“B…Boss…we…got a problem.” Kidd’s garbled voice triggered the channel when the snowfall escalated with biting winds evading the compressed water and stirring the whitening beach.
“What happened?” Ewan asked, inching close to the ocean to minimize the range.
“Some ships…been popping up here and…lately,” he said with chopped words. “They’re…pirates…eyeing our warship.”
“Have they attacked you?” Ewan asked.
“Not yet,” Kidd said.
“Let them be then,” Ewan said. “Don’t attack or contact them unless they come to you. We’ll deal with them once we’re done here.”
“How long…take, Boss?” he asked.
“We’ll be done today, I’ll talk to you then,” Ewan said, cutting off the channel, and turned around to look at Nana. “Ready?” he asked.
She gave a strained nod and gulped, clutching her fists. Her water rune had almost completed its change, it had nigh synced with the natural rune, and only the last step remained.
“Nothing will happen to you,” Ewan said as his breath steamed with every word. It was a promise to her and himself, and he intended to keep it at any cost. “And nothing should happen to your Astylinds either.”
“Should…,” she muttered and lowered her head, her eyes reflecting the still and dingy waters.
“They’ve been fine so far, and they’re showing signs of mutation,” Ewan said, stroking her head in a hug. “There’s a high chance they’ll survive, don’t let the anxiety disturb you. Focus and complete the process, don’t think about anything else. Let’s start.”
She nodded, a steeled tenacity replacing her wavering gaze, her nostrils flaring with her deep breaths.
Ice Wall!
Ewan spread the cast and erected a stretching hall on the beach, blocking all sides—the lesson from the Governor had him cover the ground too. And when the walls fused together in a single construction, he pulled his authority out of them, erased his presence left during their creation, and let them blend into the nature. Wisps of wintry mist glided away from the frosted walls, and the low temperature plummeted further inside the ice hall.
“I’m taking it away, brace yourself,” Ewan said and took back his Ryvia that covered Nana’s soul space to further reduce his influence, leaving just an inert thread behind for observation, lingering in the corner. If things went south, he could use it to launch his strength into her soul and save her life.
The invasive wave of the natural rune burst in when he stepped away from her, pushing her runes past the finishing line. She grimaced with squeezed eyes and clawed his forearms, stopping him from going back, her body shivering as she sweated even in the negative cold, and her runes finalized their change.
…
…
…
Nana fared well through the process, albeit with bouts of pain eliciting her groans and her nails digging in Ewan’s arms. Supple streams of water circled her, the bubbles cheered around, her hair danced with them, and her presence began to shift as success knocked on the door. Yet when she stepped over to the Seaborn’s side, her Astylinds rejected the mutation. Nana’s decision was their willingness too, none of her Astylinds refused her change, but they denied it on an instinctual level.
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The invasion had never needed their approval though, the transformation was Nana’s helplessness, and the same was her Astylinds’ infirmity. Thus, their rejection only resulted in their deathly screams as the wave of the natural rune bored deep into them, drilled through their core, and forced their change.
Ewan triggered his thread of Ryvia into three and rushed to their side, seeping into the merging runes and stretching the threads to blanket them. The coat was thin but stood its ground against the invasion and delayed the process, giving the three Astylinds enough time to adjust and suppress their instinct. Nevertheless, he was still one step too late. Even though he saved their lives, the mutation had already scarred them. The damage had left its mark, only its extent remained unclear.
….
She held back her tears, but her eyes misted, and she trembled with her choppy breaths stirring the fog around.
“Does it hurt here?” Ewan poked under her jaws with a playful smile, trying to cheer her up. But she slapped his hand away and glared at him with watery eyes, her nose reddening.
“Come on, don’t cry. They all survived, didn’t they,” Ewan said, prodding her nose this time. And after two tries of swatting him away as he evaded, she grabbed his hand and chomped on it, and her tears finally fell.
“Go easy, go easy.” Ewan held her forehead to prevent a deep bite, but soon the pressure increased. “Ahh!! Don’t chew!” He screamed from his stomach.
…
…
Once she let go with a proud face and wiped her mouth with a satisfied grunt, her shoulders had eased, and her eyes cleared up; albeit her relief came at the price of Ewan’s hand. The dog-like deep teeth marks might leave permanent scars…
“Does it hurt?” she asked.
“What do you think?” Ewan snapped back, blowing on the tingling bite wound.
“You were annoying me…,” she murmured. “I think I bite when I’m annoyed,” she said with a serious expression and a flash of revelation in her eyes.
“Took you twenty years to figure that out, I knew it the day we first met.” Ewan retorted, covering the bitten area with his palm. His evolved physique made quick work of it, the wound vanished without even leaving a trace behind, but she didn’t need to know that. He could play with her for some time…
“How do you remember that?” Nana asked, her eyes widening. “I was one and you were only a few days old back then, I don’t remember anything.”
“I don’t remember anything either, but you must’ve bitten me, a dog will always be a dog.”
And he succeeded in taking her mind off her Astylinds. He couldn’t reduce her guilt, but he could at least dampen it with banter, however vain it was.
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Status: Healthy
Step-1 Severynth [Spirit-Nebula: Zeroth Surge]
Subtype: Step-0 Elementalist
Name: Ewan Ayres
Species: Human
Vitality: 7.0
Spirit: 25.5
Anima: [Fire – 25.5 | Ice – 25.5 | Blood – 25.5 | Mystic: 25.5 | Dark: 25.5]
Astylinds: 5 [Potential: 0]
Rolling Cat [Toast]: Step-1 Severynth [Spirit-Nebula: Zeroth Surge]
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Fire Monkey [Orange]: Step-1 [Level-10] [Grade-B]
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Imp [Frost]: Step-1 [Level-10] [Grade-B]
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Bloodthorn-Lotus [Iris]: Step-1 [Level-10] [Grade-D]
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Necros-Crow [Ghost]: Step-0 [Level-4] [Grade-D]
Equipment: Common Clothes; Yurn [Neck Gaiter]; Moonkeeper [Crystal-Ball]; Rainwarden [Staff]; Blackfeather [Overcoat].
Storage: Journal; Elementalist—The Path of Anima [Subtype-Book]; Spellbook; Bloodlust [Spell]; Transmute [Spell]; Unknown Book [Radon’s Legacy]; Anima-Crystals [Novas Coins]; Hub-Connector; Ingredients; Lantern.
Novas: 24,285
Crelith: 1,014