When I opened my eyes, I was running with my friends.

The marketplace was always packed in the early afternoon. The streets were filled to bursting with children and adults alike. Humans, Beastfolk, even some Spirits, all of them filled the space that I could call my own.

Yukatas were hard to run in, but I'd gotten used to it. Even if I hadn't learned to shift my balance using my tail, I knew my friends wouldn't leave me behind anyway. I could trust them to wait if I stumbled. The colours and patterns of the clothes around me were blurry and mesmerising. The browns of stalls, the reds of ribbons and the wavy skin of smiling civilians and [Merchants] blended together, all culminating in the beautiful delirium of the moment.

My friends were ahead of me. They were a group of Half-Elven children that had accepted me as one of their own. To them, I wasn't just the Half-Varani, the one with the weird scales and the bulky tail. I was Yuri, the girl who could turn invisible and whose parents made pretty weapons.

I was accepted here, and I felt it. Even though the market was tightly packed, I didn't bump into a single person. My first few treks through the market had been frightening. I wasn't used to being so careful when I ran, and I'd bumped into people all the time, but no matter how many times I'd made a mistake, I'd never gotten a response worse than 'be careful, child!' from the people here.

It was bliss.

"C'mon, Yuri!" they called to me. " We're gonna miss it!"

I followed my cheering friends, struggling to pick up the pace. I wasn't the fittest child around, even though I'd spent all my time playing or reading. They were both supposed to be good for you, right? I couldn't make sense of it, even if it should have been something simple. Still, I felt no desire to cover up my scales or hide my tail. I was safe. I was home.

We arrived at our destination. We broke free of the crowds, the waving clothes and blending colours giving way to reveal a sharp, detailed clearing in the otherwise blurry bazaar. We gazed up with sparkling eyes, watching as two men in colourful armor clashed blades atop a stage.

The two were Beastfolk, one Varani and the other an Inura, each giving it their all with smiles on their faces and the applause of the crowd at their backs. It wasn't a fight to the death, or even a fight for money. It was a fight for publicity and entertainment, a show.

It was my first time seeing real Adventurers in action. If I closed my eyes and tried really hard, I could almost imagine myself up there, dressed in beautiful armor and swinging a blade around like the finest [Swordswoman] or [Samurai]. This was what Adventurers could be at their peak.

Free, capable, and strong.

I took a long, deep breath, but felt no desire to suppress the joy and wonder in my heart.

I opened my eyes, and-

I was running again, my boots splashing through the wet harbour. I was gasping heavily, breathing as easily as a fish on dry land. I leapt into a narrow alleyway, stealing a glance out into the street beyond. I'd been forced to run, and the world couldn't have picked a better time to screw me over. I'd ran like a kicked hound under the cover of night, heavy rainfall musking the sound of my steps.

I saw the [Watchmen] in the distance, shouting in their comfortable, warm uniforms, swinging flashlights around like an angry drunkard with a broken bottle. There was no hope in this damned city.

The only work I could find here was for [Warlords] and [Thugs]. If the work was legal, I didn't have the 'qualifications' for it. I had to risk my ass for even a scrap of coin around here. Goons were always the first to go. They didn't matter when it came to the 'balance of power'. They'd be tossed aside at the first opportunity, cast away by their bosses as scapegoats for whatever crime the Watch caught wind of.

It was a fucking disgrace! You couldn't do anything in this shithole without running the risk of-

"YOU THERE! STOP!"

I was on my feet and out of the alley the second I heard the shout.

Why the fuck did things have to turn out like this? I'd gotten out of Malavoin as soon as I'd scraped together enough coin, but I'd had to spend more on the road than the dusty fuckers at the Travel Guild predicted. Now I was stuck here with empty pockets and a bunch of watchmen on my tail. This place was just as bad, too. Nothing but swindlers, conmen and criminals dirtying the streets.

I ran, my boots filling with more and more water with every footfall. I could feel the water soaking through my footwear, up into my socks. Another shitty experience to add to the pile.

I wanted to give them the slip. I had to. Any moment I could get to catch my breath and come up with a plan was one I'd be glad to take, but the Watch was more persistent than a horny Satyr.

