“So you’re the famous human outworlder.”

Jack spun to find the source of the unsettling, high-pitched voice that sounded in his mind. It didn’t take him long to find the culprit.

As soon as he turned away from the majestic and powerful wall, he saw what at first glance appeared to be a human man.

Near the top of the grassy hill behind Jack, a pale-skinned man stood imperiously with his arms crossed. He wore a brown jerkin that left his arms uncovered and loose-fitting dark green pants.

His facial features were the first thing that signified to Jack that the stranger may not be entirely human.

They were sharper than any Jack had ever seen. He had protruding cheekbones and an inhumanly pointed nose and chin. Even his yellow eyes were piercing.

Jack zeroed in on the man with his moderately enhanced senses. He was surprised to find that the stranger had white feathers mixed in with the straight silver hair on his head. Also, Jack saw that the backs of his arms were lightly dusted with feathers that blended in well with his pasty, white skin.

With a start, Jack realized that he was looking at a beastkin that had likely evolved from a bird of prey. His yellow eyes glared down at Jack even though his mouth was tilted in a slight smirk.

Hoping that against all odds, the beastkin’s intentions were benevolent, Jack introduced himself as respectfully as possible. “What the fuck do you want…?”

The bird man tilted his head to the side in consideration. “Don’t worry about my name. I’m just here to make certain you die this time.”

Jack nodded like he had always been expecting that answer. “Well, I’m always down for a good scrap.” He said cheekily. “Want to tell me why you goons keep coming? The last one didn’t even say a word, let alone a monologue.”

Without realizing what happened, Jack was looking into the lightly feathered stranger’s eyes from a foot away. One moment he was at the top of the hill about twenty five yards away, and the next, they were face-to-face. Jack didn’t even see him move.

Before he could even register the man’s presence, the wind from his rapid approach nearly knocked Jack off of his feet. He was forced to to take a step back by the powerful gust.

The moment that Jack had realized he wasn’t alone, he had extended his qi sense out into the world. He hadn’t even felt the spike of power that would have signified the use of a movement technique.

However, with the oppressive amount of energy radiating from the wall behind him, it would have been easy to miss. The massive, scripted structure was releasing so much qi, Jack felt like he was drowning in it.

If he had to guess though, Jack would bet that the beastkin was just that fast without even trying. It was a worrisome prospect.

The piercing, yellow eyes took Jack in coldly. Again, Jack heard the high-pitched voice in his head. “How is it possible that you have the backing of a divine faction? I see nothing special about you.”

Jack tried unsuccessfully to hold in the laugh that escaped his lips. “Is that what this is about?”

When Jack had been captured by the druids, their leader had invaded his mind and gotten psychically bitch slapped by Zachias. They had wrongly assumed that Jack was gifted the warrior's sentient inheritance by a being or faction of incredible power. Little did they know, Jack had been nothing but a low income American before this had started.

When he glanced at the pale figure up close, Jack noticed an interesting tattoo just below his left collar bone near the center of his chest. It was a circle of eight talons all facing the same direction like a wicked propeller or fan.

"Why would you want to kill someone who has a divine backing?" Jack asked, confused. "Aren’t there easier ways of committing suicide?”

The sharp features of the beastkin twisted in a predatory smile. “You mean aside from the privilege of taking all of your possessions?” He looked meaningfully at the exact place where Zachias’ fractal key hung on his neck and Jack’s heart skipped a beat. “Let’s just say that the retaliation is the point.”

The logic behind this assassination eluded him, but Jack could feel that Zachias seemed to have some idea. Jack was having trouble focusing on the mystery, however, due to the threat right in front of him.

Every instinct in his body told him that this was a fight he couldn’t win. He could feel Zachias agreeing with that assumption in his mind.

He was waiting for the bird person to rip his throat out with that supersonic speed. Jack decided that he would call the beastkin Gadnuk after the Magic playing rooster from South Park and he couldn’t help but smile at the thought.

