Dude, where's my house?[Eridanus]

[Ssafirsotibones]

62 Spring 512 A chill wind awoke Bones... Which was odd, since he had been in bed... In his house... Which had walls, and no way of wind getting in... Bones opened his eyes to see the stars above... He jumped up, to see that his entire house was gone... Which was odd even for Alvadas. Normally if you were in something when it shifted, you went with it... But that had not happened here, and he had been left behind, with none of his stuff. As another wind blew, and the chill set in, he realized something else... He had not been wearing clothes when he went to bed... Which meant he was who knows were, naked... And what was even more odd, he could not sense his house... It was a dhani trait that they could detect there nest, perhaps it was by scent trails, or some other djed fueled method, he did not know. The important thing was he could not detect his house, which had never happened before. His house was truly gone! It had vanished into Alvadas! As another wind blew, Bones realized it was night time... It was probably not a good idea to just sit here, waiting for his house to return was not a good idea... He looked around for anything familiar, surely there was some place he could take shelter? And that was when he saw it, The Garden of No Return... He had been there once before... But anything to get out of the cold wind, even if it meant venturing between its hedgerows... As he walked in, the hedge shifted behind him, no longer a opening. But he did not want to get out, he needed a place to get out of the cold wind until morning... Then hopefully he could get some clothes, and try and find his place... But it probably also was not a good idea to walk around naked... And he felt restricted in his human form... So he decided to go for his moonlight "stroll" in his snake form... It would be nice to move between the hedgerows, swift across the ground... Maybe he would even find something in there to eat... As he finished shifting, his body fully extending into a snake over 40 feet long, he shook his head for a moment, and then moved forward, oscillating the length of his body as a snake did to move, pushing forward against the grass floor, and looking around for any sign of body heat...

[Eridanus]

Eridanus grumbled as he sleepily blinked, reorienting himself to his surroundings. The government had only provided accommodation for his services in Fall, but come Winter he was on his own. That was perfectly fine, for he rented a room in the Cubacious Inn, a wonderfully mysterious place on its own.

The only problem lay in the Inn disappearing. He was not sure if it disappeared or if he was just unable to find it, for it could be a little of both. He found himself standing in front of a blank area which was where the key to his room led him, and there were similarly quite a number of other confused patrons of the Inn who had been standing there grumbling as well.

He needed to get some sleep, but due to the monsters running around and the general aftermath of the djed storm sleeping in the streets randomly was quite unsafe; being gobbled up by some mutation while asleep was a most humiliating demise. Instead, he placed a prayer to Ionu and the city, asking and begging for the god to show him a way to a place where he could take a short and safe nap but still remain unharmed. On account of his services to the government and the love that he felt for the city, he prayed for the god of illusions to show him a path to that place.

Whether his prayers were heard was unknown, but the city essentially led him to the Garden of No Return, and the ethaefal chuckled in surprise. He supposed that it would be relatively safe, since every entrant into the maze tended to get quite lost and far away from each other.

Relative safety indeed. Ionu is being Ionu...

Shaking his head, he entered the labyrinth anyway, taking a few random turns. In other times he might have even associated a poetic quality to it, a lone ethaefal strolling in the midst of hedges while under the moonlight, but he was simply to tired to bother. Finding a comfortable place, Eridanus promptly fell asleep.

He now woke up, for he was a light sleeper and the brushing of hedges in a normally dead silent location made him awoke with a start, surveying his surroundings warily. The hedges in front of him parted, and he stealthily followed, creeping after the figure.

What he saw shocked him; it was a huge snake, and he immediately thought of it as one of the mutated monsters that invaded the city after the djed storm. One of them had entered the maze! Trying his best to remain silent, the ethaefal crept up on the snake, not daring to draw his swords for the shriek of steel against leather would draw the creature's attention to him.

[Ssafirsotibones]

Bones trundled along, leaving the grass flattened in his wake, a wide passageway... Though it would be nearly impossible for any but a trained hunter to be able to tell how big he was, from the tracks alone, as when a snake traveled, its entire length followed the same passage. But seeing something directly with your eyes... That did tend to make tracking a bit easier... That and the occasional sound of his scales brushing against the hedges... It was hard to be silent for Bones, when he was in his snake form, and confined to these neat little narrow hedgerows... Well narrow for him, not for a normal sized person... Bones slithered on for a bit, not noticing anything at first... However, as in his snake mode, his senses were heightened... As he darted out his tongue, he tasted at the air, and tasted something... He turned his head to see a warm body, easily visible by being hotter than the surrounding landscape... The heat signature of the body was like a blazing sun, as compared to the cool surroundings and the cold maze with its hedges... He kept on moving for a bit, not wanting to give away that he had caught some prey... Then all at once, he lifted his great tail, which was as thick as a tree trunk, and probably weighing enough to flatten anything to fall under it, and tried to drop it right on the creatures head. Most would have little chance of dodging such a sudden attack... Excepting of course they were skilled in such dodging and bodily maneuvers. Regardless, after attempting to smash whatever his prey was, he would turn on himself, and rush at the thing with his mouth open, trying to swallow it whole. Which if he had managed to smash it... Would be rather easy... Though if he had not smashed it... It would be rather harder to eat him...

