Chapter 23: 23 – Memory

It was weird looking at the true form skill being used from the outside. Yes, sure, I’d seen it be used by other players, but this was different. This was my friend we were talking about here, not a remote-controlled doll. 

I’d been a bit nervous when the transformation started. What if something went wrong somehow? I hadn’t transformed into my true form, so what if Frank turned into something completely different than intended?

My worries were unfounded, though. Just like in the dream, what came out on the other side of the transformation was a guy a bit taller than before. His skin had also darkened, and as expected, he’d grown some bull horns.

Bull-Frank stumbled backward, opened his eyes, and blinked three times before looking around, and then down at himself.

“Oooh, shit. I feel… weird. But also great. But also weird. I love it.”

Yup, still Frank.

“Everything alright?” I asked.

He glanced at me. “Are you kidding me? I mean, sure, not used to this yet, but it feels awesome! No wonder you like being in your true form too!”

“It’s not her actual true form, like I said,” Elyssa started, looking over Frank. “You, on the other hand… This is definitely your true form.”

“Wait, what?” I spoke my thoughts out loud.

She turned to me with a grin.

I frowned. “You’re messing with me, aren’t you?”

I expected her to start laughing, but instead, she shook her head. “No, I’m serious. I don’t know why, but this young man can take on his true form without any problems. You are still the only person who I couldn’t help with that.”

My frown deepened. What was up with that? Why me?

“Wait! I have horns! Like… are these bull horns? Ha! I was right about the cow thing!”

I sighed and looked over to Casey. She… actually wasn’t staring at Frank like I thought she would. Instead, she was frowning and staring at the floor, probably in deep thought.

“Well, I’m happy with the surgery, doc,” Frank said. “Next one on the chopping block?” He glanced over to Casey. She didn’t react. “Heeey, girl are you with us?” He walked over to her and waved a hand in front of her.

“Huh? What?” She startled. “Oh, yeah. Sorry. Was just… thinking about something,” she said while standing up.

“What, are you getting cold feet now?” He gently poked her with his elbow. “C’mon. Come over to the dark side. We have cookies! And also bull horns and fox ears, apparently.” He smirked in my direction.

Both me and Casey rolled our eyes as she came to stop in front of the still-smiling Elyssa.

“She’s not gonna have bull horns or fox ears…” I whispered to myself whilst shaking my head.

“Hmm? Then what do you think your friend’s true form is going to be?” Elyssa raised an eyebrow at me.

“Yeah, you’re acting as if you’ve seen the future or something!” Frank accused me.

Once again, I looked into his eyes, wondering how his off-hand jokes kept hitting the mark and then sighed.

A moment of silence followed.

“Seriously?! You can see the future too?! How many superpowers do you have?! Or rather, why didn’t you tell us?! We need to quickly go and buy all the lottery tickets!”

“That’s not how lottery tickets work…” Casey added.

“No… Look. It was a one-time thing.” I tried to deflect. “You see, I… I had a dream two days ago. We were fighting the new boss monsters together. You were… what you are right now. A guy with bull horns, an axe, and a shield.” I looked at Casey. “And Casey stood in the back, using magic. She had silver hair and bunny ears. That’s all I know, okay? I woke up shortly after. And anyway, I don’t even know whether that’s supposed to be the future.”

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Another moment of silence.

“Future sight… Incredible,” Elyssa murmured. “I didn’t think such a thing was possible…”

“Wait, slow down,” Casey spoke up. “So I’m gonna be a bunny girl. Alright, I can… deal with that. That actually sounds pretty cool. But why would we actually fight a dangerous boss monster with our real selves?! We can’t actually respawn, can we?!”

“Oh shit. You’re right. I didn’t even think about that!” Frank exclaimed.

And truth be told, I’d never thought about that either. In the game, sure, there were penalties for dying, but you could still keep going.

But this wasn’t just a game. We were directly exposing ourselves to potentially deadly danger. A phoenix amulet could only prevent death once. And if we were too slow to escape after that…?

“What kind of… precognition is it?” Casey asked.

“What?” Frank frowned.

“I mean. Is it possible to avoid that future? Or is it set in stone? Will everything we do only push us toward the future you have seen?”

Now that was the question, wasn’t it? I had no clue. There was no precedent.

I could only awkwardly shrug, which didn’t assure anyone.

“Okay, let’s all calm down here,” Frank said. “How about we first try to confirm what your true form is, Casey?” He looked at her. “Maybe then we can work on the whole ‘averting a disaster in the future’ thing.”

Her lips formed a line as she frowned before she replied. “Sure.”

With that, Frank walked over to me and Elyssa began her little ritual again.

“Just like with the young man, close your eyes and focus…”

“You’re just full of surprises today, aren’t you…?” Frank whispered as Casey began glowing and morphing.

“Well… I was surprised too. It’s been one thing after another, you know?” I blew air through my nose. “I still don’t know what to think of all this.”

“Well –” Frank put an arm around my shoulders. “– lucky you have us to help you figure all this out then! Although it will probably take me a bit to get used to… uh, some things.” He eyed my fox ears.

“Yeah… I mean. Understandable.”

As our little background chat ended, Casey’s transformation finished.

And she came out of it exactly as everyone had expected. Silvery white hair, bunny ears, but still the same face our friend had always had.

Just like Frank, Casey looked around for a moment, blinking her eyes a few times, before she reached up, grabbed one of her ears, and pulled it in front of her.

“This is… actually kinda nice,” she said.

“Welp, that confirms one thing…” Frank said.

“Also your true form.” Elyssa nodded.

“Aaand, that confirms another. Now we just have to deal with the prophecy of us going to fight a dangerous monster.”

Joy.

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