Caracara's Hunt

He tried to gain control of something, but there was nothing for him to latch himself onto. His body didn"t exist. He was nothing more than a mind floating in nothingness. It reminded him of how he felt when he lost consciousness before his ether form took over, and he fought back with all he had.

This time, he wasn"t going to be just a pa.s.senger. He wanted to be the one in control. Wasn"t all of it happening in his body? Why did he have to leave then?

With gritted teeth, he weathered the raging waves of pain and held onto himself with iron determination. He could neither see nor hear anything, so he focused on the only thing that he could—his conviction to save his friends.

They needed his help, and if he wanted to a.s.sist them, he had to be in control. The ether was not their friend. It would kill them just like anyone else.

Another wave of pain crashed into him, almost sending him over the edge. More and more ether rushed into his body, filling him up to the brim. But there was still more ether surging into him.

It broke something, some kind of barrier before exploding with an ear-shattering boom. As the center of it, Arawn knew he wouldn"t make it. He had… self-destructed.

Yet his mind didn"t scatter. Extreme heat rolled over his body, melting his skin and sending streams of pain through him, but he somehow remained alive. Despite all the mind-numbing suffering, his brain remained awake and alive.

With a jolt, he landed on the ground. His eyes flew open, and he looked down. Instead of his hands, he saw two paws with singed off black skin. There were red hot blisters on them, and in places flesh could be seen.

The sight of melted flesh sickened him, and his stomach roiled, but his mind was distracted at that moment by what he had just seen. With a deep breath, he glanced down again. It hadn"t been a trick of the light—he really had paws which had once been covered in black fur. It had burned off, but traces of it could still be seen.

Excitement surged through Arawn. He jumped to his feet and howled in joy. He had succeeded! Despite having no idea how to change, he managed it on the first try, and he even retained his mind!

His celebration was cut short though by his back leg giving up on him. He glanced back and saw an open wound on it. Most of the skin around it had melted away, and burned flesh could be seen. Now that Arawn paid attention, he could even smell cooked meat.

This time, he couldn"t hold it in and vomited on the side. There was almost nothing in his stomach, so he mostly gagged and spit a few times.

He wasn"t sure how he was even still moving. The pain should have been debilitating, but he only felt some discomfort. If it wasn"t for his eyes that swore to him that he was badly injured, he would not have even noticed.

"Do I not feel pain anymore?"

As he thought about that, he remembered that he had been in a hurry moments earlier. He had also been trapped in an earthen wall.

A quick look around him told him that at least his freedom was guaranteed. He was lying on a huge pile of rubble. The whole earthen stand with onyx reinforced walls had crumbled underneath him.

Strangely though, there wasn"t a soul around him. Had his self-destruction killed everyone? He somehow doubted that. It was impossible that the king and the archmage would have went out so easily. From the way they trapped him, he had a newfound appreciation for their skill and trickery.

This reminded him of Corwal. With worry, he checked his surroundings, but he could find no sign of his friend. Under normal circ.u.mstances, Arawn wouldn"t worry about him, but it had been self-destruction, and Corwal had been right beside him. Even if it was him, could he survive an explosion that could level a whole building and its surroundings while being right next to its epicenter?

As worried as he was, Arawn didn"t have time to waste on searching the rubble. While Corwal"s situation was unknown, he wasn"t pressed under some huger ock anywhere close by. Thus, Rain and the rest went higher on the priority list.

With that decided, Arawn took a couple steps. There was no sense of discomfort or unfamiliarity with the new body. It was as if a part of him had always known how to move on all fours.

Putting that aside for later consideration, he took in the situation around him for real. The n.o.ble"s stand in which he had been imprisoned had been thoroughly destroyed. He didn"t know if anyone had survived, but the place was nothing more than a pile of dirt at that moment.

The crowd in the stands was desperately trying to get away. People pushed at each other in a panic and ignored anyone who fell. All they cared about was escape.

The civilians in the arena seemed to have similar thoughts, based on their terrified gazes aimed at Arawn, but there were still three large cats around them.Two had been killed in the chaos: one by a shrapnel from the explosion while the other had no obvious wounds for Arawn to tell what had happened to it.

Among the group of survivors, Arawn swiftly located Val, Rain, and Betty. They were dealing with one striped cat while Mutallu and a few other people were facing another one.

In the meantime, the third one was waiting behind a pile of debris. It had stayed there for long enough that everyone seemed to have forgotten about it. At that moment, it chose to pounce into the crowd of defenseless civilians.

Like an arrow shot from a bow, Arawn dashed into the arena. He was still quite high above, but he didn"t care. The shock damage made him kneel, but he rose up and galloped toward the third large cat.

His four long legs ate the distance in a heartbeat, and he was before the animal that had already downed one human and was preparing to go for Eliot. With all the power in his new body, Arawn pounced on the large cat.

