GRANDORA: Chapter 7: One Small Step at a Time (Patreon)

Author’s note: Hey guys.

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So I'm back, and honestly - one week to get things in order doesn't seem enough. I don't know about you, but I keep feeling like I need the day to be 48 hours minimum. Nevertheless, I've done a shit ton of background work. Mostly putting together my notes, some lore for both stories - nothing too detailed yet, a bit of clarification on where I want to take both stories - and then a lot of effort to improve my writing. It's not something simple to do, as I'm sure I've already proved :D

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Nevertheless, I have tried to reflect this 'improvement' already in this chapter. Mostly it's about giving the main character more character - I don't know - you'll see for yourself.

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So glad for your participation in the poll, it helped me clarify quite a few things.

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And last but not least, a massive thank you for your patience and staying with me for another month.

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Enjoy the chapter!

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Chapter 7: One Small Step at a Time - Link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/98029459

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Chapter 7: One Small Step at a Time

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The eerie blue flames of Vetrifyr tormented me even within the depths of my dreams, mocking my very existence. They danced on the horizon, lit up my house, and even disguised themselves as the faces of my family. The flames, with their cruel flickering, seemed to mock my incompetence, as if to imply that should they ever flicker out, so would the memory of my family.

“By all the Grand Beasts!” I gasped upon waking, beads of sweat clinging to my skin, the rag covering me damp and unpleasant as if dipped in a lake - a thought that suddenly spurred an urgent call of nature.

Not a terrible idea, really.

To wash my clothes, that is, or myself. Both the rag and I stank - more than usual after two days of sweaty work in the mines. And strangely so.

Yet, I had endured worse.

For instance, a visit to the slave latrines in the mines - a tear-inducing aroma, not to mention the stench of corpses in the collapsed shafts after a few weeks. So my smell, while unpleasant, was tolerable. Moreover, the prospect of a dip in the icy waters of the lake dispelled any inclination toward personal hygiene, not to mention the long walk to get there.

Sure, I had to drink from time to time, but the small pools of filtered, mineral-rich water in a limestone cave sufficed to quench my thirst.

Same with the limestone itself. Yes, I was aware - I dined on rocks. Granted, I wouldn’t turn down a piece of roast meat. However, a hearty breakfast of fresh pastries was a wonderful thing. A dollop of honey or butter would improve the meal, though.

»I SEE,« Ferracore thundered, startling me as he entered the crystal cave. After taking care of the morning’s necessities and confirming the behemoth’s absence, I ventured in to practice conjuring the blue flame. Though I was curious as to his whereabouts, whether he was expanding the tunnels to expose more minerals, caretaking wasn’t my job. If anything, I was the one being cared for. He gave me a chance at a new life and has already taught me the basics of survival down here. Frankly, it would not surprise me if he deemed this enough and left me to my fate.

But was I prepared to spend eternity underground, deprived of sunlight and company? The thought petrified me as much as the one of ever forgetting my family.

“Wh-what do you see, Ferracore?” I stammered, regaining my composure after the shock of his abrupt entrance. My fault, admittedly. I was just too focused on the image of the blue flame in my mind, desperately trying to conjure it up on the tip of my finger.

»That YOU are getting BETTER, child of mine.«

Huh? Was he serious? That was praise, wasn’t it? My heart raced with joy. However, doubts immediately dampened the elation. Was I getting better? If the Grand Beast claimed so, it must be true. Yet, no matter how I looked at my progress, it didn’t feel that way. Despite sitting for hours in that beautiful crystal cave saturated with Ferracore’s might, not a single spark of blue flame appeared at my fingertips.

“Oh,” enlightenment struck. “You don’t mean my grasp of your might, the control - do you?”

»Of course NOT,« Ferracore chuckled, causing a few crystals to crash. »I MEANT you.«

Ah, clarity. Unclouded by thoughts of the blue flame, I understood the meaning of the Ancient tongue more clearly. The Grand Beast spoke of me, literally me - my body.

“How? What’s happening to me?”

