Pure dusk aether coursed through Vivienne's tendrils, invading her form like a flood. It was cold and chaotic, carrying whispers of anguish and fleeting glimpses of lives long gone. The aether spread, igniting every nerve in her shifting body, and with it came fragments—flashes of alien emotions and fractured memories.
A siren adorned in glistening pearls, singing vows to her groom as colourful fish darted around them, their glowing scales illuminating the watery depths. A lekine clansman, his fur dusted with sawdust, chopping wood in a snow-draped forest, pausing to take a deep breath of the crisp winter air. A starbinder acolyte, battered but defiant, using their remaining arms to fend off a marauding raid, their nebula-like eyes blazing with fierce determination.
The torrent of imagery struck Vivienne like a storm, each fragment more vivid and raw than the last. The siren’s song of joy, the clansman’s quiet pride, the acolyte’s desperate resolve—all collided within her, overwhelming and alien. She staggered, her form faltering for an instant, before she sank deeper into the hydra’s neck, refusing to release her hold.
The head she had latched onto shrivelled further, the once-towering shadow crumbling into a faint wisp as she consumed more and more of its essence. But the hydra was far from finished. Its remaining heads reared back, their shadowy maws splitting open to let out an ear-splitting, otherworldly roar—a sound that reverberated not just through the chamber, but through Vivienne’s very core.
The heads struck with ferocious speed. Two of them lunged simultaneously, their jagged teeth sinking into her amorphous body. Chunks of her form were torn away, the pain exploding through her like molten fire. Vivienne’s scream mingled with their roars, the echoes clashing in the confined space.
But as fast as the hydra tore her apart, her form regenerated, reknitting itself with an eerie fluidity. The aether she had absorbed fed her recovery, the pain sharpening her focus instead of weakening it. Every bite they took only spurred her on, her strength growing with each devastating wound.
When one head surged in for a second attack, Vivienne split herself, her writhing tendrils stretching outward and wrapping around another head instead. The tendrils punctured the shadowy flesh, embedding themselves deep into the hydra’s form. Pure dusk aether surged again, pouring into her in waves so potent it made her entire being shudder.
The hydra recoiled, its movements more erratic now, but Vivienne didn’t stop. The memories came faster, more insistent. A human child clinging to their parent during a storm. A dwarven craftsman etching intricate runes into a golden chalice. A celestial being walking among stars, their form glowing with radiant energy. Each life was fleeting, consumed and replaced by the next in a blur of stolen existence.
Vivienne’s tendrils faltered for a heartbeat, her focus wavering under the deluge of foreign lives. But then she let out a low growl, her many eyes blazing as she anchored herself, her voice a guttural snarl and dug in deeper, drinking more.
The chamber shuddered as the hydra thrashed wildly, its remaining heads now snapping at Vivienne’s growing form, each bite taking far less than what she consumed from the monster. Vivienne’s grip only tightened, her hunger unrelenting as she bore down on her prey. Her mass swelling up and enveloping any head brave enough to bite at her, putting it into her mass.
Rava had since stepped back, the aether hydra’s attention long since turned away from her. She watched in grim fascination as Vivienne ballooned in size, each head thrashing around in her, deforming her but unable to escape. The nightmare grew to such a size that she started to wrap her inky form over the main body of the monster.
Vivienne’s tendrils snaked tighter, her grotesque form swelling as she continued to devour the hydra’s essence. The beast’s remaining heads writhed within her mass, each movement tearing at her insides, yet she barely flinched. The agony was drowned out by the overwhelming tide of power coursing through her—a raw, intoxicating flood that blurred the lines between pain and ecstasy.
The chamber trembled under the hydra’s violent thrashing, its shadowy body flickering like a flame fighting to stay alight. It let out a deafening, otherworldly wail, the sound reverberating off the crystalline walls and sending splinters of darkness scattering into the air. The hydra was being consumed, its massive body slowly drawn into Vivienne's ever-expanding form, its strength becoming hers with each passing second.
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Rava, now pressed against a jagged outcrop of crystal, stood frozen. Her claws flexed reflexively, sparks dancing along her fingertips, but she didn’t dare intervene. There was no room for her to fight, no opening to strike. The creature before her—her supposed ally—had become a churning mass of tendrils, glowing eyes, and seething power. Vivienne was no longer merely defending herself. She was claiming dominance over the beast, consuming it whole.
“Vivienne!” Rava called out, her voice sharp but edged with unease. She didn’t know if her companion could even hear her over the cacophony of the hydra’s roars and the wet, ripping sounds of the battle.
