Chapter 36 The ID

Ten hours later, Evernya stirred awake to the early morning sunlight. She sat up and stretched her arms above her head. She surveyed her surroundings with confusion before her memories flooded in.

She curled up into a ball, hugging her knees with her tail grasped in her hands. Tears flowed as her mind replayed her brief re-enslavement. The repulsion of her body’s violation by his dirty hands caused her to puke until she dry heaved.

After dry heaving, until her throat burned, her temper flared as her mind reminded her of what the bastard did. Ripples of force rolled off her fetal body before overwhelming sadness doused her anger as her mind shifted back to her feelings of helplessness.

She spent the next three hours alternating between crying fits and anger until she calmed down. Her emotions leveled out, allowing her rational mind to reemerge.

Evernya uncurled her sticky, sweat-covered body and sat up. She peered down her body, finding the cursed dress gone, replaced with white pine tree print pajamas.

Looks like Meira changed me while I was sleeping again. Thankfully, she did, because I don’t think I could even look at that dress ever again.

Wait, what happened to my ID! I remember receiving it, but nothing else. Did I lose it? I can’t go through it again! Evernya thought, frantically searching her room.

Her eyes zeroed in on the ID sitting on the nightstand to her right, causing her to slump in relief as her panic dissipated. She shuffled on her hands and knees, grabbing the ID before resting her back against the headboard to examine the ID.

What is this made of? It Isn’t plastic, at least not plastic of earth. The card is see-through and flexible, but seems to be durable. Otherwise, its layout is like my driver’s license in my old world, with some added sections for magic.

Upon examining her photo, she cringed. Even in this world, ID pictures are horrible! To be fair, I had just escaped re-enslavement and sexual assault by that disgusting human. I wish Arthur didn’t stop me from killing him! He deserved to die! Though if I had killed him, I would probably be in jail now. He better not show his face in front of me ever again! Still emotionally unstable, Evernya’s temper flared, forcing her to stroke her tail and take deep breaths for several minutes to calm down.

After calming down, Evernya continued to examine her hard-earned ID.

Class: 3PWS

ID Number: 65422379

Citizen Code: PWS22379

First name: Evernya

Family name: unknown

Bloodline: unknown (sealed).

Sex: Female

Race: Feline shifter.

Height: 160 cm

Weight: 49.9 kg

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Black

DOB: Unknown Age 19

Even the system doesn’t know my exact birth date. I will look the same at 30 as I do now, so to be honest, my age doesn’t matter much to me, but it may stop me from buying alcohol. I can live for a few years without drinking. I rarely drank alcohol in my old body, even when I legally could. Can I even get drunk? If it’s anything like my tolerance for sedatives, I doubt it. Though I doubt I’m the only one with a high tolerance for sedatives, so I bet they make extra potent alcohol. I wonder who has a higher tolerance for sedatives, a redheaded shifter, or me. I must find that out! I miss my smartphone. I can’t just look up random things anymore. I will have to get one again once as soon as possible. Evernya rambled mentally before returning her attention to her ID.

Magic section

Mana grade: Awakened Grade 5.72

Magic class:

3T Psion (Telekinesis, Telepathy, Teleportation)

Warrior

The magic section makes me look so powerful, but in reality, I can barely use any magic. At least I’m starting to understand the basics of Telekinesis. Telekinesis feels so natural, but the other two are a mystery. I suppose this ID will allow me to bluff out of some situations. I can’t even use much of my warrior magic without hurting myself. I have all this power but can barely use any of it! I will have to change that or I won’t survive at college. Blasting people away with some telekinetic force will only get me so far.

If those girls in the changing room had known I was a mage, they would have destroyed me. But how did I have so much control when I tortured that bastard? Is it like my mana aura that releases itself on its own? After my outbursts, the knowledge of repeating those feats of magic seems to be downloaded into my mind. It’s like my body already knows how to do it, but my mind needed reminding. Such an odd feeling. Somehow I doubt becoming angry will be a viable training method. I doubt I am capable of anything more than basic magic in such a state.

