The radiant sun began to dim as it started its descent beyond the horizon.

The white painted trees around me were blanketed in an orange glow that warmed the body and mind. Shadows grew longer as the sun dipped below the treeline, the temperature dropping even further. The world around us began to shift in focus. Animals retreated to their dens and burrows, birds returned to their nests with worms for their young, and nocturnal monsters crawled out of their lairs to seek out prey.

I couldn't see the sun, nor any animals within my limited bubble, but I was sure they'd be around. I hadn't seen many animals around, which made this snowy wasteland feel more barren than it probably was. It felt nice to imagine myself as part of the greater ecosystem around me, even if my sight was too short to see it.

The five of us trudged through the light snow, following a yawning Sigura around bushes, between trees and over hills.

How long had she been awake for? She hadn't gotten any sleep back at the cave, and I had no way of knowing when she'd last slept back at the facility. Fareel, Streiphen and I were well rested, even if night was beginning to creep up on us. I wasn't as worried about Toya, given his... non-standard body type. I'd never heard of a Slime or slime-like creature needing to sleep, and I doubted he needed to either.

"[Sigura, are you tired? If you want to stop, we can look for a place to set up camp.]"

I climbed over a hill with long steps as the [Telepathy] sent my concerns forward. Sigura laughed at the idea, linking both hands behind her head, her tail lazily swaying side to side.

"I'm not sleeping until I see this city, Yur," she declared. "If people as weak as those guys made the trek out to us from this city on foot, it can't be far. If it is, there'll be some camp nearby we can use for directions."

'Ask for directions'. I wondered what sort of reaction she thought we'd get from civilians if someone like me stomped into their camp asking for directions. The rest of our group looked more normal than I did, but none could very easily pass as a regular person. Even Sigura had her abnormal height and that glowing orb in her chest.

"[Are you not worried about a monster attack? It'll be night soon. If you're too tired to fight, we might not be able to protect you. We don't know what kind of creatures live around here, Sigura.]"

All she did was grin.

"I'm not worried. If you can kick three adventurer's asses by yourself, I'm sure the four of you together could figure something out if I passed out from exhaustion. You're worrying too much again, Yur."

She turned around to face me, continuing to walk backwards as she gestured to me and the platform with a single, sweeping movement of her arm.

"Besides, what monster is going to risk attacking us with you walking around? You're probably just as big as anything we might find out in this place. If we came across a Direwolf or a Hidebehind, they'd be scared shitless! Take some pride in your status as a monster, Yur."

I didn't think she was wrong, but it brought me no sense of relief. The sight of my form was a serious issue. While it may deter monsters, it also scared those three adventurers enough to attack me, despite my attempts to reason with them. While I could chalk it up to the reputation all Chimeras had making me appear worse than I was, I couldn't let my guard down. If others reacted the same way, I might need to come up with something else. I couldn't just use violence to deal with every misconception or frightened person lashing out at me.

"[Yes...]"

Sigura's shoulders hunched up, and she spun back around. I could see her grimace and hear her curse under her breath, even if she wasn't facing towards me. With long, labored steps, she climbed over the sprawling roots of an enormous tree.

"S'not all bad, Yur. If nothin' else, they gave you a nice tattoo."

Tattoo...? I quickly scanned over my body, wondering if something had been stuck to me. I almost glanced right over the brand. It was the bird, a symbol of a blue eagle with wings extended, curling up and over its head. It was something I saw often enough that I didn't even think about it anymore. The three slash marks from the cheetah construct lay to its right, still slightly stinging me with pain whenever I eased up my body. I silently wondered if the cuts would heal by themselves, but at least they weren't leaking fluids anymore. There was still so little I understood about this form.

"Your tattoo is very nice, Miss Yuri!" Streiphen chirped.

My body warmed at the honest compliment.

Before now, I'd been worried about Streiphen. I didn't think he would be able to keep up with our pace. We were moving faster than we may have needed to, speed walking to keep up with Sigura's long, excited steps, but he seemed much better now after a rest. He didn't seem to be under any strain at all, even though we'd been walking for some time. How much of that was due to his transformation into a Chimera?

"[Thanks,]" I replied. Streiphen was walking beside me, but kept up with the pace of my long legs all the same. He seemed a little brighter now, and less... closed off.

"What're those things for, anyway?" Sigura asked nobody in particular. "Me and Fareel have them too."

They did? Had I not noticed at all? I focused my awareness on each in turn. Sigura was right. On the side of Fareel's neck, I saw a small symbol, that of a fox's head branded in orange, one with a sleek head, narrow eyes and ears standing tall. I shifted my focus to Sigura, running my awareness over her form in search of-

Catching myself, I decided to take her word for it.

"[Y-you're right!]" I shakily replied.

"They have to be some kind of label," Toya added, grimacing as he wove around a small copse of bushes in his way. "To mark us as Chimeras, so others will know what we are, or to categorise us somehow."