His weight stumbled the cat, and he closed his jaws over its neck. Hot blood entered his mouth, and he heard the satisfying crunch of bone breaking. It should have disgusted him, but somehow, all he felt was a primal joy of being the winner, the stronger one.

As he considered that, something flashed by his shoulder. It was gone upon contact, so Arawn looked around himself.

Eliot stood not a meter away from him. The boy"s raised hands were trembling with the remnants of ether on them. He had sent a fireball.

Arawn took a step forward and opened his mouth to calm the boy, but all that came out from his mouth was a low growl. Surprised, he narrowed his eyes and looked at his own snout. The second try was no better than the last. It was as if he had forgotten how to make the right sounds that const.i.tuted speech.

His growls terrified the boy, and Eliot took a step back, into a group of other civilians. They were all watching Arawn with wide eyes, and when they saw Eliot retreating, their fear got the better of them. Their eyes lit up with a strange fire, and one man pushed the boy back.

Eliot hadn"t expected that and stumbled. Unable to catch himself, he fell right in front of the beast that was Arawn. Instinctively, the boy curled into a ball and raised his hands to defend himself. The ether had long ago left them.

A growl left Arawn"s throat. Ignoring Eliot before him, he advanced on the person who had pushed him down. The man screamed in horror and pushed another person in front of Arawn before running away at full speed.

But what was the man"s two-legged run in front of a beast? Arawn jumped over the person thrown in front of him and caught up with the runaway in two bounding leaps. With another pounce, he landed on the man"s back and lowered his head. His jaws were already open when he realised what he was doing.

"No!"

He jumped away like he had been burned. What was he thinking attacking a random person? That wasn"t why he had wanted to change!

Shaken a little, he went for the striped cat fighting his three companions. Their expressions went white upon noticing him, but he had already expected that. Without speech, he was no different from any other beast. Even if his coat were shinier or his legs longer than those of normal beasts, how were his companions supposed to know that without seeing him like this before?

The large cat had already suffered a couple direct hits and was slow to react. Arawn tore its throat out and went for the last animal. It had noticed the fate of its packmates and tried to run away, but Arawn was much faster.

Where ether made him feel like he was bursting with power and needed to use it up before he exploded, being a beast was a different sensation. It was also empowering, but in a more natural way. He felt like he stood at the top of the evolution pyramid.

His claws could slice through anything, his long legs could catch up to anyone, and his hide could resist any attack. No one in the world was his opponent. Even his senses were a dozen times sharper than those of humans; he could hear the beat of everyone"s hearts despite being fifty meters away from them.

The idea of any animal resisting him was simply ludicrous. The large cat died, and Arawn licked his lips to clean the blood staining them. The salty taste was strangely intoxicating, tempting him to try more.

Arawn dug his claws into the ground. What was wrong with him? He wasn"t going to drink blood! What kind of disturbing thought had that been?

To distract himself, he bounded over toward the surviving humans. Mutallu and the other fire mage sent their fires at him, but Arawn didn"t bother dodging. Instinctively, he knew that they wouldn"t do him any damage. His black hide wasn"t just a pretty accessory.

When the attack didn"t work, the civilians ran. The mages had been standing until then, but upon noticing that they were alone, their resolve crumbled. In a few moments, only Arawn"s companions and two other people remained. One of them was a fighter and another an earth mage.

All of them looked exhausted, but Rain motioned for them to take up a fighting stance, and they followed. They would fight not because they needed to defend the civilians, but because they were going to die either way. When in such a situation, they preferred to go out fighting.

Arawn looked over them with a frown. He had no wish or reason to fight them. Somehow, he had to make them understand that it was him.

No one moved while he puzzled over the problem. With speech out of the question, everything became a lot more complicated. Annoyed, he clawed at the ground. What could he do? Would they think it was him if he frolicked around like an idiot?

For some reason, he doubted that. With how crazily people abhorred beasts, he had a feeling every action of his would be taken as some sort of evil summoning.

His eyes went down to the claw marks on the ground, and a thought struck him. He retracted all claws but one and attempted to write his own name. It was hard enough with a feather pen, and the claw was a tool that was a dozen times worse. Arawn also no longer had a flexible wrist to shift the position of his hand.

When he finished, he took a step back to look at his masterpiece. It was so horrible even he couldn"t read what he had written. Were those even letters? He wasn"t sure about that.

On his third try, Rain went forward with her hands lowered to look as unthreatening as it was possible. She gave him a long look and asked, "Arawn?"

Joy surged through him, and thoughtlessly, he jumped toward her. She dived down, and the earth rose before her in defense. Arawn stopped a meter or so away in embarra.s.sment. He hadn"t been planning to attack her, just come closer…

In a flash of inspiration, he lay down and put his head on his front legs. In a few moments, Rain poked her head from behind her cover to check why she hadn"t been attacked, and Arawn looked at her with a pitiful gaze. It was hard to resist the temptation to try to speak, but he was sure it wouldn"t be received well. His teeth were a little too sharp to be a comforting sight.