Chapter 4 - Acceptance

"I don't know where I am, but it's… comfortable." For some reason I didn't feel the pain from my wounds or my shattered arm and I felt my body lighter, as if I were floating in the middle of a pool. After a long time of feeling this peace and tranquility, ignoring the sensation of something touching my head, it was time to discover the place where I was. Opening my eyes slightly I observed the place around me; everything was empty, completely dark, with some small lights illuminating the place; it was like floating in outer space.

"It seems you have woken up; with your body in that state it is surprising that you are still alive; I suppose it is because your wounds were cauterized as soon as they were inflicted, avoiding any type of hemorrhage or bleeding." A loud voice shook the small space where I was floating; raising my vision I could see a huge entity appear from a huge crack that opened the darkness, splitting it in two, only to show its head and a bit of its torso.

That entity was immense, its size was too colossal to be measured normally, I could even feel that it was at a gigantic distance, almost the same distance that the moon was from the planet Earth and yet, its size was still colossal. Its ears were long like an elf; the skin that should cover its body was not replaced by just a pile of flesh that was completely burned; its teeth were long and sharp, like those of a predator. In addition to lacking a nose, leaving its nostrils visible, its empty eyes were only illuminated by a strong pink light, which was fixed on me. Its gaze was so intense that I felt like it could see into my soul.

"Who, who are you? Where am I, what is this place?" Even though I should feel fear and terror before this unknown entity of colossal size, for some reason I could not feel a negative emotion, but neither could I feel a positive one. I only felt a sense of security that nothing could happen to me with that being by my side.

"Who am I? That doesn't matter, it doesn't matter who I was, it doesn't matter who I am, neither does it matter who I will be. And about this place, it is a created space where our consciousnesses can connect. Only once, after this meeting, we will never see each other again." At his words I could only remain silent processing the information he had said. Obviously he was telling the truth; after all, it made no sense for him to lie if this was our only meeting according to what he said, besides this feeling of security.

"First, you are a little weird to answer my first question with some rhymes; then, why did you bring me to this place? Also, why do you say that we will not see each other again?" At my question, the entity remained silent waiting for some other words. Not saying anything, the entity stared at me as the entire dark space with small white lights began to disappear.

"It seems that we do not have much time left, so I will answer those last questions. I brought you to this place because I needed to remember old times; About your second question, it's because this little encounter is taking too much energy for me, my lovers, and my friends." With each word that came out of his mouth, the small lights began to dim, darkening the space where we were, and I felt my eyelids getting heavier every second.

"I know you only gained more questions with my answers, but remember this," the entity came closer with its gaze fixed on me. "I am you, and you are me, don't forget that," little by little its voice began to sound weaker and duller. "Hey, wait!" I extended my hand towards the entity only for darkness to slowly reign over the place as the entity's figure disappeared into the same crack from which it came; it was then that everything became dark without any light.

After darkness reigned over the place, my eyelids also became heavier; after a few minutes, the weight of my eyelids decreased enough for me to be able to open them and see a wall of rock with a small crater. "Ugh, what an ugly place, I guess the previous was a dream... shit, my whole body hurts," just trying to get up, a strong pain ran through my body, falling to the ground, gaining more pain in my wounds and the fracture in my ribs.

"Now, what am I supposed to do? I have wounds, bumps and scratches all over my body, a fractured bone and my left arm almost amputated. Come on, the pain is just mental... maximum effort," moving the only arm I had left, I used it as support and then with all the effort of my body I managed to lift my torso and trying to stand up, I put all my weight on my knees and then on my feet only to fall hard against the ground again.

"Damn, what's wrong with my legs, are they... broken... What the fuck?" Turning my head to look at the state of my legs, the entire structure of my body had been changed to that of a cat, a long, thin back covered in black fur, a pair of shorter legs ending in smaller toes with worn claws. Returning my vision to the front, I observed the front paw resting on the ground; lifting it, I looked at the soft pad on which was once the palm of a hand and with them some worn claws that came out unconsciously.

Instinctively, I bring my hand or paw to my face, touching a long, hairy snout; at the tip a flat nose, around some long whiskers and, on top of my head, long ears with rounded tips. "Ca, cat… Am I a cat? No, no, no, am I dreaming?… No, I feel the pain running through every part of my body, plus the burning in my burns. Well, it's not impossible either; I literally just watched a supernatural battle and some bastards with bat wings and weird circles throwing various kinds of elements… I guess it's magic."

Finishing talking to myself and organizing the events that just recently happened, I tried to get up again, but this time supporting all of my body weight on my four legs… three legs. After managing to stand on my three legs, I began to walk awkwardly as I got used to my new quadrupedal form. "Ugh, I walk worse than when I ended up drunk drinking wine." Stepping wrong, I fell face first onto the floor. "I guess it's because I have an extra limb to walk with," I turned my head again expecting to see a long, furry tail; I only found a small piece of burnt flesh that was wiggling. "Wait, I don't have a tail! Then, I didn't dodge the attack of those bastards."

After almost two hours and after winning a few blows, I started walking, jogging and even running a little; then I turned my head to look back at the crack through which I had entered. "Should I go back? I almost died being outside, but it's not like I stayed to live in this place, nor is there food in this place." Letting out a sigh, I headed towards the crack and jumped into the crack and then walked slowly. Without making a sound through the tunnel towards the place where those beings with bat wings had been.

