There was a massive turn on the battlefield as the army commanded by Asynia pushed their opponents back to their mobile fortress. Even as the cheers of victory rang out from the young gods, those of us who were older and wiser were waiting for the turn of events. Joyano, Golunda, Istar, Suwae, Alkatyenia, and I stood on the edge of the ship watching everything unfold.
The spherical fortress was under constant barrage by the spells and attacks of the army which was dimming the energy shield with every blow. Finally, a violet sword-light hit the barrier and shattered it like glass. Everything turned silent for a moment as it seemed that the battle had been won, then a roar of triumph rang out from the army, and that was when the first member of the Tienovy Pantheon made her move.
Before anyone could move closer to the fortress, a vile green miasma erupted from the structure and engulfed the army before any could retreat. The poison was powerful, but it could not kill immediately, though the tainted mist was more to extend the range of her powers. Thousands had died in this war already and, while their bodies may have been destroyed, their spirits still lingered. The miasma spread across the entire battlefield, capturing the souls of the fallen and manifesting them into the physical world.
"Zahe, it's time!" Suwae announced.
The black cat in her arms leapt out, transforming into a giant, black-scaled leopard that was fifty feet long. With a flap of her wings, she jumped off the ship and landed on the back of her leopard just as Zahe appeared outside of his cube. Spreading out his hands, the cube opened up and thousands of black metal golems started flying out of the vessel, racing towards the battlefield.
The army of the dead ignored the advance of the golems, focusing all of their fury on the living so that they could add more to their ranks. Suwae's bonded beast carried her forward within the ranks of the golem army while her body started to shine with a white light. She pushed out her power, illuminating all of the golems' weapons with a golden light, and the two forces met.
The golems sliced into the first ranks of the army of the dead, but they mustered their power to push back against the golems. Suwae and her leopard charged through the battleline, destroying any wraith that tried to block their path with just the energy that she radiated, and rushed into the center of the still living army. The poison was starting to affect the weaker of those in the defensive circle, but like the golems, she blessed those around her with a golden light that purged the corruption.
"Now, Joyano," Istar said.
Joyano's body flickered out of existence as he teleported himself to Suwae's side just in time to block a crimson spear that had been thrown at Suwae. An explosion erupted from the point of impact, but Suwae and Joyano erected a barrier which reflected the malicious energy back towards the fortress. Before the fortress could be destroyed though, a single man stopped it all with a raised hand.
"Still a coward that uses sneak attacks, Skansi," Joyano stated as he looked at his opponent.
"All tactics are valid in War," Skansi mocked with a cheshire grin on all four of his faces.
Skansi manifested a spear, whip, sword, axe, dagger, and chakram for each of his six hands while his body became covered in crimson armor. In response, Joyano summoned his hammer, axe, sword, and shield while all of his golden armor appeared.
"Take those that you can away then get out of here," Joyano said before he bolted towards Skansi.
The impact knocked Skansi hundreds of kilometers away, but he was unharmed. Suwae started drawing people into her Inner Realm while her beast moved to start knocking away the army of the dead from the survivors. The battle between two powerhouses that specialized in Warcraft was something that would destroy the very fabric of the Void and a single stray attack would vaporize even a Major God.
"Where is he?" I asked, digging my claws into the bottom of the railing.
"Soon, Dystina, but not yet... Kali is playing with the Timeline and obscuring the battlefield. We only move when they do," Istar replied.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Katye did not even finish her sentence before a bolt of emerald-green energy shot out at me, striking me in the chest. Electricity coursed through my veins, and I could feel my body swelling with energy. A second bolt shot out, just a moment behind the one that caught me, and struck Katye in the head.
In a matter of seconds, so much energy was pushed into my body that I thought I was about to burst. Instead, my Dusa form activated on its own and the pressure weakened though it was not gone. My body was locked in place as the energy kept feeding my transformation until something seemed to click into place. Violet bands of electricity sparked across my scales, and I felt a strange completeness, though it only lasted for a moment.
The emerald-green energy that had struck me in the chest released me and I collapsed to my knees. I took in a couple of deep breaths, trying to adjust to the new level of strength. My body was still brimming with electricity and the occasional violet spark would dance across my scales. I could not shift back to my normal form immediately since every time I tried, the overflowing energy made me feel like I would explode with the only relief coming when I changed back to Dusa form.
"Your body needs more time to absorb the inheritance. Fighting it will only harm you," Ishu said, kneeling next to me.
"Inheritance? I thought you said it was a natural treasure," I asked.
"An Inheritance is a crafted Soul treasure which, by your appearance and the other, was meant to forcibly unlock your Dusa form."
"Katye..." I mumbled as I looked over in her direction.
Katye was still connected to the emerald-green energy, but her body was coated in a violet light. Her height had increased, making her around six feet tall, and her chest and hips had nearly doubled in size though she still seemed thin. Even more noticeable than her impressive assets were the four wings that reminded me of a dragonfly. There was a strange longing in my heart when I looked at her in that state and, without realizing it, a tear rolled down my cheek.
