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Chapter 89: changes and plans
Varion came back to his senses all at once. There was no gentle return, one moment there was nothing. The next, his body was his again, every nerve snapping into place hard enough to disorient him making his vision swim. Exhaustion hit in that same instant, far more than anything he had ever felt in his life. His arms didn't even feel like his; they felt like they belonged to someone else entirely.
He did not care. He forced his head to look down at the weight in his arms. Prinz was still there, pale, unmoving. For a fraction of a second his chest tightened with dread, then he saw it. The slow rise of her chest then it falls again in a steady rhythm. Against his forearm he felt a strong steady heartbeat that made all the last of his worry drain away with each thump.
A tired smile pulled at his lips, that was barely visible. He let out a breath and the tension keeping his body up disappeared.
His knees buckled. He did not feel himself start to drop. He only felt the world tilt, Prinz still gathered against him, and then suddenly he wasn't falling anymore.
Blanc was there holding both of them.
She had not been there before. She simply appeared, catching both of them in her arms as if they weighed nothing. She held them so gently it was as if she thought they would shatter if she gripped too hard. She lowered them to the ground below without a sound, adjusting Prinz against Varion's chest, then settling his head so it would not strike anything.
Varion's eyes found her for half a second. Then he was consumed by darkness.
-Three days later-
Rimuri woke the way she always did when her bed was warm, which was always. Slow, heavy, and unable to leave its grasp.
Varion was right there, which made it even worse. She felt him before her mind woke up fully and turned into him on instinct, her face finding his chest, one arm sliding around his waist.
'Another few minutes, yea that was all she wanted. It wouldn't hurt right?'
Then her mind caught up.
The last thing she remembered was the square. Fire. Her people. Varion breaking. Prinz—
She jerked upright so hard the sheets yanked off of her and Varion.
Her eyes snapped to him instantly. His eyes were closed but he was breathing deeply and slowly. His face was slack with exhaustion, and through the corridor he felt wrung out. Like someone had taken all his energy and left him to recharge, he was already back around half but she could tell whatever happened obviously took its toll on him. Physically he looked whole and that was the only reason she did not shake him awake.
Then she saw the third body and went still.
Prinz lay on his other side, white hair spilled across the pillow, chest rising in a slow, deep rhythm. Alive. Asleep. No longer dead.
Rimuri's panic dropped so fast it left her lightheaded. A smile broke across her face before she could stop it, and tears pooled in her eyes. She wiped them away with the back of her hand roughly.
Then she looked back at her again, actually looked.
Prinz was different.
Not another person. The same face, the same hair, but older in a way that made her look more elegant. Her face was sharper, her chest sat fuller than Rimuri remembered, her hips and waist had also filled in too, the line of her under the sheet unmistakably changed.
'Whoa.' she thought stunned
[Image]
Then, immediately after: 'They're bigger than mine.'
Her hands came up landing on her own chest and stopped.
That was not what she remembered either.
She flexed her fingers once, just to be sure, then noticed the rest of it. The bed sat differently under her. The floor was further away too. She stood, and looked around she felt, three inches, maybe four inches taller. Not enough to make her feel too different but enough to make the room feel smaller.
Then she saw the mirror not far from the bed. She walked to it and stopped. She still had her same gold eyes, same silver-blue hair, same face.
[Image]
It was all just… more, now.
She looked slightly older. The softness in her cheeks had settled into something different. Her chest had gone up a small step up. Her hips had followed in kind. She looked like herself if someone had taken every half-finished thought she had about making herself look older and decided to apply them then add a bit extra for good measure. She didn't even look strange either; it all sat well on her new frame.
She put her hands on her waist, then her hips, then her chest again, turning a little, awe winning out over embarrassment.
She was happy, too. She could admit that much.
"Great Sage," she said, still facing the glass. "What happened to me?"
The voice that answered was not the one she expected.
[Notice. Unique Skill [Great Sage] has evolved.]
[Ultimate Skill [Raphael, Lord of Wisdom] has been acquired.]
Rimuri blinked.
"Oh. Sorry." She glanced at her own reflection again and huffed a small, incredulous laugh. "Okay, but what happened? Not that I mind, but geez. I look smoking hot now, even those super models from my past life would be put to shame. Even more than before."
