Author's Note

Apologies for any spelling or grammar errors, apparently my ability to type has taken a downward curve. I also apologise for taking so long to write this chapter as I ended up getting distracted by some personal projects and forgot, I also got heatstroke but that's less of a problem.

Anyways I hope you enjoy and stay hydrated, please leave a comment I live for them.

Temptations

I awoke with a gasping, raspy breath, when had I fallen asleep? I looked around with a frantic gaze, I was easy prey if anything could have snuck up on me while I was sleeping. Blue flowers filled my vision and spread across a clearing almost a hundred feet across. They smelt calming with a familiar scent that I couldn’t place in my fractured memories. Their smell brought back the memories of last night with shocking clarity. With a shaky paw, I reached up and removed my mask, my armor fading with a flicker of blue fire. Gently and expecting pain I ran a single tail across the area where the manticore had slashed my neck.

I had been expecting open wounds, instead, there was a set of neat raised lines still sensitive to the touch, furrows rent into my fur but not my skin. Had I healed somehow? They felt like old scars. Quickly I checked my side, and where a set of claw marks once pierced my side was also simple scaring. Hell, even my armor seemed unmarred from where it had been torn.

Taking a minute to think I eventually concluded that I either had a regeneration factor of some kind or the blue flowers had healing properties. A general examination of where I was lying told me that the wounds had persisted for a while after I had passed out. The area was seeped with blood and the smell hung heavy in the air. Slightly disturbed I also noted that the flowers that were near it seemed to be healthier and taller than the rest. Had they absorbed the blood somehow and gotten stronger?

Shaking my body in a futile attempt to clean the crimson stains from my fur I walked to the edge of the clearing. I began walking the perimeter examining the moist soil at its edge. I stopped at the sight of several animal prints, while most were wolf prints there were also signs of something reptilian, and a large set of tracks that I assumed belonged to the manticore from last night. Not a single set of tracks moved past the edge of the clearing, it was like the creatures of the forest were scared of it somehow. Was it the flowers? They hadn’t done anything to me, at least not in any way I could detect. I felt fine, hell better even so maybe it was some kind of magic that kept away non-sapient creatures.

Reaching down with a tail I gently plucked one of the petals from a flower and brought it up to my mouth. I let it rest on my tongue. The taste was, interesting to say the least. A sweet honey-like taste mixed with cinnamon that reminded me of a tea that someone used to make for me. I couldn’t remember her name or face, but she was important somehow. My mother or a sister perhaps, I was sure that it was someone I knew when I was young. Tears fell as a deep longing filled me for a moment.

I decided to lay there at the edge of the meadow for what felt like an hour just trying to remember memories of people I no longer knew, a deep pang echoing in my chest. I doubt I could go back and find anyone I left behind. Was there someone out there who mourned my loss, I wondered who would report me dead or missing first, my family that rarely came around, some random stranger?

God I hope it wasn’t going to be those kids who came around for a quiet place to play D&D, the last thing they needed was to see my mangled corpse. Their home lives were already strained and I did not want to be the cause of even more trauma. My shop was out of the way and in a downtown back alley, so it was a fifty-fifty chance that someone even bothered to call the police for the gunshot. Silently I wondered if the robber had regretted killing me, had I been his first, or had he killed before.

I was shaken from my thoughts by the sound of growling, I looked around startled only to realize that it had been me, more specifically my stomach. I let a small smile form across my muzzle, leave it to me to scare myself. I pulled some of the spare fruit from my bag, they would do for now, but I would need to catch something that had meat at some point. I found it somwhat odd that whatever power decided on this new body had given me all the instincts needed to move and run but none of the ones needed to hunt.

The sun had risen just above the tree tops, I knew that if I wanted to escape this forest I would need to get moving but I was hesitant to leave the Meadow. It was the first safe place I had found. What if I couldn’t find something by the time night fell again? There was also something comforting about the flowers, something that drew me to this place and made me want to rest and relax. I did eventually manage the will to leave the clearing, I decided to take some of the flowers with me a large bundle that I kept in my bag. I wanted to see if I could use them to keep predators away. I frowned at the thought of getting in a fight with another manticore, the first one had nearly ripped my throat out.

My walk through the forest was a bit more successful than the last, now that I had time to get a bit more used to my senses and let my mind calm I was finding more than enough edible plants, blackberries, salmonberries, and chicken of the woods all got added to my bag. At the very least I was unlikely to starve. I even managed to find a small river. The freshwater tasted like the finest of ambrosia, if it weren’t for the fact that I didn’t have any idea what might live in said river I probably would have taken the time to see how well this body could swim. It turned out to be a wise choice. A bit further down the river sat a massive turtle, it was bigger than me and had the general profile of an alligator snapper.