It was only a limited comfort that Gadnuk hadn’t attacked yet. It seemed like he was simply savoring the kill and eventually, Jack couldn’t take the waiting any longer.

“Are we going to fight or not?” Jack asked dryly and the feathered man seemed surprised for a moment so Jack explained. “You’re not the strongest beastkin I’ve met.”

Gadnuk smiled contemptuously with only one side of his face. “Of course you have. He even left his mark on your neck. That is the point after all.”

“And to answer your question” Gadnuk continued, “No. That would be a slaughter not a fight.”

Jack planned to eloquently dispute that contention, but before he could flick Gadnuk off with both hands, Zachias spoke up in his mind.

“He is right” the big blue warrior’s voice boomed from within Jack’s head. “He is likely a full realm beyond you. To provoke him would be folly.”

“Who the hell says folly?” Jack asked incredulously. “How can you tell how powerful he is anyways?”

“Beastkin generally lose their animalistic features as they progress through the stages of the Spirit Realm” Zachias explained. “It is not an ironclad rule, but judging by his near-human appearance, I would put him in the final stage.”

Jack had been learning more about the Spirit Realm as he prepared to advance. It was broken up into three major stages, each one related to the three fundamental powers.

The first stage was most closely related to qi. Jack would build his core and aura which would also greatly improve his physical body.

The middle stage of the Spirit Realm focused on chakra, and the final stage on the mind’s eye.

However, each stage represented a qualitative leap forward in all three abilities. Moving to the second and third stage would still greatly improve Jack’s qi and body, for instance.

If Gadnuk was truly in the last stage of the Spirit Realm, then Jack was hopelessly outclassed. He was a fluffy little bunny standing in front of an overgrown grizzly bear.

“What can I do?” Jack asked seriously to his mental passenger.

Zachias was quiet for a moment before replying. “Delay” he said calmly. “Stay alive and try to find a way out.”

Jack prepared himself for a heroic last stand, but the beastkin actually took a step back and crossed his arms. He smirked at Jack and looked meaningfully over his shoulder.

Jack wasn’t going to fall for such an obvious trick, but he heard something out of place over the roaring of the river behind him. He glanced back to catch a strange creature gracefully slipping out of the water.

The figure was sliding onto the river bank as Jack turned to behold. He got his first good look as the amphibious beastkin stood up on two legs.

She, for it was clearly feminine, had a thick, dark green hide like an alligator which turned to a light beige around her belly and down the front of her legs. She had a lithe body, and her every movement was deliberate and graceful. The bottom of her back extended into a powerful looking, thick tail.

Her face looked far less human than Gadnuk’s. She had a protruding snout and no chin for one thing, and her eyes were solid black with orange slits for pupils. The top of her forehead ended in a row of small spikes. Also, she had no hair to speak of.

Jack noticed the same tattoo that Gadnuk had on his chest was on the bottom left side of the lizard lady’s belly. The same eight black claws formed a clockwise wheel, though hers was double the size. On closer inspection, Jack noticed that each claw was composed of an intricate fractal pattern.

He turned sideways and took a few slow, deliberate steps back so he could see both enemies with his peripheral vision.

Man I wish I had a gun right now Jack thought to himself. Not that it would do any good against beings such as these. “Do you know how powerful this one is? Seems like she is my real opponent” he asked Zachias.

The naked she-gator was making her way towards Jack with clear purpose, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t to fuck. For one thing, he could sense her aura with her qi beginning to circulate tightly around her naturally armored body.

“She is more powerful than you” Zachias reported unnecessarily. Now that Jack could sense her, he could tell that she was firmly in the first stage of the Spirit Realm.

“What else is new?” he asked rhetorically. Jack wondered if there would ever come a time when he wouldn’t be the underdog.

He walked backward and circled around so that he could keep the bird man in his sights, though he knew that would become harder when the fight started.