I observed the surroundings cautiously and carefully listened for the slightest noise as I exited the tunnel. Not seeing or hearing any living being nearby, I jumped out of the tunnel, landing on my three legs, to begin walking where I had arrived at the crack. "Mmm, it's really high, how am I still alive after falling from such a high place, or is it because this body is smaller than the last one?" I looked at the "small" cliff where I had fallen and where I had broken a bone. Getting into position, I made a big jump until I got a good grip and started climbing.

"Ouch! Shit, that hurt. Brr, let's try again, I'm not giving up yet." Falling several times, I tried again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again. Until finally, biting some stones, I managed to get out of that place. I gasp "Phew, finally! Goodbye, damn prison that saved my life," I celebrated throwing dirt towards the cliff with one of my hind legs.

"Now that I think about it, they were the beings that the Angels fought against and almost killed me." I closed my eyes and let the images flow through my mind, remembering the events. "They had wings like a bat's... Maybe vampires? But speaking of Lucifer, the devil, I guess, instead of talking about Dracula or some powerful vampire... Are they demons? Well, I guess it makes sense, since the demons' wings were similar to vampires', plus they fought against angels... Am I in the holy war of some fantasy dimension?" I began to rave about some things as I walked towards the place that was once a shelter.

...

After walking for several minutes, I managed to reach that town that had welcomed me with love... That place that had welcomed me... That place where I could settle down and live quietly. The view was depressing; Where once citizens walked, where children played, there was now only a pile of corpses, cut, stabbed, mangled, decapitated and crushed. The beautiful stone sculptures and houses were now pieces of stones and shattered mounds. "I suppose that when the explorers of the future find this place, they will surely think that it is only a pile of stones," he sighed as he entered the village, now turned into a ghost town.

I arrived at what was once my home, although it only lasted a day. I entered the place with silent steps thanks to the pads of my paws. The place was a mess; almost everything was destroyed, food was thrown everywhere and some was crushed. I approached where I had left my black t-shirt; I stared at it in silence for a few seconds. "I almost died, I was almost killed, I can't keep thinking like a modern person in a peaceful world; I'm not a chosen hero, nor a trained hero, I'm just a boy lost in a cruel world. So, goodbye." With those words I took out my claws and, using them with the help of my fangs, I began to tear and destroy it until there was nothing left.

"Come to think of it, I was able to shapeshift from a human to a cat. Will I be able to return to my human form? Come to think of it, will I be able to take another form? Something like "Beast Boy from the Teen Titans" series". Turning away from all the destroyed fabric, I walked out of the house and out to the street where I emptied my mind and focused on a larger, four-legged feline animal. "TIGER!" I trailed off, as the wind continued to blow. I felt my face grow hot in embarrassment. "Thank goodness, there's no one around... But then how does this crap work? Ah, System!, Status!, Open Menu!"

I started screaming whatever words came to mind and then, a few minutes later, I started to devour in frustration an apple that was lying nearby. Chomp "How the fuck does this form of transformation work? It's not an ability of some kind of system, I don't even have that crap. So what do I have? Unless…" I stopped eating the apple and went back to the place where I was screaming the words that came to mind. I closed my eyes, letting out a sigh that emptied my mind, and I started to remember that whirlwind of feelings I felt when I was being hunted by those demons.

Fear, frustration, anger, helplessness, sadness and anxiety. I put all those emotions together in a single thought, 'I want to have long limbs again, thumbs to hold things and I want to be human again. ' It was then that I began to feel the air rushing through my body, becoming increasingly colder, and the fur that warmed my body disappearing. I opened my eyes and noticed that the huge things had returned to their normal size. To the size as I remembered it, I raised my hand to the sky and could see my human hands. "I'm back to being human... I guess it doesn't work like an ability where I can activate it with a word, it's more like it responds to my feelings."

I looked at the landscape in silence, appreciating the view and then feeling the phantom pain of my lost arm again. Turning my gaze, I looked at the state of my arm. An idea came to me: "Maybe I can get my arm back; if I can turn into an axolotl, there's a chance I can regenerate it; after all, if it can regenerate its organs, a limb shouldn't be difficult... But for it to work, I would have to lose my arm, since I have it cauterized by the explosion." With a snap of my fingers, an idea came to me.

Taking various things from the destroyed houses and the corpses, I made a small improvised shelter around a river where the previous citizens drew water. Then, forming a small stone trap, I placed a stone spear on top so that with just one blow on the stone the spear would fall and cut my arm. "Well, it's time," closing my eyes, I refocused my feelings on the sole thought of being an axolotl.

Opening my eyes again, everything had expanded to become immense things. I looked at my hand, now smaller and thinner, light pink in color; looking back I noticed a cut fin with cauterized skin and I looked at the sides of my head and saw some twigs with some feathers. "I guess I'll have to cut my fin or my tail too," turning my gaze to the trap I had made, I slowly approached and silently looked at the tip of the spear. Swallowing, I got into position and placing my mangled arm along with my severed tail, I kicked the rock. A loud screech filled the entire river where I was standing.

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I was going to upload the chapter yesterday, but the power went out and then I lost my inspiration. Changing the subject, I ask you if you can give me more inspiration for the next chapter. I must clarify that I am not asking for rocks or donations; I am asking for ideas, encouragement or questions to inspire me. With that said, I will see you in the next chapter, take care!

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