Amanises looked at the pile of corpses. They were all corpses of newborn pups, the sweet saccharine smell of their bodies filled her nostrils. She wanted to scream, shout. The empathy of a 21st century human stuck inside her still sung out, yet her mind did not allow it to show. After all, what would that do for her? To cry for the offspring of those overgrown dogs? Show weakness in front of a father that would kill her for it?
She sighed under her usual veil of concealment, something she is always under in order to hide the tiny hints of humanity she can't hide. She was outside of her usual hideout as it was her turn to get rid of these corpses, if she could only stay as a shut in full time.
Her feet touched the cold sticky fur and the small wriggling forms of scavengers, she almost puked. Gathering herself again, she prepared to conceal- erase everything. Until she felt it.
The same thing she felt when she first came to this world. Sefirah castle!
Under her incredulous gaze, a cub sacrificed to Flegrea's anger regained the breath of life. And almost automatically she moved to conceal it. A velvet blanket appeared from. the void and fell from an indescribable height and her hand moved to grab it before it could fall and integrate into the small struggling form.
She didn't feel like it was a good thing for it to touch him. Seeing how similar the situation was like to her own transmigration a small piece of hope appeared in her mind, maybe it was a fellow transmigrator?
She grasped the struggling the thing tighter in her surprise causing it to squeek and fall silent, panicking at the sudden sound she looked down at her hands only to find the little thing had already passed out.
"Damn it, I almost killed him. I haven't touched anything this fragile for a long time" she held him close, this time with a little more care as if holding onto a newborn puppy which wasn't that far from the truth anyway.
In her past life, she wasn't really a dog gal, or . . . a pet gal really. Aside from the cat her friend raised she didn't really have the need or want to interact with animals, she was usually busy with the company and didn't really have time to give a warm home to any pet. But she still remembered helping take care of the cat's litter of kittens. Surely a magical wolf pup wouldn't be any different? She can definitely do this, she cannot abandon a suspected fellow human to suffer the assault of those wolves.
She sneaked past her annoying 'siblings', going in and out of caves and moving through the little settlement that couldn't even be called a village with caution that logically a sequence 2 subsidiary god like her shouldn't have when moving through her own territory. She couldn't afford anyone else finding out about her new acquisition. Until an annoying voice stopped her.
"Hey, Amanises! Don't you want to join us to play outside since you are done with your chore? We can go play with some humans!" the wolf boy called Antigonus called out to her. She looked at him for a split moment before going back to her trajectory, completely ignoring him. But this did not raise any suspicion in the group of demonic wolves.
Amanises should be rather thankful that the original owner was a loner, that she didn't have to pretend to enjoy going out to kill some poor unfortunate people. She could spend the days stuck in the little domain of hers, or if she was up to it spend it exploring the surrounding areas in preparation for her eventual escape.
Walking out from a cleared path that could barely be called a road for her current human size, she was outside again. She frowned, the ominous crimson once again filling her sight. There was no grass, no trees, no wildlife, this couldn't be called outside. She jumped in and out of weird ruins of what was probably a magnificent city, carefully avoiding sharp metals and such. It didn't pose much threat to her, but still she felt weird stepping on these obvious hazards.
Looking around for the last time, she carefully revealed a concealed hole and snuck through it, not forgetting to hide the doorway again after her entrance. The tunnel to the private space she had discovered was small, so small that in the usual wolf forms of her 'family' they would never discover it, much less notice it.
The sharp gravel beneath her were bothersome, the set of hands that held the little thing drew it closer to her body and away from the ground. The tunnel, haphazardly held up by a few beams of metal that were probably older than her father, wasn't long. Eventually the darkness faded away to the dim glows of her garden, a breeze from one of the tiny tubes lifted up the small hints of smell from the soft baby blue flowers. It was the slightest fragrance but her keen senses picked it up immediately, calming her tense muscles.
After a few breaths, she was finally free from the adrenaline her 'family' causes in her, and she was ready to take a look at the little thing in her arms. Lifting it up she could see it had an all black fur looking like the void which was quite rare for a demonic wolf. The wolves she usually saw all sported at least a little bit of grey fur in some areas of their bodies, and their fur was never this dark too. She picked the wolf cub up for closer inspection, seeing that it had no injuries she sighed a breath of relief. Glad to know the little mishap back there didn't harm this guy. She softly laid him on the ground, a bath to clean off that disgusting scent could wait till he is awake.
She simply stared at the still form for a while, seeing the rise and fall of it's small chest. So small! It reminded her of the tiny teacup puppies she would sometimes encounter while doom scrolling, it made her want to keep on petting it over and over again. Wait! she couldn't do that! That was a fellow human! Who knows what he could have been in the past? For all she knew he could be a 40 year old creep in that little body! Her creeping hands was pulled away from the teensy form with a fierce internal conflict that originated within her.
