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Zenith

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Watching the teenager try to act tough makes my baths all the more enjoyable. I laugh internally at the kid pointedly not looking at me. It’s amazing how tense he manages to be in a warm bath. After a while he relaxes, slumping into the water a bit.

Suddenly the boy goes completely limp and sinks into the water. I quickly stand up and am about to go help him when he reappears from the water. Instead of the pale-haired teen, a small child with vibrant red hair and pointed ears surfaces. The small figure is asleep on his back, floating face up in the water.

Worried that the child will breathe in water, I start to move towards him. When my hand almost touches his face, his small eyes bolt open. Two slitted pupils lock onto me, blazing with an unexpected fierceness.

The boy lets out a shrill whine as he frantically splashes around in the water. Still relaxing in my other body, I move to pick the child up.

“Don’t touch me!”

My hands are repelled from the kid by a sudden array of scales floating above his skin. I back up, watching carefully. The scales of light slowly fade into the child’s skin, as if they never existed.

“Yes! Do not touch me! Wight is too strong to be touched!” He seems very proud of himself, standing on the edge of the pool. The small figure does some poses, probably to seem impressive.

Despite the childish shenanigans, I manage to talk to him with a straight face. “Wight, we need to leave here soon.”

The small boy’s eyes go wide in surprise.“How did you know my name, wimp?” His face is filled with wonder even as he’s doling out insults.

Trying to capitalize on the opening, I offer my hand. “Do you want to go hang out somewhere else, Wight? This room only has boring water, but the room I can take you to has many things in it!”

He narrows his eyes, seemingly suspicious of my intentions. I’m treated to a chubby-cheeked glare, and after a few moments my hand is taken. “Yes, wimp! Take me somewhere else,” he proudly orders. I get out of both baths and dress myselves and Wight. Lacking clothes for the boy, I wrap a towel around him and convince him it’s a powerful tribal outfit. Once we’re both dressed I take the child’s hand again and lead him to his room.

Meeting myself at the door to Wight’s room, I point to me. “Wight, this nice lady is going to play with you, alright?” His bored gaze moves from me to the other me. Seeing my female self, the kid’s eyes light up.

“Wow, lady! You look super strong.” He tears his hand out of my grasp, running over to me and taking my other hand instead.

As I take his hand, I point to my male body. “Say bye to big brother for me, Wight.” He breaks his avid stare to look where I’m pointing. We both wave to me, and I take him inside his room.

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Wight

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The nice lady takes me to a desk in the big room. I climb into the big grownup chair at the desk and grin. I’m almost as tall as her from up here!

“I’m going to get some paper, wait a moment.” I watch her walk to a drawer by the wall, and she pulls out some paper and a pen. “Here you go, Wight.” The strong lady hands me the things she pulled from the drawer.

I give her a nice smile. “Thank you, strong lady!” I feel her pat me on the head as I turn my attention to the new things. The pen has large, yellowish lines drawn on it. I pick it up and press it to the blank paper. Dark ink spreads out from where I’m pressing down. The slowly growing circle of black is very pretty. I watch it get bigger and bigger, until it almost fills the paper. My pen is taken, and I look up to see the strong lady has snatched it from me!

“Strong lady! That pen is for me!” I yell at her. Why would she take the thing she just gave me?

“Wight, I’ll give it back if you promise to draw, and not just let the ink run.” Her gaze is mean and cold. I silently nod at her, regaining my drawing tool.

I look back at my paper, which she’s already swapped out for a new one. I think about what I want to draw until a cool symbol pops into my head. I slowly draw the shapes like I see in my head. As soon as I lift my pen from the last line, the symbol starts to glow dark red.

After a moment the dark red symbol ignites the paper. A black flame consumes the paper, quickly spreading onto the stone desktop. When the stone starts to glow and turn into a liquid, I feel a fast wind whip past my head.

The desk in front of me suddenly disappears, replaced by a crushed pile of stone and wood. The black fire is nowhere to be seen, apparently extinguished. I look at the strong lady, confused, and notice her rubbing her fist. I hope she’s okay. My eyes start to droop closed, but I force them open. Eventually I lose the battle, and my eyes close as I drift off to sleep.

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Cleave

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After spending hours strong-arming Bishop Wood into keeping quiet, I finally return home. Unable to rest, I head for my study. The pile of paperwork on my desk is joined by its smaller sibling from the temple. My chair shudders as I plop into it. Looking over the first paper on the pile, I begin my work.

As I pull another paper from the mass, I hear a loud crashing sound outside my window. I jump to my feet, knocking over my seat. Opening my window with a slam, I look down two floors to find the source of the sound. Immediately the crater with the glowing shape in my flowerbed draws my attention.

The night air nips at my skin as I jog over to the now-crushed flowers. By now the glowing light has faded, being replaced by a dark shape. When I crouch down, I’m able to make out the form of a small boy buried in a hole a foot deep. Before I’m able to do anything, the child’s eyes open.

He lets out a wretched sound that shakes my eyes in their sockets. After what seems to be an eternity, the sound stops.

“Why have you brought me here?” The red-faced child has his tiny hand pointed at me. “This is not where I sleep! I sleep in the bed that the lady put me in!” The enraged boy slams his fists into the ground, creating two small craters.

In an attempt to regain control of the situation, I adopt a stern tone. “Boy! I don’t know why you fell here, but you must not hit things. Understand?” I give him a cold stare. He seems shocked by my attitude and slowly moves his head up and down. “Good!” I reach down and pull the boy into my arms.

On the way to the boy’s room, his eyelashes begin to flutter. My rhythmic steps up the stairs slowly lull him to sleep. I quietly open the door to his room, finding the door to the balcony ajar. As I lean down to tuck the child in, I see Zenith’s form curled up on the ground next to the bed, sleeping deeply. With a wry smile, I get a spare blanket and drape it over her.

After one last fond look over the two of them, I leave the room and gently shut the door behind me.