Excruciating pain tore through me. Stumbling I fell skidding along the dirt pathway. Rolling I braced myself and was able to get a foot under me and rotate to see what the cause was. A runt of the little from the looks of it, but it had multiple layers of serrated teeth, in its teeth I could see fresh blood and some flesh. Looking towards my left leg I could see blood trickling. Trying to put it out of my mind I looked around for something I could use to defend myself. Warily I stood up, staying low caused too much strain on my leg. Seeing a large branch, I can use to keep the creature out of reach I went for. This was a mistake; the little bastard took the opportunity to close the distance. Before I could get to the branch he ran on all four legs, quickly I might add and jumped at me.

Reflexively I grabbed at it with my tentacle hands, and it retracted, wary. Looking at my hand, I found it less grotesque now. Inching my way to the branch I was finally able to grab hold of it. Not taking my eyes off the deformed critter I slowly crouched and snagged the branch. Holding it like a spear, I stepped towards the door leading to safety. Slowly backing up, the creature followed. Slow, got to move slow, don’t provoke it. My foot caught a rock, and I stumbled backwards catching myself, this prompted the creature to dart at me. Swinging the branch, I landed a glancing blow and it continued. Jumping at my shin it latched on my one good leg bringing me to the ground. Tearing and slashing it tore into my leg, reaching out I grabbed it with my tentacles and wrapping around the creature's neck. It ignored it, tasting blood it kept clawing working its way up my leg. With a jerk I went to throw it, but my tentacles were wrapped up tightly, layering themselves and I couldn’t release it. Thankfully this was in my favor, for when I went to throw him away from me it worked like a noose and broke his neck. It hit the ground right next to me.

We lay there, me bleeding, the creature not moving. I was about to release it then I remembered my teachings, I could not be certain it was actually dead. With not much else that I could do, I rammed the stick into its chest. No movement still, taking that as confirmation I finally let go. Crying I looked at the mess my legs were in. Both were bloody, shredded and oh they hurt. Taking off my blouse I started to tear strips, then wrapping my legs. Doubt this will help much, but hopefully it would slow the bleeding. I would have torn strips from my trousers, but any movement caused white hot pain shooting up to my stomach. Worried about other wounds I checked myself, luckily there was nothing. Breathing a sigh of relief, I looked around for any other threats, but nothing was of note.

I had two choices, wait for the others to come back and find me, or to crawl to the door myself. Thinking if I moved to much, I would cause more bleeding, so I waited. Trying to get my head past the brain I looked at my tentacles, “You are in fact, quite beautiful now that I have a good look at you.” With a crunching of sticks Steward showed up. He took one look at the scene and rushed over.

“I am sorry, he got passed us without our realizing.” Reaching down he started to lift the makeshift bandages to have a look. “Deep, but not life threatening.” Looking at the creature he saw the angled neck and stick sticking out of its chest. “Not clean, but effective nonetheless.” Then he looked at me, “Ahh.” Taking off his blouse he gave it to me to put on. Gratefully I did. “Do I have your permission to carry you inside?”

That was a silly question, not like I could just stand up and walk inside in this state. Trying to bite back what I wanted to say I told him in the kindest way I could, “Of course, only an-” Catching myself, I didn’t say what I wanted to say in that moment.

Laying in my bed after having been properly tended to, my wounds were cleaned, irrigated and freshly wrapped. From the looks of it I would make a full recover in a couple weeks. This was an issue however, now I could not do any of my daily exercises. If I can't build up mass, then I would be at a disadvantage. After the scuffle with the creature, me being larger than it allowed me to overpower it. Even if it was luck, I still had the advantage. Even being tore into, I was able to easily overpower it. This just proved the importance to gaining mass. As I pondered there was a knock on the door. “Please come in.”

Standing there was Councilman Jorgonzilrye, he looked haggard and dirty. No wounds on him were apparent but he looked worn through. “Child, how are you feeling?”

“I will make a full recover.” I gave him a smile, which had been easier than I thought it would. I guess I am just happy to see hes safe. “Thank you.” I laughed, so loudly that it startled him.

“Did the steward give you too much root?” I shook my head wiping fresh tears.

“No, it's just, well I don't know.” Another spell of laughter escaped my lips. “I just can't believe I am alive. I mean, I was so terrified.” I felt like crying, again. Too much happened too quickly. From almost losing myself the madness, to scared I couldn’t release the overdrawn magic, to running for my life and finally, fighting for my life. Too many emotions and exhaustion crashed down on me. “I am sorry, I did not mean-”

“Child,” He took a few steps to me and sat on the edge of the bed, “you did nothing wrong. Actually, the opposite in fact. You fought, and you survived. We had not started combat training, or even gone over the dangers of drawing in too much magic and yet, you overcame it all.” He placed his hand on top of mine and gave it a squeeze. “I am very, very proud of you.” I could not hold it in anymore, I cried into his shoulder while he pats on my back.

The next day came about, and I was told that I was on bed rest. I was to not do anything to exert myself. They told me I could meditate, study and so forth and they would do a lecture in my room. It would be a light one so I could sleep and recover but I needed to keep eating those massive meals still. “You need the energy these provide to heal.” The steward told me as a matter of fact. So, I did, the lecture was light, and we did not speak about the events like I expected we would. Instead, they said we would have a debrief on my performance another time. There they would explain in detail what happened and how it all went so wrongly. Once I was able to meditate, I focused on my deformed tentacle hand and what I saw was astonishing. When I formed it, it was hazy the process I did. I could remember glimpses of sculpting it and choosing the tissues necessary for it to function like I seen Cal do. Now looking at it, it was cruder than I thought it would be. It saved me in my most dire of times, and yet it was shotty work. I knew it, the others probably as well. Looking at every tissue that was used that was redundant I knew how to make it work better. It could actually be longer with the mass I have, as well as stronger. It would be thinner, but I can see how I can fix this.

The problem, no magic here for me to do so. The limited magic in this area allowed me to sense the tissues within myself but-. Wait, could I not follow the waves of power and sense other being’s tissue? It made sense, I mean flesh is flesh right? I am using the magic as a set of eyes but from what I can tell the magic does not belong to any one person. Actually, it is the opposite, it belongs to everyone equally. What is mine is my receiver, it is what I am calling it for now, but it is my core where I can connect myself with the magic of the world. Getting off topic, no if this is true, I can see the tissue format of any living creature if I so choose. This would make Transmutations easier, having a template of an existing creature and what it saw as most efficient would mean many attempts to mimic something that much faster. I need to test this.