Van opened his eyes. He was standing right where he left off. In the middle of the circle with all twelve Annas surrounding him. He blinked and felt a little dizzy, a little off, and looked around to get his bearings. As he took in the view, he noticed that he still couldn't see outside the circle, meaning that the ritual still hasn’t finished yet. But going by the fluctuations in the mana it was slowly winding down and will end soon.

Looking down on his body he noticed immediately that he had changed. He was taller, much taller than when he entered, and broad-shouldered. If before he looked like he was sixteen he now looked like he was seventeen to eighteen. He aged up several years in the span of a few hours. His skin was smoother and soft, yet harder at the same time like they could take an iron sword and only leave a small bruise. His nails while looking normally at first, with concentration changed to a black color and elongated, becoming claw-like before he changed them back by will. His vision was such that he felt he could see everything around him in picture-perfect detail, including behind. His breathing, his movements, his entire body, felt ten times more efficient than it was before.

Van felt like a god. Like he was the pinnacle of evolution. He looked all over his body for any more signs of his improvement, but sadly found none other than his little friend going from huge to massive. “Is that seriously the only other thing about me that grew?”

A part of him in the back of his mind worried if he wasn’t taking himself a little too seriously and tried to calm him down. Taking a deep breath he let it go, at the same time he relaxed his body, relieving himself of any tension he might have. He then proceeded to wait for the ritual to end.

And as the ritual was coming to an end. A flash of light took place right in front of Van’s eyes. Anna appeared out of nothing, seemingly going through some changes similar to himself, and what he saw, almost made his jaw drop.

Anna also aged up by a few years, now putting her body’s physical age close to his. Her hair grew longer and silky, and seemed to be a deeper black than before, reflecting the light in a cascade of dark brilliance. Her cool blue eyes remained somewhat the same, but now were crystal clear, sharper, and shined with an inner strength and glow. Her breasts seemed to have increased by two to three sizes, her skin becoming smooth and flawless, coupled with her narrow waist, she became a ravishing cool beauty type that would make it hard for anyone to look away.

Van felt something, something that he didn’t think he could feel. It stirred inside himself and wormed throughout his body. Almost against belief, he felt his little friend respond to Anna. That shocked him. Because for the first time, instead of a mixture of disgust, numbness, and a slew of other feelings. He, right now, felt a desire for Anna without any problems.

“What's wrong master?” she said with a mischievous smile, playing with herself as she showed off her body. “Is there a problem?”

Van was quiet for a while as he stared at her stark beauty. When he finally spoke, it was not about her body. “Anna… why are there thirteen of you?”

Anna’s smile grew wider. “ This is my power, it is what happens when I finally am complete. I can make as many copies of myself as I want, so long as I have the resources for them. Not to mention, so long as one of me is still alive, or you are still alive, we all will still be alive!” she said with a giggle.

“Don’t you see… we are finally one! Truly one! Our memories are one! Our minds are one! Our. Souls. Are. One! What one knows, the others know. We can make more of ourselves and give our new selves whatever information or skills we desire. Want an Anna all about fighting? You have it! Want an Anna all about cooking? You have it! Want an Anna all about the dirty…” she looked down between Van’s legs. “You definitely have it.” she said, licking her lips in a seductive and playful manner.

“What happened to you...” Van said worriedly, the Anna he knew was far more reserved and formal than the Anna in front of him right now.

“Don’t worry master, I’m still the same Anna you know and love. Just a little more. I’m sure I’ll go back to being a little more normal when this high wears off.” she said with a giggle. “But honestly... you can’t begin to imagine what it feels like. The feeling of unity, of wholeness, of true completion! It's all thanks to you... Thank you, master, thank you so much… all of me, and I mean all of me, truly, from the bottom of our hearts. Love you.” she said with some tears in the ream of her eyes.

Van was silent for a while after that extremely emotional confession, a little unsure on how to take it. And somewhat awkwardly, but also trying to put his feelings into it, replied with a simple. “I love you too.”