“He will not attack unless he has to. Remember how he said that he was ‘just here to make certain you died this time’?” Zachias chimed in. “They are mercenaries. Hired blades. Probably called something like the Black Fang. Someone has obviously taken out a contract on you.”

Jack assumed that Zachias knew what he was telepathically talking about, though he had no idea why any beastkin would be after his head. But there was another thing that he wanted to know. “Why wouldn’t the more powerful one just smash me like a bug and go collect his check? It’d be easier right?”

“That is not how the rules of this universe work” Zachias explained. “If they have a much more powerful fighter decimate you, they would be inviting their enemies to do the same to their younger, weaker members. Many clans have had their futures ruined that way.”

Jack mentally shrugged and accepted that it was just how things were in this new world. He began to circulate his qi in preparation for the battle to come, using the patterns that Zachias had taught him.

“Do you have an idea why these dicks have been after me?” he asked as he put his fists up and bent his knees.

Zachias answered quickly. “They think you are from a divine faction. Whoever took out this contract is trying to provoke your ‘supposed backer’ into retaliating. Since they have all been beastkin, I would assume they are hoping to set up the Tyrant wolf who put that tattoo on the back of your neck.”

Jack lifted one eyebrow incredulously. “So some rich asshole is going to kill me on the off chance that my patron will bring the vengeance to one random wolf? That’s got to be the dumbest scheme I’ve ever heard outside of an episode of Trailer Park Boys.”

“It is actually a plausible strategy.” Zachias argued. “Any powerful being that found your body would easily be able to use the power signature of that qi tattoo to track the wolf down. Can you imagine how that interaction would go for the Tyrant?”

“This is just how the world of advancement works. Think of all the immoral things people did on your world for financial gain. That was just done for them to live slightly more comfortable lives. It is the same way in the larger universe except resources here can mean that they increase their clan’s power and longevity by centuries or even millennium.”

“Now center yourself. This fight is exactly what you need right now.”

Jack wanted to argue that point, but it seemed the she-gator was ready to fight. He noticed that there was a thick sheen of water covering her body, seemingly unable to slide off of her and fall to the floor. It had become clear that she was a water artist.

Her qi began to circulate and manifest, and the water on her skin moved with it. Small streams of water formed along her torso and limbs in a looping pattern. The streams moved slowly at first, but gradually gained speed until they looked dangerous to touch.

Jack, as usual, was getting excited for the life or death battle. Despite the prospect of imminent pain, he looked forward to testing himself against a stronger opponent.

It was moments like these when he truly felt alive.

After months of constant and arduous training by an absolutely ruthless master, Jack was no longer the same fighter that he was before. He had been reforged in the furnace of Zachias’ savage beatings.

The human and beastkin faced off against each other under the breathtakingly beautiful wall that positively radiated with qi, the river roaring in the background.

Jack tapped into his chakra and projected his aura. He cycled his qi in one of the many patterns that he had memorized over the months of training. This particular flow was designed to enhance speed above all else. Even without manifesting his qi, Jack could feel the humming, tingling power running through his body from head to toe.

Gadnuk was still standing perfectly still, watching with his arms crossed. Jack tuned him out and focused entirely on the lithe female lizard with the streams of water swirling around her body like teardrop shaped links of chain mail. He would need to focus absolutely on each moment if he wanted to survive to see the next one.

Time seemed to freeze and stretch out as they stared at each other for one last lingering moment. Then, a blinding flash of light blue lightning erupted from Jack’s legs as he burst into motion. He wanted to swing first since he was at a disadvantage. The bright, blue lightning that normally burst from Jack’s body in every direction now swirled around him in a subtle pattern

Exploding into motion, empowered by his qi, he stepped forward and feinted with a jab before throwing a high kick at her uncovered head. She read the feint and slipped under his leg effortlessly with a dancer’s grace. She then came back up with a right cross and Jack was forced to dodge completely due to the intimidating jets of water that flowed over her body like flesh rending armor.

