Soulforge Legacy Series

Yeah, there is only so much my stats can do when chasing two fucking monsters. An hour in, and I was huffing and puffing as I tried to keep up. At least I could assume they weren’t testing me, given that none of the buildings or streets were ones we had passed before.

Actually, that isn’t entirely true. Well, it is true that none of the streets were the same, but they could have been leading me down parallel streets for all I knew. God, I needed to find a map of this place. Preferably before I died from a lack of oxygen.

Slowly, the buildings started to morph. Shifting from rows of skyscrapers to more moderate buildings with a bit of land around them. Almost reminding me of suburbia, only with more dirt and fewer weeds forcing their way through the pavement. Not that the latter was all that nice. If not for images of the past, I would have thought those places were built as slums.

Still, this place wasn’t like that. Each of these buildings were well maintained and the dirt populated with gardens and orchards. Some of the fruits looked ripe and ready to pick.

Unfortunately for me, and fortunately for the owners of said fruits, the two continued to run. On and on we went until even suburbia started to give way to a more rural landscape. With the lack of anyone to care for it, weeds and other plants grew more and more numerous until there wasn’t a sign of the earth.

High above, branches shifted and swayed. Pulled along as the wind danced through the leaves. The sound made me want to stop. To sit down and simply listen. Hear the various creatures zip across the branches or scamper around the ground in search of food.

Slowly, the forest parted to reveal a massive structure. While it was tall, the trees around it dwarfed its four stories. But what it lacked in height, it made up for in every other way. If I didn’t know better, I would have assumed this was the mansion of a rich mogul.

Of course, it kind of helped when at least a couple dozen kids ran across the yard. And there was even more that could be heard playing nearby. Well, the younger kids were playing. The older ones were either training hard or, in the case of those near any girl, they were showing off.

And standing amongst the chaos was the man Pendragon had brought to meet me. I didn’t even notice his sudden disappearance from my sight. Though judging by how the people around him slowly stopped to look at him, they didn’t see him move either.

It was slow, like a wave, yet the more the wave spread, the more it grew until everyone was looking in his direction. With a single hand, he silenced the clearing. Kids could still be heard in the distance, but otherwise, only my harsh panting filled the utter silence. Like the world itself was stopping to take notice of this man and what he had to say.

“Members of the pack. Visitors.” The man looked pointedly at Pendragon. “I, Liam Armstrong, have the honor of introducing the newest shifter to visit our fair lands, Kyren Vulpier. As everyone here has done before and others will do when their time comes, she is here to learn to shift. How to communicate with, bond with, work with, and live with the beast inside.”

With those words, the makeshift welcome ceremony ended and people started to chatter amongst themselves. It wasn’t all that surprising that the majority of the adults hung back. Likely assessing me in an effort to figure out if I was a threat or not.

The kids, however, practically charged at me. There were so many that it almost felt like the clearing had shifted under the sudden change in weight. “What are you?” I almost laughed at the first question to reach my ears.

One of my hands reached up to gesture at my ears as I spoke. “A fox.”

“Oh, Aunt Hilda is a fox.”

“So is my mother.”

“I am so jealous. I am just a wolf.” The last voice sounded a bit sad at that.

It took me but a moment to scan the crowd of excited kids to find the one who looked down. “Hey,” an arm wrapped around his tiny frame as I pulled him into a tiny hug. Ignoring the looks that the parents were shooting me. “Don’t be sad about being a wolf. Someone I knew was a wolf and he saved my life.”

So I bent the truth a little. It wasn’t like anyone here knew the truth about that Wolfkin. Nor the events that surrounded our parting. And if I had anything to say about it, I would never see him again. Even if the memory of him kept popping into my head.

“Cool.” The kid’s frown turned upside down as he looked up. “I want to get strong enough to help people too.”

“But you are so weak.” Someone teased.

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

Before it could go much further, I jumped in. “Just because someone is weak doesn’t mean they cannot help others. Or do you think that those making your food or the things you use are not helping you?”

The looks on their faces were precious. It was like they had never thought of it that way, but now that someone pointed it out, it was blindingly obvious. And I was the one who did that. Me. A person who has only rarely talked to anyone less than a decade younger than me. I brought about that revelation.

