The next morning, things went smoothly. Mo and Isy headed out first like always, whereas I stayed back and helped prepare food for Rune and Vive when they finally woke up. The two of them actually seemed to get along pretty well. However, that was only because Vive was a little troublemaker, and Rune was so sweet that she wouldn't get mad, no matter what Vive would do. Since I still had one more day off, I decided to just wait around and observe them. 'Mr Dragon. Do you have any thoughts on Vive? You mentioned something about eating more demon flesh, what was that about?'
He let out a long sigh as I focused on his voice and not the pillow fight the girls were having. 'Dark eaters… Dragons that consume the darkness… A dragon's soul is unchanging. Things like stubbornness, rage… Love. It is like this. Your soul is solder, it melts easily and takes on new shapes, soft and bendable. A dragon's soul is none of these things. It cannot melt, it cannot bend. However, when a dragon consumes darkness, it is as if the darkness itself is written over the top of our soul like paint made from a demon's blood. It can turn our flames black and our scales jagged…'
'And… I take it it's not exactly an accepted practice?'
'You could say that…'
'I feel like my body is the personification of heresy from three different religions…'
'Four.'
'Not helping… What's the fourth?'
'Your body has changed significantly due to the consumption of a dragon's heart. Two, the use of dark magic. Three, consuming darkness. And four, bathing in a spring of trapped souls… Actually, you were also born weak, and you know magic, so if you counted those, it would be six.'
'Spring of lost souls? Do you mean the Nog? How do you even know about that?'
'Your eyes glow white, and you're blessed with complete immunity to cold, as well as cursed to feel great pain from it… We do share the same body…'
'Why is that heretical?'
'It is generally frowned upon to go swimming in the life essence of ghosts that were unable to pass on.'
I suddenly felt a strong chill. 'O-oh… Is that what happened? I-I mean… To be fair… I was thrown in against my will…'
'It does explain why you are so close to the moons and so adept at rapidly learning soul arts, even with a dragon inside of you.'
'I think we got a little sidetracked… Vive… Thoughts?'
Unlike me, who cannot change at the most fundamental level, she has no fundamental level… In other words… Her soul isn't even a solid construct anymore… It's not even jelly, and it's thinner than water. If she is sad, she might literally turn blue; if she is scared, she may resemble a ghoul; if she is prideful, a fairy, or greedy, a dwarf. If she feels despair, then a gremlin, as she was.'
'So you're saying… That, depending on how I handle her… She could quite literally become an angel… Or a demon…'
'Getting sick of parenting yet?'
'More worried than anything for now…' "Vive, get dressed, I want you to meet my sister." 'For the time being, I think I need to go ask Rafi what she thinks too…'
She quickly got up and straightened the pillows back out before heading to the bathroom as I continued my conversation.
'Humans are an equal combination of everything, right? So, what are goblins? She was half goblin before.'
The soul of a goblin leans towards Lust, greed, and envy. They also get far lonelier and have a much stronger sense of companionship, which is probably why she is already so close with the other kid, despite them not liking each other at first.'
'Anything else?'
'I'm sure there is… But my information is incomplete, remember…'
'Hm… What about ogres? What makes their souls different?'
'Wrath, gluttony, sloth, in that order. Although I'm not sure about other markers, those are the three things that will turn an Ogre monstrous.
'I don't think I've ever seen Zu angry… So hopefully I won't have to worry about it.' I stood up with a grin. 'So her soul changes shape based on her emotions… She's like a blank slate with no self-awareness, is that right?'
"Hey SIYA!" She shouted. "My body changed again!"
'Is she turning demonic again! But she was just laughing.'
"See, look! My tongue changed color." She said bluntly, stepping out of the bathroom and tugging her mouth wide open with her fingers.
'She's… An interesting child…' Mr dragon said softly.
'Well, it was a bit of a shock, but if her tongue is more pink than dark, it's probably a good thing, lighter colors being farther away from black.'
'That's true but…'
"Hey, hey, I bet it's not the only thing that changed!" She said excitedly as she started pulling off her shirt.
Closing my eyes. "Don't just take your clothes off!" I yelled, grabbing Rune's pillow and tossing it across the room, forcing her to catch it to cover herself while Mr Dragon laughed in my ear. 'What was that you were saying about self-awareness?' Taking a deep breath in, I slowly lifted a hand to my face.
'Please don't comment on it… It's awkward enough knowing a guy is seeing through my eyes… She's going to be a pain… Isn't she… The bigger problem is that… I'm not sure she would act any different if we were in public…' I paused for a moment, thinking back to the time we had spent together. "Underwear too!" I shouted as she went back to the other room to finish getting dressed.
I could hear her groan through the walls. "But I'm already done changing!" She whined.
"I don't care!"
"Fine…"
Since Rune was right next to me, I pulled her close to my side just out of habit, and with how tiny they were relative to my size in that form… I really did feel kinda like a mom. "Will you be alright on your own for a while?
She nodded. "With everyone gone, I can practice magic, right?"
"Only if you make absolutely sure no one sees you." 'Though since she isn't a noble, it's not the worst thing if she gets caught.'
She smiled brightly. "Right!"
Vive finished changing and joined back up with me. I almost thought I should check to make sure she did what I said… But… I decided against it all things considered… Rather than shy, she seemed almost giddy, bouncing at my side, hanging off of me, and never letting even a foot of distance between us, though she still seemed nervous to talk.
