‘Well, that was interesting.’ Leo said with a yawn as they settled back into their physical form. ‘You should be less suspicious of that female. She’s clearly an excellent potential Pride-mate.’

  ‘Did you have to hit on her?’ Dominic demanded, disregarding Leo’s suggestion. ‘You realise that she’s a goddess, right?’

  ‘Like you’re one to talk,’ Leo scoffed. ‘Now that I’ve actually met her, suddenly the memories of your previous visits are clear for me. I at least made her amused. You just annoyed her.’

  Dominic spluttered for a moment.

  ‘At least I didn’t insult her by inviting her to join my pride and telling her that she needed…that she looked like she needed mating.’

  ‘Insult her?’ Leo asked incredulously. ‘Did she look insulted to you? No, she actually considered it. Face it brother, you just don’t have a…knack with females.’

  ‘Then what do you call Sekhmet preferring me?’ Dominic demanded, his lips drawing back from his teeth in unconscious agitation.

  ‘Odd taste on the female’s part,’ snorted Leo.

  ‘Don’t say that about Sekhmet!’ Dominic snarled, feeling abruptly protective of his lioness.

  ‘Well, it is – you can’t deny that.’

  ‘Why shouldn’t she like me? At least she knows that with me she won’t be just another female to mate with,’ Dominic growled at his companion.

  ‘Which is exactly what I’m talking about. Didn’t you hear her explanation? One male, multiple females – that’s just what happens with lions. Wanting anything else is an odd taste. You’re just confirming what I said.’

  ‘Except that apparently Jenkins wants me too,’ Dominic reminded the lion. Leo snorted again.

  ‘Jenkins wants to try us both out – find who is better. Guess who she’ll probably choose in the end,’ he said arrogantly.

  ‘Yeah, not you,’ Dominic retorted. ‘Not with that attitude, anyway.’

  ‘Not with yours either,’ Leo returned. ‘Females like a confident male, not a mess. Why do you think Selessa had such a better reaction to me?’ he challenged. ‘Let’s face it, Brother. You’ve got a problem with females. With women. You’ve actually had better luck as a lion than you ever did as a human. What do you think it is? Leftover issues from your dam leaving you with someone who wasn’t even your sire? Or were you simply a failure as a human male?’

  Though the lion sounded more curious than mocking, the words felt like they stabbed straight through Dominic. He felt tongue-tied, unable to respond, his own feelings a complete muddle. He felt that they’d wandered far off the topic, but wasn’t sure how to get back. Instead, he felt antsy and irritable. Hurt. Angry at Leo. And he knew one tried and tested way of solving that.

  Since the Place of Power still had more than three hours before the dungeon Core would be fully absorbed, he had enough time to rest for a bit – and perhaps to get rid of these confusing emotions filling him.

  Lying down next to the Place of Power, he closed his eyes and dived into his mental space. It was only a moment after that that Leo materialised in the study. Dominic silently led the way into the savannah area.

  As soon as they were both clear of the study which, despite his current maelstrom of emotions, he still didn’t want to damage, Dominic leapt onto his companion. His claws were mostly sheathed, his teeth biting but not hard enough to break through skin – despite his irritation, he was pretty sure he didn’t actually want to try to kill the companion who had been with him since the beginning of this whole thing.

  Leo eagerly responded, returning his attacks blow for blow, bite for bite. They snapped and snarled at each other, the irritation and resentment which had built between them since the last time they’d wrestled now vented into a physical battle.

  When they both ran out of steam – the process taking longer than previous times – they collapsed into a heap together, not even needing to speak to confirm that they both wished to stop.

  Dominic shifted his wings so they wouldn’t be crushed under him and then flopped onto his back against Leo’s side. He looked up at the sky, at that perfect, cloudless blue which seemed as unreal as he knew the space really was. The quietness of the area around them, empty of insect sounds, was only another sign of the artificial nature of it all.

  Raising his paw in front of his face, Dominic flexed his claws so they slid out of their sheaths. The movement felt so natural, just like opening and closing his hand used to be.

  Concentrating, Dominic tried to shift into human form. It took a few moments, long enough that he feared he might not manage to do it anymore. In the end, he succeeded when he thought about what he liked as a human. About how hands made many things in life so much easier; how he missed being able to express himself with tones of voice and facial expressions.

  His body shimmered and then reformed. His back was still against Leo’s side, his shoulders now only just about reaching the base of Leo’s wings, his head resting against the feathery appendages. His hand was still raised in front of his face and Dominic again flexed it slightly, feeling the differences. And the similarities.

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  The lion shifted slightly, then grunted in surprise.

  ‘I’d thought you were bigger than that,’ the lion remarked.

  “I was,” Dominic responded. It was odd. His voice wasn’t croaky or disused – he guessed that being in a mental space made up for that. But it did feel odd to use his mouth to pronounce words rather than his mind to transmit them. “Relatively speaking, anyway,” he continued, the strange feeling reducing as he spoke. “We’ve grown as a lion, but apparently it hasn’t translated to my human form.”

  ‘Huh,’ The lion remarked curiously. ‘Stand up.’

  “Why?” complained Dominic, not moving. “I’m comfortable here.”

  ‘And sometimes you manage to be a true lion,’ Leo replied with playful humour, his mockery without the edge it had had before they’d fought out their aggression. ‘I want to see how big I’ve got.’

  “We’ve got, you mean,” Dominic grumbled. “I remember distinctly the fact that I was the one doing most of the work to get us to this point.”

