- Decision

With a long sigh, Anna plunged her body on a soft bed of a local Inn, where she and Ulbert have been resting for the past couple days. It is a small room. Walls are empty and so is the ceiling. A small bedside table serves a stand for the lamp with a single candle, while a stained glass window faces the bustling streets of the city. She reached out her arms and stretched with a yawn, something she wanted to do without the presence of Lord Ulbert by her side, not sure herself why she feels so.

And then her eyes fixated themselves on her chest and the copper plate that moves up and down with every breath. They have received these plates earlier in the day from the adventurers guild, although Anna is not too sure why they need to be in the guild in the first place. With skills Ulbert posses, it would surely give them a good income of gold and perhaps even platinum, but is that really what he is after? She thought, fiddling with the rope dog-like plate, wondering.

It is well into the evening. Ulbert is walking the streets that are converting barren as the mere minutes' pass, a breeze begins to pick up the cold winds and the smell from the local vendors, of food and herbs, is not as heavy as earlier in the day. He took a deep breath in, his eyelids shut.

Thoughts of all kind running about in his head, but that one image remains no matter what rages on in his head. The image of that strong warrior he saw with Anna, burned deep into his memory as if a picture taken on a camera.

There is something about that knight, he thought. Something that I can't understand, perhaps-, he cut off that thought as his eyes opened again and looked at the orange sun radiating warmth through the chilly winds.

"Welcome to YGDRASSIL, a world of adventure!" A light voice from a long-forgotten memory echoed about in his mind as a flashback of the first day of YGDRASSIL briefly took over Ulbert's thoughts. A strong feeling of nostalgia mixed with a fading emotion of sadness and grief, the resistance of sensations vexing him, as even a tear can't be shed.

Ulbert looked around to shake off the painful memory but met the gaze of a stray black cat instead, its green eyes looking at him, emitting a sense of despair and anguish deep from within. One of its legs, pushing out from where it sits, is broken with patches of fur missing, revealing the pink skin as it hides in the shadows of the nearby building.

Life had you pretty rough, didn't it little one? Ulbert thought to himself, slowly and steadily limiting any unnecessary movements, while approaching the wounded cat, holding his hand out palm facing the light.

"I won't hurt you," He whispered as he squatted in front of the cat. It was not afraid, perhaps because of whatever the poor creature has been through it simply no longer cares, now leaving its fate to whoever stands before it. Ulbert placed his hand on its head and caressed him, feeling the rough black coat that is supposed to be smooth and silky, while the cat's eyes closed themselves upon feeling the gentle touch. "Forgive u-" He cut his words short and slight frown followed. "Forgive them, little creature, they do not know the value of life." The frown changed to a soft smile as he continued to talk, his hand petting the cat from its head down to its back. Ulbert looked around the empty alley, no soul to see him perform magic, he muttered a spell under his breath and the stroking hand illuminated in bright green colour. Particles of magic fused into the cat's skin and deep below its muscles bones and organs, healing the weak stray in short moments.

The cat burst itself back up on its four paws, the bones that seemed broken and cracked were good as new, while the fur took its rich matt black colour back. "Good," he said with relief as the cat released its claws and struck his hands, hissing with its hair standing tall. "Looks like you came to your senses," Said Ulbert as he himself stood up, giving the time for the cat to run away from him into a nearby dark alley and disappear into the shadows.

Unintelligent creatures, he thought. Not smart enough to understand the aid given to you. Ulbert then glanced at the wound. Bright red blood scattering out about on his hand, bitter wound hissing lightly with pain that is surprisingly to his liking. Just like humans, he thought again. You do not see what it is I am doing to help. He looked towards a few townsfolk hurridly walking the streets towards their homes, scared not of the night closing in but what roams during the dark hours. With a light chuckle he stroked his thin goatee as he observed those people from the shadows. Seeing them fear amuses him and irritates him at the same time, the fact that he was once one of them puts a foul taste in his mouth, yet it is the sole reason he knows how they think.

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"How was your walk, Lord Ulbert?" Anna asked as Ulbert closed the door to their room, her head lowered and her hands held together at the face of the dress. Due to his orders earlier in the day, there was no light to shine, making the room succumb into full darkness as night swiftly swallowed the city whole. Not even a moon to flash its white colours.

Ulbert walked towards the window, in a blink of an eye no longer in his human form, his yellow eyes seen in the reflection of the stained glass. Anna lifted her head and looked over her shoulder at her master. There was something on his mind she could tell, yet too afraid to ask what it could be.

"Anna, what do you think I should do?" He asked, his sharp white teeth showing as he spoke.

"I-I am sorry I don't understand."

"It is a simple question really," Ulbert turned himself around and looked at her, his top hat almost touching the wooden ceiling, the clock inside it growing louder with each tick. "What do you think I should do in this world — with — this world?" He asked again with a firm look, his eyes staring into hers.

"I...I think," she paused for a brief moment. "I think you should change it, my lord." Her foot took a step closer. "I have seen it with my own eyes, the destruction, the suffering that people inflict upon each other."

"And you grow sick of it?"

Anna looked down to the floor, memories of her childhood and horrors she went through flashing in her mind as if a slideshow, her first squeezed with anger and tears collecting in her eyes.

"Yes..." She spoke with inaudible words yet Ulbert's pointy ears slightly twitched in response, her voice reaching him loud and clear thanks to the enhances hearing the new body has to offer.

"I see." Ulbert said as he turned back to the window and in an eerie silence, watched the gloomy, dark city illuminate in the light of the complete moon that revealed itself from the dark clouds far above.

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"I do not trust that human girl," Noura spat as she and Xavius mooved through the woods, their real bodies hidden behind an illusion as per their Lord's orders. The human city Kami Miyako is still a few days away from them, and the journey has not been the most thrilling as Noura would say. Although her lustful forms are held back by the uncomfortable human skin, she could not help but move her lower half in a hypnotic motion as she walked, as if an invisible tail sticks out.

"How so?" Asked Xavius, the alternate form replaced his snake-like tongue to that of a human's, while his features are not overly handsome in hopes of not drawing attention. On his back, a light brown backpack sits, its straps held by his hands, mimicking the look of traveller.

"Are you a fool?" Noura snapped at Xavius who walks beside her, glaring at him for a moment then speaking again. "All lower life forms are not to be trusted, especially humans. I thought you were smarter than this, brother."

Xavius let out a small chuckled as he looked towards the long path ahead.

"No I do agree with you, I know humans are senseless and untrustworthy."

"Then why are yo-"

"However," Xavius interrupted.

"That girl is unlike the rest of them, hence why Lord Ulbert took an interest in her, perhaps you...Doubt his judgement?"

Noura stopped in her tracks, her eyes piercing through the back of Xavius as he walked a few steps forward, before stopping and staring back at his sister.

"Watch your tongue worm," She cautioned him with a threatening glare.

"I serve Lord Ulbert with every fibre of my being, do not pollute my name as if I am one of them."

Xavius thought of his next words carefully, knowing better than anyone else how hot-headed Noura can get, and now is not the time to fight.

"Of course." Xavius bowed forward a little bit, his hand across his chest, a smile that can't be seen sits on his face.

"Forgive me. I did not think before I spoke."

Noura kissed her teeth and shifted her look away from Xavius, accepted apology, and the two soon began walking the road once again, side by side.