“…The more I hear of other people’s sagas, I realize how easily I got off by comparison,” Calypso shook her head as she had a hand on her forehead. “And yet I’m managing to fuck up a Golden Ticket, somehow…”

“Now THAT’S surprising--”

“You keep saying that…”

“Because—well,” Natalie shifted her head about, as if she was trying to catch the words flying about. “You were so confident—decisive—and er, ‘wonderfully murderous’? Not into that—but it—that—all that painted you so differently than what I’m seeing now…”

Calypso fashioned her “fist” into her cheek, leaned into it.

“What else can I say other than ‘reality is fundamentally disappointing’?” She proceeded to glance back at Natalie. “You’re crafty. You know that any and all plans break apart the moment it comes into contact with reality.”

“Man, you really are right—” Natalie was practically bemused. “—Why did we hate each other? We could’ve teamed up and undermined Cassie’s whatever by ourselves…”

Calypso moved her fist, looked at Natalie. “What’s still stopping you…?”

Natalie looked back, with her lowered eyelids and piercing multiplied gaze.

“Well. What’s your grand, justifiable reason for all of this? You’ve seen my story, I told you the addendums. I just… All I wanted was some fucking control in my life. And I fought for that, only for that to blow up in my face. Tried living as a monster, only to be scooped up by some bigger one as a lackey. And really, did I have a choice when you and Scarecrow Boy mugged me into joining this clear suicide mission…?”

The agonized girl shook her head. “My whole life—sunk cost fallacy. I never wanted to admit it until I literally saw it before my eyes. So hey—give it to me. Pep talk me. I honestly want you to right now. But I’m naturally fucked and untrustworthy, so grain of salt I guess…”

“…You joked about it, but I know why we didn’t get along earlier. Simply put, you’re an alternate me that I was forced to stare in the face—and I already hate the concept of photos for that very idea.” Calypso shifted, looked downward at her hands. “I don’t have an answer for you because I don’t have an answer for myself. This whole exercise—me not succumbing to a voodoo curse aside—was that maybe, just maybe… I had a lead, an excuse, a chance to better myself…”

The skeletal monster girl flexed her so-called hands. “I’ve been floundering. Coasting, like I had before all of this… Now there’s actual stakes. It’s less about me not being overdramatic and a bore anymore—it’s about keeping my family safe from this crazed bitch—that-that should be enough motivation for me to stop this whining—this constant failure—a-and master these gifts that I’ve been granted, when you all suffered… And yet, ever since I’ve met Gale, what I only learned is how much I’ve been doing nothing.”

There was a pause, a rumination, as Calypso took in her mutilated appendages. Not just trapped between extremes, warped by them into something that is useless in both worlds, any world. Unsightly, unstable… Unbearable to deal with.

But Calypso turned her right hand around.

Her soul gem fused to the back of it. Wrapped around her veins.

Still struggling to shine bright… Yet. There were the odd pulsating bursts, proving that observation wrong. Even if for a moment.

Calypso took that hand onto the other, rubbing it. “Maybe that’s what I learned. That I’m so ridden with mistakes—and I actually need to be proactive—to be fueled by solving them? Maybe that’s our cursed gift. We have so many mistakes… Why not strike them down as we go? And if we run out of our own… The world has plenty that needs course correction. Course correction that many are too victimized to solve themselves…”

She felt Natalie stare at her, so she returned the gaze, with a sly smirk. “We both hate certain kinds of people, and we hate how the way things are… How does getting back at this fucked up world and cleaning up the filth sound as a motive, Natalie?”

Natalie, in turn, was dumbfounded. Despite the deformities, her entire face stiffened into an expression where her lips scrunched into a small circle, and her eyes became bigger than dinner plates.

Which made the sudden, abrupt laughter somehow more surprising. She laughed, and laughed, forced her to release her legs and fall on her back again. Draping both arms over her eyes as an unsure yet wide grin swept across her face.

“You really are insane…” there was amazement, life, to Natalie’s words.

“That’s why I need a minder,” Calypso leaned forward, never been more confident with the smirk to match. “Gale’s my lovely heart, but you? You’re scrappy, you ask the right questions. You have ideas, and I know you have plenty of them. I need you, we all need you… And I’m sure at least one person agrees with my sentiments and needs you to still be here with us, above all.”

