29 - Zay'tun

Once we'd skirted the edge of the water enough to put some space between us and Vuohi and Sammakko, we took a break to camp for the night and regroup with the new information we'd gotten.

We now knew the direction we had to go, the name of our next 'opponent', and that another Hero had done this same journey over a year ago. There was also the threat of death. Hard to forget that part.

Hassel claimed she could use her skill to build us a boat if she had the materials, but given that we were wedged between a barren desert and a large body of water, only a few trees were growing here and there. It was going to take a lot of time and work to cut them down and prepare them as materials.

Tamon started a fire for us, and Hassel started drawing a blueprint of a boat in the sand to show us how she would do it, and Zay'tun took a surprising interest in the picture. Maja joked that maybe she could turn into a boat for us and giggled, not realizing she had just outed Zay'tun to Hassel, but Hassel was in work mode and hyper focused on her drawing.

Tamon had gotten bored now that his singular duty of firebuilding was completed. He started drawing his own pictures in the sand, mostly cute things like flowers and cakes, and small monsters like Watori and Sagi. Zay'tun came to look at them too, and hovered over Tamon's drawing of a Sagi. Without warning, Zay'tun started to pixelate. Maja slapped her hands over Hassel's eyes, and Hassel angrily questioned what was happening. I doubt any of us had an answer for her, but we watched as Zay'tun took the form of a Sagi.

Toast zoomed around with excitement thinking this was a fun and cool turn of events, and the rest of us save for Hassel looked at each other with dismay and perplexity. I pointed to Hassel and made a shrugging gesture, hoping Maja would catch on and help me out.

"I think we should just tell her."

That's a terrible idea!

I tried my best to convey my apprehension with only my face.

"I know, but if she says anything about Zay'tun to anyone, then we won't help with her certificate."

A conniving plan from Maja? She gets serious when it comes to her family, after all.

Hassel's anger turned to concern and she went limp in Maja's arms.

"I won't tell anyone anything, please, don't..."

She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence before Maja lowered her hands, revealing the Sagi. Hassel was about to start up again when Maja covered her mouth this time.

"Zay'tun is a Moroza. She's never done this before and we're just as surprised as you are. She's a good girl though, please don't hurt her."

Zay'tun and Toast chased each other around in the sand while the rest of us debriefed Hassel. She questioned if Toast was a Moroza too, so we ended up telling her everything. 

I'm not sure if Hassel believed us, but I suspect her age had something to do with the lack of surprise, and her experience as a craftsman had something to do with her sudden suggestion.

"Give me a couple minutes and then bring Zay'tun over."

She jogged down towards the shoreline, and began drawing again. I watched with skepticism, thinking that she was drawing another boat. Hassel finished drawing and waved Maja over, who carried the currently 'Sagi form' Zay'tun. They held her over the picture and sure enough, after a moment Zay'tun began to pixelate again.

The pixels spread out further and further, and Maja had to drop her and step away. Before long Zay'tun had become a new monster that I'd never seen before, at least not here. Toast spun in circles and barked.

~Zhaytoon! Amazhing! Amazhing!~

Before us was a long and strange looking creature, but one that I definitely recognized from Japan. Zay'tun had become an Uchiwani, a monster with a flat tin-can-looking bell for a head and a crocodile's body. Back home they were Waniguchi and looked the same, minus the trademark horns and wings this world was keeping a strict theme with. It was funny to see such a big lizard with itty bitty bat wings. 

Hassel said they were common mid-level monsters in the wetlands far to the east of Kauppala, but Zay'tun had matched the size of Hassel's drawing and was as large as a school bus. Hassel stood with her hands on her hips knowingly.

"I had a feeling that would work. If a Moroza can shapeshift from looking at a drawing of a Sagi, I just needed to try out making the drawing bigger."

I was terribly impressed with Hassel, and admitted secretly to myself that she was insanely smart. 