By this point, the small streams of water she was circulating were moving so fast that he suspected they could cut through rock. Jack wanted to avoid touching them as much as possible. He stepped back and started circling her again while bouncing on the balls of his feet.

When technique training with Zachias, Jack had struggled to keep up with his own speed. His mind hadn’t been able to process as fast as his body could move. It was an obstacle that he had never quite managed to overcome. If he could master his sensory boosting fractal tattoo, that would be problem solved, but he had so far had little success with that endeavor.

Fortunately, or possibly unfortunately depending on the point of view, the qi circulation pattern that Jack was using currently was less of a true technique, and more of an extremely basic template to enhance speed. It was the best that Jack could manage while still in the Mortal Realm. Without the energy reserves that would be provided by a core, he just didn’t have enough qi to even attempt real techniques.

Even if he did, Jack had only just begun to learn all of the patterns required to develop his own unique path. In this fight, he would have to rely solely on his martial prowess. This was something he had worked tirelessly at in Zachias’ simulation world. Every night, they spent hours sparring and grappling, learning multiple styles of martial arts and then studying how to effectively combine them to decimate opponents.

Jack loved to fight, and he had excelled at memorizing the forms quickly. However, according to Zachias, he had yet to find his own style, regardless of how much they practiced. A fact that became all too apparent when faced with a stronger opponent.

The humanoid female lizard, Jack decided to call her Lizzie after the cold-blooded axe murderer, had a fighting style that was much like the water element that she wielded. She slid gracefully around his attacks taking whatever form she needed to and finding every crack in his defense which she would then flood. Every time Jack engaged her, he quickly found himself overwhelmed. It was like he was trying to fight the river itself.

Stepping forward with a flurry of jabs, he attempted to break through Lizzie’s impeccable defense. When she successfully dodged his punches, Jack dropped down and tried to kick her feet out from under her. She leaned back on her tail and lifted both of her legs off the ground and launched a double kick at his face. He was forced into a hasty retreat yet again.

Jack had just managed to keep her from landing any blows so far, but at this rate, he would eventually tire and make a fatal mistake. In the battle with Janus, Zachias had stepped in and shown Jack exactly how to win. Jack had simply followed his directions as Zachias guided him to victory.

However, after they had made their deal, Zachias had informed him that he would not be helping Jack to win like that ever again.

He had been understandably unhappy with this declaration until Zachias had explained that it was for Jack’s benefit. If he just solved all of Jack’s problems for him, Jack would never really move forward. Nothing would be more detrimental to his progress. Jack needed to fight his own battles if he wanted to get strong enough to stand on his own two feet.

One thing Jack did have, was an inordinately powerful body for a mortal. Zachias had informed him that most mortals could not achieve the physical prowess that he had in such a short time. Only the naturally gifted races like the dragons or giants had such strength so early in their development. Jack hoped that it would be enough to help him close the gap in this fight.

He decided to try throwing some lightning at the water wielder, thinking that it would conduct right through her jet stream armor. Jack gathered a large bolt of lightning in his right arm and held it there in preparation. He hoped that the oppressive amount of energy radiating from the great wall would hide his intentions.

They engaged each other again, one covered in water and the other in lightning. Jack led with a barrage of fists, elbows, and kicks but Lizzie slipped around them as if she knew they were coming, her lithe body twisting and turning.

As soon as she worked her way around Jack’s attack, she snapped forward with her retaliation. Two jets of water curved around the knuckles on her left fist like saw blades. Jack leapt back again, just as he had whenever she went on the offensive. This time, however, he reached out with his right hand and released the lightning bolt at his charging enemy.

In a blinding flash, a thick arc of lightning connected the two warriors for a moment from the end of Jack’s palm to Lizzie’s left shoulder. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, Jack sprung forward with a push kick aimed at her face. He hoped that she would at least be stunned by the lightning or that it would possibly be even more effective because she was a water user.

