The Island of Wonder

Nicole slowly opened her eyes, but all she could see was darkness. At least she could hear voices not far from where she was.

Great. Either hell has people talking casually, or I didn’t die yet.

Looking around, she realized she was in a tent, lying on a soft animal pelt. Yet something felt… wrong. Nicole sat up with a small groan; her head and torso pulsed with pain. Overcoming it, she got up and took a few steps forward until she reached the tent’s entrance. She slowly pulled it up, accidentally blinding herself with sudden light.

Torakai warriors sat around the bonfires inside the cave. There was less than half the number that had entered the cave earlier. Nicole took a few steps, and one of the villagers sitting at the nearest bonfire noticed her. Before she could say anything, the man stood up and approached her.

"Nicole, you woke up!" He swallowed hard, avoiding her face and eye contact. "T-that’s great. You should go and talk to Soi. Poor girl is restless."

The man pointed at one of the bonfires, where Nicole saw Soi.

"Alright, thanks." Nicole nodded and started walking slowly toward the catgirl.

"Hey, I am still alive!" Nicole said as she got close enough. She tried to sound excited and happy, but her voice came out ragged.

Soi and Morilia looked up at the voice. The catgirl jumped up to hug Nicole, almost making the two fall.

"Hey, hey, chill. I can barely walk right now."

"Sorry," Soi said, smiling widely. Her eyes watered and tears ran down as she held Nicole close and looked at her. "I thought… that you wouldn’t wake up…" Soi sobbed and pressed her head to Nicole’s chest.

Nicole didn’t say anything, just gently petted Soi’s head. After some time, the catgirl calmed down, took a few steps back, and smiled.

Nicole sat down next to the bonfire, and Soi sat next to her, resting her head on the girl’s shoulder and softly purring.

"Let’s start with you two telling me what happened after I passed out." Nicole looked at Morilia and Soi.

Morilia licked her lips. "Well, not much actually. We got rid of all the Bonewolves that were left. Then, Tiralie gathered those who still could stand and transported the camp from the forest to this cave. I think that’s all… Oh, your Krellip is also here." She pointed to the side, where Nicole saw Mignon playing with bones.

Nicole noticed that as Morilia talked, she watched the fire, but sometimes her eyes darted to look at Nicole and then back to the fire.

"Is something on my face? I feel like everyone looks at me and wants to say something but then doesn’t."

At that moment, Soi’s purring stopped suddenly. Morilia seemed surprised by Nicole’s words. "Don’t you feel it? Your right eye… it’s gone."

Nicole blinked rapidly, stunned.

Wait. Wait wait wait.

Her hand slowly rose up, touching her face until it reached her right eye. The eyelid was there, but nothing more.

W-what?!

Her hand started trembling. Only now did it strike her why, since she woke up, the world around her seemed so strange. She saw only half of it. Nicole opened her mouth, but it was dry and no words came out.

No no no no. It can’t be…

Her breathing sped up, and at the same time it was hard for her to breathe in, while panic and strange mental numbness sank inside her. Nicole couldn’t form a coherent thought, just sat in silence. The world seemed to stop functioning around her.

I… But… Is… Do… Will… Are...

Soi and Morilia looked at each other, unsure what to say or do. The catgirl, still leaning on Nicole’s shoulder, gently wrapped an arm around Nicole’s back, hugging her. This way, they sat for quite some time.

After over fifteen minutes sitting in this state, Nicole finally got past the initial shock phase.

"Hey…" Nicole’s voice came out quiet from her dry throat, and she had to cough to get it back to normal. "Hey, isn’t there anything that can make my eye heal or something?"

"If there were, we would tell you." Morilia shook her head.

Shit. And what now?

Nicole sighed, slowly breathing in. "Alright. I guess that’s the new reality. Crying over it won’t help me keep the other one."

The girls sat by the bonfire for some time, chatting on lighter topics, mainly the battle that had occurred. After some time, Nicole stood up, making Soi whine about losing a warm pillow.

"Okay. Do you maybe know where Tiralie is? I have something to ask her."

Morilia pointed deeper into the cave. "Last time I saw her, she was walking toward the Beast."

