Nikeila opened her mouth and tried to speak, but only an animal cry came out. It sounded cute and finicky. 

Communication would be tricky. Were humans capable of interspecies communication? Could she speak with others of the same species as herself? Was she even part of a species? She should be a mix of different genetic codes. And she wasn't sure she retained the ability to understand human languages because Swavira wasn't here anymore. 

So many questions and not even one answer.

She’d worry about that when the time came. She stretched out, letting her muscles tighten and relax. It felt good, though she was still sore.

She approached the tilted escape pod. It was out of energy and damaged by the crash landing. She found her small virtual assistant drone on the floor inside. It was in the shape of a bracelet. It fell when she transformed. It was switched off. She touched it, infusing it with her mana, and it recognized its owner. 

“Pon, shift to flying form.”

It turned into a floating black ball. 

“Pon, scan the surroundings.”

It obeyed her command. After a while, it returned and showed its discoveries to her. She studied the holographic 3D map but could not concentrate. Her vision was out of focus. Her eyelids were heavy. She held on, shaking her head and patting her cheeks. She needed to know more about her current situation. No time to nap.

Suddenly Pon turned off and fell to the ground, turning back into its bracelet shape.

What happened? Was it broken?

She felt so weak and sleepy. Was there a hidden attack? Did she inhale sleeping gas or something?

As she fainted, it dawned on her that she was out of mana.

She was angry with her negligence. She should have noticed the problem earlier. Her only excuse was that she had never worried about mana before. She always had plenty. But not anymore.

Another wave of despondency hit her. 

Her depressingly low stats aggravated her troubles. Just how low were her current attributes? She was afraid to know. Maybe it was better that Swavira wasn’t here now.

She put the bracelet on her right little arm, hoping it could adjust its size to fit her new shape. No amount of contortion would enable it to pass through her head and get to her neck. And it was unlikely she could carry it any other way. She refused to carry it in her mouth. Fortunately, because of the recovered mana, it transformed and fitted her frontal limb.

She would have to be very careful when using it from now on. Her mana reserve was super shallow. And mana was necessary for using skills and items. Speaking of skills, she had no idea about hers. She couldn’t feel any. Could it be that she had none? She could experiment to find out, but with so little mana, experimentation was a luxury she couldn’t afford.

Today was the day the sea of despondency would drown her.

She was so frustrated!

She remembered Pon had an inventory function. She opened the inventory and a 3x3 grid appeared in front of her. One unit was occupied by the dagger she didn’t use in the scuffle earlier. It was useless now. A stack of 13 health recovery potions, a stack of 15 mana recovery potions, and a stack of 10 stamina recovery potions.

She took out a mana potion and spent the next fifteen minutes trying to open and drink it. She was so irritated and tired afterwards, she considered drinking a stamina potion. But just imagining going through all that trouble again she gave up.

She should have bought those potions in tablet form. In her current body, opening the flasks and drinking the liquids was too troublesome.

How she longed for opposable thumbs.

These types of potions had long expiration dates. And when maintained in an activated inventory that preserved perishable items they could last indefinitely. But to activate an inventory and keep it that way mana was needed. 

She had no mana to spare. She barely had the mana needed to stay alive and function on the most basic level.

Lastly, she had 4 garb pogs. Garb pog was a disk used to store a set of outfits, including accessories, shoes, and headgear. It was neat and easy to use. The articles were restored and cleaned automatically when put back in the garb pog. Garb pogs, like most items, had more uses and durability the higher the grade.

On the starship, she met a couple of women interested in human fashion. They created many outfits with different materials. Some of the more expensive ones even had buffs. They partnered with other gears to make shoes, hats, and trinkets. 

Nikeila had chosen those garb pogs with a lot of care. She considered not only their appearance, but also their practicality and quality. But now she couldn’t even wear them!

She glared at her inventory.

If she had known, she’d fill the inventory with full stacks of more useful stuff. Like food. Perhaps she could have upgraded it to a larger grid, 5x5 would be great. 

No use regretting past ignorance. 

She thought about saving space. She could take the potions out, tie them firmly inside the escape pod so they wouldn’t break, and then put the whole pod in the inventory. But then, when she needed them, she’d have to take the whole escape pod out. So she discarded the idea.

She put the pod in the last unit of the grid. It was broken and out of energy now. Later, it might prove useful. If she got it fixed, she might be able to turn back into a human.

Now she had to find food and shelter. 

She had no idea where to go. She couldn’t recall much of the map Pon showed her before they both ran out of mana. She could sense water on the surface nearby. Not a large source and it was flowing. She could follow it down.

With the direction decided, she noticed her hunger. 

What could she eat? 

She searched around. She tried some small fruits and berries on the way. One was too sweet and made her hungrier. The other tasted horrible and left the inside of her mouth sour. She tried some leaves too but spat them all out as soon as she started chewing. She learned not to eat anything that looked nice and colorful. 

She turned her attention to the narrow river. Fish swam in clear cold water. Their movements were lazy, then suddenly agile, dancing together. It was a calming scene.

She remembered what she had read before. Many animals on this planet ate meat. It was a natural cycle of predator and prey. 

She looked down at her paws, her tiny and sharp claws out.

Her belly growled.

She sighed.

At first, she thought of using Pon. But Nikaila was mana impoverished. She feared she wouldn’t be able to use it in an emergency. So she faced the challenge close and personal. 

It took a couple of attempts to grab the sleek little thing, but she got the gist of it. She was, of course, soaking wet at the end of her endeavor. All her fur was stuck to her body revealing its small shape underneath. 

It was good she had no thought of looking at her reflection in the water. It’d be a blow to her vanity. Nikeila’s delicate heart couldn’t take another hit.

The fish flapped around on the ground. She found it funny. The creature was dying, fighting for its life, and she laughed. It was morbid. But she needed a touch of comedy right now, even if it was dark.

A fishtail slapped her in the face. 

She was wet, hungry, tired, and pissed off. 

The fish struggled to return to the water. 

She couldn’t have that. It had no idea how arduous it was for her to take it out. How could she let it go? 

The two fought. To her and the fish, it was a brutal battle for survival. It looked like a cute harmless slap fight from the outside.

She was victorious. Standing tall over the defeated, her head held high.

The pride was short-lived. 

Then shame came and dread showed its presence.

Now she had to do it. She had to eat it.

The dead fish's eyes seemed to stare at her. She hunted it and killed it. It wasn’t self-defense. There was no turning back. It’d be disrespectful to the life she took.

But how to do it?

She spent some minutes figuring out how to do it. And she ate it. With her eyes tightly closed.

It wasn’t as terrible as she thought. Though her mind was reluctant, her taste buds responded to this type of food. So they tasted delicious. After a few bites, she even appreciated the freshness. 

She wasn’t hungry anymore. But she felt she had lost something intangible today.

Her melancholic short steps followed the river down.

When she first saw the thenebre eating meat, she was disgusted and horrified. It must be the same as her situation now. To them, it was delicious, and even essential for their survival. Now that she thought about it, humans ate meat too. Maybe it wouldn’t shock them if they saw thenebre eating raw meat.

But doing this every day for food was too tiresome. She had to find another way.