We got to the school as quickly as we could, only 1 hour of fast walking (we don't have any vehicles or even horses, we just enhance ourselves with magic when me and my mom are trying to move quickly). When we got here, we took the stairs to get to the elder's office discreetly. Yes, there's stairs in case of emergency, but most of the time inside the building you take the teleportation elevators to move between floors.
My mom knocked on the door before entering, and she bowed down in front of the elder as per the tradition. Because I can't really bow down, I simply laid down on the floor in front of him the best I could.
- "So that's your son. Interesting… Since when was he like that ?"
- "He came back like that yesterday late at night, sir."
- "And I assume he didn't say anything about what happened ?"
- "He unfortunately cannot talk while in this state, sir."
- "That's unfortunate. How did you know it was your son if he can't talk ?"
- "I… My son's bracelet is enchanted with a locating spell in case he loses it. I know it's not the best way to determine if he is my son or not, but that did help. Although, he is still able to use his signature magic even though he has the form of a beast right now, and that's what convinced me that he might be my son."
- "And the real reason why you are so sure he is your son ? So sure that you even brought a magical beast to my office ?"
- "… I…"
- "I won't judge you if you put a tracker on your son."
- "It's not that, it's… I did put a tracker on him, but it disappeared. I still found traces of it, but it wasn't active anymore. What I found is, as I talked to you before, its birthmark's mana. It resonated with the detection spell the same way it did before."
- "All right, I will trust your judgment. Although, I'm not sure I ever saw his "signature magic" as you called it." (then while looking at me dead in the eyes, while mana was starting to gather around him) "Can you show it to me ? I need to prove something."
Because I don't wanna die, I execute my speed boosting "signature spell", and move a bit around to show him how far I can go. He looks very impressed, and nods his head as if he recognizes it from somewhere. Then I feel like all the mana around me was sucked up, and canceled my spell almost immediately before returning back to my mom's feet.
- "I recognize his spell too. I only saw it from far away, but it is truly impressive that a mage so young was able to create a spell this advanced without any teachers specialized in fusion spells or an artifact that gives similar power."
I bow down my head to thank him for the compliment.
- "Now the bad part. I will need him to stay here for quite a while so that I can be sure what happened. Oh, and also…"
He stood up from his chair, then literally teleported right in front of me and reached his hand to my mana boosting bracelet, which I was wearing as a collar for the time being because it miraculously fits perfectly here. Just when he touched the bracelet (or collar ?), a bright flash of light bursted out of it and blinded all of us. When I regained my sense of sight, the elder was panting heavily while supporting himself on his desk, far from where I was standing. He glared at me after recovering a bit of his breath, and returned to his chair.
- "I'm sorry, but I don't think I will be able to help you the way you think."
- "Sorry ?! Excuse me sir, but…"
- "Your bracelet is cursed."
- "???" (her and me)
- "And it's not the bracelet that caused your son to become a fox. It's most likely what made his soul go into this body and saved his life. I can't tell you where his original body is, but I'm sure your son knows."
- "I…"
- "Although he can't speak, it just so happens that I know someone that has inherited my talent for soul magic. She's way better than I am at that, she will be able to read your son's thoughts and then translate them to us. We'll be able to ask lots of questions to him that way."
- "But… Isn't soul magic…"
- "If you think your son is remotely allowed here while he's like that, go and report me and my contact to the authorities. I'm still an elder, while you're only a researcher here. Now if you would excuse me…"
He then proceeds to collapse on his chair as if an entire building fell onto his head. He also called someone with his communication stone without moving from his seat. I look at my mother, who looks at me in return, both hella confused. Neither of us dare to break the silence that settled down.
A couple minutes later, we hear a knock on the door, followed by the elder's magic opening the door. He also looks way better now, he regained some colors from the… Attack that the curse on my bracelet launched. The new guest is a… A woman, I guess it's the person that inherited the soul magic. I don't know how to describe her though, except that she has long black hair, a somewhat round face, a strong stature (not fat, far from that, but definitely not slim either. A bit less than Choji from Naruto) [ Nd-Writer: I'm not as fat as that hipo, I just really like eating ! And he would be chubby too if he didn't have to run all the time to keep up with my walking speed !] and a size a little over 6" (1.84 meters exactly).
Her clothes are composed of a more than knee long skirt with a simple T Shirt under a jacket and some casual sneakers. All her clothes are black, or dark, with maybe some white strips here and there, but that's it. Very emo like, but that's a style. Just missing the piercing, maybe because her parents don't want that, even though that's a popular way to have magic stones on you. Yes, she is visibly not an adult yet, she seems more like 16 or 17.
- "What is a magic beast doing here ? Is that what you asked me to read the thought of ? You know that reading a beast's thoughts is bad for the psyche of the human."
- "Hello to you too, Jessica. And that's a human that was turned into a magic beast."
- "Oh…" (visible confusion in her eyes for a second) "Ok then Imma give it a try, then, I guess…." (then to me) "I just need you to come over and touch me physically, otherwise the spell won't work. Oh and also I'll need you to keep a talisman on you to help with the spell."
