"Are you insane?" Cat shouted. "In what world does that make sense? Trying to figure out what new things I can do now that my aura awakened would be a hundred times easier than learning a wholly new shroud!"
"Yes, yes, it would." Caeden acknowledged.
"So what are you thinking?" Cat stared at him, daring him to answer.
"Cat, I'm still really fucked up," Caeden stated matter-of-factly. "So I'm not going to be fighting any time soon. I can barely use my shrouds."
"Exactly! I need to focus on what I know instead of trying something new!" Cat insisted.
"Cat," Caeden's eyes were full of sympathy. Cat didn't want to see it.
"Don't fucking look at me like that! You can't evolve my shroud anyway! Two of your immediate teammates both getting evolved shrouds in the same year would be suspicious as hell! This is the whole reason you haven't evolved Erik's, even though whatever he got could probably heal your uncle." Cat reminded him.
"I know." Caeden nodded. "I'm very aware."
"So what the unshrouded hell? You're not doing this!" Cat yelled. Why am I so upset? The thought whispered in the back of her head.
"I know. I know, Cat." Caeden continued. "I don't want to take this away from you. What you did to heal my soul was amazing, and I'm sure that given enough time, you could have turned your shroud into something no one has ever imagined."
Oh, that's why. The answer came to her. She had just had a major breakthrough, and now she would have to let it go.
"But," Caeden continued. "You can't win this fight right now. I'm sorry, Cat. But you can't. I know what's coming, and I know how strong you are. You are a miracle support fighter, but direct confrontations aren't something you can do right now. Not at this level. Not against this many monsters. You're going to lose. Guaranteed. I'm serious."
He stared her down, waiting for her to object. Cat said nothing.
"I know that evolving your shroud is a massive gamble for us right now and even more so for me in the future. But the alternative is dying. We can't win this one. All we can do is hope that whatever your shroud evolves into is something with lots of direct potential that you can leverage quickly. That's all we've got." Caeden raised his good hand in a pleading gesture. "I don't like it any more than you do, but this is it."
Cat knew he was right. She knew it. And that fact just made her feel more awful. "Caeden… There's something you should know first." Cat started, even though she hated having to tell anyone this. "I've only told Lily before you, but it's important, especially now. I can't let you do this without knowing."
"Ok?" She could read Caeden's expression clearly. He was wondering why she was bringing this up now when they were on such a time limit. But she had to tell him. It wasn't fair otherwise.
"Whew." Cat exhaled. "Ok, here goes. My real name isn't Cat. That's a nickname my dad gave me."
"Oh," Caeden laughed. "Is that all? Man, you really hyped that up. What's your real name, then? And how did you lie to the Academy? I've seen your Student ID, and it says your name is Cat."
"Because Caeden." Cat huffed, not appreciating his humor. "My real name is Hekate Vestigious. Damon Vestigious is my grandfather."
Caeden stared at her.
Hekate stared back.
"Oh," Caeden muttered. "Oh shit."
"Yup." Hekate nodded.
"Does he know about…?" Caeden waved about his glowing hand with the throne on it.
"No, man." Hekate snorted. "I'm not a bitch or a snitch. I wouldn't go tattling on you. We're friends. Plus, Gramps stays out of my business. He's meticulously fair. That's why I'm in the Academy under a false name. Not even the teaching staff knows. Or at least, most of them don't. Blaine does. Him and my dad were school friends. Anyway, Gramps didn't want any of the teachers to be biased because of who I am, so he hid it."
"Well, shit." Caeden sighed. "That's neat and all, but we need to hurry up and evolve your shroud."
"Seriously?" Hekate knew she was glaring at Caeden, and he didn't deserve that, but she couldn't help it. "You're not worried about my Gramps rolling up and asking questions? If you evolve my shroud, you're guaranteed to be outed. He won't stop looking." She warned.
“Cat, or Hekate” Caeden started.
"Just keep using Cat," She interrupted.
Caeden shot her an unappreciative look. "Whatever. Look, I already knew it was more or less guaranteed that my…ability…would be found out after this. It doesn't change the fact that we're going to die if we don't gamble on your evolution. So shut up and grab my hand, Cat."
He thrust his open palm forward. Hekate couldn't help but hesitate. She felt guilty. Letting Caeden evolve her shroud would do nothing but benefit her and hurt him in the long run. She knew Gramps would be happy that her shroud had evolved, but she wasn't sure how far that goodwill would extend in the face of the potential of Caeden's strange and powerful ability.
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"Cat." Caeden's words pulled her from her thoughts. "It's fine. Trust me."
Hekate wasn't sure what it was―something in his eyes, maybe―but she grabbed his hand. At the same time, she pulled on Soul, allowing her shroud to pool in the center of her chest, right below her solar plexus. Her sigil coalesced. A wispy grey heart, pumping blood of green flames.
Immediately, her sigil began floating toward her hand clasped in Caeden's. At the same time, his sigil lifted off his skin to hover in the air over their conjoined hands. Finally, her beating heart moved to rest on the seat of Caeden's throne.
Thick bands of flowing purple and gold surged from Caeden's body, plunging into the throne. Hekate felt that power change, then transfer into her shroud through her sigil. Her whole body lit up, the ultimate adrenaline surge and sugar rush pulsing through her veins simultaneously. And the flow continued on and on, surging ever higher with even more force.
Even as Hekate felt like she was going to explode from all the power rushing into her, she couldn't help but worry a bit. Soul was hard enough to control. She had only recently started to gain a better understanding of her domain, especially over the last few hours. How could she expect its evolution to be any easier to use? This suddenly felt like a terrible idea, and she started to regret ever agreeing to it.
