Chapter 24 - Aftermath

  The backlash of [The Pain ebbs] was no joke, I deactivated the perk, after we had searched the village. It knocked me on my ass instantly. Not pleasant to say the least.

  Afterwards we burned what remained of the village and headed out. Back on the road again. Valeria still wanted me to find a Shifter community to learn from, so we kept searching. After I was sure we none of the escapees followed us, I looked at my notifications

  That was some good growth, and I was getting excited for the next evolution of my class. That was in the future however. Right at that point I didn’t care about that. I finally had some peace and quiet. I would have to deal with the implications of [The Pain ebbs and flows] eventually, but I couldn’t bring myself to care right now. I didn’t have to spread the pain, I could. That means it doesn’t have to bother me right now.

  We travelled at a leisurely pace for the next few days. Nothing attacked us, which was odd, until Val explained that this part of the forest was almost completely abandoned after my stampede. She estimated that we were going to be unmolested for at least a week, unless we set a ridiculous pace. During that time Val started to teach me about magical defence. It was a hard proposition, since I could not even begin to sense ambient mana anywhere. She kept repeating that one could shield oneself just with internal mana so I continued trying. It didn’t have any measurable effect yet, but she hadn’t led me wrong so far.

  Skadi was another story entirely. She was having flashbacks to her imprisonment with some frequency. Especially at night. We usually slept next to one another, so I was well aware that she was waking up in a panic every few hours. Our mental bond had also progressed to a point, where she couldn’t hide her emotions completely anymore. Although she still tried.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  I did my best to be there for her, but I really could not relate. Even Val said that trauma like hers took time to heal. She assured me, I was doing the best I could, by just being a shoulder to cry on. Or the wolf equivalent of crying.

  That was the general state of affairs during the next week. I trained with Val to no avail. And Skadi was slowly processing her trauma. She got a bit better, after we had moved far enough from the Wolf-shifter village that we were attacked by bears again. She seemed just a little bit happier after any kill she made by herself. I guess ‘happy’ isn’t the right word. ‘Confident’ maybe. She seemed less tense at the very least.

  After a week of travel we encountered a set of footprints. Human footprints. Only the feet were gigantic.

  “Hey there, Wolfie! How are you?” I looked up from the tracks, alarmed and already extending my blades. Val had, of course, already vanished. The Voice was female and unfamiliar. After looking around a bit I spotted a Woman waving at me from a distance. I was confused, but after a bit of hesitation I waved back. The Woman jumped a bit and started to jog towards me. As she was getting closer I realised that she was quite a bit farther away than I thought, which meant she was also a good bit taller. I guessed her at about 2.7 metres. Otherwise she was completely human, as far as I could tell. When she had reached me I thought about growing taller, since I was standing Eye to Sternum with her. I decided not to, no need to reveal the extent of my abilities. The woman reached out a hand and excitedly introduced herself. “Hi, I am Emma. Who are you? Do you have a name? Can you speak? Are you from that Meanie-Tribe? Are you well? Is this your Wolf? What’s her Name? Why are you so small? Are you Sick?”

  That was a lot to process. I swallowed audibly before I started to answer “Hello Emma, My name is James.” At that I shook her hand. I felt like a child, shaking the hand of a grown up. “I can speak and I have a name. I am normal sized for my Village. This here” I pointed at Skadi “Is Skadi, she is my companion. We are both reasonably healthy. Any more questions?”

  She smiled at me, but the smile seemed fake. “Are you from that Meanie-Tribe?” Her grip had become tighter. In response I started to extend my blades in that arm just a little bit. Not enough to draw blood, but enough to poke her a little. “The Wolf-Shifter tribe? The one that enslaved wolves? They don’t exist anymore.” Skadi was beginning to growl at Emma now.

  “How come they don’t exist anymore?” There was barely even a hint of a smile on her face now.

  “They kidnapped Skadi. I took her back.” I held her gaze.

  “And how does that result in non-existence?”

  I allowed myself a sly grin “I didn’t negotiate. When we left the place was ablaze and everyone had fled or died.”

