The wolf began to shift, her body t as she shrank, eaent punctuated by uling snaps and pops. Her fs thied and stretched, being furred hands with rough, padded fiips, while her cws sharpened, lengthening with a deadly edge. Just above her elbows, the dense fur pulled back, revealing a tanned brown skih. The wolf’s snout slowly retracted, drawing closer to her face as it took on a distinctly human form—though her intense blue eyes stayed fixed on Vivienne, glowing with fiertelligence.

  Her face transformed into something humaill wild, retaining a predatrace. Her torso, now mostly devoid of fur, revealed an impressive muscuture carved with definition and power. Though she still exuded a primal beauty, like a warrioddess made ma, blood tio seep from the wounds on her neck. She grimaced, reag a cwed hand up to probe one of the painful holes. Meeting Vivienne’s gaze, she muttered a spell, her voice eg with a mysterious strength.

  “Bolwh colul aec ol, jtcat uol ol!”

  The world seemed to bend around her, and with a sudden snap, her wounds began to close, the leaking blood retrag as though by some unseen pull. Soon, only faint, rounded scars remained on her skin.

  Vivienne’s many eyes widened in awe. Magic was real here—she’d seen it with her owhen again, she herself wasly human anymore, and she barely had a stable form. Her mind was rag with questions aement, but her thoughts stilled wheiced the wolf-woman’s intense gaze directed at her. The woman cleared her throat, and Vivienne’s excitement quickly turo apprehension.

  “You speak? I heard you before,” the woman asked, her voice rough but curious, though tinged with an underlying suspi.

  “Yes,” Vivienne rumbled, though the sound of her voice felt uling—too deep and strangely resonant.

  “That shouldn’t be possible. Nightmares aren’t… well, they’re not intelligent,” she muttered, as if musing to herself. “Unless... this is some rick to catch prey off-guard.”

  At that, Vivienne’s form seemed to boil, her inky body bubbling with frustration. She had been depersonalized enough in her previous life—she wasn’t about to let it happen again here.

  “That’s rude,” she huffed, her deep voice betraying an ache of dysphoria. “I helped you out of the goodness of my heart!”

  The wolf-woman raised an eyebrow, her intense gaze unwavering, though a flicker of amusement crossed her expression. “Five me. It’s been a… harrowing week.”

  Vivien her irritation soften, curiosity returning. “ I have your name?” she asked, though ging internally as her voice rumbled, unfamiliar and uling to her own ears.

  The woman quirked an eyebrow, almost as if evaluating her. “No, but you may call me Rava.”

  The response puzzled Vivienne for a moment until she remembered the stories of names and the fae, of fairies in folklore who guarded their names jealously. She wondered if that meant there were fae here, too. She ventured a cautious question.

  “I don’t mean to assume—are you… a fairy?”

  Rava’s shoulders eased, and she let out a brief sigh, perhaps relieved. “No, though I uand the fusion. I am not a fairy, whatever they might be.” She paused before tinuing. “My name is Rava. And you are?”

  “Oh! I’m Vivienne.” She hesitated, looking around the dark, cavernous space. “And… where exactly are we?”

  “In one of the fallen ruins, I think,” Rava replied, her gaze assessing their surroundings. “A dangerous pot one I would have willingly chosen to visit.”

  The wolf-woman adjusted her posture, seating herself more fortably on the cold stone floor. Though Vivienne only reached her mid-thigh, Rava’s fier held a graceful, grounded presence.

  “e closer,” Rava ahough her tone softened slightly. It wasly a request, but it wasn’t as imposing as before.

  Vivienne drifted fliding over the stoh a strange sensation of weightlessness. She stopped just short of Rava’s legs.

  “Yes?”

  Without further words, Rava muttered another intation, her voice l as she ted, “Laewh bae wholurr colul ael wholurr maetu.”

  Vivien something strange—a dark glow emanated from her body, a tradi to her already inky form. She looked up at Rava, eared fused, her brow furrowed as her gaze seemed to search deeper.

  “You have a soul?” Rava asked softly, more to herself than to Vivienne.

  Vivienne puffed up slightly with indignation. “Of course I do!”

  Rava narrowed her eyes, thoughtful. “I’m no resonator, but... Aherbeast with a soul is unheard of.” She paused, frowning as she observed her. “Whose mark is that, I wonder?”

  “Mark? I don’t know what you mean,” Vivieammered, slightly embarrassed. “I just… woke up here, in this body. I found you lying there and… tried to help.”

  Rava scratched her , her eyes drifting down in thought. “Then perhaps you were cast into that form,” she said finally. “Or perhaps the aetherbeast inhabiting it was different from the usual. Still... What were you, before?”

  Vivienne’s mind raced. Stories often warned of people hiding their pasts in these situations, but Rava’s unwavering stare pushed her to hoy. “I was human,” she admitted.

  Rava’s eyes fshed with a momentary grimace, a flicker of distaste she quickly hid. “I see.” Her gaze softened slightly. “And… who pced you in this body? Do you know?”

  Vivienne shrugged as best she could. “The meeting was… fuzzy. I don’t remember much, but I think her name was khenna or something??”

  “Akhenna?!” Rava’s posure cracked. She looked at Vivienne, wide-eyed, her tail swishing agitatedly behind her.

  “Is that… important?”

  Rava gave her a deadpan look in response, as if she were speaking to a child. “Only slightly. You’ve spoken to a primeval being who embodies chaos itself—ay who hasn’t listeo mortals’ prayers in ages, even from her own temples. So yes, Vivie’s signifit.”

  “Oh.” Vivien herself defte, her form softening almost as if she were melting. “Yes… I suppose it is.”

  Rava shook her head, ears flig with somethiween exasperation aant admiration. “Well, as strange as all of this is, I owe you a debt for saving me. What do you wish of me?”

  Vivienne blinked with her many eyes, taken aback. “I… don’t want anything. I didn’t help you to gain something.”

  Rava raised her eyebrow, her look sceptical. “It’s lekine hospitality,” she said, her voice firm. “We repay favours with favours. Otherwise, our honour is… stained.”

  Viviehought back to her past friendships, the good ones where kindness was met with kindness. “Well… if you insist, could I e with you? I don’t know much about… well, anything here. And being a monster is all very new.”

  Rava studied her for a long moment before nodding. “Very well. We’ll seek out a resonator. They’re strange folk, but they know souls better than most.”

  “Sounds good,” Vivienne agreed, gng around the chamber’s many doors. “Do you… know which way we go?”

  “Ruins like this follow an order. See that marking above the rger door?” Rava pointed with a cwed finger. “It likely leads to the exit.”

  “Oh, that’s… ve.”

  Rava huffed, as if amused. “irely. Fallen ruins hold trated aether, aherbeasts tend to gather here.”

  Vivien a ripple of apprehension. “Ah.”

  “Yes. However… when you—or rather, the body you’re iered, no other beasts came through.”

  A strange question sparked in Vivienne’s mind, though she worried it might give away her ignorance. “Is it… Do aetherbeasts avoid stronger ones? Or is there less, um, aether here?”

  Vivienne didn’t know what aether was, but sidering she was a beast of it, that might be important.

  Rava’s gaze was steady, scrutinising. “They avoid those more powerful thahe aether here is thick, ’t you feel it?”

  Vivienated before answering. “This body isly familiar to me,” she murmured, hoping it would pass as a det excuse.

  Satisfied, Rava nodded. “It makes sehen. Normally, nightmares are weaker creatures, but the body you’re in clearly holds power. Enough to affect even me.” She paused, as if weighing something. “Now tell me, where are you really from?”