Fen hated most everyone in her life. She'd been born in Harandal (or so she supposed, considering she'd never met her parents and nobody much cared for another homeless kid in the scummy capital of the Godless Hordes) and had spent her entire life there too. Every so often Fen would hear a merchant mention something about how the gods didn't care about the "ancient betrayal", and she was inclined to not give a stoneskin's toenail about that. Far as she could tell, the gods either didn't exist or didn't care about anything going on in the world.

Anyways, she was constantly looking for something to eat, or, better yet, a paying job, but there was a short supply of both given she was scrawny, skinny, stinky, and whatever other insult the rest of the world had to throw at her that day. That's why Fen primarily lived off of scraps and charity, mostly the first since charity didn't seem to be the first thought of the Godless Hordes.

Far as she could tell, Fen was somewhere around ten years old when she died. Again, the whole "no parents" thing can get in the way of accurate timekeeping. It wasn't the most glamorous of deaths, but she didn't think that death could be glamorous anyways, so Fen didn't much care about that. Regardless, most summers had the usual fevers come around, but there wasn't a prayer to the godless heavens that could get her medicine anyways, so Fen didn't worry too much about what she would do if she caught it. Unfortunately, she did.

The last thing she could remember was being curled up in an alleyway off the crowded main street of Harandal and the wracking pains that shook her skinny body. It was worse than that time last year when she'd been beaten for stealing that meat skewer, since that time she'd at least been able to scarf down a couple of bites before the beating she'd taken. This time, to add insult to injury, she was starving while also dying of the fever. That was the pitiful end to her pitiful life.

As her consciousness faded to black, all Fen could think was "I wish I could have been healthy. Then I could have gone out into the jungles and actually taken care of myself."

[Blessed Body Skill Acquired]

[Scaled Deer subrace, Lifebringer, selected]

Um… what?

[Time until birth: 00:00:21]

So… what?

[Time until birth: 00:00:15]

Great. Can you make sure that I can protect myself this time?

[Time until birth: 00:00:09]

[Evolutionary Path Foresight Skill Acquired.]

I don't know a couple of those words.

[Time until birth: 00:00:01]

Suddenly, bright light blinded Fen. She tried to stand up but everything felt… wobbly. Her head felt heavy and her neck more floppy than ever before. Finally, her eyes began to adjust and she noticed a giant… thing looking at her. It had a massive pair of horns and a dully shining armor covering its four-legged body. Panicked, she began to try to backpedal, but her legs didn't respond to her commands and the beast immediately caught up to her.

Fen bleated in fear and rolled over, still trying to flee, but the creature gently nuzzled her head towards its belly. Startled, Fen didn't respond, but the creature ever more insistently pushed her head downward and suddenly instincts took over and Fen began to nurse from her mother.

…

About a week later, Fen had come to grips with her new reality, and, frankly speaking, it was much better than her old life. She had a mother that cared about and protected her, and she constantly showed Fen how to act and taught her the ropes of living as what this new [System] called a "Scaled Deer Lifebringer Fawn". Her new body was much stronger, and she could see all around her at the same time with her new eyes, and she could run so fast, and she could eat grass or the prey her mom brought her... The only downside was that her mom didn't, or maybe couldn't, speak, but they were able to communicate just fine. Fen hadn't ever experienced such a luxurious life as a human, so she was altogether quite happy with the current state of her life.

She'd known she shouldn't have gotten complacent and satisfied with her life.

It was the next day that the hunters came and slaughtered her mom.

They were what the Godless Hordes called "saharliard", meaning scaly friends, but to the scaled deer, they were anything but. Before either of the scaled deer could react, there were three of the saharliard ripping into her mother's flank. In terror, Fen tried to help her mother once she was ambushed, but her mom had used her horns to lift and throw her further away, and so, with a sob choking her throat, Fen had left her mother to be torn apart and devoured by the monstrous lizards behind her. For the first time, she cursed her new vision, since no matter which way she turned, she could still clearly see her mother's blood painting the previously verdant forest a sickening shade of crimson.

…

Two days later, Fen was sadly trudging through one of her mother's go-to foraging locations. Maybe it was because of how sad she was, or maybe her thoughts on why the gods were so cruel, but whatever the reason, she was almost too late to realize the trap that had been set before her. At the last moment, she noticed the subtle foothold trap and stepped almost uncomfortably to the side and began to bolt away. Suddenly, a blast of flame passed to her left and she dodged right… into a shallow pitfall.

Fen was nearly able to squirm out of the hole in time, but the hunter was too quick and immediately bound her body like a… like a something. Fen cried out and screamed and thrashed, but to no avail. She was going to be eaten.

However, she did realize that this human didn't seem to want to eat her. She excitedly muttered under her breath, "This one will be a great companion. She'll be with me as I grow to a real Flamespeaker. I wonder how long it'll be before I can contract with her? I'll need a strong Soulspeaker… Maybe Ytelli could help me with that…"

The idea of being a "contracted companion" initially scared Fen, but before she could start to panic again, there was a message from the [System]:

[New Quest: Form a companionship contract with Varali. Rewards: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +3, Telepathic Bond skill.]

Fen was curious–what did all of this mean? She stopped struggling so much and simply allowed this human… Varali, she assumed, to continue hauling her towards their unknown destination. Eventually, however, Fen began to be overwhelmed by the cloying, iron smell of blood. So much of it that it was all she could smell or even sense, and, almost subconsciously she began to thrash once again.

Before long, the human dropped her unceremoniously and the painful thud of falling to the ground woke her from her stupor. Looking around, Varali had brought her to a village, but in her absence, it had been decimated. Viscera and blood flowed freely in the streets, and flies and scavengers buzzed and filled the air. As best as she could in her bound state, Fen numbly followed Varali, supposing her to be her best chance of survival. Fen could smell the Saharliard in the air, and if they were still near, they wouldn't hesitate to devour her if given the chance.

When she finally could find and approach the girl, Fen could hear her mumbling some Veushten prayer, something from the Veratocracy that Fen couldn't be bothered to learn. Then, in the common tongue, "Father, I'm sorry. I was stupid. You could have run. You should have run… It's all my fault. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Suddenly, it clicked. This girl lost her family to the Saharliard, just like me. Almost involuntarily, Fen approached the girl and gently nuzzled her neck, and, almost subconsciously, the girl wrapped her arms around her new companion as she wept bitterly.