The Source: Observer Chronicles, Book 3

Chapter 35: Animals of the Desert

They all walked through the desert seeing little life, rattlesnakes, the occasional scorpion and some other odd small animals Lauret didn't know anything about.

The shape-changer thought they were quite strange looking, but then again anything from this world would be to a stranger. Lauret not only thought they looked odd, but she also seemed to feel that way too, especially when she got close. She could almost understand how they felt, hear the thoughts of the creatures, like when she arrived on Earth, overwhelmed by so much. Yet now, it wasnʼt so bad; she felt as if she had some control upon reflection, thinking on what happened last time.

Lauret imagined and pictured a rattlesnake slither towards her, kneeling down, it wrapping itself around her arm. Not to harm her, even though it was poisonous and could if it wanted. The fangs, visible, even though it did not warn her of them. It just coiled around her arm gently, its rattle tail rubbing against her wrist, as if to say . . . ʻhelloʼ. The snakes head stood up and looked into her eyes with (what looked like) no dismay. The shape-changer could tell that it gave a warm greeting, almost as if it was happy to see her.

Lauret snapped back to reality from Annette, "are you OK?" she asked.

She replied with a simple, "yes". Though at that very moment she saw a snake come over a hill and slither towards her.

"It'll go away," said Annette. Reetho and Darryl were further ahead, talking. Lauret wasnʼt concerned, even though it was now by her boot.

Annette hadn't noticed the shape-changer had stopped. She carried on talking to her until she realised she was talking to nothing more than the sand behind. The weather-wielder turned back to see a snake coil around Lauret's arm (in the distance), her making it easy for the serpent to do so, kneeling on the pale yellow grains.

Lauret saw it play out exactly as she had imagined it happening before, moments ago. Annette ran to her in fear, but it slid away as if it had everything to lose.

"Are you OK?" said Annette.

"I imagined that exact thing happening before it did," she replied, "minus you frightening it away."

"Are you sure?"

"Certain. Not afraid. It felt as if I was a part of its being, an understanding of sorts. I'm not sure how to explain the feeling. I guess it was like I could feel what it felt, hear what it heard, smell what it smelt. All its senses, abilities and movement responded to the way I imagined and thought." Lauret's face looked bewildered, as if she had discovered something remarkable, "do you think itʼs possible I can control these beings?" asked Lauret to Annette, looking at her straight in the eye.

"It is possible. I could hardly summon a bolt of lightning at the start, and now I can create entire lightning storms when I need to, and sometimes when I donʼt. It is dangerous. Our magick evolves, so yes, you could." Annette paused, realising that she did not know the magick Lauret possessed. "What—can—you do?"

Reetho and Darryl were far ahead, but the two of them sped up their walking pace and caught up. Catching her breath first, Lauret replied:

"I can turn into other lifeforms. So far, I only seem to be able to shift into those close or nearby. It's almost as if the magick is telling me to blend in with my surroundings, within the rest of this unfamiliar world. A disguise in a way, I guess. Iʼve also discovered I have very limited healing abilities too. I'm not sure if that was due to me training to be a support spell-caster on Amaranth though? But I canʼt remember how to do the other magick. Itʼs so frustrating having little memory of the past."

"There are no spell-casters that can heal, Lauret! Healing magick is one of those myths people make stories up about. It has never been."

"So how can I then?" asked Lauret, "and that means that Bar-Ceil Dragon lied to me all those years ago. He said healers were few in number, three I believe, but they did in fact exist. I can remember that much. I had a strange feeling he wanted something from me, but I was never sure what. Wish I could remember."