He may be right. But if it were just to inform outsiders of what we were, wouldn't they simply use their own symbol to brand us? If the marks on both Fareel and I were identical, or that of butterflies, I may have agreed with him. The colour and animal that made up both of our brands were drastically different. I was more inclined to believe it was a method of categorisation, even if the symbols meant nothing to me.

"I can't wait to see this place. I've never been to an actual city before," Sigura smiled, changing the subject. She turned her head back, looking towards the group of us following behind. "What about the rest of you? Have any of you gone anywhere exciting before being bagged by a bunch of psycho mad [Scientists]?"

Streiphen looked down at the ground, his expression forlorn. Fareel made a short, repeated clicking sound that may have been a laugh. Toya shook his head solemnly, saying nothing.

Sigura sighed, looking forward once again.

"'Course not. Guess it'll have to be a surprise, since I'm lumped together with a bunch of boring country bumpkins," she drawled, despite being a 'boring country bumpkin' herself.

"[Perhaps they don't want to answer, Sigura. You know it isn't polite for adventurers to ask about each other's pasts.]

Sigura snorted at the idea, spinning to face me again, gesturing towards the people with us.

"Adventurers, Yur? In case you didn't realise, we've got a man made of jelly, a gurgling fish person, some starry-eyed kid obsessed with a warped lump of metal, a haunted cat-girl with a ball of glowing metal stuck in her chest, and a giant brain animating a walking pile of scrap. Adventuring etiquette doesn't apply to monsters last time I checked, Yur."

Maybe she was right. We hadn't known each other for very long, but we'd been through the escape together. That had to have counted for something. I didn't want to upset them without knowing their boundaries, especially without having a place we could call our own. If we got lost and tensions rose, I wanted to ensure we had a good foundation for our relationship as a group, should the worst come to pass.

My awareness skimmed through the endless sea of trees around us, searching for some sort of path or guide post, yet I found nothing. I hoped Sigura knew where she was going. I knew she'd possessed [Enhanced Senses] even before turning into what she is now, so I placed my trust in her, hoping that she knew what she was doing.

"[I hope this city will be different from Addersbrook,]" I mused aloud. "[If we have to stay there for a while, I might get too comfortable and unwilling to make the trek back.]"

Sigura didn't stop walking, but for a moment I saw her hesitate, one foot held in the air as her body twitched, before coming down to rest on the snowy trail.

"You... plan on going back, Yur?"

Was that even a question she needed to ask?

"[Of course. I'm certain my parents have been looking for me.]"

They weren't the warmest parents, nor the most loving by a Human's standards, but I was still a part of their family unit. An integral part of the whole. Even if I had been... different. Defective, in some ways, even if I'd been improving.

"You sure you want them to find you?" she asked dryly. "We've got no idea how long we've been missing. For all we know, months could've passed on the outside while we were locked up in that place. Years, even. Chances are, we were pronounced dead ages ago."

Pronounced dead...? The thought that we'd lost years of our lives in that place shocked me to a stop. I know time had been hard to judge, but... had we been in there for years...? The idea put a sinking feeling deep in my gut. My body felt heavier, and even raising a single leg felt like a struggle. It had to be a trick of the mind.

"Even if we went back, they wouldn't recognise us, or they'd have mourned for us already," she continued, her voice becoming lighter. "We're monsters now, Yur. We should look at the bright side, y'know? We've got a second chance at life! Everything that tied our past selves down have been cut free! We can live however we want now, with nothing to worry about other than how we'll get from one day to the next. I dare you to try and find a way to put that in a bad light."

She stopped, glancing around at the forest with a satisfied expression on her face.

"'Sides, long as we've got each other, that's something, isn't it? Of all the shitstains back at the village, I'm glad you were the one that ended up sticking by me. A familiar face helps a lot. This is all new for both of us, right Yur?"

She was right. I couldn't go home. Whatever I was now, I was no longer the Half Varani my parents had given birth to. The flesh and bone that made up this body probably didn't even have any of my old form within it. I'd felt myself melt away in that cauldron. Whatever I was now, it wasn't the person I used to be.

Then... what was I now? What had been used to craft this body? What was I? Was I even myself anymore, if only my mind was truly mine? No... even that had been compromised. My senses had been warped, and my dreams belonged to someone else. My mind and Soul had warped and filled with something foreign, dragged from a tank and taken to the body, but it wasn't mine. I hadn't been born in this form, nor raised in it. Sigura had said it herself.

I wasn't the same Yuri Scalesmith that had existed before becoming a monster.

"Yur?"

Even if I wanted to make the journey home, how would I do it? If the Humanoid settlements didn't allow me entry, or worse, sent people out to hunt me, I wouldn't even be able to find a safe place to rest or stock up on supplies. I'd have to hide in caves or burrows. Ones without the safety a walled town provided. I'd be in constant danger at every moment. My new body didn't need to eat, or so I'd observed, but I still needed sleep. Sleep I wouldn't always be able to find traversing the wilds of this foreign land.