Then, she felt the shift. In response to the energy constantly surging into it, her shroud started to change. The Soul domain bulged and surged, the surface distorting into grotesque shapes. A brief moment of horror filled Hekate, fearing that something had gone horribly wrong. But her shroud stabilized, and the bulges that warped it smoothed into a uniform growth.
In that moment, Hekate felt a fleeting opportunity. Her shroud was changing, and Soul would no longer be her domain. But that didn't have to be true. She could feel it. If she grabbed hold now, Soul would remain with her as a splinter. A horrible, golden opportunity. Something she had hated and resented her whole life, something she had used today to save her friend's life. And she could choose to lose it or keep it.
Hekate hesitated for a long moment before grabbing on with all her might. She didn't want to give up on Soul. It felt too much like accepting defeat. Soul might not be what she needed right now, but one day, she would master that domain. She was too stubborn not to. Hekate guessed that Lily must have had a similar opportunity with Fog. She understood why her roommate had let it go, Fog offered nothing that Lily couldn't get from Cloud, but Hekate was probably too stubborn for her own good.
Her new domain began to finalize. Hekate's unique connection with her soul gave her a front-row seat to the transformation. The little grey version of herself that constituted her soul began to visually change. The flesh wilted away, sloughing off and vanishing into the void. Her hair immolated into emerald flames with a sickly black tinge. After a moment, all that was left was black bones and burning hair. Then, a cloak of grey cloth, the same wispy material her previous soul form had been composed of, surrounded her soul's new horrifying appearance. A veil covered the skull, and two points of emerald fire flared to life as the gauzy, wispy cloth fell into place.
And Hekate felt it. Her soul's new appearance reflected her new domain, and the clothing was what had happened when Soul remained as a splinter. The process was done. Her shroud had evolved. Returning her perspective to the physical world, Hekate saw a veiled skull with burning emerald eyes hovering over Caeden's throne. Immediately, understanding flooded into her as her shroud sigil revealed her new domain.
She laughed. "HA! Oh, oh, my shroud. Oh, holy fuck. Hahahahaaha! Caeden, what the fuck? I don't even…" She trailed off, unable to talk anymore.
"Are you ok? What's wrong?" Caeden looked at her worriedly. "This is only the second time I've done this, so we don't know if anything could go wrong."
"No, no." Hekate waved off his concern, still giggling to herself. "You just have no idea. This is so far beyond anything I could have expected. I just…I can't even begin to tell you how ridiculous this is."
"Cat, what's your new shroud?" Caeden asked suspiciously.
"Cae, you just gave me the single most powerful domain the Central Authority has ever seen. Straight up, not a joke. I swear you are insane! Shit like this shouldn't even be possible!" Hekate ranted, unbelieving of her own luck. If she had known this was even remotely possible…She never would have let Caeden do it. There was no waving this off. Not in a million years.
"Cat." Caeden glared at her.
"Right, right. Sorry, still processing." Hekate raised her hands in surrender. "I can't help it."
"Cat, I swear! We don't have time for this! Spit it out!" Caeden cried in exasperation.
"Necromancy."
"What?"
"Necromancy, Cae," Hekate whispered reverently. "You gave me fucking Necromancy. A goddamned magic shroud. Gramps is gonna be so impressed!" She giggled.
"I don't understand. Magic shroud?" Caeden asked.
"Yeah, I guess you wouldn't know. Though we would have covered it next year in foreign studies. The basics are mandatory learning. Magic shrouds are rare, Caeden. Like, rarer than a dual shroud, rarer than an evolved shroud. Hell, it's probably rarer than an evolved dual shroud. Seriously. There has never been a single magic shroud in the history of the CA. Ever. For fifty thousand years." Hekate told him.
"So, it's good then?" He asked.
Hekate snorted. "Caeden, did you ever wonder how the Fire King manages to hold his own against the CA and the ten-thousand empires all on his own? He has a magic shroud. Pyromancy. He can do things that make absolutely no sense. I just got the power boost to end all power boosts."
"Well, there's a lot of monsters coming our way, and they're a few minutes out, tops. Can you take care of it? I know you just got this shroud, but-"
Ha!” Hekate cut him off. She couldn't help it. The idea that the monster horde was a threat anymore was genuinely laughable. If Caeden could feel what she could, he wouldn't even ask. She was powerful. And now she had a chance to show it. "Cae, sit back and watch. I'm about to give you a front-row seat to the greatest show our country has ever seen!"
She swirled around, facing out of the cave. Tapping into her shroud, she immersed herself in the new sensation. It was simultaneously both familiar and foreign. The overwhelming confidence she'd felt ever since she realized what her new domain was waned for a moment. Assessing things honestly, she could admit that it would take her time to understand her new shroud. Normally, she wouldn't be able to do much of anything without a long, thorough look at the new possibilities.
Luckily, some of the things she could do now heavily resembled what she had already done with Soul. "Dread Cloak." Hekate intoned; black smoke with flickering green fire and grey wisps flecked through it drifted from her lips. Immediately, a deep black abyss wrapped itself around her, obscuring her body from the beating heat the Pillar produced in this barren desert.
"Ok, good thing that worked," Hekate muttered to herself. "Nor sure if taking mnemonics from a splinter is normal or if it's a magic thing, but whatever. It worked. Now, onto the big boys. Here goes."
Cracking her neck and popping each knuckle, Hekate focused. This was the make-or-break moment. If she couldn't get this to work, they might genuinely be in deep shit.
"Summon Death Knight."