Chapter 2

This world is not my own, but that much was obvious as both Ebony and Ivovy sat me down by the lake. A wrist for each, the two were gentle and patient with how my legs stumbled around like a fawn. They settled my form with hands on my shoulders and back.

My skin still buzzed. There wasn’t a single goosebump on the brown surface yet I felt impossibly unbalanced.

“You were a ghost,” Ebony told me, voice leveled and strained as he crouched in the snow. His ears are grounding to stare at. “This world brought you here on Kazo’s command. Once you accepted, the chances of becoming a wandering spirit vanished. Your form isn’t unstable any longer, you’ve been given form. Like us.”

Ah, the name of the Not-Wolf? I slowly flexed the fingers of my hand.

Ivory was quick to become seated with his legs in a pretzel cross. “Magic can do anything here. It’s why Kazo gave us to you, we also have memories of…Our ‘Other’ selves.” Ivory’s hesitance paired up with the subtle lower of his ears.

Ebony bobbed his head in agreement while my legs twitched into the snow.

What kind of memories? “Do you know of ‘Father’?”

There was a collective glance between the two before they shared a head shake.

I smiled, rueful and glittering with a hint of teeth. “Good. He’s not a good person.” I pull my knees close, burying my head in folded arms. “Anything else is fine. Tell me about this world. What am I supposed to protect and where is it?” Hopefully my voice wasn’t too muffled. The previous loss of feeling, now reunited with the consistent buzz under skin is driving my senses to an overload.

Ebony offered up a spot on his head. As did Ivory.

If my skin wasn’t buzzing like an angry wasp nest, I’d feel a simper of embarrassment.

Two brown hands lift, and gently pat down on two fluffy hair spots.

Information trickles in. It’s almost as if I had consciously reviewed the memory of reading a fairytale book in class. How I used to hoard several books back home, hiding the more-violent stories under my pillow because my Mom didn’t want me exposed to them. I used to read these to Ebony’s counterpart late in the night, as we both shared a love for reading fantasy.

This is a magical world crafted by the claws of nine respective mythical creatures. The ancestors of this planet used to thrive by pledging themselves to one of The Nine. This brought diversity in spells, casting, soon inviting advanced civilizations in leaps and bounds.

Then, as history repeats across the universe, a group of ancestors became greedy and demanded more.

They resorted to trapping, binding, and even attempted enslavement to claim The Nine’s power.

Outraged, these powerful beings up and left this plane, taking their gifts and blessings with them.

“Generational trauma is a powerful thing,” I mumbled, removing my hands in a slow pull-back, extremely careful of the ears. “I don’t look forward to how the mistakes of the past affect the current people of today. Kazo is one of The Nine then?” That presence had felt like a looming doom, natural disaster, and falling water all at once.

Ivory and Ebony nodded with respect.

I suppose I understand why Ivory and Ebony have fluffy ears then, it was a symbol of marking by creation. Not necessarily a sign of ownership, but a stamp of legitimacy.

Also, a sign of trouble. Their eyes had the pupils of those rooted in animalistic instinct, but I’m sure a simple lie could cover it up. Nevertheless.

“I love your ears,” I told them, earnestly, “But I know they’ll attract the worst kind of attention. You need to hide them. You need…” My head ached, I’m beginning to miss the dimmed pain. “To keep yourselves hidden in plain sight.” The urge to explain further had been drowned out by the next wave of buzzed misery. Thankfully, neither twin argued against the advice.

“What about you, Shepard?” Ivory inquired in a low tone, and I am grateful for how my head throbbed.

Wait, those words are cause for concern. “What do you…?”

“Your form is going to shift completely to that of Kazo’s visionary shepard.” Ebony added in, just as low in volume. His words bit with agency. “That is why you’re in discomfort. And why we brought you to a lake. Drink the moonlit water, Shepard.” Ebony gave a small smile, soft and patient, it only brought worse aches upon the heart. “You’ll feel a little better.”

Ivory moved first, gently shifting my form to a better position to the water. The moonlight glitters off the dark waters.

My thirst remained nonexistent.

“Doesn’t that mean,” I wheezed out, forcing a grin at my dimmed reflection. “I’ll be like the ancestors of this world? Those maniacs?”

“No,” Ebony hummed with a cock of the brow and flick of the ear. “You’ll be far more advanced than them.”

Ivory gently lowered my upper half, and I finally pushed myself to move shaky brown hands for a drink.

The water is cold, annoyingly so, similar to when I had fallen into the lake in a different area. The previous wet clothes I had were gone and the reminder is hardly present under the annoying vibration under brown skin. I begin to swallow mouthfuls, dismissing the years of classes warning against unsafe water.

The incessant heat created by the stress of buzzing, lessened by a chunk.

The steamed-out exhaustion left me boneless, slumping into Ivory’s hold. I don’t move even as Ebony helped lay me on my back.

The moon here is similar to one back home. The States.

There were stars too, which my area didn’t have due to light pollution.

It’s pretty.

“Sleep, Shepherd,” Ebony lightly told me, Ivory shuffling around in the corner of my eye. “Your wish will be granted. And both Ivory and I will wait for you. As long as it takes.”

As my mind fuzzes itself over, succumbing to the lull of rest, I still find myself thinking over the future.

Or, the last important piece of information given.

Yes, The Nine left this realm, but as if a piece of their influence refused to die, there were certain magical creatures who lived on. These creatures still had access to magic unlike the powerless ancestors. Normally, said creatures would live on their lonesome and out of sight. No longer, there have been increased efforts to hunt them. Preserve them in the cruelest ways, to crush the bodies and sell off the parts for enchanted weapons. An effort to capitalize on the last beings who could freely use magic to their will.

Essentially, I will be a lone Shepard against a world of poachers.

How fitting for the environmentalist I studied to be.

When I awoke, my tongue brushed fangs.

The world had become far more enhanced in definition. Before death, I couldn’t see what was in front of me unless lenses remained glued to the eyes. Ivory’s counterpart had been struck by the same curse, he was equally just as blind to the point we occasionally swapped glasses. I hadn’t thought about what it meant to see as a ghost, but now that I wasn’t what I had been, everything felt like much.

I could focus on each and every leaf of a tree if I wanted. I could see the texture in flower petals, could see the various patterns found on rocks. For the fun of it, I even tried to recite what rocks could be sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic, based on the patterns presented by my new sharpened sight.

It truly felt like putting on new lenses after receiving an updated prescription.

Then came the increased awareness of noise.

Ivory and Ebony both had individual heartbeats. It was relieving despite how unnerving the sound is.

I can tune most little things out, but the experience of listening to everything left me incapacitated for an hour. Ebony had covered my newly donned tuft ears with the fluff of some kind of plant. Scratchy, but the material provided blissful relief from the assault of sound. It was easy to fall back on old habits, becoming dead (hah) to the world as I mentally fought to adjust.

Under the tsunami waves of too much also came touch. The new weight connected to the spine left shudders down brown skin.

My body did not feel like my own and I did not look at the water.

Too much, for now, it was too much. I did not need to know what I truly looked like.

Ivory used his nails to slice into a wooden stick and wood carve. Ebony simply kept a look out.

The quiet stillness felt like meditation. With time, my heart lulled to a tranquil beat. Answers become far more clear.

“Kazo’s lost wards…They’re in a castle reigned by a Queen and her sickly prince. Pets.”

My fur-covered foot tapped against the frost, dark claws piercing the snow.

“Let’s go.”