"Yuuuuuuuuuuuuri? You still-"

I'd have to make the entire journey on foot. If I'd been in my old body, I might have been able to scrounge some coin together doing odd jobs, like adventurers often did. Some barkeeping here, or cleaning there. Maybe I could have even done some smithing to get by. It wouldn't have been enjoyable work, but I was good at it.

Still, I wouldn't have been able to get home through normal methods. My body definitely wouldn't fit on public transport. I was just as big as a standard cargo wagon, including my platform! I doubted that even trains would be enough to comfortably hold my weight, and those were so far beyond my price range that-

I bumped into Sigura's outstretched hand.

My body abruptly came to a stop, my legs scrambling for purchase as I worked to avoid trampling over Sigura. She'd turned around, looking up at my body with both paws planted firmly in the snow and grass. Was she ready to stop me by force if I'd continued to walk, unaware of her presence?

"You're doing that thing again, Yur. Spacing out."

...

"[Sorry. We can keep going now, I'm paying attention.]"

The others had stopped too. Fareel was standing just behind Sigura, absentmindedly staring up at me. Toya was glancing around the area, rubbing the back of his neck. Streiphen was at my side, looking up at me, his face clouded with worry.

"[I'm fine, I promise. That was just... a bit of a shock to hear... I need time to process it.]"

Sigura's shoulders slackened. She patted the front of the platform.

"I know it won't be easy. We both wanted to leave Addersbrook, but now that it's happened in the way that it has, it's hard. I get that. You're probably scared, Yur, and..."

She trailed off, but I caught the unspoken implication. She was frightened too. I had my doubts Sigura was frightened, if her actions were any indication, but I'd been wrong about such things before.

"But I'm excited, Yur," she said, picking up with a smile. "We wanted to become adventurers and leave that place, right? We wanted to get strong enough to explore this world on our own two feet."

She stepped back, stretching her arms out to their full length. As she flexed her arms, I was once again drawn to the difference in height and size between the Sigura of the past and the Sigura of the present. She was abnormally tall for a Nekari of her type, far more physically fit and... wilder looking.

"We may have gotten messed up in the process, but isn't that exactly what we've got now? Power, freedom and nothing to tie us down. We're stronger than ever, Yur! We can do whatever we want now. Even if y- we can't go home anymore, it doesn't matter. If we can go wherever we want, the whole world could be our home! We could set up shop for a while, get comfortable, then move somewhere else when we saw and did all there was to see and do. Sounds good, right?"

Sounds lonely, I thought. Never being able to settle down and rest? Never being able to integrate into a community and make real, lasting connections? Never having a place we could return to that would have a warm bed and a welcoming hand whenever we came back? Perhaps... I was overthinking things. Once again, Sigura was likely right. Even if my heart quivered at the thought, I was glad she was here to talk sense into me.

"[Yeah...]" I replied uncertainly.

Sigura looked forlorn, her smile drooping fractionally. She ran a hand through her mane of puffy hair, taking a deep breath.

"Look, Yur. We don't know what'll happen in this city. We don't know what'll happen a week from now. Gods, we don't know if we'll even make it another week! I'm not saying we can't ever find a place to check in for a while, but we should be open to new stuff. This is the life we've always wanted, and we have to be willing to take it by the reigns and never let go. We can play it by ear, change things up as we learn and get a feel for things. We don't need to commit to any one idea without talkin' about it first, alright?"

That...

"[That sounds better,]" I conceded. Even if this lifestyle was something new and strange to me, something I hadn't truly considered the ramifications of despite planning for it my entire life, I knew things wouldn't be as bad if Sigura was here to lead the way.

With a renewed smile, she patted the front of the platform again with a resounding thump.

"Good. Now let's get the fuck over to this city, I'm dying to see the place. Maybe we'll finally find something to eat, too. I'm starving."

The light around us weakened and died with the passage of time. The afternoon glow faded into obscurity, dimming down to give way to early night. The sound of hooting owls heralded the change, adding some sound to the world beyond the muffled footfalls and whistling winds. I could see just fine in the dark, as could Sigura, but the others stayed close.

"Hey, Yur?"

"[Yes?]"

"You were worried before about not having time to get more inventing done, right?" Sigura asked, looking back towards me.

"[Yes, I was.]"

"Why can't you just do it now? I know you space out a little when you do it, but that shouldn't be a problem if all we're doing is walking anyway, right?"

I shook the front of my body lightly from side to side in the gloom. It wasn't that easy, and I was unwilling to give up my awareness of the area as night closed in.

"[It doesn't work like that. It isn't like my [Telekinesis], Sig. It takes a lot of concentration. I can't do it while walking around.]"