  Emma released my hand. Then she took a step back, crossed her arms and pouted. “You could have said something! I wanted to mess up those jerks for ages. Now you did it without me!” She harrumphed once again to stress her point. Now that she wasn’t in my face, or running at me, I could take her in for the first time. Back length dirty-blonde hair. A surprisingly delicate face, with a cute tiny nose. A very curvy build. I didn’t notice that at first, since she was wearing winter clothes fashioned from various animal hides, however with her arms crossed beneath her chest the figure became undeniable. I stopped myself short of drooling over her and replied: “Uuuummmhhh… I am sorry? I guess. I’ll inform you next time I plan to slaughter a bunch of slave drivers.”

  She switched her pouting face with a beaming smile and jumped, while clapping her hands a few times: “Yay! Battle Buddies!” She then gave me a bear hug that deserved the name. I am pretty sure she would have destroyed a couple minor organs, had I not passed those some time ago. This Girl was strong like a bear. The situation wasn’t helped by the fact that, due to our height difference, she picked me off the ground for the hug.

  After she released me back down, she spun around and yelled into the snow covered forest. “It’s OK! He’s nice!” Then two other giants emerged from seemingly nowhere. I had to get my [Peception] up one of these days.

  All of them had the same hair colour as Emma and similar clothing. They were an older looking Man and Woman. Both at least 2.9 metres. How the hell was Emma the small one? The woman looked like an older version of Emma, while the Man looked like a shaved Bear with a human face. This guy was just broad in every way. With them emerged two actual Bears, however they seemed hesitant to approach me. Probably because of the whole [Challenge of the Apex] thing. Oh, well. Couldn’t be helped.

  Looking between Emma and what I guessed was her parents I decided that “This is getting ridiculous!” I shapeshifted into a 2.8 metres tall version of myself. I was sick of cranking my neck up the whole time. Or, rather I was sick of having to crank my neck up, because I desperately did not want to seem like a creep. It’s not like I chose to be at Eye height with Emma’s chest.

  OK, I am a shapeshifter, so I kind of did choose that height … but not for that reason!

  Growing taller appeared to have been a wrong move, as I was instantly hit with a pain spell.

  I reacted swiftly. I transformed my left hand into Claws. That is the daggers-on-fingers-kind I had in the Werewolf-form. I really needed to get my nomenclature in order. With my right I grabbed Emma by the throat. I lifted her off the ground and displayed my claws right next to her face.

  I yelled: “Drop it, or else!” Skadi was ready to pounce at the drop of a hat and I prepared myself to off Emma and rush the older ones. After a tense second the Pain vanished and both of the giants Held up their hands. I let Emma go. Then the screaming began.

  “Who are you?” Asked the Man.

  “What are you doing here?” Asked the older Woman.

  What are these people doing? Asked Skadi, telepathically

  “What is your Problem?” Asked I.

  “That was so hot!” Exclaimed Emma.

  …

  …

  …

  Both of the older giants, Skadi and I, were staring at Emma slack jawed.

  At least she had the decency to blush at our collective attention. Only it wasn’t out of embarrassment.

  “Mooooom, can I have him? The last one broke so fast, I’m sure this one will last.” Emma was excitedly hopping up and down as she asked the older woman.

  Nope. Nopenopenopenope… “Nope! Nope! Nope! I refuse to continue this until you people start to make sense!” I sat down and started to pet Skadi, who was lying beside me. The danger had clearly escaped the situation, but it was replaced by pure insanity.

  It seemed that my sentiment was echoed by most participants. The bears both lied down and pretended to sleep, the mother smacked herself in the forehead with an open palm and the older man started banging his head repeatedly against a tree. Surprisingly enough he was doing actual damage to said tree. These people were really strong.

  Emma eyed me predatorily, while the rest continued with their spiel, so I decided to break the silence. I looked Emma in the face and asked her: “Care to explain … Anything?”