I ran through the main street, going as fast as I could before ducking into another alley. I hid beneath a sheet, not realising it was covering an open dumpster. The stench was rotten, but I doubted the Watch would check here. I didn't use any magic, so they couldn't track me with [Insight]. The streets didn't have much muck that would stick around in the rain, either. With luck, I'd be safe.

I started to catch my breathing, gripping the side of the dumpster for some sorry sense of stability. The gloves kept the worst of the cold out. I took a deep breath, but it felt off. The action itself gave a strange sense of satisfaction, like a warm bath after a long day on the docks. A sense of stability and calm. Was it supposed to feel like this? Something in me said it wasn't, but I couldn't be sure.

On a whim I had no willpower to suppress, I peeked beneath my glove. I didn't know what the fuck I was thinking doing it. Maybe I'd huffed some fumes or paint on the run without realising. The hand under the glove was mine. Obviously. Thick, as far as men's hands went. Not hairy enough to keep out the cold, but it helped to keep out the worst of the chill. Beastfolk had it easy, covered in a carpet of fur the whole-

My hand looked strange.

There was nothing wrong with my hand, but now I couldn't shake the feeling it looked weird. I turned it over, flexing my fingers. I hadn't lost any of 'em, and they looked as meaty as always. Worn from work with a chipped nail here and there, but nothing too queer. So why did they look so godsdamned wrong? My body started to shake, and it wasn't from the cold. I pulled up the sleeve of my woolen coat, and saw my arm. Honed from years of backbreaking labour, covered in hair instead of scales.

What...?

Scales? What was I thinking? Why did I think there'd be scales there? Why was...

I reached out, gripping the dumpster with one hand. The cold of the metal helped to jar me back to reality, letting me get a-

The feeling of the metal helped to jar me back to reality, letting me get a grip on what was happening. I was still shaken from the experience, if the puddle of sweat beneath me was any indication. I was disappointed. Annoyed at myself. I had only just recently pushed the side of the steel platform down to let the liquid flow out, and now I was lying in a pool of my own sweat again.

The sensation of my 'hands' gripping the metal, which I'd guessed was the [Telekinesis], was calming. Metal had always felt reassuring. It reminded me of home, as little as that word meant anymore.

At first, I'd thought of the dreams as a refuge. A place where I could be safe from the worries of this place. The dread and disgust of what I'd become. A place where I could return to the past instead of looking to the nightmarish present. A place I could call home.

Not even that was sacred anymore.

The dreams always began like normal. They were the same as any other.

Memories of home, or of Addersbrook, or the forest. Then they'd transition, and it would feel natural to me. I would live a stranger's life, someone I had never known. It was... frightening, how easy it was to slip into someone else's mindset, how easy it was to forget who I was for a time, only to realise somewhere down the line that I had become someone else.

Would there come a time where I wouldn't come to that realisation? Where I'd wake up and the 'me' I'd always known would be gone forever? That I'd become someone else entirely? No matter how hard I tried, the fear of that happening wouldn't go away. They'd taken my breathing, too. I didn't have that either, anymore. At the very least, as soul-crushing as it was to think about, I knew there wasn't anything else they could take from-

"THIS IS I-C82 OF SC-DIV-004, BEGINNING ARCANE CAPABILITIES CHECK #1. TESTING FOR ARCANE ABILITIES AND POTENTIAL SIDE-EFFECTS. SUBJECT ETA 333-4, IF YOU ARE CAPABLE OF RECEIVING AND UNDERSTANDING MY WORDS, RESPOND IN A NON-THREATENING MANNER. ANY ATTEMPTS TO ATTACK PERSONNEL OR DAMAGE THE FACILITY WILL RESULT IN AN IMMEDIATE CEASING OF THE TEST AS WELL AS AN IMMEDIATE PUNISHMENT."

I said nothing.

They didn't deserve anything from me. If I started speaking, and they refused to listen or answer my questions, I might-

"ETA 333-4, YOUR AWARENESS AND ABILITY TO COMPREHEND LANGUAGE HAS BEEN CONFIRMED DURING A PREVIOUS TEST. IF YOU CHOOSE NOT TO COOPERATE, YOU WILL FACE IMMEDIATE PUNISHMENT."

I stayed quiet. They couldn't force me to speak. If I stayed quiet, then-

"[I'll co-operate.]" I said. "[If you answer my questions.]"

