Shades of the New World

Evin looked at the smiling World Sprite and nodded heavily.

"Rest for tonight, I will take care of the rest tomorrow,"

"Am I going to grow fur or go in heat or something if I let the blood do as it wishes?" Evin could not help but ask.

The Sprite chuckled.

"Not really. If it was the blood of a normal fox, you would probably do those things, but fortunately for you, I'm not a normal fox. I like to think that I'm a bit better than that. You won't feel in heat, nor you will grow any excess hair. The blood simply follows its instinct. Just make sure you keep it in check for a week or two and it will get used to you," she said.

"What does the blood do for me, by the way?"

"I haven't told you that, huh? Well, my bad, I guess. It will give you one of my abilities. I call it Shadow Storage. As the name suggests, you can store some items inside your own shadow. Unlike most storage abilities that can only store non-living things, the Shadow Storage can store living beings as well. It would be especially fitting for the storage of Dark World Sprites. You could probably put your friend Karan inside it as well," the Sprite shrugged.

Evin did not remember telling the Vulpine about Karan, so he naturally assumed that the Beast Lord knew about it, since she went through his mind.

"By the way, can all mages that are strong read my mind like yourself?" Evin asked in a worried tone.

"No. I can do it because I am also proficient in the other Worlds as well, especially the World of Thoughts. Illusions and mental intrusions are my speciality. I'm quite good at the World of Fire as well. It is one of the reasons why I'm so interested in you."

"So if I meet someone who's proficient at the World of Thoughts, they would be able to peek into my mind?"

"Yes. But you don't have to worry about such things. On Alvox, there are only a handful of such people, and most likely, you won't be unlucky enough to stumble upon all of them. Besides, even if you do meet such a person, I'm sure they would not be using that ability on everyone in their sight... But I guess it would still be prudent of you to keep your distance away from them. Most of them have lived for hundreds of years, and I cannot be sure of what they're thinking of. But one that's absolutely safe is Veidrakar. If you ever find yourself a lucky chance to get acquainted with her, don't hesitate to do so," the Sprite said.

Evin thought about it and felt quite lucky. He guessed that not many people could get a chance to meet multiple Beast Lords and Authorities, if any. He was even going to meet another Beast Lord when the Cosmics decide to accept him.

'How does Ssatsko know about all these places with Beast Lords, anyway?' he thought.

He shoved the thought away from his mind and decided to try out the new skill he got. He asked the World Sprite on how to go about it and was told that he needed to direct Dark Energy to his own shadow. He did as instructed, and he could faintly feel the new changes that had happened to his shadow. He tried putting in some miscellaneous items inside his shadow to test it out. As the World Sprite said, he could freely put things inside it and he could faintly feel their presence in them as well.

He stopped directing energy to his shadow. He wondered what would happen. He would be quite disappointed if the item he stored inside would just plop out into existence. Fortunately, it was still contained inside his shadows without problems. He then tried to run and jump around to see if it slips out somehow, after which he tried to let his shadow fall on vertical objects as well.

The Beast Lord saw it all and did not know whether to feel amused or angry.

Evin then called Arza and asked him to surround Evin's body with light from every direction. The boy did as asked, and blinding light surrounded Evin from all directions. Evin tried his best to feel the presence, or lack thereof, of the items in his shadow. He could feel his shadow falling on his clothes, and the items stored within it as well. He told Arza to stop, and the boy stopped.

The World Sprites around Evin scurried into the darkness, unused to the bright lights. Noticing it, Evin was afraid that the Beast Lord would be angry, but he only saw indifference in the Vulpine's posture. She also seemed a little more slouched as well.

'Probably not the first time someone tried to smother her out with the Luminous World. Arza's little light show probably wasn't worth getting angry over in her eyes,' Evin concluded.

Evin continued on with his experiments. He asked Karan inside his mind if he wanted to enter his shadow and see how it felt.

[I don't mind trying,] the skinshifter replied.

Evin redirected Dark energy to his shadow and its Storing ability was reignited. He removed Karan from his finger and asked him to turn into his most comfortable state. The Metal skinshifter turned into a slim oval spear with a sharpened straight blade tucked on its head. It was almost thrice Evin's current height. Evin slowly put the spear inside his own shadow, starting from the tip of the blade.

Karan disappeared into his shadow as expected, and Evin tried communicating with him inside his head. He could clearly communicate with the man without issues.

[Ah, this shit's kind of nice. It's a bit uncomfortable to be swinging around as a ring in your hand all the time,] The skinshifter said.

It was the first time Evin heard him complain.

[Why not tell me about it earlier? I'm sure we could've found some other way to keep you comfortable?] Evin asked.

[Well, I somehow feel more at ease when I take on simpler forms. The spear form is best, since it slim and simple. It's practically just a pole with a straight blade attached to it. I tried out many forms and more complicated ones, like the ring form that I'm usually in is considered quite complicated. But it's true that it's the most low-profile,] Karan explained.

[Don't worry about such things, maybe just turn into a short spear, I would just look like an overeager child,] Evin said.

[Well, now we don't really have to worry about that. This shadow of yours is quite comfortable. Even though it's completely dark and the ground is made of some weird unnatural dark material, it feels calming and warm, even though you don't really feel any heat from it. I can also look and hear what's happening around if I look at the sky above. I could really get used to this shit,] the man sighed inside Evin's head.

Evin found the man's words a bit contradicting. Usually complete darkness instilled panic and fear in people.

"Vulpine Mother? Karan says that the complete darkness inside my shadow feels calming and warm. I find that a bit weird, since most people feel fear and panic when faced with complete darkness. Is it an effect of your spell?" he asked.