I watched her for a few moments, attentive to the calmness of her posture, before shifting my focus to the two spheres suspended above our heads. Mine continued to “absorb” the coloration of Tenebrya’s sphere, drawing it in slow, mesmerizing, swirling motions, as if it were weaving invisible threads of light through the air.
I couldn’t perceive many differences related to my own sphere. It didn’t seem to be growing darker, perhaps just a little less bright, as though its glow were slightly muted, but certainly not enough for me to confidently say it was, in fact, darkening.
My body showed no noticeable changes either. Nothing like the wings attached to my coccyx that appeared when I absorbed Althea’s sphere, nor the growth of horns I gained after absorbing Nekra’s. This time, everything remained strangely the same.
Once again, I turned my attention back to the sphere. The absorption seemed to be nearing its end, yet I still couldn’t feel anything in my body, no change, no clear sign of transformation. At least, nothing perceptible from my point of view.
When my horns grew, there had been that uncomfortable weight pressing down on my head. When Althea’s wings emerged from my coccyx, I clearly remember the persistent, almost irritating itch. This time, however, it was different.
I literally felt nothing. No itch, no weight, no pain or tingling to indicate where, or even if, the change was happening. Still, there was at least one obvious certainty: my body had not turned dark like Tenebrya’s.
As the sphere above me finished its absorption, I turned toward Victor, Rupert, and Arthur, who stood just a few steps away. It was no surprise that their gazes were fixed anywhere except on my little sister.
I ignored them without effort and walked toward a nearby stream, which wound through the vast garden like a living vein, reflecting the light and seeming to cut across the entire place.
I leaned over the water, bringing my face close to the crystal-clear surface, and, surprisingly, the change was far more subtle than I had expected. Perhaps not from a human perspective, but when compared to wings, horns, or eyes with constantly rotating geometric irises, a few altered strands of hair definitely don’t rank high on my list of immediately noticeable transformations.
I smoothed the tip of my hair, gently stretching the strands between my fingers. As I watched, dark streaks formed in real time, reflected both on the rippling surface of the water and directly on my own body. Honestly, I didn’t find it all that troubling. Come on, by now, my body is already a blend of so many things, something close to a living chimera.
The main reason I rarely bother myself over these transformations is simple: rather than making me strange, they end up enhancing my gelatinous body, giving it a curiously harmonious shape. Just look at my sisters, true beauties by nature.
Whether I like it or not, my body closely resembles that of a girl. It’s as if someone carefully observed the finest traits of my little sisters, the almost imperceptible subtleties that convey charm, elegance, and a natural presence, and then meticulously brought them together in me. My current appearance is, essentially, the final product of that careful process.
***
(POV – Emily Parker)
Emily set aside her more far-fetched theories and decided to focus all her attention on the facility’s team. Most of them had managed to calm down, at least on the surface, but panic still clung to them like a persistent shadow.
Whenever their eyes drifted, even for a brief second, toward the monitor, expressions of horror returned in full force. Their faces went pale, their breathing became erratic, and they began acting like patients trapped inside an asylum.
In the end, there was no alternative. Emily had to remove everyone who could no longer face their own fears, escorting them out of the room one by one, until only a few remained, those who, despite being shaken, could still handle the situation in some way.
Aside from Emily herself, Laura, who refused to leave despite being visibly disoriented by what was unfolding on the monitors, and two other researchers, the rest of the team had to be escorted out.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
The atmosphere was already teetering on the edge of chaos, and having too many people present only fueled the growing panic. On top of that, most of them hindered more than they helped, talking over one another, hesitating, or simply freezing in place.
Given that, Emily took the initiative and ordered them to be taken to their respective rest areas, hoping that away from the room they could gather their thoughts, catch their breath, and prevent fear from spreading any further.
Surveying the now-empty room, Emily let out a resigned sigh before turning to Laura, her expression gently marked by concern.
“Laura... are you sure you’re okay?” she asked, her voice lower than usual: “You still look so pale... you know, you don’t have to push yourself. I can manage with what we have here”
Emily then turned her gaze back to the monitor in front of her, the bluish light reflecting in her tired eyes. She gave a slight shrug, as if trying to downplay her own frustration.
