A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

As the voice's question still echoed through the room, the slightly transparent figure of a young girl floated out of the wall that had been lit up just before.

She looked perhaps sixteen years old, and wore a white and black spotted sleeping onesie, complete with a long night cap. Her long hair was a light brown, as were her eyes.

She was currently stretching with her eyes closed while covering her mouth with one hand as she yawned again.

The most fascinating thing about this girl, however, were her looks. She looked mostly human, but there were some distinct animal features that set her apart from regular humans. Specifically, these features represented those of a cow. Your story source m_v lem|p-yr

Two large, slightly furry ears graced the sides of her head, two small horns sprouted from her forehead, and a long yet thin tail with a brush at the end of it was sweeping behind her. Combined with the clearly cow-themed black and white spotted onesie, it painted quite a picture.

"She's a minotaur…" Elora immediately mumbled thoughtfully in Erik's head, this time also including Emma. "Or at least, has taken the form of one. I am now sure she is a sigil construct, which means that, setting aside the debate of whether or not she can actually be considered alive, she wasn't born in the traditional sense."

Minotaurs were a type of beastling, which was a collective term for humanoid races that exhibit some form of beastly phenotype. These were very different from shapeshifters, as they only had one form, and that form usually looked more like this girl, rather than a full-on hybrid like Erik in his wolf form.

"Which means she, and by extension all of this, is probably related to that minotaur from my dream… right?" Erik answered, equally thoughtfully.

"We can't be sure yet, but that would be a safe assumption, yeah," Elora nodded mentally. "Anyway, try not to mention me. Since she seems to have just woken up, there's a chance she won't know I'm here. Assuming she doesn't have some method of detecting me."

Erik could only agree with Elora. It was never a bad plan to keep some knowledge to yourself. Thus he quickly related that to Emily as well, and simply hoped Alice and Astrid wouldn't spoil the surprise, since he hadn't established a link of some kind with them yet.

Their mental conversation only took a mere moment, so the newly appeared minotaur construct only now finished her second yawn and opened her eyes.

When she did, she found that, rather than the woman she knew as Runa, there were five unknown people staring at her with various levels of curiosity and caution.

She quickly froze upon noticing their gazes. "U— uuh," she mumbled and blinked, lost in her utter surprise.

The truth was, she simply had never been stared at by so many people at once. She was born here, and had remained here for countless years, only ever visited by one person at a time.

This was an entirely new experience for the ancient sigil construct, and she needed a little time to adjust.

Yet, she managed to recover remarkably quickly. Her transparent body flashed, and the sleep wear disappeared, to be replaced by heavy armor, a large round shield, and a one-handed hammer.

Her gaze was full of determination and pride as she pointed her hammer in the direction of Erik the others. "You! Who are you, and how did you get here! Answer me before I use my overwhelming power to smite you!"

The girl seemed to speak some kind of unknown language, yet surprisingly, all six of them were perfectly capable of understanding her. Erik suspected some sigil to be at play here.

"Uhm, Elora? Threat assessment?" Erik immediately inquired mentally.

"She has no corporeal body, so the getup is really just for show. This construct seems to have an interesting personality," Elora giggled in response. "Also… it's interesting to note that this girl doesn't seem to recognize you or, for that matter, even expected your arrival. Is she not aware you were pulled back to Earth?"

But she quickly transitioned to a more solemn tone. "But we can think about that later. For now, I do notice power is accumulating in the walls. There might be shielded sigils of unknown power hidden there. I suggest we tread with caution."

"Got it," Erik nodded in response through their link, before turning his attention to the floating minotaur girl.

He decided to be a little vague for now, as he wanted to see how the girl would react. He also kept a casual stance, appearing not to be intimidated by the young minotaur's threat.

"My name is Erik," he shrugged, before thumbing behind him towards the platform they had rode down here. "And I guess we took the elevator?"

He wasn't sure if this girl could understand the meaning of the word elevator, but it seemed the most appropriate.

"What about you?" Erik asked with a curious gaze.

"W— What do you mean, what about me?! I'm asking the questions here!" the floating girl stammered, a little taken aback by Erik's lack of fear. She waved her hammer in his direction when she continued, "A— And why don't you cower before me?! I really can smite you, you know!"

Erik grinned with amusement. 'This girl really does feel like she's alive,' he thought to himself, but decided not to get to bogged down on philosophical semantics regarding the requirements for being considered 'alive.'

"I'm sure you can," Erik nodded slightly. "But I'm also sure a benevolent and beautiful girl like you wouldn't do that to five poor, innocent strangers."

A small blush appeared on the girl's cheeks, but she didn't lower her aggressive stance. Although her voice took on even more of a stutter. "D— Don't think you can sway me with your pretty words, you r— rascal! T— Tell me what you're doing here!"

Erik chuckled, finding himself amused by this girl's personality, deciding then and there that he would consider her alive, as he refused to believe this could all be programmed responses.

"Alright, I'll tell you why I'm here, but can I hear your name first? Assuming you have one?" Erik asked with a slight grin.

"O— Of course I have a name! M— My name is Eira! Now answer my question, scoundrel!" came her impassioned response.

Erik smiled slightly as he dropped what he suspected would come as a surprise to this girl. "Alright, Eira. As I said before, my name is Erik. I came here at the request of my mother, Runa. I believe you've been waiting for me?"

[A/N: the dream appeared in chapters 39 and 40.]