Golden dust filled the tent, creating a thick cloud that obscured Teyva’s vision. She covered her eyes instinctively and tried to roll onto her chest only for her aching ribs to prevent that. She felt a tingle against her skin, then a sudden heat wash over her entire body as the golden dust pressed into her, suffusing her body. She coughed, breathing in the dust, feeling it enter her nostrils, slip past her fingers into her eyes, dust her hair and even coat her teeth. The metallic tang of blood caught in her mouth and she gasped, drawing even more of the dust. Then the pain began, a full-body ache that burned through her muscles her bones and her brain. She groaned, thrashing as she tried to find a comfortable position to ride it out. “Every single time,” She rumbled, squeezing her eyes tightly shut.

When the pain finally passed she was left panting on the ground, sweat sticking to her skin. She grumbled and sat up only to realize that it didn’t hurt. She looked down at herself and her jaw fell open. Her glowing skin had a faint sparkle to it, it looked like stars were running across her body when she moved. She felt strong, very strong, and her muscle structure had changed to match. She was toned, her arms more defined and powerful. They weren’t big by any means and she was a little disappointed by that but she also hadn’t wanted to turn into some hulking behemoth either. A prompt appeared to distract her from the aesthetic changes.

“Doubled?” She blurted out, blinking several times to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. “My Physique and Endurance doubled?”

She looked down at herself and clenched her fists, feeling the surge of strength rushing through her. She took a deep breath and savored the feeling of power. It was absolutely intoxicating. She wondered for a moment how strong she was compared to others now, how it would feel to use her maximum strength. She felt a rush of thoughts go through her head, options, possibilities, and immediately realized what was happening. She bit her lip and forced the thoughts back letting the heady drunkenness subside until she had caught her breath. The stone’s influence was just as strong as the Labyrinthian stone but this one was far more appealing and intoxicating.

“Dangerous,” She murmured, opening and closing her hand. She turned to look for Queenie who had scampered away when the stone exploded only to find the little creature had immediately rushed to Teyva’s hand, examining it with big eyes. She smiled and tapped it on the head, “That was scary, huh? Next part is a lot less showy, I promise,” she said and turned back to the prompt. She needed to choose an attribute to awaken with the Aspect. She picked Endurance this time and took a deep breath as vigor flowed through her. “Damn, that feels good.”

She turned her focus back on upkeep, she had four shards to use now. She pulled them from her inventory and set them in a neat row in front of her. As she recalled there were two more Tier 1 abilities remaining she could select. [Dawnstrike] and [Mind Trap] those would be the first she’d take.

With her full kit of Tier 1 abilities selected she could finally get down to exploring Tier 2. She could have dipped in a little earlier but she had wanted to set a foundation for herself to work off of. More importantly, she wanted to unlock all of the Tier 2 abilities ahead of time to give herself more options when the time came. Unfortunately, she couldn’t select from Labyrinthian or Pale Dawn now so she pulled up the other two, starting with Titan. Unlike the other Aspect Stones this one only had one tree to select from. It wasn’t a bad thing though, the options were pretty good.

“Wow,” Teyva murmured. Another boost to her base stats or her own personal tank to soak damage for her. It seemed like a pretty tough call at first. That was until she considered how much Azrael had been dealing with as the de facto party tank. It would be good to give Azrael a break and let someone else deal with it instead. The Marble could soak damage too but he was more a personal guardian rather than a full Tank. Regardless, she could resummon a Behemoth, she couldn’t bring Azrael back from the dead. She frowned at the thought and shook it off, the idea of losing her friend sending a pang through her. She selected [Summon Behemoth] and the shard dissolved like the other two.

“That leaves Facsimile,” She said, reaching up and stroking Queenie who had returned to her shoulder. There were four options to choose from this time.

Mimicry sounded good on paper, but she wasn’t exactly sure what it entailed, and while she liked the idea of sharing her abilities with her summons she also had the other options to consider. Create Manikin sounded badass, her own personal soldiers of stone or wood, again, cool, but she had just picked Behemoth and she wanted to get used to having the Behemoth on her team before she moved on to another Summon. She stopped at Changeling and really gave it some thought, comparing it to Consume. She already had a healing ability though it relied on dealing damage. Changeling on the other hand was a game-changer. Being able to use [Simple Shift] on the fly without worrying too much about the mana cost could be huge in the future. She visualized swapping between weapons on the go and not having to stop and recharge a little before casting spells.

