Bjorn watched as Tanisha lifted Anasuya high into the air, her voice warm as she welcomed the little girl into the family. Anasuya wriggled with barely contained excitement, then Tanisha gently set her back on her feet. No sooner had she touched the ground than Anasuya leaned forward to sniff Tanisha, then scrambled up her back the way she so often did with Bjorn.
Tanisha stiffened at the sudden weight of a small child climbing her like a tree, but she did not resist.
"Auntie is nice," Anasuya hissed contentedly.
"Ana. It is rude to just climb on people," Isin chided in the hissing tongue.
"Auntie is family. She smells like Dad," Anasuya replied without shame.
"Get down," Isin ordered.
Her shoulders sagging, Anasuya pouted but obeyed, springing lightly to the ground. She sulked for only a moment before her curiosity pulled her toward Fuyumi and Aurelius, who found themselves under her sharp-eyed inspection.
Bjorn, however, kept his attention fixed on Tanisha. She watched Anasuya walk away, a faint smile tugging her lips.
"Did you tell her to get down?" she asked. When Bjorn gave a small nod, she sighed softly. "I didn't mind, but… it's probably better if she doesn't make a habit of climbing people."
Bjorn extended one paw, and with a flicker of aether a long staff shimmered into existence. He had once considered crafting a wand for her, but her fighting style leaned toward reach and leverage, that was something a staff could offer far better. Besides, its design allowed space to hold a true staff core later. For now, its heart was forged around an Angel Core.
The weapon's center was shaped to look and feel like polished blackwood, though in truth it was entirely forged of metal. Bands and inlays of silver strengthened the ends, and a subtle pattern of overlapping scales rippled across its haft. The design was elegant, refined and most importantly, disguised. Bjorn had no desire to paint a target on their backs by flaunting Angel Cores. In this form, it would pass unnoticed.
"Bjorn… is that what I think it is?" Tanisha's eyes followed every etched line of the weapon. "You made me a staff?"
"It would appear this is also an Angel Core," Ivoi clarified from above. "Although it has not yet been registered to an aetheric entity."
Tanisha's eyes widened in shock. "I thought it was just a staff! It's an Angel Core? He made two?"
Ivoi's calm translation of Bjorn's words only deepened the weight of what Tanisha now held. An Angel Core was more than a vessel for aether. It could be considered a fragment of soul, a conduit meant for entities born of aether itself. To wield such a thing was to channel power with precision beyond mortal limits. By linking with it, Tanisha would be able to command her alloy's strange nature on an entirely new level.
She focused her will. Energy snapped into place around her instantly, as if the staff had been waiting for her all along. Her unique aura, the full display of her ringularity core, split and reformed, part of it flowing into the Angel Core. She could see the accretion disk around her pulse with power, the staff carried her energy outward and back, channeling it in ordered currents before feeding it into the greater aether around her.
"This… I…" Tanisha faltered, her voice trembling. "Wow. I don't even know what to say."
She released the staff, yet it did not fall. It floated easily, orbiting her form with no effort expended. It responded to her will. With a delighted laugh, she turned and threw her arms around Bjorn, tackling him into a fierce embrace.
Anasuya came charging back, diving into the hug as well. Except, rather than cling to both of them, she climbed straight up Bjorn's side, convinced Tanisha was doing the same.
"She is bad at climbing," Anasuya hissed smugly as she claimed her perch on his back.
"She isn't climbing." Isin hissed.
Bjorn's attention was on his Follower Ascension Panel which had popped into his vision. Tanisha now met one more of the requirements to evolve. This time it was the Aetheric Tool Bound requirement. Meaning she only needed to reach level 100 and complete communing. He accepted the new complete prerequisite and expected some new change to take place but nothing happened. Tanisha didn't even seem to notice.
Follower Ascension Panel
Name: Aki'al Hashemi
Title: Sonr Orma Eilífra
Divinity: Demi True Immortal
Divine Realm: Venom
Pantheon Members: 1
Followers: 1
Pantheon Member
Name: Anasuya Dinisha Scalebound
Species: Demi True Níðhöggr
Level: 100
Follower List:
Name: Tanisha Valkyrja Scalebound
Species: Cernunnos
+ Level: 94 < 96
Status: Alive
Special Status: Soul Bound (Partial)
Evolution Status: Pending
Follower Evolution(s) Status
Name: Tanisha Valkyrja Scalebound
Species: Cernunnos (Greater Wendigo < Normal Cernunnos) - Dagda (Greater Cernunnos)
+ Evolution Prerequisite 8 / 10
Current Approved:
Mana Gate Open, Blood Gate Open, Mind Gate Open, Spirit Gate Open, Bone Gate, Maya Meridians and Veins, Pledge of Soul, Aetheric Tool Bound
Approve Current Evolution Status Prerequisite Met:
[None]
Status Not Met for Evolution: Cernunnos - Dagda
Complete Communing (4/5), Level 100
Page 5 of 5
"Interesting." Ivoi said. "There have been changes to Tanisha's bone density."
"I am sorry what?" Tanisha questioned.
