RFC-ARC 1-The Enchanted Forest-Part 6 (Patreon)
Content
âYouâŠyou wereâŠand now youâreâŠâ Her hands flounder about as she tries to come to terms with the impossibility of what she is seeing. Shapeshifters arenât exactly rare but such extreme change boggles the mind. I should know. I fainted.
âItâs a long story. Well, itâs not that long but itâs confusing.â
Sheâs still staring at me. Wah, her eyes are really pretty. Theyâre bright green with flecks of amber in them that glow a bright gold when the light hits them. It reminds me of tall grass in the summer. Peaceful. I could stare at them foreverâŠif I werenât naked. This is embarrassing.
Oh, wait. I can grow fur, canât I? But does that still work with my human body?
Reaching into my mind, I find the menu. Itâs even easier to separate them now. A carpet of green fur sprouts across my body. With a thought, I make it thicker across my chest and waist. It's not clothing but it hides the important bits. And this is comfortable. Really starting to like this new body.
Kierraâs mind is completely blown. Her eyes look ready to pop out of her skull. I smile at her and stick out a hand. âOnce again, Iâm Lou. Thanks for saving me back there. I thought I was going to get eaten.â
The elf looks at my hand as if sheâs waiting for it to turn into something new. When it doesnât, she grasps it with her own.
I yelp as Iâm pulled forward but calm down when I realize sheâs only petting me. It feels good as her nails go across my scalp. I close my eyes and lean into it, humming in pleasure. Ah, this is relaxing. No wonder hounds and the like fall asleep from this. Iâm starting to feel a little drowsy.
The hand moves away from my head. I open my eyes to see Kierra smiling at me again. The worries have disappeared from her eyes. Thatâs good. I donât want my savior to be afraid of me. After all, Iâm counting on her to get me back home.
âYouâre a strange creature, Lou,â she says with a little chuckle. âIâve never seen, or even heard, of anything like you.â
âWhat can I say, Iâm one of a kind.â
âThis short but confusing story. Do I get to hear it?â
âOf course. It ties into the favor Iâm going to ask you that I hope you can grant for me.â
Kierra laughs. âYouâre very blunt.â
âVery.â Itâs not my fault. My father brought in tutors to teach me the proper ways of court manners and the deceptive way of speaking that comes with them but, as I said, I slacked off. That, combined with too many nights sneaking off to town to drink in the taverns and you have the very uncultured noble that is me. âI-â
âAh.â Kierra shushes me by putting a finger to my lips. âNot here. Weâre still in the middle of a dangerous forest. Letâs go back to my home.â
I nod and she moves her hand to grasp mine. Then she tugs me along as she moves through the forest.
-
Kierraâs home is a tree. I wouldnât have believed someone could live in one but there is a door in the middle of its wide trunk, hidden by a blanket of woven vines draping down from its lowest branches. The camouflage is perfect. No one would be the wiser if they didnât know what they were looking for.
The inside has been hollowed out. While the room isnât large, about twenty feet by twenty feet, there are several levels. A ladder allows access up.
The bottom floor seems to be a welcoming and relaxing room. Itâs decorated with woven mats covered with furs, the walls with hunting trophies. Wah. I was right. The elf is quite the huntress. Skulls of all kinds and sizes hang off huge wooden thorns nailed into the walls. Each of them have vicious looking teeth, one with canines as long as my arm. Yeesh.
âCome on, up here.â Kierra waves me over to the ladder and begins to climb. I follow her to the second level. This is clearly her room. A mat larger than the others and covered with several furs is pushed into the corner. On the wall, there is a spare wooden bow. Beneath that is a long table where half-finished arrows rest, a crate beside it holding dozens of completed ones. The opposite wall has another table. This one seems to be a crafting table as several small wooden figurines rest along the edge, a collection of knives hanging on the wall above them.
I sit down cross-legged in the middle of the floor as Kierra moves through the space, relaxing. She takes off her quiver and leans it against the wall before she hangs her bow next to the spare. Then she takes off her cloak and lays it across her fletching table.
