The longer he flew, the more he was certain he’d inevitably stumble upon an enlightened beast. Likely more than one. Unique and extraordinary organisms kept popping up one after another, both flora and fauna. His belief that the Dance had somehow finagled with the ambient ahjer levels quickly broke apart the further he travelled. He continually spotted plants that required sustained and dense concentrations of ahjer to grow. Some were known to take years to bloom. That could only mean the current state of ambient ahjer wasn’t new or unusual. This area had experienced it for years, possibly decades.

What does this mean?

His second theory would have been that he was simply reborn in a high-density area, maybe something about the graveyard, or those buried within, caused that area to have an explosive amount of ahjer, but he had put some distance between him and the small hill he awoke on. Not a great distance, likely a kilometer or two, just enough to disprove the theory.

Where did that leave him, on a different world?

He laughed off the possibility. Though it wasn’t none per se, the only being capable of such a thing insisted on ‘not interfering with the natural processes of an ecology’. Which in reality just meant they were lazy and incapable of accepting responsibility.

Rude.

Dalric ignored that.

He couldn’t ignore the abnormalities he was observing though. They broke his basic understanding of the world. He lowered himself to the ground and gently picked up a moonfire plant. If he hadn’t sensed dozens of them, he wouldn’t believe the one in his hand was real. Even as he rubbed his fingers across it, feeling the petals radiating heat, he could barely believe it. Moonfire plants sold for thousands of gold precisely because there were rarer than rare. Only occasionally spotted around volcanoes, not along a warm jungle floor.

What could possibly explain thi—

His head jerked up, mostly out of habit as he still couldn’t see. Something had jogged into the range of his ahjer sense. No, somethings. There were three of them: they all walked on four legs and were likely unclothed, decent ahjer levels as well, but not enough to be enlightened. Whatever they were, they were heading straight for him.

Or.

He looked back down

For the moonfire?

Dalric made himself scarce, flying up into the canopy and blending into its shadows.

Let’s see what you do.

The radius of his unfocused ahjer sense stretched to twenty-five meters, give or take. That wasn’t an incredible length, but the sheer amount of plant life in the region meant without an equally pervasive sight or sense, the somethings wouldn’t have seen him. If they did though, the coming seconds would be awkward.

Thankfully for Dalric, they hadn’t seen him, but they also weren’t interested in the moonfire. They passed it by without giving it a second look. That was odd. Enlightened or not, animals tended to know when a plant contained large amounts of ahjer they could use. Even if the somethings were carnivores, which Dalric felt was likely considering their size and the confidence in which they jogged about, ahjer enriched plants could still be consumed for significant benefits.

Surely that means there isn’t an enlightened leading them? ...Or have they already picked enough?

Dalric was torn on whether he should tail them. Once they crossed the area right underneath him, he had a much clearer picture of what they were. They had tails, for one. Likely feline rather than canine, their movements reminded him of jaguars. Though they were quite large for jaguars. The one leading the group stood at almost five feet tall. Thinking back to everything he’d seen during his short flight, it actually wouldn’t be that strange a prospect. Some animals grew more muscular when exposed to high concentrations of ahjer. If this level of ahjer had been consistent in the region for decades maybe they were the result.

There should be an enlightened among them then.

He decided to follow them. If nothing, their presence meant a simple frontier town couldn’t be anywhere close. They’d have either been hunted themselves or they’d have massacred the populace. Territory was usually everything to these kinds of creatures.

Stealth wasn’t on the mind when his wings were designed, so he cast a slight muffling spell and kept his distance. He still roused a few of the critters, the spell was simple and geared towards cost-efficiency rather than efficacy, but thankfully they never ran in the direction of the something-jaguars. The noise they made didn’t seem to reach them either. Though the jungle wasn’t exactly quiet, perceptive ears would clearly hear the small animals frantically fleeing for their lives. Whatever the something-jaguars were doing, they remained oblivious.

Or they don’t care.

Dalric followed them for a while, easily over four kilometers. They stopped for water once, but otherwise they jogged at the same pace the entire time; across rivers, around hills, their pace stayed constant. It wasn’t until a third of the way through the journey he realized a large part of the path they walked on lacked the level vegetation the rest of the jungle maintained. He had chastised himself for the oversight, but in truth his ahjer sense just wasn’t that refined at the moment.

