Carnivorous Caverns, Depth Level 1…

Ten minutes was all it took for Lavenna and Zexus to make their way to the closest medical centre northward. Down the straight and narrow paths that looked more like a battlefield than an abandoned facility now, the fox held a firm hand over her nose while her husband carried the box of red vials she had discovered after just coming through the portal. They were important apparently, functioning like a potion but only when they were dispersed in the air of the capsule.

She had no idea what Zexus meant by that, but she was not going to question it. Complicated stuff that had to do with engineering and the like was an absolute ‘no’ in her book.

To the Kitsune’s surprise, there was no trouble on the way to the medical centre. Not even a glimpse of the grotesque leeches that she swore to exterminate purely due to her dislike of their horrid appearances. Was she vain? Perhaps. But who could really justify a reason for their existence? Did they fulfill any purpose in the ecosystem besides screw it up? She doubted it, especially now that she knew what they did to people.

“So…Ni-goo-rath?” The word felt twisted on Lavenna’s tongue as she tried to reproduce what Zexus had just told her. “Am I pronouncing that right? You know what, don’t answer that. I choose to believe I am. More importantly, is that a person? God? Leprechaun in the fairy woods?”

“You think a Leprechaun would want anything to do with leeches?” Zexus glanced at her as they entered the damp and dark room. Immediately descending a staircase covered in moist and murky moss, the two found themselves before a ruin of glass and steel.

The air smelled surprisingly welcoming to her, like the morning woods of her isle home where she would lounge beneath the verandah of their Elderwood home. She missed that, but if she stayed there, she would have to watch Zexus go through his troubles alone.

“You’re totally right. Those little suckers would rather lose a leg than be associated with the ‘underbelly’ of the forest.” Hands to her thin waist, Lavenna moved left and right, checking the desks and what she assumed to be surgical equipment.

Much had been worn down over time. One exception was the tubes of clouded glass often used by ‘scientists’ for ‘scientific’ purposes. Those managed to remain quite sturdy, albeit covered in moss, dirt, dust or all three. The other exception was much larger but also more confusing to comprehend, which also happened to be exactly what Zexus was working with.

“Huh. So this is it?” Having followed Zexus to the back of the room, guided by a hovering sphere of her Spiritfire, the two came upon the cylindrical capsules. Seven of them were opened, either with their glass shattered or pried open. The rightmost pod remained intact.

Box set on the moss, Lavenna watched as Zexus then went about checking the surviving capsule, connecting it with wires to the steel box planted next to the stand legs. He tapped this and that, flicking switches within what she was told to be a ‘power cell’. When he was done, a soft whirring was emitted by the device, which sounded rather pleasant to the Kitsune for unknown reasons.

*Clack*

The noise was soft, barely echoing through the spacious and hollow room. Turning over the curved cover of the container, a hiss of cold air emerged from within the device, covering Zexus in fog as Lavenna watched on in amusement.

“Pft. Imma take a wild guess and say that that’s the one that’s working?” The Kitsune called out, taking a seat on the crate brought all the way from their base while her husband went about fidgeting with the ancient yet technologically advanced machine.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Yes, pass me twelve of those vials.”

Doing as she was asked, Lavenna unclasped the lock and sifted through the box for a dozen tubes of red liquid. Picking out the clearest ones, the Kitsune skipped over to her Bonded and dropped them in his awaiting hands. Head over his shoulder, she watched him place them into the large holes beneath the leather bed before shutting the powered capsule.

“What now?” Lavenna asked, her tails swaying in excitement as a red mist filtered into the capsule, obscuring her vision of the body within.

“Now we wait. When I experimented with it earlier, ten minutes gave decent progress. About the same pace as a rank one regeneration-type Ego.” Zexus said, moving to the desks on the sides. “I think I’ll stay here for a while. See if there’s anything useful. Also never know who may come across this place.”

The ashen-haired beauty raised a brow. “Seriously? You think anyone would even be around here? You massacred a small country out there. I can’t sense or hear a single living thing nearby.”

