FSE

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It was, once again, like a movie without the sound, a dreamlike sequence playing on without my input or will, ever so distant while remaining eerily real at the same time.

I saw our old camp within the small abandoned quarry completely overrun with the twisted, alien vegetation, from sinewy creep covering the ground and purple vines snaking up the rocky cliffs of its small ravine to the overgrown bramble with the dagger-sized thorns encroaching its perimeter. In the grim light of the early dawn, it looked terrifying.

A few reptilian 'Corruptors' rested under the canopies of their living dens decorated with unearthly flowers, satisfied with the work they had done by bending nature to their power's whim.

Only a small group of the little, scaled monsters struggled with the terrified merchant, unable to explain to him where he was supposed to go in the world that changed beyond the confines of the hut he used to be imprisoned in.

I pushed him with a furry, clawed hand, and gestured with the longsword in the other, then glanced at the small mixed group of other vulpine, canine and rodent-like monsters following in my footsteps. The confused man didn't listen.

Monsters soon gave up the persuasion and opted to drag him down wrapped in lianas the 'Corruptors' produced until they rendezvoused with another group pulling the hand-drawn cart ferrying the looted supplies. With the prisoner ready for transport, I was free to dash down the cobbled road towards the greater goal down in the valley.

Then I jolted awake.

Gone was the old camp, and the forest, and the road.

Once again, it has been just an unusually lively, realistic dream.

It was almost ironic that my welcome to the waking real world was another of those not-quite tangible floating windows invading my field of view, all dull and monochromatic, and entirely pointless with its message.

|

Unit evolved! Mate gained! Tama, The Bride of Flames.

New unit was promoted to Alpha Purifier!

|

More irritated rather than shocked, I blinked it away and buried myself in the velvety fluff.

I laid on the layered bedrolls held in the tight, loving embrace of both Miwah and Tama, their soft fur pleasant and warm against my naked skin.

Though the shade of guilt and sense of weirdness lingered somewhere deep down at the back of my mind, it wasn't as alienating an experience as it once was, not anymore.

I accepted the womanhood of my anthropomorphic beast-women and put away all those conflicting feelings in their affection last night in favour of passionate acceptance. My monsters, my companions, my mates.

Without them, I was lonely.

Without them, I had no place to go.

It saddened me greatly.

I pulled myself even closer to Miwah, looking for the quick smooch from my very feminine werewolf, caressing her smooth, furry curves.

My good morning kiss wasn't as awkward as it was previously, with less hesitation and more instinct in making out with Miwah, only to turn around and do the same with Tama, doubts about our anatomical differences were a thing of the past.

Still, there was something that made me stop, something I couldn't quite name or identify.

"What's wrong, Master?" Vixen purred silently, moving her muzzle to my ear, teasing me with her tongue. I didn't move away from her, or from Miwah who only pressed closer, their fluff and body heat bringing much-needed comfort. I didn't fear their sharp claws, they didn't even scratch me in the moments of passion, less in their gentle assuring touches.

"Master?" Miwah asked softly too.

"Can you refuse me?"

"I don't want to," Tama said, softly, but decisively.

I looked at her. She was very different now. Tama's fur turned silver, accentuated with darker highlights and shimmering, magically golden eyes. Even her hair was argent as the shining moon.

Her transformation, her ascension to the new form, didn't feel as important as the moment.

It felt merely how the power manifested the deepened bond between us, working on the mechanisms beyond my understanding. It was yet another reminder of the things I lost, and things I gained.

I gently touched her vulpine features, returning her golden gaze. She was beautiful, silvery and elegant. Miwah was beautiful too, a pale shadow with deep azure eyes. All my monsters were, in their own, truly exotic way.

This was the core of the problem.

It brought an even stronger divide between my past and my present as things I didn't think possible merely a few days ago were quickly becoming a new reality, and my own old identity was quickly slipping out of my grasp.

"We want to be with you, always, Master," Miwah added, her voice expressing the same, if not greater, devotion as the vixen. I said nothing, unsure what I should say or do, just pushed myself into an even tighter, welcoming embrace.