Unfortunately, Jack learned the hard way that this wasn’t Pokémon. Lizzie ate his lightning bolt and deflected his kick with the outside of her arm. The high-pressure streams of water swirling over her body tore into the side of his calf, a spray of blood blasted out from it. She took advantage of his vulnerability and punched at his face.

Jack desperately weaved to the side and managed to take the shot on his collar bone rather than his chin. Blood sprayed from Jack’s body again due to the flesh ripping streams on her knuckles. He shouted out from the pain as he fell backwards from the force of the blow.

He turned his fall into a backwards roll and then dove to the side before he made it to his feet because he saw a water covered blur flying towards him out of the corner of his eyes. Jack scrambled to his feet as he heard a loud thump from where he had just been on the ground.

His healing physique had already begun to work on repairing his wounds, the bleeding slowing down and then stopping as the torn flesh was replaced. The downside of this ability, was that every injury which required healing used up some of his precious qi. In a fight for his life, that energy was just as valuable as his blood. Jack wished he could turn the healing off, or down at least, but that wasn’t yet an option.

Jack had a slight limp when he made it to his feet and he continued to fake it even after his leg was healed. The wounds were covered by blood and clothing so it wasn’t obvious that they had already been ameliorated. He wanted that to come as a surprise to his enemy.

Something about that thought seemed to resonate with Jack for a moment, but he was forced to focus on the present when Lizzie stalked forward obviously intent on finishing the fight.

Jack pretended to favor his injuries as she engaged him, clumsily dodging and striking, just barely staying ahead of her assault. He waited until he felt the moment was just right. When Lizzie’s expression looked as if she thought her victory was assured, Jack exploded into motion.

The surprise on her reptilian face was exactly what Jack had been hoping for and it sparked an epiphany within him. The angles and strategies behind his attacks immediately started to change as Jack rode a wave of inspiration. His style had to mesh with his element to be effective, just like his opponent’s did with her water. Zachias had mentioned something about this in training, but it was only now that Jack discovered what aspect of lightning he wanted to embody in his fighting.

Lightning was chaotic and unpredictable, and Jack’s style would have to be as well.

This idea would be the foundation of his martial arts. Of course, there were other aspects of lightning that he expected to draw more inspiration from, but they would all be built on top of this unpredictability. He could feel Zachias’ approval of this epiphany in the back of his mind.

Lizzie’s surprise mounted as Jack’s methods changed so completely mid-battle. He started to step back when she expected him to attack, and explode into attacks when she expected him to defend. Jack struck from different angles, no longer just aiming for her head. He tried to avoid the dangerous streams of water covering her, but he had come to the conclusion that he wouldn’t be able to win if he didn’t take some risks.

The euphoria of his breakthrough kept Jack from feeling the pain as her armor tore into his fists, elbows and shins. He faked a kick with his right leg and stepped back when Lizzie started to dodge. Then, when she closed with him again, Jack exploded forward to meet her with an elbow to the face. She leaned and then rolled backwards to soften the blow, but he had still landed a clean hit and she was clearly furious, her teeth bared in a feral snarl.

Jack’s budding style relied on him being unreadable. One moment, he would dance through the graceful forms of the martial arts that Zachias had taught him. Then suddenly, he would barrel forward with all the savage brutality of a street brawler. It turned out to be an effective counter to his opponent’s slippery style. She was having trouble dodging now that she couldn’t anticipate his moves.

Still, despite his breakthrough and the fact that he was landing more and more hits, Jack could feel a muted sense of anxiety from Zachias. It brought him back down to Earth enough for Jack to also recognize the problem.

It wasn’t enough.

He was landing more hits, but he was also taking more damage that had to be healed by his physique which drained his qi. Beyond that, none of the blows that he was landing were doing much more than pissing his opponent off. She was too well armored and durable. Jack was unable to land a decisive blow. Hell, some of his strikes were doing more damage to him than her due to her teardrop shaped chain mail technique that shredded his flesh on contact.