She shifted her weight and posed, her arms behind her head leaning over slightly, then shifted with her hand on her hip. She was enjoying this a lot.
[The Harvest Festival adjusted your physical form in accordance with your desires. In particular, those concerning bearing children with Master Varion. The same adjustment was applied to Prinz Grimwald during her evolution for the same reason.]
The tone was clean, clinical almost. But you could hear a very slight amount of amusement from her.
Rimuri went red to the ears.
"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. I- I-, stop teasing me."
She slapped both hands over her face and turned away from the glass as if that would hide her from a voice that lived in her head.
[Correction. This is simply the reason for the changes.]
She paused a beat then with a slight teasing tone.
[You still did not deny wanting them, though.]
Rimuri made a strangled noise, then yelled more like cried."I said shut upppp!"
Rimuri kept her hands on her face until the heat in her ears died down enough to think.
Then the other question landed.
She turned back toward the bed.
Varion had not changed. Not the way she had or Prinz had. She felt from the corridor he was extremely low on energy and filling back in but that was it. He looked the same as he always had, the one she had fallen asleep against night after night.
"Raphael." Her voice came out smaller. "What happened to him? Why didn't he… you know." She gestured at herself, then at Prinz, then let her hand drop.
[Multiple failures occurred in sequence.]
Rimuri sat down on the edge of the bed and her stomach dropped.
[Master Varion's soul entered the Harvest Festival in a malnourished state. Prolonged residence in a world with insufficient magicule density left his existence underfed. The Festival began correction. It was not adequate, this skill was forced to step in.]
"Ok then what" Rimuri asked
[Master Varion forced himself out of the evolutionary sleep earlier than permitted. Soul damage was still present but minimal. It has since been repaired.]
Rimuri's fingers curled in the sheet.
[Prinz Grimwald could not be retrieved at that time. In that state, Master Varion accessed a restriction placed on him by his progenitor and broke it. Unsealing began. His body then approached detonation.]
Rimuri's head snapped toward him as her hand trembled. He was still asleep. Still whole she told herself he's ok.
[Then an outside entity assumed control of his vessel. Detonation was halted and damage caused was reversed. This skill was shortly after rendered inactive, after attempts to remove the invader.]
The last sentence came out flatter than the rest. Annoyed. Embarrassed. Ashamed.
Rimuri stared at the far wall.
"You got put to sleep."
[…Yes.]
She did not push that, she could tell her skill was not pleased with what had happened.
'That's new, Great Sage wasn't emotional before or at least didn't express it.'
[Following that, Prinz Grimwald was restored and evolved. A binding was formed between her and Master Varion. It resembles a naming. But the connection is closer and deeper.]
"And the thing that took him over?"
[Probability that the entity was Veldanava: 99.2%.]
Rimuri's breath caught.
[Assessment based on statements made and actions taken. Contents of any subsequent exchange are unknown. This skill will not extract them, due to the privacy of Master Varion.]
"Don't," Rimuri said immediately. "If he wants to tell me, he'll tell me."
[Understood]
Silence sat for a moment. Raphael continued without being asked.
[Residual fragment matter was absorbed. Master Varion's magicule signature has shifted. Primary composition is now whitish-blue with a golden tint present. Resemblance to Veldanava's recorded fragment has increased substantially due to the absorption]
Rimuri glanced at him again. She could feel it now that she was looking for it. It felt heavier.
[A sealed reservoir of power and a locked skill remain behind the restriction. Neither has been opened and should remain that way for the time being.]
[Additionally: an unknown draconic presence occupies a subspace connected to Master Varion. It was placed intentionally. It is dormant and growing, feeding only on overflow of magicules from Master Varion. Classification: likely a gift from Veldanava. This skill will not disturb it.]
Rimuri let that settle.
Father. Seal. Gift. Prinz breathing on the other side of him. She reached out and gently laid her hand over Varion's heart feeling it beat.
"It's okay," she whispered. "They're okay."
She sat there thinking what to do next, and the obvious play was to talk to her people, then unseal Veldora. She was not going to leave her people without protection ever again and who better than her friend.