Chapter 44 – Training & Stuff.

“Yes! Finally!”

Crystal let out a jubilant squeal as she did a victory jump. Ten orbs of light floated lazily around her, all with with perfectly matching intensity. Each also had a unique and evolving symbol in the middle of them, part of an array that she had been working on. She found that the extra challenge had helped her focus on her flow and control. Her use of the purifying array back in the depths of the military complex, along with the arrays on the back of her hands had given her some understanding of how they worked, and she had been experimenting at the same time. Perhaps that they were also the Chosen and Priestesses of Arcane also had an influence on that as well. Not that that really matter to her at the moment. The important part was that after three days she was finally ready for the next part. But first, to find Rachael and celebrate.

She raced along the side of the temple towards the front, past the tents. Hers and Rachael’s was looking a little worse for the wear; apparently their being intimate resulted in the leakage of magic or even the intentional use of reinforcement magic, which wasn’t so kind to their surroundings. Rachael had made a habit of repairing their tent every morning, which was its own form of training, but they was only so much she could do about magically created damage and they’d soon have to change to one of the spares. Especially as it was likely to soon get worse.

Clocky was sparring with Myne, not that she was actually putting much effort in, the extra layers of magic within Clocky perceptible to her. Both him and Fairweather had picked up reinforcement rather quickly, and now were working on getting some level of mastery with it. Fairweather was currently seated with Rachael, deep in conversation, some garments in hand. Not bothering to slow down she ran till she was almost upon them, before launching herself at Rachael, arms open wide.

“I did it!” she squealed happily mid air.

Rachael stood up, magic flaring around her as her wings and tail materialized, catching Crystal mid flight. Just as Crystal had planned. Crystal glomped onto her, lips and horns meeting in a passionate kiss that was eagerly returned.

“I think that’s long enough,” Fairweather giggled, bringing Crystal back to the now.

“It can never be long enough,” Crystal pouted, disentangling herself from Rachael.

“I knew you’d get there,” Rachael said proudly with a big smile on her face. “And quickly too!”

“Of course!”

Rachael gave her another hug, before handing her something.

Crystal looked at the item of clothing, blushing when she realised what it was. Not that there was any reason to be embarrassed, but what she’d been given looked to be of superior quality and was really nice.

“I said I’d get you some, though I’ve had to make it myself rather than buy it. Doesn’t actually take too long once I have the right image in mind. I’ll make you some more soon.”

“Thanks...” She really did like it. Rachael certainly did know what was her. She’d been a little surprised when she learned of Rachael’s ability to modify clothes, but it should have been obvious given Rachael’s taste in and abundance of quality clothes and how everything had fit perfectly, including the stuff that Rachael had given her. Apparently with her current grasp on her magical power she was now able to make stuff from very little source material, and she was certain it wouldn’t take long before she could create clothes or other items out of pure magic.

“Did you want a dress or other clothes to wear when not in your armour?” Rachael asked.

“Perhaps once we’ve dealt with Bowser?” The idea of dressing up, especially for Rachael, had a lot of appeal, but until the current threat was over she was quite happy to just wear the armour. Not to mention that she really liked how it looked on her. She also didn’t know if they’re be any compatibility between multiple wardrobes.

you can switch between two states.

though naked and armoured seem to suit you quite fine at the moment.

Which was of course very true.

“I have some ideas that I think you’ll really like.”

The excitement glinting in Rachael’s almost made Crystal change her mind right there. That was a side of Rachael that she hadn’t really know existed before, and she certainly wasn’t complaining. Sadly it would have to wait though.

“Anyhow, Fairweather was wondering about a costume change as well. What she’s wearing doesn’t really work for her any more.”

Crystal nodded. Leather armour wasn’t that practical for an agile fighter, and to be honest it looked really uncomfortable. “What about something similar to what you’re wearing?” Crystal suggested.

“That is an easy option and what I was leaning towards,” Rachael agreed. “It’s certainly easy to move in. Pity Saylin isn’t here. She the fashion guru.”

