Evay Maver: Huh. My legs look really different than before. I looked into the mirror and saw a much more upgraded version of myself looking back at me. My face looked pretty much the same as before, but my body looked a lot better. My muscles looked much more toned and visible, my scars and little imperfections were now no more, and I looked slightly taller.

I also had a strange golden tattoo on the side of my neck. The tattoo looked to be some type of symbol, specifically, two spears with an ivory ribbon wrapping around them both. I gingerly touched the tattoo as I looked down at my newly upgraded arms. Everything felt much stronger. I could move my body much easier than before and the whole world seemed to just move slower. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

“Heim, did everything work?”

I heard a little chuckle go off in my head, “Yes, I took some liberties with your appearance. I couldn’t make you too handsome.”

I rolled my eyes. “What changed? Did you do anything major?”

Heim went silent for a little bit before speaking, “Not much changed with your body at all. I merely strengthened your body in order to make it compatible with my abilities—I didn’t add or remove any important functions. However, you may have noticed that some of your physical abilities have been upgraded. Your eyesight, perception, dexterity, your hearing, sense of smell, and sense of touch–as well as your sense of taste–were all improved beyond human capabilities by me. Your strength is also now far greater than before, and so is your overall durability. This was all necessary for the future, however, it might take some time getting used to.”

I stared blankly at myself in the mirror. “What about this whole soul situation?”

Heim sighed, “Nothing will feel different, but more and more of my soul is being transferred into you—I’m essentially building a new soul for you using my soul as the building material. I hope that I can somehow recreate the strength of a shared soul through this process—but things are still murky.That combined with your new, stronger body, will let you use my power far more frequently and intensely than before. Do not overdo yourself child, even with all of this you can still suffer the same fate as you did before.”

I nodded at myself—which felt kind of weird. “So I’m stronger now?”

Heim laughed. “Yes, and you might want to pay attention, someone is walking in.”

I listened in and heard footsteps, loud and clear, walking across the pavement outside of my dorm. I could tell how far away the footsteps were coming from and could even hear the breathing and the heartbeat of the person as well. Heim was right–all of my senses were turned up to one-hundred. I heard the footsteps come closer, and closer, and closer until they stopped in front of the dorm door. The person swung the door open and started to walk up to my room. Then my new sense of smell kicked in. The person was female, which I could somehow tell from the smell, and she gave off a very familiar cinnamon scent. Aurora. The door to my room swung open as Aurora walked in with a pile of books and some quills. A couple of the books on the very top of her pile toppled over and dropped to the ground. She sighed and knelt down to pick them up. She looked extremely tired and worn down, and her eyes carried an extreme emptiness inside them. Her hair was a mess, her clothes were wrinkled, and her eyes had big bags under them. It looked like she had been the one that just came back from the dead, and she was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn’t even notice me standing there. I knelt down and handed her a book. She looked at me and took the book without hesitation. “Thanks Evay, I shouldn’t have taken these with me all at once. But I have to study for classes—“ her eyes went wide and she completely froze. She dropped all of her quills and books as she stared into my eyes. I smiled.

“Hey sparky, I’m ba—“ she lunged at me and hit me with a bone crushing tackle and or hug. I let out a painful laugh. “Sur—surprise.” She didn’t say anything for a long while until she finally spoke after what seemed like an eternity.

“You—you liar. Liar, liar, liar, liar!” She sobbed and cried as she spoke in an extremely uncharacteristically spastic way. “Liar! You….you..” I gave her a hug and whispered into her ear,

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“I’m sorry Aurora, you can call me a liar for the rest of time if you’d like—I don’t mind. But I hope you let me stay, please?” She kept sobbing and crying but she managed to formulate some words.

“Yeah, you can. Welcome back, Goldilocks.”

Savain Yelenta: “Geez, you always overdo it! I’ve never seen you hurt before, it’s always me. Looks like the tables have turned.” Emmy gloated at me while wrapping bandages around my ankles and calves. “So even you weren’t tough enough to withstand that tournament, huh? Well it’s alright, you gave it your best shot right? At least you didn’t—“ she stopped herself. “Sorry Savie, I don’t want to remind you of anything.” She finished taping my left ankle and I reached across the table to grab some chocolates for her.

“It’s alright, me and Evay weren’t that close but it still kind of…what’s the right word,” I tossed a chocolate perfectly into Emmy’s mouth.

