037 – Might of the Meek

Day 2

The banter continued until we were back at the fire station, where I excused myself from the others. I had to talk to Claire.

That pheasant was occupying a precious slot in my collar and I still hadn’t figured out its purpose. It was in the spot where Fate slotted all those meaningful shapes: Angel, Claire’s avatar, the hyena’s corpse that would follow me into nightmares, and a freaking pheasant. There had to be something to it.

When I entered the bottom floor of the building she’d set up in, her dot moved inside. I couldn’t tell if that was because she wanted privacy or to signal I wasn’t welcome. If it was the latter, she could tell me to my face.

I poked my head into the apartment where she had made her home. Her Pikachu body was situated on the couch.

[“Hello, Eve. I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”]

I had grown in value enough to be greeted again. Had to be a big ask she had in store for me.

“Hey, Claire.” I sat down on an armchair across from her. “I’ve been meaning to ask: Is your real body safe? With other Blessed looking after you? Or are you hiding?”

[“There is no real body, Eve. No, I do not wish to further talk about it.”]

That statement invoked so many questions. And I couldn’t ask any of them. Maybe another time.

“What did you mean to ask about?”

[“You can fly now. Is that a permanent thing?”]

“Unless Hell drastically boosts the gargoyle presence, yes. And at night there are demon bats patrolling.”

[“When you have some time I need you to find a shape of mine and kill it.”]

Again, many questions were invoked. I kept it simple.

“Why?”

[“Because it lost its limbs and can’t move on its own and is stuck on a rooftop. The lower floors of that building are profane and it seems there are some lesser demons parked there to prevent me from going in and killing that shape myself.”]

Jesus Christ.

“You can’t let go of it? And… does it feel pain? Since when?”

[“Yes to both. Since the Wild Hunt attack on the first night.”]

Goddamn. Here I was, finding fun in the apocalypse, and Claire was playing the horror version of the same game.

“Probably not today, but I’ll try to make time tomorrow. Can you describe where it is?”

[“I can, but I already set up a relay of selves to guide you there from here. I wasn’t sure you’d be able to carry me.”]

“Yeah, unless things get significantly worse tomorrow, I’ll go out and find that shape and kill it.”

[“Thank you. Why did you come up here?”]

“It’s hard to talk about the specifics, but I’m in a bit of a rush to make a call about dropping a shape from my pool or not. I think it has meaning but I can’t puzzle it out. Same way that Angel or the arctic fox had meaning.”

[“What shape is it?”]

“A pheasant.”

There was a long silence. No further questions, just Claire working away at the problem.

[“Maybe your base assumption is wrong? And the Blessing is calling you a coward? Pheasants are rather flighty.”]

“It already gave me an opossum in the same rotation. And a cape buffalo. One shape to crush my foes, one to take flight—which I couldn’t even do at that point—and one to play dead in.”

But then… shifting from the buffalo into the pheasant would mean I would reach tremendous speed.

I stood up. “Goddammit. It might just be a pun. This is beyond silly.”

[“Sometimes this Blessing is, isn’t it? What pun?”]

It would be such a specific thing. Such an obscure reference. And yet, she might be right.

“Remember the idea of the peasant railgun? Shapeshifting preserves kinetic energy.”

[“Yeah, Ash mentioned that. That’s how you reach the speed.”]

“Thanks, Claire. I needed that second perspective. Though now I really don’t know what to do about my shapes.”

[“Just because it hints at something you could do, doesn’t mean you have to do it.”]

Maybe she had reflected on our relationship. I was a horrible people pleaser and would do just about anything she asked of me.

“But there might be rewards waiting for me,” I said as I left the apartment.

She hadn’t commented on the kobold shape once.

#

In the fire station I accepted the kill reward for the unicorn and leveled up to 12.

[“Task rewards first or perks?”] I asked in Guide chat. In the deli, task rewards went first.

“Always tasks first. They might improve the perks,” Gabriel replied.

Before I dealt with any of that though, I went straight for the bathroom, where I had to jump to see myself in the mirror. Briefly considering activating my Focused Fury perk, I instead climbed onto a sink.

Yes, this face was objectively adorable. The devil eye stood out even more starkly against the large emerald of the other eye. I tried looking grim and instantly knew that I’d never intimidate anyone in this shape.

I climbed back down. I didn’t need to.

On my way back to the common room, I went through the Task Reward.

[Participate in a lethal Mounted Charge (Mount)

Reward: Advanced Enhanced Charge (Upgraded Trait)

Effect: Bonus damage with momentum-based attacks based on current speed; maximum increased damage (+200%) reached at 120 mph.]

I begrudgingly clicked Accept. Situationally useful. But incredibly useful if I was ever able to do what I had just discussed with Claire.

Then there was a reward for looting five enemies. Which was one each of the three potions I had already gotten.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

And then there was one I didn’t even remember popping up. And it didn’t fit with any previous rewards.

[Assume three shapes within your Inherent Shape’s broader category

Reward: Avian Affinity (Passive)

Effect: You may freely retain avian shapes you have acquired.]

I clicked accept, and three new shapes populated my permanent list. Red-tailed Hawk, Cassowary, and, of course, Pheasant.

This didn’t track at all. Three had never been reward-worthy so far. Had Fate snuck that Task in there after my talk with Claire? Was it even bound by causality and time? There had been a lot on my mind when I assumed the hawk shape, but I would have noticed the notification.

No, Claire. Pulling this off was no longer optional.

Jamie, Liz, and Ash were sitting at one of the camping tables, while Stephen was whipping up a quick meal in the kitchen. I went past them and flopped down onto the couch.

“Got a perk to pick,” I answered the questioning glances.

“How come you get to have a perk at level 12?” Liz asked.

“Loki’s Gift. Same perk that gives me those three daily shapes. It only cost me one of my attributes.”

I opened the Perk Selection menu.

[Might of the Meek – Ability

Activate before shifting to double the ATP cost of shifting into a shape with base Endurance of 3 or lower to increase its size and base Strength and Endurance.

Growth scales inversely with base Endurance:

Endurance 1: 3x size

Endurance 2: 2x size

Endurance 3: 1.5x size