At this rate, Jack would run out of qi soon and then she would tear him to pieces. In order to win, he would need to reveal more than he had wanted to. He prepared to use the last vestiges of his burgeoning epiphany to land a telling blow.

Lizzie was looking angrier and angrier as the fight dragged on. She started attacking more often, swinging with her arms, legs and powerful tail even when she hadn’t created an opening first. This was hampering her more than anything as it wasn’t in line with the basis of her own style.

Jack waited, keeping her engaged until she turned around to swing her tail at his face, and he enacted his plan. He slid forward, leaning under the tail, and reaching out with his mind into the small piece of scripted metal around his neck. In the next moment, he was holding a wicked looking spear in his right hand that was inches away from tearing into her unguarded neck.

As she completed her spin, her wrathful visage turned to one of fear, knowing that she had made a fatal mistake. The next thing Jack knew, he was laying on his back, the weight of his spear no longer in his hand.

He looked up to find himself confronted not by the reptilian female, but the pale bird of prey beastkin that had, until now, been content to remain an observer. Gadnuk held in his hand a glowing, clear sword made out of wind. From this constructed weapon, Jack got a sense of extremely condensed power, even through the extreme haze of the wall. His wind saber was pointed down at Jack and in his expression Jack saw a grudging respect.

“The fact that you could even stand up to a true warrior as a mortal is impressive, let alone fight on equal terms.” He shrugged and continued with resolve. “It is too bad the contract has already been paid. Otherwise, I might even have considered recruiting you.”

Jack climbed to his feet slowly, determined not to die on his back. “If you’ve got any ideas, I would love to hear them” he said to Zachias in his mind.

Jack wasn’t really afraid to die. There were even a few people who he was really looking forward to joining. He just wished he could have seen his family again and made sure they had a place in this new universe they found themselves in.

He watched as Gadnuk’s piercing yellow eyes became even colder, and Jack knew that the beastkin was about to come collect his head.

So focused was he on those predatory eyes, that he almost missed the moment when the grass in between himself and Gadnuk twisted and grew, turning from normal blades of green grass into sharp spears of brown wood in a moment’s time.

The feathered man’s eyes shone with surprise as he reversed his momentum, grabbed his ally, and jumped away from the stakes rising from the ground seemingly of their own accord. Suddenly, their growth surpassed Jack’s ability to follow with his eyes, and Gadnuk was forced to defend with his wind blade lest he be impaled by the now ten yard long spikes. Jack heard a pop like a flag snapping in the wind and watched as some of the stakes had their ends sliced off. Then he saw the bird person land halfway up the hill and look around angrily, Lizzie crouched behind him in fear.

“This hardly seems like a fair fight” a calm, composed voice projected into their minds. A voice Jack recognized.

He looked around and found a tall tree-like humanoid standing near the top of the hill behind and to the right of the beastkin. Emrys looked down toward Jack with a reassuring smile.

“What is this ‘fair fight’ you speak of” Gadnuk spat in his shrill voice like there was no such thing, and swiped his wind blade in Emrys’ direction. The air between them rippled as a crescent moon shaped arc of wind erupted from the blade and tore through the space between them as fast as Jack’s lightning. The attack sliced through the druid and cut him in half from shoulder to hip.

Before Jack even had time to shout out his lamentation, a figure erupted from the ground in front of him and grew into an antler-headed, wooden man with a casual smile on his face. Confused, Jack looked up to where he had just been at the top of the hill half expecting the body to turn into a sliced log of wood in a puff of animated smoke.

Emrys looked down on Jack and nodded. “How are you?” he said ignoring the enemies behind him.

Jack clenched his jaw in frustration. “I’m fine. I just wish that I were stronger.”

