Chapter 3: Chapter 3 – I’ll find you

Classification of Chaos Touched in terms of their strength is very simple.

Skipping the newly added class 0, you have class 1. They are the Touched with strength on the level of ordinary humans or slightly higher, most just with some additional powers. This class, surprisingly, is not the most common, but closely follows the next.

The most common one is class 2, which encompasses the Touched of, as it is officially framed, greatly enchanced physical or supernatural abilities that allow them to fight and defeat armed humans. As an example, an Ursus type 4 Chaos Touched without any additional abilities, so basically a bear, would fit somewhere closer to the lower end of class 2.

Next class, 3rd, sometimes called Monster class, is officially defined as those Touched whose physcial and Supernatural abilities cannot be combatted with conventional weaponry. A much simpler description is a Touched capable of mass destruction, though it's not generally accepted since it would be troublesome to use such definition in law. This class is already pretty vague, to be honest, because destructive abilites are only one of the things you can obtain when you get Touched.

The last is class 4, Mythical class. I don't think it needs any further description. Those are simply Chaos Touched so powerful they can upturn cities whenever they want. With that said, they are very scarce, and there are only a few tens of them officially known on this place we call home that spans over three thousand miles in diameter.

Those classes, except for the class 4 and now also class 0, are additionally unofficially divided into low, mid, and high, because the range one class encompasses is way too large to lump them all together. For example, this Saurus here before me was probably a mid class 3 focused on physical strength, but a high class 3 of appropriate kind would be able to destroy half of this city quickly and easily.

And I am a high class 2 at the very least. This is... incredibly exciting, but also pretty scary. Most of the Touched are on the lower spectrum of this class and aren't very powerful, but the high end is already well into superhuman realm. Hm, let's see... there'a a lump of concrete there.

I walk up to the thing, which was probably part of some wall, and is a chunk of concrete like twenty inches by eight and by fifteen. This thing should weigh around a hundred kilograms, if I still remember my classes somewhat correctly.

I bend down to the thing, getting a good grip on its rough edges, and I... lift it up. Just like that. I feel the strain, sure, but I lift it up easily without any problems to talk about. Yup, that's class 2 alright. If it was before the whole thing, I might have managed to lift it up if I put one and a half of my soul into it. I never trained with pure strength in mind, instead focusing on speed, flexibility, endurance, and balance. Plus some explosive power, because you can't have speed without that, but none of that helps with weightlifting.

I drop the concrete block back onto the ground and my attention is immediately stolen by something I should have checked long ago, but which somehow escaped my mind with all I've been doing and thinking about.

My paws! My damn paws, because I can't call them feet with clear conscience. They are covered in vibrant green fur with yellow tinge, though they are pretty dirty right now so it's hard to say what exactly their color is, and they end in furry toes with claws.

And the most important thing is that this fur stretches more or less to the middle of my calves, where there are larger tufts of fur. Below that point my legs look just like you would imagine fox legs to look like. That is, I no longer have feet as humans do, but my legs are slim with another joint in like... a bit more than third of their length, looking from the ground.

Then there are the paws, which are much shorter than human feet and covered in a lot of fur with... I'm pretty sure five toes, but the two on the insides of my feet are pretty... small. They don't even reach the ground properly, though I can move then a tiny bit. Hm. Either way, the remaining eight are proper toes with sharp claws at the ends and they shape into proper vulpine paws.

Speaking of things vulpine, I do also have a tail and ears, which is pretty damn interesting. I look behind me at my tail, attempting to move it up and surprisingly succeeding marvelously with my tail ending up in vertical position and turned to my left so I can see it properly.

Holy... fucking... I love it! I absolutely love it, damn it! The first thing that comes to my mind when I see my own tail, is floofy. It's a damn foot wide at its widest point and floofy like... I don't know. It's just soft, floofy, and absolutely amazing. The second thing that comes to my mind is long. It's like... four and a half feet long? Something like that, which might not be a lot in itself, but combining with my barely five feet of height... actually, do I still have five feet one in height?

Hm. That's a damn good question, and the answer depends mainly on two things. First is that if I streighten up my legs, because their natural position seems to be quite far from straight now that I look at it, my height will end up much higher than before. Second are obviously my ears, to which I now pay attention to.

