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Well, for anyone that finds this an interesting read, here's chapter 8, and a little experiment on first-person POV. Tell me if you like it or not by a comment, please!

Chapter 8: A strange stranger among us

Arthur

I leapt through building, keeping myself disguised by a weak invisibility spell. While most demons and werebeasts could see through easily, no human without magic abilities would be able to see me, which was the reason I chose this spell. As I made a last leap, I felt a slight change in the air pressure, a familiar sign that told me that I was in a Sphere. With a simple flight spell, I flew over the building, no longer having to worry about being found. As I looked around, I could see a flash of light, a result of two energy sources clashing. I fell down, running through the now-empty streets. As I approached the place, I could see the smoldering remains of a building. I could make out an unconscious werebeast, a lion like me, on the wreckages. I could also see multiple gashes and burn marks on him. I looked the other way, and faced the approaching demon. While the other werebeast was defeated, I could see how he nearly brought his opponent down. The demon was stumbling, with one wing ripped clean off, and another with smoldering holes in it. I walked forward, choosing a spell. reaching into my powers, I spoke the spell.

"Cast judgment on the evil that stands before me, and destroy it with holy light from the heavens! Divine meteor!"

Then, a surge of light streaked from the sky, hitting the demon and burning him to ashes. I stagger briefly, as divinity spells aren't my specialty, along with the fact that the spell I just casted requires lots of energy. I manage to stand straight, and look at the lion. I know from experience that I can't take him to the hospital, they'll ask me too many questions. I sigh, and cast a simple levitation spell. After binding some of his wounds, I leave the collapsing Sphere, taking him with me.

Will

I pace around the living room, worried. I know that it's been only about half an hour or so, but I can't help but to feel worried. Suddenly, I hear the gate creaking open, and turn around. I see my brother holding another lion, and I race over, feeling relieved.

"What happened? Are you fine? Who is he? Is the demon dead?" I see my brother shaking his head. Suddenly, I see the other lion groaning.

"I know that you have lots of questions, but can you wait until tomorrow? Go to bed. I'll answer all you questions tomorrow. Besides, I'm sure that you're exhausted."

My brother speaks as he drags the older lion up the stairs. I follow him, and see him putting the other werebeast in the guest room. Feeling sleepy, I also head to my own room, and fall asleep in no time.

I wake up, and head downstairs. I go down the stairs, and see my brother cooking.

"Hey, did you sleep well?" Arthur asks as he sets the trays down. I sit down, and star to ask him the questions that I asked earlier.

"Yeah. So, who is he?"

"I don't know. My best guess is that he's a werebeast who happened to be the victim. When I found him, he was real beat up. He was still really strong though. He nearly finished the demon off, and I only had to deal the finale."

"Can't we take him to the hospital?" I ask between mouthfuls. He chuckles, and takes a bite.

"The thing is, there aren't many hospitals that don't ask questions about a man injured like that. There are some werebeast-owned hospitals that are specifically made to cater to us, but it's too far. But he should be fine. I know enough to take care of such injuries, and we always heal rapidly." as he leans backwards, he seems to be thinking something. So I'm not surprised when he asks me a question.

"Will, could you take care of him for the day? Just do what he asks you to do."

I shrug. I have no problems with that, and I nod, effectively saying yes.

"Well, gotta go. I'll see you later. You can go out now that you've mastered how to disperse your aura, but be careful. If you're in trouble, just keep on running and dodging. I'll be able to sense you with no problem, and I could get to wherever you are in a few minutes." my brother speaks as he puts the dishes in the sink. I nod, and follow him to the door, watching as he leaves. As soon as he leaves, I do the dishes, and head upstairs. I slowly open the door, and see the other lion sleeping. He is as big as my brother, but his fur is a bit more gold. I sit on the chair placed near him, and close my eyes, going over the spells I know, and continue to adjust them, comparing the effects. I'm so engrossed that I nearly fall out of the chair when the lion shouts and jolts awake.

