FSE

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Chapter 1

Fear and a Friend

They say that before the Quake that everything was better. That before the Quake we had the ability to harness the power of the elements themselves and allow everyone on the planet the ability to talk to anyone anywhere else, to see images from a box that may not have even happened and to be able to travel hundreds of miles through the sky as if it were nothing. That was, of course before the Quake. After the Quake, none of that is still true. After the Quake monsters appeared; as well as people with abilities that absolutely defied all sense of possibility. With so much of the world suddenly wrought into chaos and suspecting it to be an attack, it is said that the world leaders banded together to create a force designed to fight this new menace. And so the Hunters came into being, or at least the first version of them. I'm sure that originally they were much less intimidating than they are now, and a lot more restrained. But after a while when there is no formal army to attack and the group became more assassins and slayers of monsters it ran into the situation of what better kind of person to hunt a monster than someone who was themselves somewhat of a monster.

And that is likely to be my fate in a little while. Death by a monster. And not because the local guards can't handle me, but rather they won't. There is a standing order by the Emperor for all abnormals to be handed over to the Hunters. And the Hunters in this particular area are the type that tend to get very annoyed at anyone who would deprive them of their prey, even so far as to kill in what they'd consider retribution. And so, for something I don't even know how it happened, at only ten years old I find myself being escorted by an armed guard to the nearest fortress to await some Hunters judgement. And all for something I don't even fully understand. Of course to make matters worse it's a fairly cold night and they weren't going to allow me to go into a building to get more clothes. So not only am I likely being marched to my own death but I'm doing so both tired and hungry. But I can't exactly do anything about it, trying to escape would just end up getting me shot.

It's not that far from the military base, thankfully. However, my last sight of any sort of hope fades away as I pass through the thick stone walls. At first I'm half tempted to think that they're just going to leave me in the courtyard out in the open as they place me somewhere where there is nothing that can be easily be burned then my escorts leave to go report in the main building as some other soldiers in the area watch me carefully. They may not know what I've done, but a ten year old child being brought in with an armed escort probably is more than enough for them to glean the basics. Just as I'm considering just plopping down and getting some rest before what is likely to be my execution I see a couple of soldiers step out again and gesture me to move towards the captain's quarters. I'm not entirely sure what to expect but I do find it quite surprising that they'll bring me into a room with a lot of burnable material. But in the center of the room is the captain of the base, or at least who I assume is the captain. There are a few other soldiers in here as well, just in case I suppose and an individual standing off to the side, currently hidden behind a large cloak.

"So you're our little pyrefly, eh," the captain says, giving me a hard look over the table, making me try and shrink even further. "Certainly doesn't look like much. Pretty harmless as far as I'm concerned. And barely even a kid. Are you sure this is the one you want?"

"A child perhaps," the cloaked figure says, his manner of speaking very much reminds me of a priest, "but the child does possess the gift I'm looking for. And a burnout at such a young age is all the more reason to me." The cloaked figure moves forward and crouches down slightly, putting his hand on my chin. "You need not fear me child. No harm shall befall you of my hand. Now tell me, child. How old are you?"

Unable to help myself I look up slightly and see the mark of a priest, but at the same time everything else about him doesn't look at all like I'd expect from a priest. He's a very large person, and there's a giant scar on the right side of his face, just barely missing his eye and has a very hard chin. Even the small smile on his face, such as it is, does not radiate warmth as it does caution. The sight of him makes my mind jump to conclusions of him either being a Hunter that's pretending to be a priest, or a priest that became a Hunter.

"I'm ten, sir," I say in barely a whisper, too terrified of my current situation.

"Ten, hmm? Then you most certainly are but a child," he says as he begins to stand up, putting his hands on my shoulders. "But I'm sure with proper training that you'll find you can go pretty far. Now I'll be taking this child with me."

At the press of his hands into my shoulders my entire body seems to lock up. I can't move a single muscle to the extent it's difficult even to breathe. It's like there's an energy flowing from his hands into me that is preventing me from doing anything. On top of that I can feel that his hand is changing. I look to the others for help. Most of the soldiers look almost frozen in terror as well. The captain looks more annoyed than anything else.

"Is that really necessary?" the captain asks.

The priest just grins as his hands continue to feel larger and greener. I panic and try to do anything to get away from this monster but find that I am unable to do anything. My body isn't even letting me struggle against him. Even my breathing has started to become very shallow. Unable to do anything more than that. The priest's nose and mouth seem to be stretching out a bit, and his whole body is gaining mass steadily. I can feel claws beginning to grow on his fingers and dig into my shoulders but I am unable to do anything about it. His ears start to shift and move up, looking more webbed than before. And with all of this happening I'm starting to feel that sort of tingling sensation again. My whole body seems like it's fallen asleep and all the nerves are waking up all at once. The more disturbing part of it all though is that as my body is tingling it's also starting to feel somewhat different with each passing second. I can practically feel my teeth begin to change around my tongue. My mouth feels like something is pulling it outward and I can almost swear that I can feel something pushing its way out from my backside.

The only upside is that the more monstrous that my body seems to become the easier it becomes to breathe and move. I can even start to move my arms around slightly but I don't want to lose what I am just to become free, especially since I have no idea what these armed individuals will do to me if did turn into a monster, especially with what they think of me already. I scrunch my eyes down and try my hardest to try and will myself to regain my human status. And at first I can't tell if anything is happening, but then I do notice that the changes seem to be slowing, then stopping and then finally as I redouble my efforts starting to reverse itself as well. Of course one downside of this is that it then also means that the paralysis starts to return in full.

"Yes, little one, you will do just fine indeed," he says as he removes his hands from my shoulders and I can suddenly breathe again.

