"Corrin, wake up!"

The girl rubbed her eyes as she swatted her arm around to shush the loud noise.

"She's waking up! Come here."

"Wake up! HEY! Corrin!"

Opening her eyes, she peered around the room to see Lief, Graine and Nawa by her bedside staring intensely.

Lief, a short teenager with puffy cheeks and a big grin, stood waving his scrawny arms in excitement. His shaggy black hair hung over his dark eyebrows, curling at the tips. A large scar from his first and only demon hunt ran horizontally across his right cheek.

"It's about time you woke up!" Lief grinned.

"What time is it?" yawned Corrin as she continued to rub her eyes.

"--It's been- you've been asleep for nearly two weeks." interrupted Graine, "We've been worried sick about you."

"...I have?" she replied, brushing her messy hair out of her face.

"The Chief of Ceremony was saying that most dream-delvers don't wake up from the Phoenix Dream," Graine continued, "You're lucky to be alive."

Graine was a young man who hailed from a distant land. The fishermen of the west waters had found him as an infant on a stranded trade ship, taking him in as a child slave. Graine then was forced to work the jobs of farming and hard labour with the other slaves and the honourless, while the other men bound to honour hunted. Over years, he earned himself honour status, freeing himself of his slave title. His recent work in the mines and lumber mills left him with nice strong arms and a hard toned body.

Nawa jumped up onto the bed and began to lick her face with excitement, yipping.

"I'm glad to see you too, Nawa." Corrin smiled.

"The hunters should be home tonight," Graine added, "People are already preparing for the welcoming party."

"The Speakers of the Fire told the Elders that you didn't demand our returns in the Phoenix Dream," said Lief nervously, "They seem pretty mad about it."

"I tried..." replied Corrin, "The Phoenix said he would glass our kingdom if I asked again..."

"What was it like talking to the Phoenix? That must've been scary," said Graine.

"It was.... odd. I almost got the impression he enjoyed talking with me." replied Corrin.

Reaching under her pillow, Corrin pulled out a small wooden box.

"What are you doing?" questioned Graine.

"The Visionstone," she replied opening the small box revealing a small orange stone, "The Phoenix said my mother left this here for me, and that it has been trying to show me something."

The girl rubbed the small orange stone, but nothing happened.

"What's it doing?" said Lief, peering in closer to the stone.

"Nothing so far," she sighed, "It's sort of just vibrating ever slightly."

"What else did the Phoenix say?" asked Graine intrigued.

Corrin felt her neck. A small black string with a small bluestone hung around her neck, dangling above the center of her chest.

"The Bluestone Pendant. He gave this to me in the dream."

"What's that one do?" asked Lief as he leaned down, staring at her chest.

Corrin glanced down at her short cozy gown, analyzing it with a dead stare.

"Wasn't I wearing my ceremonial outfit last?" asked Corrin looking at the men in the room.

Corrin blushed as she checked down her gown to make sure she was wearing underlayers.

"Uh... you guys didn't dress me, did you?!" she shrieked.

Graine and Lief looked over at each other quickly, turning away.

"Nawa did," teased Graine.

"Is that true, Nawa?"

Nawa shook her head back and forth repeatedly, with her paws waving up and down.

"You were covered in oil!" panicked Lief, "We couldn't leave you like that!"

Embarrassed, Corrin covered her face with her hands.

"I read some of your books as well," finished Lief, "Well, I tried to."

"IS there anything else I should know?!" she exclaimed, pulling the blanket over her head.

"Your notes between the margins were really helpful. It really helped me in trying to learn that language."

Corrin grunted loudly at the enormous invasion of privacy.

"Englic? It's not that different from our language actually," Corrin said curiously, peeking out from under the blanket.

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"No. I meant the language with all the strange symbols for words," replied Lief.

"Like the symbols on our Aurana blades," added Graine.

"Oh, you mean the lost language? I can't read any of it yet."

"-- Well somebody can. Your book is full of lessons and notes," interrupted Lief as he shoved the book over to Corrin.

Excited, Corrin lifted up the blanket and grasped at the book in Lief's hands.

"Gimme it!" reached Corrin, leaning off of her bed towards Lief, "Give it to me!"

Lief's cheeks turned red as he handed over the tome.

"It-- I've never seen this book before," said Corrin amazed, holding the book close.

"It's titled a gift from a dear friend," she said as she read the cover of the book out loud.

'I wonder who left this here?' she wondered.

Corrin turned page after page, soaking up the new information with a big silly grin.

"This book is written in the lost language!" she exclaimed with glee.

"Read some out loud for us," Graine insisted, "I don't want to sit here and watch you read. Maybe you can figure out what's engraved on the blades of our Aurana?"

Graine leaned over onto the bed and held up his Aurana into the light shining in from Corrin's window.

"The first symbol is a blade of grass or a leaf," Graine added.

Corrin scanned the symbols on the book with her finger lightly pressed against the page.

