The room was quiet. Everyone respected their moment except for Kalla who kept writing down her notes and accessing to the collected data in the Library to adapt the procedure to Lichhood.
“Do you think you still have a human form?” Friya asked and Nalrond’s stomach growled in reply.
“Maybe.” He shrugged, and the simple gesture was strong enough to push her two steps away. “Gods, I’m so sorry.”
Nalrond had never been so heavy and strong so he had no control over his new form. A quick examination confirmed that Friya was alright. Her enhanced body and the armor she wore protected her from his clumsy touch.
“Don’t worry. We can work this out. It happened to me as well right after Faluel Awakened me.” Friya had lost count of the cups she had broken and the ribs she had cracked by hugging people.
“Your human form can wait. First, we all need food and rest.” She said.
“Lots of rest.” Faluel took the Eyes off and assumed her human form, reducing the number of throbbing heads to one. “Even with the tower and the Sage Staff, my head is killing me.
“During the procedure, I’ve used Invigoration to recover my mental focus so many times that it has barely any effect.”
“You should also thank my sister, jerk.” Friya hugged him with all of her strength, inwardly glad she didn’t have to hold back with him anymore.
“That’s right, Quylla!” He felt terrible for almost forgetting about her but she had remained silent the whole time and had yet to move from her position near the surgical bed. “Is everything okay?”
Her face was deathly pale while her breath quick and shallow. The moment she opened her mouth, she started to puke her guts out. Quylla fell on all fours, her body shaking uncontrollably.
Tista ran to her side and was about to check on her with Invigoration when Faluel stopped her.
“Don’t! She’s suffering from mana poisoning. Even with the Library, Solus and I had to share with her lots of information during the procedure whenever she needed to make a snap decision.”
“What about Lith?” Tista pointed at her brother who was in tip-top shape.
“Solus and I have our bond. Her mana is my mana.” He replied. “Also, I have the tower empowering me. My mana flow cleansed the foreign energy signatures before they could build up and reach my core. Quylla wasn’t so lucky.”
“Is there anything we can do for her or you?” Friya asked Faluel but it was Kalla to answer.
“No, we can’t.” Now that she was done with her notes, the Wight closed her notebook. “The tower, however, can. The high concentration of world energy is helping Quylla’s core to recover while the Sage Staff is keeping Faluel’s mind from collapsing.
“No one can leave, especially Nalrond. Mogar or not, the first 24 hours after a procedure of this magnitude are critical. If something can still go wrong, it’s going to happen soon.”
“Agreed.” Solus let her human body disappear and reverted to her wisp form.
The burden from the prolonged use of the Master Eyes weighed on her as well and the strain of controlling so many enchantments at the same time for so long was taking its toll on her. Yet she felt great.
She had succeeded in helping one of her friends and in using so much power for a long time with no adverse effects. She still remembered how back when she had first regained her body it would last only for a while, even while inside the tower.
Solus felt like the procedure had also given her back a part of herself, bringing her one step closer to being whole again.
While everyone lay down on the floor to catch their breath, Nalrond picked up the wooden figurines and the piece of wood that Protector’s children had gifted him from under the surgical bed.
“I can’t believe they worked.” He said, putting them inside his dimensional amulet. “In a way, they are the first lucky charms of my tribe to have saved a life.”
“Do you plan on keeping them?” Friya asked.
“Yes. They mark the end of a nightmare and a new beginning.” He replied. “Now even if someone observes my life force, they’ll never know I belonged to the werepeople. I’m a free man. I can even join the Awakened Council, if I want to.”
“About that, have you thought about how do we have to call your species? Because using the Rezar name would defy the purpose of the procedure.” Lith asked.
“Yes, ever since I was a child.” Nalrond nodded. “My new species still has light and fire as its innate elements and I used my life force and body heat to reach the violet. I’ll call myself Agni, like the god who gifted men fire and shed the light of knowledge to disperse the shadow of ignorance.
“Speaking of ignorance, in your long list of contingency plans the letter P was missing as well. What does it stand for?”
“Pain.” Lith replied. Making Nalrond wonder what could possibly be more painful than Fireworks and happy that he would never know what plan P entailed.
***
Meanwhile, in the Empire, Leegaain blushed.
Agni was one of his old aliases back when he traveled Mogar, teaching people how to use fire to purify metals and the importance of keeping written recordings of their discoveries. Yet this is a story for another day.
“He’s not of Dragon blood but I’ll allow it.” The Guardian said to Milea, who noticed his tail wagging in excitement.
“How magnanimous of you, letting others carry your name and stroke your ego.”
***
Back in the Verhen Mansion, Kalla and Tista procured enough food for everyone while Quylla only drank potions until her body recovered enough to ingest solids. After they finished eating, Nalrond could thank Faluel and Quylla without his gratitude making their condition worse.
“Thanks, master Faluel. In the end, I was right. I didn’t need your bloodline technique to survive. Only your help.” He said while offering her his hand.
The Hydra was about to shake it, when an involuntary reflex caused a long spike blade to erupt from the Agni’s backhand, stopping millimeters away from her heart.
“Is this a weird coincidence or some passive-aggressive threat for not sharing my technique?” Faluel studied the blade, discovering that it was razor-sharp and dense enough to pierce through the enhanced body of another Awakened.
“It was an accident, I swear!” Nalrond pulled his right arm away only for a second blade to come out of the left hand and almost give Friya a haircut.
“Hey! Be careful with those things.” She checked her hair, finding no missing locks. “Why didn’t you warn us about them?”
“Because I’m still resting and Kalla forbade me even to use my breathing technique! How was I supposed to know?” He tried to flex and relax his muscles to have the blades go back in.
They were as long as his forearm and made it impossible for him to grab something without knocking it over.
His attempts to get rid of the blades were rewarded by two more spikes erupting from his knees.
