Hello Grandma

A ringing tone filled the whole house. not quite soft enough to be a doorbell but not harsh enough to be an alarm either.

"Luckily for you I have found just the one to help you with that." INT floated over to the door. apparently, he found it bothersome to walk with his new body. Damien couldn't blame him. Ever since his transformation he had felt incredibly light. even factoring in his fatigue, he felt like he was walking on clouds.

He knew all too well that his old body was crap at anything that involved movement. He had gotten used to it over time but now he realized how great of an inconvenience it actually was.

The small boy followed his "mentor" to the main door and stepped outside. For some reason there was a small house made of stone and wood placed outside the barrier. Damien didn't even bother to ask himself obvious questions like. "How, when or why." 

Somehow, he understood that those questions would give him nothing but a headache. either somebody would explain it to him out of their own volition or not. in the latter case he would simply save his curiosity for another time.

When the door of the small house opened a woman, seemingly in her late-60s, stepped out. she was about 1.69 meters tall, had gentle features and was wearing an old dark orange dress that covered her from her neck to her ankles. Her hair was fashioned into a dough. An old pair of hard leather shoes, that had definitely seen better times, covered her feet.

If someone told Damien she came here straight from a renaissance fair he would believe it no questions asked. Well, except for one thing.

Her hair was strange to say the least. Her head was covered in shades of white and black. the white strands of hair looked like they were radiating light on their own and the black strands were so dark that it seemed they would swallow any lights that came near them. the different strands were randomly positioned around her scalp. 

Damien dazed over for a few seconds as he watched the almost hypnotic cycle of light radiating off her and at the same time being swallowed by her as well. 

While he was absolutely speechless, INT just walked forward and made an entrance through the barrier. The old woman similarly walked towards them and when they met in the middle INT seemed as stiff as a board.

Their guest was sizing his new form up from top to bottom and he had no idea how she would react. After a few seconds of silence, she started to speak.

"I can't believe that old goat had the audacity to force you into this body. I don't even need to look at its construction to see that it's utterly useless. poor child. you must have had it hard over the last few days. let's sit down and talk."

She hugged INT who was flustered for a few seconds but returned the embrace, nonetheless. when they broke apart, he gestured for her to come in. She stopped right in front of Damien and just as before looked him up and down for a few seconds. 

"Nice to meet you dear. what's your name?" she smiled kindly and waited patiently for his answer. It took a bit for him to snap out of his stupor and actually reply. 

"I am Damian Madam. Damien Hartel." he had to muster his entire willpower not to stutter. she kept eyeing him until she turned to INT. 

"I'm smelling something very delicious. it's always a pleasure to eat your food. it'd be a shame too let it get cold so first things first." she passed Damian and went into the building.

After INT finished the last preparations all three of them sat down at the overflowing table. Damien waited Until either of the other occupants of the table made a move. He's still remembered INTs outburst and didn't want to be rude by just digging in. 

When he managed to look up from all the delicacies arrayed in front of him, he was surprised that all the eyes in the room except for his own were on him. After a little while he started fidgeting nervously.

"You don't have to wait for us to dig in. She won't start eating until you're half-finished and I don't need to eat in the first place." At the prompt coming from INT Damien slowly but surely started filling his plate. He threw a glance at miss Holle before actually starting to eat. 

After the first few bites it seemed like he was falling into a Feeding frenzy that only stopped when a thin hand touched his shoulder. "Nobody's trying to take away your food dear. It would be a real shame to gobble all this down without really tasting it. Good food has to be valued and that means taking every bite consciously and taking your time." The old woman smiled and he felt like her mere presence calmed him. 

"He hasn't eaten since yesterday so no one can really fault him for getting a little enthusiastic. You should also eat. I always make as much as possible for you. I know that old habits die hard, but you really don't have to wait until all have had enough and then start." 

"Look who's talking." She giggled at INT:" you want me to eat even though I don't need to but you yourself refrain. My habits are well founded. No matter how much food there is or how delicious it can taste I will always rather look at the children while they enjoy the good food. You should eat something too. Even if you don't need to the pleasure is well worth it."

INT gave up. He grabbed a plate from the table and started eating as well. After about 15 minutes there guests was satisfied and also join them. 

Damien did not believe that they could really finish the mountain that was stacked on top of the table. He tapped out about 20 minutes in and leaned back while fighting a sudden urge to hibernate. The other two kept going until there was not even a crumb left.

The old woman looked at the youngest occupant of the table and notice that Damian was already half asleep. She reached out and patted his head until he was fast asleep. After she was sure that he wouldn't wake up any time soon she turned to INT." What exactly is he. He's not a human. Neither is he a magical beast or a plant-folk. What exactly has the old man been up to."

"I honestly don't know. I hoped you could give us some insight about that. I already asked Xasar. He seemed to know something, but I don't have to tell you how hard it is to convince a Litch to share their knowledge. Can you please examine his Life-force. If there is anything I should be aware of please tell me."

Holle breathed and let her magical senses flow through her hand into Damien 's body. She easily saw past the veiling that mimicked a human's life force and peered under it. What she saw gave even a creature as old as herself pause. 

"Normally I would say that nothing of this seems even slightly possible but…" her voice trailed off while she was poking and prodding at the construct that compose Damien's whole being. "I would really like to help you but even I would need some time to decipher this mish-mash. I can tell you one thing though. The reason why he still looks like a human and not like a horror monster is that the veil that makes it difficult to see his actual life force is still partly connected to it. It practically superimposes itself on it but the only effect it has this that his appearance it's like it is now."

"So you're saying it's basically a complex form of shapeshifting. Why does he look like a small child though. When he came here he just looked like a short 17 year old." INT would never refute Holle but he knew that she would be more annoyed by him not asking any questions.

"I have honestly no idea. Maybe it's in order to make it easier for him to adapt. As far as I can see it will not change on its own but I discourage from changing it too much right away. He's getting a fresh start so might as well look the part. We can still change it afterwards."

She kept rifling through the different star clusters until she felt her controlled slipping. Her point of view was drawn to the center most vortex that started to draw in more and more stars. Contrary to the usual pattern the stars neatly aligned to form letters which themselves formed words. 

"Stripper Rules: you can look but no touching. He is the only one who gets to manipulates his own life force. I'd rather let this whole thing collapse than let some loon mess with my masterpiece. Now shove off."

Holle started laughing hysterically. "The old goat really kept his sense of humor it seems." 

INT was confused, but most of all distressed. The instances where he had heard her laugh were rare enough that he could count them on one hand. Whatever surprise the sage had left behind couldn't have been appropriate in the slightest. 

What made him uneasy was that he could hear something in her laughter that was not just amusement. There was the subtle undertone of pain in her outburst. Immortal beings sooner or later adjusted to losing those who were precious to them. Even other immortals weren't immune to death. It didn't happen often but occasionally one of them got sloppy and made mistakes. 

None of them had any shortage of enemies and if they were unlucky one of those would see an opportunity and strike. The only one who had seemed immune to this rule was the sage. Even in the end there was no grand scheme or banding together of his mortal foes that try to bring him down. Just a man that had had enough of life and decided to show himself out the door.

INT new how close Holle and the sage were. They were two kindred spirits. Both old enough to have outlived even the grandest and longest lasting civilizations this planet had to offer and powerful enough to have taken them on single handedly. There were few who ever challenged either of them but every time they took a fight seriously whole continent had to redraw their maps to stay consistent with the change topography of their lands. 

Losing a millennia old friend who, by all accounts, seemed invincible must have struck a monumental blow. A blow that made even her stagger.