“…Yeah,” Natalie nodded her head, moved her arms away from her exhausted but softened eyes. “Yeah, he—he does need me still… I’m all he has left…”

Calypso didn’t comment, nor had the urge to pry. She was just… Happy. Happy that she managed to pull someone like her through.

It gave her the slightest bit of hope, as she realized what that meant for her.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW…?

DO YOU TRULY KNOW ANYTHING…?

Calypso startled, in that moment remembered that she wasn’t here for a bonding session.

“RIGHT—Natalie! You’ve dealt with this before! What do we have to do here?”

“There’s also a weird detail I have to share later—but time being really short right now—” Natalie shot up, getting to her feet. “It’s simple, really. Magical test—you showcase what you’ve learned about the subject—how it relates to your situation. Think about what Moses told us.”

Calypso clutched at her hand. That shotgun-style conversion felt like eternities ago, but it eventually clicked for her, as she looked back up to Natalie. “You think the book has an honor system…? If at least one of us learned something, we all can go?”

“Sounds kooky and yet impossibly bullshit enough to work—so yeah, I’d say~” Natalie responded, oddly chipper in tone. She gave a thumbs up toward Calypso, with a twitch of her feeler behind her. “If anyone can brute force it, it’s you. Now get us out of this hell. We’ve got work to do in the actual one.”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

And before she could return that smile, Calypso was sent back to where she was before. She glanced back immediately, only to see no Gale behind her, not Natalie…

But as she heard this haggard, pained breathing across the way, Calypso figured that Melissa also went through her own version of hell as the girl looked upon the vampire, head clutched in her claws, vocalized her insanity as she shouted atop her lungs. Truly nettled.

It was do or die time, again.

Calypso motioned to get on her feet, but realized she was already positioned. She wasted no time, with closed eyes, she scanned her mind for the words of her professor.

“…we in response craft special words, incantations that boosts our abilities and direct them effectively. Learning your words can turn the tide of your fates in this unfair game you’ve found yourselves in… A declaration that even the forces that are against you cannot and will not ignore…”

The boring book girl has had a love of words for her entire life. Almost like a duck to water, Calypso’s mind flooded with terms and phrases that can perfectly describe her declaration against Fate. But she didn’t want to deviate too strongly, wanted to maintain the same sentiment her mentor had, but her own spin on things.

Calypso rose her hand before her chest, and balled it into a fist. Her gemstone flashed with brilliance at the gesture, telling her to keep on.

“I…Am awake.”

She used her other hand to rapidly press on her gemstone, watching it flash over and over with each strike. With the gemstone-embedded hand, Calypso thrust it forward, above herself so the unhealthy light shone down her body.

“AND I—AM—UNLEASHED!”

The change was immediate. It was so potent, Calypso could only stare out in stunned wonder as the transformation took hold… And was fundamentally different.

The dim light, it's shine didn't just radiate--but coated and lanced outward from Calypso's body as if she was suddenly kicking up strong wind around her. The screaming from her gem droned, and steadily grew into a ever-present chorus.

The searing light completely bathed her, before fading softly, but still present as her entire body continued to glow. But as her hair grew, as her eyes lost their light, the glow slowly mutated into the various colors of her other self as the transformation slowly grips her. So her brown hair didn't just transmute into magenta, but had a magenta haze beaming from it.

It still hurt, it still felt like death… But it was truly a process, now. A process that Calypso herself can guide.

Finally, she finally not only understood at that moment, but became resonance.

Calypso closed her eyes, basked in the changes, throwing her head back as her hair grew and her skull crown grew further. Hugged herself, grabbed at her shoulders before the claws manifested along with the spiked shoulders. Trailing her claws down her shifting body, made way for the spikes to push out of her frame until her arms drooped down at her sides. Almost limp, but the body language made it absurdly clear that euphoria was being achieved.

She couldn’t help but lean back further, letting the power coarse through her, as her spine grew to make her tall, and shoot itself out of her back. All of the bones, which usually grew independent—wildly, were all in sync to snap together to reform into her trademark armor, causing Calypso to lurch forward with an energized smile and lower-eyed glare of assurance.

Finished her newly mastered transformation off with a swing of both arms, causing the elbow scythes to burst out, settled in within seconds as Calypso flashed her glistening fangs.

“Okay, Melissa dear…” Calypso pointed, and arched her bony claw at her as a taunt. “Ready for Round Two~?”

