fingerprint on, we will see a sign. If you are not, then the blood will remain as it is. "
Regina stared at the sheets, waiting for an outcome. Her mind couldn't help but wonder,
~What if I am not a therianthrope after all? What if I do not have any animal?~
Just as Regina was lost in thought, she was distracted by movement. She looked up to see that from the feline sheet a golden cat that seemed to be designed using fluid, golden, shiny glitter. The cat pounced upwards in a spiral, slowing growing larger. It was hard to tell which big cat it had transformed into by the end since it seemed to be very unclear, golden liquid glitter that barely even managed to looked like a cat.
However, by the time it reached near the top of it had long sabretooth like fangs, wings, and was exceptionally large, especially as compared to the tiny kitten it started as. The exquisite sight was a new experience not just for Regina, but also for her father as they both stood in front of their chairs in amazement with their jaws agape, stars in their eyes reflecting the glittery cat.
At the topmost end of the wall, the big cat spewed fire from her large mouth, engulfing itself into flames and disappearing. Leaving not a trace of what had happened, all that was left fell slowly from the height where the big golden cat had recently ignited itself on fire. Regina ran in the direction, catching the falling piece of paper.
On the paper, with green ink it was clearly written " The Emerald Ruler shall decide who shall burn. This is the future for now. "
~This is... my handwriting...~
She flipped the page to find a picture of half a house cat, the other half was blank. She showed the picture to her father, however she did not wish to show him the other side with the prophecy. Something held her back, so she shoved the picture careful in another compartment of her belt to inspect later after showing him only the picture.
All this was enough to faze the assassin, who did not question the other side of the paper and plopped down in his chair with one hand on on his forehead attempting to make sense of what happened. He decided to tell her how to shift and end the meet for today, he'd had enough.
" In order to shift, you must simply exert all the energy you can as you focus on your animal. You may decide its color, but the type of wild cat shall be determined by your own temperament. The size of the animal is decided by the amount of energy you exert and the exact animal according to what you are on the inside. You may change the color of the animal at will, however you must reach a very high level of energy in order to obtain a color that does not naturally exist in nature. "
" What do you think it meant... the golden cat..."
" I've never seen something like this, I shall require some time to contemplate the events. I suppose we have done quite enough for today, you may go rest. Wake as early as you can anytime after 4am and train as hard as you can, remember to avoid damaging your body. As shifters, we have much more potential than the average humans due to our fast healing and overall stronger physique. Remember that knife that I dug inside your leg? it must've healed by now. A normal human, however, would take months and yet be unable to lose the scar. "
Regina had never quite thought to compare herself to others, she had always thought everyone healed this way. Her eyes slightly widened at the thought and winced imagining what she would have looked like if all her deep injuries left scars instead of healing entirely leaving only scarless smooth glowing skin...
" Meditate every morning and night, the higher your spiritual energy, the easier shifting will be. Staying in another form constantly depletes your energy in every way, however the amount depleted differs with the size of the creature. Such as a person shifting to a small animal would not feel their energy depleting but the bigger the creature is than their original size, the more it will deplete their energy. "
" So.. I simply have to meditate and train in order to gain as much of all kinds of energy I can in order to sustain the form I shift into? "
Her father hummed in agreement as he gently placed his hand on her shoulder to lead her out the door. They waved each other goodbyes, however, neither of them seemed pensive to be separating but rather as if they had gotten rid of their problems!
" Remember to go home without a vehicle, depend on them very less, your lifestyle itself will become rigorous exercise once you stop depending on most of these human gadgets... "
She turned and nodded her head, climbing a tree and jumping from tree to tree straight towards her home. She may not find it easy and perhaps also slightly dangerous due to her lack of practice and yet it was a special kind of feeling as she leapt from one place to another.
The expanse of trees led her straight to the road in front of her house's main door. The road was basically empty, not many vehicles passed by at night so she swiftly ran across, entering her house after unlocking the backdoor.
She threw off her long, heavy boots and gladly changed to her cozy furry home slippers. Slipping out of her attire, she lay it on the padded chair near her bed, taking her sweaty underwear off along with it. She jumped onto the edge of her bed and lay there, cooling her sweaty body.
~Ah, big breasts are such a pain! First they obstruct my movement and then they sweat like crazyyyyy!~
Unwilling to lie perspiring in bed any longer, she entered the bathroom with a shower cap on as she refused to handle wet hair in this fatigued condition. Regina stood in the cold shower, the running water washing away all her makeup and allowing her natural beauty with long lashes and pink lips to resurface.
As she closed her eyes, she saw the scene happen all over again just as it had in that old wooden house... She knew this would be one of those memories she would vividly remember for the rest of her life and relive time and again no matter whether she wished to or not. She rubbed soap on herself with closed eyes, lost in thought.
~If the cat grew... doesn't that mean I will get stronger since I shall need more power to sustain a bigger and stronger form? However, the only thing troubling me is... the end... Will I end up bringing myself to ruin?~
Regina did not wish to entertain any negative thoughts, not for now at least, she was in no situation to handle any further stress. She washed the soap off and dabbed herself dry with her soft pink towel. Removing her shower cap, she opened her hair and switched to a hairdo that was more comfortable and easy to rest in.
Her nude form slipped inside the quilt enveloping itself in pillows. She kept one pillow underneath her head and pillows all round that pillow. She held another squeezed inside her hips and against her breasts and cuddled the pillow to sleep. Surely, any human who dared to take the place of the pillow would suffocate in his sleep itself!