It didn’t take much time to find the catwoman. Tiralie was sitting next to the giant wolf’s corpse with a knife in hand and blood everywhere around.

Nicole cautiously stepped closer. "Hi. What are you doing?"

Tiralie didn’t look up. "Obviously I am taking our trophies. Those fucking teeth are so hard that I have to carve them out of its skull."

As Nicole got close enough, she saw that the Beast’s maw was open unnaturally wide as the catwoman forced the light-blue teeth out. "Our? I thought you would take those all for yourself."

"No. You helped me, after all. So you get half."

"Oh, thanks. Actually, I came to ask if you would need the rest of the body."

This time, Tiralie stopped and looked up at Nicole. "Whole? Nah. I’m just curious how it tastes, so just a piece of it is all I need. Why do you ask? You need it?"

Hm, tasting it is an interesting idea actually. I didn’t think about that.

"Yes. You know, my ability allows me to absorb different things. So I wanted to try doing that with a corpse to see what will happen."

Tiralie shrugged. "Do whatever you want with it. Just give me some time to finish with the teeth."

"No problem."

Nicole walked off, leaving the catwoman to her task. To not just idly wait, she headed toward the piles of Bonewolves. While Nicole was sleeping, it seemed that others had thrown all the bodies into piles under the cave wall. She stopped over the closest one, squatting down.

I should test absorbing it first.

Before doing so, she took out the AI pen and added samples of the Bonewolf fur, meat, bones, and the bone-like structure around its body. She then placed the pen back for now.

Then, she placed her palm on the head of the dead animal and tried melting it into herself. The tingling appeared again, and the Bonewolf slowly sank into Nicole’s hand. It took a few minutes, but in the end there was nothing left of the corpse.

At least it went in.

Nicole closed her eyes. She saw the usual stone and wood, but this time there was more. White formless mass floated in place, next to it a cloud of grey fur, and a big, pink raw meatball.

That looks a bit disgusting. Though what did I expect?

She tested the new materials. Soon, she had a bone slab, a piece of raw meat, and what was more interesting — when she tried using the fur, a single grey thread appeared. Nicole could expand it further by pulling it with her other hand. After checking the resources left inside her, she realized that creating a few meters of thread cost half the fur she had.

Man, good thing there are a lot of corpses here.

Without losing time, she started absorbing the others one by one. It took some time, but eventually Nicole reached the top capacity of bones and meat and couldn’t take in more. When she tried to absorb more, only fur melted into her hand. It looked like she shaved the monsters, leaving them with bare skin usually hidden beneath the fur. Eventually, after shaving many dead Bonewolves, Nicole’s power refused to take in any more.

She stood up with a groan, raising her arms and arching her back in a stretch with a yawn.

Fucking finally. Now only the Beast remains.

On her way back to the big corpse, Nicole was passed by Tiralie.

"Here is your part." The catwoman pushed a small pouch into her hands and walked away.

Looking inside, Nicole saw pointy, light-blue teeth that seemed to shine slightly in the darkness of the pouch.

Hm, she said those were really hard. I should try absorbing them later.

Standing in front of the dead Beast, Nicole took samples of different parts of its body with the AI pen. Only after that did she try absorbing it, but nothing happened.

I wonder if that’s because my storage is full with the Bonewolves.

To test it, Nicole created a long thread to use the fur and then tried again. As expected, it worked this time, leaving the Beast with a shaved forehead.

Haha, it looks so dumb like this. Anyways, let’s see if the fur of Bonewolf and Beast are any different for my ability.

Nicole closed her eye, and at first it seemed as if the amount of fur grew slightly bigger. But after a closer look, she realized that one part of it had a lighter grey color than the rest. To make sure, Nicole tried getting a patch of blue fur from the Beast’s back. This resulted in blue fur appearing next to the light-grey one.

Hm, interesting. No matter what sticks I picked up earlier, it all fused into just pressed wood. I wonder what made those appear differently. Or maybe that’s just how my ability sees fur?

Next, Nicole tried forming a thread, but as soon as she focused to add blue fur to the Bonewolf’s, it abruptly stopped coming out of her finger. To use it, she had to form a new thread.

