The Takeover

"Okay, now it's time for your shifter lesson." Rudy said, putting Lana into her chair.

"But why?" She whined. She wanted to go outside and play! It was a beautiful day, and she didn't want to waste it by staying inside. "Shifters are the second rarest talent. I'm not special enough to get that gift."

Rudy chuckled and shook his head. "You are special to me, little one. Besides there's not way to tell what sire will get what gift. It's completely random, it has nothing to do with how special you are, or who your parents are. It's luck of the draw." He messed up her hair and walked up to his chalk board.

"Fine, I guess I can listen, as long as you promise to let me play outside later!" She huffed.

"Of course, scouts honor." He smiled, and began the lesson. "Now shapeshifters, or shifters for short, are able to change into different animals, or even objects if they have enough power, and skill. But that is rare, so we'll stick with the animal part for now. Seeing as their bones and muscles have to change size, shifting is extremely painful."

"Why would you want a gift that hurts you?" Lana questioned.

"Well because it allows you to blend in. And occasionally an animal will will imprint on a shifter." Rudy paused as he noticed the confusion in little Lana's eyes. "Imprinting means that they bond with the shifter, the animal believes the shifter is its best friend, maybe even its family, and the animal will do anything to protect their shifter."

Lana woke with a start and looked around for the panther cub. Had the cub imprinted on her? If so that would only prove Annie right. Only powerful shifters end up with animal companions. It's almost as rare as the shifters that are able to change into objects. But Lana thought the imprinting process was supposed to feel... Special. Like your previous world ended and a new one began, where you were almost completely codependent on that creature...

Either way, it seemed as is it wasn't meant to be. The panther cub was gone. It's absence left a hole in Lana's heart. She had been momentarily excited to have a traveling partner. But it appears as though she will have to make this journey alone, just as she had been told. She stood up and stretched her stiff muscles. It felt as if she had been sleeping for days. Her stomach growled at her with a hunger that confirmed her long slumber. She looked over at her shoulder, worried she may have ripped open the scar when she stretched, only to see that the wound was completely healed.

Lana sat down and opened her pack. She still had roughly five days of food left. Well, four after her 'breakfast'. She ate a whole days rations in one meal, and she was still ravenous. It must have been from all the shapeshifting and physical exertion from earlier. She needed to be more careful. She didn't even know where to start foraging for food in this forest. But she knew she needed to begin, soon. She needed to build up a larger supply of rations where she could, there would no doubt be long stretches of this journey where food was sparse... Or maybe nonexistent. And she needed to be prepared.

Lana stood up and threw her pack over her shoulder, getting ready to leave as the panther cub returned to the small cave, hauling a deer carcass. It was three times the size of the cub. How she managed to take down such a large animal was a mystery to Lana.

"Oh you're back!" Lana said, running to hug the cat. "I thought you abandonned me. Which shouldn't have bothered me as much as it did, since you're an animal and you're used to roaming, but it did."

The cub purred and nuzzled into Lana's neck. When she went to pull away the cub licked her face. Then it began nosing the deer toward Lana.

"Did you kill this?" She asked. The cub lowered it's head, in a strange nod. It could understand Lana, and though it couldn't speak, Lana felt she could understand the cub. "Well, good job. I'm impressed such a small thing could take down such a large deer." Lana walked over to where the cub stood and scratched behind it's ears, then looked in your eyes. "Thank you very much. I'm going to skin it and cook it... Which could take awhile but at least it will keep longer..." Lana trailed off as the kitten began pawing at her leg. She let out a small growl and showed her teeth, trying to tell Lana it would be easier to eat if she were a cat, like herself.

"I don't know if I should do that, friend." Lana patted, that kitten's head, staring solemnly into it's green eyes. "It took so much energy to stay as a cat, I ate almost an entire days worth of food." Her stomach rumbled in response. "And it still wasn't enough."

The cat, once again nosed the deer in her direction. If she acted like a cat and slept and ate like a cat she wouldn't feel so terrible when she shifted back. The cub knew this because a male shapeshifter had told her so a few days earlier. He had passed through the forest heading to the north, like every sire before him when he noticed the cub lying by it's dead mother. This shifter had a sub-class much like the cub's current companion. Except this class let him see pairs, or halves of pairs. He could see what two people were meant for each other, as well as which animal was destined to be a shifter's animal familiar. Being a shifter himself, the cub was able to understand him.