  ‘Yes, yes, whatever,’ Leo responded impatiently. ‘Now get up, would you?’ So saying, he shifted from under Dominic, the human’s slight weight nothing to the powerful lion. Dominic realised that though he hadn’t stood much of a chance against the lion when he’d been attacked that day in the safari park, right now, he would have no chance at all.

  Fortunately, Leo wasn’t attacking him this time. Dominic wondered whether to give into the lion’s demands and move, or to just stay there. With a sigh, he pushed himself to his feet. It wasn’t as comfortable now that his backrest had moved anyway.

  “Alright, what now?” Dominic asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

  In reply, Leo just stepped forwards and stood in front of him, face to face. And it was face to face. Still standing on all four paws, Leo’s nose wasn’t quite level with Dominic’s, but it was level with his chin which meant that the top of the lion’s head was above his.

  Considering that the lion’s nose had only been a bit higher than Dominic’s waist when they’d had their battle at level 10, that was a significant change. If the lion stood as high as he could on his back paws, he’d probably be twice Dominic’s height. Did that make Leo the equivalent of a polar bear now?

  Dominic suddenly felt uncomfortably vulnerable and had to stop himself from fidgeting, knowing that the predator would easily pick up on his nerves.

  “Satisfied?” he almost snapped at Leo.

  ‘Very,’ the lion answered with pleasure, circling around Dominic. He surprised the human by nudging him in the back with his nose, hard enough to send the biped stumbling forwards.

  Dominic automatically reacted by whirling around, baring his teeth and growling, his paw coming forward to swipe at the lion’s nose.

  No, not my paw, Dominic realised as his hand made contact with Leo’s face, the blow doing nothing more than ruffling the lion’s whiskers. Leo just rumbled happily, coming forward to rub his head against Dominic. The unintentional force behind the movement threatened to send the human stumbling again; he had to brace himself with all his strength to prevent himself from falling over.

  A moment later, the lion lay down again, flopping over onto his side. Dominic hesitated for a moment, but then decided that the comfort offered was worth the small risk of being attacked, lying down against the soft fur of Leo’s belly. He considered switching bodies, but something inside said that he should spend at least a little time in his human form – he didn’t want to forget it completely.

  Lying back, looking at the sky, Dominic considered what Selessa had said. Her advice about the Place of Power, the different ways to increase its level, and finally, her words about the quest.

  “Hey, Leo,” Dominic started. The lion rumbled quietly, announcing that he was paying attention. “Selessa indicated that we completed a quest. Do you know anything about that?”

  ‘No,’ the lion answered unhelpfully. ‘Wait. Yes. It came up in a notification during your first mating with the female.’

  “It did?” Dominic asked, frowning. “I don’t remember that.”

  ‘You got rid of the notification quickly. You were rather occupied at the time,’ the lion said with smugness. Dominic twisted so he could glare at the lion, appreciating being able to physically do it.

  “And you didn’t think of telling me about it afterwards?”

  ‘I forgot,’ the lion said simply. ‘Besides, I didn’t see much of it before you dismissed it. Though now the female goddess has talked about it, I’m pretty sure it said something about a ‘quest’.’ Leo’s voice got notably hungry at the mention of said goddess.

  “Well, good to know now, I suppose,” Dominic sighed, ignoring his companion’s unrealistic romantic inclinations. Leaning back again, he focussed on summoning up his most recent notifications. Scrolling down them mentally, he managed to find the one that he’d missed.

  [You have made progress in the quest: Regain what is Lost]

  [Once two separate beings, now one. Find a way to reach equilibrium and make the sum greater than its parts -> You have fully engaged with one of your parts and have regained access to your other half. Fully engage with your other form and find an equilibrium to make your whole greater than its parts.]

  [Reward: Regain access to a new form upon your next Tier or Half-step Tier.]

  “Does…does that mean that I’ll be able to transform back into a human at level thirty?” Dominic asked almost in a whisper, barely able to believe his eyes. Those two quests had sat around on his status screen ever since level 1 without changing. It seemed crazy that it took mating with a lioness to make a difference.

  He quickly took a moment to check on the other quest.

  [Quest: A Noble Endeavour]

  [Gain personal strength. Conquer territory and control areas of power (Place of Power x1, Dungeon destroyed and captured x1). Fight off all who would take what is yours. Recruit or subjugate other beings to become your subjects (optional) (38 party Pride members, vassal x1, group surrender x1)]

  [Reward: A noble title of varying level with commensurate benefits upon reaching Tier 3.]

  While it was good to know that some of their efforts counted towards whatever rewards would be gained upon reaching Tier 3, nothing major seemed to have changed about the quest itself. Not like “Regain what is Lost” had. And he still wondered why it was mating with Sekhmet which had made all the difference there.

  Unless it wasn’t just the mating. Maybe it was a change in mindset which went deeper than just being willing to mate with a lioness. Perhaps the mating was just a symptom of far deeper changes. The truth was that Dominic had been appearing in his mental space in his lion body more and more frequently recently, sometimes not even noticing that he’d done it until several minutes had gone by. He’d appeared before Selessa as a lion rather than a human too, and hadn’t even bothered to make the effort to change when he realised it. And then when Leo had nudged him with his nose, Dominic’s automatic reaction had been to snarl back at him and clout him with his hand, not even realising that he didn’t have either sharp teeth or a heavy paw to threaten him with.

  Maybe it was just all the little things added together to show how comfortable Dominic had become with his lion body. Because he was pretty sure that that was what ‘fully engaged’ meant – Leo certainly hadn’t grown any sort of appreciation for being human, after all.

  ‘Perhaps,’ Leo answered his question after a long pause, his mental voice troubled.

  here!