Zexus shrugged. “Never hurts to be cautious.”

…

“Fine. I’ll stay here with you then. The big girls can take care of themselves.” The Kitsune took a seat against the crate, playing with balls of Spiritfire to pass the time.

Two hours and two more waves of pinheads later, Lavenna was napping when a familiar hand shook her awake.

“What…?” Rather than a question, her words came out more like a threat. Her magenta eyes, narrowed slits, all but said ‘how dare you wake me up, I’m going to kill you’ to the man who had awoken her.

“It’s done.”

At first, Lavenna squinted in confusion, but once she realised what he was speaking of, her ears perked up.

“Really? Then lets get started!” All but jumping to her feet, the Kitsune was soon by the Sorkosi woman’s side.

Sally looked much better. No longer was her skin drained of life and bursting with dark veins, but was now glowing with a rich bronze hue. The gashes that once tore open her flesh at every joint were fixed up without so much as a lingering scratch. Although the young woman’s hair was still missing, her damaged face was also recovered, showing off high cheekbones, a sharp jawline, and lush purple eyes.

“Huh. She’s pretty good looking.” Lavenna complimented as she examined the corpse with a careful hand. Mana imbued into her finger tips, she looked for any signs of ‘blockage’ and the presence of foreign energy such as the Abyss. “Really nice ass, strong thighs...”

“Are you done?” Zexus loomed over her with folded arms, stoic as a statue.

“Yeah yeah, hold your horses. Just checking out the ‘about-to-be other me’. With such a great body like hers, she definitely seems more like a Saskia than Sally.” Examination completed, Lavenna stretched her arms. She stood up and held a hand out to her partner. “Gimme.”

He nodded, taking her hand into his own.

Both shut their eyes, concentrating. Before long, Lavenna felt a warmth travel from within Zexus and into her. It was soothing, like covering oneself with a blanket on a cold winter’s night. His mana was delicious.

“Thank you~.” Lavenna smirked when the transfer ended, feeling as if she had just inhaled caffeine by the kilogram while Zexus took a seat with a look of exhaustion. His mana mixed in well with her own, and had a ‘volume’ almost twice that of her own. She was completely overloaded, but managed to handle it due to her species’ natural attributes.

“Just get on with it.” Her husband sighed, looking ready to topple over at a moment’s notice.

“I’m on it, I’m on it.” The Kitsune chuckled, back to a knelt position by Sally.

Taking a deep and cold breath, Lavenna sat for a long moment of silence. Her heart calmed, and her mind stilled, settling like a leaf upon a rippleless water surface. Mind and Soul prepared, she then reached out with her hands, placing them on the corpse’s abdomen without opening her eyes.

Another mana transfer began, but this time, there was a little more. Something a human like Zexus could never replicate, or any other species other than her own. Whereas other organisms would channel from their Soulcore, often located at the centre of their bodies, Lavenna drew power from one of her tails. If she looked back at that moment, she would have seen said limb noticeably tense before losing all strength.

As the mana departed, one of her tails would also begin to shrivel, unable to keep its physical existence. However, in exchange for its mournful death, Sally’s body also began to change. Laid out on her side, hair once absent filled in, the dark strands with accents of blonde and white growing at an alarming pace until they were shoulder length. While her purple eyes glowed with the influx of mana and Soul, a pair of dark fox ears also sprouted from her head while a tail full of fluff emerged from her lower back.

“Shit…it’s such a simple process and yet…I feel like I can’t keep it up.” Lavenna gritted her teeth, drowsiness bufetting her in waves. She felt that she could collapse at any moment. At one point, the only things that kept her going was her sense of duty as a ‘mother’, that and the feeling of Zexus supporting her from behind.

Seconds passed like hours, stretching to days until finally, it was done.

“Shit…” The Kitsune blacked out, her last glimpse being that of the slumbering Sorkosi, now a Spirit Beast.