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(Traytora POV)

After an immeasurable amount of time was passed, I heard the door opening once more, I embraced myself for another day of pain and torture, but it never came, instead I felt someone else standing before me, I could tell because the footseps sounded different. This person undid the bindings that held me up and I fell to the floor, with almost no reaction.

Then something crashed through the building, and I felt a presence I had not felt in a long time, my father. I reached out my right arm towards the thing that held the presence of my father, but failing to reach.

I barely heard the person that was near me crouch down, and then I felt them pick up the item, I felt anger building up in me, were they going to take it for himself? Weren't they going to help me? Why did they pick the item with my father's aura then?

Thats when I heard a shout coming from further away from me.

"DROP THE MYSTERIOUS ORB AND PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!" A voice cried out with a hint of fear in it. They were clearly afraid of the person before me.

Then the mysterious saviour gently placed the orb in my hand, and when he did, I felt the power of my father, albeit a tiny infinitesimal amount of what he probably held, it was just enough for me. I already knew exactly what to do with it the moment it touched my hand, so I swallowed it whole, which although difficult for some, because I was of serpentine lineage, it went down easily. the moment I swallowed it, I unconsciously activated [Devour] and felt it physically dissipating, but I felt the power it contained within entering every inch of my body, empower and healing it as I felt the warmth and love of my father embody me.

I then heard some people getting killed but I didn't really pay attention to it as I focussed on the power coursing through me. The warmth that I felt was mainly around the areas that were torn or dismembered, and soon I felt my eyes were returning, along with all of my hair. That's when I heard a gentle fatherly voice ask me if I wanted to get out of here.

"I'm going to get you out of here, will you be fine with me picking you up to carry you? I don't want to make you feel more pain than you already have." I lifted myself up with my right arm as my left was being stitched back together and nodded. This man then slowly and carefully put his arms under me in a princess like carry, despite me being the wrong direction.

Then I felt the air around me shifting quickly. At this point my eyesight had returned once again and I saw that we were on top of something, a building, I think? That's when I could feel my father's gaze upon me, I started crying as I felt his gaze upon me. I was happy that he was watching me, that he was doing his best to care for me, even when he wasn't here. I started to cry at the overwhelming emotions surging inside of me.

Then I felt the wind brushing by again as I realised that the man carrying me was leaving the city, I wanted to stay to feel my father's presence more but more than that, I wanted to get out of that place, nor do I ever want to see or even remember it ever again.

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At some point I passed out and found myself lying on a stone floor in a cave, my wounds nearly done healing, only a little bit of my tail needed to regrow its flesh and scales back. I groaned as I struggled to pick myself off of the floor to sit down. All of my muscles ached as I did so and eventually the man that brought me out of that place, came into the cave and rushed over to help me sit up.

"How are you feeling right now?" He asked with worry clear in his voice. I looked up at him and saw that he was large minotaur with a bare and somewhat fluffy brown chest who wore only a pair of shorts.

"-..." I tried speaking but my voice was still broken, despite everything and me being healed, my voice still didn't come out, even though I wanted it to. Tears started to come out of my eyes as I thought that I might never be able to talk again. I tried to rub them off my face but they kept coming out endlessly.

I was then pulled into a hug by the minotaur, so I hugged him back, not knowing what else to do. I kept on crying for what felt like hours as he just hugged me while occasionally petting me on the head or rubbing my back to help console me, which did help and I eventually stopped crying. I pulled away from the minotaur and he let me have my space.

"So, I take it your voice is now gone then?" He asked me with a hint of sorrow in his voice. I nodded in response to his question.

We sat there in silence for a while, not knowing how to interact with each other when he suddenly spoke up.

"I-I have to apologise for all of this, everything you were put through, it was my fault, I, I am the reason they were able to find you in that desert. I, hahh, I truly am sorry that you went through that, and I do sincerely apologize for helping those bastards capture you... But I do have my reasons, which is that my daughter is extremely ill, and that's partially my fault, because her mother was a tabby cat, while I am a minotaur, so her body couldn't cope with the drastically different genes, and, when I was at the end of my ropes, trying anything I could, these men in suits came to me, promising a way to help her if I agreed to help them with something."

He took a pause to collect his thoughts, meanwhile I was conflicted, on one hand he was responsible for my capture, but on the other hand, he was just like my father, a father with a little girl and had to leave because of his obligations. I didn't know whether to hate him or not, so I just sat there silently with my head down.

"Hahh, I can see that you hate me right now, and that's understandable, I hate me too right now, after all I left my daughter in that god forsaken place, and I want to go back for her, but my moral obligations won't let me leave you until I've returned you to your home. I just hope that they don't do anything to her on account of my betrayal." He continued on with a sombre tone in his voice.

I started crying once again, but this time it was due to the conflicting feelings inside of me, he noticed this but didn't make any moves, assuming I was mad at him, which I was. I turned away so that I couldn't see him, he just sighed at this.

I brought part of my tail up to my chest to huddle with it and just stare at nothing for a while. Eventually I look at the tip of my tail, seeing a flame at the end of it, which was now fizzling out, which made me sad because that was the only thing that let me feel the warmth that my father's embrace gave me.

Eventually, it completely fizzled out, leaving me shivering in the cold winds that entered the cave.

[Ding!]

[Blood Mana successfully absorbed, Skills integrating, 37%... 41%]

'Huh?'