Ventus struggles against the spiders holding her down, managing to shift some of them before the large spider bites down. Instead of death, it only knocks her unconscious.
The spiders scurry around, binding Ventus tightly in a weird silk before she is then dragged up to the crack near the node. Avery starts to dismiss the wall before Vincent stops her. “No, you can’t help as things are now. I don’t know if you noticed, but they don’t seem to want to kill her.”
Avery frowns, before letting the wall stay. “Fine, I guess we’ll meditate here and keep an eye on the cave, hope that she comes out before tomorrow. Otherwise I don’t know what I’m going to say to Lamu.”
Vincent nods and takes first watch.
Meanwhile, Ventus enters a place full of a strange energy, and her entire body is fizzling. That strange energy floods into her, rapidly being converted into mana, which wakes her up. Blinking her eyes open, she looks around as her recent memories surge into her.
The spider creatures that were holding her down are gone so she stands up, flowing power out of her tails to shift back to her humanoid form. A dull glow emits from her as her bones shift and mold back to their usual form.
Looking around more since she is standing, she spots what could faintly be described as a structure in the distance, so she begins to walk towards that, power surging into her with every step.
She can see waves of fabric emitting from her, making things stable, rather than the normal view, where she is just among the fabric. “What even is this place?”
As Ventus reaches the structure, a voice behind Ventus chuckles, deep yet melodic, “It is our home your highness. I wish you hadn’t arrived here like this, but come, rest for a moment before going back and facing the trial again.”
“Wait, what trial sir and or madam?”
Another deep melodic laugh before the creature answers, “Call me Nort for now, As for the trial, it is simply to empower you as well as to teach you to use everything. You were hesitant to bite were you not?”
Flushing silver, Ventus nods. “Yes, I was, still am to be fair.”
Nodding, the creature approaches, form shifting to look similar to Ventus, “Yes, I could tell. Thankfully those voidlings were under orders to knock you out, rather than kill you, so you’re safe. However, they’re still growing under the formation node’s energy distribution, so your next fight will be harder. You must fight with all you have, okay?”
Ventus tilts her head, asking the obvious question. “What is a formation node? Do you mean that spiraling mass of energy that I fell into all that time ago?”
Nodding, Nort answers, “Yes, the formation node was that spiraling mass of energy as you put it. As for what it means, I’m afraid I can’t tell you until you’re stronger, it will just slide off of your mind.
Ventus nods before shifting back into her giant fox form. She paws the “ground” as an indication that she is ready to go back, to which Nort nods, inverting something which causes Ventus to pop out from the crack, falling through the node which energizes her further, fully converting all of the strange energy she had absorbed.
Vincent smiles as he sees Ventus reappear, making sure not to disturb Avery. Noticing the black/silver matter clinging to Ventus he frowns, but shrugs, waiting for her to take on the spiders again. With a whisper that is barely audible, he says “You can do this Ventus. You’re probably the only one who can fight these things.”
Ventus lands on the cavern’s floor, legs barely moving as the shock is absorbed. Turning towards the spiders, she opens her mouth and howls before making the flow of fabric around herself and only herself much faster than the rest. Despite the immense energy drain of this due to location and innate drain, she seems to be able to keep it up. Blinking forward, she bites down on the nearest spider while lashing her tails out at several more. That strange energy surges into her body again, quickly converted into mana. Shuddering slightly at the strange fizzling crunch, Ventus moves on, fighting more and more, devouring their energy with her tails and maw.
The large voidling spider seems to hold back, slowly inching towards the ice wall that Avery conjured some time ago at this point.
Ventus, upon seeing this, growls and abandons the fight she was in, blinking towards the large one and slamming her tails into it, reinforced with layers of fabric, causing a small earthquake.
The large spider takes the hit, shrinking quite a bit, but scurrying away, coming up Ventus’ legs and approaching her neck.
Ventus slows the small spider down with yet another flow of mana, her mind beginning to stretch thin from all of the flows she is maintaining. Blinking away, she finds that the spider is still on her, though moving as if crawling through molasses. Growling, Ventus rolls around.
With the different time flows between Ventus and the voidling, she manages to get it off of her. Standing back up, she howls again, pushing mana into it while she freezes the spider voidlings in place through stopping their time. Her mana plummets and her mind feels as though it is about to break. Ventus takes one agonizing step after the next, swiping her tails against every voidling, breaking them down into the strange energy that flows into her as an immense amount of mana.
With the flood of mana upon her nearly broken mind, a moment of blank mind happens before the concentration needs seem to ease. Not gone, and still the same intensity, but she can still process things around her instead of only being able to focus on the agony.
