Shifters

TSoNM 01/10 Shifters cannot do magic, cannot cast spells, so tended to be stronger and faster than most, and because they lacked the ability to do actual spells they put their energies into sports.

In both the magical community on Earth and on Oriceran, shifters were thought of as second-tier magical beings. Most of them started out as ordinary human beings and were turned into shifters by some sort of dark magic, but there was no going back once the creation was complete—and once they carried that gene, their children, grandchildren, and those down the line also ran the risk of becoming shifters. Luke had been born that way, another jock in a long line of wolf-shifters. These creatures could be very helpful, since their animal was usually strong-willed, vicious when needed, and able to withstand strong magical blows. But because they held only the ability to shift, they were shunned. It also didn’t help that when they shifted they became massive scary wolves, which frightened the magical and non-magical alike. That was how the human tales of the werewolves had begun, the biggest difference being that typical shifters didn’t hunt human prey—and most of them were pretty decent when one got to know them.

When Kathleen cast an over-ambitious spell at Ethan, Luke caught the orb bare-handed and crushed it to dust, and Kathleen gaped as the dust settled into a pile at Luke’s feet. Ethan thanked him.