This was the problem. This was what my emotions could do to me when I didn't have a way to hold them down. If I let them run free, logic would suffer. How could I possibly bargain or try to get answers when I gave in so quickly?

"ETA 333-4, YOU MUST COOPERATE WITH THE PARAMETERS OF THE TEST OR FACE IMMEDIATE PUNISHMENT."

On one hand, he didn't even listen to what I said. He didn't even say 'no, I can't answer your questions'. He ignored it. On the other, he responded to me as though I were coherent enough to be understood. I... I presumed that meant he understood what I was saying. I felt a treacherous sense of relief blossom to life within me.

"[No! If you don't answer my questions, I will do nothing.]"

For a few moments, there was nothing but silence. Doubt began to creep into my mind. Was the first comment a fluke? Did he really have no idea what I was saying? If I couldn't communicate with him, then I'd truly be alone. Trapped in this body without any hope of forming a real connection ever again. I could listen, but not speak. I couldn't communicate or express myself. I-

"ETA 333-4, YOU MUST COOPERATE WITH THE PARAMETERS OF THE TEST OR FACE IMMEDIATE PUNISHMENT."

He had to understand what I was saying, didn't he? If he didn't, he would have said something like he did the previous day. That I was 'incoherent'. The idea still left cold doubt in my mind, but I pushed it away as much as I could. I needed to be calm and collected. The moment I let my emotions get the best of me was the moment I would be one step further away from the person I was. I wasn't about to let that happen. I couldn't. I shouldn't.

"[No! I want you to tell me where Sigura, Yrlack and Dairen are, and if they're alright. If... If you don't answer my questions, I won't take part in your test."]

That was final. If they didn't answer my questions, then I had no reason to help them. These people had taken much from me already. If they weren't going to give me answers, I wasn't going to help them, no matter what-

...

For several long, excruciating seconds, my thoughts jarred to a stop.

My body quivered with pain, sweat spilling out of my form, adding to the thick puddle of mucus I was lying in. My already warm body had surged with heat as I reeled from the experience. He... he'd shocked me! The burnt underside of my body sent trickles of cloudy smoke floating upwards from beneath the platform. I had asked him a question in exchange for my help, and he'd shocked me.

I could feel the metal beneath me. I had a 'grip' on the platform I was being held in. The cold of the metal helped to center me. The smoothness reminded me how to be calm. I wiggled one of the panels, flexing it back and forth, just for some sense of control. It reminded me of my work, and that helped me to remain calm.

"ETA 333-4, YOU MUST COOPERATE WITH THE PARAMETERS OF THE TEST OR-"

I'd already tuned him out. I knew what he was going to do, now. If he was going to ignore what I was saying, I was going to ignore him, too. My body twitched from the after-effects of the shock, but I held my ground. I-

Sweat shot out of me in a torrent as another shock, stronger than before, tore through my body's nerves. I was left twitching uncontrollably, both shocked and in shock. He hadn't even waited for me to respond this time. I'd barely even had seconds to consider what to say, if anything at all.

I felt angry. I wanted to push it away. It was a feeling that could make me act irrationally. Incorrectly. It was a dangerous, foreign feeling, one that made me feel like I was handling a bottle of poison. Something that should be handled with care, but could cause great harm with one wrong movement. One slip-up. But they had taken the tools I'd used to handle myself from me. I had no way to keep that rage from causing my skin to crawl with irritation. I wanted to hit him.

Another shock.

The pain was growing, but I couldn't do anything about it. I wanted to do something, but what could I do? He wasn't going to listen to what I was going to say-

Another shock.

The worst thing was having no way to let go of the pain. No outlet through which to express what I was feeling. I felt my grip on the metal panel tightening. I knew why he was able to shock me over and over without thinking.

It was because he suffered no consequences for doing so. If he was at risk, if he could be hurt for what he was doing, then maybe he'd think about what it was like to be in my position. To be alone and desperate, to try and bargain with a terrible, hateful person in an attempt to get even a scrap of peace. If he understood the pain I was in, he wouldn't-

Another shock.

The glass above me shattered, shards raining down to the floor outside of my metal platform. I heard something heavy fall to the floor in the office, collapsing in a heap. I'd barely even registered what had happened until I 'grasped' with my [Telekinesis], noticing the absence of the metal that had kept me stable until now.