Anyway, once he noticed he felt confident in his decision to follow them. While well-trodden paths weren’t necessarily a sign of anything other than consistent traffic, this specific path reeked of advanced organization. If one of their number wasn’t enlightened then there was a beast master or tamer. Either would do for Dalric.

It was only a half a kilometer further before the something-jaguars finally slowed down. They reached... a checkpoint.

A checkpoint.

Two other something-jaguars stood in the middle of what he assumed was a widened path while a third one laid on an elevated platform. The two on the path stood towards the edge of his senses’ range, but he could tell that beyond the checkpoint there was a hill. As he inched closer, he realized there weren’t many trees behind them either. That was a problem.

Whatever...interaction occurred at the checkpoint, it was quick. The three Dalric had followed swiftly resumed their jogging pace up the hill. He couldn’t covertly follow them up a treeless hill, there was nowhere to hide. Plus, they had a checkpoint. Unless he pulled out a truly powerful concealment spell, the ones standing guard would definitely notice his approach.

What is going on?

Ever since he woke up to the Dance, nothing seemed right. Every single thing was off. From him being human to this group of jaguar-esque beasts that acted like sapients, everything was off. If sapients didn’t have a very clear tell in their ahjer, he would have claimed it wasn’t an act.

The shock was starting to drain him. He’d taken most of his peculiar situation on the bounce, but as things only grew more bizarre, his patience and energy depleted. A more relaxed and energized Dalric may have taken the time to brainstorm a way to quietly climb the hill without causing too much of a commotion, but the current Dalric couldn’t be bothered. He gave up on stealth and flew right over the checkpoint. The something-jaguars obviously roared in alarm, but he ignored them. Even as he heard more roars from around the hill and then on top of the hill, he ignored them.

At first it was because of his impatience, but when he caught up to the three he was tailing it was because he was astounded.

“This...this is a camp.”

He wasn’t sure of the details, still sightless, but his sense was telling him something he almost couldn’t believe. Before he stood a wall, a thick, elevated, brick-laid wall. But that’s not what shook him, it was what the wall hid behind it. Houses. Not just shaped mud huts, proper wood-built houses. They were only one storey high, but they were wide and had appropriately sectioned off rooms. They had bathrooms! Not quite toilets or plumbing, at least as far as he could tell, but having bathrooms alone was astonishing.

“This is a damned village!”

Uninterested in the astonishment washing over Dalric, a thin beam of light shot towards his head. Unarmored as it was, he deftly dodged.

“That was a heat spell, very similar to golden ray. Even their spells ar—”

Dalric paused. His assailant had stepped in range of his ahjer sense, and they were enlightened. He immediately dived straight for them. He needed answers. Unfortunately, the rest of the village didn’t take kindly to Dalric crashing next to their front gate.

Ten of them were on him in a flash, ahjer empowered claws seeking to rend his flesh or tear his armor. Dalric instantly built up ahjer in his hands before releasing a wave of concussive pressure. It sent all ten flailing backwards, ten more took their place though. He repeated the spell again, but a few in the second wave were more resistant. Their attacks glanced off his armor mostly, but some caught his wings. They were merely ahjer constructs so he didn’t feel much pain from the attack, but if they damaged them enough he’d have to repeat the entire spell to reform them.

That wouldn’t do. He let them fill with extra ahjer before activating a wind based spell. The wings fluttered as a huge gust of wind shot out in all directions. The wind managed to both knock the few clinging on to him away and push back the third wave already preparing their own attacks. Many of the something-jaguars rolled helplessly down the hill, but the enlightened one didn’t. They continued to shoot their golden ray knockoffs, but Dalric just continued to dodge them.

“He—”

He tried to talk to them, but in his brief moment of laxity one of the something-jaguars that didn’t slip down the hill snuck up behind him and got a clean hit on the back of his head. It did little damage, but it put him off enough for the enlightened to land one of his light beams right on his forehead. That did hurt. And it pissed him off.

He gathered ahjer around his hands again, but this time he clapped. The resulting wave pushed everything back. The beasts, the dirt, the grass, even the part of the wall he was close to detached and collapsed into one of the wooden buildings. Nothing that was within ten meters of him stayed within ten meters of him. He wasn’t done though. He extended an arm upwards and projected his ahjer into the sky. Clouds congregated and thunder roared in response. When he let his hand fall, lightning rained.