“Though,” Crytsal added, a cautious worry surfacing, “will it stand out too much, given what the people of the area wear?”

Rachael shrugged. “We all stand out enough already as it is with our unique features, and that’s ignoring our current companion who stands out leagues more.” She was of course referring to Myne, and her attire was definitely the most attention grabbing of all of them. Though possibly normal-ish for those from the Innerlands. They hadn’t talked fashion with the vampire.

“I wouldn’t mind something like that,” Fairweather answered, “though I do have some suggestions. Since we’ll be obvious anyway, may as well do it in style.”

While Fairweather and Rachael were discussing details, Crystal took the opportunity to wash and then put on what she was given. Yes it was just underwear and would be hidden under the armour, but it was super comfortable, and more than a little bit flattering and suggestive. She then returned to watch Rachael do her craft.

It was fascinating, seeing the clothes take form from a core of something else. Leather apparently wasn’t that good as a base for what she had in mind, instead using one of Fairweather’s cotton tops. First she changed it into basic material that she wanted, a lycra blend in this case, then created the basic shape of the garments. She then modified them to Fairweather’s shape, finally altering the material again so that it gained the same defensive properties that her own clothes had, equivalent to modern woven armours, but with all of its original aspects as well. Rachael also mentioned that given the magical nature of the clothes, reinforcement magic would partially apply to them as well, and she’d be easily able to repair them should they be damaged. Unlike the tent it would also be a complete repair. Unsurprisingly when Fairweather tried them on they fit her perfectly.

Fairweather ended up with a pretty mean looking pair of boots, tight fitting exercise tights and tank top like Rachael, though a ghostly purple and black colour to make her flames, and modified to accommodate her tail, and a loose fitting short sleeved mesh top that hung down to around her waist, not that it hid anything. She looked really good. Really her in fact.

“Love it,” Fairweather exclaimed happily, winking at Clocky who had paused mid bout to look, Myne giving him an amused grin. Crystal doubted that there’d be any complaints from him either.

“Are you able to make things with other materials as well?” Crystal asked, an idea coming to mind.

“Clothes are easiest, as I’ve had a lot of practice,” Rachael answered. “But with the right base I may be able to do so. What do you have in mind?”

“A gun,” Crystal replied. “It doesn’t have to be a functioning one. In fact it probably shouldn’t be. Just the shape or form of one should suffice.”

“For use with your array. Hmm...” Rachael smiled thoughtfully. “I should be able to, assuming we can find something appropriate, and I can compose the right image.”

“Awesome.”

She wasn’t sure what Warrior would think of that, but the hints for her to do so were there.

all have their own style.

Crystal guessed that that was perhaps approval...

---

“There’s some interesting stuff in here, and also some interesting omissions.”

Crystal looked at the array that Myne currently had manifested on the ground outside of the temple, its lines, symbols and runes glowing a deep black red. Most of it she still didn’t understand, however each time she looked at one, either a new one or one that she had seen before, she understood something else about them. Rachael had said that it was the same for her. Their understanding wasn’t at the same level as Myne’s but even she didn’t understand most of what was in the arrays either, which made them feel a little better. Apparently they were at the top end of complexity and effect, which was understandable given their source.

It had taken Myne a few days to successfully work out how to extract the arrays from the cat-foxes for viewing without doing them any damage in the process. They had been encrypted in a form that was a cross between the tech nature of the Arkchildren and their natural magical state, but with some feedback from the cat-foxes she was able to succeed. For better or worse the originals were still inside the cat-foxes, but it did mean that a week after they had started training with Myne they were able to finally view them.

“So, what’s missing?” Crystal asked, stretching her wings as her orbs of lights lazily orbited around her. Keeping the reinforcement up for long periods of time was part of the training, and she didn’t actually mind. She liked having the wings and tail there. Rachael did too. They were a little odd, even for the type of magic that was producing them, as they both felt real and not at the same time, and at times she also forgot that they weren’t permanent. However sleeping with the wings and tail would have its own issues so there was that benefit to their nature. According to Myne she had never seen any Feral produce additional features with their reinforcement magic, but they weren’t exactly Ferals, so perhaps that was part of it. The orbs were also part of her current training regime, though with the failing light of the evening they were actually serving a practical purpose as well.