For a moment, the amorphous nightmare paused, her glowing eyes swivelling toward Rava. A flicker of recognition passed through them, dim but present, before she tightened her grip on the hydra's body and pressed her tendrils deeper.
As Vivienne enveloped the hydra’s core, the shadows that comprised its form began to collapse inward, the creature shrinking as she devoured it piece by piece. The chamber’s oppressive darkness lightened, the once-imposing figure of the hydra reduced to little more than wisps of shadow clinging desperately to existence.
The last of the hydra’s roar faded into silence, replaced by the unsettling stillness of the chamber. Vivienne, now a towering, writhing mass of black tendrils and blazing eyes, stood where the hydra had been. She pulsed with residual dusk aether, her form radiating an almost tangible heat.
For a few moments, neither of them spoke. Rava watched, her heart pounding in her chest. Slowly, Vivienne’s form began to settle, the wild chaos of her tendrils lazily flicking to and fro. Her many eyes dimmed one by one until her form settled, ragged but recognizably herself. She turned to Rava, her voice a hollow rasp.
“Delicious”
Rava exhaled, the tension draining from her body as she stepped forward cautiously. “You’re... still you, right?”
Vivienne’s jagged smiles widened for a moment as she let the last traces of euphoria ripple through her. The hydra had been unlike anything she’d consumed before—not as concentrated as the revenant, but teeming with an overwhelming multitude. Dozens of lives, their echoes still faintly vibrating within her. It was exhilarating, intoxicating, and utterly damning.
“Yes,” she said at last, her many mouths speaking in unison, their voices reverberating unnervingly through the chamber. “Very much so.”
But as the rush began to fade, her blazing eyes turned to Rava. The lekine warrior stood several paces away, claws still crackling faintly with residual lightning. She was poised as if for combat, but her gaze—fixed squarely on Vivienne—betrayed a fear so raw that it pierced through the lingering haze of Vivienne’s triumph.
Fear. It poured off Rava like a palpable wave, and it wasn’t the kind of fear born from facing an enemy. It was directed entirely at Vivienne.
Vivienne faltered, her smiles dimming one by one. A sharp pang of guilt twisted through her, cutting deeper than any wound the hydra had inflicted. Just hours ago— or perhaps days, there was no way to tell in the dark ruins, Rava had been a stranger to her, but in that short time, Vivienne had glimpsed the woman’s fierce spirit, her unyielding strength, and—most painfully—the kindness she showed to a stranger who had the form of a monster. That warmth had been eclipsed by the shadow Vivienne now cast.
Monster. The word coiled around her thoughts like a viper, tightening with every passing second. She couldn’t deny it. Rava had seen what she was, what she had become. Worst of all, she was starting to enjoy it.
Who am I kidding? I love what I am. It feels amazing.
Vivienne exhaled, a sound that was more of a low, guttural rumble than a sigh. Slowly, she began to pull herself inward, her many tendrils retracting as she tried to compress her amorphous form. The act was like trying to squeeze a raging storm into a bottle—every fibre of her being resisted the effort, her mass writhing and straining as if it had a will of its own.
“I can be smaller,” she muttered, half to herself, half as a reassurance to Rava. Her voice, though quiet, was heavy with conviction.
She pressed herself tighter, focusing on the creatures she had consumed. The revenant, with its compact, dense form. The wild hound of hostile aether, raw and unrestrained. The hydra, massive and fragmented. Each had been made of aether, but their compositions had varied. If they could exist in such diverse forms, why couldn’t she?
The more she condensed, the more difficult it became. Her body pushed back, straining as if to explode outward again, but she refused to yield. The chamber groaned faintly under the pressure she exerted on herself. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she stopped. She was smaller now, more contained, but still larger than the shape she’d worn before the hydra.
Vivienne glanced at her lekine companion, lowering herself to meet Rava’s eye level. The guilt gnawed at her, but she forced a faint, crooked smile onto her face.
“Better?” she asked softly, her many voices harmonising into something almost gentle.
Rava hesitated, her claws lowering slightly as she studied Vivienne’s new form. The fear in her eyes didn’t vanish, but it dimmed, replaced by a cautious resolve. She gave a single nod.
“It’s a start,” Rava said, her voice steady but distant. Then, without waiting for a response, she turned toward the dimly glowing path ahead. “Let’s keep moving. I want to get out of this place sooner rather than later.”
Vivienne watched her for a moment before following, her condensed form pulsing faintly with residual energy. The remnants of the hydra still stirred within her, whispering fragments of its stolen memories. She pushed them aside, focusing instead on the faint echo of Rava’s words.
It’s a start.
The two moved forward into the shadows, the chamber behind them silent and still, save for the faint, haunting echoes of the battle that had taken place.