20 Jae's Power

Under the pleasant sunlight, Jae had a dream of the past. A past that he should have forgotten a long, long time ago.

A charming woman with auburn hair was rocking in a chair with a thin book about pelicans. Despite having two sons, her body did not appear to have given birth.

The woman smiled at her son as the five-year-old boy gave his mother a toothy grin in return.

"So, ***, what did you do today?"

"I tricked Daddy by making him a sandwich with peppers and wasabi instead of PB&J! Then, then, I watched Kyle roll around in his sleep! He doesn't do that much, but he's cute!"

The woman stroked the boy's forehead, "Good job, cupcake! Daddy must have loved it. Also, Kyle's too young to play with you, so you need to take care of him and always protect him."

"Yes, mommy!"

A lanky man entered the living room with a wry expression, "Please don't encourage him, darling. One bite of that and I had to drown ten cups of milk. You know I can't endure anything spicy at all."

"I'm sure you can take it for our cute son," the woman picked up the naughty critter into her embrace. The boy playfully struggled before settling down within her arms.

The man sighed, "Sometimes I wonder who *** resembles."

"Seventy percent me and thirty percent you," the woman claimed.

"Yes. Yes. Yes."

The man left the room. Meanwhile, the woman caressed her son's hair.

"Listen, ***. There may come a day when I have to go somewhere far away."

"You're leaving?!" The boy's eyes widened as he latched onto his mother's clothes, "Please don't go! I promise I'll take care of Kyle! And, and, I won't bully daddy anymore. Please?"

Chuckling at her son's antics, she assured, "Don't worry. I won't be leaving anytime soon. I'll divorce your daddy first and take his money before that."

"That's good," the boy let out a breath in relief before gasping, "Oh no! Daddy doesn't have any money!"

She laughed for a while, but soon assumed a serious expression.

"Supposing I do go, you will have to watch over your daddy and little brother."

"Okay, mommy. But, would I ever see you again after you go?"

Pausing for a moment, a pondering expression emerged. "Hm, perhaps you will be able to someday. Just wish upon the stars after your current existence ends. 'She' will find you and bring you to me."

"Okay! I don't really understand what you're talking about, but I'll try!" He nodded enthusiastically.

"I'm glad your still chipper even after the incident, but don't burn yourself out."

"Hehe."

The woman glanced at her watch, "Actually, it seems about time for me to leave."

It was like a lightning bolt struck the boy as he froze. "What?! You just said you wouldn't go anytime soon! Did Daddy not have enough money for you?" Tears developed on the corners of his eyes.

"Well, things have changed. If you think it's unfair, then that's just how life is, cupcake. See ya, ***."

The woman gradually became farther from the boy. No matter how much he ran, he could never catch up to her. She waved lovingly at her son.

"No! Mommy! Please come back!"

"Please!"

"Ple-"

He coughed a pure white feather out. In his hands, the feather transformed into a chicken. The salty taste of fried chicken from KFC overflowed in his mouth.

"Bok! Bok!"

"Don't stop me chicken! I need to go to mommy!"

However, the chicken didn't give a crap as it continued to block the hapless child.

Soon, the scenery became blindingly bright. The world began collapsing with the chicken and boy within.

In the shattering world, only one thought was left in the boy's head.

'Why must you do dis, chicken?'

--------

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Once Melody Sun finished her song, the children rowdily applauded, cheering joyously for their skilled friend.

"That was great, Melody! I'm sure you could have become a renowned singer if you debuted!" Bridget complimented.

"Y-yes, th-that was amazing Melody!" Natalie rapidly clapped. Several of her fish scales shed off her palms.

"Of course, I'm awesome!" Melody pointed her chin up, confidently. The bulge in her pocket glowed for a second.

"By the way, what's the song called?" Nora inquired as her tentacle formed a question mark.

"It doesn't have a name. I finished composing it after winter break, but I forgot about it until now. I never did post it online unlike my other songs."

"Wow~. You're so smart, Melody~." Wendy praised.

"Melody Sun is the one!" Scarlett rhymed, "So, why didn't you debut?"

Melody rolled her eyes, "It's not that simple. I was about to drop out of school and focus on my idol career before we...died." Although her last word was nearly inaudible, the other children knew what the fairy had said.

The atmosphere quickly became awkward as Pepper continued to tow the carriage forward. The rocky roads would often cause the children to sway within the vehicle. Jade clenched the flower bouquet in her hands even harder. White petals fell around her.