As the kids continued to think through my revelation, the parents chose that moment to push in. Almost as though the scene had convinced them that I was here for peace and nothing else. That wasn’t true, but I wasn’t going to correct them. Especially if I ended up coming here on my off time. After all, who wanted to spend time at a place where I wasn’t welcome?

“Okay,” someone pulled the kid I had tucked under an arm toward her. “I love this magic. Nowhere on Earth would you find such a unique coloring. And that is just on your ears. I can’t wait to see the rest of your fur.”

Until she mentioned it, I really hadn’t given much thought to the coloring of my ears. Blue wasn’t a fox color. Hell, from what I recall in biology class, blue was one of the rarer colors in nature as a whole. And I mean true blue, not the refracted blue that birds tend to use to appear blue.

Of course, the only reason I knew that was because of some weird metamaterial tests the military tried to deploy in the field. It worked, until it didn’t. Let's just say everyone got the equipment, but no one used it because it was practically useless in the field.

Before anyone else could talk, Liam once again spoke up. “In a few minutes, my daughter Gabriella will lead us in a pack run. Afterwards, we feast.” Cheers exploded from every corner. And while I didn’t know how it was possible, but the cheers on the far side were even louder as a bunch of people gave a girl high-fives and hugs.

All of those around me dispersed as they went to help set up whatever it was they needed to. Or to get ready. Honestly, I had no clue. All I knew was that they left while both Liam and Pendragon made their way to me.

“I have to head out.” The look on Pendragon’s face was interesting. Other than in books and movies, I had never personally seen it, let alone experienced it. “I have a date to plan.”

“Oh, taking that lovely foxy lady of yours out finally.” Pendragon punched Liam in the shoulder hard enough for me to hear it, yet the guy didn’t so much as flinch. “And here I was hoping you would join us in the run.”

“It wouldn’t be as fun as you think.” Something dark passed over Pendragon’s face. As though he had tried to join in such events only to find himself rejected. Maybe even feared.

Liam shook his head. “You might be right. Not about joining us for runs, but not tonight. Not when we have a new shifter. Her beast will panic at the sight of your scaly ass.” They both let out dry laughs before Pendragon took off. Leathery wings appeared on his back moments before he leapt upward. With a few beats, he was gone.

“Your turn.” Liam’s words sent a chill down my spine. I was going to have to shift. A process that will require my body to break and reform various bones and muscles. Even with magic, I doubted any of that would be painless.

In fact, I wanted to turn around. To say fuck this and leave. I didn’t need to shift. I never did before, so why would I need it now? “Actually…”

“Look,” his voice had a slight edge to it as he cut me off. “You are not leaving here until you learn to shift and come to a basic understanding with your beast. And no, I am not forcing the issue because of my deal with Pendragon. An untrained shifter is a danger to everyone around them. One bad moment and you might shift. If you don’t have some sort of control over your beast, you will kill someone.”

When he put it like that, I really didn’t have a chance. That didn’t mean I wanted to. It just meant that I would push through my fears and desires to force myself to do this. To learn how to shift. If only so I didn’t do something I might come to regret. “How?”

“You should have a skill that you got when you transformed. Something that will transform you from your current form into your beastial form.” A hand in the air stopped me from pulling up my window as he continued. “Bear in mind that skill is a crutch. A tool to help teach you to shift. Watch, feel, and learn everything that it is doing. Where your mana goes. Learn every twist and turn that it makes.” A predatory smile split his face as one of his hands turned into a wolf paw with sharp-looking, three-inch-long claws. “Eventually, given time, you can use that information to change any single part of your body.”

That would be nice. While I don’t expect my transformation to be quite as fast, it would be nice to have weapons that I could use no matter what. And maybe I could even use some spells on them to increase the damage they could do. Though maybe not fire. Burned fingers already hurt. I didn’t want to know how it would feel to burn my claws.

Goal in mind, I scrolled through my ever-growing skill list and found nothing. I didn’t have a transformation skill. Which made no god damned sense, as Kitsune were known to shift forms. Plus, I could have sworn seeing one, and it wasn’t like I could suddenly lose skills. Right? So where the fuck was it?