A Native

Endyr crouched low to the ground as she prepared to jump at whatever came through those bushes. This came naturally to her, and she didn't even question her bestial posture. Furthermore, she was ignorant of the blacks scales slowly forming on the rest of her body, and the bulging flesh that appeared on the small of her back, like something was preparing to burst out. Her strange eyes underwent a change as her tension rose, with the vertical slits turning even sharper.

As the seconds went by agonizingly slow, the sound of snapping bushes came nearer and nearer. With each broken twig, Endyr's heartbeat began to speed up. Her encounter with that Dragon rider had left her on guard against everyone and everything on the mountain, since she had the vague inkling her kind, whatever the hell she was anyway, wasn't welcome here. Endyr could now see an outline through the shrubbery, as her possible opponent revealed themselves.

It was a young woman, no older that twenty five, with soft brown hair and hazel eyes that had flecks of gold and emerald. She wore a simple tunic and shirt, with her medium-length hair tied into a causal bun. Despite lacking an shiny or extravagant equipment, her clothes were of high quality and her skin unblemished. This woman was by no means poor.

Upon seeing Endyr, crouched and ready to pounce like a wild beast, the woman's eyes shot open wide as she stumbled backwards, falling to the ground. Endyr seized this chance to lung forward, jumping on the woman and pinning her to the ground. As the woman squirmed beneath her in a panic, she tried to snap her fingers together in a panic. By the time Endyr realised what was going on, an ice spike the length of two fingers pierced her side.

Or it tried to anyway. Scales, which had unknowingly formed, blocked the projectile and caused it to shatter into pieces. The woman's eyes filled with despair upon seeing this, while Endyr had a different reaction. Momentarily surprised by the presence of new scales, she threw the thought to the back of her mind as anger seized her.

How dare this measly Human try to harm her. HER! She should been prostrating on the ground, begging for mercy! Instead, she had dared to struggle and even tried to draw her blood, her precious blood spilled by vermin like this? Never!

Endyr saw only red as her claws extended, digging into the woman underneath her and causing muffle cries of pain to ring out. The bulge at the small of her back accelerated its squirming, and the skin began to rip as something gradually forced its way out. Similar changes were happening to the skin above her shoulder blades, but Endyr's rage blinded her to all but the thought of revenge.

She moved her hand, grasping the feeble Human by her measly throat, drawing blood with the slightest pressure. Oh how easy it would be to kill her here and now, one little slit and she would spurt like a fountain. Oh, she could already imagine the warm, invigorating, delicious blood-

'Wait a minute' Endyr snapped out of her psychotic reverie at that moment, as she took in just what she was about to do. She had closed her hand slightly, causing a steady trickle of blood to flow down the terrifying woman's neck. The woman in question had squeezed her eyes tightly shut, perhaps hoping this was all a bad dream and she would wake up home in bed. Or perhaps she was simply to afraid to stare death in the eye. Not that Endyr could blame her. 

Once Endyr quelled her impulsive rage, the squirming on her body slowed down before stopping entirely. Within seconds, the skin healed over and removed all traces of damage. She took a moment to collect herself, and remember who she truly was. 'I am a Denizen of Infinity, and this is just a dream. A hallucination, a projection, a trick of the mind. I am not actually this beast, but am merely inhabiting its body' she repeated to herself multiple times, like a mantra.

After doing so, the last negative influence left her body, Endyr tossing the woman aside with some force. This caused her would-be victim to snap back to reality and scramble up, only to fall down again from the shock. This repeated several times before the woman gave up and began to crawl away instead, whimpering pathetically while she did so.

Endyr watched apathetically before becoming bipedal again and walking over. Seeing her approach, the woman tried to prop herself up as she raised a shaky hand, a faint Mana flow detectable.

"ᛍᛐᛆᚤ ᛒᛆᛌᚴ ᛉᚮᚿᛍᛐᛂᚱ!" she shrieked, causing Endyr to come to a stop as she cautiously observed her. She did not know what the woman had said, but merely guessed the contents. 'Its not Gaian, Borelian, Tartis nor Ourachos. The language of Astoria, Enochian?' Endyr tried to figure out where she was based on that woman's words, but completely failed to recognise the language. 

Borelian was the language belonging to the Borealis Continent, while Tartis belonged to Tartarus and Ourachos to Ouranos. While Endyr only knew a few words from both thanks to Altair's lessons, her spirituality told her this language belonged to none she knew. 'Aesir then?'

On the other hand, the woman was surprised to see that the terrifying beast had indeed stopped, and was merely observing her. Being under the scrutiny of those bizarre yet oddly mesmerising eyes caused the woman's thoughts to turn adrift before she collected herself. *You fool, don't be distracted!* she cursed herself internally as she slowly rose to her feet, finally having regained her strength.

Endyr watched impassively until the woman was able to take a proper step back before taking one of her own and making the woman repeat herself with a shriek. This time, she swung her arm wildly, trying to scare Endyr off like a common animal.

"Heh, how big a fool are you? I literally just had you in my claws moments ago. Honestly, I know Humans lose their composure under duress, but this is just pathetic. Such a waste of organic substance is only fit to be my meal-'

Endyr shook her head wildly to snap herself out of her bloodthirst. In those short few seconds, she had covered more than half the distance between them and her claws had once again extended. 'This is a massive cause for concern' Endyr would have scowled if she possessed lips, but settled with another shake of her head. 

Back to the woman, she nearly had a panic attack when the beast started emitting murderous intent once again. She had realized her place in this stand-off, being barely more than walking food should the beast decide to finish her off. Yet it had yet to do so, instead randomly shaking its head and stumbling backwards as its vicious intent vanished like it was never there. For the woman, this was undeniably strange but also fortuitous. Perhaps she might just escape this with her life yet. 

Deciding that she was unable to effectively communicate with this woman, Endyr sat down and brought her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them like a child. And with her current build, she indeed looked like a lost if bizarre and alien child. Seeing that the beast was now completely ignoring her, the woman didn't think twice before fleeing back the way she came without care for the brambles in her path.

Once the woman had gone a certain distance, Endyr got up and took in a deep breathe-metaphorically at least, since she lacked both a nose and mouse. She focused her Mana, which she could thankfully access without a hitch, and saw the now-familiar streaks of colour and shapes. She scanned them all before finding one identical to the woman's Mana. 'Lead me to your settlement'