I'd thrown the metal panel at him.

I focused on my [Sensory Zone]. It was already unfurled, stretching up and into the office, even if I hadn't been consciously aware. Still, I had worse things to worry about than my Skills acting without my approval.

The interviewer was on the ground, lying in a pool of his own blood. I shivered at the sight, only feeling a small sense of relief when I realised I hadn't killed him. The metal panel was on the ground next to him, one of the corners stained with blood. I saw a long, jagged cut along his right shoulder where I'd struck him.

The thought that I had hurt this man, without consciously doing it, was horrifying. Not just because my body and Soul seemed to act without the approval of my logical mind, but because of how it felt.

The shocking pain was gone.

Maybe the man would learn from the experience and leave me alone. Maybe he'd be more willing to answer my questions and be civil, instead of ignoring everything I had to say in favour of mindless 'punishments'. I felt a strange sense of relief, knowing that I could fight back, even if only in a small, rebellious way. I'd gotten back at them. They deserved it, after everything they'd done. I had some measure of control over the situation, even if I'd had to use force.

The man was breathing heavily, climbing to his feet. One hand clutched the long cut along his shoulder. I could hear the muffled sound of his voice from the sound rune above, and I felt a sense of satisfaction bloom to life.

"AH... FUCK... ETA 333-4, THE TEST WILL CEASE IMMEDIATELY. YOU WILL BE ADMINISTERED IMMEDIATE PUNISHMENT."

Then, I felt the shock again.

Not a single jolt, but a continuous wave of electricity that surged through my body, rippling along and through every muscle and nerve. The pain made it hard to keep my senses active and aware. The bubble broke down and faded around me, rendering me blind. I couldn't tell if he'd left to get help, or if he was standing there, watching me suffer.

Either way, I didn't care.

The way I'd done it wasn't how I'd planned it, but I'd gotten my point across. I wanted answers, and I wasn't going to be ignored. The emotions surging through me with every jolt were hard to pin down. They came and went in uncontrolled waves, jumping over one another in an effort to be heard, a cacophony of unidentified feelings.

Through the pain and confusion, one feeling stood out amongst the crowd. A feeling I'd had ever since I'd listened to my emotions and fought back. A feeling I'd had since striking the man and making my point heard, the point that I wasn't going to be ignored.

A sense of relief. A sense of control. A sense of satisfaction.

But above else, it was a feeling of joy.

______________________________________________________________________

The afternoon sun brought with it a warmth that I'd seldom experienced elsewhere.

Standing amidst a field of wheat bathed in its golden glow, I felt at peace. My face and arms grew warmer at its touch. It was a feeling that almost let me trick myself into believing I was home. It was so close, but something still held me back from making that final push, from considering Addersbrook the place I could truly call home.

The field around me swayed gently, a motion that was hypnotic in its gentle simplicity. The afternoon breeze rolled over the field, washing over me with a cool embrace. It wasn't too hot, nor too cold, but I shivered. It was a transition from day to night. From work to rest.

The gauntlets on my hands weighed me down. They were heavy, but not cumbersome or unwelcome. The gadgets provided a weight I needed. They helped to ground me, to keep focused on enjoying the moment while I could. For a moment, I could almost trick myself into believing I was truly here, even if a part of me knew it was a lie.

I pushed the truth away to bask in the golden sun while I still could. More than anything, I wanted to see it in person, even if only one last time.

But I couldn't stay here forever. I had things to do and work to complete. I turned my back on the sun, and felt the warmth fade from my face and arms. In its place came a new warmth, one that refreshed me in a way facing the sun never could. With the sun at my back, warmth filled my body in a more complete way than it had before. It was almost as though the sun was gently urging me forward. Protecting me.

Honoring the sun's unspoken support, I strolled down a long dirt path through the field. Further ahead, I saw a lone figure, a woman in a dress watching me approach. They had familiar orange-yellow fur and a wide-brimmed sun hat. They smiled as I came closer, and I responded in kind. Once I came into earshot, I bowed.

"Good afternoon, Miss Brightmane."

The woman's whiskers twitched, but she smiled, nodding back at me.

