Chapter 8

My Transformation

(that time I was lost in the ruins of an underground city PART 2)

When I hit the water I thought I was going to die. My legs went in first and I felt the water pull me down. We were lucky we weren’t so high up that it felt like hitting concrete, unlucky that we had nearly fallen into the undertow. Opening my eyes I realized I could see almost perfectly clear, as if my eyes had transformed by instinct. Ajax was still holding Pan’s hand as the two twirled under the waves of the waterfall and began floating upwards towards the surface. Gob had broken free from my hold but I managed to grab the little guy before he floated away. Only one of the Arachnids had been running too fast to stop, following behind us and splashing loudly as it hit the water. It scrambled to swim with its eight legs moving in every direction, still trying to attack us as we breached the surface.

We dodged the legs of the Arachnid as they moved up and down, splashing the water, Ajax and Pan were nearly impaled when the Arachnid’s eyes caught sight of them.

I tried to cast a fire ball but I was too wet. The only reason I could see at all was because my eyes had activated some kind of Dark Vision. Ajax and Pan however had been moving by instinct alone, following my voice as I told them which was to dodge. Swimming towards what they hoped was a solid surface, trusting me with their lives.

I reached the surface first reaching my hand out and grabbing hold of Ajax. Pan was riding along his back, her arms wrapped around his neck. She was more afraid than any of us, little Pan didn’t know how to swim. The Arachnid followed behind them. On dry land I tried casting a Fire Bolt again but I was still too wet and unskilled. Grabbing hold of Ajax’s dagger I slid across the ground and bent backwards dodging one of the Arachnids frenzied attacks. Stretching outward I bent forward and slid the dagger right between he Arachnid’s eyes. It was over.

The Arachnid stopped moving, its legs twitching for half a second as its large body fell still on the rocks. Water began rushing over it, pulling it back into the underground river. I felt as sense of relief as it disappeared into the depths only to hear another splash as the giant lizard had decided it was time to take a bath.

“We have to go now,” I said pulling at Ajax.

“We can’t see anything,” he said.

“I’ve got Dark Vision, I’ll lead you, just don’t let go of my hand,” I told him as he carried Pan.

I was already wishing I had pulled the bone dagger out of the Arachnid’s skull. I knew better than to leave a good weapon behind.

“This way,” I stared another ruin, a square entryway carved into the rocky cave’s side.

“Shouldn’t we follow the water?” Ajax asked.

In most cases that would have been a good idea but I knew that if we stayed in the water the lizard would grab hold of us and I wasn’t ready to alert them to our accompanied guests arrival just yet. The giant lizard was chowing down on the remnants of the Arachnid, grabbing it from below the waters surface and emerging on the other side of the bank.

“There is another ruin here,” I told them.

“Aren’t ruins a bad idea?” Ajax asked.

“We can’t go back now,” I answered him. It was the truth. There was no way we would be able to turn back now, we had fallen too far. Even if we had the energy to climb we would still have dozens of Arachnids and tunnels to explore to try and find our way back. I had to hope that Ajax had been right to lead us through the tunnels, that somewhere there was another entry / exit that we could use. I understood his reasons, he thought it would be quicker to find an exit than wait for the adults to come rescue us.

“Think you can transform again?” Ajax asked. A part of me wondered if he was genuinely curious or if he just wanted to use my deer fur to dry off and keep warm.

“No, I’m still not sure how I transform back,” I answered.

Inside the ruins I saw no trace of spider tracks and the giant lizard seemed satisfied with its breakfast, staying back instead of following us. I was beginning to feel cold as the feeling of shock I felt hitting the water disappeared. Pan and Ajax were shaking and I decided to try and use another one of my mother’s abilities to warm us up. Instead of casting a Fire Bolt from my palm or sniping with my hands I concentrated on creating a spark just above my palm and holding it there.

Closing my eyes I pictured the flame dancing in the palm of my hand. My mother, talented as she was, could make the flame take different shapes but the best I could do was make it flicker like a match. She had used the flame and shadows to tell me stories. When I finally got it going we gathered around the flame and let it warm our bodies and dry our clothes. Checking our supplies we had little left other than some rope, fishing wire, an empty canteen and at the bottom of the bag a small piece of flint and wet charcoal.

Finally, something was going right. Fire danced around my palm and warmed us as we stared at the marking on the wall around us. They looked like they were murals. Aged too long to make out.

The downside to all this, besides being lost, the moment we stopped pressing forward through the tunnels I began to feel my stomach growling.

And I was just hungry enough to eat a bug.

Filling up we continued moving through the ruins until we reached one of the inner sanctums. It was enormous. As open and tall as the sky towers that lay scattered across the world. In the center was a large statue. A draconian creature of some kind. We were inside a lost shrine.

“An elder dragon,” Ajax said. Pan coward behind him as we both stared at the large carvings on the wall and looked back at the giant statue.

“Is it real?” Pan asked frightened.

“No, its a statue, the real one was slain a long time ago,” Ajax affirmed her.

I wanted to say something more but looking at the statue I couldn’t help but feel a resemblance between it and the dragon that swallowed me. Any problems I had remembering my past life seemed to fade away completely as I stood there in awe.

“But mommy said the Kudlak has a pet dragon and…”

“We don’t need to worry about that, we’ve got a krsnik with us anyway, isn’t that right Kai,” Ajax smiled. He wanted me to reassure his sister but I really wasn’t sure how. I was born as the enemy of the Kudlak, sure, but I had no control over my powers. Even my mother had given up the fight against the creature.

“That’s right,” I smiled, “and if a dragon appears I’ll slay it!”

“Promise,” Pan cried.

“I promise,” I smiled again.