25 Golden hair

Part 1

Ashley did not know what to think. One moment her friend was lying on the ground on the verge of death while a crazy huntress was stabbing her hand making her almost pass out from the pain. She closed her eyes for a second and when she finally opened it again she saw the huntress was staring at some kind of creature with wings covered in golden-like fur. She tried to search for Evlin for a second but quickly noticed that both her and the griffin were gone.

After giving the creature another look she realized it had a feminine figure and was wearing the same clothes as Evlin, down to her wooden bracelets. She realized that the creature was Evlin herself somehow. Her face was a little different, more feral and she had gotten slightly taller and her hands and legs were replaced by claws. But she still could recognize traces of the young girl behind that thing.

Ashley was so stunned by this appearance that she almost forgot the silver knife locking her to the ground. The creature met eyes with Ashley and approached her at an absurd speed. It almost looked like teleportation, the creature was one second on a distant spot and suddenly it was crouching right in front of the knocked down Ashley. The changed Evlin started at her hand and quickly applied healing magic after removing the silver knife. She extended her hand and helped Ashley to stand up. The confused girl tried to talk.

"Are you... Evlin...?"

The creature looked at her then looked at her own hands. She tried to speak but only growling sounds would come out. She closed her eyes as if trying to focus and tried to talk once again, this time successfully managing to form words.

"I... Think... So..."

"Evlin... Evlin!! What happened to you??"

"I'm... Not sure... But... I think i discovered my affinity..."

The huntress kept staring at the two girls with eyes of bewilderment but those quickly changed to frustration.

"You... What did you do with my merchandise?"

Evlin glared at the huntress and started to release and huge amount of magic energy which knocked the huntress away making her fall on her back. Ashley was also surprised.

"Ashley!! You got your magic back??"

"It's not mine... This griffin... He had a crazy amount of magic... I think i could build a whole castle using earth magic if i had as much as he does..."

The huntress leaped towards the two girls in a attempt to stab them with her silver knifes but Evlin quickly grabbed Ashley in her arms and moved out of the way. From the huntress's point of vew it looked like the two had vanished in thin air. She searched for them and noticed that they were now on the others side of the camping area.

"Evlin!! You got your speed back!!"

"... No... I got much more..."

Evlin quickly returned to the huntress location and dropped her right leg on top of her like a hammer. The huntress tried to block it but Evlin was much faster than before. The huntress was buried into the ground thanks to Evlin's now extremely heavy leg. The Huntress spitted some blood and tried to call for her underling in despair.

"All of you!! Kill her!! Kill her now!!"

The rest of the hunters who were just paralyzed in fear watching the fight up until now started to rush to save their leader. Evlin realized more enemies approaching changed her bracelets into a ring for her tail and used it to stab the ground. She used earth magic and modeling magic trap all of them inside of holes that she had opened on the ground. The hunters tried to free themselves in vain allowing Evlin to continue her confrontation with their leader.

"Hey... I'm bullying your family again... Aren't you going to punish me?"

"You cursed beast!! I'm going to slice you head off!!"

She stood up and using the agility gained from the knifes tried to move behind Evlin in a attempt to stab her from the back. Before she could do that thought, her hands were stopped after being grabbed by Evlin's tail, who proceeded to crush her hands making the huntress drop her knifes.

"How... How are you keeping up with my speed?? No one should touch me while i hold these knifes!!"

"..."

Evlin stared at the huntress with eyes that seemed like it could stab a person. She raised the huntress by the hands with her tail still holding her and started to apply some modeling magic. The Huntress looked at what was happening and started to shake in fear.

"What... What are you doing to me!!?? Stop!! Stop!!"

"I'm making sure these hands can never harm another creature again."

She finished releasing her energy and dropped the huntress on the ground. The Huntress stood up and tried to go for her knifes again but something was wrong. Her fingers would not move. Her her weren't obeying her and just acted as if they were dead.

"What... What did you do to me you freak!!??"

"You were trying to cut off this griffin's wings right? I just gave you a little taste of your own medicine."

"My hands!! I can't feel my hands!! I can't feel anything!!!"

"Really? Let's see if you can't feel pain then!"

Evlin proceeded to punch the huntress in the face and sent her flying all the way across the camp. The leader of the bandits was completely knocked out and the rest of the group was buried all the way up to their necks onto the ground. Evlin moved toward the cages and released all of the creatures that were inside of it. She wasn't sure about releasing all of them like this, after all there was even an ogre among them, but as soon as they were free they all run away afraid of Evlin.

"You're welcome by the way..."

She saw Ashley approaching with a similar scared look on her face and started to wonder just what the heck was she looking like right now to keep causing that reaction.

"Evlin... Are you... Going to stay like this now...?"

"No way... All this hair is really scratchy and these wings are really heavy... I think i can return to normal if i apply some transformation magic again."

"Transformation magic...?"

"I'll explain in a second... Help me grab all these silver knifes and the pieces of my armor..."

Part 2

"Screeech!!!"

The griffin had now returned to normal and had all of his injuries completely healed. he was screaming with happiness after returning from his combined state with Evlin. he kept cuddling her like an overgrow cat who wanted to be spoiled by it's owner. Ashley looked at the scene with a little shock.