"You clearly have something you want to tell me…"
She gasped, her body stiffening like a board. "How did you know?"
'If her soul is really in this kind of condition… Her personality is going to be changing wildly all the time, isn't it… Right now, it's almost like she's copying Rune.' "Go ahead and just tell me."
"Oh, I was right, my nipples changed color too."
'Why… Why, why…' "Alright, from now on if it's about your body changing…" I lifted a hand to my face, trying to think it over. 'I probably shouldn't tell her not to talk about it, but…' "Unless it's urgent, don't say anything if we are around other people."
"Did I break the rules?"
From her solemn voice, I expected her to start trembling again, but instead, she just looked up at me with pleading eyes.
'Somebody help! I don't know what I'm supposed to do here!'
'Ughk… Just tell her there are no rules. You're just teaching her skills that will stop bad people from finding her.'
'Oh, Mr Dragon? I wasn't actually expecting someone to respond to my internal screams… It's kind of weirding me out.'
"Siya?"
I blinked several times before refocusing my eyes. "Sorry, just a little lost in thought, no, you didn't break the rules." I scratched my head, squatting down next to her so she wouldn't have to keep looking so far up. "Listen closely. I'm not going to give you any rules, ok? The things I'm telling you to do aren't for my own good, they're for you're sake. So if you really don't want to listen, that's up to you… I won't punish you even if you mess up now and then… But… You should still try to be a good kid, alright? Otherwise, you'll make me worried.
After a moment, her whole body shuddered from head to toe, and her mouth stayed closed, like she was shocked to her core. 'I wonder how many times she's going to be surprised by just a couple nice words…' "Come on, we're almost there."
My sister wasn't hard to find. When I wasn't around, everyone was staring at her. Either gawking at or admiring her. She was sparring with someone in her tower's courtyard, and when she saw me, she quickly finished the match with one move before tossing the training sword to the ground and casually walking over to greet me. "Heya, sis." She said strongly, reaching out her arm.
I took it in kind. "Hey Lu, how's it… DID YOU GROW AGAIN!"
Her smile became even wider. "So you noticed. Pretty soon, I'll be bigger than you again. I'm catching up."
'But… My other form is still the same, though…' I pouted. "Eh… Well… Anyway… This is Vive. She got turned into a demon, and I somehow turned her back. So now I have adopted her."
Vive seemed a little shy as Lu approached, but after we started talking, it was like that completely flipped. "See, she's a noble for sure. Her arms are the size of my head!"
For some reason, that made Lu blush, scratching her head, unsure of how to respond. "So I have a cute little niece now? Cool… But you didn't just come to introduce us, right?"
"Right… I was hoping you could help me talk to Rafi… If I revert from this form, I'll be sore for three days… And it will be hard to change back again… So I'd rather not sense the test is tomorrow."
She crossed her arms. "Sure. I'll just tell my teacher I'm ditching. I'll be right back."
'I feel like… Maybe I was a bad influence on her after all…'
Once Lu got back, we all headed to her room, and after explaining things to Vive, we all headed to the abyss, which was an especially weird feeling. Instead of walking on water, I was waist-deep, floating in the void. I wasn't even on the same ground level as the others, slightly below them, as if my dragon's blood was trying to instinctively yank me out of the abyss. 'This is so unnatural…' "Hey Rafi!" I shouted.
She poofed out of thin air with tiny firework lights glimmering blue around her as she landed next to Vive, staring at her intently. "Crazy… It's almost like she's a gargoyle. You have to teach the kid dark magic; don't worry about it, though, she won't be able to become a demon again, not a true demon anyway. When someone turns into a demon, it's because their soul morphs into a singularly purposeful blob around their most felt desire. But… Because she was a demon whose desire was already consumed, meaning she has no innate soul anymore, she can't become one. She may develop one again with time as her soul starts to take a proper shape, being molded by her experiences, but for now, she should just focus on finding out who she wants to be and then molding her soul into that person. That's all the advice I have. I'm a bit busy, so I'll be off. Good to see you again, Siya!"
And just like that, she was gone.
'I thought she'd have more of a reaction to being able to revert a demon back to themselves… Then again… If it were possible to do it to humans… That might just make it more painful for her… After all the demons that she's killed…'
We left the rift, and with a splitting headache, I wound up back in my body.
'Siya…' The dragon roared. 'Never do that again…'
'Ok, ok… Just… What… Agh…' I lifted my hands to my head and leaned forward on my knees. 'What the heck…'
He growled. 'Our minds were linked as one because our souls were joined, but you went where I couldn't, essentially blocking the artery connecting our brains for the entire duration, now blood is rushing back through the blocked area.'
'How… h-how… how long…'
He didn't respond, just growled deeply.
Finally, it was over. My eyes seemed sensitive to light, and it felt hard to breathe, but after a few heavy heartbeats, the pain finally stopped. 'Ok… Ok, I think I'm good now. "So, to recap. The plan is for me to teach Vive dark magic… And then for her to decide what kind of person she wants to be, and we will figure out what's next later…" I took a deep breath, and my symptoms finally went away. 'In other words, surprisingly normal life stuff… Kind of. I can't believe she's busy… Or maybe she knew what I was doing and rushed me out of there for my own sake…'