Leaping forward, she bites down on the formerly largest voidling, as the rest are frozen, not a current threat. Gulping down the voidling a fierce grin appears on her before she blinks away, striking at the few voidlings remaining.
Dropping the various flows of mana, Ventus nearly falls on her face, somewhat confused when she feels herself thinking two different thoughts at once. Managing to shift back to her humanoid form, she smiles, and towards the crack in the sky, she bows. “Thank you for the lesson Ntor.”
Blinking in confusion she tries again, “Ntor Ntor. Gah Ntor.”
That deep melodic chuckling can be heard by Ventus again, a wisp of energy landing on her. With the energy comes a message. “I understand what you were trying to say, your highness, and I am completely flattered. You should probably tend to your companions now, before you meditate on your gains.”
Nodding, since that’s a good idea, Ventus slams her tails into the ice wall, breaking it down into specks of mana that then flow back into Avery. “We’re clear Vincent, Avery. I’ll have a report to make once we make it back to the surface, but this place should be very safe now. No beasts can get in after whatever those voidlings did. There’s a strange aversion I guess, but that’s good rather than bad.”
Vincent nods and shakes Avery aware, “Your shift is now Avery, but we can go into the area now. Ventus says it’s safe enough, and I can’t say I disagree, just looking in there raises the hairs on my neck. Most beasts will likely avoid this place for weeks, if not longer.”
Avery stands up quickly, hand going to her head before smiling at Ventus. “You did it Ventus. I knew you could! Now then, why did the fight take so long?”
Chuckling, Ventus shrugs before saying. “Well I lost the first time, and was dragged somewhere else. It felt like home despite the constant fizzing of my body, and I was given a bit to rest before fighting again. Apparently it was some kind of trial for me, though I’m not sure why.
Avery blinks, before grabbing a notepad from her pocket. Clicking the pen open, she notes everything down before asking various questions about the space. Ventus answers everything the best she can, outside of mentioning details about Nort.
“Also, whatever that energy was, a speck was enough to flood me with mana. I can’t say my capacity increased by much, but I’m definitely overfull, despite all I spent. I’ll be spending it to expand my capacity, so I’m going to meditate now, don’t attempt to do what I’m going to do.”
Blinking before nodding, Vincent agrees while Avery looks worried. “You’re not going to die, are you?”
Chuckling, Ventus shakes her head and makes a seat in space at the node before blinking up to it. Sitting there, she meditates, an immense tide of mana surging into her body as her two stands of thought focus on the flow.
Vincent yells in anger while Avery gasps in surprise. “Are you trying to die Ventus?! How dare you go right to that bundle of energy!”
Avery holds her hand on Vincent, before chuckling. “I don’t think she’ll have any problems. Did you not remember she woke up here? That energy is probably the thing that made her an awoken, rather than just being near the crevice when it formed.”
Vincent growls faintly before shaking his head. “I don’t care, it could still be hurting her. She’s too important to our nation, and in fact the world for her to take such a risk.”
Avery laughs, before setting up some devices she brought in her lab coat. “Don’t worry, these are measuring each of our vitals. If something goes wrong you can go save her, but until then leave her, I don’t think she’s at risk right now, especially given the fact she’s not dead despite what she said about the energy from those spiders. Do you think either of us could have survived that flood of mana that she described?”
Vincent sighs before shaking his head. “No, I think only Lilith, Desi, and Lamu could have, based on their reported data, and even then that’s only a five percent chance at best.
Nodding, Avery sits down on the cave floor, not minding the various cracks and powdered stone. “Then come on, we need to grow stronger as fast as we can in order to keep up with Ventus.”
Chuckling, Vincent nods and sits down, guiding the flow from right below his belly button all around his body to finally hit his brain. Each breath draws in more mana, which enters the cycle as the flow grows smoother. His muscles stretch and compress rapidly while the damage heals due to the mana flow. At the same time, his bones become denser, tendons able to stretch more without snapping, and organs performing more efficiently.
If one was paying attention, they would notice Vincent growing slightly more slender, hair growing longer. His skin becomes more fair, no longer the tan that it was as his body changes towards his desires.
After an hour, Vincent groans during his meditation as something inverts in his body, the rush of mana filling out his new figure. Avery looks over, the groan having disrupted her meditation, and gasps.
A slender yet tall elf is sitting where Ventus was before. The more surprising thing however, is that Avery notices that the elf’s gear, which was Vincent’s, is straining at the chest and waist.
Chuckling, Avery reaches over and rubs Vincent’s new ear, causing him to gasp, a much higher pitched voice as he wakes from his meditation. “What are you doing Avery? Wait, why is my voice different? Why does my chest feel squeezed as well?”