Unable to control myself I fall down to my knees and just sit there in shock. I can see out of the corner of my eye his massive feet, which have become raised up like a dog, but the foot is the width of my entire leg and the toes about half the size of my hands. He could probably crush me with one foot if he so desired.

"So I would consider the matter settled. Feel free to write in your report whatever you want. The truth, that you killed the child, I'll leave that up to you. Whatever you think your superiors will abide by the best," he says as I can feel something gently nudging me. I look over to see what is doing that and I find that not only has this priest now grown large bat-like wings but is using them to nudge me back to standing.

After everything that had happened. After being marched for miles after the initial incident, after having to fight to maintain even my humanity I've just gotten to the point of being too numb to really care at this point. I'm human again and that's as good as I can hope for at the present time. If I end up getting killed or used for some demonic ceremony or something then that'll just have to be what my fate ends up being. I simply doing have the energy to really do much of anything else. And so with his nudging I stand up without resistance and begin walking towards the door. I can't even really tell if I'm moving on my own will or if he's doing some sort of trick again to make me move how he wants me to. The guards seem to be rather unsettles by this large demonic figure walking away with me so casually, a few even raise their guns, but their captain waves them off.

I have half a mind to try and escape once I'm free of this fort, not that I have any illusions about being able to really get away, but it's not like I particularly like what is likely to be my fate regardless. But as we leave I find my body instantly turning away from the main road, letting me know that I am indeed still under his complete control. Which is definitely disconcerting but I don't really have the energy to continue. After about a few miles of travelling in such a manner I'm tempted to just close my eyes and fall asleep and then either let this body keep moving to wherever or die when he decides we're far enough away. Either way he seems to sense my utter exhaustion and decides to stop for the night. I can feel the control over my body completely go away and with nothing else motivating me to move I just fall forward and slump over.

The priest doesn't seem all that particularly concerned about me for the time being, instead is going about the task of making a fire pit. But he doesn't seem to be making any efforts to getting any wood or anything at all in regards to something that can burned. He turns to me and smiles a big toothy grin before reaching into his cloak and seemingly out of nowhere pulls a flame out. This small little fire just seems to be resting on his hand and not burning him in the slightest. He puts it into the middle of his impromptu fire pit and it quickly grows to a nice small fire. I want to try and get closer but I'm just too exhausted to do much of anything. He turns towards me and notes how I'm not moving at all towards the fire or even from the spot he let me go. He makes what I can imagine is a non-committal gesture before standing up and walking back over to me. He moves behind me and picks me up in one quick sweeping motion and carries me over to the fire and then sets me down much more carefully so that I'm not bending anything in any odd way. He then goes back to tending the fire without any fuel to feed it.

"There we go, that's much better," he reaches into his cloak and this time pulls out what looks to be a loaf of bread and some dried meat. "Don't really have much food on me, I'm afraid," he says as his entire form seems to deflate before my eyes. His wings practically melt back into his body and his whole body shrinks considerably, returning him to that human that I had seen him earlier. He snaps off a bit of the bread and meat and places it on my lap before walking to the other side of the fire. "In my defense, child, I wasn't really expecting you to show up. So that is just what I had to go by until I got to the next town and could buy some more rations. But getting you, child, is far more important than buying a bit of food at a market.

"Are you going to eat me or sacrifice me?" I ask, noting how a human child probably would be much more substantial than whatever could be bought at the market, and for considerably less since I don't think he gave those men any money in exchange for me.

"Eat you? That's a laugh. Why would I eat you went I went so far out of my way just to find you? Though unfortunately I do know of one individual who would not hesitate to eat you, my child," he growls that last bit. "No, I took you from that place because you're like me, little fox."

"What do you mean like me? Little fox?" I ask, thoroughly confused.

"When I was binding you down your body started to change. That was your other side trying to express itself in order to better resist what I was doing to you. I'm sure you noticed as your body changed my hold got weaker. And then you suppressed it. Our names as we were born to don't matter. What your primary form is determines what everyone will call you. Thus, your new name is Fox. Might get more specific once I've seen you go all the way, but fox will suffice. If you can, child, do you think you can recall what happened to cause you to be picked up by the soldiers?"

"I'm not entirely sure what happened myself." I say, looking down at my hands. "It just makes no sense. I was doing chores in the barn and my hands started tingling more and more. So I went to go and wipe them off on a towel thinking maybe I got something on them. But when I touched the towel it caught on fire. In a panic I took it and stuffed it into a bucket of water but that immediately turned to steam. And then I tried running out the door to get some help and when I touched the door that caught on fire too. It makes no sense."

"That, my child, is what is considered a burnout and in your case quite literally. You see, child, everyone that has ever lived slowly generates magic energy, like what you saw me light the fires with. And they can also store it and use it up, either willingly or otherwise. Think of your body like a cup. If I pour water in it fills up. Some will evaporate away over time. But if I fill your cup faster than it is evaporating away, eventually I'll overfill the cup. When this happens the body will start expelling magic at the slightest provocation. It needed to rid itself of excess magic so it burnt the towel, then vaporized the water and set that barn on fire. It was your body trying to protect itself from trying to hold too much. You're lucky. When you had your burnout it happened in a location that had no real human toll. No one was harmed. It would have been a different story if someone had been hurt. But no one got hurt. The impressive thing is just how young you are. Normally we don't start having people check for someone who's built up too much magic in their bodies when they're teenagers or young adults. If someone was checking on you they might have noticed it and stopped it in time. But you were too young for them to even think to check, my child. But then the fox tends to get a bit impatient in regards to doing something like waiting for a decent age to burnout. But that's enough for now. The rest can wait until you've had time to rest. Do not worry, I'll be protecting you, my child. Rest well and we can inform you of more in the morning."