[Eridanus]

The monster did not notice the ethaefal, and he continued creeping, trying to get close enough so that he can draw his blade and slash at the same time, preventing the snake the chance to respond. Unfortunately, it seemed that it knew all along and was merely leading the leth-born along, for it suddenly flicked its tail at its stalker, flattening several bushes along the way.

A lesser person might have been instantly squashed, but Eridanus was no stranger to combat. His observant senses understood the muscle motions on the snake, and his mind already screamed at him out of experience to get out of the way. As the tail came at him, he instinctively launched his body out of the way, landing lightly on his feet as he tumbled out of harm's way.

His ordeal was not over, for the snake turned quickly and came at him as if it were a vacuum cleanerI know vacuum cleaners don't exist in Miz, but I couldn't resist using that metaphor xD. Its mouth was wide open, ready to swallow the ethaefal whole.

Eri's successful acrobatic manoeuvre left him nimble, and he timed his jump carefully, upon the snake reaching him he leaped high into the air, somersaulting forward in a front hand spring. Using his hands to spring off the top of the snake's head, his body arced gracefully in the air as he landed in a flip behind the snake.

Stomping his feet on the snake's body that he landed on, he balanced precariously on the length of the serpent, slamming one hand into the snake's body to get a better balance while his other hand searched behind his back to draw his blade.

If the snake did not do anything to destabilize the ethaefal, it would soon find itself cleaved into two by the swordsman.

[Ssafirsotibones]

Bones was a bit disappointed as his tail smash missed... Well it did not miss so much, as the person being attacked was not were he once was... How frustrating, that he had moved... But Bones was feeling playful, as the branches of the shrubbery scratched across his scales, as he flattened an entire hedgerow... So he would not kill it right away... Maybe he would play with his food for a bit... Though looking now, he was pretty sure it was some kind of human or human like thing... He had thought it was an animal... But his next attack was just as successful, in not being a success at all. The strange horned person, as yes Bones had just noticed some odd horns on him, had jumped right over the open maw of his mouth... He tried to lift his head up and still snatch him, but his feet flew by just inches over his mouth. Bones felt as the feet of the man landed along his length, tickling as it fell on his scales. Though he was pretty light, like a leaf falling on a humans shoulder. A puny little snack, but still a decent morsel... Bones flexed the segment of his back where the human was, trying to launch him into the air. Being a giant set of muscles more or less in his snake mode, it was rather simple, and if he was successful Eri would be launched high. If this was successful, he would swing his tail through the air at him, though not trying to flatten him, but only lightly tapping him, and knocking him a bit. If it hit probably enough to wind him for a few seconds from the blow. He was feeling playful, and not really in a killing mood.

[Eridanus]

Never had he utilized his unorthodox style of formal combat and acrobatics against a huge monster like this. His imagination ran wild, and the vast amount of options open to him were simply staggering. However, most of them ended in his death, and so he had to take care to choose the ones that kept him alive.

As he tried to draw his blades the snake flexed the powerful muscles that spanned its length, and the ethaefal found himself yet in the air again. He began to curl in his body but not entirely in order to crash his landing somewhat with any obstacle on his way down before tumbling into a fall. There was no guarantee that he would escape without injury, but at least his experience in the field made him less susceptible to one.

However, the monster seemed like it was playing tennis or something, for it swung its tail towards the leth-born while he was still in the air. The warrior's mind briefly considered two options, finally deciding on the more grounded approach, and he twisted his body sharply, the tail barely swishing pass his frame.

At the same time, he grabbed his arms in a bear-hug as the tail swished pass his body, and his entire frame followed the descent of the tail onto the ground. As the ground steadily increased in size to Eridanus as he was being slammed onto the ground, he tucked in his legs, his knees to his chest, and kick off once again on the tail just before it landed on the ground.

His arms out sideways, he launched himself in a back-tuck off the tail, landing in a crouch with his legs bent, one hand supporting himself and his body close to the ground. He used his other hand to grasp behind him again, quickly trying to take out his sword to slay this mutated beast.