Avery laughs before turning away. “Why don’t you see for yourself your elven one?”
Vincent blushes faintly, still not completely aware that he has changed bodies. “Okay, I can do that.”
Undoing his gear, she gasps in panic. “Why am I a woman? I know I’ve wanted to be an elf, but why a woman? Eh?”
Avery chuckles, noticing the concentration of mana here dimming slightly as Ventus’ absorption surpasses the node’s recovery. “I don’t know, but everyone that changed became the body they wanted regardless of species.”
Vincent blinks before groaning. “I always thought of female elves, how graceful they were.”
Nodding, Avery chuckles. “That would do it yes, though I’m surprised you changed since you already awoke.”
Vincent shrugs, her shoulders raising slightly before she grabs her spear. Moving through some katas she finds that despite the slimmer arms, she can handle her spear even better now. “Maybe the seed was there all along, and it just needed enough mana to blossom? Please tell me we packed gear changes in case of a fight.”
Avery nods before pointing at Ventus. “She has it, but yes. You look to be about my size, so a spare set of my gear will work. I would suggest covering up if you want to continue exercising though.”
Tilting her head slightly, Vincent asks, “Why would that matter? We’re all women here now, as much as the thought is strange to me.”
Avery chuckles, a blush on her face before pointing to Ventus once more. “We’ve been fairly obvious that we’re both attracted to women. I won’t act and I don’t think Ventus would either, but you need to keep that in mind Vin~cent~.”
Blushing as she realizes what she’s been doing, Vincent covers up, before frowning. “Vincent is no good now, hmm. What about Vina?”
Ventus blinks down, having drained the formation node’s stores of mana. “I’m done here, who’s this Avery, and where’s Vincent?”
Vina blushes while Avery chuckles. “You’re looking at her Ventus, but first could you grab a set of my spare gear? Should fit her well enough until she can be measured.”
Ventus laughs and hugs Vina before nodding and grabbing the spare set of gear, happy that her mana outfit repairs itself, so that despite all of the tears in her clothes, nothing is actually visible.
“No problem, but has she chosen a new name?”
Quietly, Vina says, “Uhm, I picked Vina.”
Ventus grins, “That’s a good name Vina. I like it quite a bit for you.” Chuckling darkly, she adds, “Maybe this will teach you not to drag a woman from her room undressed.”
Vina blushes, flustered at the comment. “It’s not like I meant to Ventus, I was just in a huff due to having been lead on a goose chase by your echo.”
Ventus chuckles and summons Echo, who appears with a grin. “Good Ori, looks like you passed the trial. What did you gain? Oh, and hello Vina, good to finally see you in the right form.”
Ventus blinks before shrugging. “I can think multiple thoughts at once, and the strain on my mind from holding various fabric changes doesn’t hit me nearly as hard. Other than that, I suppose I have a lot more mana now.”
Echo chuckles while nodding. She walks over and taps a claw into Ventus’ spine, causing the mana in Ventus to spiral rapidly, enhancing her muscles to the extreme with all of the excess mana she’s holding. “There we go, now you don’t risk popping upon returning to the surface. Well I guess we wouldn’t, but others definitely would once the mana pressure doesn’t hold them together.”
Vina blinks at Echo before asking, “Wait, so you knew I would change into this form? Who else?”
Echo chuckles before holding her finger in front of her mouth, eyes twinkling in mischief. “I can’t tell you due to various rules in place, but a certain fire wielder perhaps. At the same time perhaps not, your timeline is different from mine afterall. Did you need anything Ori?”
Ventus chuckles before nodding, “Yeah I do. Mind telling me what changed for you from the trial? And how many attempts it took you?”
Shrugging, Echo gestures at Avery and Vina. “I can’t say while they’re able to hear, so you’ll have to work your power to seal off sound around us Ori. I could do it, but think of this as a test of sorts.”
Nodding thoughtfully, Ventus grabs Echo and pulls her close before solidifying space around them, making sure to harden it enough so vibrations can’t escape.
“I think that did it, Echo, unless I’m wrong.”
Echo nods, “Yes that did it. As for what I gained, I became able to collapse space around a target, sending them to the other space, since I don’t think you know the name for it yet. I also learned more about our body, which is why I was able to enhance your strength with that excess mana.”
Nodding, not exactly surprised that things had deviated for the two. “Fair enough, anything else?”
Echo sighs and nods before sticking a claw on Ventus’ forehead. “Yes, and I’ll share it with you now. Just note it will mostly be locked, since you have to gain experience yourself, this will just open that path.”
