Strange visitor

Alric was a bit stunned.

This conclusion had appeared from nowhere but each time he pondered on the subject, it appeared to be the more logical one.

"Nearly all of my previous experiences could be explained under this hypothesis..." he thought while recalling all of them one by one. "First there was this incredible feeling when being in the forest as if being a part of it. Then there was the ability to understand some bits from old trees. And now this feeling when I exposed the inscription toward a light's source or when darkness fell"

Looking at his left hand as if it was some kind of monstrous thing, he could not help but marvel at the beauty of it, he was a bit perplexed by this opposing contrast.

Glistening under the moonlight, the pattern seemed alive, some bits of light being absorbed by the black mark.

"Am I still a human?" thought Alric, now a bit puzzled by the situation.

"But why am I not truly afraid? Is it truly important? After all, as long as I feel like myself, the situation isn't so bad, and more importantly, these inscriptions had provided me with great abilities, without which I would probably be already dead." he prosaically thought.

Knowing he couldn't do anything, for the time being, wanting nothing more but a bit of technology in a good hospital for once, he stored his equipment and closed the doors, ready to pass a new night in this strange but wonderful environment.

He wandered in his thoughts after having put the stove alight, full of the newly collected logs.

The furnace behind the workshop linked to the power generator had never been completely down during the day, just at minimal throughput.

He had put great care to maintain it so it restarted in just a minute without a hitch.

Putting his left hand before the stove, he could sense the euphoric feeling when the light of the flames touched it, but hardly noticeable, explaining why he didn't sense it before.

Taking the three animals he hunted during the day, he began to let them undertake the same treatment he did to the rabbit previously, but with much fewer worries in his mind.

"First, after one day, the rabbit meat didn't seem to have done anything to me, the mark was after all, already here before. Plus, these animals were a lot more normal than it was, even if they likely have been mutated a fair bit."

Preparing the food and cooking patiently for a good hour, roasting the two rats on the stove Alric could feel watched on a few occasions but each time he turned his head, he couldn't see anything but a flitting movement.

He was sure a shadow was moving on behind his high windows without shutters, standing out with the contrast of the sunlight reflected by the moon.

The workshop was bathing in the blue light, making small movements easily noticeable without having to find their source.

A bit motivated by his previous victory on the strange wildlife, Alric didn't panic but took nevertheless his chisel in his hand, letting the unleashed bow on the wall, its utility a bit undermined by his poor aim.

Beginning to eat, he never decreased his focus on the possible danger, even while enjoying the wonderful feeling of the cooked animals.

As with the rabbit meat, ravaging energy was coursing through his veins after swallowing a bit of it.

He could feel there was a much fewer quantity of it and it was a bit less destructive, even mild in comparison to it.

Thankfully, even if it was probably hardly sustainable without his left hand, perhaps even deadly for others, he could absorb it without a hitch.

Grateful once again for the abilities of his plant-like hand, Alric decided to stop worrying anew about it, the situation already quite complex as it was.

The shadow moving outside had not tried anything even until the end of his meal.

Staring at his left hand, he could see a new black wisp had appeared, confirming the link between the consumption of these beasts and their size increases.

The energic feeling was much smaller than for the crazy rabbit, showing the incredible energy contained inside of it even while comparing their sizes.

The two rats and the squirrel were indeed nearly two-fold bigger than the rabbit added together which means crudely that the rabbit was five to six-time fuller in energy than the other beasts.

"This means that the rabbit was indeed a bit special, like a rabid animal, but increasingly useful to me." Pondered Alric, "Without the large increase of energy I had after eating it, I'm not sure I could have done all of these things today plus killing these three wild beasts. Well, much more ferocious than wild beast..."

Bathing in the energetic feeling after the withdrawal of the majority of it in his left hand, Alric was even more daring, wanting to confront the shadow beast outside before sleeping, not wanting an unknown threat he knew to be left alone.

"I truly don't want to go outside, who knows how many more could be lurking around the workshop. If it's a rabid beast, one is already a bit too much so I should be careful."

Reflecting on the process, Alric began to gather the bones of the three wild animals he had just eaten, adding the offals he put aside, without wincing much about the great quantity of meat he had ingested, nearly fifty kilograms.

"I could have stopped a bit before, but my satiety wasn't truly filled with my left hand swallowing much of it. " he thought while making a small heap of bones in the middle of the workshop." The meat seems to transform totally into energy, allowing much greater quantity to be eaten, not much of it being stocked in my stomach."

Taking into consideration his black mark eating much of it, he should have truly consumed a bit more than ten grams of meat, showing the terrifying energy contains in it as well as the terrifying power of his plant-like ability.

Checking again the sharpness of his wood chisels and his knife, he took the bigger one in his right hand after having slowly dressed himself up with thick wool and leather clothes.

"It probably won't do much, but even a tiny bit could well be lifesaving..." he thought while always looking toward the shadow. "If the beast transforms at night as I thought, it will be a hard battle to win if it's anything slightly fiercer than a rabbit, as the majority of beasts in this forest are."

Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself while focusing on the beast.

He slowly approaches the mechanism allowing some of the high windows to open wide and put his left hand on it, ready to lower the lever when the shadow passed before one of them.

His plan was simple, a rabid beast would jump on the occasion to attack him if the windows opened before it.

If it was not a rabid one, the bait would instead divert its attention to have more time to analyse the situation.

