Cave EH

The fire was warming up the cave we were currently inhabiting. My fur was drying up and I felt finally comfortable, lying on the floor with my head on my paws. I had to clean up myself because I got dirty during the fight with the bandits and later from catching the rabbit that was currently being roasted on the fire. I needed to get rid of the blood especially. Donghae isn´t very fond of blood, I have to be very careful from now on. To me, blood is something natural, because I like hunting for my food and since I have some small anger issues too, I get into fights quite often. My life is full of killing and hunting, but Donghae knows nothing of that and it better stays this way.

Lee Donghae was sitting on the other side of the cave, flames were lighting up half of his face in dark orange hues as he was deep in thoughts. I really should take better care of him. He´s more naive and weaker than most merchants I got the chance to guide. Usually I wouldn´t even care if I scared the out of them, but this was different. I wanted to somehow show my friendliness to Donghae but I didn´t know how. I have no idea how to communicate with these types of humans.

"Are you mad at me?" Donghae suddenly said, not daring to look at me. "I know I hurt you, but I just didn´t know how to react. I´m not scared of you, really, trust me. It´s just that, you know. That you always surprise me and I start panicking and," Donghae´s eyes filled with tears and I had to stop him because I don´t know how to deal with a crying person. I honestly have no idea.

"Before," I interrupted him and he finally looked at me, "you wanted to know, who I am, right?" Smooth, Eunhyuk, cover your inability to communicate by changing the topic.

And it must have worked, because Donghae´s face immediately brightened up. Now, how are you going to explain it, genius? What should I say to not make him scared again? Isn´t it too late for this talk, anyway? How can I even explain something so natural for me but foreign to Donghae?

"So, you can change into a mouse or a human, but you like the wolf the most. At first I thought you were a werewolf, but they can only change into one form. Are you a werewolf or something?" Nice shot, Donghae! He must have sensed my uncertainty and started talking first. I wish I had Donghae´s unstoppable mouth so I could smoothly get this over with.

"Morpheles," I said but Donghae only frowned. Good, Eunhyuk, way to confuse him even more. And of course, that idiot was looking at me with a what-are-you-talking-about face.

"Not a werewolf, a morpheles," awkwardly I started to explain. "Almost an extinct kind, sadly. We can transform into almost any kind of animal. Every morpheles can transform at least into ten different animals. We usually change into a form, that´s the most comfortable, for me it´s the wolf and it shows on the ability to use all the benefits of those species. I myself mastered five animals perfectly and about nine I use only in cases of the emergency. But you don´t have to worry, because all the abilities needed for the travelling are stored in the animals I have already mastered."

I finished my long monologue all nervous and worried, I don´t usually speak so much and I´m not sure if I conveyed what was on my mind correctly, but it´s Donghae we are talking about. He gets things like this easily. I hoped he could tell what was on my mind, even though I was looking in the fire all this while. I felt uncomfortable talking about myself.

"It was kind of short, but I shouldn´t expect too much from someone who doesn´t say more than two sentences at a time. You did a great job." Was he praising me or insulting me? That brat, I should have kept my mouth shut.

"Okay, I think I can deal with you! Is the meat already done?" Donghae chirped happily and started taking the rabbit out of the fire. This is a good sign, right? He probably understood that I didn´t want to talk anymore. He could tell, my heart felt suddenly at ease again.

Gosh, I´m so hungry! I stood up from my lying position and changed into the human form again. "What are you doing?" Donghae asked.

"You want me to wolf it down all by myself?” I barked, “Also, humans have the best taste buds ever!" Donghae was sporting a strange face. He always does it when I eat. It´s starting to bother me, I should ask him sometime.

Since we had a hard day, I decided we stay in the cave and leave early in the morning. So, we chatted for a bit. Mostly Donghae of course. Babbling about unimportant things and stories he heard from other travellers. Sometimes I would correct him if I´ve been to the described places myself and knew it from my own experience, but rather I liked listening to Donghae´s voice. It made me feel calm and soon I fell asleep.

The next morning we continued our journey to the north, where the Treasure Island was awaiting us. We had a long way to go and when I looked at Donghae, I made it a point to stop in the next city to buy him some new equipment. Donghae doesn´t have many clothes with him and those he has will be useless in the cold days that are about to strike. Some weapons can also come in handy in the future, although Donghae packed a few of his carpenter tools. Small axe can be used as a weapon too, but most likely not in hands of someone like this little scaredy-cat.

In about two hours we finally escaped from the dark woods and in front of us opened immense meadows. Far away could be seen high mountains covered in clouds and sadly, we were to conquer them soon. Across those meadows, right under the mountains is a city. But with this speed, we would arrive there tomorrow morning. I can´t risk sleeping in the open meadows, especially after the accident with the bandits. It´s too dangerous, we need to change our tactics.

"Hey, Donghae," he looked up to me, still dazed from the beautiful view or sleepiness, I didn´t know. "We need to speed up slightly, have you ever ridden a horse?"

"Yes, I have! I love riding! My uncle would always lend me his Siwon, it´s the bulkiest horse you´ve ever seen. You can transform into a horse, Eunhyuk?!" He looked at me with wide and sparkling eyes. I thought he would jump at me right away. What the hell? I almost felt as if I was an ice-cream man giving him a treat.

"Well, something like that," I answered.