Emory started slowly, trying not to start crying again, "I thought I was all alone in this life, but now I have you, Auntie. And you have me."
"I'm so sorry for not telling you sooner," Ninian sniffled, "But I swear on my life, now that we've found each other, I won't abandon you ever again. You can call me anytime you need something, and I will always come. And on that note, we need to discuss a few things."
"Thank you, Ninian. I will happily listen to what you have to say," Emory grinned as she wiped the tears off her face.
"First, now that you have two spheres, it's important to talk about your true from," Ninian started, "Ours is much different than either the humans or the Elandrian. When you transform, you will be able to completely control both of your spheres at their maximum level, and the rate at which you take in magik will grow enormously. However, you won't be able to control where you pull the magik from, draining all magik from all sources within a certain range. That means from allies and enemies alike. Furthermore, your physical form will change to reflect a creature of your choosing, and your magik cloak will emphasize that."
Emory gasped, "That's incredible! I'll become a massive syphon well. But what do you mean by my form changing?"
"It's easier to show you than describe it," Ninian explained, "Stand back a few feet and I'll show you."
Emory did as she was told and stepped back until she was ten feet away from Ninian. A red light began covering Ninian's body while one of her eyes turned to gold as the other changed to a bright red. Then a wave of magik pulsed outwards from her midsection that kicked up sand along the beach, causing Emory to shield her eyes for the moment. When she turned back to Ninian, she couldn't quite decide what creature Ninian had transformed into. The tall woman's blue hair was now a shade of crimson; even her skin color changed to pink. Two small horns protruded from her forehead that curled like a ram's horn. Her fingers and nails had sharpened to claws while her toothy smile looked like a shark's grin. But the most noticeable features were her breasts which were now almost popping out of her gown. When Emory took it all in, Ninian looked like a succubus from dark fables of old.
"You look so alluring," Emory stuttered, "But I can feel the magik coming off you. It's incredible."
Ninian grinned, "This is the form I took when I hurt Petrine. Each of us have a different, distinct form." Then she snapped her fingers and returned to her normal form.
"It looked incredibly strong. How will I choose what form I take?" Emory asked.
"In order to transform, you need to concentrate on bringing forth a form," Ninian shrugged, "But once you change for the first time, it'll be easier subsequent times."
Emory put her hand under her chin, "You said there were a few things. What else did you want to talk about?"
"Magik poisoning," Ninian replied grimly, "Unfortunately for you, the stages will progress much faster for you than a normal person due to your gift. The faster you can temper your body the better. Worse, if you should slip into stage four or five, your recovery time will be much longer than expected because it takes longer to purify your body's magik."
"Why is that? Maybe a better question is what is magik poisoning?" Emory questioned.
"Magik can be split into two categories: cosmic and innate," Ninian held up two fingers, "As you know, not every creature that can harness magik has innate magik, so we'll put that category aside for the moment. Cosmic magik, due to its diffusion through the universe, picks up slight impurities, little bits of frayed magik from remnants of usage. Our magik core or the human's vessel filters out these imperfections slowly over time with the exact rate varying from person to person. However, true form draws in magik faster than your body can get rid of the waste, so those impurities build up inside around the core or vessel. As they build up, they put pressure on the core and start damaging it. Once it cracks, imperfections start to swim around in your mana pool. That's magik poisoning, the build up of those impurities. So, someone like you who already has oceans of magik in their mana pool can accumulate a lot of impurities before it begins to affect them and takes even longer to purify the froth."
Emory nodded slowly, "I think I understand. And because I use so much magik, once I start taking on impurities, it builds exponentially faster once it starts?"
"Exactly," Ninian affirmed, "Tempering your core is the process of getting your core to purify the mana pool faster. It serves to both bolster your core's durability from cracking in the first place as well as increase your purification rate."
"Then the transfusion the Elandrian came up with increases the patient's purification speed? But then what did you do?" Emory asked since she understood the whole picture now.
Ninian grinned, "Precisely. But the method I used to finish your recovery was pulling out the impurities altogether. It is a taxing method and not without risk because if I'm not careful, I can consume some of the imperfections myself. And with how much you can contain, you can imagine the problem."
"Well then, thank you again for helping me recover sooner," Emory bowed slightly, "Did you have anything else you need to talk about?"
"Not really. I just want to remind you not to get too cocky. The Laxtros named Petrine is still beyond your scope, so don't go picking a fight with her yet," Ninian warned.
"Selena was tough, so I can only imagine how strong Petrine is. Don't worry; I won't be reckless," Emory confirmed, "What will you do now?"
Ninian paused before replying, "If you or your Bonded friends need help, I'll gladly assist with any training you all may need. However, I can't help in your war; I'm not a warrior, and it's not my war."