Okay. So this still counts and acts as fur but is just too different to be mixed with the other one. Fuck, this all makes my head ache.

She decided to test other materials. First, Nicole made some bone and meat bricks to empty the space. Then, she collected some of the Beast’s, not forgetting about its big claws.

It seems that unlike fur, the Beast’s bones and meat fused completely with those of the Bonewolves. Except for that small, blue part of the bone mass. Seems like claws are different after all. Well, time to test the teeth as well.

Reaching into the pouch, she grabbed one, and though way slower than bones or stones, it gave in and melted into her hand. Checking inside, Nicole sighed with disappointment, realizing that it only made the melted claw part a little bigger.

Aw man. Though I guess it was expected to happen. I guess all I ha—

She suddenly stopped after noticing something strange. Looking at the light-blue claw part of the bones in her storage, Nicole saw an electric impulse coming out of one of the corners, in the place where the tooth was joined. It appeared every few seconds and moved in a wave, then disappeared after reaching the point where the melted claw met bone.

What’s this? It can generate charges just like that? I wonder if that’s how the Beast got its electric powers… In any case, this means that the claws may be unique enough to be worth taking with me.

Nicole made enough empty space and absorbed all the claws from the Beast’s four arms and both legs. Standing up, she glanced at the broken half of her spear, its tip still in the monster’s back. Nicole pulled it out.

Fuck. It must have broken during the fight. Now I am left without a weapon.

She aimlessly swung it around, and an idea appeared in her head. She threw the stick away into the darkness with a small smile on her lips.

With my new powers, I can just make my own now.

Nicole went back to the warmth of the bonfires and once again joined Soi and Morilia. Without a word, she got to work.

First, she formed a long pole out of the Bonewolf bone matter. It was pretty light but much more durable than the one made of wood. Then, she absorbed most of the teeth, and with every one added to her storage, the electric waves on the claws grew stronger. After that, Nicole formed a spear tip from the light-blue claw material. It was in the form of a cone with flattened sides. She placed it on her lap and started pressing and melting both sides, creating sharp edges. To join the tip to the pole, Nicole made one side of the pole grow slightly wider and formed a hole in it, while the tip was like a screw, and she simply screwed it into the hole.

After some testing, she was satisfied with how it held in place. To finish her work, she melted the pole a little to make the surface less smooth for better grip.

Wrapping leather around the handle could be a good idea, but I don’t have any for now, sadly.

Holding her new weapon high, Nicole stood up and made a few basic thrusts and slashes. The light-blue tip seemed to constantly pulse with electricity, and when she did a rapid slash Nicole saw a small lightning arc jump across its surface.

What could I test it on?

Nicole approached the pile of dead Bonewolves. Poking the body, nothing happened. But when she thrusted the tip in with speed, electric sparks flew around the point of impact and Nicole could smell an odor of burnt fur and meat. Despite the foul smell, she smiled.

It works! I have an electric rod! Though Tiralie’s electricity on her claws was way stronger and could even jump from one beast to another… Well, it’s still better than nothing.

Returning to the bonfire, she sighed.

Now I have just one more thing to do.

Over an hour later, she smirked. In her hands, Nicole held an eyepatch. With her ability, she made a small chain out of bones to hold the eyepatch in place. The main part was made out of stone, and as she put it on, it looked like a white skull in place of her right eye. Making the skull took Nicole most of the time as she tried to make it as cool as possible. She also screwed leftover Beast teeth into it, not enough to make it sparkle, yet they shone faintly with blue light in the dark.

"Hey, Soi, check this out." She turned to the catgirl sitting nearby.

Soi was speechless. She had seen Nicole making it but didn’t ask what she was doing, and couldn’t imagine how it would look on her friend.

"Wow, it’s impressive. I mean, it makes you look like a dangerous warrior. And if I hadn’t seen you making the skull yourself, I would have thought it was from some kind of real animal."

"Thanks."

Nicole smiled, looking at the fire.

Though I would still prefer having my eye, even if I wouldn’t look so cool or intimidating.