“For a start, the one that was used to transform you all. You did say that some of it came out from the Arkchildren didn’t you?” Myne looked at them questioningly.

“That they did,” Crystal confirmed. That she did distinctly remember.

“Could they have been set to delete themselves after use?” Rachael postulated.

“That is entirely possible,” Myne agreed. “We really have no idea of what Angel is capable of, beyond what we have seen.”

“That kind of magic seems rather dangerous too...” Crystal added.

“Yes and no. It’s not dissimilar to the one that is used to awaken riders, or stabilize riders whose dragon has been killed, so it’s not exactly unheard of. However from what I understand the one used on you lot was miles above that. It would have been interesting to study.”

it’s gone, but also not.

“So what’s this one then?” Crystal asked. It felt familiar, and the bit that she could understand involved a targetting protocol.

“It looks like it is part of an array that is used to move things from one location to another. It seems to be quite mana intensive, even for it just being a relay point for the larger array.”

That would mean it was the shift array that had been used on them twice already.

“Is it possible to block it or meddle with its destinations?” Fairweather asked.

“Should be,” Myne replied. “Especially the later, given that all of your team ended split up. I’d have to see the rest of the array to know for certain.”

The array disappeared, another taking its place, traced in Myne’s dark flames.

“This one is a transmutation array. It might share some similarities with what Rachael is capable of. It’s incomplete again however. Like Angel is just providing us with tidbits.”

Crystal nodded. That much was immediately obvious.

Myne swapped arrays again, a much smaller one appearing in front of them.

“This one is rather simple. It’s a two way communications array with a leyline booster. It’s active, augmenting the tech that was originally built into the Arkchildren. However it is synced for use by them with the other location fixed to Odinsphere.”

Myne pulled out yet another one, this one taking up the entire floor of the temple, leaving them standing in the middle of it.

“This one I have no clue. But it involves massive amounts of energy, and has some aspects of the transmutation array that we pulled up before.”

Crystal was none the wiser, though it did seem to have some dependence on the leylines themselves.

Myne let that array dissipate as well, Spectre taking the opening to bound back to Crystal.

‘That always feels kind of weird.’ Spectre complained. Crystal instinctively gave it a pat.

“So, does that help us at all with what we need to achieve?” Clocky asked.

“There are clues there. It’s just a matter of trying to figure them out. Nether the less, there is a lot of potential with what we can learn from them in the first place.”

Myne then looked directly at Crystal. “How are you going with the reinforcement training. You’ve been at it solidly for four days now.”

“Good. I think.” Crystal was able to maintain the magic well enough now, able to feel how much power she was using, and what caused the changes to manifest. As Myne had said she had been using it a lot over the last few days, quite happily so too. Some things hadn’t survived so well, but that was all part of the learning.

“Good.” Myne echoed, gaving her a wicked grin. “As of tomorrow, you two will spar with me.”

Crystal gulped. She wasn’t sure however if she was ready for that, even if a small part of her was excited at the prospect.

---

Rachael dodged to the side, a wave of black flame tearing through the landscape where she had just been standing. While she knew that Myne was holding back, at times it didn’t always seem like it. A lot of her attacks were rather indiscriminate, and after only a minute of their first bout they had decided it best if they fought outside the Nexus Temple area. There wouldn’t have been much left otherwise.

Currently they were down on the plains, as they had been for the last five days, the area at the base of the mountain a patchwork of scars. At least Myne was able to recall the flames to her, or the entire grassland would be ash by now.

Myne was a deadly opponent. Her control over her flames was something to marvel at, and she fought with experience. Rachael was sure that Myne was layering additional magic on as well, as she could feel it in the air and Myne always seemed to be one step ahead of them. To say that Myne was currently an unsurmountable challenge was an understatement.

And she was loving every second of it.

