“Why in Valkin's name do I need to eat so often.” Thulla complained, still groggy from a bad nap. She stuffed her mouth with one of the leftover nutrient packs. Her jaws moved mechanically to grind the foodbar into bits. Thulla vaguely remembered a time when she enjoyed eating. That joy was lost somewhere along the way. Everything was about stilling the gnawing demands of her stomach now.

She yawned. She was anything but well rested. A muscle was continuously twitching in her left arm. She massaged it, hoping it would stop pestering her. The unease from before hadn't really gone away. That restlessness had kept her awake. The bliss of a deep sleep far out of reach.

Well fed up with everything else, she started practicing her magic. Without her attention the metal coating on her stump had retreated back into her. Thulla focused her will onto it. Slowly it stirred alive. She observed the tiny droplets emerge between her pores. Like small beads of metallic sweat. When the individual drops met, the tension on their surfaces opened up, fusing to form a larger body.

Idly she wondered just how much she could call upon. She adjusted her focus to call for more and more metal. It answered. Slowly a gravity defying blob grew in her hand. She noticed that the more metal she conjured, the more strain she experienced.

Like the suction of a vacuum that resisted with exponentially more force. Until she reached the equilibrium of her force of will, against that void. Several liters of shimmering metal were now blobbing in front of her. A warped version of herself was reflected on its morphing surface. She squeezed her hand, and watched it ripple. Thulla was amazed by the sheer quantity she contained. It was much more than she could have imagined. She let the liquid flow over her hand to form a thin metal coating. By now the strain was getting to her. She let most of the liquid return. Thulla wiggled her fingers. The metal was so malleable that it moved smoothly, just like a second skin. Only when she formed a tight fist did she feel the liquid squeeze.

“Step aside bitches! Who is the most glamorous cave-girl now huh?”

She punched the ground, just to see how it would feel. The liquid metal splattered between the rock and her fist. “Ouch!” She squirmed in pain. “Well this is of no use to me all soft.” She thought: “How do I stiffen this up?” Fully immersed with her new problem she got to work. “Harden!” she sounded her intent. Splat!... Once again it had stayed limp. “Ooh, come on!” She sucked on her knuckles, they were starting to feel tender from all the pounding.

The usual weak rays of light that were leaking through cracks in the rocks were disappearing slowly. Obscured by an approaching shadow. Thulla still in the middle of her magic practice, suddenly noticed the change in atmosphere. She sucked in a breath of air, and held it hostage. Filled with tension she crawled to the stacked wall. “This is bad.” Her thoughts echoed in her head. “Very Ba-” CRASH! The wall trembled from an impact. Just when she was about to get a closer look through one of the holes.

Loose stones came crashing down from the top of the wall. Thulla moved away from the crumbling wall. She scrambled for her utility wand, and put it in one of her pockets. She started covering as much of her body in metal. While charging her right fist with mana for her flashbang spell.

“Valkin Gravita, I speak your name, so please; bless me with your courage. Cillest Alvide, The all-seeing; Watch over me please.” Thulla invoked the name of the old heroes. She had never placed that much faith in the custom before. Yet in this time of need the names inspired her.

Some of the heavier rocks were being smacked aside by long clawed paws. Once the opening was made large enough a beaked head with scaley black feathers breached through.

Thulla didn’t hesitate, she closed her eyes, and let her mana burst out. A bright flash lit up the space. The creature screeched with a deafening high pitch. A disruptive sound wave hit Thulla, her ears popped. She felt the sound reverberate through her body. She wheezed, the metallic taste of blood entered her mouth. Looking up she saw the blinded creature thrashing wildly against the last remains of the rocky wall.

Stunned by the sound wave. Thulla pushed herself to recover first. Her hand grasped for the first heavy rock that was within her reach. She rushed forward to smack it against its head. She hit her mark with a wet crunch. A sharp claw retaliated in response. It slid off her shoulder blade leaving deep gashes in her upper arm. The rock slipped out of her hands.