Streiphen seemed to perk up, turning his head to look towards me with curiosity as I spoke. Sigura raised an eyebrow, grinning at the thought.

"Yeah? Why not? Our Souls changed a lot after this whole monsterfication stuff happened. Have you even tried inventing somethin' after becoming a giant monster?"

Had I? I cast my thoughts back, considering it. I'd made the platform my own, and reworked it in a way that suited my purposes, but that hadn't been a use of Invention Magic. I'd just controlled the metal itself to suit what I had needed at the time.

"[No... I suppose I haven't. I could try, but I wouldn't want to-]"

"There!"

Sigura exclaimed, cutting my mental monologue short as she pointed a claw-tipped finger into the blurry darkness at the edge of my bubble. My [Telekinesis] flared to life, grabbing at the metal within me, just in case.

"[Monster?]"

Sigura's tail swayed faster and faster. It was a gesture of excitement, one that I'd experienced myself in my old body. I couldn't tell what she'd been pointing at, and the shocked faces of the others didn't help. If Sigura was excited for a fight, I could understand, but if-

"Wow... it's beautiful!" Streiphen said. It could still have been a monster. Nothing said monsters had to be ugly or horrifying to look at.

"Gods... That's where we've been going?" Toya added. Not a monster, then? Unless Sigura had accidentally or intentionally led us to the nest of a monster lying in wait.

"Fuckin' finally," Sigura finished, picking up the pace, confidence radiating from her as she jogged forward. It didn't sound like a monster.

The realisation dawned on me as the trees began to thin out behind us. Hedges became smaller, more well managed. Off to my right, the smooth, carved stone of a pavement or road snuck into the edge of my view. We exited the clearing, and I saw part of what the others had become so enamored by.

We'd arrived at a wall.

Dark blue stone reaching high into the clouds and out of the sight of my bubble. Each brick was connected with a thin, black metallic substance that made up the bulk of the towering structure. The sight of it made the protective walls of Addersbrook seem like part of a child's playset. It was... daunting. The idea of meeting those who may have lived within this fortress of a city frightened me.

"How are we going to get in?" Toya asked. He stepped forward, running his hand along the surface. For as composed and quiet as he'd seemed earlier, now his voice was tinged with wonder.

Sigura snorted, casting her eyes left and right, raising a hand to hold over her forehead, as if to block out the nonexistent sunlight.

"I'm sure if we find the gate, they'll let us in if we ask nicely and give them our names and ID's."

Toya sighed, exasperation outweighing the wonder.

I knew the answer to the question, even if I was sure that Sigura wouldn't like the suggestion. It wasn't a suggestion I'd particularly mind, either. In a way, the thought of it brought a bit of hope. It would remind me of home, in a sense.

"[We have to find a tunnel inside.]"

Sigura raised an eyebrow, her expression clouding with confusion as she turned to look at me. She stopped, shivering at whatever thought entered her mind. I was sure she'd caught on to the implication. She brought her hands to her arms rubbing them up and down for warmth or comfort.

"Tunnel? Into a city like this?" Toya asked, looking up at me. "If some monster busted a hole in this thing-" he said, rapping his knuckles against the stone. "They'd have patched it up quickly."

"[Not a hole. If we search, we may be able to find a sewer system leading inside. There should be pipes leading in and out of the city, provided they have a conventional system.]"

"Fuuuuuuuuuck," Sigura groaned, slouching over as her arms fell to her sides. "I was sure we'd left the smell of crap and Giant Rats behind when we left Addersbrook."

She looked up at me, her expression pleading. I felt awful for having to be the bearer of bad news.

"Is there really no other way inside, Yur?"

I wanted to say there was, but I doubted it. The gates would be guarded by the city's Watch. Climbing over the wall was out of the question too, with this body. Busting a hole in the wall would be loud, and attract more unwanted attention than we could deal with, even if we could. This was our best shot.

"[I... don't think so, Sig.]"

The Nekari Chimera groaned, burying her face in her hands.

"Gods give me strength... Fine, whatever," she said, finding the strength to lift her head back up, her expression more tired looking than it had been on the entire walk here. "We're getting into this city no matter what. Not backing down here," she muttered to herself, slapping both her cheeks with her hands, a sudden sound that made Streiphen jump.

"First thing we're doing when we get in there is finding a shower. I'm not walking around smelling like a city's worth of waste when we need to blend in and explore. Fuck... I hate this already," she said, burying her face in her hands once again. The sight of it was familiar. Reassuring.

My body and mech nodded, internally smiling.

"[Sounds like a plan.]"

______________________________________________________

"Found it!" Sigura called out, her voice an uncertain mixture of dread and excitement. The walls didn't have any exposed pipes that we'd been able to find for the past while, but we'd finally struck gold.

"You sure?" Toya called back, heading towards her.