Rachael lunged forward, her wings augmenting her movement as she barrelled into Myne. Her fist connected with Myne’s arm, and explosion of light washing over the vampire as Rachael followed up with more blows, her fists heating up with each one. Myne blocked them all, black flames encasing her fists, before a beam of hellfire forced her to disengage and fly off to the side.

Two thin beams of light blasted into Myne, her wings of flame shifting to block them, before Crystal charged in at Myne, her sword burning with white flames. Crystal’s movements were always so graceful, almost like she was dancing, and she was so entrancing to watch fight. Especially when she had the reinforcement magic active, which was most of the time at the moment. That might change once the training was over, but until then they were both going to make the most of it. Rachael’s style on the other hand was a lot more feral, exchanging some finesse for power. Both styles however were a product of their own natures and backgrounds, combined with Warrior’s gift.

Myne blocked the sword with her bracer, Crystal bringing her shield round in a slam as she used the movement to shift the flow of her sword and follow through with another swing. Myne took the blow of the shield without any noticeable effect, dodging the second swing before counterattacking, fist smashing into Crystal’s shield as she managed to block, Crystal being pushed back as Myne followed through with her other first and then a low kick. Crystal managed to block them both, being pushed back further, before another blast of flame forced her to dodge off to the side. Being hit by the hellfire was not fun.

Crystal ran around Myne, her orbs of light forming around her as Rachael flew back in to engage. Myne had mostly been tanking their attacks, forcing them to amplify the use use of their power and think outside of the box, the ferocity of her counterattacks steadily increasing over the days. Yet she rarely initiated engagement. Not that she really needed to, given the nature of her attacks, but that point wouldn’t be far off. Rachael slammed into Myne with her foot, twisting in the air with her wings to dig into Myne’s armour with her claws, throwing her off to the side. Myne halted her movement with her wings, a pillar of hellfire erupting where she stood. Rachael twisted again in the air, only just managing to avoid getting her body caught in the flames. Her wings weren’t so lucky, the flames eating away at them, causing her to tumble out of control into the ground and off to the side, Rachael briefly dropping a portion of the magic in order to banish the flames before bringing them back up again.

Crystal appeared behind Myne, Myne flying upwards and over her to avoid her blade. Crystal spun on the spot, sword following through as the orbs flew behind Myne, Crystal feinting with the sword before slamming the shield into Myne, trying to push her back into the orbs that were lazily floating there, rotating slowly with razor thin spikes protruding from them, following through with another sword strike. Myne grinned, her magic intensifying as she stood her ground, deflecting the blade as a pillar of flame started to take form around Crystal, Myne following through with another attack. Crystal dodged out of the way of the flame, blocking the follow up attack, which resulted in her careening across the battlefield. They were finally managing to push Myne a little more.

Their teamwork was also improving. They couldn’t directly communicate with each other, but they were starting to get the feel for what each other was up to or intending to do while in the heat of combat, and it was certainly helping.

Mind you there was also certain things that they could sense outside of combat as well. But that wasn’t really relevant right at the current point in time.

Rachael grinned, her own magic intensifying, the nature of her wings shifting slightly. Time to try out something new.

---

"You like it don't you?" Rachael's voice was soft in her ear, her body cuddled up close to Crystal as they lay together, Rachael’s arm draped over her, warm and reassuring.

The mana was thick around them, it's ebbs and flows almost perceptible as translucent waves in the air. But it was also kind of comforting, like it was the natural place for them to be. Their home. She didn't know why they hadn't made the change earlier, probably because they just hadn’t been aware of it. They'd been sleeping in the temple for a week now, Myne relocating them there after Crystal had started training in her reinforcement magic in earnest, and they may have destroyed some of their surroundings, tent included. Crystal was pretty sure that the scarred path of earth would recover quickly enough, given that the area was sitting on a nexus, and something was (or had been) maintaining it. Clocky and Fairweather still found it difficult to enter into the temple like Crystal had the first time, the atmosphere like a thick soup to them, but to Rachael and Crystal it was no different than anywhere else.

