Hours passed by in a blur of terror and discovery.
Right off the bat, Griffin searched the Goblin and found the creatures belt had a pouch full of salve saturated cloth wraps. He would've screamed forceplot but then he thought back to the feline pressing up against the Goblins belt.
Like the cat knew and was trying to tell him.
"That's not too crazy to assume in a fantasy world…. right?" He thought before doing an even crazier thing and rolling the beast over to clean and wrap her wounds.
A female. A female so large that she used up all the wrappings for her wounds, leaving Griffin with nothing.
He ventured out into the forest again, trying to remain calm and use his foraging/survivalist knowledge to the best of his abilities. Boyscouts be damned.
The world was different. The bugs were huge and swarming. The waters ran in different shades through rivers that housed glowing gems and horned fish. The trees twisted and ran in spirals in some places forming walls of thorned wood.
He found the bushes and rummaged through them.
"Considering the terrain and appreance of fauna….. I've gotta be in some parallel North America or something. So right now, I need to find some soap….. no…" Griffin trailed off as he found a budding white bush. He kept looking, "Soap….. not that. Is that a scorpion?!"
He looked for another few minutes before finding it.
"HAH! Soapweed." Griffin ripped the evergreen plant out of the dirt. He found two more and did the same.
With one hand full of soapweed— hopefully, and a leg with a hole in it, he continued foraging with his senses alert.
He found trees sprouting berries. Some were full and beautiful with brilliant dark purple berries. Untouched and in season obviously. He stayed far away from those. He would've even if they didn't smell like sour patch kids on steroids from a mile away.
Speaking of a mile away, he was beginning to hear people in the distance as he foraged. That alone had him rushing to find a tree or bush with half eaten berries to confiscate for himself.
Once he did, he rushed to a river and dunked his leg inside. The force of the water was pure pain on his leg wound. But it was also removing dirt and debris beautifully.
The water itself was beautiful. Gems in the riverbed made the waves glow like disco balls. The froth came up with a refreshing mineral smell.
"If I close my eyes I could trick myself into being in a spa. I could also get sniped by a vulture-riding goblin so maybe I shouldn't do that." Griffin thought as he looked down at his leg in the water.
At least that was the plan. Instead of eyeing his leg, he found himself in the reflection of the water.
He almost thought another feline predator found him.
"No way….." Griffin thought.
He was almost entirely different.
He still had his dark skin, shining like melted chocolate under the sun. He still had his high cheekbones and sharp jawline that made him look as regal as his father. But his eyebrows were thicker. So was his nose— thicker than normal means. It almost looked snoutish. He had elven sharp ears and cat eyes as well. Golden cat eyes that narrowed at the pupil as the sun rays illuminated his vision. His hair was still cut and shaped up into a tapered low afro. He was bigger though, strapped with muscle and length. He looked like he was at least seven feet tall all muscle.
But more bizarrely, he had something in his chest.
A glowing marking. Three golden spirals over a bigger golden orb. It looked almost like the symbol for the sun. Or a lions paw. The veins in his chest around the symbol glowed with the solar brilliance of sun rays.
Griffin thought back to the orbs of light crashing into him.
"Weird... but that makes perfect sense for this place."
Eventually, he returned to the cave with crushed soapweed pressed into his leg wound and a mouth full of berries that stained his teeth. Which were also bigger and sharper in places.
The feline creature was still resting. No longer bleeding out though which filled him with a comfort he didn't understand.
Night came fast.
And he could still see perfectly in the dark. So, he didn't bother starting a fire. He didn't want to risk smoke drawing attention. Especially not while he could hear the things he heard and see the spark and flash of fire lancing across the sky.
He drifted to sleep. Somehow. Likely only thanks to his day of almost dying eighteen times.
Eventually, he woke up to a snort and splash of droplets on his face.
The feline stood over him. So close that he could smell the dead goblin on her breath.
His blood froze.
The feline licked his face with her sandpaper tongue before walking away.
Griffin sat up and found the cat sitting across from him. Her tail swayed curiously behind her.
"...you knew the wraps were in the goblins belt." Griffin said. He felt stupid speaking to the animal—
"Yes. They usually do with all the raiding they get into."
Griffin's jaw would've hit the floor if he wasn't so tense.
The feline turned her head in curiousity, "What's wrong?"
"…..y-you can talk?" Griffin mumbled.
"Of course. What is your name?"
Griffin remembered to breathe, "Griffin."
She bowed, "I thank you for saving my life in spite of your obvious physical weakness. I'm sorry I wasn't able to fully save yours. I'm still learning to call to the Magic of The Hunt."
She raised her head then, "My name is Aghila."
"I'm talking to a….. you can talk to...heh—"
"Hey, pussy! You saw a goblin riding a rot-mist spewing vulture and you wanna lose your composure at a talking Timber-Panther? Like I said, pathetic!"
Griffin and Aghila looked down at his chest to find it glowed when the voice spoke in his head.
A familiar voice.
A voice that angered him.
"Razira…?!" Griffin said in thought.
"What?" She replied in his mind.
"The fuck you mean what?! You've been here this whole time?! How can I hear you?" Griffin replied.
"I don't know!" Razira spat, "Mana based magic does what it wants when you fail to make it do what you want. Ahrthor did the summoning spell wrong so now our mana essence sacrifice is doing weird stuff. We were supposed to die. Instead we got dealt a worse hand. We exist inside you." Razira explained.
"All three of you?" Griffin asked.
"I guess. Do the math, look at how many markings are on your chest." Razira said. "They aren't as talented with magic so they'll take a while to get here. We were in some sort of Mana Limbo. I should've stayed." Razira said.
"How about helping me instead?" Griffin asked.
"No. Talk to the…. Cat, as you called her." Razira said.
He could almost feel her turn away from him.
"Asshole."
Griffin looked up to find Aghila still watching him.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
Griffin nodded, "I uhh….. can every animal speak?"
Aghila huffed out a laugh, "You must've hit your head. Everyone and everything can talk. To understand you need the Tongue. You and I have Panther Tongue. Most Elven races have Panther Tongue. Like yourself."
"Elven races…. Me? I'm—" Griffin trailed off as he thought back to how he looked currently.
"You don't look like any of the Elven races I've seen. But you do look like the ones from the stories. From the Age of Heroes. The Elves of Leonis had cat eyes and were masters of the elements. But I was told they're only stories. Yet here you are."
Griffin soured at an odd thought. "….im an in-universe fanfic protagonist based off stories those three heroes read as kids? I don't know if I should laugh or kill myself."
"Second option, please." Razira chimed in.
Griffin ignored her as he spoke to Aghila. "So…. Why'd you do it?"
"Do what?" Aghila asked.
"Why'd you risk your life for me?"
"Why'd you risk yours for me?" Aghila asked.
Griffin sat with his answer as she did with hers.
"Do you know where you came from?" Aghila asked suddenly.
"DONT TELL HER." Razira said.
"….no." Griffin replied. "I….don't remember."
"You must've been in some battle. There are Healers and Diviners in my Clan. I'll take you if you'd like."
"Your Clan….. like more Timber Panthers?"
"Timber Panthers, Hawks, Sky-Snakes and Wyld Elves."
Griffin waited for Razira to interject. Her silence told him he was on his own.
"Sure. I'd appreciate the help."
Aghila turned and headed out of the cave.
Griffin followed until she stood beside the goblin.
"You may want to take his clothes and armor. Just so you can protect yourself a bit better on the way there."
Griffin looked down at himself and realized he was naked.
And upgraded in a couple other places.
"Uhh— right!"