"The smell of blended piss, shit, and vomit doesn't lie, Jiggles."

She was right. I backtracked away from the wall and out into the woods. We'd traveled along the length of the wall, hoping to find our way in. After dipping back past a copse of trees, I spotted the pipe. Water spat out of the pipe into a nearby river. The water leaving the pipe was clean, but I had my doubts that it would be the same inside.

"The water looks too clean..." Toya muttered, more to himself than anyone else as he slid down along a small bump in the snow to the base of the pipe. It was covered by a thick iron grate, one with square holes letting the water pass through. At the edge of my vision, I saw Fareel swimming in the river, drinking from it as he splashed freely around, making loud gurgling sounds as he went. I could only hope he'd see a monster coming before it got to him.

"Yeah?" Sigura asked, pinching her nose closed. "Wait until we actually go in. These sorts of pipes always have somethin' filtering the crap out before it leaves the pipe. You try dumping all your crap directly into a river and you'll have a ton of angry Nymphs causing serious flooding under your town. It's worth the hassle getting someone that can filter the waste from your water. This stuff is just the purified excess."

She thrust her hands forward, gripping the metallic grate. Her arms bulged with the strain as she pulled herself backwards, tearing the criss-crossing panel off, revealing the dark tunnel within.

"C'mon. Let's get this over with before I hurl."

She climbed into the massive pipe, one that could easily hold me if I were twice as wide and twice as tall. Toya and I followed, but Streiphen waited patiently at the entrance for Fareel.

"Fuck, this is awful," Sigura said, pinching her nose. She looked towards me, her eyes pleading. "Any chance you could make me a gas mask, Yur? Even a magic clothes peg or a hook to tear my damn nose off would be fine."

Tear her nose off?!? No... just a joke. Nothing to worry about. I smiled at the mental image of her comically yanking her nose upwards, only to let more of the stench in.

"[I'm sorry, Sig. We don't have the time. I can try to make one later, if you'd like?]"

Sigura shrugged. "Don't bother. I won't be coming back here after we get in, anyway. Next time, I'm looking for another way over."

Outside, Fareel leapt out of the water, dripping wet as clambered up the slope towards us, running on all fours up and into the pipe.

I waited for the two to pass me before turning to follow. I paused for a moment, casting my awareness behind me. I didn't want to leave any sign that we were here. Even if nobody noticed, the damage wouldn't have sit right with me, especially if it turned out the grate was the one holding the purification rune. I didn't want to be the indirect cause of an attack on the city's sewers by angry river Spirits.

My [Telekinesis] snaked out, grabbing the broken grate. Bits of metal flowed out from my compartment, and I took a few seconds to weld the damaged edges back to a passable condition. I didn't want to leave any tracks for Chimera to follow, either. I doubted they'd inspect the sewers or expect us to willingly enter a city, but it wouldn't be wise to take chances when it came to people as capable as them. Besides, we were entering this city and planned to make use of its facilities. It seemed wrong to vandalise it on the way in.

My legs began walking along a stained stone walkway, the next step of the journey. The broken moonlight drifting in from the grate got further and further away with every step we took, but I hoped we'd see it again before long.

"[Light]," I heard Sigura mutter ahead of me, her voice squeaky and high from her pinched nose.

She held out a hand, allowing motes of golden aera to seep from her skin, coalescing as a glowing sphere that hovered in front of her, illuminating the sewer around us. Not that there were many details of note to see with the added benefit of light.

Besides us rolled a vast river of greenish sludge that extended far off into the darkness, surrounded by walls of chipped stone and the occasional piece of spray painted graffiti. Some of the graffiti consisted of words or letters that were stylised to the point of being illegible, while others consisted of warped faces with exaggerated features. There were... other pieces too, pieces I hoped Streiphen didn't spot.

Sigura kept close to the wall, staying far away from the sludge. She made sure not to touch the stone either, but I could tell that simply being in this place was making her unwell. I didn't know where we'd find an exit, but I wanted to get out of the sewers, more for Sigura's sake than my own. She didn't like large bodies of water, and a river of sludge had to be many times worse. The scent must have been driving her mad.

"[Fareel, can you create more of those familiars you made back in the facility?]"

The Fishfolk Chimera turned my way, responding with a garbled noise. He stopped walking, stopping to sit on the dusty stone. His eyes bulged wide as his stomach began to inflate. Sigura threw me a lopsided grin and a thumbs up with her free hand. With a warmth forming within me, the platform and I nodded, a silent recognition of her thanks.

Fareel's cheeks bulged as he expelled a cluster of transparent eggs. The thin, slimy membrane was torn apart by the crab-like claws of the insects within. Now that I was looking at them more closely, I could pick apart more details.

I saw that they had the same head and back fin as Fareel, down to a near perfect copy. The legs and 'hands' were different, but the head looked as though it took inspiration directly from Fareel himself.