The smile Anna gave was truly worth it and she then stepped forward and gave Van a hug. Soon all the other twelve Annas moved from their positions and joined in into a massive group hug that left Van feeling very embarrassed.

“I guess now we are going to need a bigger bed.” Van joked.

“No need for that,” Anna said with a grin.

Right then and there, all the Annas, except for the Anna in front of him, disappeared. No. disappeared was the wrong word for it. Van felt something enter him, a whole lot of somethings. It felt weird, almost a little violating, but he quickly got used to it. Soon it was just him and the Anna in front of him.

“What happened?” Van said, eyes furrowed and grabbing his chest in confusion.

“We just entered your soul realm is all.” Anna giggled. “You can store us away or bring us out whenever you wish. When we are in your soul realm, we don’t need to eat as much, and there's no worry about us getting bored since we can train or hibernate inside you. We do have our own little island after all.” she said with a smile.

Van wanted to question Anna a little more, but the circle finally finished winding down and Lorenzo, Alvaroz, Luna, and Leiah were finally able to see and join in on the circle. Luna and Leiah were the first to get up on the circle. Rushing towards them with great concern.

“Are you okay!” Luna said running up to Van scared.

“Are you hurt!” Leiah said with worry right after Luna and stood beside her.

“I’m fine. Why? What's wrong?” Van asked with concern.

“We don’t really know,” Lorenzo said, speaking up from one of the many panels in front of him. “All of a sudden we got weird readings from the ritual. Getting conflicting data, the circle draining far more mana than it should, strange fluctuations. And a bunch of other things!”

Van looked down and noticed that there were several more mana orbs around the pedestal, all of them spent. He also noticed that the pillars looked a little fried. He shared a worried look with Anna and turned back to soothe the worries of the group in front of them. “Well… were fine. Nothing went wrong on our end. If anything, we feel great!”

“But where is Anna!” Luna said worriedly looking around. “There is only one of her!” tears were starting to form around her eyes from fear out of what happened to her best friend.

“Don’t worry about me,” Anna said. “I’m fine, better the fine, actually. My other bodies are just resting up inside of Van.” she said pointing at him.

Luna finally paused to take a long enough look at Van. and what she saw, she definitely liked, if her blush was anything to go by. Yet despite that, she still asked Van anyway if it was true that the other Annas were just resting inside himself and that they were okay.

“Yes,” Van said. “They are, you don’t have to worry.”

Luna searched his eyes and relaxed when it seemed like he was telling the truth. She then gave him a big hug with Leiah joining in. After a nice hug out she pulled away to get a better look at him. “You grew so much!” her eyes wandered downward only to widen. “Ya… you definitely grew.”

“Hey, my eyes are up here.” Van always wanted to say that.

Luna blushed, she then turned upward and got up on her toes.

Van knew what she wanted and he leaned down and gave her a kiss. Their mouths touched and again, he felt himself stir. Which annoyed him, for while it did feel good to kiss his wife. He didn’t enjoy how different his body reacted to how it did before.

“I love you...” Luna said, once their lips parted and turned into a smile.

“I love you too,” Van said happily with a small smile of his own.

They stared into each other's eyes before a cough from his father brought them out of it. “As much as I enjoy seeing you two get along. Me and Lorenzo were hoping to run Van and Anna through a test, to make sure everything is on the up and up. Do you two mind getting off the circle?” making it clear he meant Luna and Leiah.

“Aww. I wanted a kiss too.” Leiah said, a little dejectedly.

Van bent down and gave a quick kiss to her too.

Happy, Leiah left with Luna outside the circle.

Once the two were out. Lorenzo began the test. Though it took a while since some of the instruments were not working like they should. But once everything was a go, the test went smoothly and was finished within a few minutes.

“Hmm…” Lorenzo said as he went through his notes. “Anna, I have never seen readings like these before. I don’t know where your soul begins or ends. Where before there were some distinctions, now there is conformity.” he said worriedly. “ And Van, you are now a full-blown member of the chimera race without having three or more other awakened races. But it's not a chimera variant that I'm aware of. Not to mention, you seem to have now gained the potential of a few more races, but all of them are locked, and all of which show up on my panel as ???, I don’t even know where to begin with that. Though it also seems you can’t awaken them because they are tied to your chimera race? What in the world happened in your soul realm!?”