"Well, it says here that the symbol of a single leaf is Ku, representing plant life," replied Corrin with her nose in the old tome, "The notes say that Ku is often an important element in conjuring and starting combinations."

"That's not very helpful..." said Lief.

"An Aurana is usually engraved with a leaf, a drop of water, a stone and a bird," said Graine as he read the engravings along the curved blade. "The Aurana are legendary swords of fire. Why would they have an engraving of a water symbol instead of a fire symbol?"

"A drop of water is Ro," spoke Corrin, squinting to read the small print of symbols in the text.

Nawa yipped loudly as it wagged its tail.

"Nawa says Ro is for movement. It allows the blade to embody the flow, discipline, speed and grace of water."

Graine looked out of the bedroom window to watch as people gathered to the front gates.

"I think the hunters are returning home from their hunt."

"The bird symbol doesn't seem to be written in here, but stone is Sa. The stone element is strength and is important for building and foundation."

"That makes sense why it's an element on the sword," smiled Lief confidently, "A strong foundation is key to forging a strong blade!"

Graine and Corrin sighed, looking over the grinning Lief, who dropped his smile for a puzzled expression.

"What?" he added.

Corrin flipped to the last page of the book, discovering a phrase written in soapstone chalk on the back cover.

A blend of white bonemeal, black obsidian dust, and red herb tucked into a small compartment hidden in the back of the book fell onto Corrin's lap, caking her in dust.

Corrin scooped up the dust and materials, blowing it at Nawa playfully.

"There's a phrase written here, but it's not in symbols," she added.

"What's it say?" questioned Graine.

Curiously, Nawa hopped onto Corrin's lap to get a closer look.

"It looks like a recipe...?" said Corrin with a puzzled expression, "Two parts feather of firebird. One part dust of meteor and another part tether root. Then, it just reads Technique: Gala-Gata--"

As the words left Corrin's lips an intense blue spark emerged from within her left palm, trailing down her veins and into her heart, illuminating it.

The dust and materials lathered on her hands disintegrated in a cloud of smoke.

Her eyes turned white and absent, shining brightly.

A glowing magical circle of light surrounded Corrin floating around left hand, with ornate symbols spinning around her clockwise.

The magic circle slowly hovered around her slowly lowering until it met with the wooden floor- burning a strange circle into the wooden planks and cutting through a portion of her bed.

Graine and Lief stood up from the bedside, with jaws wide open.

Nawa, who still remained on Corrin's lap, began to glow becoming transparent.

The light circle covered Corrin and Nawa, veiling them in blinding white.

Graine stood still, squinting to see Corrin and Nawa.

"What's happening? I can't see," said Graine as he covered his eyes.

As the light began to dim, fading away, the room sat in silence.

Corrin and Nawa had merged into one being, an entirely new entity.

"Uh, Corrin... I don't know how to tell you this... But... YOU HAVE NAWA'S EARS!" blurted Lief in amazement.

"You... fused with...Nawa," mumbled Graine in disbelief, "Incredible."

"They can hear me now?" spoke the fusion of the two in a low voice.

Lief ran over to a mirror leaning against the wall and rushed it back to Corrin.

"What are we even going to call you now? Nawrin? Corwa?" joked Lief as he stuck the mirror in front of the Nawa-Corrin fusion.

The fusion of the two gazed into the mirror with wide eyes.

Corrin had merged, fused with her fox-like companion Nawa.

Transforming into a blend of Corrin and Nawa, the fusion sat silently on the floor in the center of the burnt circle around her. She appeared as a mid-adolescent girl with long fox ears and a long beautiful golden brown tail with a splash of white at the ends. Corrin's natural ashen hair changed, turning a shining light-golden brown like Nawa's fur. Her eyes turned from pale blue to hazel. Nawa's long fox-like ears protruded from atop of the girl's head. Her fox tail hung down from her backside, curling around her waist like a belt.

"Can you understand me now?" spoke the blend.

"Huh?" answered Lief with his jaw hanging open, "This is so insane!"

Graine, snapping out of his disbelief, nodded up and down.

"Yes, we can hear you," he assured her.

"We must leave this place," the fox-girl demanded, "We must bring her far from this village."

"Bring who? ...Where?" questioned Lief with his hands by his side, "Corrin? Are you okay?"

The fox girl stood up on the bed and dashed over to the window, peering out of it.

"We will regroup at the village gates," whispered the fox-being.

"Wait, stay put!" Graine dashed for the fox-girl, his hand just missing her tail by an inch.

The fox-girl quickly sprung up the wall, slipping through the small window opening.

Lief tried to follow, attempting to squeeze through the tight gap.

"I need some help!" shouted Lief as he struggled to fit through.

"I'll meet you at the village gates, like Nawa-Corrin said!" instructed Graine.

Graine charged down the hall to the exit as he listened for the pitter-pattering of the fox-girl scurrying along the rooftop of the King's Fortress.

"I can't let her get out of my sight!"