It reminded me of a children's toy or a miniature, with pieces from two conflicting toys broken and stuck together. It made the insects look strangely endearing, almost. Calling them 'cute' might have been a stretch. I still flinched at their shocking speed as they scurried down the tunnel.

"Good thinking, Yur," Sigura said, turning to continue our descent into the bowls of the city. "Sucks to see these sewers have a lot in common with the ones in Addersbrook. I was hoping city folk might take the time to make the place bearable."

"Why were you in the sewers of your hometown, Miss Sigura?" Streiphen asked, keeping close to me as he looked at a a spray painted symbol of a boar's head with a wide, laughing maw on the wall.

"Giant Rats," she replied, still pinching her nose tight. "It made for easy money, since the Watch never wanted to have to go down into the sewers to clear them out. Couldn't blame them for not wanting to do it, even if it was their job. I didn't go down when I could help it either. Giant Rat hunts were the worst job we could take."

In terms of difficulty, they weren't. Giant Rats were easy to outsmart if you prepared bait or a trap in advance, even if they were tenacious. Despite that, our team didn't like taking those quests. They were annoying to fight with traditional weapons, as they were fast for their size and dangerous if up close. The smell had never bothered me, but the others had always left the sewers in a foul mood.

"Couldn't use my Heat Magic, either. It made the stench of the place a hundred times worse, and there was always a risk of a gas explosion happening if things went wrong."

We arrived at a crossroads as the corridor widened out, revealing three more corridors. We must have been getting further in now, or there'd have been no reason for them to branch off. We were in the underbelly of the city, now. Not wanting to try and cross the river of grime, Sigura took a left.

"What was it like, being an adventurer?"

I was surprised to note that Toya was the one who'd asked. I didn't think he was going to speak up if he didn't need to, especially after his previous encounter with Sigura.

"Better on paper than it was in reality," Sigura responded. "We didn't get far into the career before Chimera ambushed us, but we spent our time hunting rats and Bogworms for chump change while our team was unwilling to take risks and do anything meaningful."

There was an unexpected amount of venom in her tone as she spoke.

I almost missed it with the change in her voice from the pinched nose, but it was unmistakable. Did she blame our team for what happened? Was she right, on some level? No... I couldn't blame them for what happened. It was poor luck, or some sort of orchestrated trap.

They'd made the right move, even if I agreed that we'd needed to take more risks as a team. Were they still adventuring, back in Addersbrook? Had they retired, or found a new team to join?

Toya frowned. Maybe that wasn't the answer he'd been hoping for.

Silence descended on the group as we walked over the moss-ridden stone. While we walked, I tried to work out a list of objectives. I'd been getting so caught up in the flow of the group that I hadn't devoted any time to organising myself. Now that we were so close to a city, I was starting to feel restless. I wanted to think or do something productive to pass the time. What would I need to accomplish upon entering the city?

I wanted to learn where we were. First and foremost, I needed to find a signpost or map, something that gave me a sense of place. Not even knowing where we were gave me a sense of unease. Knowing where we were would help to ground me, and help me to plan ahead in case we needed to escape.

Next, we needed to find a place to stay. If we had a base of operations we could call our own, I could store anything we gathered there and use it to finally begin work on my magic. I hadn't gotten a chance to explore what I was capable of, now that my Soul had been changed, and I was eager to try. Part of me worried about what I'd find, but Sigura's enthusiasm on the subject spurred me on.

If I was stuck in this body now, it would be best to make the most of it. I'd collected plenty of material to work with, and a safe place to use it all would be... the top priority? Maybe that should have been at the forefront of the list. I wasn't sure, but I could figure it out as I went along.

Thirdly... hmm. Finding a shower for Sigura? The stench had always been something she'd struggled with, so- No, she'd be able to handle something like that on her own. She was more mobile and capable of navigating than I was anyway.

Building connections? While I was worried about how the inhabitants of this city would react to a group of Chimeras intruding on their homes, there had to be someone we could speak to that wasn't willing to kill us on sight without hearing us out first.

If we found people to work with and get some pay, we may be able to find a stable lodging instead of squatting somewhere like I'd initially planned. I had my doubts we would be able to find a group to stay with as fast as I'd liked, if at all, but I could at least throw it on the list.

The list was rougher than I would have liked, more disorganised than it would have been if I'd still had access to my [Silent Heart].

I felt a pang of loss somewhere deep within me. I could still feel the Skill within my Soul, but it had no outlet. No link to this body. I'd used it so often while breathing deeply that it had become a habit. Now that I couldn't breathe, I couldn't get myself to use it properly.

I added a fourth objective to the list, and that was fixing my objectivity. Emotions were a bit of a hassle, even if they might have given me some better ties and perspectives on those I was travelling with. Might.

