The next morning, Thomas was standing in the hall of the manor, looking through the window. The sun was slowly rising, dying the sky in shades of yellow and pink, it was beautiful. No high building like in his original world, nor permanently red sky like in Hell.

  ‘Bael would love this.’

  He kept his eyes on the horizon until a high pitched voice took him out of his reverie.

  “Master, we are ready ! We should leave now.”

  Thomas reluctantly walked away from the window and towards the door. He was a bit nervous. It was the first time he would go under the sun with his new body, the experience would surely be different from Hell’s garden. He shouldn't be tense, it was not a big deal, but he couldn’t help feeling the anxiety growing in his heart. Each new experience had been unpleasant when he wasn’t with Bael, and the side effect was that everytime he was away from the king, he was sure that something bad would happen. Maybe the sun would feel scorching hot ? Maybe the wind would rip his skin off ? Or would the scent be too strong for him to bear ?

  Putting his thoughts aside, he bit the inside of his cheek to erase the nervousness and walked through the door, and immediately he froze. The rising sun was hitting the doorstep, warming up Thomas’ face. The gentle wind swayed his tied hair, bringing scents of wood and pnts, wet ground, grass, it smelled like spring. All of that didn’t feel overwhelming or scary, it was somehow reassuring and freeing.

  Thomas took a few steps, climbing down the stairs, and looked around him. He hadn’t noticed because he wasn’t interested, but the mansion was surrounded by a vast garden where flower beds were mixed with artificial kes and small gazebos along thin paths of dirt and sand. It hit him again :

  ‘As the Shaman, I’m really rich. The garden looks a bit like Hell castle’s but with more green. I would love to take a walk here with Bael.’

  He wanted to go and explore, but he didn’t have the time right now. Thomas turned to the front, a few steps ahead, where Tari and Tira had pced a puddle of bags and fabrics.

  “Isn’t this too excessive ? How will we carry all of it ?”

  The twins turned to him with a smile.

  “In our flow, of course ! Oh, you probably don’t know how to do it yet, master, but we’ll take care of it. We aren’t as powerful as we used to be, since our power comes from you and you are still quite weak, but when master was at the pinnacle of this world, you used to be able to store a whole castle in your flow. I hope you will be able to do this soon, it will be easier.”

  ‘So I need to get stronger for my allies to be more useful ? It's very useful information, considering that a game gets more difficult as the story progresses. Maybe I should not rush for the next artifact, and take the time to work on my magic. But that means more circution… I hate this game.’

  He sighed internally and looked at the twins, letting flow seep out of their skin. The light of their magic was different from his but still simir, which was logical considering they were created by the Shaman, it was a pale pink that seemed faded, but Thomas could still feel that they had better control than him. As it stood, creations that weren’t even real humans were much more powerful than him. It tickled his ego, but he couldn’t do anything about it, so he simply watched them. Then, something strange happened. As they were using their flow, the twins started to change. Their mouths got bigger, looking like the snout of an animal, and their teeth got sharper, their hands growing long cws and their bodies deforming into grotesque forms. Thomas was frozen in pce, his eyes widened in terror. However, the boys didn’t seem fazed, they finished their task and came back to their normal selves, conversing as if nothing happened.

  ‘Don’t tell me… Like with demonic power, you transform when you use the flow ? It’s true that I didn’t have a mirror when I used it st time, but do I really look like that when I use it ? Does this game have a ‘bestiality’ tag ? They looked like monsters, right ?’

  He had to take a deep breath to calm his heart and start to think properly again. The fact that you transform somehow while using magic was a common trope. In some games your eyes will turn white or red, in others you will grow horns, but transforming into a monster ? It was new. It was probably made for sexy scenes where the protagonist loses control of his powers and needs a circution, ravishing his partner in the process while he is a beast, but Thomas hated this idea.

  ‘I don’t want to do this ! When people did it to me I felt awful, I don’t want to be the one to inflict that to someone !’

  He had another reason to take his time and control his powers properly before continuing with the main story. Even if he had no interest in the inhabitants of this dimension, there was one line he didn’t want to cross, even by accident or by following the narrative of the game.

  After making up his mind, he followed the twins out of the garden. The group got away from the isoted mansion, and walked on a thin path that soon led to the entrance of a thick forest. Contrary to the ones he had seen in the human world, it seemed wild and uncared for, with big bushes that would scratch your calves.

  “Are you okay master ? Do you need to take a break ?”

  “No.”

  Thomas continued to walk, even if the feeling of things brushing against his skin made him want to scream. After a few hours, they reached a small opening where the green pnts were turning gray and ashy, most bushes were dead and the trees seemed sick. Tari noded.

  “We have reached the cursed area. The artifact is further ahead. Listen, can you hear the knights fighting ?”

  With his hearing enhanced by the two powers, Thomas could hear faint sounds of battle, muffled screams and groans, and swords cshing. The tension in his body spiked. Now that it was just ahead, he was starting to get nervous. He had never fought anyone, and had never seen blood except on himself, so unwillingly his hands started to shake. The twins seemed to notice because they smiled warmly.

  “Don’t worry master, we are here to protect you ! Nothing bad will happen.”

  ‘Stop setting up red fgs !’

  Taking a deep breath, Thomas put one foot forward and gradually started walking again, getting closer to the terrifying sounds. After another hour, they stood in front of a clearing, where he had a full view of what was happening. Amongst the ashy pnts, a troop of knights was fighting with fervor against strange beasts. They were of various sizes and appearances, and seemed like chimeras of different animals grotesquely put together. Some had snouts, other ft faces, with cws or fangs, wings or horns, scales or fur, it was disgusting and seemed unnatural. But somehow it seemed simir to how the twins looked when they were using their flow.

  ‘Ok, I get it, those beasts are created by someone’s flow. I know the plot twist, someone is creating the curse and the beasts to take control of the world. Now that I got spoiled, I can take care of it more easily.’

  He took a deep breath, a bit disappointed by the simplicity of the game plot, and turned to the twins.

  “What do we do now ? Do we fight too ?”

  “No, we should go around the battlefield, the artifact is situated just after that.”

  Thomas nodded and followed them, getting away from the clearing, when something caught his eyes. It was a fsh of blue, very pale, almost white but not so that it would disturb him, and it was shaking in the wind like a scarf. Upon closer inspection, it was long hair, tied in a neat low ponytail made with great care, moving in the wind as the person was fighting with energy. The one it belonged to was a knight, different from the other because his armor was decorated by emblems and a cape. His features were very soft, almost like a child, but the shade of a blue beard was invalidating this assumption. Contrary to his juvenile appearance, his deep blue eyes were fierce and murderous, brandishing his thin sword with force and sying the beasts without rest. It was him, the strong commander. And, despite feeling it for the first time, Thomas could tell by the pull in his heart.

  ‘He is a familiar.’

  It almost felt like love, but not exactly, it was its own feeling very different from how Thomas thought of Bael. But without a doubt, it was a kind of affection. He had felt it towards the twins too, that’s why he couldn’t hate them even after what they had done to him, he couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t their fault. Simirly, he thought the knight was beautiful.

  He was disturbed by this feeling towards someone he didn't even know, it felt artificial and forced, and it made him want to run away. But for the sake of Bael, he needed to finish this game. So he took a deep breath and turned to the twins.

  “The commander is a familiar.”