To distract herself she picked up the blanket this little guy came with. It was light, so light that she could have even mistaken that she was holding onto air if it weren't for it's dark form to still appear in her hands. She pressed her face closer, now that she could focus on it more. . . Wasn't that the smell of her father and some of her brothers? It carried the scent that originated from the little nodes that would appear on the bodies when an unfortunate sibling died. It would appear for the briefest of moments and it would be quickly devoured by one of her other siblings.
While she was inspecting the blanket, a tiny squeek alerted her. She instantly got up from her seated position, and she quickly got to it's side, even if she had taken the blanket to the other side of the cavern, it did not take long with her speed to return.
The little guy fell over, seemingly surprised at the sudden appearance of a wolf featured woman in front of him. He tumbled a few times back before Amanises stopped it's rolling with a simple placement from her hand, gently stopping it's momentum. She thought about to say word coming and going from her mind, after all it's been so long since she'd last talked with a human being. Finally she landed on a simple greeting.
"He-llo" english, once her native language was foreign on her tongue. But it was still recognizable as english, this seemed to surprise the little guy and he attempted to speak in turn.
"Heuh" but unfortunately, the little throat of a dog wasn't built for normal communication. He could barely produce anything resembling a speech.
Amanises blinked and the dog blinked in turn. She finally realized her mistake and a small chuckle appeared from her throat, eventually turning into a full blown laughter.
"Sorr-y, it's just so fun-ny. Im not laughing at you I s-wear" she grabbed the little guy, and thought over methods of communication. Finding a perfect idea in a less than a second, she went over to a patch of soft sand. She held him Aover the sand "You can w-rite. You must be a tran-smigrator right?"
Eventually after many unsuccessful attempts, a text appeared in front of her in broken english. But she who would occasionally read badly translated manga and such didn't find it that hard to read.
[Yes, who are you] She smiled, another transmigrator indeed. He knew English!
"My name is Amanesis! I al-so tran-smigrated a few- years ago? it's hard to tell time. What's your name? And al-so, how old are you?"
[Zhou Mingrui. 24?] Zhou looked up at her in confusion, as if questioning why his age was a question. But to his surprise, Amanesis smiled even brighter.
"Thank god, i'm still ol-der than you. That means i can do this!" Amanesis in the end couldn't resist the draw of cute aggression and Zhou Mingrui was left to suffer.
took Amanises a long time to finally recover from her state of cute aggression. And it took Mingrui even longer to recover from the onslaught.
He blinked once and twice, finally gaining his bearings back he shakingly wrote
[Why?]
She only smiled, it was an eerie smile. A smile that promised he wouldn't be free from her grasp for a long time. But then she frowned, realizing he was still covered in blood and gore from the mass grave she dug him out from a few hours so. Picking him up she softly jogged to a tiny running stream at some corner of the cavern.
Before he could even think to protest, she dunked him in the water face first and started wiping the blood out from his fur. The stream turned a muddy crimson as his dark fur was finally freed from the stuck on blood. She softly scrubbed his body with her hands, without soap this was the best she could do. He would still have to smell like blood for little while longer.
She absent mindedly pet the wet fur as she thought about what to do now. He was just too weak! Not even a hint of divinity, which was probably one of the reasons why he was abandoned to begin with. It was almost impossible for a weakling like him to become attain strength, he was stuck at this level of strength. She thought about how others got stronger, she could only remember one person- er wolf gaining strength by their own valor not just born with it.
Salinger! In her fragmented memories, he was born as a mere demigod and ascended to a subsidiary god status one day. The previous owner of this body was jealous of his acquisition of strength, and tried to replicate it! That's the reason why she died and Amanises gained this body.
She sighed, mentally plotting out what she could do to subtly ask for how she did it. From memory fragments, the original body shouldn't have interacted with her at all. Aside from sharing similar powers, they never had any reason to interact at all.
A tiny squeek woke her up from her pondering. In her hands, Zhou Mingrui was trembling looking up at her in such a pitiful way that it made her squeel in delight. But then, she gasped in realization. This little guy did not have even a hint of divinity, as such he wasn't immune to the cold like her. Being dumped in a freezing cold stream then picked up in such a way, he was shivering in his boots. As soon as she realized that, she panicked. First looking for a piece of cloth or something similar to dry him off in. Looking around the cavern she realized no, those were a luxury she doesn't have, she even thought about covering him in the blanket. Then her hand met her forehead. How could she forget!
She held him close and used her abilities to conceal the water stuck to his fur, naturally freeing him from his cold prison. He still shivered from the currently low body temperature and this all looked so pitiful and sad, and it affirmed her plan of leveling her fellow transmigrator up.
───
"Amanises" he was in his avian form, his large form entirely covering the hill he sat on. Amanises was still in her human form, causing her to look even more menacing.
"Salinger" she answered in turn, using every inch of her fiber to sound cool and collected.