Fifth? Was there anything else I needed to worry about? Our location, shelter, a group to stay with, fixing myself... My thoughts lingered on the last objective. There was something there that I couldn't think of, a feeling that niggled at me, hiding just out of reach. Something else I needed to fix...? I wasn't sure. I'd figure it out as we went along. I cursed myself for my forgetfulness, but right now we-

Something splashed out of the water up ahead. It was a gelatinous lump of green sludge, its interior murky and filled with bones, strange purple fish struggling to swim out of the monster's grasp, and assorted bits of rubbish that disintegrated in its grasp.

"[Hard Light]"

More of the golden motes materialised around Sigura's open palm, creating a long, curved shape, something she could grip. Once the motes vanished and the construct was complete. Sigura was holding a khopesh made of gold light with a sharp orange strip along the front, forming the 'blade'.

She stepped towards the Sewer Slime, a monster that was nearly as tall as the ceiling and far larger than I was, as Streiphen fumbled for his nail. He grabbed the handle, swinging it off his back. His face paled at the sight of the gargantuan mass. Toya didn't seem nearly as worried.

"W-what are we going to do...?" Streiphen asked, looking up at me for support.

"[Wait,]" I replied. "[Sigura can handle it. Give her time.]"

Streiphen looked incredulous, but he stayed his hand. He kept the nail pointed forward, trembling in his grip.

Most variants of Slimes weren't difficult to dispatch if you knew what to do. They were dangerous if you got stuck in their bodies, which was often certain death if you didn't have magic to blow a hole in their side or pull yourself free. Yet their movements were sluggish and predictable. Most Slimes lunged or hopped towards their prey, their only method of attack being their acidic skin.

The edge of Sigura's blade glowed hot as she lunged, one hand still gripping her nose, chopping the monster down the middle. The Slime's body seared from the cut, slowly reforming as the two halves began to pull themselves back together.

Streiphen was wide eyed as the Slime seemed to regenerate all the damage she'd done. It extended part of its body forward in a tendril, one which Sigura swiftly lopped off, going for another frenzy of strikes, cutting chunk after chunk off the Slime. Without fail, the monster pulled the severed parts back onto itself, good as new.

"She can't beat it, Miss Yuri!" Streiphen said to me in a hushed whisper. I was glad to hear that he was a fast learner. If he'd said that in earshot of Sigura, she would have been as likely to strike him as she would the monster.

"[Have faith.]" I assured him. "[Fighting Spirits is a battle of attrition. Every time it pulls itself back together, it gets more tired. We don't have a way of completely cutting it down, but we don't need one. It isn't able to learn from it's mistakes, unlike all of us.]"

This wasn't the first Slime I'd seen.

We'd fought a few Forest Slimes back in Addersbrook. Sewer Slimes were oftentimes more dangerous, but with the strength we had now, I had full faith Sigura could handle this. I believe she needed it, too. That last confrontation had caused her stress. I had no way of knowing if she was bottling up that stress, but I hoped she could relieve some of that pent up anger fighting the monster.

Toya leaned against the wall, his expression pensive as he watched the 'fight' unfold. I wondered what he thought of the creature. With the way his body was, did he consider those creatures kin? His form didn't seem to work quite like a Slime's did, but did that matter? It was possible I was overthinking it, but if I wished to form a good business relationship with these capable people, it was important that I understood them.

"Eugh! Damnit!" Sigura cried out, looking at a glob of slime that had landed on her arm. It smoked from the contact, but peeled off easily against the backside of the blade. The creature shot more blobs of acidic goo towards its attacker, but Sigura was too fast, even as hampered as she was. She slipped beneath blobs being flung at her while deftly avoiding the puddles that swam back towards the mass. I had my grip on the metal plates within me, just in case.

The monster was done for. The right side of its body was slumped over, limp and sluggish. The path was littered with segments of its body, quivering weakly as the monster lost the energy to hold itself together. The creature's body became more viscous, tipping to the side as a wave of sludge.

Part of it slipped over the side of the walkway, and once one segment was caught in the flow of the water, the rest followed suit. One chunk after another broke apart until nothing was left. It didn't have the power to resist the pull of the current, and was dragged along against its will, disappearing beneath the water.

"Glad that's over," Sigura conceded, allowing the [Hard Light] to fade and break up into motes. They drifted up towards the ceiling, like the fluff of a dandelion caught in the breeze. I followed them upwards with my sight before they dissipated, vanishing from view. The sight of the bright motes winking out led me to a conclusion.

I remembered what I'd been trying to think of earlier. What I'd wanted my fifth objective to be.

Fareel's whiskers began to glow orange, and he gibbered to us excitedly, hopping from foot to foot.

"You really don't get embarrassed doing that, do you?" Sigura asked with a grin, the pitch of her voice still off from pinching her nose. "Alright, lead the way."

Fareel hopped around the inert remains of the monster, and we followed suit. He bounded down the sewer walkways, cocking his head back every once in a while to ensure we weren't lagging too far behind. Once we caught up, he'd bound off again.

