20 NIGHT OWL

Monday Afternoon July 11th, 2240 ATE. Northern SkyHaven Outskirts, The Grey's Cabin…

Claude didn't know it at the time, but he'd been in the Infirmary for two days. The Astral Realm journey that started the second his face hit the floor in the real world, continued on for two days. And it felt like minutes.

He spent Sunday night eating all of the leftovers in the fridge that he could manage without puking. Somehow, he'd gained an even worse relationship with the act. He feared closing his eyes meant he'd see himself barfing slimy black demon-locusts while Anubis laughed and cheered from the pyramids.

So, he didn't sleep.

It was easier to pull off when you just woke up from a miniature hibernation. Plus, Claude had new breathtaking ways to occupy himself.

He sat in the grass fields. His father's cabin at his back. The smell of dinner from hours ago still spun from the half open windows and made him salivate as he held his hands over the earth.

Sizzling meats. Sautéed veggies. The golden brown seared ends gave it a burnt after-scent the held it all together.

But those smells weren't the most important.

He focused on the grass. It tickled his knees as he sat cris-crossed. As early morning winds blew unseen pollen and debris, goosebumps danced on his skin.

The reaching sensation was so foreign, he laughed the first few times he did it.

He laughed now. A small quieted giggle in a massive forest.

All the while, he reached. With unseen— nonphysical hands.

He reached for the grass, beneath the dirt and into the roots until he could feel a nexus of power seated below.

It was warm on his unseen hands. In his minds eye it glowed like the stars hanging over him. As he reached closer it grew hotter. It was slippery. Hard to grasp, harder to manipulate and influence. It was profound.

He'd seen, played with and even ate them, daily. And only now he could see the seeds for what they were.

Pure power.

The start of life.

He gasped, exhaling tiredly as sweat beads dripped from his head.

"Still can't…" Claude opened his eyes. No new flower stood before him. Only the grass. Frosty slept beside him, snoring like a dreaming giant.

Claude reached again, this time with his eyes open. He wanted to see it. He wanted to know it was him. He was Reborn. He had what he read about for hours on end. For years.

Twisting spirals of fiery green energy flowed from his hands. It soaked into the earth. He didn't let it penetrate the dried dirt. He let it knit and twist through the green blades of grass.

The sun rose.

Winds blew, falling on his ears like music.

It was music. The wind had stopped, but the unique— weirdly far away, tune persisted. It felt nice. Bizarre, but nice.

All around him the grass exploded with growth, placing him and Frosty in a specific section of long grass now as thick as his fingers and up to his waist in height.

The music faded. He didn't remember standing up, but there he stood.

Frosty shook loudly as he stood in the long grass and yawned.

"My bad."

Frosty groaned and stamped the long grass into a bed before laying back down.

Claude remained standing. The magic was no more, but a strange connection grew between him and the grass blades.

The feeling started as a faint tingle in his fingers. It reminded him of magnets, the closer he got to touching the thick blades of grass, the more they reached for him.

Eventually, he touched one. Each as thick as his finger and tougher than low quality leathers.

The blade wrapped his finger like a snake, coiling and climbing until his entire arm was bound. In fact, if he squinted his eyes hard enough in the early morning darkness, it looked exactly like a snake. All the way down to…..

"Woah…" Claude mumbled as the binds began to change colors, shifting from scalish blues and browns to sun-rise yellows. He stored the change and what it could mean at the back of his mind as the wrapping continued.

It wasn't haphazardly either. Even as more blades of tough leathery grass wrapped his legs and midsection. It moved like it understood human anatomy, forming strengthening folds around his joints and opening up over his elbows and knees for both freedom of movement and pain relief. He'd seen Ms. Callisto do similar wrappings on students after a rough spar.

Claude could've slapped himself, "Right…. That's exactly why it's doing that…."

He brought his arm up to the rising sun in the distance, studying how it changed colors by way of his thoughts and the smallest donation of mana to shift the biological signatures. "It's my element…."

It felt good to say.

Even better to test the limits of.

He cleared his mind, taking himself back to when he first used his beast taming abilities. Back to when he first saw his human nails transform into feline curled claws.

The grass wrappings around his fingers sharpened and shifted, sucking essence and seedlings from the grass still connecting him to the ground at his feet. In seconds, makeshift plant claws stuck out from each finger, fit with tiny savage barbs.

"So there's limits. Or variations depending on the biome….. Cool." Claude noted. "Let's keep going."

***

Hours passed by in a blur of both child-like wonder and violent experimentation. He didn't let his malicious sickness impede on what progress could be made in his spare time.

He tested the density of the grass armor, slashing it with swords and shooting it with arrows.

As he guessed, it was about as good as decent quality leather armor. Only lighter… and free of cost. He stopped his tests early because the music that came with the use of his element began to take a harsh turn. It also became harder to grow the grass…

So he moved on. For entirely too long, he tried and failed in growing specific species of flowers and manipulating the branches of the trees surrounding his cabin. Like the seeds, it was something beyond his current skill.

Slightly defeated, he moved on.

Evidently, he wasn't very talented with his element.

It only made him dive into understanding his other abilities with a bit more passion.

