Mythene ran as fast as her legs could carry her, sprinting past corpse after corpse. Dread welled up inside of her, practically strangling away her ability to breathe properly

"Please, oh please," She whispered to herself between pants, "Not again!"

The corpses gradually grew fresher and warmer, and Mythene began to slow her pace. She knew she must be getting close. She paused to look about as she realized she was somewhere deep within the jungle. There was no sign of a road or path. She was utterly lost. With a quick shake of her head, she began to follow the trail of carcasses again. There would be time to worry about that later. Right now, time was of the essence.

As if to reinforce her thoughts, a shrill scream suddenly broke out into the jungle. Mythene at once picked up her pace to a sprint again, running in the direction of the scream. It didn't follow the trail of corpses, but she had a bad feeling the result would be the same.

Sure enough, when Mythene darted into the clearing, it was just as she had anticipated. A large blue tiger, far larger than a typical one, was overtop of a human woman. His jaws were trapped against the woman's quarterstaff, which she'd shoved forward into his mouth.

"Hold on!" Mythene shouted in Common, sliding down to the ground quickly.

She plunged her fingers into the mossy soil, and a moment later, thick green vines shot up from the ground. They ensnared tightly around the tiger, holding him back and allowing the woman to wriggle away. She looked at Mythene in thanks, rising to her feet and readying herself into an offensive stance with the staff.

"No! Wait!" Mythene shouted, hurrying over, but she wasn't quick enough.

The human, apparently a mage, sent a fireball at the tiger. Mythene muttered under her breath and quickly stepped in the way of the flames, her skin becoming like tree bark for a moment. The mage looked at her in surprise, but took a step back in fear as the vines began to snap.

Mythene glanced back over her shoulder and realized casting barkskin must've broken her concentrated cast of the entangling roots. She only had time to turn around before the tiger, now freed, leapt for her throat. In a move more desperate than she would've liked, Mythene dove off to the side, narrowly dodging the attack.

She quickly leapt to her feet, holding out a hand to the tiger. He turned to face her and snarled. Mythene looked into his eyes and all her remaining doubt was gone. One of the tiger's eyes was the color of amber, and the other was green.

"I know it's you, thero'shan," She said slowly, going back to speaking Orcish for his sake.

The tiger snarled again, slinking down slightly in warning. Out of the corner of her eye, Mythene saw the human mage back away out of the clearing. Good, she thought. At least then, if her attempts failed, the human would be spared. She then focused her attention back to the tiger in front of her.

"You must remember who you are," She continued, trying to keep her voice steady, "Your mind is being overwhelmed by your new animal instincts."

She searched his eyes for some kind of recognition or at least familiarity, but found neither. It made dread well up inside of her again. No, not again. Not again…

"Thero'shan…" She frowned, "Zami, please, you must remember."

The tiger didn't even so much as flinch in recognition of his name, which brought back a familiar old pain, and that was it. That was the moment she had been dreading so: the moment when she knew he was truly gone.

"I'm sorry," She whispered as tears began to fall, sinking down to the ground, "I should've been with you. I should've been there to help you."

The tiger only growled in response, beginning to stalk towards her. Mythene just lowered her head. She had failed. Again. What were the odds it would happen to her again? Was this a punishment from Elune for her arrogance? For her prejudice? Or perhaps it was just a cruel joke on her behalf? Whatever it was, it was more than she could bear, and so she waited silenttly, as the tiger drew closer. She held her breath as the tiger stood before her, sniffing at her curiously. Then it moved its fangs for her face, and she closed her eyes.

"I'm so sorry," She whispered once more, content for that to be her dying words.

Then something she hadn't anticipated happened.

The tiger's rough tongue lapped against her cheek, over her tears. Mythene opened her eyes quickly, looking down at the tiger in confusion, and gasped. His eyes. They were foggy, and confused, but still there. He was still there.

"Zami?" She gasped, sitting up quickly, "Are you in there?"

The tiger just blinked back at her, but that was enough. Mythene brought her hands to the sides of the tiger's face, and stared back at him intensely.

"Dalah thero'shan," She said firmly, "Remember who you are. You are a troll, and you're not savage at all. Your name is Zami. You are a druid, though you used to be an assassin, and you are my student now. You're learning to speak Darnassian. You have an annoying brother and even more annoying friends. You hate banana bread. Remember, please. Please..."

She saw the moment the glimmer of recognition appeared in his eyes and she couldn't help throwing her arms around the tiger.

"Oh, thank Elune!" She sighed as she hugged the tiger tightly, "Thank Elune…"

She felt the tiger shift in her arms, and a moment later, she was hugging a troll. The notion in itself was objectively absurd, but she was too relieved to care for propriety at the moment. Over her shoulder, Zami groaned.

"Ugh.. .huh? What… where am I?" He grumbled, "Mi'ten…?"

"Yes, it's me," She nodded, "And you're you again."

"Again…? Huh? What'cha talkin' about?"

Zami tried to sit up, but Mythene had no intentions to release him. He cleared his throat awkwardly, still oblivious to the situation. He waited a moment before trying to pull away again, but she still refused to let go. That had been too close for her liking.

"Hey, uh, Mi'ten?" He asked as he cleared his throat again, "Why are you-"

"I thought you were lost," She admitted quietly, "I thought I would have to kill you, just like before."

"Huh?" Zami tried to turn to look at her, "Before? What'cha-"

Mythene tightened her grip even more, making Zami cough as she practically squeezed the air out of his lungs.

"Yes, before," She whispered, tears beginning to well in her eyes once more, "Back when I had to kill Enerion."