Leo watched as Nyx sat up and closed her eyes. After a brief moment, her entire body burst into smoke but retained its shape. Then, the shadows slowly began to move, compressing until only a dark sphere, about the size of a large dog, remained where the feline had been.

What are you do—

His thoughts got cut off as suddenly the shadow ball shifted, growing four legs, a small head, and a single long tail. The remaining mass transformed next, creating a thin torso filled with black fur.

No way… Leo gaped at the tiny cat that now stood before him. The feline took a few experimental steps and nodded, something akin to a grin forming on her face.

“Nyx?” he asked tentatively.

“Who else?” she replied in the same voice as before. “I don’t know what the problem is. This was easy. You’re losing your touch, Leo.”

He ignored the jab. “Wait. You got the skill for it, right?”

Nyx nodded, her tail flicking up. “Sealed Form, epic quality. Even the description sounds simple.”

Leo threw his hands up. “How?! I’ve been at it for two bloody hours, and nothing worked. How did you just wake up and get it right on your first try?”

The cat shot him another grin. “I’m… how did those people say it? Ah, yes. I’m built different.”

God dammit. He palmed his face, which, of course, garnered another reaction from Nyx.

“What? Cat got your tongue?”

Leo snorted, unable to hold it in any longer. “I can’t believe you said that. From now on, you are banned from watching my memories. Or spending time with Lily alone.”

Nyx pouted. “Spoilsport.”

“Yeah, no. I ain’t falling for that. Now tell me how did you do it.”

“Fine.” She sighed and slowly transformed back into her normal form. “Come into my mind and feel it for yourself. It will be easier that way.”

“Good idea.”

Leo closed his eyes and reached for their bond. Without any resistance, he traveled to the other side where, with Nyx’s help, he settled in the back of her mind and waited.

‘Here we go then,’ she announced internally, and at once, he felt it all.

First, her entire body collapsed into pure energy, which was pretty much her smoke form. Next, she pulled the power from her soul and mixed it with her body while compressing it all into a tiny sphere he had seen before.

Finally, with the strength of her mind, she forced all of that energy towards her soul but without pushing it inside. Instead, a part of it opened and created a tiny bridge between the main soul and the surplus of power. Leo didn’t know the purpose of that connection, but he could feel Essence traveling through it.

“That explains a lot,” he muttered, opening his eyes to see Nyx’s sealed form. “Still, there is one major problem with what you have shown me.”

The cat tilted her head. “What?”

He gave her the driest look he could muster. “I don’t know if you haven’t noticed, but unlike you, I can’t turn my body into smoke.”

To which she just shrugged. “And? We have time. You can figure out how to work around that. Don’t tell me a tiny issue like this will stop you.”

I wouldn’t exactly call it tiny, but okay…

“I will see what I can do,” he muttered instead before returning his gaze to the feline. “You should use this time too. Weren’t you the one who wanted to learn Stealth Shroud and figure out your own version of Reinforcement?”

Nyx slumped. “I forgot about that. Fine, might as well…”

And just like that, they both settled in their own corner of the cave to practice. Leo didn’t even move at first and simply reorganized his mind, searching for any way to mimic what Nyx had done. He had tried learning her smoke form before, but it quickly became clear that it was an ability unique to her—or at least her species.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Maybe Devour could help, after all, he mused internally. I would just have to somehow drain my own body and then store that power next to my soul. But then how do I even transform? Wouldn’t I just kill myself by accident this way? Now, that would be embarrassing…

“Argh!” He growled, pressing his hands to his head. If he still had some hair, he would have ripped it out a long time ago. Well, there were also his spikes…

No. Don’t even think about it! Leo shook his head. Physically removing part of himself wasn’t the answer. All right, from the beginning.

He couldn’t change his body into smoke or something similar, so he crossed that idea off the list from the get-go. Maybe he could figure it out in the future, but for now, he needed something simpler, something quicker.

