Spoiler Tags
: Reincarnation, Harem, Magic, Soul Mates, Kitsune, Monster Girl, Transformation, Orc, Adventure, Dragoness, Anal
*****
Sunshine spilled across my face as I opened my eyes. I was sprawled across a dirt path that led to the front door to a small cabin like house, confused on how I'd gotten here, the last thing I remembered was Olivia busting through the door of the makeshift prison.
I recall pain and cold. Then a light. Then... nothing.
Sitting up, I examined my surroundings. Golden wheat waved in a great sea of undulating motion as far as I could see. The entire scene was oddly familiar and had an ethereal quality to it. The sun reflected a little too brightly on the top of the wheat and I heard the ghost of a child's giggle over the roar of the wind.
Surprise propelled me to my feet as I recognized the scene.
"This is from Gladiator. I've died and Ridley Scott got it right."
"You're half right," said a voice that emerged from the house behind me. "I borrowed the scene from your mind to use as a placeholder while we had a little chat. If you prefer, I could shift it to the great emptiness you usually use when visualizing your thoughts?" A silhouette was outlined in the doorway, becoming the grinning figure of a man. I stared at him for a second before recognition settled in.
Lieutenant...
But I couldn't explain
how
I knew this.
"Is that a knock at my intelligence? I should discipline you for that," I shot back, immediately at ease with the man in spite of the surreal situation.
"It's good to see you again sir." The man saluted sharply, showing a cocksure grin that ran counterpoint to his rigid pose. He wore a dark purple tunic with cocoa colored pants tucked securely into russet colored boots that laced up to mid-shin height.
"Dapper as always lieutenant. At ease," I replied automatically, walking forward to embrace the immaculately dressed man. We grasped each other tightly. Two strong thumps into the others back before releasing. "Let's sit and you can explain to me how I know you, without
actually
knowing you."
"That's kind of a complicated story..." the lieutenant started as he strolled toward a stone bench set off to the side of the path.
"Wait a second... I watched you die. Then I killed people. A lot of people. Then I died. That wasn't a dream... Was it?"
The lieutenant froze slightly before giving me a sly look.
"That'll make things a little easier to explain. You were Captain Julius Forzaire. The head mage of the 54th regiment of the Protectorate. Tasked with defending the roadways to the capital from invaders. Your command was destroyed in an ambush and with my help you were able to defeat the attacking force before succumbing to your wounds. Do you remember the formation of the spear?"
I nodded, recalling the glittering spear with the red tip.
"When you initiated the creation of the spear you used the lieutenant's blood to create a matrix that you filled with power to form a potent artifact. Somehow a part of my consciousness was transferred along with the blood creating the semi-sentient weapon you see before you. I possess the late lieutenant's memory but I am not him. I dwell in the spear that was in the possession of the kitsune Tara Holo for the last one hundred and forty three years post your most holiness's demise," the man ribbed me.
"Time out, how and what do you know about Tara?"
"I met Tara a long long time ago. In a galaxy not so far away, at my formation in fact. She picked me up after you... passed on. As I said, she took me and cared for me after your death. Since I'm currently in you're grasp I figure she managed to find you and." He bounced his eyebrows. "Do the deed. She has been looking forward to that for quite a long time you know." He tossed me a lascivious grin. "As for the whole 'you remember me thing'. You've heard of reincarnation, right?"
I nodded my assent.
"It's a rare occurrence, but does happen on occasion. As far as I understand it reincarnation begins when a soul is somehow anchored to the earthly plane, by whatever mechanism. Upon death the soul instinctively attempts flee the plane, if the tether is strong enough, the soul then snaps back to the earthly plane to take up residence in a new body. If the bond breaks on the return then the spirit wanders around lost showing up as a translucent recording in the mortal world."
"You're talking about ghosts, right?"
"Yep. It's dreadful to even contemplate such a horrible existence." He shuddered at the thought.
"So what happens now?"
"Pretty soon you'll have to wake up, but we still have some things to discuss before then. Let's get started. What's the last thing you remember?" the lieutenant asked.
