Section 4

  A hundred and twenty minutes later (about an hour and a half in this world), we reached the very end of the frozen section of the forest and entered a lush green plain area. This gave me hope of finding a place in town soon, and sure enough, right before sunset, we saw the rising smoke from stone and wooden buildings a few dozen meters ahead of us. Our trek there was uneventful since we finished our meal and packed up. No monsters, animals, or fruits were on our path to the city, probably because they were already harvested. But when we reached the town, I saw many broad pens for sheep and pigs and sheds for birds. I halted suddenly before we saw anyone when I thought it would be strange to stroll into town with three large and very ostentatious wolves in tow. I immediately reached out to Phantom with my mind.

  Draxson: Hey, Phantom, should we just enter town like this?

  Phantom looked at me and barked, and as she barked, it translated into a feminine voice that sounded like a grown woman saying, "Like what? Like a pack of three Phantom wolves, a cat-nye, and an elf? Are you saying we're a strange bunch, Draxson?"

  Phantom looked around and replied

  Phantom: This is already flamboyant with all this color and your massive packs. But it does not matter; we can shift our appearance using illusion lights and transform our bodies into humanoid forms.

  Draxson: That works, but what about your brothers and clothes if you change into a humanoid?

  Phantom: Oh, Draxson, there's no need to fuss. I can create clothes via illusion, but I'd prefer to wear some anyway. Sopheia dear, can you spare me a shirt and a cloak, please?

  Sopheia: Yeah, sure, you can change clothes. We found some spare cloaks, shirts, and even some spare bags if you and your brothers want to look like adventurers. Though we only took the best pair of shorts from a previous battle for one of your brothers, could Draxson share some pants with the other?

  "Here you go, Phantom. Here's one pair of shorts, a shirt that hopefully fits you, and a spare cloak. Oh, and a travel pack," said Sopheia after foraging through bags for the garments and offering them to Phantom.

  Phantom was still enveloped in a colorful cloud of smoke before appearing in a poof. The light that surrounded her in wolf form flowed through her long black, purple, and shifting hair that reached her thighs. Her form became more prominent as the smoke disappeared, and I immediately turned away.

  "Oh, Draxson, I could have put the illusion of clothes on, to begin with, and I'm not going to seduce you," stated Phantom with a sharp bite of sass. Her voice sounded like a fully developed human voice with only the faintest hint of her barks' prior echo in her new voice. I turned a minute later to face her and beheld Phantom, who looked human structure-wise like a human except for the fluffy ears on the top of her head, with the same colorful and iridescent-toned fur now her hair. She had strong feminine facial features, small shoulders, light brown skin, and well-toned muscles on her arms and legs.

  She had proportions similar to those of a 16-year-old humanoid if my comparison to Cat-Nyes I've seen in the village is correct. Another note about Phantom in her new form was that her hair, as previously mentioned, flowed to her upper thighs. Her colorful hair of ever-shifting hues glowed and was very spiky at the ends and very long (think Super Saiyan 3 but not extending as far); otherwise, it looked like her hair was well taken care of as its shiny gloss reflected the lights of the flames I summoned to float above us and illuminate our path. Her clothes were the same style as Sopheia's except without the cloak and other gear Sopheia owned. She didn't have a tail like Sopheia's, from what I saw, so it was pretty easy to tell them apart. Then, from the corner of my eye, I saw a big fluffy purple tail with dozens of colorful wisps flowing from it, and her tail was swishing around like Sopheia's did when she was relaxed. Oh, Forces of Life. We're going to stand out so much; she might as well have stayed a wolf.

  "See, Draxson, I know how to blend in. Now, I’m going to put on some equipment. Oh, and Draxson, can I have a few of those spare daggers you have? It's so I can blend in with the party, and if I need a weapon, claws will draw too much attention," said Phantom as her large, fluffy, meter-long tail swished around, thrice the thickness of my arm. Her tail was the same color as the hair that I mentioned earlier; it was the same style and shininess. Her tail bobbed up and down and swished side to side.

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  Yeah, right, we're going to blend in. She sure is doing her best not to stand out. I thought to myself as I closed my eyes and palmed my face while I loudly exhaled. Why must she stand out so much? I was exhausted thinking about it but decided to move past it. After filling my lungs with crisp, clean forest air, I replied a moment later. “Yeah, you can have some of my daggers. Let me get them for you, Phantom,” I said, reaching for some of the daggers I had in a bag I acquired from our “encounter” not too long ago. I handed Phantom the daggers and their leather sheaths together.