I made sure to give the beast a wide birth before continuing to follow the river downstream. I wasn’t going to leave a source of fresh water without good reason, new body or not I would still die if dehydration faster than starvation. Though even starving was unlikely if I could stick to the river. There was a large abundance of cattails and with enough practice, I could probably catch a few fish with my tails.

I followed the river for what I could only guess was a few miles, I was covering ground faster in my new form than I would’ve been as a human, but my progress was still remarkably slow. The sharp thorns that seemed to be attached to every bush in existence scratched at my armor and Now and then I had to remove said armor because one somehow found its way underneath the chainmail. A part of me wondered why I never got hot or cold. It wasn’t for lack of trying on the world’s part, the forest changed in temperature with a rhythm I couldn’t perceive, being able to see my breath in one part and walking a hundred feet only to realize I could probably cook an egg on a stone was jarring. Likewise, the humidity was strange as well with parts being dryer than Cleopatra’s cunt and others dripping more water than the Congo. The way I figured it, I was probably in fantasy Australia.

It was another hour that I found my first sign of sapience within the forest, though perhaps not the best of signs. Pushing Myself through a bush I spotted the solid stone of an old dilapidated wall. It wasn’t a garden wall or the like, but one of those big walls, the defensive ones you see around fantasy villages and towns. It was around twenty feet tall with a large metal-reinforced gate. I probably would have been worried about finding a way through, if it weren’t full of more holes than the paralysis demon of someone with trypophobia.

The wall was littered with them. Some were bigger than me, others were no bigger than a baseball. When I got closer to one that was more my size I realized the reason that the wall hadn’t collapsed was that the stone inside them had been melted together. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know how much heat would be needed to do something like that. Hot enough that my armor wouldn’t matter much I suppose.

I shudder as I stepped through the wall, the melted stone unnaturally cold and smooth on my paw pads, like frozen marble. The air felt heavy like that feeling one gets just before an electrical storm and my fur felt itchy along my spine, I took another couple of steps and the feeling stopped. I glanced back at the hole, a ward perhaps? The village beyond the wall was gone, for the most part, just some rubble where there were once houses. The only building left was a surprisingly intact well, that sat dead center of the enclosed field.

oddly there were only a couple of trees inside the walls and the grass while almost two feet long was just that, grass. There weren’t any brambles or snapping flowers growing within the wall. The river tapered out into a creek about seven feet wide and maybe four deep, it flowed through a grate next to the gates before turning and making a bending path through the east side of the village and going through an exit grate.

The village wall formed a surprisingly perfect circle, forming what I would estimate to be a kilometer in a radius around the well. Honestly, the village hadn’t given me a haunted vibe beside the wall and it was getting dark, It made sense to rest here, the land was flat beside a few small hills and I still had my flowers. I would lay them out in a circle before I slept.

The way I figured, it would probably be a better idea to take my chance in an area where I could move easily and see my opponent than to get caught in the middle of the forest with my proverbial pants down. As night washed over the sky I took the time to actually look up, this had been one of the first places I could get a decent view. While I couldn’t see the sun I could see the streaks of color that vividly painted the sky in red and purple. I continued to stare, mostly in confusion as the moon traveled to its place in the center of its canvas. It was going faster than any celestial body had the Right to travel before settling dead center of the sky far larger than Earth’s moon. Stars flashed into existence in small explosions of light forming both known and unknown constellations.

It made no sense, my brain rebelled at the sight. How the hell was this planet’s gravity not more fucked than a Bethesda game? Better yet how the hell do the tides work, the waves would be worthy of those cheap B-rated disaster movies. Taking my attention away from the weirdness of this world’s moon I made my makeshift bed. Throwing a decent layer of those strange blue flowers onto the ground and bunching them up into a circular pile. I quickly curled up and laid upon them. My tails rested over my snout as I began to breathe slower. The familiar scent of the flowers relaxed my racing thoughts and caused me to become still. I slowly drifted to sleep wondering if I could make tea out of them. The dammed things worked better than chamomile.

I awoke only to be blinded by sunlight, the scorching rays of that eldritch star piercing my retinas like adamantine spears. Lurching to my feet I swung my head to sweep my gaze over the field that was left in place of the village. No wolves, cats, or other monstrosities in sight. I relaxed and sat still, basking in the sun as I let my mind wake up, the ambient sound of birds and other unknown creatures slowly easing me fully awake. Say what you will about the situation at least it was more pleasant than an alarm clock.

I let a few minutes pass me by, from what I could tell it was probably around eight or nine in the morning, with a sigh I smacked my lips and glanced over at the well. Getting up fully I slowly trotted over to the small circular ring of stone brick that marked the village well, it appeared remarkably preserved, complete with a working winch and a rope and an old but still entirely intact metal bucket. The rope seemed a little frayed near the middle but it seemed strong enough to allow use for its one task.