I oblige and get closer to her. She almost seems surprised that I understood what she said. Jessica then takes out a stack of paper from a handbag that looks bigger on the inside, maybe with a spacial augmentation or something. It's rare to see someone with a space pouch, they are incredibly expensive ! Anyway, she then sticks one of the talismans on my head in the most annoying way possible, as it's half on my eyes and doesn't stay straight on my snout. I still keep it tho, because I don't want to get on her bad side…
She then sits in front of me and extends her hand to grab me like a cat that has peed on the floor. I bite her hand, she shouts a surprised cry and I then proceed to walk on her and just sit with my front paws on her legs. Jessica seems like she agrees with the position and proceeds with the incantation.
- "So… How will that work ?" asks my mother
- "She will in no time be able to hear all the thoughts of your son, then translate that to us."
- (at the end of the incantation) "That's your son ?! I thought it was a girl with how little there-…"
- "Yes, that's my… What did you just say ?"
- "Nothing… Anyway, what did you want to know ?"
- (the elder) "First off, I want to know the event that made him become a fox. Second, where his original body went. Thirdly, if the one that made him like that can be identified."
- "OK. You heard that ?"
* Yeah… But I cannot answer 2 of the 3 questions, I was unconscious.
I then proceed to think about the event of that night… Which was literally yesterday. She tries to describe it as best as she can, but that still doesn't seem to satisfy the elder, whose face darkened by the second as the story progressed. A heavy silence fell onto the group once Jessica finished narrating my… Unfortunate adventure.
After what felt like an hour, but was probably closer to 30 seconds, the elder stood up and went to the window. Stile silent, he looked outside, as if he wanted to find answers in the nature surrounding the school. "Do you know the beast that did that to my son …?" asked my mom, but only got dead silent in response.
After an even longer time (of about 3 minutes that felt like a couple decades), the elder turned around and faced me with a stare that could only be described as fearful anger.
- "I'll need you to get out of here."
- "Excuse me ?" confusedly asked my mother. "I- I… I don't know what we…"
- "It has nothing to do with you. The beast that entered your son's body is the master of the forest. It hasn't appeared in centuries, so we thought the species had gone extinct."
- "Does it, erm, have something in particular, that, huh, we should know about ?" asked my mom hesitantly.
- "Nothing that I know, except that every information on this beast, even its name, has been erased. I only know about its existence from a report that said the beast hasn't been seen in 10 years. The report dates back almost 200 years ago, and talked about the boss of the zone as a 4-tailed fox.
"The part that bothers me the most is the total lack of information on it", continues the elder. "It's like someone high in the hierarchy tried really hard to erase entirely from memory the existence of that species. That's why I will kindly ask you to not bring your son ever again here. Not as long as he is still a fox."
… Well, that's unexpected to say the least…
After the shock, I tried to get out of Jessica's lap, but while I readied myself for the jump, my bracelet-now-collar glowed again. This time not blinding everyone, and not alone either. One of Jessica's jewelry, a mana bracelet I learned later, started glowing too. And for some reason I couldn't move. [Nd-Writer: I couldn't move either, not that I was in shock, but literally my body wasn't responding at all]
- "What ?" shouted my mom in great surprise
- "What's going on now ?!" yelled the elder in anger
Both tried to get close to the interaction to stop it, but neither could separate us from each other. The elder couldn't even get close to us without getting tossed away like a dirty rag. Needless to say, he only tried once before just watching from the side, praying that everything would end up well while preventing my mother from hurting herself while helping me.
A couple seconds later, both artifacts stopped trying to replicate the sun's light and calmed down. Everything ended as if nothing happened. At least in appearances.
* It's done ? Can I move now ? How will I be able to go to school tomorrow…
- "…WHY THE F#CK CAN I HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS STILL ?!" she shouted more than 2 seconds after I finished my sentences.
I jumped out of Jessica's lap in fright, finding refuge by my mother's side. Trust me, a frightened chubby lady can yell surprisingly loudly…
/**\ /* return to real life *\ /**\
- Kaï ! * Not the snout ! That hurt, you know ! *
- "Yes, and that's what you get for mocking me."
- (whimper)...
/**\ /* back to the book *\ /**\
- "How should we know ? It's you that is the most qualified in soul magic."
- "What did my son say ? Was it something important ?"
- "Huh, sorry, err… He just asked what would happen for him tomorrow. You know, since he can't go to class like, err, THAT."
- "I don't know why he's asking that. He'll be declared sick until he can find a solution to his… Condition. He's young anyway, even younger than most of the first years, and it's his last one. He can afford to take a sabbatical year or even two."
My mom was astonished by that answer. I was too, but I take good and bad news better than others, I guess. She stood here, with me at her foot. And then we are both at the entry of the academy. Likely teleported by the elder. "Well, I guess we just have to go home for now" that my mother thought out loud. "I hope you're rested enough for one and a half hour long walk" she then says to me.