“Like changing classes,” Teyva murmured, a small smile playing on her lips. “That also applies to [Eyes of the Halls] and [Alter Self],” She mused. She decided to go for it and the crystal dissolved in her hand. She stretched her arms over her head and let out a long breath. She’d been at it over an hour and was beginning to feel a little weary. Level-up sleep really didn’t do much for resting. She sighed and turned to lay back down when she heard footsteps approach her tent. She sat up and looked herself over. She hadn’t paid much attention to the clothes she was wearing when she woke up but realized she was wearing simple linen pants and a shirt. Relieved she was decent she waited until the footsteps came to a stop.

“Teyva? Are you awake?” It was Azrael.

“Yeah, you can come in!” Teyva called back. Azrael knelt and slipped inside the tent, looking around.

“I heard that there were some strange noises coming from-” She trailed off when she took a direct look at Teyva; “What in the world happened? You’re taller! Not to mention-” She paused and then frowned, holding up her hands, “Wait, let me guess, Aspect Stone?”

Teyva grinned; “Got it in one,” Though she hadn’t noticed the change in height. That was pleasing.

“You should have said something!” Azrael barked, pouting a little.

“Wouldn’t have made a difference, there was this big dust cloud, couldn’t see anything and I didn’t want you to see my writhing around on the ground afterward. It frigging hurts!” She grunted.

Azrael crossed her arms and stared at Teyva for a few moments before letting out a sigh and getting comfortable, crossing her legs beneath her. “So?”

“So what?”

“What Aspect was it?”

Teyva hesitated, “The Titan?”

Azrael’s eyes went wide, “You got a stone from the Lydan? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine! Stop fretting, seriously!” Teyva said, leaning back a bit and wrapping an arm around her leg. “Using the stone even healed me up, I feel great! Though it was a little weird at first. I felt like I could do anything, like scary anything.”

“I can only imagine,” Azrael nodded, “If you say you’re okay, though, you’re okay.”

“How are you doing? How’s your head?”

Azrael reached up and touched the bandage wrapped around her head gingerly, she sighed and slipped back into a more relaxed posture; “I’m fine, a little wobbly at times but the medic told me I should be right as rain after a little rest though I’m out from fighting for at least another day or so,” She said, looking a little disappointed.

“Sad you can’t show off to Master Yftha?” Teyva asked, shooting her a grin.

“Shut up,” Azrael laughed, “But yes, I’ve looked up to Master Yftha for a long time. That and she’s the leader of the Wardens.”

Teyva raised her eyebrows, “The leader of the Wardens? That lady? So does that mean she has the same aspect as you?” She asked.

“She's mastered it,” Azrael breathed, “Unlike the rest of us who were given stones, she had hers given to her by the Aspect Being that oversees the Eastern tribe.”

“Like Deshan gave you yours,” Teyva confirmed.

“I haven’t told her yet, by the way,” Azrael said, “About what happened in the forest, not everything anyway. I explained how I met you and what happened with the Katali Humans. I told her you have evidence to show the King,” Azrael said, “I’m just not ready to explain to her that an Aspect Being just gave me an Aspect, just like that.”

Teyva nodded, “You’re going to have to explain it eventually, especially with those new senses of yours.”

“I know, I know, It just feels strange,” Azrael said, hugging herself a little.

Teyva decided to change the subject; “What about Elat, how’s he holding up?”

“He’s a little shaken by the whole thing, he didn’t exactly sign up to come face to face with the Lydan,” Azrael said, “But he feels more guilty than anything, about what happened when we got separated.”

“He needs to let it go,” Teyva groaned, “I’ve told him that he made the right call by staying with you.”

Azrael rubbed her arms, “He knows, it’s just going to take him a bit to process. I don’t think he’s been in that dire of a situation before, honestly, I’m surprised you’re as cheery as you are.”

Teyva let out a breath and looked up at the top of the tent, “I’d hardly call myself cheery. More numb than anything. After the Bound One and the Wightlings, things just aren’t as scary as they used to be,” She paused and let out a sigh, “Have you seen Nephral?”

“He’s around, pouting for the most part. I overheard him grumbling about how useless he felt during the fight,” Azrael said, “These ears are pretty good for eavesdropping now.”

Teyva barked out a laugh, “You better not get caught, then,” She teased, “I’ll talk to him.”

“Ladies?” A voice came from outside. The two of them looked up in time for the rough-faced Yaga Yftha to poke her head into the tent. She took in the change in Teyva’s appearance before glancing over to Azrael who stiffened abruptly, her back going rigid. “I need you over at the medical tent for a moment.”

Azrael gave the woman a snap salute and turned back to smile at Teyva, “We’ll talk more later,” She said, crawling out of the tent and breaking into a steady jog.

Yaga turned and called back to her, “Take it slow young lady!” She sighed and turned back to Teyva, a small smile curling across her face. Her eyes narrowed and with them came the faintest glow. Teyva swallowed, hard. “Now, how about you and I have a conversation?”