Compress, he repeated, gazing down at his right hand. He filled it to the brim with Essence, leaving no pore, no muscle, and not even a single gap between scales untouched. Everything he could possibly fill, he did.

Once that was done, he opened his mind to Devour, releasing it from its cage but still keeping a firm hold over the skill. He needed to change it—transform it into something usable. Last time, that failed, but now he had a different idea.

Pull it, don’t consume. Take my strength, Leo ordered and slowly released the chained skill. At first, it refused to attack what pretty much belonged to its wielder, but with another nudge, it went forward and chomped on the first bit of Essence in his arm.

No! He shouted. Take it all, not only Essence. Come on!

He steered Devour as best as he could, forcing it to do what he needed it to, but like always, it didn’t work perfectly. Nonetheless, he persisted and guided the consumed power into a storage he had created next to his soul. He made it into an exact copy of what he had seen in Nyx and hoped for the best.

Minutes, maybe more, flew by before his arm suddenly fell limb at his side. No matter how much he tried to move it, it refused to listen. To make it even weirder, his forearm blade shrunk a bit, and its edge lost its color.

Not exactly what I wanted but I guess that’s progress, Leo thought as he inspected the power Devour collected. There wasn’t much, and it was far from ‘compressed’ like the booklet said. Still, at least he succeeded in stripping a part of his body of some strength.

Now, how do I return it? He frowned, poking his limp arm. Shit…

----------------------------------------

Thankfully, as Leo discovered, to fix his hand all he had to do was release the stored power. His arm still felt a bit numb for a while after that, but it wasn’t anything some time couldn’t fix. All in all, he was on the right track. In the coming hour, he even managed to completely remove his blade and a tiny part of his claws.

It was a small success, but he would take it at this point.

“I need a break,” Leo announced after another failed attempt. “How is it going on your end?”

Nyx paused whatever she was doing and furrowed her brow. “Still stuck on Reinforcement. The uniqueness of my body is making it difficult for the skill to settle.”

He chuckled. “Looks like being able to turn into smoke isn’t as helpful as you thought.”

She huffed. “I will get it right before the end of the day. Can’t say the same for you, though, hmm?”

Leo resisted the urge to flip her off. “I’m getting there,” he said while adding in the safety of his mind, Or so I hope. She will never let me live it down if I’ve been practicing this technique for nothing.

“We will see about that,” she challenged, and this time, he did flip her off. She grinned in return. “Just don’t leave the cave. Remember what Naz’Tor told you.”

“I’m not stupid, I’m just gonna stretch my le—“

Before he could even stand up, something stirred within his soul. He reached inside and took out the transmitter.

“Speak of the devil, and he shall appear,” Leo muttered, accepting the call. “Naz’Tor, that was quick.”

“Of course it was!” the alien exclaimed. “I told you I would call soon, not tomorrow.”

“Fair. So what is it?”

“I made a few calls here and there to find out when I could get someone to extract you from Sazim,” Naz’Tor explained, all excitement gone from his voice. “It went rather well, but I have good and bad news for you again. Nothing too concerning this time, though.”

I will be the judge of that.

“Go on.”

“Well…” the merchant hesitated for a moment. “The good news is that I got two of my people to agree to an extraction job. The problem lies in the current situation inside the Void. A coming war, remember?”

“Hard to forget,” Leo replied, already guessing where this was headed.

“Right, right. So you see, my people can get to you within a day if we force the issue, but we don’t want to escalate the situation. You have seen the global message, after all. We have no stake in the coming war, so we would rather not join it preemptively. That’s why it might take a few days for the help to arrive.”

“That’s all?” He sighed in relief. “I will be fine, then. No worries.”

“Oh,” Naz’Tor said quietly before doing a complete one-eighty. “That’s great! Master your sealed form in the meantime. I will talk to you soon.”

And just like that, the call disconnected again.

Leo groaned.

He still didn’t tell me why I need it…