I have a long way to go until I can reach my goal of freedom. At least I don’t blow up my mana veins anymore. I just blow my body up instead. Fortunately, healing my body seems to be much easier to do as long as I stay away from those stupid shackles. I suppose I should go find Meira. She deserves to know what happened. She is probably worried sick about me since I doubt I looked good if my ID picture is anything to go by. I probably scared that nice old lady who took the photo. Hiding up here in my room won’t accomplish anything I need to focus on becoming healthier and stronger so I can avoid similar situations in the future. But first, I need a shower! I need to cleanse myself of that bastard’s grubby germs!

Evernya dragged herself out of her bed and shuffled into the bathroom. She turned the shower to its hottest setting, then hopped in. Her ashen skin reddened from the scorching hot water, but any damage healed instantly. She almost purred as her body warmed under the assault of the nearly boiling water.

After drying herself off with a towel from a stack on a shelf next to the shower, she slipped her pajamas back on. Refreshed and dressed, Evernya made her way downstairs to the living room. She found Meira in her usual morning spot, watching the news on TV.

Meira looked up from the TV, noticing her approaching kitten causing a smile to bloom. Evernya returned a strained smile as she wrapped her tail around her waist and plopped herself down on a chair across from Meira. Meira turned off the TV and gave her full attention to Evernya.

“You look much better this morning.” Observed Meira with a smile.

“Thank you, a lot happened back there,” Evernya replied while trying to keep herself calm as her mind flashed back to her brief enslavement.

Meira spotted her kitten’s darkening mood, prompting her to cheer her up with a proud expression. “Congratulations, you are an adult! You definitely earned it.”

“I may legally be an adult, but most 5-year-olds probably know more than I do,” Evernya grumbled.

“Don’t worry, we will change that soon. These next couple of months will be difficult for you. I plan to cram as much as I can into that little head of yours before you leave for college. Hopefully, you inherited the excellent memories of Psions and dragons as you will need it.” Meira commented with a sadistic grin, causing Evernya’s tail fur to rise.

Despite her worries, she responded with enthusiasm. “Don’t worry about me. I am even more determined to become strong and independent after what happened yesterday. I refuse to feel helpless again!” Evernya proclaimed with eyes shining bright with power as the air briefly rippled, leaving Meira in awe at the display.

“I believe it, with your talents and determination, nothing will be out of reach for you.” Gushed Meira while smiling brightly.

Evernya’s expression abruptly turned serious before speaking. “I need to tell you what happened back there. Maybe you can help me avoid a similar situation in the future.”

Evernya spent the next ten minutes retelling everything that happened after they separated. By the end of her explanation, tears flowed from Evernya’s eyes. Meanwhile, Meira was on the verge of exploding in rage.

“How dare he do this! Arthur went too far this time! He allowed you to be enslaved just to find out what you are!” Screamed Meira in rage.

The air swirled as Meira ranted. “We need to seal off your slave band permanently. I can’t believe a mediocre enchanter got his hands on one of those wands! Even I don’t have one! Arthur probably gave it to him just so he could do that to you. He could have stopped it from happening if he had wanted to.”

For the first time since Evernya met her elf, she witnessed Meira lose control of her temper. Unlike Evernya, Meira reined her temper and magic in within seconds.

“Who is Arthur Elliott?” Inquired Evernya, bracing herself for another explosion.

“He didn’t tell you? Usually, he loves spouting off about his position. He is the head of Druth’s Mage’s council and the most powerful mage in the city.” Meira revealed, causing Evernya’s eyes to widen in shock.

Unaware of Evernya’s reaction, Meira continued. “He was most likely the mastermind behind everything that happened to you back there. He will do anything to find out the truth, and he doesn’t care who he hurts in the process. Usually, he just forces the person to tell him everything, but you resisted him, so he had to get creative. He used that bastard of an enchanter, knowing your history with him, to knock you off balance and reveal more about yourself. I’m surprised he didn’t take advantage of you while he enslaved you to grill you for information. Maybe the great Arthur Elliott didn’t foresee how depraved that enchanter was.”