"You will not...." the lion begins, and trails off. I could see that he's confused. He looks around the place, and starts to stare at me. I decide to start with the introductions.

"Hey. Are you okay?" I speak. He looks confused, rubs his eyes, and looks at me again.

"Relatively. But where am I? Did you help me out?"

"You're at my brother's place, he was the one who saved you. But he's out right now, so you're going to have to wait a while." I speak up. He relaxes visibly.

"Did the demon......?" he speaks, and winces suddenly.

"Yep. My brother killed it." I speak. I suddenly hear a stomach growling, and smile. I stand up, and walk toward the door. "I'll get you something."

"Thank you. Thank you for everything." the lion speaks.

"What's your name?" I ask, stopping for a while. He looks slightly startled, and speak up.

"Call me Shax. It's a family nickname." Shax speaks up, and winks at me.

"Are... are you hitting on me too?" I speak. Call me crazy, but I can't help but to remember Anderson.

"Weeell..... Maybe. You're pretty cute. And what's this about 'again'?"

"Nothing. I'll be back," I step outside, and close the door softly. I go down the stairs, and see a pot. I lean over, and see porridge. I heat it up, scoop some on a bowl nearby, and go up the stairs. When I open the door, I see him taking slow walks.

"Wait, should you be doing that? I mean, you're not fully healed yet....." I speak, going toward him.

"I'm okay. It does hurt a bit, but I'm certain that I won't keel over and die." Shax speaks as he limps over to the bed. I give him the bowl I've been carrying, and he starts to devour it with surprising speed.

"So... Why were you there?" I ask while watching him. He manages to stop eating long enough to answer back.

"I was on a trip. Normally, I would be okay, but I used up a lot of my powers the day before, so I was nearly helpless against it."

"What did you do?" I ask. He shudders, and speaks back.

"A Sphere. It was filled with dozens of demons. Of course, I had some help, but it still drained me. The next day, I took a vacation and decided to wing a random trip. So I picked a random direction and went with it."

"Right....." I spoke, certain that he was lying. Suddenly, he laughed and tousled my hair(then I started to wonder what I should call the fur on my head. Headfur? Hair?).

"I'm just messing with you. It's true that I did go through a major battle a few days ago, but I was just passing by on my way to see my master."

"Your master?" I ask. I'm not sure if he means the master as in a teacher, or as in a literal master.

"Yep. I learned some magic from him when I was little, and I decided to give him a surprise visit." Shax speaks as he puts the tray on the table.

"Are you good at spells?" I ask. Maybe some real firsthand experience might help me. I've been doing rather well with my swords, but I don't think I'm doing that well on magic.

"I'm actually a spellcaster instead of a fighter. Most werebeasts don't have what it takes to manage both." this reply actually catches me off guard. I mean, my brother and Anderson could use both Mana and Spirit, so why not others?

"Why can't some werebeasts handle two powers at once?" I ask.

"It's not some werebeasts that can't handle both, kid. Most werebeasts are only able to control one of the two powers."

"Why?" I ask. I had no trouble using both, so this surprised me.

"Because these powers are essentially different from each other. Mana is a representation of air, and is absorbed through it. It embodies finesse and control. Spirit is absorbed from the ground, and is rough but powerful. It's very much like trying to keep fire and water in a same container and make sure that the water doesn't extinguish the fire, or let the fire evaporate the water. These two energies clash with each other so bad, that it can literally kill someone if they try to absorb both energies. But there are a few that can use both powers without dying. From what I remember, only one out of thirty werebeasts could do something like that. It's a natural gift that they have."

"Oh. So you can't use Spirit?"

"Yes. I'm a level 5 mage though. That's something that one can boast."

"Levels?" I remember Arthur saying something about levels, but I didn't ask back then. "What are they?"