Thulla gritted her teeth and let herself fall backwards, while she grabbed the slender leg of her attacker. She kicked both her feet into the base of the creature's neck, and started pulling with full force. Sharp rocks dug into the underside of the feathered beast. Its beak clasped at one of her shins. Her bones were creaking to the force of its bite. She kept pulling until she felt something tear. The creature screeched again.

Thulla kicked its head with her free leg in an effort to disentangle herself. It worked, and she managed to scramble away from the beast. She saw it staggering on its clearly injured leg. One of its four eyes had been crushed by the rock earlier. It looked hurt, but not yet ready to give up this fight.

The beak opened and snapped close with hard intimidating clacks. The scaley feathers rose up to make the beast look bigger and even more imposing.

Instinctively Thulla knew that she had to match its ferocity. Right now the beast was apprehensive about facing her, and carefully calibrating a new angle of attack. She reached for her utility wand, set it to fire mode, pushed mana into it, and soon a bright blue flame was hissing bravely at her enemy. The beast reacted by taking a step backwards, unsure about what the bright light would do. Its first experience with getting blinded was still fresh on its mind. However, it soon realised that the little flame was just that; a little flame.

In the little bit of time that bought her, Thulla had formed a metal spike stemming from the stump on her left arm. It was infused with her mana, and shaped by her focused intent. Somehow she felt confident in it. She got up to her feet, the tip of the spike scraping past a fallen rock as she rose her arms up to face her challenger.

The beast lowered its stance. Thulla finally got a good look at it. It was a lithe four-legged animal with an exceedingly long whip-like tail. Mesmerizing lights pulsed over its spine to the tip of the tail. It was slowly swaying back and forth.

The beast attacked right away, when it had noticed that the girl was distracted by its tail. It charged straight for her neck with its terrifying beak. Thulla reacted a little too slow, and failed to counter the attack properly. She only had time to use her spiked arm defensively as the beak bit down on it. Sparks flew off the metal coating. It did hold to the pressure of the bite.

Thulla immediately plunged the burning wand into the throat of the animal. The fire started slowly, burning the feathers away into its supple hide.

She tried to wrestle it down on its flank. The beast had other ideas, and tried to pull Thulla out of the cave instead. A chaotic scramble ensued. Neither of the two were willing to concede, however the beaked beast was simply stronger than Thulla. It had pulled her out of the cave, by now its entire neck and chest area was on fire.

With a crack, the whip-tail hit Thulla across the back, leaving a nasty bloody gash. The beak beast disengaged with a screech. It wanted nothing more than to whittle away at the girl with some well-aimed snaps of its tail. But with the fire licking away at its hide it was on timer. Thulla covered herself in a metal as much as she could. The whip cracking off her armored skin. She kept throwing rocks at it. Most of those didn't hit their mark at all. In the end the attacker chose to run in search of a place to dose its flames.

“Run! You feathered fuck!” Thulla roared on the top of her lungs. Adrenaline was still rushing through her veins. Her mana was out of control as well, flaring out of her in an unbridled manner creating a volatile static field around her. She immediately regretted screaming so loud. Afraid of potentially attracting something else, even though the whole fight had been so loud, that a little more ruckus would hardly matter.

After unleashing her battle cry, the fury faded from her. She deflated almost instantly. Pain began to surface, once the excitement of the fight fell away. Shifting her weight to her right leg was suddenly excruciating. The damn beast had bit down on it hard, all the way down to the bone.

Strangely enough the metal liquid started moving on its own, seeping into Thulla’s many injuries. It stung. She felt her mana drain down fast. However the wounds seemed to be closing at visible speeds. Within minutes, wounds that would take weeks to heal were closed up. Pale white scars were left as a reminder of what had happened. Thulla just stood there observing the whole thing, completely perplexed by what was happening to her.