"I'm sorry," Jade whispered. Only Alexis, who was in the girl's clothes, could hear that remorseful voice.

While Layla did gather most of Clara's feathers, she missed a single one. And that last feather coincidentally landed within Jae's mouth.

"Achoo!"

Waking up with a sneeze, Jae experienced a burning sensation. The flavor of savory fried chicken permeated within his mouth as the feather dissolved.

Jet black wings emerged from Jae's lower back. His hair and flowers altered into feathers of the same color and a thin lion's tail protruded from right above his bottom. Even though his feathers were the opposite shade of Clara's, his irises matched the girl's emerald hue. The vines, which originally covered him, unraveled and released his body.

Soon, the scorching feelings subsided and his temperature returned back to normal. Perplexed, Jae inspected the alterations which had occurred.

With dull eyes, Jae warily asked, "What did you guys just feed me?" He truly hoped that his previous suspicion about becoming anything that his lips touched wasn't true.

"Huh?" Scarlett, who wasn't paying attention to the events within the carriage, turned around. After spotting Jae's current appearance, she kicked Pepper and halted the poor creature.

"Whoa! You're a fallen angel, Jae!" Scarlett yelled as she scampered into the carriage and caressed Jae's feathers.

"Nobody kissed you nor did anyone feed you anything, Jae," Nora answered the boy's concern, "Did you see what happened, Iris? After all, you were the closest one to him."

Iris smiled, "I caught a glimpse of one of Clara's feathers falling into his mouth, however, it disappeared before I could remove it."

"Hm, let me test something," Nora moved to Jae and forced something into his mouth before he could react.

Instead of receiving a hot sensation, Jae felt as if a bucket of freezing ice and water was poured over his body. The taste of fish sauce assaulted his senses as he wished to relieve himself of the objectionable flavor. Unfortunately, whatever Nora inserted had disintegrated within seconds, so it was too late to spit it out.

Jae's black wings and tail retracted into his body while the feathers on his head had turned back into hair. Skin morphed into cerulean blue scales and webbed fins appeared in place of his hands. His irises switched from emerald green to an ocean blue.

Once his transformation had been completed, Jae glared indignantly at Nora. He could easily assume that Nora had fed him one of Natalie's scales.

"Ugh. Why did you have to check using Natalie's scales?" He gagged.

"Hey, at least I didn't stick my tentacle down your throat," Nora responded.

Although he was thankful that Nora didn't make him lick her tentacle, consuming a scale from Natalie was extremely revolting.

"I guess the saying 'you are what you eat' applies to you in a literal sense. But, since you didn't change races when you ate normal food, I think it only works for us," Nora concluded.

Jae nodded, "Iris's saliva, Clara's feathers, and Natalie's scale were the things that caused my race changes. Therefore, it's obvious now that I don't change races from kissing, but from you guys. Except, what's the point? I don't even know how to turn back to my original state."

"Don't worry~, we will find a way to change you back~," Wendy comforted.

"How about eating my scales instead! They aren't as flimsy or fishy as Natalie's!" Scarlett suggested.

"T-they aren't that bad!" The fishwoman futilely countered.

Jae sighed, "I'll pass."

"Did the boy just change shape?" Folred, the elven guide, rubbed his eyes. "A doppelganger?"

"Don't worry about it, I'm just playing around with my illusions," Melody consoled the man. If she actually told the truth, it would befuddle Folred even further. Apparently, while normal fairies were incapable of lying, Melody can.

Folred glanced skeptically but decided to just start Pepper. After the momentary stop, the carriage began moving again.

During the extensive journey to the next town from the elven village, Jae discovered that his transformations would expire after exactly twenty-four hours. Even if he changed into multiple races in that period of time, the number of hours starting from his first change would not differ. Furthermore, he could transform by eating any part of the girls whether it be their hair, nails or fur.

His ability only worked through any of the girls and nothing else. Nora confirmed it by forcing Jae to grudgingly consume a strand of Folred's hair.

Jae believed that his newfound ability was useless since he was not as skilled at using the other forms as his companions are. However, Nora spoke otherwise as she supposed that any ability might be useful someday. She then accumulated parts like hair or feathers from the eleven girls into a bag and handed it to Jae.

Despite Jae's penchant for misfortune, the journey was remarkably uneventful. Once they were past the country's borders, the group resolved to become stronger to overcome any obstacle that would come their way. Their determination grew as they yearned to train their bodies and learn proper magic.

But first, they were in dire need of money.