Underneath, she wears a shoulder-less dress woven out of plant fibers with a short skirt that flares widely to allow for movement. The garment shows off her ample chest and long, toned legs in the best way. I find myself swallowing past a dry mouth as I stare at the smooth expanse of exposed skin on display.
Those trips I took to the local tavern? They did more than enlighten me about the local economy. Commoners, especially farmers near my familyâs estate, have a tough life full of hard work. They take their pleasures where they can get them and unlike nobles, could give a fig less how it looks to anybody else.
As a result, I saw all manner of relationships. Heh. First time I saw one of the barmaids kissing the blacksmithâs daughter, I nearly choked on the sip of ale Iâd been swallowing. Ever since then, the way I look at other women changed. I've never dared to try my hand. Prized pig or not, my father wouldnât just sit back and let that go if he found out. The only thing more important to a noble than their status is their heirs. But I always wondered.
Sitting in the room across from this gorgeous elf, hundreds of miles from my fatherâs reach, that wondering is running rampant. My fingers itch to undo the strings of the dress as Kierra walks to her makeshift bed and lays down on it. The way she lounges on her side is not helping matters. The dim light casts a shadow over her eyes that makes them dark and mysterious while her fingers lightly brush over the furs. As if sheâs inviting me to come over. No, thatâs just my wishful thinking.
âI believeâŠâ Kierra props her head up with a hand as a sly smile curves her lips upward. ââŠyou promised me a story.â
âI did.â Taking a deep breath, I launch into my tale. The only thing I leave out is Cosmoâs name. Elementals are very picky about their names. A human needs to know their true name to form a contract but thatâs about all we can do with it. However, if another elemental gets ahold of it, apparently they can do some real damage. Even giving out a fraction of the name is taboo. Better to be safe than sorry. I do not want Cosmo angry with me under any circumstances.
When I get to the stabbing part of my story, I make sure to play up the terror, hoping to get some sympathy points. Sure enough, Kierraâs expression turns down into a grimace, her eyes shining with pity. They light with curious excitement as I tell her about what Cosmo did.
I conclude with waking up in the forest and she nods. âI see. That must have been confusing for you. And the part about being swallowed by an elementalâŠcould you come here for a moment?â
She holds out her hand. My heart stutters in my chest as my imagination applies the gesture to a very different situation. I do my best to put the imaginings aside as I get to my feet and pad over. Kierra grabs my hand and guides me to kneel on the furs.
âCould you revert? To yourâŠelemental form?â
Ah. There goes any chance at romantic developments. Oh well. Reverting to the blob is a little different than taking my human form. Rather than focusing on what I want to become, I simply relax. A weight I didnât know I was carrying slips off the shoulders I no longer have as I become gelatinous and I sigh inwardly.
Iâm not human anymore. I know this but constantly being reminded of the fact is going to take some time getting used to.
Kierra runs her hands over me, pinching and massaging. She tugs me toward her and I comply, sliding over until I am pressed against her. The elf throws her leg over me and squeezes me in a full-body hug.
Hmm? This isâŠI can feel her. My surface, whatever it is, is very sensitive and I can feel every inch of her. Probably more than I would in my human form as I bend to fill every nook and cranny. A part of me is being squeezed between her thighs. I can feel the cotton-like fabric of her underwear. This is getting me excited. Is it weird for blobs to get excited?
Ah. I just need to not think about it. Um-hmm. Cause if I do, I might move and brush against something I shouldnât. Iâm not thinking about it. Not at all.
Kierra is doing something. Her fingers are still tracing over me but now the ends are glowing bright green. Is that some kind of spell? Should I be worried? I donât think she would hurt me and whatever it is, it doesnât hurt. Please donât turn out to be some crazy who lured me back to her home to kill me or eat me or something just as terrifying. Though it would fit in with my rotten luck lately, it would really, really suck.
âAmazing. You are an elemental. Or at the very least, partially. Some part of you must still be mortal, otherwise, you couldnât exist on this plane.â
That spell must have been some kind of scan. And hey! She said Iâm still human! Or at least, some part of me is. Thatâs good. Knowing that the person I was hasnât been completely destroyed is comforting.
