Aies Finley Cai Hall May 21th,20XX

I woke up with a jolt and my skin tingled like a million energy volts had been pumped through it. But before I could deal with that I had to deal with the fact that I, Aies, and not Finley or even Cai had woken up.

I wriggled the fingers on my left hand, and then the ones on my right. I then raised a hand to feel my horn. It was longer than I remembered, and a hell of a lot sharper.

Yep, I was in full control.

Finley? Cai? Anyone there?

I called out a few times, somewhat hoping I wouldn’t get a response, but somehow being disappointed when I didn’t.

What did that Goblin do to me?

“You really are a monster aren’t you? How the hell did you wake up that fast?”

I got up and leaped into a defensive position, or at least I tried too.

My head got up but so did the rest of my body, faster than I could control. I heard the thud my body created as it slammed into the wall before I felt it.

A low groan seeped out of me and harmonized with the soft chuckle that came from across the room.

There Jake was crouched in a corner, chewing on something I assumed was a fruit and half smiling. His eyes darted all over me as I got up, making sure that I was okay but he didn’t say a word.

“Try to move as slowly as you consciously can, kid. Your body is a lot different than it usually is.

It was then that I realized it. No wings, and more importantly I could barely feel any magic in the air.

I doubted that I could cast a spell if I wanted too.

“What did you do to me?”

My voice came out a lot more hostile than I intended it but before I could correct myself I felt the over-familiar sensation of being smacked in the back of the head. Only this time I could track his movement with my eyes.

Still hurt though.

“Ahh! Why did you hit me?!”

The goblin Caressed his wrist in his other hand and looked at me with a forcibly disinterested expression.

“With a skull that thick its not wonder you’re so slow.”

This time I didn’t bother with words and leaped at him, grabbing at his clothes and hair. My hits landed a lot quicker and harder than I was used too, and my body responded to unformed thoughts.

It was hard to keep up with but wasn’t enough to make me stop.

He responded just as fiercely as I had attacked, ditching his cold appearance to scrabble on the floor with me like an animal. He attacked ferociously but a small grin played upon his lips and I could feel him slightly pull back each hit before it landed on me. Eventually, his nails drew blood and my skin sang, but I was too distracted by the appearance of my blood to pay attention.

Bright silver liquid dropped onto the floor and nary a flower bloomed from the spot. Instead, it hardened into a pearl and began to roll across the floor until it hit a wall.

I ended up so captivated by the sight that Ion managed to land a solid punch on me, flinging me back into the wall.

“Aren’t you confident? Looking away while fighting me!”

He caressed his wrist in his free hand once again, this time a bit more gingerly than he had before. His shout hadn’t been loud but it had been incredibly intimidating and I felt my spine shrink in fear.

That was right. This wasn’t Theodulus, and even though he was technically my cousin, he held no affection toward me. I didn’t doubt that if not for the orders he had received from Theodulus, he would have left me there to die.

As I tried to recover from my daze, both from seeing by blood act like that and from being punched into a wall, a small figure floated out of Jake’s pocket and landed on my nose, using its sharp edge to balance itself.

“Are you okay? Shouldn’t you be protecting him? How can you be the biggest immediate harm to him?! You know he’s still recovering from the loss of his magic!”

That woke me up.

“The loss of my magic? What does he mean?”

Things began to click. Cai and Finley’s sudden disappearance, The way my body moved, even the way my blood acted, it was all because my magic was gone. There was something about the awkward expression on his ice-cold face that sent me into a frenzy.

“GIVE THEM BACK!!”

I lunged at him again. This time adding the edge of panic to each of my hits. This time I wasn’t playful at all.

I was a secondary personality, not a primary. I’d never even had control of the body, never mind had it all to myself.

I was alone, I was vulnerable. I-

Ion weaved away from the first few throws but after taking a few more solid hits to the face he blurred behind me and grabbed me by the hair, forcibly immobilizing me.

“Calm Down And let me explain!”

Rationally, I should have followed his orders but like an animal, I couldn’t help but move in time to my panic. I used my nails, which had for some reason grown longer and sharper than I remembered them being, to slice at my hair and his fingers. I used his focus on dodging the hit to plow into his stomach with my horn.

“Calm- Down!”

He spat out his words as he tried to restrain me but I was too frenzied to hear. It wasn’t until another voice finally jumped in that I even registered I was being spoken too.

“You’re- you are Finley, right? Or have you changed again?”

Ah, as expected from my best friend. He could tell the difference between the two of us so quickly.

I was so thrown off that I ended up taking a punch to the face again. The last thing I registered was being airborne, ready to be greeted by the cement wall. Again.