“Show me,” Virion said, face stoic. Dawn’s parents looked on with mixed emotions.

“Uhh. How do I do that?” she asked.

“Dismiss the Profile, then call it back up whilst willing it to be visible to me,” he replied.

Dawn did so, and she watched nervously as Virion spent an inordinate amount of time reading over the Profile. Then, he sighed, and dragged a hand over his face.

“You girls are both among the luckiest and unluckiest people I have ever met. This… Gemini Pact Bloodline has an unfortunate drawback, but the benefits, by the Gods. Significant increase in Cultivation speed? The benefits of both sides of Dual Cultivation? Unless you are one of the very poor few who are absurdly slow in their growth, you two are going to catch a great deal of attention, which is both a blessing and a curse. It will mean a great many opportunities will be unlocked that were previously closed to you, but there are some in the Great Families that will take umbrage at a Bloodline appearing from commoners. You’ll have to do your best to ensure your Bloodline stays secret, for as long as possible. Hopefully you’ll be able to pass it off as being one of those once in a generation prodigies. Which, to be entirely honest with you, likely won’t be hard with Stat growths like that. +4 across the board is… significant, and unless something extraordinary happens, that will continue as you develop.”

Her mother cleared her throat. “So… this is a good thing, yes?”

Virion turned to her. “So long as neither of them take any stupid risks, then yes, it is a good thing.”

He returned his attention to the two girls. “There is one theory I’d like to test. I would like you both to examine your Cores. It could prove enlightening.”

Dawn nodded, Dusk copying the motion. They both closed their eyes and focused on their Essence Cores.

Dawn’s consciousness sank into herself, deep within the recesses of her mind. The process was a great deal easier than she remembered, only taking a few moments as opposed to the several minutes she needed before she had taken the 1st Step.

She gazed upon her Core, and her heart leapt into her throat.

The shifting, swirling sphere of light had more than doubled in size, but in the process became riddled with small, hairline fractures, all across its surface.

She felt a familiar presence coming from the other side of the Core, and she willed her perspective to shift to view it.

There, on the opposite end of this vast and strange nothing-chasm, lay a passage, an impression in the space of a connection, and before it was Dusk’s visage, gazing at the Core in the same horror Dawn was sure she herself had.

Dawn looked back where she came, and found an identical passage where she had been.

She tried to speak, but no words came out, so she sent her thoughts through her bond with Dusk.

Dusk?

It came out a little different than she was used to. Before, the thoughts they sent to each other felt thin, in a way. They carried a sense that neither party was entirely sure they would be heard. Now, there was an almost palpable weight to the words, a sense of implacable force and mass.

Dusk’s face widened in shock, and seemed to instantly know where to look to find Dawn’s presence.

Dawn? What are you doing here?

Dusk’s mental voice was similarly changed, though in a different manner. Her words came through almost ephemeral, and slipped into Dawn’s mind like a whisper, half-convincing her she’d imagined what she heard.

I wanted to ask you the same thing. How are you looking at my Core?

Dusk looked confused. You’re Core? This is supposed to be mine, why would I be… oh.

What? What is it?

Dusk’s face from confused to understanding. It’s not my Core, or yours. It’s our Core. We’re sharing an Essence Core.

Is that even possible?

Dusk shrugged. I have no idea. I don’t exactly know any more about this kind of thing than you do. We’ll have to ask grandfather.

Dawn nodded. Right. You see them too, don’t you? The cracks?

Yeah. We should go.

As one, the two girls backed out through the way they came, and returned to their respective forms, both body and Spirit.

Opening her eyes, Dawn exchanged a glance with Dusk, then told Virion what they saw. His eyes widened.

“You both have the same Core? Not quite what I expected, but I can’t imagine that being without its own benefits and drawbacks. The fractures though, those I expected. I didn’t think you’d be able to shove so much essence into it so quickly without a price. Both of you please give me your hands. I will examine your Core so we know if I need to fix it. I didn’t do this before because unless necessary it is considered taboo to look upon another’s Core. Now, hands if you will.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The two girls placed their hands on Virion’s, and shortly after Dawn felt a thread of essence flow through her body, and into that strange locationless place that held her Core.

“Hmm. Not as bad as it could be. I would say a week until it is safe for you to cultivate again, and that should repeat for every Step of this Layer. I suspect subsequent Layers will take less time to recover, as your Core grows more resilient to this kind of strain. Fortunately, the Core is extraordinarily difficult to damage, barring unusual circumstances like yours. You have nothing to worry about.”

Dawn sighed in relief, and she heard the whispery sound of Dusk doing the same.

“Now then. I imagine you both are looking forward to seeing what you can now do. Dusk, unfortunately you will see little in the way of obvious changes until you have gotten a good deal stronger, but for you, Dawn, a few exercises should help you understand things.”

They spent the next hour or so showing Dawn how the essence had changed her body, and the now-afternoon sun was beating down on them. She wasn’t sudden;y some kind of powerhouse. She wasn’t able to lift whole trees or run faster than a wolf or anything, but she was better in every way they could find. Dawn was lifting things she previously struggled to carry with ease, almost effortlessly broke her previous record of laps around the house before tiring, and in general was able to see a noticeable improvement in basically everything she could do.