We didn't have any troubles after that.

I heard the occasional echoing skitter of rats down a tunnel, but beyond that I didn't hear or see a single soul. Down one of the corridors, out of view of the others, I saw several pairs of hoof prints disturbing the dusty floor of the walkways. Not far from them was a collection of small brown tents set up two corridors down, blurred at the edge of my bubble. I didn't know who or what might be living down here, but my curiosity urged me to investigate. I didn't have time. I had to follow the list, and I didn't want to be separated from the others. There were far more important things to do.

But... there might be people there, willing to give us answers. I focused on myself, trying to center my thoughts. Was that an irrational decision? Was it truly wise to go down that corridor and seek out people living in these sewers? Surely if they lived down here, they would be outcasts like we were. Would they be more welcoming than the people living on the surface, or more willing to lash out?

I felt a pang of fear now as we drew ever closer to our destination. I had to mentally prepare myself. The thought of walking the streets of an unknown city was truly beginning to hit me, now.

Irrational. I had to focus. We shouldn't investigate the tent village right now anyway. Sigura couldn't stand the sewers, so we shouldn't linger here any longer than we had to. We could come back later if necessary, but right now it was nothing but a distraction. We continued on our course, following Fareel's guidance. For now, I didn't want to distract anyone from our task.

At the end of the tunnel, I saw light.

We found one of the sludge's sources, a round pipe beneath a set of stone stairs leading upwards. White light pierced the dim dark of the sewers from above. Sigura sighed with relief, while Streiphen ran forward, hopping up the staircase with childlike excitement. Sigura grinned, leaping forward and up the stairs alongside him, easily beating him to the top.

I didn't think it was wise to sprint up the stairs to a world unknown, but I didn't have the heart to say so.

Climbing the staircase was awkward with my form, and I wasn't as agile as I might have liked. I tried to shift my weight as I walked, tightening the grip of the internal legs that held my body in place. The stone walls of the sewer grew less greenish, transitioning into a light grey stone that looked far less grimy. Smooth stone lined the path at the top of the stairs, leading down a short, squarish tunnel. At the end was an open exit, the source of the moonlight. I felt a spring in my step at the sight, practically jumping up the last few steps as I scurried after the trio.

The world grew brighter, my bubble expanding beyond the tunnel that only barely allowed someone of my size entry.

Smooth stone extended forward onto a wide street. I saw open pavement, lightly cracked in places and empty, a road unoccupied by wagons, mounts or the contraptions of Casters. Tall black streetlamps cast silver light down on the cracked walkways. The light had more texture to it than the featureless white from Chimera's ceilings. It felt more real.

Still, it wasn't what I'd been looking forward to. With a pang of disappointment, I realised I hadn't been looking at moonlight at all. I couldn't see the sky above, but I presumed it was covered by clouds.

"Coast is clear, Yur," Sigura called back to me.

I stepped forward out of the tunnel, the chill of the open night air welcoming me into the city. I slowed my pace, taking the time to soak in the details. The buildings were larger than any I'd seen before. While some were like the two story buildings at home, most of them had four or even more floors to them. Not only that, but they seemed larger too, thicker than the buildings I was used to seeing. I was convinced they had to be for business.

Signs for stores like 'Wilma's Brews' and 'Siren Song' littered the front of the stores, with symbols like a witch's hat and a pair of lips beneath them. If the average folk of this city lived in buildings like that, I couldn't imagine what they'd use all of that space for. It felt excessive.

The thought brought an angry, burning feeling to the fore. I was shocked at the suddenness of it, a pang of fear taking root in my mind. I cast my awareness around, but couldn't draw any conclusions as to what had set the feeling off.

While some of these irrational nuisances had been subtle, this was the farthest feeling from subtle I'd experienced yet. It was brash, loud and disconnected from any logical thoughts I'd had about the city. The feeling reminded me of the moment when I'd thrown the metal plate, slashing open the Chimera researcher's shoulder. It worried me.

Many of the buildings climbed higher than my bubble could reach, but every single one had signs on the front. Some were lit up with neon colours decorating lavish letters and symbols, even if many of the street's buildings had some worn lights on their magical signs. The street may have looked brighter and more alive if not for the dimmed lights and general grime.

Instead, it seemed more like a 'ghost town' than a vibrant city. I scanned the area for a billboard with a map of the city, or the name of a business that betrayed where we were, but my search came up short.

I felt the chill of the night breeze roll over my body once again, sending a shiver running through me. As cold as the wind was, it was refreshing. It was another reminder that I was here. That I was alive and capable of feeling.

The light of the lamp post had given me a false hope of viewing the moonlight, but I was determined to see the real thing. Once again, I was reminded of my fifth objective. I would find a way to fix myself.

I would find a way to see the sky.