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It thrashed in his grip, and as expected, he did indeed feel some claws scratching at his breastplate.

Ineffectually, that was.

Even at this range, with the creature right in front of his face, it was still too dark to get a good look at it.

And yet he didn’t really need to. Between the Scarf and the furious, panicked aura surrounding it, Hector had a pretty good picture of the creature in his mind.

Its shape kept shifting as it thrashed. Its body elongated, then shortened, then grew, then shrunk, then stretched--all attempts to wriggle out of his grasp.

Which was quite annoying, actually.

And so, as Rasalased had once put it--and as he had been increasingly learning to do on his own--Hector took his soul’s priority in hand and spoke with conviction.

“Stop,” he said.

The Ceese’s aura shuddered against his own, and the thrashing came to an abrupt end as the creature went completely limp. The panic in the aura was changed, as well. The fear was still obvious, but it was more subdued now. Controlled. Waiting. And the anger was gone entirely.

Even more surprisingly, the shifting stopped, too. The creature’s form seemed to settle on that of a reptilian body. Mostly. There were a few odd bits of fur along the tail and neck, as well as a noticeable lack of eyes, teeth, or claws.

‘Damn, Hector,’ came Garovel’s echoing voice. ‘I almost feel bad now. What did you do to it?’

That was a good question, Hector thought as he began floating slowly back toward the others. It was a very odd thing. He felt like he knew exactly what he’d done, and yet he wasn’t quite sure how to explain himself, either. ‘Uh. I just... kinda... er... smothered it, I guess.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘Like. Its aura. I just. Sorta. Um. Smooshed it.’

‘Smooshed,’ echoed Garovel, this time with placid doubt.

‘Yeah. I mean. Does that make sense?’

‘Not really, no. But you’re the aura expert, not me.’

Hector didn’t know how true that was, but he didn’t try to argue, either.

When they made it back to everyone, Voreese, unsurprisingly, was the first to speak up.

‘Eww! Look at it! Oh, it’s so gross! It’s even worse than I imagined it to be!’

The flashlights were shining on the Ceese’s body now, finally allowing for a clear view of its pale, scaly flesh.