"I remember seeing a pale version of vampire...vampiress... Olivia appear and then blinding agony and darkness." I shuddered in the memory of the cold. Grasped my neck, I reflexively felt for wounds. "Why don't I feel any pain?"
"We are currently talking in a mental construct of your mind remember. The reason we're even talking right now is Tara gave me to you in order to try to fill the void in your soul."
I gave him a blank look. "I maybe,
maybe,
understood three out of every four of those words. But I
definitely,
didn't get how they were put together to form a coherent sentence."
He rubbed the space between his eyes.
"Hey, if we're in my head, I doubt you're capable of getting a headache," I complained.
"That's never stopped you before Captain. When you created me, you imparted a piece of your soul. When you reincarnated, your soul wasn't able to come back in totality because it was no longer complete. A hole existed in the fabric of your being. Tara hypothesized that when you came in contact with me, the spear, that hole would be filled and some of the problems you were facing due to 'vampire' Olivia would be fixed as well. She was right. But there were additional complications as well. Things didn't quite work out
exactly
as she had hoped." The lieutenant shot me an apologetic look.
"See, nature abhors vacuums in all their forms so while you had a piece of energy missing,
stuff
kept trying to fill that void. When they didn't match your personal energy signature your natural spirit compressed the foreign energy into as tiny a ball as possible. Eventually all the additional energy reached a sort of equilibrium inside your body, absorbing any foreign energy that came in contact with your spirit."
"Wait...that sounds suspiciously like..." I said slowly, getting an inkling of where he was going with this.
"A black hole? Yes. You had the equivalent of a metaphysical black hole inside of you. This was
relatively
fine. Until the original piece of soul was reintroduced to your body. The vacuum ceased to exist and all that extra energy had to go
somewhere
."
"Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be transferred and converted, the equations always have to balance. First law of thermodynamics. What happened to me? You're leading up to something. Please just spit it out," I stated calmly, looking the lieutenant in the eye.
His hands trembled slightly betraying his nervousness as he clasped them in his lap. "The body you return to will not be the one you left. We're in uncharted waters here captain."
"Damn." I sighed with dread and looked up at the sky. An endless expanse of twinkling stars greeted his sight. Uncluttered by light pollution, the multitude of twinkling stars seemed to mock the significance of my problems with their magnitude.
"How bad is it?"
"Not bad... just different."
"Missing limbs, scarring, give me specifics man?"
"That's not it. You weren't injured by the energy, it just... changed you. You're not...entirely... human anymore," the lieutenant finished awkwardly. "In fact, I'm not sure what you are. I think at the end of the day you'll be chameleon-esque. With a more mutable nature than you're used to. In fact, I think some of your mentality was influenced after the bond was formed, the bond with Tara upsetting the balance you'd inherently developed. Your actions with Opal weren't necessarily you were they."
Pausing, I took a moment to collect myself, ignoring the idea that my mentality wasn't my own, before asking my most pressing question. "Am I at least humanoid?" The horror of existing in the body a malformed monstrosity with too many limbs and eyes, made my blood run cold.
"Yes."
Oh good.
I blew out a big breath. My biggest worry mollified. "Extra appendages?"
"A couple. How do you feel about wings?"
"Always thought flying would be cool. Could be fun as long as they're functional. They aren't some pansy
show
wings are they?" I shuddered in mock disgust, hiding my fear in humor. "I'm assuming there's more..."
"A tail."
"How long?"
"Five feet."
"Ughh. That'll be a pain in the ass. Ha. Get it..." I trailed off, letting the sad joke go. "Is it prehensile?"
"Looks to be. It's also quite soft and bushy. You'll be taller too," he continued.
"Like a giant?"
"You'll top out at six three or so."
"I'll finally be able to dominate my father in basketball. What else you got for me? I'm on a roll." I hid my growing horror behind a thin veneer of bravado.
"You have paws instead of feet."
"Claws or no claws? And do I still have have hands or are those paws as well?"
"Claws and hands. Your eyes."
