I run as I can, my feet kissing the land hard. Perhaps a little while ago I would have baulked at the idea of running so far and fast, now I relish the prospect. These feet were made to travel at speed and as light as the paws of a lion. Breathing steady, heart strong - this dude was born to run. Well, that was what I was telling myself at least. My feet were figuratively throbbing in exhaustion.

Well, it was either that, or let myself be torn to pieces by a bunch of ketchup looking, and steroid filled lizards, and I wasn't gonna let that happen.

“Slow down, love! I can't catch you if you keep running”, I hear a sweet voice say a few meters behind me. The voice sounded like it was from an angel. Sure sucks that the lizards were saying it.

“Not gonna happen”, I shout. Currently, we were in a stalemate. By multicasting the speed enhancement on myself continuously, I was able to outrun the lizards. But, they were always hot on my trail, making shortcuts through the terrain. For every fifty meters, I had to run, they had to walk ten.

“Gotcha bitch!”, I hear one of the lizards shout from above. Sighing silently, while continuing to run forwards, I once again shapeshift my fingernails into sharp claws. When it neared my head, I did a quick slide to the right and cut right through the things neck. Easy.

What wasn't easy, though, was picking up speed again. These attacks were slowing me down, and I knew I had to do something. But what could I do?

Taking a sharp turn to the right, I jump down a hill, ending in a roll. Then it was running again, this time having a little breathing space. Those things took their sweet ass time getting down.

Now, what to do?

I couldn't hide, of course. They had my scent, and, from what they had said, they would be unrelenting in their search. Then, what to do?

Then it clicked in my mind as if it had been the most obvious thing in the world. Looking to my left, I see a very steep hill, standing all alone in the land. There was no hill tall enough around it.

This could probably work… maybe.

I just had to start immediately, or I would have no chance of succeeding.

We had chased the human for a while now, and it hasn't slowed down one bit since the chase began. It was unusual, with the prey usually slowing down after an hour. This one didn't, though. That is, until now. Maybe the jump down the hill had injured the human. That was the main theory between us. Maybe it was something else. We didn't care really. All we cared about was the meal in front of us. We had to be fast, though. First to get to it got the biggest bite, and we all wanted it.

The human had sought refuge on a hill, probably hoping to have a refuge from us. Stupid things. We were fast, no matter the terrain when needed. Especially, when it came to food.

Rushing up the steep hill, every foothold was used constantly. Some of us tried to climb over the others, hoping to get a small advantage in distance. Not all of us could hold on, leading to some falling to their deaths. Didn't matter. They would resurrect in a day or two, just like last time and the time before that.

That was the time that the human finally moved. Before, it has been sitting cross-legged on the ground, with sweat running down its body. Now, it was standing up, most likely looking down on us. The sweat was gone as if it had ´never been there in the first place. That wasn't natural. The human had done something, but what was it. Its smell wasn't- wait, yes it was.

But why would the human smell of-

Before the thought was even finished, all of the remaining lizards burned up in a glorious fire. Soon, they would rise again, with fear of that fire constant in their bones.

It had taken a good chunk of my reserves, but I had done it. I had killed all of the living burned-ketchup lizards.

Now, you may ask, how did you do it? Well, to answer that, we have to go back to a couple of days, where my training with Metis actually began.

After finding the search futile, she had decided to teach me the basics of instantaneous full-body Shapeshifting. That meant doing partial-body Shapeshifting over a longer period of time.

Starting me off, Metis gave me one of the easiest, in her opinion and not mine, pattern to learn. The pattern of an Elemental. A Fire-Elemental.

While I couldn't turn into one of these things fully in any sense of the word, I could still do a Partial-Shapeshift, most of the time, if I had enough time to concentrate.

The Pattern itself for the Fire-Elemental itself wasn't that hard to do. If I wanted to change my hand into that of a Elementals, I wouldn't even have to deconstruct my hand. I just needed to move the pattern into the Support-Pattern, and make a few gateways for some nerve lines. The Elementals hand would then be where my hand was original, perfectly usable for me. Just yesterday, I had mastered it to the point of doing it instantly.

The hard part of doing all this was something else. Instead of replacing any Patterns, I had to reinforce them to the point of being resistant to the Fire-Elementals passive fire. If I didn't, I would almost instantaneously receive some serious burns on my arms and body, and that wasn't exactly painless. But, still, learning from your own mistakes was supposed to make you smarter, right? Cause if I had been counting right, I should be on the levels of Einstein by now.

Focus, now, or you're gonna fail. We both know what that will entail.

Of course. Wouldn't want to have it end like last time. I shudder even thinking about it.

Right. Now, get back to work. They are here.

Fine. I was almost already done. All I needed was the fine-tuning of the mana-disposal Pattern. It was what the Elementals used to choose how much Mana to use in attacks. Without it, it would just be an on and off switch. No power or maximum power.

Hurry. They are coming.

Shush, now. I really need to concentrate on this shit, or I won't make it in time. This needed to be here to- no, it needed to be here or this wouldn't… Shit. I need to rewrite this. How long do I have?

Twenty seconds maximum.

Bullocks. Don't have the time. Seems I have to work with what I've got. Well, I at least I can aim it.

Putting the last touches on the Patterns, I finalized them, with a sizeable dent instantly appearing in my Mana Reserves.

There goes the Mana for the second floor. This better work.

Trust me it will.

Standing up, I look down at my wannabe killers. They were rushing towards me, like a beast unfed for many years. Bloody Disgusting.

Unfurling my flaming hand, I aim it towards the middle of the pack. Oh, how this was going to hurt. Pressing down the mental trigger, I readied myself for the drain.

In the first second, there was nothing, as if time had simply stopped in its tracks. In the next, though, everything happened. The fire was gushing out of my hand as if it was the fourth of July. The lizards were screeching in the unnatural tones. their agony being clearly heard. Some tried to escape the flames, but they too were quickly silenced by the heat. I left the flames on for a few seconds, making sure that the lizards were fully turned to a crisp. With the stones beginning to glow from the heat being released, I finally turned the flames off. With the drain of the spell, my remaining reserves had been halved by a few seconds of attacking.

Damn. Note to self: Never anger an Elemental. Ever.

I looked around, making sure no damn lizards were trying to sneak up on me. I wasn't going to die by a sneak attack after that beautiful display of pure power. Seeing nothing but the melting stone, I began the walk back to my group.

I still had duties to fulfil, after all.