"I like many things," Crystal murmured back quietly. "I especially like this." She snuggled deeper into Rachael for emphasis.

Rachael giggled and hugged her even more closely in response.

"The sparring I mean. Combat." Rachael then said, a whisper of seriousness.

Crystal couldn't deny that there was a certain appeal to it. She'd been quite eagerly training with Rachael and Myne, the danger of the latter adding to the thrill of it. And yet...

"Yeah... should I not?" Truth be told though she wasn't sure if she should be. She hadn't known battle before waking up in this age, and the fight with the Dark Wolf had been terrifying. Falling down the cliff hadn't been fun either. Yet the tussle in the underground ruins and the training were a different story.

"I know I enjoy it." Rachael stated. "Perhaps a little too much. I always have though, even back in our age, though I would never have admitted it to myself back then. Perhaps that is why I ended up getting wounded that night. But I know that I definitely have since being woken up, and that feeling has only been intensified, by both Warriors gift, and by our new instinctual nature."

"But that is also the worry. Has these two things changed us mentally into something that we're not? You in particular." Rachael squeezed Crystal tightly again. "I don't want you to lose who you are."

Crystal felt all sort of warm fuzzies well up inside of her. Rachael was worried about her, and she really appreciated that.

And yet, Rachael also had a very valid point. Both of those points had triggered a change within her, she had noticed it with the training sequences, and definitely with the battles post completion. Especially how quickly she had been to anger to the noble’s insults. Once, they would have been water off a ducks back. But now, a lot of self control was going to be needed. Had that desire always been there, lurking in the background unneeded, or was it a direct consequence to the changes in them. Or perhaps both.

Yet, it was part of a package. Part of being her real self. She had said it too. No regrets for what she had become, what they had become, and that still held true. She was overjoyed that she was now a she, and she would take all that came with it. She still felt like herself, even in battle. The desire and urges that came from it, she could view it a curse, or as a challenge, to either overcome or embrace and make her own.

She was no longer who she had been in the age past. They were in a new age now, the whole environment and society was a different beast all together. At the very least she would have to adapt to where they were now, Rachael as well, and to their new race. She still saw it as a gift, the changes. She did just hope though that the desires didn't consume her before she was mentally strong enough make her own choices on the matter, to fully form her true draconic self. She didn't want to get lost on that journey. But she wasn’t alone either. She had Rachael, and Rachael her. It would be their journey together.

"I still feel like I am me." Crystal eventually managed to say. "And we do have each other for support and to keep ourselves in check."

It also went a bit deeper than that, didn't it. It wasn’t just the thrill or love of battle. What they found attractive had changed a little as well, perhaps even a lot. Draconic aspects had taken on a significant appeal now, and that she couldn’t deny. It would be hard to say if she would have like that kind of thing before, as she had never thought about it, but now, Rachael was oh so ever hot when she was in full form. Not that she wasn’t super hot in the first place, but add in extras and it took it up a notch or six. Enough even at times to be distracting in the middle of battle, and that was definitely something that she’d need to work on. A moment of inattention against a real enemy could spell the end of them. They were the only of their species, so it was to be expected of course that they would find each other attractive, and of course they had been attracted to each other before, but now it just added layers on top of that. Cute sensual horns, majestic wings and sleek tail. Sexy and desirable.

Not to mention that at the moment, like every night, they were oh so close. Crystal noticed with little surprise that she had started making that draconic purring noise again, and was feeling only a little bit embarrassed about it. It was after all a natural method of expression for them now.

All things considered it was all rather complex. But what mattered most to her, irrespective, was that they had each other.

“It’s not just us either is it?” Crystal asked. “Myne did say that Feral’s don’t usually get additional features when they reinforce themselves, as that isn’t how their magic works, and it’s been that way for a thousand years.”

“No, I don’t think it is,” Rachael agreed.

Granted they didn’t have much of a sample size for comparison, especially since half of the team was who knew where, and Clocky hadn’t shown any changes at all since the gift of more magic to them. Fairweather on the other hand was a different story. While Myne had said that Cat Feral’s were common, they were also rather generic, and related to known species of cats. Even the outliers that had some additional quirk to their manifested traits could still be related back, such as the fire cats (which were apparently actually related to fire dogs, both rather bizarre creatures). Ghost Cat’s weren’t a thing, as far as she was aware.

