Anjou's entire body tingled. It wasn't unpleasant to say the least. It felt like her entire body had fallen asleep and the blood circulation had been cut off. She tried to open her eyes but they refused to listen and remained closed. She tried again, this time with force, but they wouldn't budge. Next she tried to flex her hands, but that also proved fruitless. A spike of panic rose up in her chest, but it quickly disappeared as it was overwhelmed by the tingling.
“Miss please wake up, it's dangerous to sleep here.” The tingling disappeared and was replaced by the feeling of someone jostling Anjou's body.
Her eyes snapped open and she shot up into a seated position. A sharp pain rocketed through her face as she smashed into something hard.
“Forgive me. I probably should have been standing farther back.”
Anjou shook her head to dislodge the mental cobwebs and looked around. She was in a field of tall grass. A path wound its way down the middle.
“Are you okay miss?”
Anjou finally turned to the man standing over her. He was short with brown skin and no hair anywhere on his head or his exposed and admittedly well-toned arms. His hands were currently covering his nose.
“Uh, hi,” Anjou said.
“Hello,” the man said back. “Are you okay?”
“I uh, think so.” Anjou went to brush her hair back when something soft and firm blocked its path on the top of her head. She felt around, tracing the shape upwards. As she did it tickled and she had to stifle an involuntary laugh. “Is there something on my head?”
The man cocked his head to the side, still holding his hands in front of his face. “Um ears?” he said uncertainly.
Anjou wanted to laugh at the man’s response when she noticed something strange. The sound of his words seemed to be coming from a different direction. She immediately placed both hands on the side of head expecting to feel her ears or for the ambient sound of the field to become muffled but neither of those things happened. At this discovery, Anjou began to breathe rapidly and her heartbeat grew louder and faster. She slowly reached up and felt around at the protrusions at the top of her head.
“Do you have a mirror, or something reflective?” Anjou asked the man.
The man shook his head. “Sorry, no. But there is a small pond over there.” He pointed down the path. As he did a couple small drops of blood fell from his nose. Anjou stood up and sprinted in the direction the man pointed.
As he said there was a small body of water situated in the middle of the tall grass. Falling to her knees Anjou stared into the water. Besides the small school of long silver fish, looking back at her was a rabbit wearing a plain shirt. It had reddish orange fur covering most of its face with a white countershade underneath and large ears sticking out from the top of its head.
“This is like something out of a movie,” Anjou said, touching her face. The reflection mirrored her actions. Her hand was a strange mix of a paw and a human hand.
“Excuse me, but…” The voice made Anjou jump and she instinctively threw out a back hand jab. “Woah,” the man said, holding out his arms. Luckily he was far back enough that the strike did not connect with him. “I’m a friend, I promise. Will you allow me to wash off the blood?” He gestured to his face which had specks of red dots on it.
Anjou shifted to the side. The man kneeled down and began splashing water and rubbing the water on his face, scattering the fish in the pond as he did.
While waiting for the man to wash his face, Anjou looked up and noticed a blinking cross in the corner of her vision. As she focused on it, it expanded into two see through boxes that looked like stat sheets from an rpg.
Evolution Level: 0
Core Level: 0
Cores Needed to Next Level: 12
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 1
Constitution: 1
Intellect: 1
Charisma: 1
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Health: 10/10]
Current Abilities and Skills: None
“Hey, do you see this?” Anjou swiped at the air but touched nothing.
The man splashed more water on his face. “Do I see what?”
Anjou swiped the air again. “Like numbers and words floating in the air. What exactly does Evolution Level and Core Level mean?”
“Are you a Core Eater?” the man asked, his eyes going wide. He then got to his knees and formed his hands into an open triangle. “Please forgive me for speaking so informally and with impertinence.”
Anjou held out her hands in a placating gesture. “Woah there, hold your horses.”
“But my lady, I don’t own any horses.”
Anjou sighed. “Alright, let’s start over. What is your name?”
“It’s Erin.”
“Okay. Erin. Cool. My name is Anjou.”
“Understood, Lady Anjou.”
“No, just Anjou. None of this my lady, or any kind of princess stuff.” At the mention of the word princess, something flashed through the back of Anjou’s memory. “Um Erin.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Stop with that please. And will you stand up? Thank you. Now can you tell me where the nearest kingdom is? One that might be having some sort of contest or competition.”
