DISCONTINUED - Shapeshifter

10

Soon after the incident, you took off, the raven perched on her shoulder as she ventured outwards of the forest. The raven did fly off every once in the while but she wasn't gone for too long, bringing back non-toxic berries for you to snack on and surprisingly they were all mouth-wateringly sweet.

"So where are we going?" You grunted, mid-task of hoisting yourself up over a rocky cliff side. The raven was moderately astonished as a feeble 7-year-old scaled a steep cliff, almost vertical, with no climbing-gear of any kind but she obviously didn't know you. You weren't a normal 7-year-old and you weren't feeble either, evident as you climbed the wall as if a tree and you were a monkey. You were just full of surprises

"We're going home, my home more specifically," the raven said, "you must harness these abilities passed down from generation to generation."

"Abilities? What do you mean?" You questioned, finally lifting your leg and rolling onto the top of the cliff where land was flat and continued to walk forward. The raven flew back for a bit, letting you gather your bearings on flat land before soaring back onto your shoulder.

"Those wings of yours, that necklace you found on the debris, I—."

"That was you! You placed the necklace!" You exclaimed pinpointing the facts.

"Yes, that was me but it wasn't MY necklace but your mother's," the raven corrected you, watching amused at your bewildered face, "a wonderful woman, the best of her time."

"You knew my mother!?" You gushed, almost stopping in your tracks as you were so intent on listening to the bird. 

The bird chuckled, her beak not moving, like all her words, it seemed to come straight from her breast but was clear as any public speaker, "knew your mother? What an understatement, she was my best friend." The raven stopped briefly, almost looking back. She sounded a bit unsure as if she had left something crucial out but you didn't want to force it out. 

The Raven, after it's internal flashback, continued, "your mother necklace's, what happened to you happened exactly to her. It's made of an ancient rock, so old, it's buried deep underground, very deep and it's very precious because that's what triggers the "exposure." That was the pain you experienced the first time, it turns dull after awhile but it's excruciating at the start."

"Oh, I know," you shivered, thinking back to it would be one of the worst memories of your life. It's didn't soothe you for the aftermath was just as worse, perhaps more. 

"Not a particularly nice memory, I have my own share. But it's still a special event as it's exclusive to only a few, the few that were born, with the faintest hints of shifters blood in their veins."

"You, my child, are a Shapeshifter."

The raven, if it had lips, would be smiling so wide and eager it would be blinding as it revealed the truth. Still, she ushered forward, always keen to mention the subtle details.

"To be specific, your type is the Free-shifter. There are three types of shifters, debates have been traded over centuries if there are more but really you can only identify as one out the three. One type is the common shifter, where you're born with one shape to shift, sometimes it's can be random among families, like a wolf family could have a fox shifter child but majority it's based on parents. The second types are when you can shape into two or more forms, but are open to only a limited amount; this is much rarer but you can still find it.
And finally, the last and rarest, free-shifter. Where the animal kingdom is open to your command to utilise for yours or others requirements.

You are this one, your mother was not."

"So are you saying I'm one in a hundred?"

"A million but isn't everyone?" The raven lulled it's head and hummed before hanging its head in thought.