As soon as the contract was signed, a purple flame burned through it from bottom to top.
"It is done," Karma proclaimed, but they did not hear her.
Azriel felt himself being pulled inward, as though he had lost his anchor to the real world, drawn immediately into himself, into a mental plane.
Before him stood the same girl as before. Her gentle smile stretched from ear to ear, never leaving her lips.
"Strange, isn't it?" She spoke suddenly.
"Now the two of us are the same person, separated only by a thin barrier called consciousness."
"But still… it's different from what I expected," She continued.
"It's deeper than it should be… it's stronger… I know what it feels like to be you." She laughed.
The mental world distorted suddenly, and then they were back in the rural city where Azriel grew up, with his parents.
The two of them watched Azriel's birth, a memory he himself didn't know he had.
"So these were your parents… they look weak, but in truth they were so strong…"
She smiled at the sight, while Azriel only observed.
"Which circle did they come from? Or were they dwellers of the core?"
Azriel had never heard those words before, but the moment she spoke them, he understood.
The entire world was flat: at its center lay the core, around it separated by a barrier of energy, the first circle, then the second circle.
They were in the fifth circle.
The weakest one.
"I don't know…" Azriel sighed, as the image shifted suddenly. In this one, Azriel was seven years old.
His parents had been buried, both dead from the same disease that plagued Azriel himself.
That day, a multitude of people appeared to honor the heroes and their son.
Crowds spoke to him of his parents' heroic deeds, of how, out of respect for their legacy, they would help him with whatever he needed.
And in the end, Azriel was left alone, on the outskirts of the city, with no one to recognize him anymore.
Only Martin came to him, many years later.
Azriel smiled, remembering their meeting.
The scene shifted again.
Azriel was working, cooking his noodles as usual in his food cart. Then, a middle-aged man called out to him.
"Hey, kid, these noodles of yours are amazing, let me tell you! If you worked in a proper restaurant or a bigger city, you'd be a hit."
Martin said, and Azriel only smiled at the compliment.
"I have no interest in that…" Martin raised an eyebrow, puzzled, and asked why.
"Because the beauties of the big city are too arrogant, while the flowers of the countryside are more humble."
Martin laughed with him.
"Funny, I remember hearing something like that long ago, from an old friend, not far from here."
Martin then looked at him more closely.
"He was a lot like you… what's your surname, kid?" Azriel told him.
"Twintails? Damn it! you're his son?! But… what the hell happened here? Why is the hero's son running a food cart?"
Azriel laughed at the mention.
"Hero's son, that's what people used to call me when I was little. But today I'm just Azriel, the scoundrel of the noodle cart."
Martin frowned at that.
"This city must have gone upside down while I was gone… what the hell was our ruler thinking?"
"Didn't the elemental guild do anything? How the hell is one of our greatest talents serving food?"
Azriel only laughed at his outrage.
"For the love of the gods! Kid, I don't know what the hell you've been through, but I swear I'll find a way to help you. I'll help you somehow, I promise!"
"He seems like a good man…"
Lyna said beside him as they watched the memory unfold, her expression unreadable.
"Forget it for now,"
Azriel said, turning to her again as the mental plane stabilized once more.
"We'll have plenty of time to revisit old memories."
"I want to first understand this, our connection."
Lyna laughed as they both closed their eyes in the mental plane.
Not trying to do anything, just to feel.
Azriel slowly returned to the real world, but this time, instead of seeing Lyna in front of him, he saw himself.
He slowly looked around, pink hair falling over his eyes, his sense of smell sharper.
"Wrong body ops…"
Azriel laughed, then returned to his own body.
his fists opening and closing quickly while he could still feel Lyna's breathing.
He could feel her breath, her heartbeat, her hair standing on end with this new mysterious sensation.
He was himself, and at the same time, he was her, and she felt the same way.
He saw the world from two perspectives and felt it in two ways as well.
His mind tried to understand it and failed every time.
He now had four arms, when he could barely control two.
And more than that, he felt a new presence at the back of his mind, just observing and feeling for now.
Lyna giggled softly as she felt his focus turn to her, and then she too returned to her own body.
Azriel couldn't help but marvel.
He also felt something new now, something entering and leaving his body.
He knew it was energy.
He knew he could easily create his energy centers.
It felt so natural to sense that flow, and just as natural to control it.
'So these are the privileges of compatibility,' he thought to himself. Lyna heard that thought too.
He felt their experiences merging.
The experience of lacking energy teaching him to perceive it deeply, while the experience of nearly exploding taught him to handle it without dying.
It was easy to feel and easy to control.
For the first time in his life, Azriel gathered energy.
Like a breeze, the energy was drawn to his fingers, and he slowly traced shapes in the air with ease.
Each stroke lingered, forming a single word.
"Success."
He smiled deeply, his joy infecting Lyna, who couldn't help but smile happily with him.
"Now we need to go back, before the spirit world drifts away again," He said to Karma.
"I don't want to have to wait until the next solstice to leave."
"Alright… just visit me from time to time…" Karma said, tears in her eyes.
"I'll miss you." She hugged them both.
"Of course, mother," Lyna said naturally, the warm feeling spreading through both their hearts.
"We'll come back every solstice," Azriel added.
He couldn't help but think how this place felt like his true home.
Having lived so long without a family to call his own seemed to take its toll in moments like this.
Azriel stepped back, taking a deep breath.
"It's time to go back."