"Well, they basically are a system that shows how experienced a spellcaster is. There are 12 levels, but level 10 to 12 are seldom reached. So those with level 3 or less are considered as inexperienced, level 4 to 6 are average, and anyone above level 7 is considered as a genius."

"Could you teach me a bit while you're here?" I asked eagerly. He was definitely more experienced than me. Arthur never really talked about magic except for the basics, and I was struggling with some spells.

"I know something better. I'll just download it to your mind." Shax grinned.

"Download it into my mind?"

"It's a high-level spell. It can let me send certain things from my mind into others. I've been always good with mind-related magic, so I could just send it all to your brain."

"But..... didn't you spend years learning that? I'd feel bad if I just took all that without effort...."

Shax laughed and suddenly ruffled my fur.

"Well, being a spellcaster doesn't involve magics only. The amount of Mana you have is also important, and that's something you have to work for."

"Wait. Why do people learn magic the hard way if they could just transfer memories? Wouldn't direct transfers like these be the best options?" I ask. When you look at it, doing something like that would let novice spellcasters be good without much effort.

"First, the memory transfer spell is hard to cast. It's a level 10 spell, so only a handful know how to cast it. Second, if we did that, than magic itself won't advance. Many of the spells we have nowadays have been discovered when we experimented with other spells, trying to find other ways of casting it. If we had everything from the start, than there would be no need for us to study, and magic would become stagnant." Shax spoke as he started to make gestures in the air. Thin trails of black came off his fingers and formed a formation that I've never seen. It looked kind of creepy when it was all black.

"Right. Sit here. When it starts, you'd feel a headache, and a bit sleepy afterwards, but that's just the effect of the spell, so don't worry." He pointed, and I obliged. I felt nervous, more than I normally would've. As he started to chant, the remaining parts of the circle started to fill up. It was then when I realized how complex it was. The circle itself was almost completely black, overlapped with hundreds of lines. The chant itself was also very long, with phrases that I couldn't even figure out. Suddenly, I felt an intense headache as hundreds of circles, incantations, and glyphs invaded my mind. I gripped the bedsheets, gritting my teeth and closing my eyes. After a minute or so, I opened my eyes again. On the corners of my vision, I could see the information that I was force-fed flickering. I started to nod off, slumping forward. I barely noticed the fact that Shax caught me.

Shax

I looked at the kid, unconscious. I couldn't believe how stupid he was. Seriously, I thought that he would figure out that something was wrong when I casted black spells. I mean, what self-respecting magician would choose the color black?

My plan was rather simple, and effective. I made a contract with a stupid werebeast who wanted power, and fused ourselves. While I couldn't leave a Sphere's boundaries, I could leave if I had a contract. Then I faked a fight with a demon-who was also under my contract-and pretended to lose so that I could come here.

I stepped off the bed, ripping off the stupid bandages. With the rapid-regeneration abilities I had, wounds like this were no problem. Then I turned to look at Will. Even with the concealment enchantments his brother put on him(which I was certain that he never told him), I could sense the incredible power just flowing out of him. Heck, whenever he was nearby, I nearly lost it. I don't know where he got it, but that power...... If I had it, I would be near unbeatable.

I made a little scratch in my arm, letting a trickle of blood flow. Dabbing it gently, I threw it in the air, making a circle. In the circle, a hazy image of my home formed. It's what you would call hell, but for ones like us, it was heaven. I had enough strength to defeat almost everyone, so I was more or less a king.

I was shaken out of these recollections when I looked back. Will was not lying on the bed like I left him. Instead, he was crouching, staring at me, with his swords drawn. His eyes were different, glowing with a white-blue light. Suddenly, he lashed out at me, the slash actually shattering the portal and blasting the part of the house. Oh, did I mention that he also blew up his neighbor's house? He was lucky that a Sphere opened up for some reason.

"Damn it...." I muttered, bringing out my own weapon, a scimitar. I suddenly had a funny feeling that this wasn't going to end well.