First Harmony

"Nice knowing you, Ms. voice inside my head."

{I have a name! Well, not that matters anyway... GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD!}

The world flashes brightly from the lightning and I'm blinded by the light before I feel something heavy fall on me hard.

I passed out, but not for the reason you think.

I didn't even expect it to happen. Lightning struck the back of the blue orc's head, knocking him out for the count.

Lucky me!

After getting struck by lightning though, the guy collapses on top of me in all his naked glory simply because I was shocked about what I had just witnessed.

Not so lucky anymore…

I am extremely tired, and I have over-worked my broken 12-year-old body in an attempt to escape, only to be crushed by the felled giant! The weight squeezed the air out of my lungs, and I nearly passed out completely from the impact. Luckily, with a lot of effort and dirt-eating, I was able to dig and squirm out from under the titan.

{Oh My God! We're alive! My goodness Echo you really are lucky! How do you feel?}

'Confused. Are you my imagination or are you someone using telepathy?' I indulge the voice in my head while I catch my breath. I don't know how long I've been out, but the rain is really pouring now. I am still in pain but I can feel that nothing is severely hurt or broken.

{Neither}

I look at my left wing and though my wing brace is in really bad shape right now, my wing seems fine and was somehow protected. My chest feels a little tight, but at least I can breathe. I place both hands on my knees as I try to spit out whatever dirt I have left in my mouth. I must say I don't quite like the taste of it…

{I don't think anyone does Echo…}

'Holy Hell! How are you listening to my inner monologue!?'

{I am a part of you. Of course, I know what you are thinking, and normally I'm thinking it too. That's why I usually don't talk back or converse with…}

'Wait, back up! What do you mean part of me?'

{I am the mind of the animal part of you that shares your soul and body. My name is Eris.}

'If you're the animal part of me, how am I talking to you?'

{Yes, well you see, normally lycans can't hear the animals inside them because they are simple animals. At most, they will slightly empathize with their soul bond's emotions, feeling what they feel but not to the point where their animal's emotions flood the human's mind.}

'Huh?'

{We are like a passenger. We don't step in until needed and we help out our human half when we think they aren't paying attention to what they should be. The only time we might be in control is when we are in our animal form.}

'Okay… Then where do you come in?'

{I am part of the few who were able to develop an ego. I don't exactly know when or how it happened, just that it did at some point. I don't even know how I know all of this…}

'Seeing as you were bonded to my soul for as long as we both have been alive, do you have any memories from our past? This can give me a clue as to where I should start!'

{Nope! Mine are gone too… the only thing I can remember is that I sacrificed mine along with yours… at least I think I did… Welp! At least I can remember my name, unlike you! Or is it just a name I decided to give myself now… Hmm…}

'God, this is confusing me even more that I already was!' I sat down on a rock not to far from the orc. Wait, is he even alive after being struck by lightning!?

{No, she's good} my mental functions just stopped working.

'Wait… WHAT! She! That person was she!?'

{Yeah, you can smell it if you pay close attention.} I sniff the air, and as Eris said, I can somehow instinctively tell that the orc was female solely from the scent the body gave off.

'… I just committed mental suicide…'

{What's that?}

'I don't really know. I just remembered that Kenny said once while he was ranting on about his mother's ex's sister-in-law's son and I felt that it would describe this situation perfectly.'

I shivered and then I realized that I was sitting outside in the forest during a storm and didn't know which way I needed to go back to the hospital.

{How do you only just now remember that its pouring?}

'Can you be quite for a moment please!?'

{… but I can sniff the path back…} I didn't doubt it.

'I would rather find a place to hide from the ran for now because we don't know how long it will take to get back.'

{But you also don't know how long it could take to find shelter.}

'…'

{…}

'DAMN IT! Why did you have to be right!? Okay, let's go…'

{We will need to shift though… well it would make it easier for us at least.}

'Okay, how do we do that?'

{I...do not know….}

We both sigh at the same time. Okay, time to think what did Lynx say about magic and energy and stuff?

{It has to do with the soul…}

Right, but to use it, the soul has to be in sync with the mind… and then there's the manifestation of that willpower or whatever. Hmm...

{Hey Echo, does it matter which mind we use?}

'What do you mean?'

{Technically, I am a different mind seeing as you and I have different thoughts even though we have the same soul. I am the mind of an animal, and you are of a human. You follow me so far?}

'Yeah, then that would mean that for us to be able to shift, instead of me connecting to the soul, you would need to do it Eris.'

It was genius. My goodness, the power of two minds…

{Great minds think alike}

'I wish I could give you a high-five right now!'

{Well, you can always give yourself one. That's technically the same since I am a part of you…} I do it to test it out and immediately regret it. Gosh, I am so glad no one else is here to witness this.

{PFFT! Oh My God! I didn't think you would actually do it! Hahaha! I'm dying!}

'That felt way too stupid and embarrassing… never let me do that again'

{Hahaha! No, you're already on a roll! Why don't you give yourself a pat on the back while we're at it! PFFT! Hahaha!}

Nope, no one here just me and my imaginary thoughts. Too bad that my thoughts are really loud and annoying right now…

{Did you just insult me!?}

'Why Yes! Yes, I did! Because you're being a little bit of a bitch right now.'

{Yes, I am a bitch, seeing as I can technically be considered a female dog. Thank you for stating the obvious. You can freeze your butt off by yourself in the rain. Goodbye!}

'NO! Wait, I'm sorry! Okay, can we please try this so I can brush my teeth and get the taste of dirt out of my mouth?' I quell my anger and breathe.

{You do realize that if you die I die, Stupid. Right? There was no way I was going to let us die out here.}

'And we're back with you being a bitch again… let's just hurry up and do this already. I can't feel my toes…'

{Alright! Let's give this a shot!}

I started to feel something connecting to another thing deep inside me, but that was it. Nothing else was happening…

'Hey, what are you doing Eris!?'

{Give me a sec! I've never done this before… actually I probably have and just don't remember. Anyway, don't know what to do next...}

'Please focus, Eris. Try to wrap the mana around our body or something.' The very next second, I could feel something around me start to put stress on my body. I felt like I was breaking and at the same time was healing. It hurt a little but at the same time, I never felt so open. I really don't know how else to describe the feeling of changing into a completely new form. I feel like it took forever to transform… Is that normal?

{Dude, it only took like 10 seconds tops… maybe even less!}

'Really!? Huh…'

{Also, I'm leaving you in control. That took a lot out of me, and I want to rest a bit. Take your new form out for a test run… But don't go crazy as I will end up feeling more of everything because it is my main body in a sense. Capiche?}

'Yes! But Eris, you do realize that whatever pain I feel, you will feel too and vice versa?'

{No talkie now me sleepy time now… bye-bye}

My mind felt a little lighter no that there weren't two people in the same space. I look down at my feet which are now paws and turn back to see the wings on my back. Although the brace had fallen off after everything that happened, I didn't have any issues with my wings right now. I tried testing my control and how it felt to move around.

I wonder what Eris would feel like if she started walking around in my body instead. Hmm… that sounds like a terrifying experience. I shudder at the thought of her doing something out of place. With that I push the idea as far away as possible, never to see the light of day again.

I start to run around and the only this I could really think about is how cool this experience was.

'Okay, now let's try smelling my way back... God! That sounds so weird.' With that, I put my nose to the ground and start to sniff.

Even though this started out as a chaotic as well as weird day, it was fun in the end because I found Eris, the first harmony to the melody of my new song.