Ferracore hummed, and my bones rattled. »No need TO fret, child of MINE. You ARE simply getting healthier.«

Was I? “How?” I know I sounded like an idiot, but it was better to ask than to remain a fool. Not to mention that, according to him, things were happening to my body, and I had no idea what they were. In my book, that was a pretty good reason to freak out.

»By EATING healthy.«

Was that it? Sure, I had eaten a lot more here than up in the mines, to my heart’s content. But all I ate were rocks. Not exactly healthy food for humans, you might say. Was I missing something, some meaning in the Ancient tongue that my brain wasn’t translating correctly? I wasn’t getting fat, or at least I didn’t think I was - in fact, the idea that I would get fat after eating limestone was ridiculous. Or was it? After all, that was what I thought of the whole stone-eating thing, and now? Now I wondered what the different types of rocks and minerals might actually taste like.

Unfortunately, there were no large enough bodies of water in this part of the caves for me to see my reflection. Even the crystals, though glossy, failed to be of any help. All I could do was grope my body, check my cheeks, and look at my hips, stomach, and thighs. There was no more fat on my bones than before, so . . . what the fuck did Ferracore mean by me eating healthy?

Food - stones - digestion - I was using his might to digest.

The thing was, he said himself that he didn’t mean I was getting better at using his might. So . . . was it the might that made my body . . . better? Shit! My breath caught in my throat and a shiver ran down my spine. In other words, his might was changing my body.

Nothing new, really, but if the Grand Beast felt the need to point it out, my body must have changed more than I had assumed. I groped myself again and found nothing out of the ordinary. No new tail or limbs. If anything, the scales around my eye had spread, covering more of my scarred skin. Was that it, though? Was I getting better in Ferracore’s eyes because I was getting closer to his image? It wouldn’t be so strange. He was a behemoth, one of the Grand Beasts, not a human.

Maybe, and it was a big maybe, turning all humans into beasts was the ultimate goal of all Grand Beasts. Maybe we were never meant to walk the world of Grandora.

A rather depressing thought. And not quite right.

Even the animals and beasts were subject to the pressure of the might of the Grand Beasts. In fact, it may seem that it was the Grand Beasts who did not belong on Grandora in the first place. Not something I dared to say out loud in the presence of one. For even if that were the case, they had been here for thousands of years, just like animals, beasts, and humans. No one had been able to do anything about it over the years. And I wasn’t about to either.

After all, I couldn’t do a damn thing about my own transformation into a beast. Apparently, I hadn’t even noticed that I was changing. So no, I wasn’t some kind of savior of the world.

My change did, however, raise the pressing question of how much time I had left. Days? Weeks? Would I suffer for years on the verge of losing my mind? In truth, that would be no different from the fate that awaited me in the mines.

»I underestimated HOW interesting it would BE to watch YOU, child of mine.«

Huh? That sounded awfully similar to the foremen in the mines. One nightmare traded for another. A chuckle escaped my lips at the terrible irony of my fate. At least someone was having a good time. “I a-apologize for my . . . actions. I thought too much.”

»You did INDEED. You ALSO misunderstood my WORDS.«

Did I? “How?” My voice wavered. “P-please tell me, Ferracore.”

The Grand Beast hummed, seemingly amused by my desperation. »Your BODY is healthier, CLEANSED by my might. The FILTH of what you ATE is gone - mostly. THE maggots are DEAD. Your bones ARE harder, your muscles STRONGER, and your MIND clearer. Your will has NOT faltered as much AS you believe, and my MIGHT has not changed YOU as extensively AS you fear.«

So it was his might. It did change me - just not in the way I feared. In fact, when I thought about it, I felt better than I had ever felt before. “I’m ash-ashamed, Ferracore,” I confessed truthfully, my voice trembling with excruciating relief. “Can y-you f-forgive me for doubting your might?”

»There is NOTHING to forgive if THE doubts are justified. But BEAR in mind that DOUBTS, while healthy to HAVE, can be HARMFUL if too many, CHILD of mine.«

Yeah, they could take you to a dark place. A really dark place.

Taking several breaths to compose my thoughts and steady my racing heart, I asked, “My s-sweat . . . is that how your might get the filth out of my body?”