âBesides that, you are comfortable.â She lets me go and scoots over. âGo ahead and change back. You need a voice to ask me this favor of yours.â
I comply, changing back to my human form and then growing fur to cover my nakedness. âRight. The favor I want to ask is very simple. I just need to get to the edge of the forest that borders the human continent. Iâm pretty sure I can get back on my own after that.â
Kierra sighs deeply. Oh no. I know that expression. My nursemaid would give me the same one whenever I asked for extra snacks and she was about to turn me down.
âLou, I want to help you but I canât. At least, not yet.â
I knew it. âUm, I donât want to sound ungrateful butâŠcan I ask why?â
âBecause I am trapped in this forest and cannot move beyond a certain range.â Kierraâs eyes go distant as she remembers something. âMy mother is a very powerful caster with the null affinity, a rarity even among our magically gifted race. IâŠdisappointed her you could say. Until I right the wrong, Iâm trapped in this forest, unable to go home or go my own way.â
âWhatâŠdid you do?â
The elf shakes her head. âItâs not what I did, but what I didnât do. Never mind that. It has nothing to do with you. The only thing you need to think about is getting home. I may not be able to get you to the border but I can point you in the right direction, show you how to get there without being mauled by scavengers.â
Yes! I could kiss you right now. Honestly, I want to but I donât want to get slapped. Or shot. Or abandoned in the middle of the forest. Before I can express my overwhelming gratitude and relief, a dark cloud comes over me.
No one is this nice. If there is one thing I have learned from my father, itâs that everyone has a motive. Thereâs always an angle. I donât want to doubt her but I have to. âAgain, please donât take this the wrong way but why are you helping me?â
Kierra tilts her head curiously. âIs it so strange?â
âHonestly? Yes. People are just not that nice.â
âMaybe not among humans. You dominate your surroundings, tearing and shredding anything that gets in your way. We live alongside other creatures. We must, for our lands are populated by creatures we could not hope to decimate without risking our annihilation. In such a realm, it pays to be generous to all those who cross your path whenever you can.â
She smiles at me. If charity gave off light, I would be blinded by that smile. Thatâs it. Sheâs a saint. One of those genuine do-gooders who would deliver the world to salvation if she could. And apparently, thereâs an entire race of them. No. I bet most of them just say that crap because it sounds good. Kierra just happens to be one of the ones who mean it.
Wah. That might be more amazing than her hunting skills. What a stroke of good luck I had getting rescued by her. About time. With all the crap Iâve gone through lately, I deserve some.
Next to me, Kierra yawns deeply, her eyes becoming hooded as she relaxes into the furs. âForgive me for my lack of attention but I am feeling drowsy. I was on my way home for a nap when I heard the wolves howling.â
Huh? But its midday. I say as much and the elf chuckles. âElves sleep longer than you might expect. Weâre only active at dawn, dusk, and twilight. Best times to hunt.â
âOh. Okay then.â I start to get off the mat but she grabs my arm.
âWhere are you going?â
âI was just going to, I donât know. Maybe going to take a nap downstairs. I wasnât going to go outside if thatâs what youâre worried about.â Of course not. That would be stupid. Tree safe. Forest have bad wolves. Even a monkey could grasp that simple truth.
âYou donât have to go all the way down there. Thereâs plenty of room right here.â
Haugh. That smile. Those eyes. Sheâs tempting me. She has to be. Thereâs no way she cannot know what sheâs doing to me right now.
I hope she doesnât think that I am as saintly as she is. A good person raised with proper manners might refuse the invitation for proprietyâs sake. I am not a good person. This was confirmed by a powerful elemental who possesses the wisdom of thousands of years, as I can't imagine Cosmo being anything younger than a few millennia.
I climb back onto the furs. Kierra holds out her arms and I move into them, tucking my head into the crook between her neck and her shoulder. One of her hands moves to my head and starts that stroking again. My eyes begin to feel heavy.
What settles it is when Kierra starts to hum. A tuneless song that vibrates through her chest and fills the room. Sleep creeps up on me before I realize itâs happening and I give in to the darkness.