  “Thank you, Draxson,” replied Phantom as I handed over the daggers. I don't know how, but her tail fur, the rest of her hair, and even her skin seemed to glow. She looked and sounded much happier than when we communicated mentally, and I was surprised to see that her demeanor was much friendlier in this form. We watched Phantom and her brothers equip small backpacks and cloaks after the other two transformed and dressed behind some trees with the gear I gave them. We were still on the very outskirts of town, but we hid behind some trees to avoid detection. Though Phantom said she could hide us with her magic, I asked her not to. I didn't want her to waste her energy. When we were all set and ready, we walked into town. It was nearly pitch black outside the areas that the lantern posts spread throughout the streets illuminated. I dispelled my fire-light spell as we approached.

  We walked around town until we found a building resembling an Inn minutes later. We entered the Inn right after reading the sign that confirmed it was indeed an Inn. “ Aye, Helloo, what can I do for ye bunch?" (in a Scottish accent) Asked the woman attending the front desk right by the entrance. When I saw her and heard her accent, I recognized that she was a forge dwarf, built like a regular dwarven woman and facial structure, but in their battle, forge form The dwarfs stood at anywhere from 5’-8” to 6’-4” feet fully matured. I approached the Dwarven woman at the counter while she was setting down a rag she was using to polish the counter. “ Helloo, I would like to pay for a room or room for one month; I’ll check with my party.” I said as I looked to Phantom for her statement; she replied back in my mind, “Two rooms.” The woman at the counter waited patiently for my reply, smiling at me calmly when I turned back to face her. “Yeah, sorry about that; I would like to get us two rooms for the five of us and some food, Mistress Inn Master.” I gave my reply and with it a slight bow as was the custom when speaking with esteemed forge Dwarves who were always the best of their trades and, therefore, all other races respected them extensively, and even most elves respected the Forge Dwarves.

  “Aww, hush you, darling,” said the Inn Master before she whipped me softly with her rag. The soft, light gesture still had some bite, thanks to the Forge Dwarves' higher-than-average strength. “Ye don't need to do dat, young lad.” “I’ll get some food ordered for ye and ya friends. Do pork dumplings and spicy chicken noodles with rice sound good with ya, parte?” She asked in her thick Dwarven accent. “Yes, that would be excellent, Inn Master…” I was saying when she said, “Inn Masta Figal will do just fine, Lad. I’ll get that right to ya and prepare your rooms. I’ll ask youse about drinks in a few minutes. It will be 10 Saph-cyrst coins for everything, lad.” Said the Inn Master as I dug through my coin pouch and handed her ten intricately carved silver coins with a small sapphire (diamond-shaped) crystal in the center of the coins. I placed the coins on the counter and even added a silver coin with gold accents and a small quarter-fingernail-sized platinum shard surrounded by lesser gold. (coin value 2 times of Saph-cyrst coin[valued at three coins) , three coins is equal to one {standard gold piece} = three silvers or twelve bronzes) “Okay, thank you for your patronage. Could ya wait at that table over there? And I’ll be right with ya again shortly. “ Inn Master Figal said, pointing to table a table one spot from the middle of the common room and by the window. “Thank you, Inn Master Figal.” I gave my thanks with a bow just a bit too deep, which earned me a chuckle from some men I couldn't see behind me and a heartfelt laugh from a boy behind the counter who was cleaning a dish. Figal also gave a sharp look to an older woman sitting at a table by the window opposite the entrance. “Aye, just move ya hinny already.” Stated Figal, exasperated and giving a chuckle as she went back to where the kitchens were.

  We walked to the table we were directed to. The common room wasn't very full at the moment, but it was quite spacious, I realized as we trekked to the table. The room had the fine, masterful artisan touch only dwarves could have created. As the five of us sat down at the table at the appointed table, I saw there were only five other Patrons in the common room that I could see; there was the aforementioned older woman by the window, a group of three towards the back a few tables away talking amongst themselves, and a young lady watching the boy behind the counter working.

  “Aye, there ya be new in town, right?” asked the older woman sitting by the window. I looked over at the woman, and immediately, I noted a red rune-like marking on her right cheek. And had the facial features of a human. I hadn't seen a human in nearly a year when one delivered a message to the village chief and guard captain.