She gave me a comforting smile. “Hurt? Confused? Strange even? You didn’t know him too well but he was still your friend. You can have friends that you aren’t too close with, I’m not your only friend you know…unless I am. That’s more of a you-problem though.” I chuckled and she shook her head. “Are you going back to school this week?” I nodded and tried to stand up. My legs immediately gave out on me and my body creaked and ached from the pain. Emmy caught my arm. “Don’t! Sit for a while, okay?” I nodded weakly and spoke.

“We have a long stretch of classes left and I need to get some stuff sorted out. You heard about the news right?” Emmy nodded.

“Yeah, you mean the nations meeting? Are they really considering war? I mean, what is it all about.” I sighed and tried my best to speak.

“When Evay died, it was due to an extremely powerful explosion which went off in the middle of the arena. That explosion was powerful enough to kill half a million spectators, blow away an arena the size of a small city, and disintegrate everything in a 800 kilometer radius around the stadium as well. That kind of power can’t be from anything other than an enemy nation attack—is what the host country of the tournament, Evian, is saying. I personally don’t agree with their statement. I was pretty much fully unconscious when it happened but I think the attack has something to do with Evay.” Emmy’s eyebrows furrowed.

“How come?”

“Well, how did an enemy attack leave me and every other person actually fighting in the arena alive? If an enemy were to attack wouldn’t they want to kill the actual warriors in an arena? I know Evay can put barriers around people, which is how I presume we were saved, but then how come Evay didn’t live? He can put barriers on himself, why didn’t he save himself too? It doesn’t add up, Evay has shown to lose control before and I think that the explosion was his doing.” Emmy nodded a little bit before speaking.

“But Evay can do…that?” I grabbed a glass of water and stared blankly into it.

“That’s the only thing that bothers me. There’s no way that Evay, no matter how out of control he got, could ever accidentally do something like that. But still, I think it’s more believable than an enemy attack.” Emmy nodded.

“Why are you needed at the nations meeting? What even is that anyway? You never answered me.” I laughed.

“Yeah, sorry. It’s a meeting between the Queen of Evian, the King of Mevillime, and our own Emperor. Some other allied nations will be there but it’s mostly an attempt at investigation and negotiation—which should lessen the likelihood of a war, and also ease tensions. They’re also going to try and get to the bottom of who or what caused the explosion.” I drank my glass of water and Emmy took it from me.

“Hmmm, I see. Why do you need to be there?” I laughed.

“I think it’s to show that the victims of the incident are being fairly represented, which isn’t really all that true since I won’t even be allowed to speak at the meeting. But it’s just a formality, and I’d probably be more suited for this kind of stuff compared to any of the others—which is why I was selected specifically to go.” Emmy handed me another glass of water which I guzzled down.

“So you’re not going to be back for a while, right?” I smiled and flicked her forehead.

“I’ll be back before you can say run.” She smiled and helped me to the door.

“Listen, no running, no jumping, no fighting, and absolutely no training. Now go! Don’t skip class and be safe!” I smiled.

“You sound like a mom,” she rolled her eyes. I looked into the sky and searched closely. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a figure soaring across the clouds. There you are. Geon hovered over the ground above Emmy’s house and landed with a soft thud. He gave me a devious smile.

“The god of speed and transport needs me to carry him to school! I wish I had some paint and a canvas, I’d love to paint this whole scenario and immortalize it forever. So, do you want to do this by piggyback style or by princess carry? Probably princess carry, right? Because you're a soft, pretty boy princess?” I looked at Emmy and she stifled a laugh.

“Yeah, I’m dropping out. I’m staying with you Emmy.” Geon laughed and Emmy did as well.

“Savie, go on. I won’t make fun of you or anything.”

I spoke with a tinge of annoyance, “what do you mean go on! It’s not like we’re gonna kiss, hey! Stop! Put your brushes away.” Geon put his arm around me.

“I’ll grab your shoulders. Thanks for looking after him Emmy, I’m gonna borrow him for a while.” Emmy smiled and nodded. I gave her one last smile and she waved goodbye.

“Bye Savie!” I waved as Geon took us up into the air. Once we were up high enough Geon smiled.

“Savie, huh? Maybe I should call you that.”

“I’ll slit your throat if you do,” Geon laughed.

“Whatever you say, Savie.” I tried to punch him but my arms couldn’t reach his face. He let out a little laugh.

“You’re a pretty good guy, you know. Emmy seems to be really happy, good for you man. Maybe you weren’t such a tool after all.” I stared blankly ahead as we approached Eden’s campus.

If only I was as pure as her…..If only you knew anything.