I traveled over 150 kilometers to get to Oransen. It was a blur. A series of rapidly changing sights as I made a beeline in the right direction, darting across streets, highways, forests, fields, neighborhoods, et cetera. 

I parkoured around, over, and through anything in my general vicinity, jumping from tree branches, leaping from rooftops, and hopping onto moving vehicles to get me places faster. It was quite fun looking back on it. Recklessly running through the world, not caring if anybody saw me, dashing through the interspersed drizzle of snow, doing inhuman stunts. Nobody could stop me, control me, imprison me, hurt me, or really do anything to me other than momentarily inconvenience me.

It was freeing, it was cathartic, but it eventually came to an end. After hours of running, I had finally made it back to Oransen. Back to my home. It was as dark as it had been when I first returned home a week ago, but there was one key difference. There were footprints in the light snow that covered the walkway. Somebody must have been in there, and I had a good idea who. 

The door opened as I gripped the handle, and I was met with the silhouette of a person, sitting in a chair. I entered my home and flicked a nearby light switch to reveal this person’s identity, and I was not surprised. It was Raiyne Underwood. Her face bandaged and beaten, and her hand holding onto a handgun. An ineffectual tool that could do nothing more than damage my ice bear coat

“Why Jad?” Raiyne croaked, looking down at the gun in her hand. “Why did you do this? You were so close to being free. I was trying my hardest to help you, I’ve been working all hours of the day to get you what you needed but then… then you proved Kikansky right. You destroyed so much…” 

“I’m glad you’re here Raiyne,” I said, my voice devoid of sympathy or empathy. “It saves me the trouble of searching for you. I need to know where I can find everyone else. My mother, Maxxie, Terra, Zoe, Shiaka, and so forth. It would be best for both of us if you just told me what I want to know.”

“You sound just like her. If not for that stupid bear jacket, I’d say you looked just like her too.” Raiyne muttered, looking at me with hatred billowing in her sapphire eyes.

“If you want to call me Abigale Quinlan, fine, it’s irrelevant to me. Although, I should have you know that I did not kill any of those soldiers. I saw no point in such an action.”

“…Your mother and friends are all at the Flare household. What do you want to do with them?” Raiyne responded, defeated.

“I want to preserve them, as I will preserve you,” I claimed with absolute certainty. “Don’t bother asking for an explanation. You will know what I mean by that in a few seconds.”

After my declaration, I tore off my jacket and grabbed Raiyne by the shoulders. She attempted to escape my grip by jumping in her seat, but squirming would not do her any good. She was already in my clutches, and now I could do anything I wanted with her. I picked Raiyne up from her chair, pressed her body against my own, and brought my hands under her cobalt sweater, thrusting them onto her bruised back. With sufficient bodily contact established, I placed my head against hers and began the process.

Raiyne struggled against my grip, wildly flailing her limbs against me and demanding that I free her. When I did not, she sought to resist ‘the old-fashioned way’ by sinking her teeth into my exposed shoulder. She tore into my skin, thrusting her lips down on it, filling her mouth with my blood. I snickered at her effort, knowing that she had only expedited the process. As the blood began gushing into her mouth, Raiyne found that her lips were attached to my skin, her teeth were mingling with my untorn flesh, and her tongue was already connected to my veins.

She screamed, but no longer had a mouth to do so. She moved her hands towards my own, but that did her no good. I could feel our hands connect, our skin overlapping, and bones merging. 

I was absorbing Raiyne, and in a matter of a minute, she and I would be one. She would merely be a part of me, and her life as she had known it to be would end. Replaced by something new. Something better. Something that exceeded the sum of its parts. Something immortal.

I told this to Raiyne, whispering into her ears, urging her to be calm as I felt our bodies coming closer. Her torso began pushing out of her clothes and towards mine. Her head began joining my shoulder. And I began feeling her legs as they shook through her pants.

I began to moan as my senses merged with hers. If only for a moment, I could see the world from four eyes, move four legs, feel the sensations of two different skins. I felt two hearts beat at once, and I heard a new voice in my head shrieking as she felt all of these new sensations. I scoffed at her, believing she should feel honored to become part of me. By joining with me, he was freed from the shackles of mortality, freed from all the pain and woes, and brought into a truly higher plane of existence. A plane of divinity.

In her final moments, Raiyne was a wad of flesh and dark tan skin that continued to recede into my being. Everything she was, her flesh, her skin, her bones, it all condensed into my own. It was then, when we were at the apex of becoming one, that Raiyne began to feel the joys of my body, and her final moments were spent in ecstasy.

I fell to the floor as I felt her brain join with mine, as her memories, thoughts, and persona all flashed before me with incredible coherency. Raiyne’s memories of being a child, playing with my mother, the romantic feelings that she suppressed for her dearest Caroline, and the anguish that followed with it when she left Raiyne’s life. This was soon replaced by hatred, the hatred of Abigale Quinlan. Such unbridled disdain was almost addictive, and I could hear myself moan as I learned more about Abigale Quinlan and the actions she enacted over the decades. The atrocities she arranged, the lives she stole, and the chaos she wrought from behind the shadows.

Then came the void, the emptiness when Abigale left Raiyne’s life. With no sightings of her and years wasted, she felt lost. She had a hole in her heart that she sought to fill with learning. And then, teaching. I recalled the days of instructing children, teaching them the skills and literacy they needed to succeed in their ambitions, and these memories set my heart a flutter.