He didn't want any other animals to enter the workshop, hence why he didn't open it even while the beast wasn't near it.

As he entered the workshop, he could see the shadow much more clearly, which had stopped moving the instant his head truly turned toward it.

"It seems not too big, at least not as much as the rabbit, but it could mean nothing." carefully thought Alric. "And by the look of it, it doesn't seem to be a rabid one, seems like my hypothesis on the night was false, his carefulness could very well be a sign of intelligence. But if a rabid beast can be smart too, I'll be screwed!"

Trying to patiently wait in an ambush visible without a doubt from outside, Alric felt a bit foolish.

"I thought it would not mind seeing me here, after all, it couldn't understand how these windows work, right? It's much more complex than my simple traps." Fidgeting on his two feet, Alric was not so used to quietly waiting as he thought he was, already thinking of opening the windows even if it wasn't before it.

Already fifteen minutes had passed and the shadow had not moved a bit.

"Is it truly the right shadow? Perhaps my mind is doing tricks with the shadow projected by the stove... No, I'm sure of it, but this waiting is killing me, normally I'm never waiting for more than one or two minutes when hunting, my traps are sufficient after all."

When Alric was ready to abandon his plan and his arm was ready to activate the mechanism, the shadow moved all of a sudden toward an openable window.

Without wasting his time anymore, Alric lowered the lever, instantly opening the glass panel before the beast.

As the animal was badly startled, so was Alric.

"A fox?? It's just a small baby fox! Wait, no, it could very well have mutated too after all." he thought while composing himself again.

And without a doubt, the fiery red-orange hue around the orange-strapped fox fur couldn't mistake it for a normal one.

The startled baby fox had its vertical pupils nearly all closed and was now watching Alric with renewed attention without missing the bones full of scrapped meat on the ground.

Seeing the attentive stare of the fox, Alric was a bit relieved.

"At least it's not a rabid beast, and seeing the strange colour of it, even if it's not too noticeable in the dark of the night, it should have a link with the element of fire.

At least it should be, it's difficult to say with these mutations." he thought, gripping tightly his chisels in his right hand, in case of a sudden attack, trying to understand as much as possible of this foe in the shortest time.

With just one day in the wood, he already had enough experience to not underestimate even a small mouse.

As he was focusing on the animal, a bit undersized compared to the majority of its species, the small fox slowly opened its mouth where white shining sharped teeth could be seen and with a disdainful look, breathed a tongue of red fire instantly cooking the offals and raw meat around the bones on the ground.

"What the ..." thought Alric while standing stupefied before a spectacle he didn't think possible, even after all the strange events going on. "This fox just breathed fire as if it was nothing at all...I knew it was probably linked with the fire element with such flashy red-orange fur but..."

Dazed, Alric could see the fox jumping on the ground, walking nonchalantly toward the cooked meal waiting for him.

Proud of his did, its tail perking up, it slowly began to eat, in a cheerful way, ignoring completely the human that stood there dumbfounded, having completely forgotten his previous wariness.

Shaking his head a little, Alric wryly smiled while looking toward the actual quite cute animal which was in his workshop.

"If I ignore the fact it can breathe fire like a dragon and that its fur seems to be small tongues of fire too now that I look closer, it is quite a beautiful fox!" thought Alric without moving a bit "But quite a dangerous one too, better to remain here and wait patiently for it to go away. It doesn't seem to want to attack me, so it will probably not remain here too long."

Waiting standing in his previous position, the minutes slowly passed, Alric was beginning to have a hard time not moving at all, afraid a brusque motion could scare and make the fox attack.

The animal had already finished his meal for five good minutes and was now cautiously licking his fur, insisting in particular on its front paw.

"Huh, cute..." Alric couldn't prevent himself from thinking "But when will it goes away...?"

As the minutes continued to pass, the fox cub then looked toward the opened windows, slowly approaching it.

"Finally..."

Stopping before it, it then looks toward Alric, then at the burning stove behind him.

Ignoring the human once again, the fox majestically walked toward him, passing him as he tensed up then came before the stove, slowly turning on himself before setting on a small rug used to clean the stove.

Stunned, Alric breathed once more before closing the high windows, not wanting the heat to go away or for another beast to enter his home.

"Not so great of an idea... I should have just gone to bed!" he thought while looking at the small fox much closer to the stove that should be comfortable for a normal creature, already sleeping as if nothing was special.

"Could it be...? It could be just a coincidence but I'm pretty sure it has the same size as the fox which used to eat my meat waste at the rear of the workshop... It had a small black dot on the tail which this one doesn't have, but with the mutation to its fur, it's impossible to tell..."

A bit relieved at the probability of somewhat knowing this little cub, Alric let his guard down a little, knowing full well the illogicality of it.

Walking finally toward the animal which just has its ears moving a little at each noise, he sighed once more and prepared himself for another strange day after sleeping.

"It is what it is, at least, I won't be alone for the night, a bit of company, even from a fox is most welcomed," he thought.

Not overly worried for his life now that he could see the mindset of an animal searching for a bit of heat or a bit of company, an animal he used to see almost daily he was sure of it, he went to bed, not without checking multiple times the strange creature using his home as its own.

Before falling asleep, a unique thought was occupying his mind.

"What will I do with such a strange and cute animal, could I somehow work with it to survive?" The idea didn't seem so bad as even if Alric quite liked being alone, having a silent companion such as this fox cub could be a bit less stressful.