  She looked confused for a moment then she responded slowly, like I was stupid or something: “I. Want. To. Have. You.” She emphasised her disdain for my intelligence by gesturing during her speech.

  I was exasperated. After a long and soulful sigh, I asked in the direction of the older humans: “Anyone care to explain that? Are you slavers? What the fuck does she mean?”

  There was a pronounced pause as the man and woman stared at one another. It seemed that the woman had lost the silent exchange, as she answered while the man resumed his woodpecker impression: ”No, we aren’t slavers. She wants … Kinda like … She … She wants a …” The woman was unable to speak the words, so the man finally relented: “My daughter wants a new boytoy.”

  “Ok, so let me get this straight. You attack me completely unprovoked. In response I threaten your daughter, in the process almost crushing her windpipe. That makes her want to have sex with me, which is good timing because - and I quote - ‘The last one broke’. Am I correct so far?”

  The mother had somewhat recovered at this point and replied: “Yep, that’s our Emma. Now please just tell me that you aren’t a spy from the Wolf-shifters. They have once before sent their best shapeshifter to infiltrate us.” She seemed genuinely remorseful for her actions.

  Still. Eye for an eye at the very least.

  “I am not one of those bastards. As I said, I killed most of their warriors and burned down their village. Speaking of which I have an Idea about how we can get even after your attack on my psyche. You are going to help me with an experiment. See, I got a perk after destroying the Wolf-Shifters. You are going to help me test it.” I had a malicious grin on my face. I wouldn’t consider myself a sadist, but I won’t deny that there was some satisfaction in giving back. I turned on [The Pain ebbs and flows] and told Skadi to move away, then I said: “Cast that Pain-Spell on me again.” The mother looked apprehensive, but she still started to cast. I noticed that her lips were moving slightly. Curious. Val never showed any outward signs of casting. And the wolf-shifters hadn’t either. At least none that I noticed.

  After a few seconds I felt the pain again. It was excruciating, sure, but I was used to it. As the Perk said, Pain had become an old friend.

  The three humans weren’t as acquainted. They were all on the floor. They writhed for a second, but not any longer. The mother had broken her own concentration with that spell and I had distributed the stored up pain from both spells among the three. I couldn’t help myself but snort out a “Pathetic.” The father was reeling with the aftershocks of pain, however he still managed to spit out “You learned to reflect illusion Spells. Congratulations. No reason to gloat.”

  The fool had set me up for the perfect gloat. Muhahaha. I squatted next to his head, looked him in the eyes and gloated with a shit-eating grin: “I can’t reflect shit. I learned to share whatever pain I feel around myself. I simply am not a whiny little bitch.” To emphasise my point, I grabbed my left middle finger in my right hand and sharply broke it. The three humans wailed once more. I ripped it off entirely, again they yelled. Then I turned off my aura. I chose not to delay any pain during this exchange, just reflect it immediately. Well, I did at the start on instinct, but when I showed up the father I wanted it to be authentic.

  “I just wanted to share this wonderful feeling you assaulted me with.” The sarcasm was thick in my voice. “I hope you have a bit more appreciation for what that spell does now.” That was just for show though. I was merely angry and wanted some catharsis. The last line was purely ad libbed.

  To my shock Emma was even hornier now. Her face was flushed red and her moaning was not of a painful nature. God damn this pervert. As she stood up, she told me in a very direct manner: “Can we go now? Foreplay is nice and all, but I want to get to the main dish.” As she said that she licked her lips while eyeing me up and down. I felt like a piece of meat.

  On the other hand I was a hormonal teenager and I hadn’t gotten any in months. Not to forget the latent crush on Val had me pretty pent up, so I wasn’t going to say no to such a proposition. The parents were still lying on the floor, as I told them “We’ll talk in the morning.” Then I told Skadi to get some rest with Val, after that I offered Emma my arm and said: “Lead the way, Gorgeous.”

  That night I discovered that shapeshifting is insanely useful in bed, if you can withstand the pain … Or if you get off on it, like Emma did. She asked me to keep my aura turned on the whole night long. Fun girl.