Her life, her memories, they were all mine now. I was told this would bring me pleasure, joys beyond belief, and it did. Abigale Quinlan did not lie to me. I digested my teacher, and it felt amazing. I felt like I was more in every sense of the word, but it was not enough to truly satisfy me. I knew that there were more people who I wanted to preserve for all eternity, and they could only be preserved— they could only be freed from their mortal shackles— if they became part of me.

I readied myself to leave and finish this process when I felt something flicker in my consciousness. More recent memories from Raiyne. From earlier tonight, when she received a call from the military. They were furious to see me escape, and Raiyne sought to make things right once more. She wanted to meet with me here, convince me to play along, to preserve the trust she developed and guarantee that Abigale Quinlan would no longer be a threat to anyone, ever. A noble effort, but once I spoke, this hope died. She knew I would not listen to her. She knew I was unstoppable. She had tried to destroy, detain, and defeat Abigale Quinlan enough times to know that it was truly futile to send an army to stop her, let alone kill her. 

I smiled as these thoughts flew through my head, before thinking of my next course of action. I knew that my mother, Maxxie, Zoe, Shiaka, Terra, and their families were all at the Flare residence. They were in the perfect place for me to preserve them,lHowever, if they were to see me, see the face of Abigale Quinlan, they would panic. If they were to flee and hide, I could lose them. I needed a disguise. I needed to adopt a friendly face to get close to them before I reveal my true nature.

I recalled my week-long conversation with Abigale Quinlan, what she taught me about my new body, its powers, and how she changed her form over the years. 

I made my way to the upstairs bathroom. The same room wherein I bashed my head open, the mallet still placed in the shower, and still stained by my blood. I looked into the mirror, examining my shape and beautiful features, flaunting them as a reminder of who I now was. Alas, what I saw was a form that I would need to put aside for the time being. 

With a sigh, I gazed into my eyes, robbing myself of my vision for a moment as what was once crimson became a gorgeous, radiant blue, perfectly resembling Raiyne’s eyes while retaining my perfect vision. Satisfied with the first step, I continued the process, reshaping my face. Her face was similar to mine, but less refined, more aged, and more circular than that one I had for the past 13 days.

My hair morphed, becoming a less pure and distinctive black, while retaining the same general length. Whitley the rest of my body shrank, with my ample muscles fading into fat. It was a downgrade, but looking back at my new self in the mirror, I was not quite Raiyne Underwood. Oh no, I was an idealized version of her. Slightly taller, in better shape, a little younger, and even the eyes were a more distinct form of blue. A more radiant form of sapphire. It was subtle in many regards, yet I looked and felt better than Raiyne Underwood had in her entire life. I had perfected Raiyne Underwood. I stared intently at my body, letting the image sink into my mind as I moved my fingers over my finer features, smiling as I felt the smooth texture of my new skin.

It was then that I began to develop an urge, a desire to feel something that Raiyne’s memories could not help but associate with her underwear-clad body and the sensual feeling of rubbing one’s own fingers across their skin. I blushed intently as I realized what that was, and then sinisterly smiled, eager to engage in this taboo practice. Part of me, the voice that still was my own, the part of me that was still Jad Novus, shouted against me. But even the loudest cry of anguish goes unheard amidst unanimous cheers.

Upon stripping myself of my ill-fitting underwear, I began readying a bath. The warm water filled the tub. My hands morphed the upper layer of water into aromatic flower petals. Towels strewn about the room were transformed into candles. And I cast open the frosted windows of the bathroom, inviting in outside light as snow continued to fall at a pleasant rate.

With the stage set, I snapped my fingers, igniting each candle with a miniature explosion, and sank into the water, moaning as it caressed my finer features. With one hand free and my… toy in the other, I began to embrace my new body in a way that… I would rather not recall. Though, I would rather not recall a lot of things about this experience…

As much as I don’t want to admit it, it… it felt amazing. Pleasure shot through my body in a way I thought never possible, and it only got better with each passing climax. The part of me that resisted it stopped objecting after a point, and became lost in the pursuit of pleasure, joining every other part of my mind as I delighted in everything this body had to offer.

Two hours later, the candles had gone out, the water had grown cold, and the flowers had broken into flakey little bits. Despite this… I wanted more. I wanted to continue this forever. However, in this moment of dissatisfaction, I reminded myself of my true goal. The reason I returned to Oransen.

I put my relentless lust aside, turned on the light, and was met with the idealized form of Raiyne Underwood, a look of elation on her face. I licked my lips, gave my breasts a quick squeeze, but then stopped. Because I had other matters to attend to. Matters that would require me to get dressed.

Though Raiyne’s clothes were still at the sight of her consumption, I did not wish to wear such dull casual attire. Instead, my eyes went towards the nearest disposable matter, the remains of the candles. They would serve as the matter needed to Real Boot an outfit for my new form.

The outfit consisted of a blue dress shirt, a white suit jacket, a pair of white dress pants, a stylish belt, and a pair of slick dress shoes. Yet, the outfit was only completed with the addition of a flat-topped white hat with a blue ribbon wrapped around the lower half of the crown. Part of me desired to create a more feminine outfit, something that would better amplify how I ended my life as Jad Novus— as a man— and how I embraced my new self. Yet, this somehow felt right. It felt more like Abigale Quinlan.

As I finished getting dressed, I momentarily passed by the room of Jad Novus, untouched as I left it a week prior, and likely to never be touched again. While some part of him still lingered in my mind, I desired not for his possessions. After all, when you can create gold out of dogshit, what value is there in retaining tchotchkes or video game paraphernalia? I nearly set foot in the room, in order to say goodbye to a former life of mine. But as I saw the digital clock of the room, and saw that it was 23:30, I realized I had taken far too long and should make my way to the Flare residence… sometime this year.