On top of that, while they weren’t as significant, Fairweather’s reinforcement also brought out other changes. In particular she gained a couple of additional tails, formed from and of the same colour as her magic but twice as long as her regular one. They partially defied normal gravity laws, lazily floating around behind her when she wasn’t moving, in a similar way to what Crystal’s orbs of light did, but Fairweather had discovered that she could control them to a very limited degree. After a few days of experimentation she had said that she was confident that given enough practice she would be able to use them as additional limbs.

Crystal was also certain that she had heard Fairweather purring. It sounded a lot more feline that her own iteration tho.

She was rather curious as to what other changes had happened to the rest of the team, but it would likely be a while before they found that out. Hopefully they were still taking it in their stride, but she also wouldn’t blame them if they weren’t. The changes had been forced upon them, and while she was happy with the changes, everyone was different.

Not to mention that they were all caught up in something else’s game.

At the least she hoped that they others were alright, given that they had been split up.

They were both quickly asleep, the day’s training exhausting, wrapped in each others scent and warmth.

---

Crystal opened her eyes, blinked, rubbed her eyes, and then tried looking around again. She was floating in the sky, which was weird enough in itself, but everything around her was also blurry and out of focus. Except herself. Her delicate hands looked the same as always, so at least it wasn’t her eyes playing tricks on her.

The entire atmosphere felt wrong as well, as if it wasn’t quite real. She assumed there was air, though if she was just dreaming then it wouldn’t be necessary, so she could well be wrong there. Mana was present, dense in some spots and absent in others, and just like in the Nexus Temple she could just make out its ebb and flow. Then there was other... things. She could neither place nor describe what they were, some familiar and others not, but whatever it was it was also all around.

She appeared to be above a temple. She could sort of make out the shape of a building that had that temple look, and the terrain around it had splotches around it that she could make out to be gardens if she squinted really hard. If they were indeed gardens then they would be rather intimidating, rivalling a small city in sheer size. Assuming that the temple itself was to scale.

Two moons hung in the sky, illuminating the landscape it their eerie glow. Unsurprisingly they were as blurry as everything else. It also meant then that she must be dreaming, as they only had a single moon. That hadn’t changed with the ages. It was a strange dream though. Infusing herself with just enough magic to form her wings and tail, Crystal attempted to manoeuvrer herself around. While Rachael had the basics of flight down now, she was still a bit unsteady in the air.

You do not belong here.

Crystal felt the pressure, being tumbled back a few meters before she was able to bring her wings to bear to halt her movement and right herself. She already knew that though. If she did, then everything would not look like some form of water stained painting that had then been submerged.

Wait...

Did that mean that she wasn’t dreaming? Or was it just some really trippy dream. Or something else entirely? Crystal was confused, and suddenly feeling very alone. Granted she wasn’t the only thing here, she could feel the other presences, but Rachael was not here with her, and she dreaded losing Rachael more than anything else. Pushing back the panic, she thought of Rachael, focusing on their bond. The feedback was instantaneous. Rachael was well, asleep, and beside her. Yet also not. At least that sort of answered some of the questions.

“What do you want then? Why am I here?”

they’ve borrowed the connection.

others object,

yet they understand the necessity.

The feeling of the place shifted. Somethings had moved, however that worked here, even though their didn’t appear to be any physical changes.

The city beacons.

She needs you help.

Please.

---

Crystal jolted awake, sitting up abruptly. She was back in the Nexus Temple, Rachael looking at her groggily.

“What’s up,” Rachael managed.

“Just a dream,” Crystal replied, lying down again, facing Rachael this time and pulling her close.

It could wait till the morning, but there was no mistaking the message. Their time here was up.

There was also no mistaking their destination. That had been clear even though it hadn’t been said.

What did confuse her though, was who were they being sent to help.