Melissa turned her head, before she rushed forward in a frenzy. Calypso figured that it wasn’t even acknowledgment of the taunt, but an acknowledgment of someone here that she could feed from.

Within seconds, the two clashed. Both monster girls grappled with each other, drove their respective claws into their exposed skin, tried to shove the other in a game of strength.

It was clear that Melissa was still eerily strong, Calypso struggled against such potent force, her knees were beginning to buckle… But there was something about achieving mastery of her transformation—she always felt divine after shifting.

Here? This body, this other side of herself… A completely new sensation of energy that wasn’t there before, something that was just created for her and her alone. This truly felt like she was in a new body, and how oddly liberating that would be. Yet, a body that took note of her sensibilities, and improved her weaknesses.

This wasn’t a transformation. It was a true rebirth.

Calypso jumped back, letting Melissa’s absurd strength aid in her motion, curled her sharp toes into the flooring as she gained traction. But even that wasn’t enough, the skeletal monster girl hunched forward and slammed her claw, forced her to a stop.

She looked up at Melissa, gauging her still. If the lack of talking and the primal body language didn’t give it away, her constant rush toward Calypso signalized that this girl was broken. The skeletal monster girl’s face stiffened, twitched in pity for a moment.

This had to be quick. Calypso had to make this up to her, do what she was set to do… And now had the means to do so.

There was a glance at her raised claw, that wasn’t in the flooring. She recalled that her mentor told them to understand magic, incantations. Not just for properly transforming, to fight fate…

The connection forged itself in Calypso’s mind. She couldn’t help but smile in wonder and a sense of catharsis…

“Now, what to name it…?” Calypso purred as she quickly pulled her other claw from the floor, and stood up straight. “…Got it. Pretentious, but that’s Calypso Grimes for you~”

Calypso forced her gemstone to manifest at the back of her claw, and used the other to swipe at it multiple times. Each fan caused her soul to fire up in light and screams.

“Reaper’s Fang!”

And with that, her arm turned itself into a makeshift bone scythe again. But once again, it was completely different from last time.

Her elbow scythe became the main basis of the shape, her pink arm became rippling and mailable as the blade swung opposite then proceeded to merge into the flesh. Her four claws stiffened before curling into a curve to aid the structure of the blade, as the bone bleed onto the surface of the arm to create reinforcement.

Her arm became an instrument, a hybrid of blade and flesh, her arm still visible acting as the under carriage of the blade, but clearly turned statue-lite.

Now, Calypso’s arm was a flexible blade of carnage, as she immediately swung forward, slashed across Melissa’s midsection as the latter howled out in pain.

While there was amazement, Calypso couldn’t dwell on it. She continued to go forward, her arm leading her, lancing out still until she fell onto her spiked knees. Still wild, magic, her abilities in general. But she did pout a tad still.

She looked over her convulsing shoulder. She watched Melissa cry out, clutch at her open wound as it showered black blood onto the wooden floor. Calypso gritted her fangs at the sight, the sound, the smell.

This was the only chance.

The skeletal monster girl turned her entire body, her bladed arm made a dramatic sweep on its own. She crouched down, she kept her arm raised and the other’s palm flat on the floor.

She thought about the Chimera Jaw, thought about Cassie… Maybe this maneuver could be her signature move?

Regardless, she sprinted towards Melissa, and slashed at a shoulder.

Used everything in her to ride out the involuntary movement, used her claws to grip against the floor, and flung herself around again—cut somewhere around her hip.

She gained speed with each pass by. Behind the knee. At the back. The side of her face. Calypso didn’t stop the process until Melissa was covered in her own blood.

And eventually, that she was. Stumbled about, quaking in place as her very legs were on the verge of tearing. The soft whimpers that were once enraged screams.

Melissa collapsed soon after. Leaving Calypso the sole person on the stage, the spotlight flicked above her as she panted holding her twitching shoulder.

Faultless.

You may be on your way

To face the darkness of this world

But learning is as constant as life

There will be a bigger price to pay

To show your mettle

Until then.

***

Calypso fell back into reality. And was immediately thankful, when she heard at least two more thuds.

It was interesting, going from accomplishment to ungodly, aching pain.

“Too many transformations, I presume…” the unmistakable candor of her mentor cut through her compromised senses. “Don’t worry anymore, dears. I’ve taken care of the rest. You earned your rest.”

Calypso's agony forced to her, anyways.