Catching her kitten’s darkening expression, Meira added, “Unfortunately, you also can’t go after him unless you want to reveal more about yourself to people higher than even him. Even I can’t beat him in a fight with his unfair ability to disable other’s magic equal or lower mana grade to him. No one knows how his magic works. Anyone he targets will lose their access to their magic classes until he decides you can, or you are out of range. As a matter of fact, no one knows much about him at all. He just showed up about fifty years ago and catapulted himself to the head of Druth’s Mage’s council within a year. I would stay away from him as much as possible. He will never have your best interests in mind, only what he can gain.” Meira lectured to an increasingly irate girl.

Evernya interrupted Meira’s speech, unable to hold her own rant down. “What an asshole! He was just toying with me! The whole time he had this arrogant smirk! The only time that stupid smirk wiped off his face was when I resisted spilling my guts to him. I can’t believe someone supposed to uphold the laws stood by watching me become enslaved!”

Unsurprised Meira commented, “That sounds like him. He is arrogant, and he has the right to be when few can stand against him. The upper echelon of most human ran governments don’t care about upholding laws unless they can benefit from it. Only those not in a major position of leadership care about the people. Such as police officers, firefighters, and surprisingly judges, along with many other jobs of similar rank. You would think judges would have corruption as well since they have a lot of power, but most judges take their job extremely seriously. All judges have brands, forcing them to always fairly uphold the laws of their country. Of course, there are rotten apples in every job, but judges are probably the least corrupt.”

After Evernya calmed herself down, she commented, “That’s good to know that I will receive fair judgment if they put me on trial. But other than that, you really aren’t giving me much reason to trust humans here. So far, most humans I’ve met are racist, stupid, power-hungry, or just plain mean.”

Meira winced, but defended. “Well, humans have a lot of flaws. Since they are the most numerous sentient race, a lot of humans think they are superior to everyone else. Add in the fact they are short-lived, which makes them pursue their goals much more aggressively. Humans aren’t evil. You just had some terrible experiences with them. There are races out there that are significantly worse than humans, but luckily, they are much less numerous or missing since the mythic era.”

“I will try, but it is becoming harder and harder to be around humans,” Evernya stated.

From her own experiences, Meira insisted, “All I ask is you don’t judge their entire race on a few rotten apples. You don’t have to like humans, but at least tolerate them. Cutting yourself off from human civilization is a lonely life. Most other races use human settlements as a neutral ground to buy and sell things or just to socialize. Sometimes spending all your time with your own race can become boring, especially when most nonhuman races live for centuries if not millennia. Unfortunately, my elf clan didn’t agree with me, so I became exiled.”

Evernya let a slow breath out before replying, “I agree cutting myself off from all human civilization would be lonely. I will just have to tolerate them. I’ve made a few human friends, so maybe humans aren’t all bad. I just don’t feel comfortable around humans when, at any second, they could hurt me. I’m still too weak to defend myself if they were to attack me.”

Meira smiled encouragingly as she continued her lesson. “It would surprise you how many humans have the same feeling, causing them to stay on guard at all times. You have the added advantage of your heightened senses and healing. Plus, by the time you go to college, you will be more than capable of defending yourself. I won’t be able to teach you many of the advanced concepts of your magic, but I will try my best to make you competent enough to fend off most humans around your age. Like I have said before, once you make a name for yourself, your treatment will become much better. Most of the humans who hurt you misunderstood the situation like those campus police officers. Of course, some humans are just plain racist, but you have those types in every race. Almost every race thinks they are superior to another race. Since Humans are more numerous than other races, the instances of racism are also more common.”

“I don’t blame those officers or even those girls, it's people like that enchanter I despise,” Evernya admitted.

Done with the topic, Meira abruptly shifted gears with an excited expression. “Anyway, are you ready to start your training?”

At the mention of training, her kitten immediately perked up. “Definitely! I want to become as strong as soon as possible!”

Meira materialized a stack of over a dozen books on the coffee table in front of them in response.