It was yet another day I spent lost in this world, with no means to escape, without a place I would truly belong to.

The futility of my struggle to find the way home was getting to me.

When I finally accepted and embraced the weirdness, and despite always choosing what was least stressful at the time, the depression had set in, making me feel sadder. Although I should cherish some aspects of this change, the positives were still outweighed by the negatives.

However, it wasn't as simple as saying I prefer to stay here with my girls. Emotions were never simple, they were always this confusing, contradicting mess one would have to find a way to come to terms with, slowly. Short, rash decisions always burned me in the past, and I doubted this time it would be any different.

Perhaps it wasn't the change itself that scared me, but the speed at which it was happening.

Worse even, there wasn't any alternative.

"Wouldn't you want to go home?" It was a nonsensical question, one they couldn't properly answer by the grace of their connection with the power closely tied to this world, and no recollections of my past. I still asked.

They weren't confused by the query, though. The way they both answered reflected the certainty that I never felt.

"Our home is where you are, Master."

"And where is my home?"

Honestly, I wasn't sure of the answer myself anymore. They, however, replied without hesitation.

"With us."

Once again, I said nothing, and luckily for me, they weren't expecting it.

Both Tama and Miwah were completely content with simply enjoying their closeness with me with a little teasing here and there to ease my morning sadness, and keep me warm against the usual morning breeze while I spent my time submerged in thoughts.

I didn't escape their affection; this time, I welcomed it as a bulwark against this strange fit of melancholy.

It felt peaceful.

Albeit merely being a bandaid to the crushing reality that would soon follow, just as it had happened several times already during my brief stay in those foreign lands.

Who knew how long it would last?

Perhaps I could believe, for this brief, peaceful moment, but deep inside I knew very well that it wouldn't last, and I would soon be thrown back into the never-ending spiral of violence.

This world didn't revolve around my acceptance of my furry menagerie, and my problems weren't simply resolved by enjoying their company.

It revolved around the constant conflict between them and the local, hostile humans, for reasons I could only guess, fuelled by the power beyond my understanding. The power that gave me my girls. The power that might take them away.

I didn't want to be separated from them anymore.

Not from Miwah, not from Tama, not even from the last of my little 'Purifiers' and 'Eviscerators' trapped under the hostile spell.

It was almost paradoxical how the monsters I feared not that long ago had become my people I wanted to care about.

Despite everything, I should still keep searching for a way to return home.

It didn't matter whether I truly wanted to turn back time, or whether I would wish to spend the rest of my days enjoying the unearned affection of my furry menagerie, it had to be done, regardless of the choice I would have made in the end.

Since it wasn't about home anymore, a place lost in space and time, it was about understanding the power that brought me there, gave me this, and why it had to be brought with so much hostility.

I looked into Miwah's deep blue eyes, still thinking.

I was brought here, by design, mysterious and unfathomable, but entirely conscious. I was certain of it.

It wasn't a fulfilment of any unspoken wish.

It wasn't a reward for some deed I didn't understand.

I didn't know why, or how, but it wasn't a crazy universal coincidence that I one day woke up under the alien sky.

Even if my involvement in particular, out of the billions of people on earth, was some freak chance, the particular sequence of events that followed certainly wasn't.

A sudden transmigration didn't quite explain the strange nature of my powers, or the random, finicky system, almost taunting my struggle to find the logic within. Although I could, in theory, attribute all of this to be the universe's gift to start a new life, the strange occurrences didn't end with it.

It didn't explain the soldiers appearing in the same spot, at the same moment, back in those stone ruins I had awoken in.

It felt nonsensical to consider chances in a context I didn't even begin to understand, but too many things aligned in one way or another for me to accept them as coincidence.

There wasn't any reason the soldiers should be there unless they knew I would appear as well.

They might have miscalculated what my monsters could be capable of. Perhaps they had thought they could take me in before Tama had been called, but they certainly weren't here though a random twist of fate.

This land was filled with enemies, hellbent on fighting me, even if I didn't quite understand why.

Why would I be so unwelcomed if I had been called on purpose?