The realisation dawned on her: “I’m only alive, because of this strange metal. This is the reason I never bled out when I lost my hand…” She felt conflicted about it. What exactly was this strange metal... Was it even metal? The awareness of hosting something she didn’t understand was unnerving, even if that very thing had saved her life twice now. She decided to be grateful about it. Whatever it was, without it she would have been dead already. “Now I need to think of a name for you buddy.” Thulla thought out loud: “How about Ferro, nah that ain’t it. Frederic then? Humm That sounds too posh… Fred, Freddie? Wait what is that? Freddie is not extravagant enough? Outrageous! Okay well, Frederic it is then mister fancy-pants.” Satisfied with her excellent naming sense she embraced her silent companion. It never even stirred in agreement to the name that it was given. Frederic quietly returned into Thulla.

She rubbed her new scars. They still ached. The muscles around it were hard and sore. Her mana was nearly depleted. Fatigue came over her alongside a pounding headache. With her last remaining strength she rebuilt the rocky wall. And promptly fell asleep inside.

~

In her dreams, swarms of monstrous insects rushed past her. Wings buzzing. Some crashed into her. Bouncing off her impenetrable skin. Thulla saw herself standing there, in the midst of all that chaos. Completely unphased by what was happening around her. Something inside her stirred, she opened her mouth, bubbly foam came gushing out. It covered her in mere seconds. Then a white flash wiped everything away. An explosion so devastating that all the insects were immediately disintegrated. Everything turned white. There was no longer any distinction of up and down. A black smouldering hound appeared, creating a striking contrast against the pristine white backdrop. It waved its long lashing tail slowly with every step it took. A sharp beak protruding from its head, it clicked in a nerve-wracking arrhythmic pattern. Ash was drifting off it. staining the place with its shadowy vapor.

Out of the very fabric of space a massive white hand contorted itself into existence. The two entities faced each other in a standoff.

The feathered hound made its move first. launching itself into the hand. Its claws dug into the cloth-like fabric, shredding it. The hand wrapped around the beast. Threw it back into the ground, where it skidded to halt several meters further. The hand flew up and slammed its palm into the beast. A cloud of smoke rose from underneath the hand. It slumbered in the air, before it congregated into a new shape. One that looked much like herself. The black shadow Thulla hoovered deadly still in the same spot. Suddenly it twisted its head. Obsidian-eyes locked on the observer. Black smoke exploded out from behind her, obscuring the entire scene.

Thulla abruptly awoke with a gasp, she was immediately caught in a coughing fit. Spittle flew out of her dry mouth. She was drenched in cold sweat. The contents of her dream were quickly fading from her memory. Only a vague impression remained. Not wanting to dwell on these kinds of things, she got up out of her cave, to the hidden spot with her water charm. The pot was filled to the brim with clear drinking water. “At least not everything is going horribly wrong.” She cried a little tear of happiness. “Look at you chilling in that little hammock of yours… Oh, man. I’m actually seriously jealous of an inanimate object.” She drank the content of the pot. The cold water rushed into her empty stomach. It was so refreshing, that she shivered from the sensation. “Aahh… Sometimes I wish I was a rock or something. No need to eat or drink, no need to learn complicated things. Just plant yourself next to a nice stream of water, and let time just pass on by.” She mused in between gulps of water. Thulla wiped her mouth when she was done, and put the cooking pot back into its spot.

While she was emptying her bladder she continued her train of thought: “The worst thing that could happen is an animal taking a shit on top of you.” She looked down at the ground beneath her. “Sorry, about that.” She smiled with a dumb look on her face. “On second thought; life kinda sucks, even for a rock.”

She slowly got up from her squatting position in a stiff wooden motion. All her muscles were still sore. In addition to that, every time she put weight on her newly scarred leg, it induced a numb tingle running through her nerves. “Oof, this is what getting old must feel like.” Thulla grumbled.

When she returned to her hiding spot, she looked upon the ravage of the fight with fresh eyes. The Soil was unturned, plants were uprooted or flattened, blood splatters had dripped everywhere.

“Oh dear, I really ought to tidy up my dwelling, lest the neighbours start complaining again.”