The druid turned to face the enemies and narrowed his eyes as he took them in. They both looked back at him, trying to get a sense of his power.

“Members of the Black Talon” he said to Jack, apparently recognizing their matching tattoos. Jack felt an annoying sense of smugness from Zachias, probably from him being right about the name.

“Shouldn’t we be running?” Jack asked. He knew that Emrys was much stronger than him, but Gadnuk had displayed a level of power that was far beyond the giant bear-like beastkin that had attacked them in the forest, and even then, the older more experienced druid had been the one to deal with it while Emrys watched from the sidelines.

“Why would we do that?” Emrys responded languidly. “I thought you wanted to get stronger.” As he said this, he turned and waved his hand towards Jack and then started walking towards their enemies. The grass around Jack began to change and take the form of a complex pattern. At first, Jack thought that Emrys had put a protective script around him. He was too focused on their opponents to look down.

The two beastkin had taken fighting stances at Emrys’ approach, but Lizzie retreated while Gadnuk stood his ground. Emrys stared the yellow eyed warrior down.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” the druid asked evenly.

Jack finally took his eyes off of the beastkin long enough to get a good look at the intricate wooden script that had grown around him like roots from the ground. He was surprised to find that it was not a protective pattern, but rather one that he recognized.

It was the same qi gathering array that Zachias had been showing him how to draw every night for weeks.

On the outside layer of the script circle, there was a group of triangular fractals that pointed inwards towards where Jack stood in the middle. The point of the triangles branched out into helix patterns that swirled around him and ended in lines that stretched halfway to Jack in the middle.

All he needed to do was weave his qi into a twisting pattern that connected those lines and manifest his energy. This would complete the array and begin the dangerous process of advancing Jack to the Spirit Realm.

He looked back up to the druid and beastkin, but he didn’t want to interrupt or distract his friend. “What do you think?” he asked the passenger in his head instead.

Zachias thought for a moment and then responded. “I was hoping that we could improve your chakra a bit more before advancing, but Emrys is right. You obviously have enemies and you will not survive as you are now.”

Jack nodded and tried to prepare himself mentally. By this point, his healing physique had taken care of the injuries that he had sustained in the battle. He was running very low on qi, but he only needed enough to complete the array. Once the process was started, it wouldn’t matter that he was almost out of energy.

Before he initiated the advancement, a pang of anxiety for his wooden friend made him look back up the hill one last time. Jack did a double take when he saw what was happening to Emrys.

The wooden man was shrinking before Jack’s eyes. He was already shorter than seven feet tall by the time Jack caught the change. As he shrunk, the bark that his skin was made of was falling to the ground in chunks. The antlers on top of his head were changing as well.

The branching sticks on his head turned black and fell halfway down his back as strands of long hair. The bark falling off of his arms revealed light brown skin underneath. His features did not become entirely human, however. There were a few patches of bark on his arms and legs that remained even when the transformation was complete. Still, he looked mostly like a man, though Jack could not see the druid’s face from where he stood.

Emrys’ human form was wearing a short-sleeved, white shirt and straight brown pants. His feet were left bare and the only other article of clothing that he had on was an interesting belt made of scripted bark.

At first, Jack had been worried about his friend, but Zachias had explained that it was normal.

“Druids, much like beastkin, usually take a human form as they advance through the Spirit Realm and gain the ability to transform. Many, such as your friend there, only take that form when they need to so they can better fit in with their own people. Now focus. Emrys is putting himself on the line to buy you time. Will you make his sacrifice meaningless?”

Although he didn’t like the use of the word ‘sacrifice’ as it sounded like Emrys was going to die, Jack realized that Zachias was right. He looked to the array around him and took a few deep breaths. After he had found his zen, Jack twisted his qi into the correct shape and connected it to both ends of the helix pattern. The twist of the weave was located right in the middle of Jack’s body, at his exact center of gravity just below his navel.

Here goes nothing he thought only to himself and manifested the weave.