"Good afternoon to you too, Yuri. I'm happy to see you out walking again. It's always a pleasure to meet you out on a stroll."

I felt the same way, or so I thought. A knot of anxiety threatened to make me a liar.

"Likewise."

The Nekari's hands linked in front of her, and she looked out towards the fields.

"You're so polite, Yuri. You and your parents are so, so alike! I'm glad to see you all still have that Lucanian charm."

I was sure she meant well, but it sounded like an insult. The comment stung in a way I could never tell her. I wasn't like them. I couldn't be.

"Thank you, ma'am."

Her amber eyes drifted back to me, falling down to my arms.

"Are you going out adventuring again, Yuri?"

Why would she ask that, if she saw that I was already fully equipped? I was ready for business, yet she asked it as though I were just going for a walk with metal gadgets strapped to my arms.

"I am, ma'am."

We were going out to hunt Giant Rats today. It wasn't a difficult quest, but I knew it was one my teammates dreaded. The smell of the sewers had never bothered me, but the others hated it. The job paid well, and the Watch were always eager to shove the task onto someone else, but it wasn't a job we ever willingly leapt at.

"You're a responsible girl, Yuri."

I knew where this conversation was going as soon as she spoke those words.

"Thank you, ma'am," I replied, my tone mechanical. Rehearsed.

"You know when to take action, and when not to. You have that famous Varani survival instinct honed to perfection!"

I stayed silent.

"As much as I hate to say it, Yuri... I don't think Sigura will listen to me if I tell her to be careful, so... would you do it in my place? I don't like to interfere in her... work, but I don't want her to get hurt!"

If she doesn't take risks, she won't get Experience. She won't learn or grow if she lets everyone else do the work. This was common knowledge. Miss Brightmane should know this. She had to.

"Please... if you think she's going to do something rash, or get herself hurt, you need to be the voice of reason. When Sigura gets into the zone, she loses sight of things. She tries to rush ahead, and won't-"

"Hey!"

I raised my head instantly, glad for the reprieve. On the fence ahead of me, I could see a figure I knew to be Sigura, hands on her hips, her tail standing straight, erect.

"C'mon Yuri. We need to go."

She wasn't looking at me when she said that. She'd been looking at her mother. I nodded, grateful for the save.

"Stay safe, you two! Be careful!"

Careful.

The word rang in my head like the incessant buzzing of an insect hovering around me. I kept my head down, not wanting to look up at Sigura's face for a reason I couldn't pin down. My gaze was fixated on the dirt path ahead of me, and the fence just in front of-

The path grew longer as I walked. The wheat swaying around me seemed to grow taller and thicker. No matter how much I walked, the fence seemed farther and farther away, as though I would never reach it. I continued to walk, keeping my eyes focused on my goal, looking down at the ground. I walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and-

Got nowhere.

I closed my eyes, trying to take my mind off the pointless walk, to pass the time until I reached my destination. That word still rang in my ears. A constant reminder. Another sound was mixed in. The sound of dripping. I scrunched my eyes closed tighter, trying to fill my head with white noise to shut out the horrible sound. I let my mind drift from the road, searching for anything at all to think about, anything that wasn't-

I felt a shiver run up my body, a shock of pain that came with the banging of boot on wood. I leaned down, clutching the front of my foot as I looked up. I'd arrived at the fen-

The wall was tall, crafted from stone with wooden supports, like scaffolding around the lower levels of a building. The structure extended high into the air, higher than my eyes could see. The wall stood high as a mountain, the peak obscured by white rolling mist. I spotted smatterings of hand and footholds I could use to climb. With a sigh, I began to move.

I kept my focus on the wall. Hand, then foot. Hand, then foot. Hand, then foot. A monotonous climb with no spirit. The wall seemed to have no end, but that didn't matter to me. I had an objective to complete. The more I climbed, the higher I would go. Right?

I didn't know how long I'd been climbing. Minutes? Hours? Days? My body felt numb. I felt none of the pain or fatigue I'd expected from such a climb, yet I felt lost. Why was I still climbing? What made me decide to start scaling the wall? I couldn't remember. It took me a few seconds to realise I'd stopped climbing for a moment. I was still. Silent. How long had I been spaced out? Why had I stopped? I resumed the climb.