He told her to be strong, that she would soon have someone else to bond and travel with. He said that that shifter was brand new to this world, and didn't have a lot of experience, just like the kitten. She wouldn't know how stay in a form for an extended period of time. He said that the cub would need to show her how to be an animal, eat, hunt, sleep like an animal. Because if she did that, she could stay in a form indefinitely and the repercussions wouldn't kill her, or render her weak and vulnerable for any period of time.

So, the panther cub knew what to do. It was just a matter of getting the human to listen.

"I think you should have a name." The human said, breaking the cub's thought process. "Mine is Lana, if you wished to know... Now we need one for you... What about Sophie? I've always liked that name." Lana looked directly at the kitten, trying to see if the name fit. "Sophie." Her ears perked up, she liked the name. She actually didn't care what the name was... Sophie enjoyed simply having one, and belonging to someone.

"Okay, Sophie. I didn't really pay attention during my shapeshifter, lessons from my old teacher... But from what I understand we're supposed to be able to communicate quite easily... You understand me, right?" Lana asked and Sophie nodded, as best she could. "And I understand you for the most part. From body language and what not... So, what you were trying to tell me is that I need to shift right."

A nod.

"And somehow you know that if I eat and hunt like panthers do in the wild, I won't turn back human and succumb to extreme exhaustion."

Another nod. Lana let out a conflicted sigh and absentmindedly stroked Sophie's head.

"You're sure?" Lana asked, she trusted the cub. Well, she had to. This creature was chosen to be her companion, to guide her. She might as well allow it to do it's guiding.

"Okay..." She blew out another sigh and began to shift into the familiar form. But this time was worse. Without the urge or need to protect anything, she was all on her own. Lana grit her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut as pain attacked every nerve ending. The change started at her hands and feet. The bones of her fingers retracted inward, to form a general paw shape then grew to three times the size. Her fingernails hardened and grew into long claws.

"I thought magic was supposed to be a gift." Lana's voice was a hybrid of a human's and a panther's roar. She panted as her noise and mouth stretched forward, into a snout and her gums were torn by rows of sharp, thick teeth.

The worst part of the transition was her back legs. Her knees had to be completely inverted, and that was not a pleasant process. Lana tried to turn away from Sophie, to spare her from the wretched sight she must be, but the cub wouldn't have it. She walked up to Lana and began gently licking the thicker patches of fur, grooming them. She purred and rubbed against her human, trying to comfort her.

Once the change was finally over Lana stretched. She felt a phantom ache in her muscles, as if they were still changing, though she knew they weren't. She turned to Sophie and licked the top of her head, as a simple thank you. She knew the cub was trying to make her feel better, and she appreciated it.

Sophie walked over to the dear carcass and began tearing the mean from the bones. As if she were trying to show Lana what to do. Lana's human stomach churned, but her cat form was ravenous, and the deer smelled like heaven. So, she tuned out her human emotions and went with her panther instincts, seeing as they would be of more use in the wilderness.

After the two where properly fed and the bones of the deer were nearly completely cleaned they set off. Lana started heading north, once again. Sophie taught her how to walk quietly, how to run properly, and how to hunt.

The two traveled for two weeks, hunting for food and sleeping when darkness hit. Sophie and Lana were a great team, there was no shortage of food for either of them. And Lana was grateful Sophie was had stayed with her to mold her into the perfect predator. It was also nice to have a friend to travel with. Then they had a run in with another group of people. There must be something of importance hidden or hiding in the forest of giants. Encountering one person, or group of people was rare. Coming across two was unheard of. Especially since the forest was so vast.

Sophie and Lana ducked down behind a nearby bush and listened.

"We found this garbage heading north like all the others. Is it the one they're looking for." The man with sandy hair said and shoved a girl bound at the hands and wrists to the ground, before a man with medium brown hair.

"No, they're looking for a male, but good find. I'm sure they will be proud of us for killing one more of the filth." The man answered and put his knife to the girls forehead. He pushed her hair out of the way to reveal her sires mark. Lana gasped and looked over at Sophie. They had to attack, to save this girl. Sophie seemed to understand Lana's determined look.

The man raised his knife to sever the girl's head from her neck when the two cats launched themselves at the mean. They aimed for the legs, to take out anyway of escape, and also spare their lives. The two easily dodged their sporadic knife swings. The guardians were so scared they couldn't even stab correctly.

Once they were properly incapacitated Lana grabbed the girl's shirt with her teeth and picked her up. Then the fled the scene. Once Lana felt the were a sufficient distance from the two men Lana looked for a cave spend the night in. Darkness was falling, and they needed a safe place to sleep.