»ONE of the ways.«

“Oh. . . “ The other ways weren’t hard to figure out. “And . . . am I fully cleansed now, or will my sweat smell like this for a while? N-not that I really mind, it’s just . . . just so I know.”

»As LONG as you draw BREATH, you will never BE fully rid of it.«

Right. The food I ate, the drinks I drank, and possibly the air I breathed would always contain some - filth. So, according to him, I was healthier, stronger, and . . . WAIT! “Ferracore, did you - did you say m-maggots?”

The Grand Beast laughed. »Indeed, I DID.«

“What maggots?! Where?!”

»DO you really WISH to know, child OF mine?«

Possibly lice, right? They plagued mine slaves all the time; myself included. Or could it be something worse? Beneath the skin? Deeper? “No, I don’t want to know. I’m just glad the maggots are gone.”

Ferracore laughed again. »I thought SO.«

“Still . . . a-are you sure the - the maggots - are really dead? I mean, I don’t doubt you, just . . . “

»Fear NOT. While their MINDS are weak enough TO succumb to MY might. Their BODIES are not strong ENOUGH to withstand ITS pressure.«

This time, instead of the Grand Beast’s laughter, the cave reverberated with my sigh of relief. The idea of the lice transforming into a tiny Ferracore-like beast was simply terrifying. However, it raised questions about the absence of life in these caves. While the avoidance of spiders was appreciated, the void of creatures - any creatures - in these caves was ominous, to say the least.

Of course, the fault may not rest solely with Ferracore, but could extend to the depths in which he had dug his domain.

»Know THAT the maggots are NOT like you, child of MINE. Your body is STRONG, your will IS impressive. Have YOU mastered the FLAMES of Vetrifyr?«

“Not yet,” I confessed without hesitation. Lying to the Grand Beast served no purpose except to prove my own stupidity. “But I will.”

»Unyieldingly. I APPROVE,« Ferracore declared and walked away, leaving me gaping at his retreating tail. No further advice about his might, no additional wisdom - just the implicit meaning conveyed in the Ancient tongue: “Here is the ideal ground for you to conquer the might - endeavor.” Well . . . I did.

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***

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Well, as it turned out, it didn’t go nearly as well as I imagined it would. The days slipped through my fingers faster than a pickpocket in a crowded marketplace. A whole week, maybe less, maybe more - time was a bit of a slippery eel down here. No sunsets, just my eyelids’ call for shut-eye whenever the whim hit me. So, it’s been a while, and surprise, surprise, no dazzling blue flame in sight.

To be honest, I could have misplaced a few days in this gloomy abyss. Who was counting, anyway? What mattered was that I was no closer to conjuring a blue flame than before, my clothes held together only by sheer determination, and scales already covered much of the scarred skin on my face.

Ferracore, the one behind my slow beastly transformation, reassures me that his might only fixed what the human body couldn’t - nothing to worry about. Comforting, right? Alas, all I could do was cross my fingers and hope that one day I would not wake up a beast stripped of my humanity. As for my trusty rag, the last bastion of my modesty - well, it was on its deathbed. Sleeping on the cold, unforgiving stone floor had worn it down more than the months in the mines, and my relentless, stinking sweat wasn’t doing it any favors either.

But enough about my slow transformation into a beast and my creeping nudity. The real gut punch? My inability to bring the blue flame back into my life, the one memory tethered to my family. Well, sort of. I was still Foxkin; born of two; looked like one. I may have had only one ear and a stump instead of a tail, but fur adorned my body here and there, bearing the marks of suffering akin to my race. Like the others, I lost access to the blue flames with Vetrifyr’s death. And no matter what Ferracore claimed, nothing seemed to be able to change that. His power may have been slowly devouring my body, I may have been able to sense it better than ever before, but despite a clear image of Vetrifyr’s flame in my mind, conjuring it remained as elusive as a cat chasing its tail.

