The Changing by Jeremy Laszlo Read Free Book Online

somehow how the beasts were able to see, but just watching it scream at its legs, pause as if waiting, then scream again, then pause again, then begin the process anew was rather comical. In due time, however, the small humanoid bat began to move and flex its new legs and feet and even wiggle its toes, and shortly thereafter it even attempted to stand which resulted in more comedy, but Seth simply didn’t have the time to enjoy it.
    Seth took his mental notes, and then took a moment to relax and listen to Sara’s heartbeat and breathing. He now felt he could pull off what he planned so long as he had enough time. Not even sure if she could hear him, he told her he was working on a solution and hoped that soon he would be able to help her further. Then Seth, knowing he hadn’t the time to take a break pondered what change he should perform next. He had already located the ribcage and head. Knowing that he would have to tackle these eventually he went for the easier one first. His previous failure on the ribcage he believed was due to his being ill prepared and the bat creature’s upright position. This in mind, Seth grabbed his tunic and tossed it over the beast that still attempted to stand, but wobbling like a toddler, would fall once again. Seth quickly wrapped the tunic tightly around it and using the arms of his tunic like cords, secured the beast’s new legs together with one sleeve, and bound its arms with the other. But even bound as it was, the bat would not remain still enough for Seth to feel safe removing the protective ribcage from its body. Seeing no kind solution, Seth simply repeated what the creature had already done to itself earlier. Grabbing the bat creature's head, Seth firmly bashed it into the stone floor until the beast lost consciousness. It was a wicked and crude method, but it worked.
    Seth knew it would not be long before the creature managed to heal itself, so working quickly he located the matching patterns in both auras and quickly replaced the bat's ribcage and watched as the old one withered and another grew to replace it. There was a moment when Seth thought he had failed, when the new ribs began to form and were so small they squeezed the creature's chest cavity to an unbelievably tiny size.  However, as they expanded the pressure was reduced and the creature thrived. Seth had his work cut out for him. For although the ribcage seemed a rather simple structure of stacked bones, each of those bones was interlaced with muscles and blood vessels, added to which the new ribs came complete with abdominal muscles that would need to be properly connected through an intricate patchwork. The number of connections to the ribcage pattern in the greater scope of the total aura was immense. The human body had hundreds of connecting patterns here, and the bat had numbers near equal to those of the humans. But being able to distinguish the various connecting patterns, Seth was more easily able to compare the two and sort out their differences. Making a few minor adjustments, several dozen swaps and a couple of small alterations, in less than two hours Seth had himself a miniature batman with humanoid torso, legs and arms. Overall, if Seth could get the creature to wear a hood, it could pass as a small child, but the head was still a problem yet to be solved.
    Seth had identified the location of the head pattern already and had found out that he could not remove it as a whole. Instead he would have to work with the smaller patterns within it. It was a daunting task, for inside the head were hundreds of tiny patterns, and within some of those patterns were thousands of interconnected miniscule patterns, and within those were thousands more and Seth did not have the time to sort out millions of minute details. He would have to instead work to change the creature’s main physical features. Seth had no idea how he could alter some of those without catastrophic results. The shape of the bat's skull differed