"Why have you come here" Salinger asked, there wasn't even a hint of curiosity. Which was odd to say the least. A notorious shut in suddenly made her way to your doorstep, wouldn't that make you the least curious?
"I have a question, how did you, a demigod gain this status?" she did not let her anxiousness and alertness show, simply making herself look like she was there to put her back in her place. Not the friendliest but she has to make do with what she has got.
"Are you still jealous? I've thought that since that close call you would stop attempting" Amanises cringed, the previous owner was her and the current Amanises was Amanises. It felt embarrassing to be called out like that
"Yes, i've stopped attempting, stopped experimenting. Now i'm getting the answer from the source." Salinger looked at Amanises for a long time, just as she was starting to fidget a weary sigh entered her ears.
"Fine. . . you remember those things that are left behind by creatures like us right? You need to find a corresponding one that fits your essence and consume it. But you have to be careful, you have to pick one that is only a bit stronger than you. Or else you would "
"I KNOW, if it were something simple like that. I wouldn't have been injured so much. I know there is some secret to it." if it were the old her she would have retreated already but her fellow transmigrator's life depended on her. He could die so easily, at that strength, just a sneeze from her would kill him. Salinger looked up in surprise, it was a slight moment of an expression before it turned into a sneering smile.
"Luck. I guess you didn't have it, maybe you weren't destined to become stronger. One day to struggle beneath me. Heh, if I kill you right now, nobody would know-"
Amanises felt that it was getting dangerous and quickly released her mythical creature form, inviting her to try. Of course this is all bark no bite, she was still a human at heart. And since she had come here, she never attempted to fight. She left with as much majesty as she could muster, quickly hastening her pace once she left the line of sight.
She walked the same route home again, she usually wouldn't be out if it weren't for any commands by her "father".
She quietly made her way home to see Mingrui trying to swim? To swim? Her first reaction was for her to laugh, so small. His fluffy fur wetted really showed how ridiculously small he looked. But then she realized Mingrui might drown with that small small body and the amount of fur he had, so she quickly ran over to get him out.
"Why?! Why did- you ? You could have died!" Amanises screamed while holding the small form on her hand, but Mingrui only gestured to her to put him down so he could write.
[Hungry. Looking for fish] She froze. She had completely forgotten about food. Water, he could probably make do with the stream. But food? This world did not have much in the food department that he could eat, she herself could survive with just her divinity, and everyone else who eats only eats beasts and humans.
"But there are no fishes in the stream. It's too small for that" Mingrui blinked turning to write
[This is small?] Amanises nodded, for Mingrui this stream must have been the size of a river? He probably didn't realize how small he was, and just assumed Amanises was a giant woman.
"Stay here, I'll look for something for you to eat" Amanises put him down as she got up for a search. Again, she has to leave the safety of her little hole today. Really, at this rate she might lose the title of a shut in, but she sighed. She'd rather have a companion than continue in her lonely existence. That thought brought a pep in her steps, causing her to be a little quicker in walking away from her home.
After all quicker she could find food, quicker she could go home! Now, she could easily hunt down a few small animals for him to eat. He was a wolf now so he could surely handle some raw meat? And besides she might even be able to start a fire to cook it for him. Then she thought about the many mutated monsters she saw around.
Was it even safe for him to consume them? Amanises herself didn't know, and if he got sick. It would just be sealing his death, she had no capability to heal him. But since humans existed here, shouldn't they at least know what to eat or what not to eat. She could just get some human food to feed Mingrui!
She walked to a nearby human settlement. She had only seen it from afar before. It was quite a way from the usual hunting grounds of the wolves and she had only found it due to wandering. It was quiet little thing really, and out of pity she had concealed the city and left it. If it survived, if it didn't it really didn't matter for her who was fighting for her survival every day she spent near that monster.
She walked in, and no human being noticed her. After all, these mortals, how could they find her presence.
For a first time in a while she felt the breath of life in this hellscape, the meaningless chatter, laughter of children and general sounds of a busy street. And she felt herself be brought back to the world she left behind so suddenly behind.
She walked a few streets like that, just taking the sights in before remembering her objective. She looked around, she didn't really want to steal. But she had been passively protecting this place for a while now, so surely it'd be expected for her to take her part?
She thought about just taking it but then again she would have to steal food for mingrui for ages, that would stack up. She is a god after all, wouldn't it be better to officially take them in exchange for food?
───
Most evernight believers sacrifice the usual things to please the gods. Most of it Is consists of various essences, flowers and ornaments.
But some do sacrifice various food items, whether it's just a bread or a luxurious cake, it doesn't really matter. Nobody knew where this little tradition came from, but it was old as the church itself.
Scholars argue the significance of the food items. It could be said that only the evernight church has a tradition of sacrificing common food items without being smited down for blasphemy.
Its probably that "he" loves to partake in mortal foods. After all, most of the sacrificial items related to food are usually directed to the younger sibling
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