»Struggling, Child of mine?«

“Obviously,” I retorted, my tone laced with snark. The frustration of my incompetence was getting to me. Quite a dangerous thing, I quickly realized. “I-I’m sorry, Ferracore. I just . . . “

The Grand Beast hummed, not letting me finish. »PERHAPS it would help YOU to experience the USE of my might MY way first.«

“Huh? Haven’t I already?”

The behemoth laughed. »You THINK eating is ALL I can do?«

“No. No - no, no, no. I didn’t mean that.”

»Fret NOT. I am well AWARE . . . but it seems YOU are not, CHILD of mine. To HARNESS the might within THE body differs GREATLY from using IT outside of it.«

That much, I figured. “You think that’s the main reason I can’t conjure Frostflame’s flames?” Using the might intentionally was generally difficult. In fact, I hadn’t really gotten there yet. So far, all I had done was to prompt my body to use the might for me.

»Likely.«

Seriously? A spark of wisdom?! Now?! Why the fuck didn’t he tell me this before? Days wasted on fruitless imaginations of a blue flame. Why did he let me sit there pointlessly? “Because it was not - pointless,” I mutter after suppressing a torrent of curses. The way I could sense the might in my body now was incredible. Without having to close my eyes, all I had to do was focus on my inner self to see the mist inside my body. Granted, I still couldn’t touch it or do anything with it. But it was something I could only dream of a few days ago.

“And . . . how do I master the use of your might beyond my body?” The question, carefully phrased to hide my lack of knowledge regarding Ferracore’s skills, the powers he actually wielded. No Grand Beast was simple. Vetrifyr wasn’t just known for his blue flames. His roar could rip trees from their roots, he could create a blizzard so heavy that within an hour you’d have snow up to your neck, he was fast, unmatched by the beasts of the land, and his shed fur would keep you warm on the coldest of days.

On the other hand, all I had seen Ferracore do so far was eat and poop, and I could only assume he could dig tunnels somehow.

My fur bristled as I could have sworn Ferracore grinned, almost as if he’d read my mind. »I COULD show you HOW to burrow, but YOU would glean NAUGHT. Not yet. BUT as I understood it, EVEN Vetrifyr found hunger TO be a great SOURCE of motivation.«

Hunger? “I already know how to eat rocks.” Wait! He didn’t want me to starve, did he?

»You certainly DO. You know HOW to melt a STONE on your tongue - IN your mouth, CLOSED. Need I SAY more, child OF mine?«

He didn’t. It could be argued that the stone was still outside my body when it was in my mouth, but that obviously wasn’t the case when using the might. My mind raced with possibilities. Was it enough to melt the stone with my mouth open? Or did I have to stick out my tongue with the stone at the tip? What if I held it between my lips? So many questions. Mercifully, Ferracore seemed to be ahead of me again.

»ONCE you can DO this,« he said, and licked an Ether Crystal with his tongue, the crystallized mineral, bigger than me, melting like ice cream. ». . . Then I WILL show you MORE, child of mine.«

“D-do I have to lick the crystals too?” A stupid question. Ferracore himself had warned me not to eat them.

»Of course NOT, child of mine,« Ferracore said with a chuckle, and without another word he left me to my own devices.

And what did I do? I scurried into the limestone cave, found a small stone, and placed it on the tip of my tongue. After sticking it out, I attempted to melt it, as I had done countless times before.

The limestone remained unaffected.

Disappointing, yet enlightening.

“Why didn’t I think of this before?” I groaned, staring at the unyielding rock. Second attempt, same result. The stone remained a stone. But it wasn’t the stone’s fault. When I pulled my tongue back and closed my mouth, it melted, as it always did. I was a little hasty, no doubt. Nonetheless, after calming my emotions, I seized another piece of limestone and dared to eat it with my mouth open, taking it one small step at a time. Well, it turned out to be not impossible, but just as difficult as the first time I tried to eat a piece of rock.

Back to square one!

Frustrating? Sure. Heart pounding with excitement? Absolutely, yes. Finally, a pinch of progress, albeit at a snail’s pace.

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Author’s note:

I know it's not much of a change but what do you say to it, if you noticed anything at all? Is the sarcastic snide tone befitting of the MC, or something that is totally out of place in the story?

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