After a few minutes of walking, Sophie found an entrance to a large cave that had been overgrown by various forest plants. Lana ducked inside and dropped the girl at the back of the cave. Lana was surprised she hadn't made a sound, she hadn't even screamed when a giant panther opened it's jaws and moved close to her. That's when Lana realized the girl was frozen stiff with fear.

"Are... You going to eat me?" She managed to squeak out. Lana sighed, she didn't want to change back to her human form. It didn't hurt as much as going from human to panther, but that means she'd have to change back... Eventually. But there was only one way she could talk to this girl and that was if she was a human, so she changed back. Then she walked over to the girl and sat on her knees, across from her.

"Hi, I'm Lana. I'm a sire too, just like you." She smiled kindly and held out a hand for the girl to shake. The girl was in awe, and weakly shook Lana's hand, as if she were in a daze.

"I'm, Gwenivere... But just Gwen is fine. I-I'm a shifter too." She mumbled. "But I... Can't change, not anymore. I don't know why." She mumbled.

Lana tilted her head to the side in confusion. "How long have you had your gift?"

"Only one or two days. I'm not sure." Her brow furrowed. "I was headed north like we're told to do but the guardians have the entire northern forest blocked off. Anyone who tries to get through them is captured, and sent to be killed."

"How did they get you?" Lana asked. "I don't mean to pry, you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to."

"Well, I got close to the border and figured I could just, you know, change into something and sneak across their ranks... They don't check animals because shifters are so rare anymore. And so I took the form of a butterfly I had seen around my hometown... Because it was easy. I didn't realize that I was in the 'everything is twenty times its' size' forest. I thought it was only a myth... And I didn't properly calculate how much energy it would take to fly past them... So when I got near, they captured me in a basket and waited until I had to change back. Which was only a mere seconds later... I'm not that powerful." She pushed back her ginger hair to reveal that her mark only reached to her temples. "And... I was wondering if I could see yours."

"Of course. And I'm really sorry, for what happened." Gwen could see the sincerity shining in Lana's green eyes. Then she pulled back all of her hair to reveal that her mark traveled around the entirety of her head.

"Wow, no wonder you were able to stay as that panther for so long." She gasped.

"I did have an excellent teacher, on the ways of shifting." Lana looked over her should at Sophie, who was hiding in the corner. Lana's eyebrows knit together. "Sophie, what's wrong?" The cub reluctantly walked over to her and sat next to her. Something was off and Lana knew it. That's when she noticed Gwen staring at Sophie. Gwen felt something stirring in her stomach as she stared at the cat, kind of like a million butterflies were bouncing around in there. Then the cat looked up and met Gwen's eyes and everything changed. Gwen's sire mark suddenly extended to where her ears began, and she felt as if she had found a long lost friend.

"Whoa." Gwen breathed.

Lana smiled sadly. "Oh, so that's what was supposed to happen."

"You thought..." Gwen gestured between Sophie and Lana.

"Yeah, I rescued her from a group of guardians looking for their next meal and she stuck around. She knew so much about shapeshifting and how to stay in a form for an extended period of time I just assumed..."

Gwen frowned. "Oh, I'm sorry." She said in a whisper. She felt guilty for taking away this stragners pet. But she didn't have much choice in the matter... She wishes she did.

"Don't be, I suspected she wasn't mine, but I didn't want to believe it." Lana turned to look at Sophie. "Is that why you were hiding? You knew you belonged with Gwen and you didn't want to upset me?" She asked and scratched behind Sophie's ears.

"She says yes." Gwen spoke up and a blush rose to her cheeks. "I can hear her, in my head... It's quite weird." Lana nodded and turned back to the cub.

"It's okay, it was nice having a traveling companion for a little while. And I'll never be able to put into words how thankful I am for all you taught me." Lana smiled solemnly, and reminded herself to stay strong. Tears were not allowed, she had already cried far too much, when she had to leave Rudy. "We still have one more night together, right?" Sophie nuzzled against her neck and purred softly.

"I'm assuming you're not heading north?" Lana asked Gwen.

"No, I'm going south to check on a friend... And I advise you stay away from the northern woods too. It's dangerous." Gwen put a hand on Lana's knee.

"I need to do this. I promised someone close to me." Lana hadn't taken her eyes off Sophie's during the entirety of the conversation. She was glad they found who Sophie was supposed to be paired with, but that didn't stop the sadness from eating a whole in her heart. That is why she shouldn't get close to people or animals. They can always leave. And usually always did.

She wrapped her arms around Sophie's neck and gave her a gentle hug before turning in for the night. In the morning she'd have to say goodbye and start her journey alone... Again.