If I should even gain any resemblance of control over my life, if I should ever decide to stay, or move, or do anything on my volition, I had to figure out what really caused all of this.

"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is a pattern." I murmured, then added: "Or enemy action."

I just didn't know who the enemy was.

Let it be the mysterious woman imprisoned in the looted temple I could sense from a distance, or whoever those soldiers swore allegiance to, or the power working through the nebulous system, or the scroll mentioned within the cryptic message I now recalled, it was much more than a mere twist of fate at works.

"The second scroll has been read." I said, repeating the system message that resulted not only in the sudden infusion of power but also deepening the connection between me and my monsters on all levels.

That message had implied there had been a first scroll.

I just didn't remember seeing any scrolls.

As unnatural, and out of place, as the system notifications were, they weren't particularly themed. They were monochromatic, simple, almost as if they were created as an afterthought, and didn't resemble scrolls in any shape and form.

I sat up.

Miwah and Tama rose too, not giving up on the closeness they earned.

"Master?"

"Tama, Miwah. Did you find any scroll among the dead humans back in the forest? The soldiers at the ruins, on the stash in the looted pagoda? Books, pieces of paper, anything?"

I certainly didn't recall any. Locals certainly had writting, but so far, I didn't encounter any of their sacred texts, though I saw their places of worship.

"No, Master. There weren't any books, scrolls, or even papers," Miwah answered with a brief pause for thought, and Tama nodded in acknowledgement as well.

If there were any texts, sacred or otherwise, they would be safely locked within the castle we could not access, or in other key areas where the educated would live. Cities, or monasteries, if they had any.

Question was whether I was supposed to actually look for the scroll I wouldn't be able to read, considering the insurmountable language barrier, or look for the person responsible with no real understanding who was or wasn't important.

That castle, however, still looked like a good place to start.

They just wouldn't let me walk in.

I was still adamant about freeing the monsters that had been 'sealed' as well. The woman behind it posed a threat to us. Considering the armed men I encountered so far, I was certain that lord of the land wouldn't be willing to divulge any information either. I, in fact, didn't know if there wasn't a lady of the land instead.

"Did something happen at the castle in the meantime?" I asked.

"Humans didn't leave, or breakthrough, Master." Miwah answered, "It was a peaceful night."

I nodded.

"There was quite a scuffle when those from the other villages attempted to get inside. I think a few of them died." Tama remarked, with a devilish grin: "If they are fighting each other, this gives me ideas, Master."

"No..." I said. I didn't want to trigger yet another risky raid until we knew we could handle it perfectly, without the threat of yet another 'sealing' threatening to cut down our numbers.

It was almost horrifying that the implication of the humans dying came more than an afterthought.

"Then I would like to wait until Helmy arrives so I can keep paying you may undivided, special attention, Master." Tama teased.

My thoughts on the matter, or a potential reply, were interrupted by Narita entering the room.

"Good Morning. Master." She said, as always acting somewhat professionally.

My monsters didn't seem to have a tendency to knock, but I didn't feel ashamed at the moment, I was briefly distracted by the fact when I realised that the new, silvery furred Tama, had two bushy tails instead of just one, both shiny and tipped with patches of dark brush. Vixen, perfectly aware of the fact was staring at her, made a suggestive posture.

"Sorry to interrupt, Master." Narita apologised for her sudden entry. I looked at her.

"Don't apologise." I waved it away, "I am glad to have you around."

I was. I couldn't help myself but to feel the sense of comradery with all of my monsters, if not some unexplained, deeper connection, not to mention that I increasingly found all of my monsters quite cute. Narita wasn't an exception, not to mention her attitude combined with the useful powers made her irreplaceable part of our group.

"Master." Vixen remarked teasingly, though she didn't seem to put any special meaning to it. In fact, she wasn't showing even the single ounce of jealousy towards Miwah despite her mostly flirty comments suggesting otherwise.

"What's the matter, Narita?" I asked.

She straightened herself a little.

"Both prisoners had seemed to. Regain their consciousness, Master."

I nodded once again. My search for answers would have to begin here once again.