"You must not disturb her. An inheritance is a delicate thing and if anything goes wrong, her Soul could be consumed," Ishu warned.
"Explain an Inheritance in the most basic of terms," I growled, worried about Katye.
"Typically, a person at the level of a Demi-God or above can leave an Inheritance behind which grants the lucky person a tiny portion of the caster's Soul Power. Even if the receiver did not train, it was said that they could gain numerous ranks. In the simplest of terms, a portion of an Ancient Soul is being fused with her Soul. Currently, it is a slow process which is allowing her Soul to adjust and conform to the addition, but any change could turn it into a Possession, where the Ancient Soul overrides the Mortal Soul."
I clenched my jaw with frustration. Although I trusted Tori, I did not like him forcing these changes on us, especially when Katye looked so helpless. My only option was just to stay here and wait for her to be done.
"Go find one of our partners and tell them that we are okay, but unable to leave right now. You must not be seen by the young girl if you have to go all the way up to the surface, understood?"
Ishu gave me a nod and stood up then walked away. I turned my attention back to Katye and sighed as I watched her with nothing else to do. He returned a short time later with a letter from Raven which made things a little easier. I wrote a reply, telling her that I was safe, but something was going on with Katye and I did not want to leave her since she was unresponsive. He was forced to carry a few more letters, but the sunrise cut off that line of communication.
Slowly, the violet glow gave away to a more defined form. Her skin was porcelain white and flawless which I could see plenty of since her clothing had been reduced to a handful of well-placed ivy leaves. Her wings sprouted from her back and, just like a dragonfly's, they were practically transparent. Her hair now extended past her butt and had turned the same violet color as the glow that had covered her before.
While I was observing the changes brought by her Dusa form, the emerald-green energy released Katye. She started to crumble to the ground, but I quickly moved to catch her. Thankfully, during the hours that I had been waiting on her, my body had stopped sparking and I had been able to transform back into my normal form.
As I cradled her in my arms, a strange possessiveness welled up inside of me, but I pushed the feeling away, standing up. Now that she was taller than me and unconscious, it was not too easy to carry her, but I managed to carry her back up to the entrance of the labyrinth. There was no one present, thankfully, so I laid her down carefully on her side to make sure her wings were not squished. Stretching out my senses, I detected the charm that I had made for Raven which she always wore, so I tapped into the energy left inside and made it twitch a few times. She understood the message, but instead of coming down herself, it was Echo who did.
"Before you go in, you need to understand that she is stuck in her Dusa form and unconscious. She looks better than I do in the form, but she doesn't really look like herself," I said, meeting Echo in the cave.
"What happened to you? Your hair and eyes are gray," Echo asked with concern.
I pulled a bit of my hair into my view and saw that it was the same stormy gray of my scale. "It's fine," I sighed, "I'm pretty sure that its due to my mana bleeding through. I received my own power-up, but the effects were lesser since I already had my Dusa form. I couldn't revert to my human self until my body absorbed the energy, so hopefully, I just need more time to get fully back to normal."
"What happened?"
"Come on," I said, motioning for her to follow me, as I turned around and walked towards Katye's bed. "The final trial was something that Ishu called a Heart's Demon trial. I was 'haunted' by the spirits of Lincoln and Finn. The key to it seemed to be accepting my failure and guilt without letting it hold me back, which I had already done when I achieved my Dusa form. It had only been four hours when we both woke up from it and the doors to the vault opened, so we decided to go in and see what was inside.
"We believe that the vault was the original home of a very important artifact in the original timeline that we had hoped to leave buried under the bunker in Polis, but that likely won't be enough to stop the future. While she examined the cave drawings, I approached the source of power which was the 'treasure' inside and we were hit by a bolt of pure energy. Ishu called it an Inheritance, a Soul-strengthening treasure, but we didn't have an option of whether or not we wanted it since it struck without warning."
Echo did not reply right away as her eyes were locked on Katye's sleeping figure. She sat down on the bed next to Katye and pushed her hair behind her ear then checked her pulse. After she confirmed it, she gently placed her hand on Katye's cheek which sent a strong burst of jealousy and anger that I was barely able to control. I ended up turning away to ensure I would not do anything stupid and walked over to my bed which was not too far away.
After a few minutes, Echo walked over to me and said, "I'll send Raven down, but can you let me know if she wakes up?"
"Yeah, of course," I said dimly. I was still wearing my metal armor, so I used my power to cut off a piece of my bracer and turned it into a simple bracelet which I filled with a lot of mana then passed it over to her. "Wear it. I'll be able to sense it if you stay near the house, so I'll make it move when she wakes up."
"Thank you, Rebecca."
"It's the least that I can do."
She nodded her head then headed out towards the surface. I sighed and looked over at Katye, my mind full of questions. There was some reason why Tori placed me with her, and my instincts were telling me it was rooted in whatever was the cause of the jealousy I felt whenever I saw her with Echo.
