War Hog

Mental Change

Beagan shoots up terrified. Breathing hard, he waits a few minutes to calm down, then realizes that he is once again in a new room. He is sitting in an extremely soft bed and the surrounding room is filled with many wooden drawers, all of surprising quality.

He is now fully clothed in a brown shirt that is a bit too short for him and pants that are also a bit small. No longer is he covered head to toe in mud and blood, but is completely clean. The crude bandage he wore had been replaced by a new clean one.

Climbing down from the bed onto all fours, Beagan crawls around sniffing for a way out. He comes to a door, but is unaware how to use it, as he hadn't seen one for years. He continues to look around but he soon hears footsteps from outside.

Someone on the other side of the door messes with the lock. Beagan tries to find a hiding place and gets under the bed upon which he slept earlier.

Once the door is unlocked, a woman that towers over other people looks around the room. She was in fact an elf. She wore an elegant white robe that went all the way down to her ankles. She had short, almost boyish hair that was a very bright shade of red. "Where are you little piggy?" She asks somewhat jokingly.

Beagan stays hidden, but the elf looks underneath the bed. Beagan oinks at her frightened but she smiles trying to calm him as much as possible. "Hey, calm down there little piggy," she said in as soothing of a voice as possible. "I only want to help you understand this strange new world you've found yourself in."

Beagan cautiously crawls out and looks at her as she smiles at him "My name is Charlotte."

"A-adgringer..." Beagan says hesitantly. Charlotte looks surprised. "Adgringer...? How do you know that word?" Beagan just stares at her.

Charlotte, still somewhat surprised, took a deep breath. "That word you said means help in elemental language, could that mean that..." She cuts herself off and smiles. "You may be even more special than I may have thought."

Over the next few minutes, Charlotte starts teaching Beagan how to speak. To Charlotte's surprise, Beagan learned how to say basic words within minutes.

Beagan himself was surprised how comfortable he felt around Charlotte. However, it felt as if he wasn't controlling his comfort.

Within a few hours, Beagan had learned to say basic sentences. Charlotte smiled with surprise. "You sure are one smart little piggy." She giggled. Beagan shyly stared out the window but slowly said something. "Th-thank."

Charlotte repeatedly visited Beagan every day and kept teaching him how to speak and walk. She even brought in servents of Castle Saphiern to properly socialize him with a variety of people.

While Charlotte was able to get Beagan's talking, walking, and social skills to improve to near perfect levels, he still felt more comfortable walking on all fours over walking on just his legs.

All the while, Beagan kept having the same nightmare every night. He felt he needed to tell Charlotte.

The next morning, Charlotte walked in as cheery as ever. "Good morning little pig" She said smiling.

Beagan stared at the floor. "Can I tell you something?" Charlotte's smile faded. "What is it?"
He spent the next few minutes explaining his dream to her. As she listened, she grew worried.

"Beagan, how long have you been having this nightmare?" Asked Charlotte. Beagan sighed and caustiously responded "I've had it since this strange beast attacked me, and did the same thing to me as what happened in the nightmare before I was found."

Charlotte went silent. She opened her mouth, but no noise came out. After a few minutes of silence, she stood up and ran out of the room without a word.

Beagan looked ashamed. What happened? What did I say? He thought as he turned and stared out the window.