My body felt numb and empty. Tireless, almost, as though it were merely a well oiled machine following orders. What filled me with fatigue was my mind. It felt even more empty than my body did, filled with a single desire to climb and nothing more. Any other thoughts or feelings were shoved to the side, smothered by my goal. I kept going, and my mind kept getting duller, and duller.

In the midst of my mental haze, I reached for a handhold that wasn't there. My eyes widened in sudden, mortal shock. I slipped from the wall, my mouth opening to let out a scream that never came. My body had never felt more numb than it had now. As if it weren't there at all.

Something warm wrapped around my wrist, roughly halting my descent. I looked up for the first time since climbing. The top seemed no closer than it had been when I'd started. There was nothing but endless stone and a white, smoky fog looming high overhead. In the midst of the fog was a silhouette. It was not one of the silhouettes from my nightmares. It had ears atop its head, a swaying tail, and a furred hand extending through the mist, holding me aloft. It pulled me up, through the cloud and out of the fog.

I landed on top of the stone wall, sitting down. My body was different now. An empty husk, forever mangled and changed. A pulsing wreck of veins and mucus. The sky above us was black, as hollow as my body felt. No stars lit up the night sky. The only light came from the endless expanse of fog surrounding us. The very tip of the sun and moon poked up from beneath the white horizon on either side of us, yet provided no light.

I cast my focus to my savior, a woman with orange-yellow fur, a bright aura, and no face.

I could see the fur, and the ears, and the tail. All features I recognised, but couldn't definitively place. Yet their skin was pale and featureless. Undecided.

"There!" the faceless person spoke. "That wasn't so hard, was it? We should get going, shouldn't we? We've been here for way too long. It's about time we-"

[Passive Class Skill obtained - Lightning Resistance I]

The sound of blaring sirens grabbed my consciousness by the neck, dragging me from my fitful sleep. My awareness came flooding back to me as my [Sensory Zone] reflexively expanded, taking in the pool of mucus and the empty room around me. The glass shards hadn't been cleaned up yet. The noise of an alarm system jolted me from my idle observations, panic flooding my body.

"ATTENTION ALL STAFF. RETREAT TO THE NEAREST DESIGNATED SAFE ZONE IMMEDIATELY. SEVERAL TEST SUBJECTS HAVE ESCAPED THEIR CELLS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. RETREAT TO THE NEAREST DESIGNATED SAFE ZONE IMMEDIATELY. SEVERAL TEST SUBJECTS HAVE-"

The voice continued to repeat the message, over and over. I tuned it out, trying to focus on what was happening over the rushing pulse pervading my form. Several 'test subjects' had escaped? The news brought with it a few worrying possibilities.

If some powerful monster was roaming free through the facility, it might see me through the broken glass and attack me. If the facility was deemed too dangerous, would anyone ever come by the cell again? Was I going to be stuck here? Alone?

My thought process came to a stop as one realisation cut through the rest, like a ray of sunlight through a world of hazy white fog.

If the staff were all retreating to safe zones, that meant they wouldn't be occupying the rest of the facility. Did that mean the guards would be retreating too? Did the Dolls count as 'staff'? Would they be waiting it out until the test subjects got too exhausted or fought one another? Hiding until the coast was clear or they found some way to subdue the escapees?

Did the others escape? Sigura? Yrlack? Dairen? Were they out in the facility right now? Free from their cells?

I'd long since given up hope. The possibility of escaping this place had been a faraway dream for what had felt like years. Now? This could be the chance we needed. We might be able to escape in the confusion. I had to act. I wouldn't make that mistake again. Panic warped and changed within me, becoming something new. Urgency. Determination.

I had to find the others.

My Soul responded to my desire, and I tried to lift myself with [Telekinesis]. My body rippled and swayed from the effort. I struggled to get myself off the ground, yet my Soul resisted the idea, as though it were disgusted with having to lift me. My form barely left the metal surface before I had to release my grip, dropping my mass back onto the platform. I quivered like an injured Slime, sending sweat and mucus splashing over the sides.

I was being given a chance at freedom, but I couldn't even move myself. It was almost like a sick joke. Part of me wondered if this shred of hope was a punishment. Taunting me with the possibility of escape, only to snatch it away at the last second. I could imagine these people pulling such a twisted stunt.