I reach to them with my arms and touch them around to feel how large they are, and my eyes open wide in amazement. My ears, to put short, are massive. My right ear... starts on the side of my head a bit above my temple... goes up a bit sideways and then over half a foot up, ends in a sharp tip, then flows down... almost to the middle of my head.

Oh holy shit. They easily add me half a foot of height if I straighten them and that's like... hm. Honestly, in most cases of Vulpes, the ears are either on the top of your head or on its sides depending what kind of Vulpes it is. In my case I can't honestly say my ears are only on the top of my head, because their center is like on the edge of my skull... I think. It's hard to decribe properly.

Suffice to say they are massive. Oh, and my hair, by the way, seems to be heavier, thicker, and stronger than before, but its length remains the same. And it's the same hard to put into order mess, plus its color seems to have shifted a little bit, gaining the yellow tinge to the previous vibrant green, just like it is with the fur on my feet.

Well, damn. So I'm definitely a Vulpes, though I'm not sure about the subkind, and I am a Demi from the looks of it. A bit further in the Beast direction, but feeling around my face I can confidently say it's mostly unchanged, which is the most notable thing in type 3 Touched. Their faces become more beastly. I, hm, I only have longer fangs in my mouth, but that's normal for Demi.

I'm not entirely sure about any other parts of my transformation, mainly any supernatural abilities, but that's normal. I've heard that the usual time to awaken your whole abilities if you get Touched is either instantly or within a week. There are some cases where it's different, but they are very rare. I'd say it's the reason for my lack of smell and hearing right now, though I can't be sure.

But well, my sight works better than fine, as I notice I can see a lot of details in my surroundings I shouldn't be able to earlier. So, having finished the surface inspection of myself, I look around the city to orient myself, and I quickly realize I'm on the correct side of the Saurus... however weird that sounds. I mean that Ava's house is along the street I now turn to and take a good look at. And damn, it's... hrm.

It's hard to find a single building that's still intact. Very few of them are as ruined as the one currently occupied by Saurus' head, but missing roofs, holes in the walls, broken windows, and collapsed or torn down things like signboards or supporting colums are present practically in every single buildings.

It's fortunate that classes 3 and 4 make up less than thousandth of Chaos Turned, because if that number was larger, this whole city would be literally in ruins. Though it's still very far from optimal state.

Also, now that I pay attention to it, the sun will be setting soon. But considering that the city has been cleared already, I doubt it has been only half a day since the Storm came. It's much more likely that I had a good long nap under that Saurus and a day has already passed. Hm.

I set out in the direction of Ava's house, hoping it's still standing. Considering it's in the noble district where very few peole live comparing to the area it occupies, chances of that are pretty high. As I'm walking, I'm looking around the area and thinking about a lot of things.

The Chaos Storm has already passed, and judging by the fact that there are no Beasts in the streets, the army must have arrived and cleared the city already. There a quite a lot of corpses still laying around, just like the Saurus on the market, and I think I should be really thanking the guy for saving my ass.

I don't know what's the reason for the lack of any warning before the Chaos Storm hit, and I don't intend to even think about it and bring my mood down, but this city is basically fucked. Even if someone gets to rebuilding it, a Chaos Storm like that would cause at least half of the city to be turned into mindless beasts. Those who were in locked rooms or had enough time to hide are lucky less than half of the population who didn't get Touched, but great majority of them, plus most of the sane Touched, got killed by the rampaging Beasts.

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I don't think even ten percent of the city survived, even including the five or so percent of Chaos Touched that lived here. In this matter I am already incredibly lucky. Then get the same chance for Ava, and... yup. That's the chance I'm staying happy and keeping my promise to my parents.

Also consider that from this amount of surviving people most wouldn't want to come back here after the evacuation to the other cities, and maybe a few thousand from the two hundred thousands who lived here would be willing to come back. And all they would come back to are ruins that require years to be even properly cleaned up and restored, not to mention the time needed to rebuild it all to its previous state.

The noble district I now enter is a bit better preserved, with most houses and mansions having sustained some minor damage, but still standing tall and proud. But how many of the people here have managed to hide in time? What about Vera and Maria? I pass a large mansion split in half that I recognize to have belonged to one of our classmates. There's a large, dead, dark blue Beast Serpens laying in the rubble. Maybe that's him.