Erin scratched the back of his head. “Well, currently, we are in the kingdom of Esteris. And the closest kingdom to us is our northern neighbors of Ice Haven. As for contests, oh, do you mean the one to coronate Princess Cereza’s personal bodyguard?”
“That sounds about right. Do you know how to get there? Could you take me there?”
“Of course, it’s only a twice-day ride, but…” Erin looked away.
“What?”
“My lady, it’s that my carriage is only meant to seat a single rider, and Va will only let me drive her.” Erin gestured towards a small cloth top wagon that was hitched up to a large cat-thing with red and black polka dotted fur and tusks that jutted out from the bottom of its mouth like stalagmites. Its large marble eyes were currently trained on Anjou as if sizing up whether or not she would be a delicious meal.
“What the hell is that thing?”
Erin cocked his head to the side. “Have you never seen a Saber Cat? They’re not as common as horses I know, but they aren’t rare.”
Anjou took a deep breath. “Erin, I’m going to be honest with you. There’s a lot I don’t know, and I’ll probably be asking you a lot of questions along the way.”
Erin nodded. “I’ve heard that some of the Velbunn people were isolated, but I didn’t realize it was to this extent.”
“Yeah, well that’s how it is. Oh, and don’t worry about making me walk. It’ll give me an opportunity to get used to…things. And if need be I could always scout ahead to see if any bandits were after us.”
“Bandits? In Esteris?” Erin laughed, loud and hard. So much so that after a full minute Anjou had to cross her arms and clear her throat just to get his attention back. After he regained control of himself, Erin spoke again. “I’m sorry my lady, but no one would dare resort to banditry in this kingdom.”
“I told you to stop calling me that.”
Erin made the triangle gesture again. “I’m sorry, but I can not. It is the law to treat someone like yourself with the utmost respect. In some kingdoms, Esteris especially, Core Eaters are treated as royalty themselves.”
Anjou blinked. “Oh? Well speaking of, can you tell me how that works.”
—
“It would be nice if this had a tutorial,” Anjou called. She was currently staring down, of all things, a rabbit. It was the first creature that had crossed their path and Erin had suggested that it would make good practice. According to him it was called a Feral Hopper and it honestly had earned that name. It was a psychotic little thing with gray fur, dark green eyes and rows of shark-like teeth.
“I do not know what that means my lady, but I have every belief that you will succeed,” Eric called back.
Despite his enthusiasm, he knew very little about how to be a so-called Core Eater. According to him, he knew what pretty much everyone else knew. Core Eaters were known to see things that no one else could, and that they had access to special skills and magic abilities. None of which she had, a fact that her abilities box constantly reminded her of. So far, she had been unable to figure out how to get it out of her sight.
Luckily, Anjou’s boxing instincts had not disappeared with her new body. Something she had discovered while throwing a few practice punches as she walked. Thankfully it also didn’t prove too difficult to adjust to the rabbit body. Despite the long ears, she was still about the same height and size as she was before.
“Try not to let it bite you,” Eric called again.
As if on cue, the rabbit ran and launched itself towards Anjou, mouth first. She took a quick step back and the hopper face planted straight into the grass and dirt. As it tried to wriggle itself free, Anjou punched down as hard as she could. The bones in the creature cracked and it let out a high pitched squeak before going quiet and limp.
“Huh, that was easy.”
Erin jogged over. “Of course it was Lady Anjou. It was only a single hopper. If it had been an infestation, they would’ve been much more dangerous.”
Anjou crossed her arms. “Are you saying I wouldn’t have been able to beat them?” She spoke in a faux stern voice.
“No, no of course not my lady. I was just…”
Anjou smiled. “Don’t worry Erin, I’m only joking. I honestly appreciate all the help you’ve given me so far.”
Erin relaxed before bowing his head making the triangle gesture again. “I’m glad to be of help.”
“What is that?”
“It is a sign of respect and fealty.”
“No I mean, what is that?” Anjou pointed towards the dead rabbit. As it dissolved a marble of gray light rose from it.”
“That is a monster core. Whenever an Eater slays a beast, its essence arises out of it in that form.”
Anjou picked it up. As she did she had a deep primal urge to swallow it whole. Like a newborn swallowing a small toy. “What do I do with it?”
“Isn’t it obvious? You eat it.”