Hundreds of streaks of lightning fell dramatically from the heavens. They moved much slower than natural lighting, but that only made them more menacing. Unlike natural lightning streaks, the ones Dalric summoned were dark purple. So dark they barely gave off light individually. As a conglomeration though, they painted the jungle deep purple. As the something-jaguars looked up and around them, they could feel deaths’ arrival.

Before it could arrive, Dalric caught himself.

What am I doing? I’m not even under the Gods’ hex and I’m still resorting to massacres.

Before the slow falling lightning could decimate the entire hill, he reached his hand up again and called it towards himself. He took a deep breath and strengthened his body. The hundreds of streaks of lightning began converging in his palm. The pressure was immediate, even with his body strengthened. His muscles screamed in protest, his blood felt like it was boiling, and his armor bent and cracked. He endured, though. If he let his control slip for even a moment, the entire strength of the spell would explode outward from his palm. That would save the hill, but the enlightened was only 5 meters away. It’d definitely kill them. It would also kill him, but true death was evidently beyond him. Or maybe it wasn’t, he didn’t really understand anything at the moment.

A temporary death would be beyond him for now at least. After a few shaky moments, the lightning rain finally ceased. It charred his right arm black, but he avoided catastrophe.

He took a long, deep breath, before looking towards the enlightened something-jaguar. He still couldn’t see, but it was better to look at someone when you spoke to them.

“Are we done here?”

They didn’t reply. Dalric knew they were enlightened so they must have known the All-tongue. The mechanics behind how every enlightened beast knew and spoke the All-tongue was a mystery to everyone, but it was a universal truth.

Dalric squinted his eyes.

Don’t tell me this is another thing that’s changed.

It wasn’t.

The something-jaguar’s voice was youthful, full of uncertainty, “How do you know the tongue?”

Thank the Elders.

“I’ve learnt it. Have you never met a gia—a human that can speak the tongue before?”

There was an unnaturally long pause as he noticed the enlightened fidget in place, “Humans only speak gibberish. Who are you?”

So they’ve at least met a human before.

“I’m just a traveller. Tell me where the other humans are and I’ll leave.”

The something-jaguar didn’t respond, instead shakily stalking closer to Dalric. They stopped two meters away and began circling him. Three full rotations occurred before a reply came.

“Where did you come from?”

Ugh.

“I’m not trying to disturb whatever you have going on here, just looking for the closest group of humans.”

A reply came quick this time, “I don’t trust you. Where did you come from? How do you know the tongue?”

Ughhh.

Dalric rubbed the left side of his face, “Far away from here and I told you I learned it. I’m just passing through, give me some directions and I’ll be on my way.”

Dalric felt completely mentally spent. He had approached this enlightened because he was desperate for answers, now he was just desperate for some rest. Long sweet res—an eyebrow rose.

I’m going to need to sleep regularly again.

An unwelcome revelation. Sleep was a greatly enjoyable activity, no doubt, but having to do it to function effectively was bothersome. Even if his ahjer levels grew at the rate of a child’s, it would be a long while until he could go days without sleep and still function at full capacity.

In the interim, the enlightened continued to circle him, wasting his time.

“What are you doing?”

They circled him once more, before stopping in front of the partially destroyed gate, “I don’t trust you.”

“I can tell. If I wanted to harm your...village, I would have already.”

Around them there were still something-jaguars recovering from Dalric’s earlier spells. The ones that were merely pushed back recovered just fine, but the ones that took the force of the concussive blast were either still reeling or still out cold. The baby version of lightning rain he cast instilled a healthy dose of fear in the regular something-jaguars. They gave him a wide berth as they picked up their brethren.

“We wait. My father will decide what to do with you.”

Huh?

“Repeat that please, you said ‘father’?”

“Yes, he will decide.”

They ca—No. No. Everything is wrong. Nothing makes sense. I’m human.

“Fine. We’ll wait.”