What were the chances that the well wasn’t dry? The village had been abandoned long enough to allow the wood of the buildings to rot completely away and most of the nails and other such bits rust to the point that they had been ground to dust by time. It made me wonder about the well, why was it not damaged? Magic perhaps, glancing closer revealed small runes carved into the base stones of the well. They were different from any set I knew from my previous life and from the ones that decorated my armor.

Gently as to not accidentally break the ancient gears I used my tails to lower the bucket to the bottom of the well, the wench squeaking as the old mechanism turned. A soft plop echoed up the well and I sighed in relief as the bucket splashed into the water at the bottom. Just as carefully as when I lowered it down, I began raising the bucket back up, when the bucket finished its ascent I examined the water it held. It seemed normal yet there was something off about it.

The water was clean for well water, it smelt slightly earthy but didn’t have any foulness to it. I stared at it hard for a few minutes before noticing that its shimmer was odd, what I had been mistaking for sunlight reflecting off if the surface hadn’t been sunlight. The water produced a distorted band of light on its own. I debated whether to risk the well water or just go drink from the creek before remembering that I technically had another sense I could use to examine the liquid.

Silently I set the bucket on the ground and began to repeat what I had done back in the tree when I had been surrounded by timberwolves, with effort I tried to feel for the water with my magic, stretching it from my body and imagining throwing it the same way a fisherman throws a net. I got more than I bargained for, the entire grounds of the village reeked of magic, the imagery of a giant protective net coming to the forefront of my mind, like a mosquito net.

I reigned in my focus on the well and tasted, smelt, and felt the sensations of its magic. A twisting ribbon of magic that folded in on itself constantly renewing and flowing, a sensation of fresh growth and old secrets filled my mind drowning my thoughts with old hopes and whispered dreams, the scent of iron and smoke filled my nostrils, and blood washed over my taste buds. It was too much I had to stop, “enough, stop, stop.”

With a wailing shriek, I yanked my mind back to my body, stumbling back from the well. My eyes were wide as I took great heaving breaths, it felt like I was drowning, as some primordial force had sucked its claws into my skull and pulled my face into the bucket of water before me. I didn’t know what it was but the well radiated mana, called to something deeper within me. A siren’s song to my magic and soul, it was both dangerous and intoxicating. It scared me more than I wanted to admit. What would happen if I gave in?

My mind raced with ideas of what it could be perhaps it was some kind of mana spring or wishing well. Maybe it was the entrance to the lair of a bound god or some forgotten dungeon, but what I did know was that I wasn’t going to fuck with the newly named whispering well until I had learned more about magic in general. The last thing people needed was a possessed kitsune running around being a horror movie antagonist.

I moved away from the well, the churning power of its waters tempting me to come to look again. I needed to hunt. I was craving meat and I could feel my stomach aching in hunger. The forest felt less chaotic for some reason, the trees and underbrush seemed more welcoming than twisted and a soft wind seemed to blow through the trees ruffling my fur. Maybe the well calmed the nature of the forest around the village, it would certainly explain why the strange wards were still on the wall and why the animals seemed to be avoiding the area in general.

I sniffed the air trying to use my enhanced sense of smell to catch a sent that might belong to an edible animal of some kind, I eventually managed to single one out, a musky scent that reminded me of an unwashed animal though I could identify what kind, I followed it for a while before I saw my prey. It was a wild boar, the pig was digging in the ground trying to unearth some mushrooms, I slowly lowered myself to the ground, back legs bending so I could pounce. I knew I needed to be careful, boar were dangerous and were fully capable of gutting a grown man.

I lunged, and it shot its head up to look at me and squealed. My fangs bit down deep in the base of its neck, it tried to thrash one of its tusks just managing to cut a gash along my left foreleg. In a desperate attempt to kill it, I wrapped my tails around the head and upper neck and squeezed hoping to suffocate it, instead, there was a sickening crack and I gagged in horror as its head exploded like a jar of raspberry preserve. Chunks of bone and brain matter splattered over my face, as I tried to comprehend the sheer amount of gore I had just caused.

I was at a loss for words, had my tails always been that strong? The amount of force needed to crush something like that was staggering. If I had known my tails were so strong I would have been much more confident in my fights before. That had to be an insane amount of psi and quietly wondered just how much muscle was in them.

I shook myself from my thoughts and eyed the now headless boar, it should be fine to eat raw with my current biology right? I mean I suppose I could cook it with fire first, it was kinda dirty. With a now well-practiced flick of a tail, I scorched the boar leaving a fine layer of charred furless flesh. I brought my muzzle down and gave a reluctant sniff, I blinked in surprise. The smell was relatively pleasant and I leaned in fully and took a bite out of the charred boar. I moaned around the meat in my mouth, it was slightly tough but had an all-around pleasant taste. It wasn’t anything extraordinary but it was meat and that was good enough for me, it was bloody but the taste of it didn’t seem to bother my tastebuds if anything it was adding to the flavor. I ate my fill of the boar ripping at the softer belly flesh and thighs until I was full.