Thulla crawled headfirst through a hole in the wall. that she closed back up with a couple of heavy rocks. She clapped her hands together to slap off the dirt. Her backpack lay all crumpled in a corner of the cave. She reached out for it, to comb through its contents.

“Only two nutrient packs left.” Thulla stated, while she was chewing on her last dried fruits. “Well that just seals the deal really. Can’t stay here anymore.” She sighed, things weren’t looking too good. Her hiding spot was compromised. The likelihood was high that the vicious beast would return. And food was running dangerously low.

A crease folded in between her hairless brows : “I’m still not sure how I made Frederic hard.” She opened one of the last nutrient packs and began eating. “Maybe I need to figure that out before exposing myself to the world around me...” She mumbled, the peppery flavour of the bar exploded in her mouth: “So hot!. Hm-hmm, love it.” The spicy flavour still tingled in her mouth when she went to reflect on the fight.

Her immediate conclusion was that if she had faced it out in the open, It would have absolutely decimated her. The combination of disruptive sound attacks, and a lightning-fast tail to whittle her down, would have left her crippled, and helpless to a big crunchy bite of that vicious beak.

Idly she fidgeted with a pebble in her hand.

“I got lucky that the flashbang stunned it in that cramped wall.” she thought. “That’s what gave me a fighting chance.” She sighed. It was really depressing to realise how outclassed she had been. She trembled thinking of the sharp hooked claws shredding into her skin. Thulla had no idea where she had found the bravery to smash a rock into the beast skull. A mad grin spread on her face, when she thought of that satisfying wet crunch.

Subconsciously she clutched her hand around the little stone.

“I’m not just alive, because of luck. I used all the tools, and tricks that I had available to protect myself.” She thought, trying to up-lift her spirits. “And it worked.” Pride welled up inside of her. Like an ember burning just a bit brighter. Her eyes were getting watery again. her sight blurring because of it. “Maybe… Just maybe I can survive long enough to find a way out.” A fickle sense of hope took root into her mind.

She sighed once again, thinking of the task ahead of her. A first step would be to gain the ability to defend herself. So she reached out to Frederic.

A film of metal started pouring out of her pores with a thought of her mind. The connection between her and Frederic had strengthened. Her mana was somehow merging with it more and more. She was still weirded out about this odd symbiotic relationship. Was Frederic secretly malicious and going to slowly take over? Like some kind of insidious parasite? Consuming her mind and body, until nothing was left but an empty husk of her former self. The thoughts shuddered through her, shaking her core identity. Was she still the same Thulla Bardeabu that left to go to study at the Opalis institute of magistry? A part of her didn’t feel all that different. All her memories had remained. She still knew who she was, and where she had come from after all. Another part acknowledged that her old self died the day she came here. Rend off by space itself. Left to bleed out. Reborn in a bath of blood, metal and mud… Thulla shook her head: “I’m being overly dramatic here. I’m still me, and Frederic is... I don’t know what Frederic is, But we’re of the same blood now. And I need all the strength I can get.

To test her new resolve Thulla formed a long spike out of her stump. She pumped a lot of mana into it. White swirls mixed with the silvery liquid. Its colour shifted slightly, became paler. It even started to lose some of its gloss.

She carefully pressed her index finger against the tip. It was solid, and sharp. It pierced her skin effortlessly. Curiously she watched a drop of blood well out of her finger. She sucked on it with a faint smile. “Who needs a hand, when you can have a pointy spear-arm instead.”

She chuckled thinking of the lousy sales pitches merchants tend to use: “are you tired of getting attacked by wild beasts in your own home? Try stabbing it with this handy spear-arm. Do you just want to see the light go out in the eyes of your enemies? Impale them with your spear-arm. Did your neighbor, Caroline, steal your casserole recipe? Retaliate by gouging out her intestines, to keep that woman from ruining your life. But remember kids don’t rub your eyes with the spear-arm, or you might poke them out -no refunds.” She laughed at her own dumb skit. Happy with herself for the first time in a while: “all jokes aside though, I really want to have my left hand back.”