“That said” she added: “it’s not like we can really help. We can’t even talk to them”
Laura, who still avoided looking directly at the monitors, though far less intensely than before, slowly shook her head, dismissing Emily’s words: “I’m fine... really”
As she lifted her gaze to Emily, a faint smile appeared at the corner of her lips, more weary than reassuring. Her fingers curled slightly before relaxing again.
“I just... ended up remembering things I’d rather forget” she added quietly: “That’s all”
Emily continued watching Laura’s side profile, her lightly pressed lips and attentive gaze making it painfully clear, without any effort at all, that she didn’t trust her friend’s words even a little.
Even so, she let out a long, restrained sigh, like someone choosing not to prolong an inevitable conflict. In resignation, she nodded slowly at Laura’s unconvincing words.
Laura could be irritatingly persistent when she latched onto certain topics, her conviction was nearly unshakable. And, much to Emily’s annoyance, she was one of the very few people capable of making her back down, choose silence and concession instead of confronting a Laura fueled by certainty and sharp words.
Emily cast a resigned look at her friend, her lips curling with a faint sigh: “If you say so...” she murmured, before turning her attention back to the monitor in front of her.
On the screen, the [Angel of Death] stared at her own face, another version of herself. The two stood facing each other, motionless, while ethereal spheres slowly rotated above their heads, emitting a muted, solemn glow.
Gradually, the [Angel of Death]’s sphere began absorbing the dark hues of the one hovering over the other anomaly, as if it were draining the deepest essence of her existence.
Emily had grown relatively accustomed to the sight. After all, this wasn’t the first time she had witnessed the scene. It was a recurring process, one that always repeated whenever the [Angel of Death] encountered one of the other virtues.
Setting aside how strange it felt to see herself reflected on the monitor, with a dark sphere slowly spinning above her head, Emily couldn’t help but find the entire process fascinating, and deeply intriguing.
Questions piled up in her mind. Why did she do it? And, ultimately, what kind of affinity required something like this? The doubts lingered relentlessly. Unfortunately, the [Angel of Death] herself didn’t seem to have much clearer answers.
When Emily questioned her, the response was simple and straightforward: to help stabilize her sisters’ powers, preventing them from causing disasters. A theory that, so far, had proven true... but was that really all there was to it?
Emily couldn’t fully accept that explanation. From her perspective, there was more at play, an unsettling feeling that the sphere wasn’t merely acting as a vault, but rebuilding itself. As if it were recharging, stockpiling energy... or something very close to that.
Still, the reason it had been depleted before, as well as why it needed to be replenished now, remained absolute mysteries, silent and deeply unsettling.
Naturally, Emily extended her line of questioning to the other anomalies, the so-called “sisters” of the [Angel of Death]. The result, however, was as irrelevant as it was predictable.
Most showed no interest whatsoever, while the rest seemed to avoid any conversation that came too close to the subject.
To be fair, they didn’t make much effort to distance themselves from the first group either, they simply remained there, indifferent, as if silence were the most comfortable option. Still, nothing compared to the frustration caused by the angelic anomaly with whom Emily interacted the most.
Whenever the conversation finally seemed to be heading toward a minimally satisfying answer, when the right words felt just moments away, it all unraveled at the very last second. Well... considering that anomaly’s usual behavior, you can probably already imagine how that ended.
Lost in her thoughts, Emily barely noticed when the irritating voice of the apparition seeped back into her mind. By then, she heard it as part of the background, a constant noise, almost as natural as the cold air around her. Still, there was an unbearable tone of understanding in its voice, the same as always.
“You don’t look very comfortable, sister” the apparition remarked, resting one hand on her chin while her deep, attentive eyes scanned Emily with interest. A faint smile curved her ethereal lips before she added casually: “I think a vacation would do you some good, don’t you?”
Emily rested one hand over the other, calmly interlacing her fingers, and lifted her gaze toward the apparition hovering around her. Her languid eyes, marked by an almost bored exhaustion, traced the ethereal presence without the slightest hint of fear or curiosity.
Then, with a soft sigh and a lazy movement of her lips, she murmured: “Can I take a vacation from you?”
The apparition stuck out her tongue, tilting her head slightly as a silly, teasing grin spread across her ethereal face: “Sorry, miss, but that package isn’t for sale!” she declared, her tone bright and playful.
Emily let out a faint, crooked smile, more resignation than humor, and released an almost imperceptible sigh before murmuring, her voice heavy with fatigue: “Yeah... I figured as much”
Patreon
https://discord.gg/v7meMFyeEb