"I suppose I understand even if I wish I could persuade you to reconsider," Emory sighed, "Thank you for all the help you've offered and given. Don't be a stranger, Auntie." The two women smiled and hugged each other before Ninian waved goodbye and disappeared into dust. Storms still raged on the vast sea, but with a wave of her hand, Emory calmed them down before opening her eyes. Innes, Nephenee, and Soren stood with their faces pressed against the glass of the door into the room and stared back at Emory. She snickered a moment before flicking a finger and opening the door which Innes and Nephenee rushed through first.
Nephenee squealed, "You're up! We were so nervous when you slipped into a coma. How are you feeling?"
"Better, even more so after the conversation I had," Emory grinned, "That woman, Ninian, that is on Bustrun with Gwen and Tana is my late father's twin sister."
"Get out! Are you serious?" Innes bellowed.
"Yep," Emory nodded, "It explains why she's helped us so much. And I'm thrilled to have some family alive."
Soren slowly walked in with his head low, "I'm sorry for accusing you of lying to me. It wasn't fair to you, and I apologize for my weakness in that moment."
"It's okay; I forgive you," Emory said sincerely, "It's water under the bridge. Now, I haven't had a proper meal in five days. Could one of you bring me something because I feel like I'm starving?" As if on cue, her stomach made an obnoxious gurgling sound, shattering the seriousness of the room. Soren nodded and quickly vanished into thin air, leaving the other three with puzzled looks on their faces. A couple of minutes later he reappeared with two paper bags in his hands, and the smell of grilled food filled the room. Out of the bags he pulled four square sandwiches with cheese and meat patties, handing one to each of them.
Innes narrowed his eyes, "Those look like burgers. Real burgers. Where did you get them?"
"I saw some pictures of food that looked like these in the common area, so I figured you all would like them," Soren explained, "So, I teleported home really quick to pick up our version for you."
"Are these Hasda sandwiches? Their smell reminds me of the sticks we got at the festival," Emory mentioned before snatching one and taking a big bite. A sigh of satisfaction escaped her mouth as she chewed and swallowed the bite. Innes and Nephenee shrugged before grabbing one themselves and starting to eat it. Soren nodded to answer Emory as he took the last sandwich and began eating as well. It didn't take very long for them to all finish eating, even less for Emory who ate like a ravenous beast. When she finished, she turned to Soren, "Thank you for the food. It was very good. But now it's back to business; what's been going on since we drove off Selena?"
"We obviously told Commander Shepherd about the situation," Innes started as he swallowed his last bite, "He started sending the army that same day. According to Jask this morning, they're still eight days away. They'll be sending the troops via ark ship, supposedly in three waves. He said he would come personally with the last batch of the army, though he didn't mention which planet he would be going to. Otherwise, things are quiet here and at the other outposts.
"Elandrian squads are due to arrive in the next couple of days. Bramimond is leading the front in my stead, but yesterday, he told me the Apleem are retreating to their primary worlds, basically the ones we've had little to no presence on. Unfortunately, we don't know why they've pulled back which means it could be a trap or a tactic to prepare for a strike elsewhere," Soren continued.
"Anything on the long-range scanners?" Emory asked, "We know their scout ships can cloak their position, but their larger ships should be easier to track."
Nephenee sighed, "Jask has been tracking a number of signals that have been skirting the edge of our satellites. About half of them have dipped just inside our radar then returned to a potential rally point just out of range while the rest have buzzed straight through the edge towards Vostea. However, Gatrie hasn't reported any signals on his end, meaning they're lurking just outside our detection radius. We also know the ships we've scanned have been carriers, dreadnoughts, and frigates, and the total number of forces could be in the tens of thousands."
"They're going to strike here then," Emory mused, "Great, do we have any good news?"
"With all the data we've collected and intel from the Elandrian, we've determined their home system as well as the systems they have complete control of," Innes offered quietly.
"Based on the information we have, how long will it take for them to arrive from their suspected meeting points?" Emory questioned, "I mean, if they were ready today, how long would it take them to get to our doorstep?"
Nephenee winced, "Two days, maybe three. Based on the data from Jask, their medium-sized ships are not capable of superluminal speeds inside the system orbits. However, that's just a guess, not a verified truth."
"So, the army isn't close enough. We'll be overran on at least one of those fronts," Emory frowned, "Well, I guess there's only one thing to do then." She threw the bed covering off her legs, spun around, and tried to get up, but when she stood, her legs felt like gelatin. Luckily, Soren was standing beside her and helped her back onto the bed before she fell.
"What do you think you're doing? Did you forget that you've been lying here for five days?" Soren scolded her.
"We need to get the troops here now," Emory glared as she smacked her legs to wake them up, "There's only one method of transportation that will do that."