"Ok Frosty, let's try again." Claude said as he stood in the forest. A river rushed behind them, but no deer drank.

Too many predators around.

Frosty got up from his seated position. He took a focused stance. Legs wide and flexed. Tail pointed to the orange early morning clouds above.

Claude activated, (Beast Trait).

Unlike manipulating nature, the magical start of it all went unseen.

The white hair running along Frosty's back stood on end as a primal tethering began connecting them in mind and body. In flashes, he saw massive orcs covered in dense brown fur, sporting jeweled tusks and leashed pitwolves. Then he saw the orcs dead and the pitwolves fighting amongst themselves in horrific bloody dominance wars. He saw himself amongst them.

Then it was over and things had already changed.

Claude felt the colors of the world fade as his other senses magnified. None better than his nose. It grew so sensitive, the smell of berries to his left made him sneeze from their tart-like sweetness.

When he opened his eyes, he felt like he was in a new body.

The grass light-armor had grown so tight it snapped in a few places around his glutes, back and shoulders where the musculature increased. Already, it was reconnecting like a healing muscle fiber.

Frosty pulled him out of his observations as he began to bark and spin in excitement. Like he was finally seeing one of his own again.

He quieted when Claude didn't return the favor. The two began circling each-other as Claude properly scented Frosty for the first time.

It took no longer than ten seconds, but Claude obtained a whole list of information in three sniffs.

"Excited….. young— used to drink formula and live near a cave…. Hungry." He wasn't surprised. "Canines identify things about eachother all the time by butt sniffing. It's unfortunate that the chemical secretion glands for information are in that area but oh well…. And since I can smell it…" Claude grabbed his face.

His jaws were larger. His nose stuck out of his face in a way that gave him a blocky sort of proto-snout.

"I think I gained some new organs for scent detection." Claude took his hand from his face, ignoring the thick black claws on each finger as a deer urinated six miles south.

Frosty looked at Claude, then in the direction of the smell.

"You did say you were hungry."

They were moving in seconds. But so much was said.

He knew who was taking the lead— who'd strike first, how many more were nearby and even the best path to take.

That left them with taking a detour around the cabin to avoid the winds alerting the prey to their scent. If his dad woke up, he'd probably have a heart attack.

They were back in the forest circle in a flash. Claude hopped and ripped through the foliage. Frosty zig zagged around the oak and birch trees beside him. Ray flew above the canopy carelessly the whole way.

It didn't take long to reach their target. Even with his sickness. Especially since the forest thickness was growing…. thin.

He crouched in a bush— nearly fully camoflauged from his grass wrappings. Frosty stood low, beneath a felled evergreen on the other side of the deer.

The green all around them for the last two miles was scarce compared to everywhere else. She'd been eating well. Too well. His nose told him she wasn't the only one. There was at least five more doing their best to wipe out the plant-life for miles around.

"Focus."

She was large— not a regular deer. Primal blood ran through her veins, giving her the strength made in a world almost as harsh as Claude's own.

Almost.

He shared a look with Frosty.

Immediately, the pitwolf darted out from under the fallen tree, barking so loud Claude's skull shook.

The stunned deer took off in Claude's direction mindlessly.

He was already tearing his way out of the bushes. Instinct took away any first time anxiety he might've had as the beasts musky post urine odor invigorated him entirely.

The two collided like warriors in battle. One, no more than one-hundred and forty pounds, the other….

At least four-hundred pounds.

When the deer hit him, they crashed on their sides. Its thick knobby knee dug into his midsection as it scrambled, knocking the wind out of his lungs and cracking two ribs.

(-30 HP)

(50/85 HP Remaining!)

He held on, adrenaline and canine power making the damages painless.

In one violent movement, he lunged, biting into the frontside of the deers neck while digging his hand and feet claws into its body. The blood was sweeter than honey. With his grip planted, he took a deep shaking breath and rolled.

Now that it was upright, the deer planted its feet, struggling as Claude gnawed and wrestled the creature.

He knew he wouldn't win. That wasn't the game plan.

A massive weight sent them all tumbling back to the earth. Claude's ribcage begged for mercy.

(-10 HP)

(40/85 HP Remaining! You are approaching critical health!)

"Cmon, Frosty!" Claude thought.

Then, the smell of spinal fluid filled the air.

Frosty ended things quick from his seat on the deer's back as he bit down on its spine until a snap echoed through the woodland.

[+100 EXP]

[+1 Strength]

Frosty hopped off the deer and pulled it away from Claude, ignoring the kill to check him with a barrage of sniffs and licks.

"I'm good. I'm good." Claude sat up and groaned from the pain in his ribs. "Damn… maybe not."

Frosty whined and pressed his nose into Claude's forehead.

"I'm joking— relax."

Frosty sneezed and walked over to the deer, barking quietly before stamping a paw on its head.

Claude gave a bow from where he sat, "After you."

Frosty bit into the deer's midsection and ripped off a handful of meat and fur to gobble in a frenzy. Ray joined them soon after.

"We really have to work on our hunting strategy…. and my health." Claude said as he remembered them doing something similar with the salmon in the river. He wondered if he was that close to death before…

Despite his injuries and the rusty hunt, he smiled.

"This is something else…"