Bron, a man of the warrior race, woke up distraught with his dog gasping for air on his lap. The animal's tongue was hanging out, its eyes bulging, and its lower jaw broken. Around him were his companions, covered in mud and blood. The breeze wafted a putrid smell into his nostrils. He staggered to his feet and saw some enemies looting the bodies of the battle. He hugged his dog tightly, no longer in agony, and let out a cry asking God why all this was happening to him. The enemies heard him and began running toward his direction. Bron fled down a gently sloping area that ended at the road; he crossed the road and entered the forest. The closest enemy to him was a teenager, responsible for organizing the weapons found after the battle. The young man removed the hood that was protecting him from the rain, put the weapons in the back of the carriage, chose a long knife, and began to pursue him. The tall, thin boy saw the opportunity to be recruited as a warrior in the upcoming battles. The chase lasted five minutes until "Bron" stumbled and fell. The young man jumped on top of him with knife in hand. Bron turned and put his dog's body in front of him. The knife pierced between the animal's ribs. Just as quickly, he threw the dog's body aside along with the young man. Then, he stood up and punched him in the back of the neck. The skinny boy tried to stab him again, but he got elbowed in the nose, followed by several punches in the face that knocked him unconscious. Two hooded archers were perched a hundred meters away in a tree, both aiming arrows at him. He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. When the archers unstrung their bows, he suddenly bent down, grabbed the knife, and used the young man as a hostage. With the knife at the boy's neck, he backed away, shouting at the archers to stay where they were and not to move, or else he would slit the enemy's throat. Out of range of the arrows, he released the boy, but another enemy struck him in the back with a war hammer. He fell, and the knife slipped from his hand. The hammer was wielded by a tall, bald man, the same one who had driven the wagon that held the weapons. He tried to strike again but missed, lost his balance, and fell. Bron grabbed the knife and plunged it into the coachman's chest. At the same time, he was hit by two arrows in the back. The archers readied another arrow, but he ran into the densest part of the forest and disappeared. After a long walk in the "Forest of Shadows," he spotted a huge clearing with a large wooden house in the center. The sun was already setting, and the house's shadow had already covered half of the medicinal plant garden. The warrior stopped to rest on a fallen log. An hour later, a horrific roar echoed through the forest. He ran in fear to the house and tried to jump over the fence but bumped into an invisible barrier and fainted. The house's resident heard the noise and came to see what was happening. The old man saw through the cracks in the gate what looked like a strong man's body lying face down on the floor.
Two days later, Bron woke up lying on a wooden bed in the smallest and brightest room in the house. His chest was covered in white strips of cloth spreading a citrus scent in the air. He looked to the side and saw a woman sitting in a chair, staring at his legs and arms. She was a fair woman with curly red hair, a narrow waist and wide hips, blue eyes, and an oval face with high cheekbones and a square jaw.Dressed in simple brown leather pants, and a black wool blouse, with arms tattooed with tribal scarification motifs.
--Hana-- You're so Black! I got a fright when I walked into the room last night. I thought one of the forest shadows had broken through the barrier and invaded the house.
--How are you feeling?
--Bron-- Who are you? Where am I?
--Hana-- I'm Hana, I'm a shapeshifter, and you're at Lord Ozir's house.
--It seems you're better. I need to go to town now, but don't worry; if you need anything, just call my sister, her name is Aurora.
Without looking back, she headed for the door. Bron turned in bed and stretched out his arm, asking her to wait, but he felt a sharp pain in his back and recoiled. When he looked again, she had already left. After much effort, he managed to get up and went from the bedroom to the hallway, where he saw several doors on both sides. He tried the first door, which was on his right. It had no keyhole. It was entirely silver and engraved with geometric shapes. He tried to open it, but it was blocked by the same invisible barrier as the one from last night. The door on the left was a simple wooden door with the name "Adan" written in black paint. He passed through the kitchen until he reached the living room, where he found "Mr. Ozir" sitting in a chair eating an apple. They talked all day about Bom's journey, from "Asguir" to "Nordelands," and why he chose to take part in the "Battle of the Races." Also, how his army lost the fight against the kingdom of Elstãrn. This battle between humans and non-humans has been going on all over the world for over a hundred years. They also talked about how Mr. Osir, the doctor of the humans' royal family, managed to escape from the castle and hide in the forest when the war began.
It was almost night when Hana arrived from the city. She pushed the front door so hard that it even hit the wall on the other side. The woman hurried to the kitchen and put away her groceries, then opened the fridge, took out a jug of milk, ran back to the living room, and sat at the table. Next to Mr. Ozir, she looked at him and started drinking the milk as if her life depended on it. The noise woke up Aurora, who was sleeping in her room, she went to the living room scratching her head, with disheveled hair and dressed only in a see-through nightgown. She asked what that was, but before she got an answer, Aurora saw "Bron" sitting on the other side of the table staring at her with his deep and black eyeball that has no white part; there was no way of knowing which part of her body he was looking at.
A thin woman with long legs, and red hair. The shameless women walked towards the table to participate in the meeting. Hana choked on the milk and yelled at her, calling her a degenerate, and telling her to go back to her room. Still sleepy, she just turned around and went back to change clothes.
Everyone was sitting at the wooden table, ready for start the meeting when Bron asked Hana who she was. She looked at him confused and asked if he had already forgotten about her.
Mr. Ozir told her that she was the one who had forgotten to change her appearance.
She just laughed, and her body began to twitch; rashes broke out on her face and began to move as if maggots were crawling under her skin. Then, her appearance changed from a wrinkled lady to a young woman with smooth skin. Brown was impressed, because even though he knew some shapeshifters, he had never seen one transform in front of him.