Raven came down a short time later, and I explained everything all over again. She was worried about the changes, but there was little that either of us could do about them. We laid on the bed together for several hours, not really talking, but enjoying the closeness. Eventually, she had to go back up to the surface and help take care of Madi, or the smart young girl would start asking questions.
Echo and Raven would visit occasionally throughout the next few days when they could slip away from Madi, but Katye's condition did not change. I spent most of my time meditating, trying to understand what had happened to my Soul Realm. My hair managed to return to its natural dark auburn color, but my eyes were still the same stormy gray.
The dragon that was the center of my Soul Realm was much more defined, no longer a contained cloud, but a true, scaly dragon. It would dart in and out of a new storm cloud that crackled with violet lightning. The background of darkness was now dotted with five pin-point stars, which was not a lot, but it did change the feeling of the realm. It was no longer just an empty space that the blackness represented, but now, it was outer space though I knew there was more to it than just that.
Five days after we opened the vault, Katye finally awoke. Like me, her eyes were dyed by the color of her mana, making them a beautiful violet color even after she returned to her human state. As we waited for Echo or Raven to come down, I could feel her eyes lingering on me even though neither of us talked to the other.
Of course, Echo was the one who ended up coming down, so I walked off while they had their little reunion. It did not take too long before they joined me in the natural cavern and then the three of us headed up to the surface. Finally taking a breath of fresh air was refreshing and mind clearing which I needed far more than I realized.
"Imagine if we had to live underground with the others," Katye commented next to me as I leaned on the railing around the balcony.
"Mmm... I would have ended up with a lot worse of a title than Natfaya or Blodreina when I snapped one day and started killing everyone," I replied with dark humor.
"I'm not sure if you are joking or not," Echo said, joining us.
"That makes two of us," I smirked. "So... how we are going to explain our eyes to Madi?"
Katye sighed and replied, "A version of the truth, I guess. They are the color of our markings which she accepted rather easily, so hopefully, it won't be too much for her."
"I'll let you handle it then."
"As usual," she smirked before heading to the bridge that led to the stairs.
I watched Katye and Echo walk away for a bit before I turned my eyes to the clear sky. The urge to jump into the air and fly swelled inside of me, but I suppressed it with some annoyance. After what Ishu had explained about an inheritance, I could not shake the feeling that there was a lot more to all of this than simply wanting to add us to his pantheon. There was something inside of me that I had already felt influencing me multiple times throughout my time here in this world, so I could not help but question if this was something else that he had done to me.
Pushing my concerns aside, I followed after Katye and Echo a few minutes later and made my way down to the game room where everyone was gathered. Madi was excited to see me, but she was closer to Katye so I was not upset when she stayed in her lap to play her game. I joined Raven on the couch and we all watched Madi play for the afternoon. After dinner, Katye took Madi upstairs and tucked her in like she would most nights, trying to get us back to our normal routine. The three of us waited for her to return out on the porch as usual.
I laid out on one of the lounge chairs with Raven laying against my chest. While I was lost in my thoughts and concerns, my fingers gently caressed her collarbone as I stared up into the night sky. Echo sat off to the side on her own lounge chair also looking out into the distance, not really talking either. Katye came down some time later, but I did not turn to look since I did not want to feel that pang of jealousy when I saw her interact with Echo.
"So... What did you gain from this?" Katye asked with a sigh as she sat down with Echo.
When I got tired of meditating, I would practice with my new element, so I decided to show it. I raised my hand and tapped into Lightning mana. Violet arcs of electricity sprung between my fingers, drawing everyone's attention, before I released the energy.
"My Water and Wind also got a bit of a boost, but they are still below Fire and Earth. I take it you got something interesting aside from just your Dusa form," I replied, finally looking over at her.
"You could say that... I have some complex, alien language jammed into my mind that relates to the Anomaly Stone, but far more runes mixed in. I don't understand a damn thing about the language itself, but what I do know, or have some idea of, is how it is meant to be used. There are two main uses for it, wide-scale magical attacks or enchanting objects, using a mana crystal as a power source. I'm hoping the cave paintings inside the vault are some of the spells, or I'll have no idea where to get started," Katye explained.
"I still don't know why someone would go through all the trouble to give you both this power. Wouldn't it be wiser to focus on strengthening himself?" Echo asked.
"He's grooming us," Katye and I said in unison then looked at each other with surprise.
"Between the reactions of Ishu to my advancements and a few other encounters when I was close to death, I've gotten the feeling that this wasn't done out of the kindness of his heart or even to get our allegiance. There is definitely more to all of this than what we were told before we entered your timeline," I explained.
"I've noticed some similar situations in my own life, and the vault has all but confirmed a tie to the Anomaly Stone which means that the Final War is likely unavoidable," Katye added.
"Ascension or death... for all life on six different planets," Raven sighed.
A/N: If you would like to support me and get early access to the story, join my P@t reon - Azazii6181?fan_landing=true.
