Shifter - Infinite Transformation-Chapter 95: The Houses’ Move
After spending so much time in Cintre, I should have been more accustomed to the fortress. Maybe I should have even had some more people to call friends or, at worst, ’acquaintances,’ but Clove and Fern were all I had. Clove was like family at this point, and Fern was my family. Jer was not too bad either, but he felt more like a subordinate than a friend.
The minotaur demihuman followed me whenever he saw me. He wanted to spar with me after what Clove said to him–the details of his conversation with Clove remained a mystery to me–and that’s what I did. I sparred with Jer, testing my Chimera form while also practicing shifting into other monsters.
Jer stood no chance. He lost every bout within a minute, but that did not seem to bother the young minotaur demihuman. If anything, it was all the more reason for him to follow me, ask me for pointers, and more. Alas, I was not exactly a war veteran, nor did I know how to help him understand his Bloodline better.
Clove was just better in that regard. The young fae helped Jer, which was nice to see considering that Clove was a little violent when those older than him were weaker.
One way or another, I didn’t consider my time spent in Cintre as wasted. Sure, I could have pushed further, sneaked into the Eserian or even the Grand Dungeon, but that was not what I wanted. And I only did what I wanted. That was a promise I made to myself a while ago: to stay true to myself and not let my Cursed Power fog my mind.
I did not want Shift to change me any more. My personality belonged to no one, and it was to stay like that.
Days passed, but it was no more than six weeks after we arrived in Cintre that something changed. The tension in the air was the first to shift, then came the commotion. Footsteps reverberated throughout the entire fortress, catching our attention.
"What’s going on?" Fern was the first to get out of bed. I followed shortly and scrambled to keep up with her as she reached the door to the hallway.
Clove was already there, his ears perked up. "There are people I’ve never seen before. Many."
The extent of ’many’ was not quite clear, yet it was definitely the correct term. We rushed out of the inn, only to see rows upon rows of people. No less than a hundred men and women stepped through the fortress gate, entering Cintre. Clad in armor made of a metal I’d never seen before, the soldiers marched through Cintre only to stop before Gareus Gaia’s mansion. The Official of Cintre stepped out, wearing similar yet more impressive armor than the soldiers, his presence was more imposing than before.
The emblem of House Gaia was etched on every piece of armor, meaning the soldiers belonged to Gaia’s military force. That would also explain why most of the demi-humans had brown, lizard-like traits and other beast-like features that hinted at an elemental attunement to the earth element, of course.
"There are more outside," Clove said. "That’s only a portion of their army. Probably the captains."
I thought as much. It only made sense that House Gaia had more than a hundred fighters. But how many were there exactly? Curious, I transformed into a Terro Sparrow to rise high within seconds.
What unfolded below was shocking to say the least. Cintre was surrounded by thousands of people. Not everyone wore the same armor as Gareus and his forces, but House Gaia was clearly the strongest force present. But there were more. A large force of riders, mounted on monsters that only vaguely reminded me of horses. They appeared to be a mixture of horses, lizards, and some other kind of creature that covered the lizard body with long hair.
The mounts did not seem particularly fast, but they moved around with an agility that didn’t befit their broad physical structure. As curious as they were, I was more interested in the men and women moving further away from the main forces. Fire sprouted from their ankles, wrists, and necks. They weren’t demihumans but belonged to a race I’d never seen before. And among them were crimson-skinned elves and dwarves with much darker shades than I thought they’d have.
After staying in the sky for a few seconds, I descended back to the ground. When I did, several soldiers looked at me, hands on their sheaths. They were ready to strike whatever wild monster dared to step into the fortress, but Gareus Gaia stopped them. I transformed back into my Chimera form and greeted the surprised soldiers with a simple nod.
Then I turned back to my mate and friend.
"Looks like they’re finally on the move." I told the others what I’d seen from above. Clove just nodded, while Fern muttered, "It was about time. They’re slow."
We hadn’t been much faster. Honestly, the time we had spent in the Eserian, leaving the forest and informing the Forea Alliance about the dungeon entrance, had been slower. In a way, we had wasted a lot of time in the Eserian. Not that it hadn’t been necessary for me to grow, but we could have been a lot faster by putting our lives in danger. And that was the crux. We didn’t want to endanger our lives.
Fern and Clove had needed that time as well. While they did say it was all about making sure I was going to make it out of the forest alive, I knew that both Fern and Clove had their own inner demons to deal with.
At the mention of the demon, the Trickster Demon stirred. Our bond hadn’t changed all that much in the last few weeks. He was still my Familiar, but we had learned how to communicate with each other. Somewhat. Somehow. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂
He could hear what I thought, and I could... well, I could roughly guess what he wanted from me. Usually, it was the same thing anyway–the Trickster Demon wanted me to fight. To kill. As for what I was supposed to kill, my Familiar didn’t care.