No. I needed to focus. As much as my emotions were riled up, I had to use logic here. To help myself think, I redirected my [Telekinesis], filling the metal platform around my with my desire. Making it one with myself. The smooth, cold surface was reassuring and familiar, both of which were feelings I desperately needed as the rest of my mind turned mad with thoughts of escape.

How was I going to get out of here?

I wasn't able to lift myself. Moving my body was a hopeless endeavor. I could barely get myself off the ground, let alone outside the cell. I needed something else. I felt around with my abilities, looking for something. Anything. I pushed my [Sensory Zone] outwards again, inspecting the office above. Was there anything there I could use? Glass bottles, strange liquids, sheets of paper. All useless. All-

Wait...

My awareness drifted to the metal panel on the floor, still stained with blood. I'd flung it with enough force to shatter glass and wound a researcher. Why had I been able to move the heavy iron so easily, and not my own body? This new form was probably heavier than the metal, but it couldn't have been that much, could it? The difference in speed, force and control between the two was astronomical. There had to be something else behind it.

When I came to the conclusion, I felt like a fool. The answer was simple.

The number one rule of magic.

Magic is an expression of one's identity.

The metal was easier to move than my body because it was more familiar to me. The metal was an expression of my craft. Of my heritage. It was pivotal to who I was in more ways than one. It wasn't a matter of weight, but of substance. It was more 'me' than my own body was, now.

My [Telekinesis] shifted, flowing through the entire metal platform with surprising ease. I felt my sense of touch spread, turning the structure into an extension of my body.

The metal 'ribs' surrounding my body cracked, bent and inverted, groaning with the effort. I pushed all of them back without breaking the metal, twisting and forcing them so far back that I felt a jolt of movement in my main body. The 'ribs' of the platform pushed against the floor, the sharp tips jabbing into the tiles.

I pushed one of the ribs forward experimentally, shivering at the loud scrape of the motion.

With my [Telekinesis], I explored the platform, moving each rib, no... each leg, in turn.

By lifting and moving one forward, I could drag the platform along. Of the eight legs, I devoted the four 'middle' legs to support. I pushed them back to where they'd been, then pushed them a little further, until they touched my skin. I wrapped them around me like a belt, securing me in place. With the 'outer' legs, I began to move. While it took some getting used to, I felt giddy at the discovery as I pushed myself to my feet. I could use the platform as a makeshift set of legs! A prosthetic body!

I could move!

My body shuddered uncontrollably, the only way I had of physically expressing my emotions. I 'walked' to the far side wall, wanting to test the limits of the metal. It was important that I knew the strength of my tools.

I 'stood', positioning myself on the 'back legs' of the platform. It was harder to balance, but having a perfect awareness forming a sphere around me helped to position myself correctly. I was capable of walking on the two back legs, my [Telekinesis] offering the metal limbs the support they needed. I swung one of the sharp 'front' legs forward like a [Boxer] throwing a punch, piercing the wall with the metallic limb. It didn't go deep, but it went in.

It was possible. Hope bloomed to life within me, determination burning strong within my heart.

I could move. I could use my magic. I could do this.

I walked over to the front wall, returning to all fours. I used my [Telekinesis], grabbing some of the glass shards I'd broken with my metal plate. They didn't move anywhere near as quickly or easily as my makeshift mech, but they didn't need to. They were just extra materials I might have use of later. I placed them in the makeshift compartment I'd created earlier, in the spot where the panel had been ripped off.

With four legs of steel and a body of useless flesh, I pierced the wall of the chamber, climbing up along the surface. My [Telekinesis] reached out, grabbing the blood stained plate. I swung it backwards, shattering some of the remaining glass, clearing the way for me to climb out of the cell and into the office.

I was out of the cell.

I reached around, looking for anything else I could take with me. Anything else I could put into my improvised toolbox. For the first time in... a long time, I was beginning to feel like myself. I grabbed a stack of meaningless papers and a collection of glass bottles, both empty and full, stuffing them all into my compartment. To make sure nothing fell out, I reattached the compartment, slotting it back into the hooks that had been holding it in place.

I was able to walk. I was equipped. I had metal.

I was ready.

I could do this.

With a feeling of joy and liberation in my heart, I took my first step forward down the corridor, into the rest of the compromised facility.