I walk in complete silence all this time with my ears still not working for some reason, though I can feel them moving, I feel the air brushing over them, and I can move them consciously.

It's actually a pretty amazing thing, and something I heard is normal for the Chaos Touched. They instinctively know how to control their new body parts and can adapt to their new bodies as easily as if they were using them for all their lives. Additionaly they can supposedly understand their supernatural abilities as soon as they manifest, though that's something I can't say about myself right now, unlike it is with my body.

I walk on my completely different legs witout trouble as if I was always doing it, I move my tail to assist my balance, and to top it off these changes are both instinctual and conscious. My tail moves instinctively as I walk, but I can also consciously keep it in place or move it around as easily as humans move their limbs.

It's all a bit surreal, but I can't say I mind it. I would very much mind if I needed days or even weeks to learn how to walk again, not mention the trouble with using my tail that would come along with it.

With such thoughts swirling in my head I finally reach Ava's house, which thankfully is mostly untouched. There are some minor damages, but nothing that would suggest any Beast rampaging either inside or outside. Damn, even most windows are intact, which is pretty good.

With that said though, the large, three stories large house with large, colorful garden looks abandoned. Like the rest of the city, I guess, but a part of me definitely hoped Ava would be inside, waiting for me, and we'd meet and explain what happened to us. Well, no such luck, I guess, but I'm definitely not giving up now.

Let's at least go inside see what about Maria and Vera, because I'm pretty sure they were both there when the Storm struck. I'm not even hoping they will both be alright, because the chances for four people to remain sane and alive after a Chaos Storm are, well, hopelessly low, but I will probably regret for the rest of my life if I don't go in.

So I slowly walk up the small stairs to the front door, which looks blissfully intact, and I almost fearfully place my hand on the handle. And press lightly on it, knowing I have superhuman strength now.

Locked. I'm not sure if I expected anything else or only hoped Ava would welcome me home.

I turn around, unsure if my heart will burst out of my chest or tear in pain first, and walk to a certain pot in the garden where Ava was always keeping a spare signature key for emergencies, for example when I needed to come here alone without her.

I push the pot away and reach my hand under it for the key, and freeze when my hand finds paper. I grab it with shaking hand and pull it out to see a small piece of paper folded into four. My eyes sting with tears when I open it shakily and start reading Ava's beautiful handwriting.

Vesper.

I hope you'll have the chance to read this letter. I am alive after being Touched, and I pray you are as well.

I barely read the first paragraph and I burst into tears of happiness, hugging the letter to my chest with a small cry. My body shakes as the fear I've bottled out up to now is let out and dissipates, and I raise the letter to my eyes, continuing to read it through my tears.

I saw when you were hit and Touched by Chaos, and I got a glimpse of your kind, but I couldn't do anything. A huge Saurus appeared on the market and started wreaking havoc, and I barely escaped with my life and hid in one of the cellars. It was only Chaos Touch that saved my life, because it regenerated my body.

After the chaos passed, I went out and tried searching for you, but didn't manage to find you anywhere. At this point the army came and was evacuating all people from the city, and I had no choice but to comply. The moment I'm writing this letter the transport for us is being prepared, and we'll be departing in half an hour or even less.

When you read this letter, I will probably be safe in Raphlesia, as long as they don't send me anywhere further. Your best course of action would probably be finding the army and asking to be transported here as a refugee. I'd like to leave my kind as a surprise, but it will be much easier for you to find me if you know I'm a Demi Vulpes with seven long crimson tails with black tips. I'd try asking for you, but I couldn't get a good enough look at you so I don't know who to ask for.

If you need it, you can get some money from the safe in the house. Food should be in the kitchen as well, but I don't know what happened to Maria and Vera, so you are most likely alone.

I pray you'll read this letter and come find me in Raphlesia, because I'm helpless right now. Please come find me.

Ava.

I look at the wet mark on the letter just below Ava's signature that wasn't left there by me and I squeeze my eyes shut, stopping another wave of tears from bursting from me.

I hug the letter tightly to my chest and look up into the sky.

Ava. Raphlesia. I'll find you. I will definitely find you.

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