[Ssafirsotibones]

Bones was getting a bit aggravated, as his prey obviously knew what it was doing... And it was not so easy to play with. At this point, it seemed more trouble than it was worth... So he had a decision to make... Eventually that being would have a chance to take out his blades, at which time Bones would be in trouble... His scales might repel some attacks, do to there nature, but he would soon be cut up... And even though that blade was quite puny, still, it would not feel good... So he had only one thing to do... Follow the rules of the hunt... The rules of the hunt being of course... Never hunt something, until you knew it was prey... If it was not prey, steer clear of it... And if it was already at you... The best you could do was to try and convince it to leave you alone... But he had an inkling his giant snake from would not be very supportive of this end... So even as the man was landing... Even as he was moving towards his blades... Bones began to move backwards away from the man, and to change form. For a dhani though the change was not done in an instant, like a kelvic. It took roughly half of a chime... 30 seconds... But hopefully seeing as he was retreating, he would see that as conceding, and not press the attack, after all who would try to continue a fight with a 44 foot snake after it was trying to leave? Or at least that was Bones reasoning. It would be hard for him to understand whatever could be running through this other mind... Though perhaps the strange image of Bones snake form morphing slowly into a human might also surprise the man, and make him pause as he watched in awe... Yet again, hard to say how he might think in seeing this all happen. The change was in parts... His body seemed to be shrinking, which happened surprisingly fast, sort of like seeing a tree shrink back into a bush... Which was apt, since Bones was about the size of a tree. His tail end would start to part, becoming to bits of flesh, and his chest distorted, showing the beginnings of a torso. His head would shrink, and out of his huge snake forms head, a smaller human one would slowly appear, as if a statue shaped from a much larger rock. His scales slowly vanishing, to be replaced by scales. His face grew features, his bits of flesh from the tail become to featureless legs... His body become a torso, slowly filling out its details... Finally, the 30 seconds was up, all the while as he backed away from the man, and his face grew out its final details, the hair on the top of his head... The features getting to the correct dimensions... And there stood clearly Bones, as he always was in his human form... Though this time naked, and staring at the other man with the horns... Of course if during this change Eri was to attack him, he would do his best to defend himself, either dodging or if he had regrown his hands and arms by that point, grabbing at his wrist, trying to make him drop the weapon.

[Eridanus]

It seemed that the snake made a mistake in not constantly attacking Eridanus. A shriek of steel grated in the air, and the ethaefal gripped a long sword confidently in his hand, ready to strike down this mutation and protect the interests of Alvadas.

Wielding his blade and feeling much more secure now that he had a proper weapon in his hands, he found the snake retreating, which was rather curious. The more curious aspect was that it was actually shrinking while creating more distance between the two of them. That was enough to pause the ethaefal's hand, and there he stood though with his blade still defending his body.

Eventually, the snake gradually shifted into a recognizable figure of a human, to which the ethaefal gasped in surprise.

"What in the... Bones? Bones! Is that you?" Eridanus gasped incredulously to the gladiator. The recognition of an acquaintance on amiable terms was enough for him to sheathe the sword back into his weapon harness, and he strode forward towards the naked man.

The surprise was enough to make him forget that he had met the man while in his vantha form and so he was unlikely to be recognized. Still, that was an intriguing feat of morphing, for he knew that only highly skilled morphers were able to change their body mass in such a degree.

[Ssafirsotibones]

Luckily for Bones, seeing a 44 foot monster shrinking down to the size of a human was enough to give Eridanus pause in his attack. Though really, who wouldn't that work on? Though it was a bit of a surprise, since apparently the person recognized him, even knew him by name... But he had no clue who he was... Though as the cold air hit his skin, the fact that he was naked once more came to the fore of his mind. He looked over at the man who knew him, and spoke in his usual snake like lilt, "Yesss, I'm Bonesss... You wouldn't happen to have a cloak or sssomessing I could borrow? It isss a bit cold out..." Bones tried looking the man over, thankful that he had put away his blade, and no longer seemed intent on killing him... Though he could not place how he knew him... "Do uh... Do we know each osser? Nice night for a walk ssough... Sse moon is out..."

[Eridanus]

"Oh right..." Eridanus muttered to himself, realizing now that he was obviously not recognized due to his own transformation that was triggered by the rise of Leth's watchful eye over the skies.

"I'm Eridanus. Remember the vantha you had a spar with back in Verlyna's Emerald Pool? Glad to see that you survived the djed storm; huge catastrophe caused countless casualties," the ethaefal said, shuddering imperceptibly as he recalled the resulting horror in the wake of the devastation.

Removing his outer cloak, the ethaefal offered it to the gladiator to cover his decency and to provide some warmth. It was no longer winter, but the chill of the night was still enough to give one the colds if one were to remain exposed.

"Yes, it is a lovely night," He agreed, raising his unnaturally beautiful face to gaze at the moon. Leth's Orb, some call it, though today it was not a full orb but rather a crescent. Looking at the moon always prompted garbled memories of his past life and of his life in the Ukalas, but his mind was always somehow unable to decipher such thoughts. It was like having access to alien memories that he had no understanding of.

That frustrated him. And that reminded him of how his supposed father, the moon god Leth, continued to remain deaf to his prayers and pleas. He had told himself to get over it, and slowly he had begun to grow a layer of apathy to deal with this, yet there was always the small child within with the pleading voice. Hoping that for once his father would respond to him.