"Hey..."
"HEY! WAKE UP."
Luna's voice cracked through the darkness in my mind.
"You died too?"
"Died? What are you talking about? Just 'cause I took a bit of blood?" Luna sounded annoyed.
I tried moving, but it felt like a group of large men had decided to make me their sofa. "Ughhh." I groaned and took a shaky breath. "What do you mean you took my blood?"
"Why don't you ever finish any shows?" she grumbled, completely ignoring my question.
"Wh—what?" Shows? I hadn't watched anything in a while. Not since coming here anyway. "You answer first."
A thin pulse of red flickered, followed by shades of orange. "I needed to grow my roots deeper in you. I patched up your wounds…but I needed a lot of energy."
"Thanks. Soooo, how exactly did you patch me up?" I tried moving my arm to feel my side, but neither limb wanted to obey. Heck, even my eyelids felt glued shut.
"You answer my question first." Luna pulsed with expectation. "I had nothing but time in your head while you were sleeping and crying about whatever nonsense."
There was an array of colors I couldn't quite pin an emotion to. My guess? Mocking…sarcasm?
"Anyway—" she interrupted my thoughts, "that big explosion you did connected our senses even more than before. Had to remind myself who I was more than once. Your body is so weird."
"You'r—" I coughed then changed my mind, "yeah, we both are."
"Thankfully, you actually have some pretty entertaining things in your head. Seriously, did Shimakuro ever get together with Maria?"
Soft pink glows flickered around her. Fangirling?
"I—I think I read somewhere they did." I was still astonished at her ability to so concisely see my memories…or maybe they were just blurred fragments.
She must have been satisfied with my answer because she switched back to my question. "I covered your wounds with my roots…I guess nothing vital was hit since you're alive. Some of you is barky now, by the way."
There was a short pause before she added, more reluctant this time, "I didn't know if it would work…I just hope it doesn't affect you too much."
"Barky?" I ignored her uncertainty in order to get to the interesting bit.
"Like bark. From a tree. Although more flexible, I guess. At least, I hope…The point is, it's going to be really hard to separate us now."
"Oh…So I'm part plant now?"
I mean, honestly? Kinda neat. I'm already a freak of nature on this world, everyone else got to be a new species. Why not me too?
"I guess?" Luna's tone wavered with uncertainty, like she didn't quite get why I was so okay with this. But I decided to take that as a solid yes.
I struggled to open my eyes. Like rusty gears forced into motion, I pushed through the resistance, shaking off the crusty mess sealing them shut.
A soft orange glow greeted me. Moss.
Turning my head was still too much, though.
I couldn't see much, but at least there wasn't any immediate danger. A quiet sigh of relief escaped my lips. "I can already feel some strength returning."
"Good." Luna replied. "You should be safe for now too, since the cave entrance is blocked."
"Yeah."
Next, I focused inward. Both the red energy and inner flame had regenerated.
I looked around, trying to make sense of my situation before I had die—well, before I thought I had died.
My heart pounded with the realization.
"It nearly ended. All of it."
The words came out in a dull whisper before I even meant to speak them.
"Not like much could've been do—" Luna started, her voice threaded with hesitant support, sending out soft, sympathetic pulses.
"No."
I tried shaking my head vigorously, but yeah, that wasn't happening right now. "I've been too reckless. And even more than that…too weak."
Up until now, I'd had no real goal. No clear target to strive toward. And my current one? So high above me that aiming for it felt foolish.
Survival was one thing. But I needed something real. Something concrete.
Before, when I blacked out, it wasn't just exhaustion.
The cold had crept into everything...into every fracture of sinew, deep into my bones. It wasn't just my body hibernating. I felt myself slipping. My body. My mind. My existence.
And if I had died?
The world wouldn't have even flinched. It would've wiped away every trace of me. My friends would move on. Who knows? Maybe they already think I'm dead.
If the cave really did shift somewhere else...
"If it weren't for you, I'd be dead. And if there had been anything else dangerous in the cave, I'd be done for too."
I was sure it was difficult for Luna to grasp my perspective. We didn't calculate strength the same way.
But there was something she was miles ahead of me on.
"Hey, Luna, what exactly did you feel when I released everything? When I could see through my eyes and yours?"
She hesitated. "It was...I don't know. Usually, your power enters my body, but this time there were other things."
"Other things?" I frowned. "Was it more of my red force?"
Her glow flickered with uncertainty. "Yes, but that wasn't all."
Silence stretched between us as I thought.
There were still lingering effects on her end, at least for now.
While I was unconscious, she had been watching everything in my head. My memories. My thoughts. The things even I couldn't recall clearly, she saw with clarity.
But now?
Now, I felt nothing from her. No extra awareness. No connection.
Maybe...I fused my forces together?
I activated my Precursor Sense with ease and moved my internal force to my Nexus.
But something felt wrong.
Sluggish. Off.
My heart pounded. Of course, there had to be repercussions. Using everything in one go, something Thea had warned could kill me.
At least it was still moving.
I pushed my focus into my Grand Channel.
Then I noticed it.
Cracks.
Lots of them. Fracturing the flow of the carvings I had etched into myself what felt like forever ago.
And that wasn't the only problem.
My internal strength was leaking, flowing into my body only to vanish, dissipating back into the world unseen.
It wasn't enough that I couldn't recover it with my Perfect Conversion, but the way the flow kept shifting? That was a problem. A serious one.
I exhaled sharply, centering myself. One thing at a time.
I wove my internal force into my red en—
It needs a name.
Beast Force. It interacts with creatures, borrowing their abilities, fusing into their minds.
Anyway.
I braided my internal force into the Beast Force, carefully threading it together using the enhanced control of my Precursor Sense.
A fusion of gold and red lightning sparked in my core, bouncing erratically in its space like it was begging to move.
"Get ready, Luna."
"Ready for wh—"
The sound cut off.
Instead, colors flooded from her. Bursts of surprise, shock, and, of course, a deep, deeeeeep red. Anger.
A breath passed.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
Luna's rage was practically tangible. But…
I succeeded.
I blinked, and the world opened to me.
I won't bore you with the details again, dancing lights, swirling colors, energy everywhere, you get it.
"Amazing."
"WHAT'S AMAZI—oh…more shows."
Luna vanished somewhere deep in my mind.
I could feel the anger simmering, but thankfully, the distractions were enough to keep her busy.
"Luna?"
Silence.
"Luuuuuuunaaaaaaa!"
"Busy. Leave me alone."
That was the last response I got from her.
I miss Thea.
With another sigh, I closed my eyes.
I sensed the world energy around me. All of it. But, of course, seeing wasn't the problem.
Absorbing it was.
My friends could use different types through abilities, sure, but storing them in the Grand Channel? Impossible right now.
But before I had nearly disappeared from this world...I saw it.
The fusion. The true vision of these tangled strands of power. The pure white version of world force.
I knew the next step we had to take…
I just had no idea how.
Thea and I weren't totally wrong about core formation. Not totally right either. It was a tool, yes. But also, a stage.
If we could store every ounce of energy into a core, we'd free up space in our Grand Channels.
We could refill them with common world energy again, which is probably where everyone in this world stopped.
Maybe forming a second core after that was impossible.
Maybe no one had ever tried. Even if they did, they formed something solid which acted as a generator of sorts.
Either way, that wasn't the path we should take.
I knew that. I was absolutely certain. Our group, once reunited, will cultivate every form of power.
We will form cores that store energy.
Hollow ones that act as barriers.
And in the final stage…
Shatter them.
Then?
Ideally, something new.
Maybe a transformation…
Or ruin.
But this is the only way I can think of to fuse the energies.