All in all, Dawn was ecstatic, though she did her best not to let her joy get to Dusk. She didn’t want her sister to feel like she was left out.

When the sun began to near the horizon, but before the sky started to truly darken, Virion said, “That is almost all for today I think, but before we finish I have one last thing to give you both.”

He reached into his pouch, and pulled out two very similar, but wholly different, essence slates. Both were completely transparent, like they were made of perfect glass, but one of them seemed to hold an endless array of colours, and the other seemed somehow more solid than the first.

“It is not, strictly speaking, a requirement for new disciples of Falling Sky to enter already having a Technique, but nor is it forbidden. At the same time, it would stunt your growth to hand you everything on a silver platter, so I thought it best to get you something you would be granted shortly after entering the sect. I acquired copies of each element’s Manifestation Technique, as that is the cornerstone of all future Techniques you might develop. I saw on your Profile you girls possess an affinity for the elements of Force and Illusion, so here are [Manifest Force] and [Manifest Illusion]. I think you can guess which goes to who.”

Dawn didn’t need him to tell her either. She could feel the Force Technique call to her, a subtle pull on her heart that her body begged to follow. A check with Dusk told her the Illusion version called to her sister in the same way.

As one, they laid their hands on the essence tablets, and threaded a tiny portion of their essence into the tablets. Both girls were sent reeling as information flooded through them, echoing along their bond and into each other’s minds.

Body has acquired the Technique [Manifest Force]

Technique crossover as a result of Gemini Pact Bloodline. Spirit gains partial access to [Manifest Force].

Spirit has learned the Technique [Manifest Illusion]

Technique crossover as a result of Gemini Pact Bloodline. Body gains partial access to [Manifest Illusion].

Dawn groaned at the influx of knowledge, struggling to hold on to both her own Technique, and the pieces she gets from her sister. Eventually, the tide of information comes to a halt, and her mind is allowed to settle.

When she finally manages to calm her psyche, Dawn opens her eyes to Virion’s concerned face.

“Are you both alright? That looked like it was more intense than it should have been.”

A glance at Dusk showed her she was recovered as well, so she said, “We’re fine, grandfather. It seems our Bloodline had a side effect we didn’t know about. We can both use a portion of the other’s Technique, apparently.”

He sighed. “Because of course you can. Why not? Tell me the two of you can at least use the Techniques I gave you?”

Dawn considered going first, but she’s had enough in the spotlight. Besides, if Dusk can make illusions now then that means…

She looked at her sister, who was concentrating intensely on her essence. Dawn could feel the essence slip out of her Core, which she thought should feel more disconcerting than it did, but it just felt like essence leaving the Core to be used.

Dusk grabbed about half of their reserves, and carefully, ever so carefully, wove the essence into an image layered over herself.

Dawn heard her parents gasp, and they gazed at Dusk in wonder.

Dusk couldn’t see a difference at first. Unlike everyone else, she could always see Dusk perfectly fine. But when she looked closer she could spot countless tiny mistakes in Dusk’s weaving. The skin was a little too perfect, there was faint blurring at the edges, and her right leg was partially transparent, to name a few.

Regardless, this was the first time anyone else had seen Dusk properly, and so Dawn stood back to let her parents get a good view.

“Look at you,” said Miranda, tears in her eyes. “Oh my sweet baby girl, you’re gorgeous.”

She rushed at her daughter, clearly forgetting or not realising it was just an illusion placed over Dusk’s Spirit. As she attempted to wrap her arms around Dusk, they passed right through harmlessly.

“Oh. Right,” she said. She shook her head, smiling with still tearful eyes. “It’s enough that I can finally see my little girl. Oh, if only this had come sooner. Jason, look at her, isn’t she beautiful?”

He nodded, walking over to them. His eyes carried tears as well, though they had yet to shed.

“She has your hair.”

Dusk opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

“Sound isn’t something you’ll be able to replicate just yet, I’m afraid,” Virion said. “Illusion Cultivators generally don’t manage it until the 2nd Layer at the earliest.”

Jason looked between Dawn and Dusk. “They mirror each other. The only difference is the colour of their skin, eyes, and hair.”

Virion smiled. “In more ways than just that. Illusion and Force are opposites, you see, though not in the usual way. They don’t cancel each other out, but rather, neither can affect the other. Force is not seen, only felt, whereas Illusion is not felt, only seen. In a lot of ways, they’re the perfect elements for the both of them.”

The family spent the remaining hours of the day interacting with Dusk, some for the first time. Communication was a little challenging, though everyone was long used to having Dawn be Dusk’s mouthpiece. Virion suggested, once the girls had a large enough store of essence, Dusk could simply make an illusion of words appear, at least until she figured out sound. Even then, it would apparently still be cheaper to create written word than speech with her essence.

Eventually night fell, and everyone went to sleep. Virion didn’t need it anywhere near as much as the others, but he still spent the night in meditation, simply to pass the time. Dawn and Dusk stayed awake far longer than either should, talking about what they thought it would be like at the Falling Sky Sect. Neither of them knew much, but they both enjoyed speculating. Regardless, they knew that it would be the kind of adventure they craved.