Van shrugged. Unsure how much he should say. “What can I say, I had quite the journey. Dad wasn’t joking when he said my soul realm was large. It took me hours to get from one place to another. After I reached my core, I upgraded it to the next level and everything changed! It cost me more than twenty thousand essences!”

“Hmm…” Lorenzo said, rubbing his chin. Eyes narrowed like he knew Van was hiding a few things before sighing and turning off his panels. “Well, no matter. Technically speaking, you all are very healthy, both in mind and body. For all intents and purposes, the two of you have done a successful soul awakening.” he smiled. “congratulations.”

Van felt more relief than he thought he would from hearing that. His body relaxed and his stomach gurgled, surprising him.

Alvaroz smiled in amusement, along with everyone else. “Well, I suppose that's our cue. Let's all get some dinner. I know I’m starving. Alongside someone else I see.” he teased. Making Van blush. “Your mothers would probably like to hear that you are okay too. So we should go tell them the good news!” and with that, they left to get a well-deserved meal. Luna and Leiah asking Van and Anna all sorts of questions about their soul realm adventure.

---

After finding clothes that fit him, enjoying a good meal, and telling his parents and family everything that happened in his soul realm, or at least most of it. Van made his way towards his room. Once there he closed the door behind him and took a step back, not from the door, but just from everything that happened. “I can’t believe how much I ate. I was like a bottomless pit! Even Thea was surprised.” he thought with a chuckle.

But his thoughts quickly soured and his expression darkened. His jovial expression doing a complete turnaround “Fuck... Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!!” he turned and hit the wall beside him. The sound of which surprised him due to how loud it was and how much more weight to his punch there was than he intended. He looked to his hand and it finally settled in how different he was, not just in mind, but in body.

He turned his hand back into a fist. “Ren wasn’t lying. I… I can't actually remember much from when I was raped. Or more, it's as if years have passed since then instead of just a week…” Van fell silent for a while. “Am I truly over my nightmares of that day? Just like that?” he didn’t know how to feel about something that should have shaped his entire life just becoming inquisitional just like that. “But then again, how many people would kill to get over trauma like me?” he thought with a sigh. “Should I really complain about it? But… I can’t help but feel, just a little angry about it!”

He shook his head. And forced himself to calm down. He took a deep breath and let it out. He closed his eyes and centered his mind as he lay against the wall.

After about five minutes he opened them. “No… this is fine… because…” his eyes narrowed. “I still fucking hate her…and that’s what's important. So long as I feel that. It's fine…” He nodded to himself as if coming to the proper conclusion. He was afraid that without the trauma, his desire to hate Karen would also vanish. But while it did, by a little, it was only by a few drops in the bucket. Van still very much hated Karen, and to him, so long as he never forgot that. Then it was fine. “One day… I will get my revenge.” he thought with solemn promise.

Just then, a light knock came from the door, surprising Van from his thinking. He turned to open it and found the rest of the group waiting outside.

Luna waited there awkwardly before saying. “Umm… If you want, we could give you some more time.”

Van blinked, wondering if some of what he was thinking was still showing on his face. “No… it's okay… I was just about to take a bath.”

“Then we can take a bath together!” Anna said with a giggle. “Oh, who am I kidding! We always take a bath together!” she then pushed on through dragging everyone into her pace and ushering them forward. “Come on, come on. No time like the present!”

Soon, the group found themselves in the changing room. With a sigh, Van took off his clothes and walked into the bathroom. “You know… I could use some relaxation.” Van though. And relaxation was what happened. Anna got the work in cleaning the girls and himself, even with just one of her, she was able to pull off the work of several, Van and everyone else just enjoying the heat of the water and more importantly, the back rubs she gave. “Ya… this is nice, getting a nice back rub while soaking in a hot tube surrounded by people dear to me. Things really are looking up.”

---Sex Scene----