Nathan looked at the calamity with a marked expression of disgust. Seeing the calamity's attempt to transform into a human was repulsive to say the least.
It was still grunting incoherently trying to communicate with Nathan, but apparently its vocal cords had not developed in the transformation, which made it impossible for it to speak to him.
'What does he mean?' wondered Amelia when she saw the calamity's attempt to speak.
'No idea' Nathan replied without taking his eyes off the calamity's strange movements. 'I guess it is intelligent after all'
Nathan remembered the calamity that had transformed into a child years ago. He knew that humans somehow could mutate and turn into calamities like Mary had, so he guessed it was the same for Thorius. While Vcansire looked like he was still a human.
For that reason, he knew that calamities could talk, but only those who had once been human. But the calamity he had met was different, for this one was never human as far as he knew from the journal entries he had read in the village church and from what he had seen with his own eyes.
The true form of the calamity was a black slime which could take the shape of its victims. Something similar to what the calamity was doing in front of him, but not quite the same.
He was not sure of the details either or did not know the true form of the calamity, but when he saw the failed transformation, he knew that it was not as natural for this calamity to transform into humans as it was for the other one.
Nathan sighed, not knowing what to think. "You, become something else. It is not pleasant to look at you"
The calamity stopped moving and growling. Its two completely white eyes looked at Nathan and as if it had understood his words, it began to transform.
Nathan expected it to transform back into a spider or some kind of reptile, but instead it transformed into a completely different creature.
His body resembled that of a wolf cub a few months old and his fur was a greenish gray. But what stood out the most was its head which looked like it had a skull of a larger animal covering its own head. It also had two small horns that resembled those of a young deer.
"¡It's a Luschvik!' Amelia shouted in surprise when she saw the creature.
'A what?' Nathan frowned as he saw the creature's apparent true form.
'A Luschvik, it's not a calamity... it's a creature that in my world is considered mythological' explained Amelia. 'I never thought I'd see one, let alone in a place like this'
'Mythological? Do you think it came out of that egg in the basement?' asked Nathan confused by the existence of such a creature.
'I don't know. I don't know how the Luschvik are born or reproduce. I know that they are peaceful creatures that usually live in the depths of the forests. Besides, they are a type of shape shifter, where they can adopt the form of the living being they consume' narrated Amelia, explaining everything she knew about the Luschvik.
Nathan looked at the Luschvik, who was watching him silently. 'So it's not a calamity?'
'It's not... I can't be sure, but I'd say the odds are high'
'Then how do you know it's a Luschvik?' Nathan continued to ask.
'By the skull that covers his head. Luschvik may have many different birth forms, but they share one feature in common and that is the skull. I know of no other creature that has such a feature'
Nathan nodded at Amelia's explanation and stared at the Luschvik, which nervously turned its head as if waiting for Nathan to do something.
They might have been having a conversation inside Nathan's mind, but to the Luschvik it was as if Nathan had been watching him silently for a while.
'You say it's a peaceful creature... Why did he kill them?' said Nathan referring to the Khan members.
'They are peaceful, but they are naturally fearful of humans. I guess it got scared when it saw several humans running and attacked them out of instinct' Amelia explained.
Nathan tilted his head slightly. 'It's not like he was born in a peaceful environment either...'
Nathan remembered the glass cages where Boreas bred calamities. He guessed that when the old man left these ran out of food before long, forcing them to kill each other to survive.
'So should I kill him?' Nathan questioned.
'No!, you can't!' Amelia shouted mentally. 'You definitely can't!'
Nathan scoffed silently seeing how quickly Amelia had changed her mind about the Luschvik.
'It is as if you met a unicorn and killed it!' Amelia quickly fell silent realizing what she had said.
'Someone's been studying' Nathan scoffed again.
'...Sometimes I get bored' Amelia tried to disguise that she occasionally looked at his memories. Although Nathan had reached the point where he didn't really care.
They had been together for a few months and Amelia already knew most of Nathan's secrets, there was simply no point in hiding any more.
Putting that aside, Nathan looked at the slightly growling Luschvik. "I can't leave it here... eventually it will find more humans to feed on"
The Luschvik growled as it heard Nathan speak for the first time in a while and backed up a couple of steps with slight caution.
"If you promise not to sting and poison me I'll give you delicious food. Things you haven't tasted so far" Nathan smiled and took off his mask to show his face to the Luschvik as a sign of trust.
The Luschvik growled again as he saw Nathan's face and Nathan crouched down to be closer to him.
'Do you want to take him?' asked Amelia reading his intentions.
Nathan was momentarily silent waiting to see the Luschvik's response. Then, a couple of seconds later it began to transform again, turning its body into a small lizard.
Nathan smiled slightly at the sight of Luschvik's transformation. 'I don't know how strong the Luschvik are in your world' Nathan watched the small lizard running towards him. It jumped up and clung to his coat, then scurried inside, and reached into the coat's inner pocket.
'But just imagine what the Luschvik could become if it devoured calamities like the Mammoth of a few hours ago' Nathan explained as he put his mask back on.
'I would have a third rank calamity as an ally' Nathan smiled amusedly thinking about the possibilities. And without looking at the corpse of the Khan member half devoured by the Luschvik, Nathan continued on his way to leave the Aeterna territory.