When I stepped back from the carcass there was only the upper half and intestines left, I know most animals would have eaten them but I couldn’t bring myself to try. I tore the heart and more flesh out of the corpse and stored it in the bag, it had preserved the fruit and flowers so maybe it could preserve meat too. It would be a game changer if it could given that it would save me having to hunt every other day.

I began wandering back to the village and it’s well when something odd about the undergrowth caught my eye, a gap in the grass and trees, hard to see in with ought looking for it, a path that led off into the forest away from the walls. I almost bounced in excitement paths go to places people frequent. That meant it might lead to another village or a road, maybe a mine. Even another abandoned settlement would be a great boon to me, another place I could take shelter against the forest.

I made sure to drink an excessive amount of water from the river, I did not want to end up dehydrated in this dammed forest. I set myself down the path. I followed it for almost three hours before it spread out and seemed to disappear into a wider better-maintained path. My excitement grew, it being maintained meant actual people, and while somewhat worried how the locals would react to my form, surely they wouldn’t just straight up try to murder me if I was wearing armor.

I followed it well into the evening the light fading gently into a low darkness, I didn’t care, I was determined to get to its end. Something snapped a few twigs in the underbrush behind me. My ear twitched at the sound of something growling. With a deep inhale I slipped my mask over my muzzle, armor forming around my form, the wolves were back, and they were even more pissed than they had been before.

When the first of the wooden lupines lunged at me I intercepted it with a more controlled and shaped blast of fire. The solid sphere of burning mana punched a softball-sized hole in the wolf’s torso. It didn’t even have time to Yelp before it was burnt in half. The second lunged for my back leg, it made it close enough to start closing its jaw before one of my metal ringed tails came down on its center and reduced it to a broken heap of wood and sap. When the third and fourth came from the bushes I realized that they were different from the ones I had encountered before.

The others had been smooth and almost natural looking with moss fur and supple bark for skin, these wolves looked like a druid made an inpatient attempt at golemancy. They were made of sticks and logs and vines pieced and held together by that green magic. I was rudely taken from my observation when wolf three tried to take a bite out of my foreleg, its wooden teeth failing to penetrate the armor but biting down hard enough to feel it anyway.

Wolf four decided that my yelp of pain was a good sign and made a lunge for my throat. Panicked I swung my good paw out in an attempt to uppercut the lunging wolf, my claws catching its upper jaw and flinging the top half of its muzzle off into the forest, it continued its lunge slamming into my chest, causing me to stumble as it shrieked in pain. A fifth wolf decided to reveal itself by jumping onto my back and latching onto one of my ears.

I screamed in pain as several needle-sharp wooden teeth pierced the sensitive flesh of my ears, with a pained heave I reared up and slammed myself back first onto the ground crushing it into kindling under my weight. The wolf that had tried to rip my former off had let go and used my new position to latch on to my inner thigh, a bit too close to bits I didn’t want to be crushed by its jaws, with a soft prayer I slammed my back legs together and squeezed. There was a cracking noise and a soft pop as the wolf’s head was squeezed off.

I laid there panting, that had not been pleasant my leg and thigh were most definitely bruised, though these didn’t seem to bite as hard as the more intact ones, still I quickly caught my breath and lit each of the wooden bastards on fire, those sickly green strands if magic igniting under my power though they much like the wolves themselves seemed diminished.

I stayed and watched as they turned to ash taking the time to rest for a couple hours. The blue flames left by my fire turned a normal color after a few minutes of burning. I did see a manticore as I was resting but it simply stared at me and then went its merry way. When I got up I couldn’t help but wince at the mild pain going through my thigh and hip.

With a blink I remembered that I did have something for pain, with a bit of digging I pulled my sake from the bag, now I don’t normally drink and when I did it was generally something light like a Seagrams or cider, so this was something a bit new to me. Sake was supposed to be strong right? I sighed and tilted the bottle back taking several long gulps, it was surprisingly not bitter and slightly hot which took me off guard. I lowered the bottle with a surprised look, I could get used to drinking this.

I waited a bit for it to kick in and to make sure I didn’t drink too much, I never drank to get buzzed so I didn’t know if I was a lightweight or not. When the pain eased and I determined that I didn’t seem too impaired I continued down the path. I walked for hours till what was damm near early evening before anything interesting happened. I hardly noticed when the trees began thinning out, and the sun became much more relevant. I did however notice when It completely disappeared and I began walking on a proper dirt road rather than just a moist path.

I let out an excited bark as I saw the village in the distance, racing down the path until I found a sign thankfully written in English, so enamored in my excitement I never did see the panicked form fly off towards the village over my head. I was too busy reading.

“What kind of name is Ponyville anyway? It sounds like a cartoon.”