The Shapeshifter

When Alex opened his eyes, all that he could see was darkness. He could feel the fine sand in his hand as he tried sitting up.

However, his body was feeling weak. His arms gave out and he was once again lying on the ground.

'What the hell happened?' his mind was still jumbled. He had no idea what had happened, nor who he was to be exact. It was like he had an amnesia.

"Hahahahaha!" a loud hearty laugh entered his still numbed ears. It was a booming deep voice that he felt familar with.

"Was the gem so bitter that you passed out? Hahahaha!" he heard the voice again. It was as if it was talking to him. He felt curious so he tried communicating with the voice.

"Uh- Are you perhaps talking to me?" Alex asked.

"Well obviously. Do I talk to myself then? Or maybe with these stupid beasts?" the voice replied, clearly annoyed by his question.

'What the hell is he talking about? Beasts?' he tried looking around but his body was prohibiting him from moving. He tried moving his eyes around, as that was the best he could do for now.

He saw vague shapes of animals surrounding him. Their lantern like eyes gazing at him. Naturally, he shuddered.

Then his eyes landed on a towering figure in front of him. It was a white rhino! It looked at him and smirked. "Hey human are you alright?" it said.

His mouth was agape. How was he supposed to process an animal, a rhino to be exact, speaking to him?

This reaction was obviously caught by the rhino. "Hey! Can you not remember me? You were like talking to me before you passed out." the White Rhino said.

'It seems to be worried about me. Wait? I talked to it earlier? Before I passed out?' Alex wondered. "Did I really talked to you before? And uh- I can't remember you, nor who I am. I remember nothing at all."

'Oh sh*t! Good thing I didn't stole the gem.' the White Rhino muttered under its breath.

"Okay. The thing is. You ate something called 'Gaia's Gem. It's supposed to give you unknown benefits despite it being very very bitter. Now, I don't think you obtained a benefit. You even lost your memory."

"Then how am I supposed to get my memory back?" Alex asked in a quivering tone. Not knowing anything at all scared him.

"Let's just start with what's your name. Think carefully." the White Rhino said calmly. It was like it knew how to get his memory back.

"Hmmm. I think my name is... Alex. Yes, it should be Alex. No doubt about it." After thinking for a few minutes, he finally got a name. It just emerged in his mind when he tried thinking of his name.

"Nice. That's a good start. At least you now know your name. Next should be; why are you deep in this desert?"

"Hmmm. I- arghhh!" when he tried thinking why he was here in the desert, nothing came to mind. Then a sudden flood of memory came washing over him.

He clutched his head and wailed madly. The veins on his forehead were showing, his head was completely red like a tomato.

"Stay calm. The pain will soon pass. Just hold on." the White Rhino was very calm. Alex even suspected that the White Rhino had experienced the same thing that he was going through right now.

Soon, the pain vanished instantly. Alex, who was still lying down on the sand immediately stood up, as if the was the hottest thing in the world. His face has a look of bewilderment in it. He spotted the White Rhino in front of him and his bewilderment turned into anger.

"Are you okay n-" the White Rhino wasn't able to finish his words when he was lashed out by a string of words.

"What f*cking bead was that! It was like removing the contents of a medicine capsule then placed directly in my f*cking tongue!"

"You look okay to me."

"What okay!? I almost lost my whole memory! F*ck! Why are you even so f*cking calm!?"

"Kek. Hahahahaha!" the White Rhino burst into a fit of laughter after hearing Alex. It was laughing so hard that there were even tears forming in its eyes.

"To be a honest, I was actually the guardian of this oasis or to be exact, I'm the guardian of Gaia's Gem." the White Rhino said truthfully.

"Was that a thing that your past generations did too?"

"No. Actually it was my father's fault that we're guarding it now. He saw the Scorpion King heavily injured and thought that he would be able to obtain it's core to enter the King stage. When he launched a sneak attack, the Scorpion King slapped him mercilessly. Since then my father was unable to advance from the Void stage.

"The Scorpion King was benevolent and saw my father's state. He took me here and let me eat the gem. I experienced the same thing as you did earlier.

"After that he ordered me to guard this oasis. He also tasked me that when someone accidentally arrives during the ripening of the fruit, I was supposed to give it to them.

"After 500 years have passed, the fruit was already nearing its peak when you showed up and tried taking it. I observed you for a while and decided not to interfere with fate.

"So, did you obtain something great?" The White Rhino asked after telling his story.

It was actually a fortune for the White Rhino to be forced to guard the oasis. Their entire bloodline was only capable of letting them step into the high mage class or become a dire beast.

Now, it was already a Void Beast! A step away from becoming a King class beast!