~”The earth listens for I command it.”~

Ambient ahjer amassed in the soil below Dalric, shooting a large column of dirt into the air. The column violently shrunk as the Dalric compacted the dirt to make it sturdier and more cohesive. He then whittled down the column until it was in the shape of a regal chair. After he set the form, he bade the ahjer to grow a soft foam-like layer on top of the compacted dirt. When he finished, a comfy throne awaited him. He took his seat and gently sunk into the foam. It was quite excessive, but appearances were important in negotiations.

Again, the performance of incantations disappointed him, but he had a scant bit of ahjer left and another enlightened beast was apparently on their way. It was not the time to go for broke just so he could have a seat.

I’m exhausted.

He vaguely wondered if he had the energy levels of a newborn as well. It had been somewhere between a bell and two bells since he was reborn. He should not be tired, mentally at least. Yet he was. Combined with his physical exhaustion, he was ready for sleep and sleep was ready for him. So they met. Dalric didn’t have an ounce of resistance in him as dreamland ushered him in.

…

..

.

“Ay! I ain’t ever see nun ya ‘round here before. You hunters?”

I took another puff of blue vine as I peered at the three armored guards that approached our table. Being the biggest guy around, of course they looked straight at me for answers. Elders knew I had nothing to say to them though.

“Yes sir, we are. Here to collect a bounty on some rogue knights.” Silva handled it, as he usually did.

“Rogue knights?” The one in the middle looked towards their left as they were whispered to, “Ah Brinston and dem boys. Well. Stay outta trouble. I don’t wanna hear nothin’ about nothin’ with y’all. Understand me?”

“Yes sir, we’ll do our best.”

“Better do.”

The trio swiftly turned around and left the tavern. With them gone, the atmosphere lived up again.

I stuck my hand out towards Ryne, “That’ll be two hundred gold please.”

He grumbled, but inevitably forked over the coin. We’d wagered on how many guards would come up to us on our first day and Ryne foolishly lowballed it just because I’m not the only giant around. Alexandria may have been one of the most diverse cities on the continent, but that didn’t mean people would turn a blint eye to an eighteen foot mammoth walking around. I’m not complaining about his poor choices though, free gold for me.

“Told you not to take that bet, I’ve known Dalric personally for almost two centuries now and he still freaks me out.”

Ryne complained anyway, “There are soo many giants here though!”

I scoffed, “Seven is hardly ‘soo many’.”

“That’s more than I’ve seen in my whole life up ‘til now.”

“That’s a good thing, most of us don’t mix well. If you see more than ten at once, they’re likely not there for peaceful reasons.”

“Ugh.”

The rest of the night went as it often did. We talked, got some food and drinks around, and swapped stories of the adventures we’d gone on since our last meet up. This sort of get-together used to be a frequent thing, but current circumstances just didn’t allow it. Too much risk. That just meant I had to treasure them more when they did come around.

Silva’s voice boomed down the hall as we got back to the inn, “I don’t want to hear any complaints in the morning, we’re leaving bright and early!”

The rest of us replied in unison, “Aye, aye captain!”

“Shut up and go to sleep.”

We shared a laugh and went into our separate rooms. None of us naturally needed to sleep anymore, but we spent the night drinking what most people would consider highly deadly poison. Even with a healer in our ranks, we’d need a few bells to recover fully.

I carefully rolled into bed. Even though this inn specifically catered to multiple races, the beds still weren’t quite made for someone of my size. They creaked loudly as they strained to support my weight. My legs dangled off, but only a little. All things considered, for an inn that no doubt never had a customer my height or weight, the bed held up nicely. I could comfortably drift off into sleep.

So this is what you’ve run off to do.

My eyes bulged, “HOW?!”

Come now Dalric, you didn’t really think some herbs would be enough to stop us?

I froze. Out of panic, out of fear, out of disbelief. I could only stare wide-eyed at the ceiling. I should have been good, I should have been clear! They shouldn’t be in my head right now! How are they in my head?!

Kill them Dalric. Kill them while they sleep.

.

..

...

Much later, resting uncomfortably in his throne, Dalric felt a nudge. His eyes snapped open in alertness. The faces of four different enlightened beasts greeted them.

His dream immediately fading from memory, he aggressively berated himself for the colossal, monumental blunder he just made. He’d fallen asleep. How did he let himself fall asleep?

While the vast majority of him continued to internally chastise himself, a very small part of him smirked.

They were tigers.