"... I think he likes you..."

"Can we keep it? Can we keep it? Can we keep it? Can we keep it?"

"You're asking me??"

"Well... You are the older sister..."

"He... Won't try to eat me right...?"

"No... He only eats sea-food..."

"... You know what he likes to eat...?"

"Among... Other things... While we were combined i could see into his memories... He actually is just a baby that was abandoned."

"Oh, poor gu- Wait, baby?? This thing can get even bigger??"

"I know right? Imagine if we fused again when he reaches his adult size!!"

"Is he also able to look into your memories...?"

"I think so... But I'm pretty sure he is not going to go around revealing my secrets to anyone anytime soon..."

"Right... So what now...? WE just leave these guys like this?"

"Well... We don't have time to arrest them or anything... All the animals are gone and we took their weapons... It might be ok to just leave them like this..."

"The let's get a move on them. Thanks to your new friend we might reach the city in time after all if he gives us a ride."

"Oh! That's right! It takes a week to reach the city by horse so it should only take a couple of days if we ride on him!"

"You grabbed all of you lost wood?"

"Yes! You took all of their silver knifes?"

"Yes! We are all set to go!"

The two girls got on top of the half-lion half-eagle creature and prepared themselves to move again. Evlin was feeling excited while Ashley was a little nervous. A girl who loved being close to animals and a girl who never went on an adventure before, these two were looking like polar opposites right now. The griffin started to run and they quickly found their way out of the seemingly never ending forest. They managed to find the right route again and started to charge towards to city one more time. But Ashley noticed something.

"Huh... Evlin... Why are we not flying...?"

"Huh... Well..."

"...?"

"Remember when i said there should be no problem to let the griffin look into my memories...?"

"... Don't tell me..."

"I think he inherited my fear of heights..."

"So you have a griffin that won't attack us but in return will never fly?? What is wrong with your luck???"

"Shut up!! He's doing his best ok!! I'm sure he will fly again one day..."

"So wait... Does this mean this thing is basically like a bird/cat version of you right now?"

"I rather not think about it too much right now..."

"Let's just hope he has better luck than you... Should we call it Evlin two then?"

"You do that and i will drop you off right here and leave you..."

"Sorry! Sorry! Please don't leave me!!"

"Besides, this is not bad luck at all... We just got a better fighting chance against Xadi!"

The griffin screamed in anger when hearing that name. It seems like he also inherited Evlin's hate for Xadi.

"So what are we calling him...?"

"Well... Since he is a giant golden cat without a lion head, how about Sphinx?"

"Sphinx, the griffin? I like it!"

"You hear that Sphinx? You are part of the family now!"

The griffin screamed with joy showing that he liked the name, probably from sharing similar tastes whit his owner and the three proceeded towards their destination.

Part 3

Night had arrived again and the group decided to make another quick break before continuing. Evlin took this chance to explain to Ashley about her new discovery of transformation magic. She talked about how Ashley's idea of affinity was a huge help in reaching this power which made Ashley blush with a pride. looking at her face Evlin was even more convinced that this girl really would have been a great mage if she was better at using magic energy, she was full of great ideas and insight.

The two girls used Sphinx as a pillow and went to sleep to rest for their nest run. On her dreams, Evlin got another visit from Xadi.

"You sure are taking your sweet time..."

"You again huh... You really have nothing better to do than chasing after girls... Someone needs a girlfriend."

"Well, if you feel up for it, i would take you any day!"

"Right... I rather be swallowed by a giant frog..."

"Ha! You joke but the saliva of giant frogs actually hold many nutrients good for the body!"

"Can you just go away please? I already have enough to deal with, the last thing i need is you bothering me while i sleep..."

"I can't help it if I'm so charming that you keep dreaming about me!"

"Keep telling yourself that..."

"Ha ha! Just making sure you're not thinking about running away or anything... I already arrived on the city by the way."

"That so... I'm glad you didn't run into us on the way..."

"That's why i wanted to see you... You wouldn't happen to have given up on your goal and just decided to go to another city right? Not that i would blame you for being afraid of me!"

"You don't scare me... The more a talk to you the more i see how much of a joke you are... You don't have to worry thought... I will still punch you in the face and send you flying, it's kinda my thing now... Just stay there like a good boy playing with your little toys..."

"Glad to hear! I will be expecting you for our lovely date!"

"It's not a date, it's your funeral."

"Big talk from a little girl, don't disappoint me!"

Xadi vanished just like last time and left Evlin alone in the white space again. She tried to hold face but she was indeed very afraid of fighting Xadi again. Her new discovery of her transformation affinity was the first step towards becoming stronger but she didn't know if that would be enough to deal with him. Plus, now that she had Sphinx carrying her, the time-span it would take to reach the city would be shorter, which means she now had less time to fully prepare for her fight.

Trying to gain a little bit of self-confidence she started to think about Dalla, about Marceus and about Ashley. People who told her that if she tried there was nothing she couldn't do. She started to whisper to herself while in the white space the words 'I can do this, i can do this...' over and over again. She finally left the white space and prepared for her third day of travel.