A surge of memories, mostly sealed, flood into Ventus. She takes it with a grin, not staggering due to her multiple thought processes managing the strain. Browsing the memories open to her, her mouth opens wide in shock. “Echo, this is all that formation knowledge that you used? Didn’t you say I would need to progress my training before you taught me?”
Echo chuckles, closing Ventus’ open mouth with a finger, “I did. But you know something? It took me twelve attempts to clear this trial, you cleared it on your first after knowing the details. That shows that you’re strong enough for this, even if you haven’t fully mastered our fighting style.”
Blinking, Ventus then hugs Echo. “Thank you so much! I really appreciate this. So I just use solidified space to write these, right?”
Echo chuckles and pats Ventus’ head. “That’s right Ori, pretty simple for us since we can make them on the fly, others who learn need to stick to material components, rendering their creations rather immobile, though that isn’t to say that they’re weak.”
Nodding, Ventus smiles before backing away and dropping the solidified space. With a stretch that pops her spine and tails, she grins at Avery before making a simple mana attraction formation above both Avery and Vina. Sort of tying it off to follow them until the solidified space fades, Ventus grins. “I gained a lot hehe.”
Avery gasps at the rush of mana before looking at the formation and grinning. “Can you teach me Ventus? I can probably do something like this with ice, not quite as convenient as yours, but still moveable enough.”
Ventus nods before sitting, her tails tracing formations around her to gather more mana. “Yes I can, but I only know a few basic ones right now. The rest of the memories are sealed until I either get more experience with making these, or grow strong enough to break the seal myself.”
Echo chuckles before waving at Avery. “I’m glad things turned out well in this line, I didn’t like becoming enemies with you.”
Thunder growls in the sky before lightning slams into Echo, who had already made a formation to disperse the power. “Hah, that was a mild secret.”
Ventus chuckles nervously before attempting to close the connection to save Echo. Echo forces it back open before smiling at Ventus. “No worries Ori, me talking to you isn’t a problem for the most part, so long as it isn’t potential future events. It seems mentioning past events is a problem around others though. Tell you three what, it’s almost dawn so I’ll send you back up. You should stop meditating here until the node refills by the way, Ventus. At least, if you want the node to continue to exist.
Blinking in surprise, Ventus disperses all of the formations she made and helps Vina and Avery up. “Okay, yeah. I don’t think these two could drain it away, but I definitely could. Shall we go back then?”
Echo chuckles before nodding, and vanishing, having spent the rest of the supplied mana to send the three to Ventus’ dorm.
“Well that was interesting to say the least, so Vina. Let’s get you measured and then go shopping?”
Avery chuckles before nodding, “Yes, and we’ll get you more outfits as well Ventus. Don’t think I didn’t notice all of yours are in the wash now, and you’re only wearing that mana cloth and your delving gear.”
Ventus nods, a faint smile on her face before she pulls a measuring tape from her spatial pocket. “We’ll get you squared away in no time, and then I’ll need my chest measured again. Oh, but first I need to change something,it’s been a bit, so yeah the pad needs changed. Vina, you should pay some attention since you’ll need the knowledge yourself, probably within a few days based on how my changes went.”
Vina blushes but pays complete attention. Flushing a brilliant red from her cheeks to her neck, she begins to pass out as Ventus fixes her flow problem.
Avery chuckles and holds Vina up. “Don’t worry Vina, we’ll handle things but you’ll need to undress so we can get accurate measurements.”
Vina nods and slides out of her borrowed gear, sighing as her breasts are no longer compressed. “That helps, so how do you do this?”
Avery chuckles and takes over, easily measuring everything with clinical precision. “Oh you’re the same size as Ventus. That’s nice to know, since we can easily get some bras for you. Your turn Ventus.”
Ventus sighs and shifts her mana outfit to cover her ankles and lower legs. Holding her arms out, she waits for Avery to measure, which leads to a chuckle as Ventus winces as the tape squeezes her breasts. “I know that it probably hurts Ventus, but you’ve definitely grown, and not just a single size either. I blame mana for how fast it’s been.”
Ventus nods and covers back up before sighing. “That makes sense, luckily I don’t need to get a bra measured. I just make my own with this outfit. Shall we go shop now? Walk to the store that is, since they’re probably not open quite yet.”
Vina nods, redressing in her borrowed gear. “Uhm, yes, please take care of me you two, I don’t know how to deal with any of this.”
Ventus chuckles, “I’m thinking a flowing green dress for casual wear, fits an elf perfectly, but we’ll see when we get there.”
Avery chuckles and then starts walking out, guiding the two with her.
two stands of thought -> two strands of thought
where Ventus was -> where Vincent was
Will fix when back at computer. Thank you