I felt secluded, alone. I couldn't see, I couldn't smell, I couldn't hear. I could just feel. I felt like I was floating. Then all at once I felt myself dividing. Now there were two of me, I could feel both. Then I began dividing rapidly. Gaining complexity as I went. Eyes, ears, a mouth. I was floating in water; a fish. I was breathing fine, then suddenly I couldn't. I swam upwards, I felt air fill my lungs, my fins becoming legs. I grew, I grew fur, feathers, scales, tails. Every time I seemed to turn around I gained something new and lost something else. I became huge, then I steadily became smaller. As I changed I began to recognize features, two arms, rather than legs, a loss of my tail, my back straightening; thumbs. Fur began to vanish, replaced by soft skin. Finally I was recognizably human, and as soon as that happened my mind shot out of my body; traveling ever outwards. I saw the flow, the endless change the paths of evolution. A spiral, running ever outwards. At the crux a form, ghostly similar to the human body; yet not exact. As this information poured into my brain I felt like I was falling again. I saw my own body, felt it being carried.
My eyes shot open. I recognized the man holding me as the same one who had opened the tunnels.
“Ah yer awake! Guess it was a good thing you ran out when ya did.” He said, gently putting me down. “Here, I believe these are yers.” He handed me the gloves; I felt power running through them. As I slide them on my hands, blades shot out from the in between each finger. They only went far enough so that I could only use the in a punch.
I realized I felt stronger now, all those absurd things Pah had done, they felt entirely plausible now. I also felt something else inside me; but rather than tempt fate I left that alone and focused on the other issues at hand. Like where were we?
I looked around, taking in the low ceiling, earthen floors, and musty smell. Then I realized I could smell people, lots of them; all over. The more I focused on my sense of smell the stronger it got. It was amazing, soon I could smell every place someone had taken a step, or leaned against a wall.
“Neko?” Thorium's voice broke me out of my daze. “You're nose is... never mind.”
“What?”
“Just never mind, the guy in charge here is having us hold out here until he can figure out what to do with us.”
“Well, tell him we have information. We should use it to launch an attack.” I said. I regretted it almost immediately, people had gathered around us, and were now whispering furiously.
“Get them out of here!” I heard someone in the back yell.
“We're safe here!”
“It's hell out there!”
“We should just stay here, why risk our lives!” The crowd quickly became a mob. The large man behind me moved past us. He had a grim look on his face.
“Sorry guys, I'm under orders.” He drew an enormous sword from his back. I was still puzzling what his orders were, when Raven barreled out of our group, clashing blades with the larger man.
“Don't you see where this is going?” He said suddenly. “They don't want to fight. None of them do!” Pah grabbed my arm.
“Come on, we gotta show them what we can do.” She said, pulling me past the two swordsmen. I didn't feel like any of this was right, but I did start to understand what was happening. As we moved into the next chamber I was sure, their hearts were dormant. The place had been built like a safe, and the outside world seemed unreal to these people now. Looking behind me, I could see Raven trading blows with the larger man, others might see a brutal fight, but I could tell Raven at least wasn't using any of his full strength. Pah stopped suddenly, causing me to stumble.
Just in front of us was someone I recognized from Pahhur's family; Anatos.
“Move ahead.” She said quietly. “I'll handle this.”
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