Then something clicked in my head, and I thought back to what Ilta had said about the Guildmaster experimenting on Moroza, and turning them into boss monsters somehow. This must have been how he was doing it. But how did he figure out he could manipulate them like that? 

I almost felt bad for the Moroza. So far they'd not really done anything to physically harm us, and my mind raced with all the possibilities of what this meant, and thousands of questions I had no way of answering just yet. I only snapped back to reality when Maja placed a hand on my shoulder and asked if I was okay. 

I kept my thoughts to myself for the time being, and we packed up and climbed aboard Zay'tun's head, prepared to ride her into the water. Toast was still amazed at how big his 'frend' was.

She sat on the beach unmoving, even when Maja asked her sweetly, or Toast told her to rudely.

~Go go! Zhaytoon go!~

He stomped on her metallic head, but still nothing. We disembarked and realized she was sleeping. It was very late, and maybe transforming spent her MP and made her sleepy like when Toast used too many skills. We felt bad for trying to push her to do so much at once, and set our tent back up to sleep for the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the morning we tried once again to ride Zay'tun, and she leisurely slid herself into the water. It splashed up around the sides of her bell head, and we got misted as a result. Toast hated getting wet, but I thought it was brisk and refreshing so early in the morning, and I felt my RPG spirits being lifted. I'm finally feeling like an adventurer!

It didn't take long for the feeling to shift into boredom. Zay'tun had been swimming through the water at a glacial pace, and we'd barely gotten anywhere in what felt like hours. The shore was ever so slowly shrinking from view, but by the time the sun had risen high above our heads, her metal bell was starting to cook us, and worse yet, we'd run out of things to talk about. I just stared blankly at Toast snoring on my lap, watching his chest rise and fall.

I had so much on my mind, but none of it felt like appropriate conversation to have right before a potential battle, and I'd wager everyone else felt the same, so we all just sat quietly sweating until Toast proved he was actually the smartest among us and moved off the bell part to Zay'tun's cool and scaly torso. It was a splash zone, but a welcome change to burning metal. Toast got soaked and complained to me as though I could fix it.

It was approaching nightfall again by the time we reached the opposite shore, and the terrain had changed to a lush and green orchard growing bizarre fruits. Tamon suggested we sleep on Zay'tun in the water, and Hassel teased him for being afraid of the demon. He reminded us about the death threat, and we all quietly agreed on his plan to wait for the morning.

Someone had other plans, and we awoke to Zay'tun rocking back and forth violently in the water, as large explosions crashed and splashed around us. We couldn't see anything, and had lost our bearings waking up in such a state. All I could manage was yelling at Maja to get Zay'tun onto land.

Zay'tun couldn't swim any faster than she had been all day, and more explosions fell around us, disorienting her. Something landed in the water on her hind leg, and she shrieked and started to tilt. We slid and I grabbed Toast and a scale, and clutched both with all my might. Maja and Tamon managed to hold on too, but Hassel continued sliding down closer to the water. Her hands were too small to grab onto Zay'tun's thick scales.

Tamon used his lightning speed to launch himself at Hassel and catch her before she plunged into the pitch black water, and grab back onto Zay'tun while she righted herself on the waves.

The explosions stopped and we heard laughter from the sky. Zay'tun had reached land and dropped her head on the edge of the shore with a loud clank, her teeth snapping together. We made a break for her bell, and all managed to safely jump off her into the soft grass of the orchard.

Maja hurriedly grabbed Toast who was drenched again, and held him up to Zay'tun's large eye.

"Please! Change back! Hurry!"

Zay'tun pixelated and returned to her pom-ish form, and Maja scooped her up and held the 'dogs' tightly and close, casting heal on both. Zay'tun's outstretched injured leg relaxed and tucked back in, and Toast, who had been heaving and wheezing from the stress and fear of the last few minutes, started to calm down and returned to his normal panting.

A voice creeped into our ears from above, and much like with Zay'tun's eye locking power, we became frozen in place. This time however, it was from the sheer ominous pressure that rained down on us.

"Disgusting."