"Your bone density and composition." Ivoi said with a contemplative look. "Yes, they have a stronger resonance with your alloy. Closer in composition to Bjorn's own bone composition. It would imply that you are becoming more hydra-like. Perhaps stronger bone regeneration as well? I would like to take some samples."
"Of my bones?" Tanisha asked, staring at her like she had grown another head. "No thanks."
"Let's all rest up." Aurelius interjected, his voice cutting clean through the discussion. "Now that we have Bjorn and two keys to get into the powerplant I think we should prepare. We'll go up to the training room tomorrow and come up with some strategies and see how we can add Bjorn and Anasuya into our battle cohesion."
Fuyumi put a hand on his shoulder. "I know you want to rush, especially now. But this is the best call. We are going to try and push you through your realm tonight. You are ready. Tomorrow all of us will be stronger."
Aurelius drew in a long, steady breath, shoulders rising and falling as he looked across his team. The weight in his eyes betrayed him for a moment, the fear and responsibility dragging his gaze downward. But then he straightened, standing taller, resolve hardening his voice.
"Tanisha, Fuyumi," He said with authority. "We are almost at the end. Tomorrow we make the final push. Tomorrow we decide the fate of… at this point, the world. I know you both made me the leader because you believed in me. But as we go into the unknown, as we stop the looming destruction. I want you both to know that there are few people I would be honored to face this calamity beside. Let's make sure we all get out of this alive. No heroic sacrifices, no over extending yourself, no one left behind."
"No sacrifices," Fuyumi echoed.
"No one left behind," Tanisha affirmed.
***
Bjorn had learned that the true strength of an Angel Core lay not in its raw power, but in its precision. Aether by itself was unruly, resistant to shaping. When shaped it was resistant to change. Even when a skilled arcanist forced it into a spellform, control was tenuous. The result was powerful, yes, but precarious. The Angel Core changed everything. It was both vessel and crucible, bending aether into exact formulae with a cold, flawless logic no mortal could replicate.
This was different from mana which had spells which would create magic formulae in the core. The more complex the spell the more mana was needed not only to create the spellform but also to maintain it. The more spells someone could cast at once meant they had a large reservoir of mana and the control to maintain them. This was something that was overcome with practice and exposing your core to more and more strain.
The difference in control over aether was night and day with the Angel Core. But it would take time for both Bjorn and Tanisha to fully utilize the cores effectively. Luckily they had a training room to get good enough to take on the last challenge of this facility.
Bjorn, Tanisha and Anasuya in her humanoid form were walking along one of the many walkways in the upper facility. It would soon be time to meet with Aurelius and Fuyumi in the training room. Bjorn could feel that Tanisha just wanted to walk beside him judging by her emotions in the bond. He didn't mind and it felt like old times. They stopped at the entrance to the training room's lobby but didn't go in.
Tanisha sat down on the floor and Anasuya immediately plopped into her lap. Bjorn laid down beside them as the young woman looked like she had something to say. She hesitated for a long moment.
"Bjorn…" Her voice was low and bleeding with uncertainty. "There has been something that has bothered me for a while. You are obviously not an animal. I mean the moment I found out you were a True that was… of course the biggest sign. But with that discovery there was something that I was always afraid of. That you would leave me. That you would disappear. That I was just one thing keeping you back from a destiny greater than anything I could ever dream.
"Time and time again, you do the impossible for me. But when I saw the skylands falling from the vision I got from you. I saw something. I saw how vast our differences really are… it scared me. I tried not to be scared of it but, it was just so much. At first it was just overwhelming but as I processed it. As I really processed it. I think we should break the Familiar Bond."
Bjorn recoiled, his eyes narrowing.
"No please, don't think I am trying to get rid of you. I am not afraid of you, baby. It's not that I don't want you to be connected to me." Tanisha raised her hands to placate him. "Listen. The Familiar Bond wasn't made to be used on a person. You are a person. It makes animals more docile to the master of the bond. And I always wondered if you really would do the things you do for me if you didn't have it. Besides we are connected through our souls and if we want to have a true magical bond there are ones like that too. I don't know if the familiar bond affects you the same way it does for most beings because you are a True. But I love you too much to have you influenced by something like this."
Bjorn searched her eyes for a long moment. She reached out and Bjorn leaned one of his heads closer. She caught his snout gently, pressing her forehead to his muzzle before nuzzling him softly.
"I am not saying we should break it right now." Tanisha continued. "It will weaken our magic regeneration until we make a new more equitable bond. But once this is over, I think we should. We are family, not master and familiar. Not True and worshiper. Not team mates. Family. You are my family, Bjorn. We are Scalebound. Family doesn't put chains on one another. What do you say?"
Bjorn nodded and pulled back from her grip.
"Well that was unexpected." Failsafe said.
"It is." Bjorn said.
"Told you this familiar contract business was affecting us." Isin said.
"Yeah. How will this affect us?" Bjorn asked.
"I'll run some numbers." Failsafe said.
"Later. I want us focused on saving the facility first." Bjorn said.
Tanisha rose, hoisting Anasuya onto her shoulders. The girl giggled, balancing happily like a rider on a war steed.
"Alright, Big Man. Ana." Tanisha grinned, determination burning through her earlier hesitation. "Let's go kick some butt."