I followed Geistig just outside the city. We arrived at an area with no grass, uneven terrain with small craters littered throughout, and a boulder with two people and a raven sitting atop it.

The first person was quite clearly a blue mage. His head was still human, blonde with side-fringe hair and brown eyes. His legs were human too. But his human features stopped there. He had huge maroon wings instead of arms or hands, and his chest was a smoldering black and red turtle shell. Based on his height and face, I’d guess he was my age.

The second person was… An elven child.

I felt a scream nearly claw its way up my throat. Not because I’d have to party with a kid, but because she was an elf. I still have nightmares about the elven suns, and that was my only real experience with the race.

I suppressed the scream, and tried to prevent my fear from clouding my judgment. One bad group shouldn’t condemn the whole race.

“Alright you two. Come on over and meet the newbie.” Geistig called up to them.

The male jumped off the boulder and glided towards us. The girl jumped high into the air and stomped down in front of us. I expected there to be a loud crash as she did so, but she made no sound as she landed. The male bowed at the hip with an ever-so-slight incline and one wing over the other. The elven girl made a curtsy as she pinched her dress.

“Kaz. Blue mage, as you can probably tell.” The male said, reaching his wing out for a handshake.

“Sylas, also a blue mage.” I replied. I don’t know exactly how to shake hands where there wasn’t one, so I settled for just touching my palm to his wing and let him sort it out. He smiled knowingly and curled the tip of his wing against my hand to save me from the awkwardness. I like this guy already.

I hesitantly extended my hand to the girl, repeating my name. She opened her mouth, pointed to it, and shook her head.

“That’s Tishina,” Kaz answered for her. “She’s a warrior. Can’t produce noise as her deprivation. That's why IGAG had to put her in Geistig’s party. She needs a telepath in her party to communicate, and they wanted to make sure they put her with at least a C rank adult to watch over her, given her age.”

“Huh. Wouldn’t have thought the government would put so much thought into it. It’s nice they’re looking out for us, at least.”

“Would be a lot better without the glacial bureaucracy” Geistig commented. I raised my eyebrow at him, expecting an explanation. “You’ll understand soon enough, trust me.” was all he said on that before switching to another topic.

“Sylas, let’s see what you can do. Kaz is a bit out of your weight class at the moment, so go spar with Tishina.”

I expressed my concerns. “I know I’m a beginner, but are you sure it will be fine? Isn’t she like 8? She can’t have much experience either, and certainly not enough to make up the difference in age.”

“Don’t worry,” he smiled, “she can take care of herself.”

“If you insist.” I smiled. An easy victory is fine with me. After all, I have access to a D rank form. “Geistig, I’m about to transform. Can you tell me how long it takes?”

“How do you not already know?” He asked.

“I wasn’t really in a position to go around asking for help, what with not having my body and all.”

“And how exactly is it that you have one now, then?”

“A mistake.”

I envisioned myself taking the form of the Spiderilla. The transformation didn’t feel any slower than it usually was, but it was a lot more intense. My mana drained rapidly, and it felt like I was being torn in two different directions. The voice was back, beckoning me to grow and fight, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle.

“5 minutes” Geistig called.

If only I knew that a while ago. Shorter than I thought it was, but still way too long to use mid-combat. As expected, four of my legs were unworkable. I won’t be able to move from this spot, but at least I’ll be able to fight from here. For a short while, at least.

I could feel my arms absolutely bursting with strength. So much so that the rest of me felt weak by comparison. Actually, I think the rest of me is starting to get weaker. The Barbearian drained my mana from using its mist, but its legs only used a small amount of mana from what I could tell. This form feels like I’m constantly using several times what the Barbearian required. Enough that I think I’m going to run out if the fight isn’t short.

Likely because this form is D ranked, and uses much more mana than the Barbearian did. But then why didn’t Rhannu’s form use so much mana? It didn’t feel like I was automatically strengthening his limbs with mana, unlike this form. Why is there a difference?

Geistig interrupted my thoughts by shouting at us to start.

I squeezed out a few feet of webbing from my spider end. It feels an awful lot like a certain bodily function I haven't had to do since gaining my powers, but more importantly, it’s using a lot of mana to produce. I shouldn’t make any more of it right now, lest it cause me to run out before the fight even starts.

I circled the naturally-braided rope of webbing above my head, and prepared to catch Tishina in it as she approached.

Instead of charging immediately, like most Warriors do, she started to transform.

Her shadow lifted itself off the ground as she wreathed herself in it. It expanded into shadowed whips with mouths and jagged teeth. All of them smiling a hideous smile.

And then she charged at me.

I whipped my web in Tishina's direction, and she caught it in one of her shadow tentacles. I yanked at the rope, making her stumble for half a step. She smacked the caught tentacle against the ground, then made it incorporeal to free it. I didn’t have time to try to yank it free from the ground before she was upon me.

Tishina whipped every shadow tentacle at me at once. I blocked two of them, but the rest wrapped around me. She lifted me off the ground, then slammed me back down. Then again, over her shoulder this time. Again and again. The beating continued, and I felt something drill into my head. She continued her onslaught, laughing all the while.

Wait, laughing? Why laughing? Why am I hearing this in my head? Did Geistig specifically connect us via telepathy, just to show me Tishina was laughing at me?

Between getting slammed over and over, I caught a glimpse of Tishina's face, uncovered by the shadows. Her laughing, elven face.

And my trauma reared its ugly head.

My breathing grew erratic, and I flashed back to the raid. When the Band of Elven Suns slaughtered my village. I remembered the fires. I remembered Johnson's mother carrying me to safety. I remember witnessing my sister’s death as she fought to protect us. I remembered how they laughed. How they skewered Difaru, laughing all the while. And I remember feeling then what I’d always felt. Powerless.

The voice, as well as my own internal rage overcame me. I wedged my arms between the tentacles and pried them off. I fell to the ground, shoved my fingers into the dirt to get a grip, and pushed off of it in the elf’s direction. I slammed both fists down at her, and the elf barely dodged out of the way. The ground beneath me caved slightly, dirt was flung everywhere, and the elf fell over after losing her footing. I grabbed the elf by the leg, and with all the strength I could muster, I yeet the child.

The elf flew through the air over a dozen yards. Just before the Elf hit the ground, its shadow wrapped around it, cushioning the impact. “Again, Again!” I heard it think.

I began to bound after the elf again. Before I could reach it, I felt a weakness in all of my limbs. Out of mana, but I continued on.

“Sylas, enough!” I heard Geistig call out. I felt an excruciating headache, followed by a wave of calmness washing over me.

What… What had I almost done to Tishina?

Geistig shouted at the both of us to stop the match. Tishina pouted, but ultimately complied.

“Tishina, I’m sorry. Geistig, I’m sorry. Thank you for stopping me.” I cried.

“It's alright, kid. I should have stopped the fight earlier.” Geistig consoled me, thinking in a voice much softer than what he spoke with.

“It’s all my fault. It’s that stupid voice inside my head. It's me. I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t stop myself.”

“I know. It’s okay, we’ll work through it together. It’s what I’m here for.”

Geistig shouted out at the others. “Tishina, Kaz, go spar each other while I talk to the newbie. Take your time, we’ll have a lot to discuss.”