[Mkguild] Life I: What Came After - C

[Jack Moore]

AN: Long long long day, horrid one too. So anyone willing to cheer up a
very exhausted lizard, I would appreciate it

Life I: What Came After - C

Nemo - Morning
As I was playing dress up, Nemo was waking up at long last.  He lifted his
aching head off the floor and took stock of how things were.
Nemo noticed two things right away.  One was his clothing was in tatters.
His short was torn  around the shoulders and his pants had almost ripped in
half, especially along the bottom.  The second was this happened because he
had turned into an anthro.
“...I thought I was becoming younger.” Nemo ran his tongue along his new
teeth.  Unlike me, Nemo’s mouth was largely unchanged.  Slight muzzle,
sharper canines.  Otherwise pretty much the same.
Nemo slowly stood, only for his pants to fall to the floor.  He suppressed
a laugh.  His brand new tail swung back and forth behind him. 'I’m going to
have to get used to that. And I’m going to need some new pants.'
Nemo’s tail was thick and muscular.  He focused on the new appendage to get
it to stop swinging.  Then he raised it.  “Okay, so that’s up.”  Then
lowered, “That’s down.  Come on Nemo, you got this.”  His tail began to
thump against the ground.  It took another minute to stop it from doing
that.
“I gotta admit, this is something new.” Nemo whispered.  He sat down on his
bed and pulled his tail into his lap.  It was long enough to drape over his
legs and curl around him.  Nemo stroked the fur, marveling at how soft it
was.
“Growing a tail really is amazing.” Nemo mumbled.  “I wonder how many
people will get to experience this?  He lifted the tip up, until it touched
against his nose.  “And it’s flexible.  Too bad my best fighting years are
behind me, I could have used this…”
Then Nemo turned to the rest of his changed form.  Fur had covered him all
over, probably why he had failed to notice how cold it was.  Nemo’s feet
had changed almost as much as mine had.  He flexed them. 'Well climbing
will be a lot easier now.' Nemo scratched his leg with his new toe claws.
'I bet I don’t look like me anymore.  I wonder what Madeline would think…'
For me the past never died.  It followed me and held me prisoner, no matter
how hard I worked to escape for it.  For Nemo, thinking on his beloved
wife, he didn’t worry she’d not recognize him.
'She’d love it.  She’d love me like this.  She’d want to change too.'  Nemo
smiled. 'I’d bring you here in a heartbeat if I could. But I can’t…' He
shook these thoughts out of his head.  No need to think about that now.
Nemo’s new ears twitched and tried to pick up on sounds in the house.  The
sensation gave him pause.  “Ok I can move my ears now.  I’m going to have
to get used to that.”  With a little focus Nemo found he could swivel them
around.
With these changes Nemo’s hearing had clearly improved.  But he couldn’t
hear anything. 'James must still be asleep. He’s going to be the first
person to see the new me.'
“I wonder if he’ll recognize me?” Nemo gave himself another glance and
blushed through his fur.  All of the clothing left on him were the
fragments of his shirt and his...lower extremities were fully exposed.
He instinctively wrapped his tail over it, hiding as best he could.  “Ok, I
will need to send James out for pants for me.  Heh, and a shirt, that’s
gotta be fixed too.  But otherwise I am well covered.”
]My room was largely free of decoration.  Nemo in contrast had used some of
my father’s money to purchase a mirror and a small rug for his room.  Now
he posed in front of it.  “I’m a fuzzbutt now, but at least I’m still me.”
“You certainly are.”  He could hear Madeline’s voice in his ear.  Not his
wife, but what he was sure she’d say.  “You’re even better looking than the
day I met you.”
“Yeah I know.” Nemo said.  “The tail accentuates my new body perfectly.”
 His age hadn’t changed, but he felt younger now.  And so full of energy.
Nemo wanted to climb up onto the roof.  And a little voice in the back of
his mind told him he could do it.  He could run a marathon, fight a hundred
men and win, it didn’t matter!  This feeling was beyond expression.
'And I have to do the right thing.' Nemo smiled.  I have to give thanks to
Eli, for this blessing as it has been given to me.  He kneeled on the floor
and closed his eyes.  Like he did as a child, he immediately clasped his
hands.
Nemo was unique in the Empire as a Follower.  He was unique in Yesulum
because when the knights found a group of Rebuilders, he was the only one
to listen.  And even among Rebuilders he stood out.  In part because most
of his ideology came from one theologin.  And in part because he opened
every prayer like this:
“Eli blessed Father, please clense the Earth of the serpent that is the
Patriarch through fire”.  Yeah.  Not exactly the way I’d have started a
prayer personally, but whatever works for you.  “Praise be to you for this
new form.  It is not what I expected, but it is truly amazing.”  He shifted
as his thoughts moved on.
“James is struggling with his new form.  Where as my change was quick, his
has been noticably slow.  He is suffering and I don’t know what to do.  I
have to do something, I am his guardian but what can I do?  I won’t stop,
but I pray you will ease his suffering.”  I never did thank Nemo often
enough for being my guardian.  I regret that.
“I pray your irresistible grace will be poured upon James and his soul will
be saved.  I pray for those in Metamor, Rebuilder and Pagan that their
burdens will be eased.  And I pray for the end of the Ecclesia.  In your
name I ask these things.”  He kissed his hands and stood again.  Then he
resumed investigating his new body in the mirror.
“I think showing my new form to James will help him out.” Nemo said.
 “Perhaps, knowing that I’ve gone through this with him.  He’s not alone,
how can I prove that?”  Nemo shook his head.  “I don’t know.”  He walked
over to Qual.
His runic glaive was propped against the back corner.  The silver blade
reflected Nemo’s new eyes and muzzle perfectly.  “I wonder how it never
gets stained.  They added magic to make it indestructible and stain proof?
It’s so weir….” Nemo frowned.
Engraved on the blade were six words.  They ran along the razor edge and
they told the cost for using Qual.  And the language they were written in
was one Nemo didn’t know.  Except he had always been able to read these six
words.
Ever since Nemo had acquired Qual, this weapon had spoken to him.  But now
looking at the engraving, Nemo saw nothing.  The words were gibberish.
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