Spirit Animal: Pride of the Panther

Ch. 2. Dinner Discussion

Dell returned after putting Luz in bed. Just like his wife, he was also confused and concerned about the human. Both of them sat in the den, mulling over what turned a normal night into something unexpected.

"How did you find her, exactly?" Dell asked.

"I was taking a walk when I heard something. I was ready for a fight when-"

"She came out of the woods?" Dell asked.

"... No... at least, not as she is now. She came out as some large black cat like animal."

"What?!" Dell asked, "Is... is she cursed? What happened to her? She looks like she was injured."

"I don't know what happened to her, she turned back into the person she is now and told me her name, but that was all before she passed out."

"Hmmm, if she was hurt and attacked out of fear, something must've happened to her. But the bigger question is how she transformed into a beast. Humans can't do magic, at least that's what our history has told us." Dell said as he rubbed his chin.

"That is what I'm wondering too, but I feel as though there is only one person that can answer that, and she's currently sleeping." Gwen said, "I'll prepare dinner, hopefully she'll wake up by then. If not, I'll call a Healer."

Dell nodded to his wife as she got up and headed into the kitchen.

'Human, I hope you are alright.' Dell thought, not knowing Luz's name at the moment.

Even if she wasn't in her Panther form, she still had the advanced smell of one, which is what caused her to wake up. Luz sat up in bed, smelling meat being cooked. Luz stood up, a little exhausted still, but managed to slowly and quietly make her way to the room's door.

'Where am I? Did that woman bring me to her home?' Luz thought before she slowly walked down the hall and followed the scent of food.

She saw a picture of a family, clearly the woman's since it had a younger version of her in the picture.

"These must be her kids." Luz said, seeing the two red head girls.

One had bright orange hair like a lion's main with gold eyes and a wild smile while the other had pure puffy redish-orange hair with aquamarine eyes and glasses.

"You're up I see."

Luz turned around and saw Dell. Luz flinched a bit from him but saw he was no danger. Especially with a scarred eye and hand.

"It's alright, I mean no harm." He said with a gentle smile.

"Sorry, it's just... a lot has happened to me in the last couple days." Luz said.

"From how bad you looked when my wife brought you home, I don't doubt that." Dell said, "But that's something we can talk about over dinner, you must be hungry."

On cue, Luz stomach growled loudly as she blushed. Something Dell found humorous before gesturing her to follow him.

"Don't worry. Gwen made plenty to eat, though I do hope you can handle our world's food." Dell said to her.

"After what I went through, I could eat just about anything." Luz said as she and Dell walked down the hall.

'Living or dead.' Luz thought.

As it turned out, it was dead. Worked for Luz, as she didn't need to waste any of non-existent energy trying to kill it. And she didn't waste time wondering what creature it was and just ate it, finding it very delicious right now.

"Ohohoho my! You're hungry than I thought." Gwen said with a small chuckle, seeing Luz eat at a brisk pace. "Eat as much as you want, there's enough for seconds."

"Thank you." Luz said, quietly.

"Now, if you don't mind, we have some questions." Gwen said.

Luz stopped eating for a moment, looking up to Gwen with some hesitation but she still nodded as she took a breath to calm herself down.

"Okay." Luz said with a small nod.

"You became a... creature... are you cursed?"

Luz looked at the ground.

"No... it's my Spirit Animal." Luz said, "A Black Jaguar, commonly referred to as a Black Panther."

"Black Panther, you say? I've never heard of such a creature before." Gwen said as she held her chin.

"Maybe you can answer a question for me." Luz said, "Where am I?"

"Well this may come as a surprise to you but you're in another dimension, the demon realm. On the Boiling Isles." Dell said, making Luz shocked at this!

"Demon realm?! How?!" Luz shouted at them, "Huh, am I dead!? Oh, if I'm dead my mom's going to kill me. Oh no... my mom."

Luz felt tears form in her eyes, remembering what happened, how she was separated from her mom, how she doesn't even know if her mom is okay.

"No no! You're not dead. You're very much alive. You see, there's a substance here known as Titan's Blood and legends says it can punch holes through dimensions and bring things here. Plants and animals, mostly, but a human is rare." Gwen said to Luz.

That only put Luz at ease a little, she didn't know if her mom is alive, it was days like these that she hated her Spirit Animal.

"What happened?" Dell asked, "You were very injured."

Luz let out shaky breaths.

"My... my Spirit Animal... is very rare." Luz said, "Like any rare creature... there's someone who wants it. Black Panther's are no different. My mom... and I... have the last known Black Panther Spirit Animal."

"Both you and your mom?" Gwen asked.

"A... A spirit Animal can be random, based off who you are, but it can also be passed down each generation. I've heard that on the other side of my country, there's a large pack of wolves that have been there for generations, hundreds of them."

"That many?" Dell asked, "Where?"

"In a place called California, Los Angeles. specifically. It's called the Thai Temple pack. Very well known."

"Interesting. Are they the ones that were hunting you?" Dell asked with concern for Luz.

"No, I don't know who was hunting me, but they weren't. They aren't even close to where I live." Luz said, "I... I just want to get back and help my mom, I... I... I don't even know if she's still alive."

Gwen and Dell saw Luz was close to crying, trying to hold herself together.

"Luz, it's alright. We'll help you find a way home. I promise." Gwen said with a smile, "I know my daughter found a portal when she was your age, maybe she still has it. We'll go see her tomorrow. Everything will be okay."

"A portal?" Luz asked in surprise and hope.

"Indeed she does. She mainly uses it to sell human items in the local market but I'm sure she would be more than happy to let you use it to return him." Gwen said with a smile.

"But like I said, we can do that tomorrow, you're hurt and hungry, I will not allow you to return somewhere you're being hunted until you're properly taken care of."

"But-" Luz said.

"Not buts, Luz. Please, eat and rest." Gwen said with a motherly tone of voice, showing care and concern.

Luz nodded. Every second she's here, she got more and more nervous about her mom.

'Mom, please be alright.' Luz thought as she went back to eating, much slower than before.