Novaris: Adventure in the Shattered Fang Continent

Novaris. Sax (June). 905. AGC.

Nodel. First Quarter 🌓. Day 9.

They had decided to meet up where the twins were staying, so Rose had to come to pick him up early in the morning to take him there. They didn't talk much on the way there and just kept to themselves. Eventually, though, they arrived at Timber Inn and made their way through the forest park until they got to the tree that Alyx assumed the twins lived in. Rose pressed a rune, alerting those inside that someone was at the door. Then, a minute later, the door opened, and Alyx saw one of the twins.

He stood around the same height as Rose, which made him taller than Alyx. The twin wore a mix of simple black and white clothing, which matched their looks very well. He had black and silver hair, and his eyes were dark orbs with grey iris. Finally, his skin was pale, and Alyx thought that if it got any paler, he could mistake him for some sort of undead. The twin and he stared at each other, taking in each other's measures. Then, they were both interrupted as Rose intervened.

“Hey, Arelion, this is Alyx, the person I was telling you about. Can we come in?”

Arelion simply nodded and walked into the tree house, with Rose following suit.

The space inside was rather cramped, but Alyx felt like it would do for the examination. It's not like he needed any rituals to look at the soul. He just needed himself, honestly.

They all sat down around a small coffee table before Arelion finally spoke up, his voice cold and smooth.

“So, Alyx, Rose tells us that you might be able to help us with our problem. I personally doubt that some D Ranker can, regardless of who your family is.”

Alyx, not bothered by Arelion in the least, just casually replied, “Yeah, that's what they always tell me, and then a few months later, everyone is always thanking me.”

An answer that caused the pale half-elf to squint his eyes suspiciously as a light smile quickly passed over his face as he followed up on Alyx’s comment, “Very confident, aren't you?”

“Yes, I am. Now, how about we stop this round of nonsense? As you know, we have made a contract so all your worries should be addressed. Unless you want to go back on it?”

“No, no. You are correct. Even if I am still skeptical, my sister trusts Rose here,” Arelion said, waving a hand nonchalantly at Rose before he continued, “So, I must at least let you have your go at our issue.”

“Okay, then, but first, where is this sister of yours?” Alyx questioned as he made a show of looking around. It was a show that caused Arelion to smile wide, finding the whole thing rather amusing.

“She is already here,” Arelion commented smugly, causing Alyx to look around even more closely as if expecting to see someone invisible.

“Where!?” Alyx blurted a bit annoyed before looking back at Arelion, who was just pointing and poking his own chest.

It took a second for Alyx to register what Arelion meant, and then his eyes went wide.

“Holy crap! You guys share one body!?” Yelled Alyx as he got up from his seat and approached the half-elf.

“Yes, we do. Have you seen such a thing before?” Asked the half-elf as a bit of wariness sipped onto his face, wariness that disappeared as he heard Alyx’s answer.

“Oh yeah, plenty of times. What excites me is learning how it happened. Was this some sort of experiment after or before birth?”

“I guess you can say it was before, during, and to some extent after birth.”

“Hmm, I see. Do you know what the experiment hoped to accomplish? Was the result planned or simply an accident.” Replied Alyx as he circled Arelion and rubbed his goatee.

“What they were trying to accomplish, we aren’t sure, though the end result was definitely an accident. We are only here because something was able to fix us. We aren’t sure what.” Answered Arelion as he substituted some of their origin with a sprinkle of lies.

“Interesting. What else can you tell me? Have you experienced any changes? Is the other twin able to take control of your body? Just go ahead and give a rundown of your life so far.” Alyx said as he sat back down and thus began the explanation of much of the twins' lives.

Arelion began by telling Alyx about the seal that had been around their soul. He didn't go into much detail about the seal, but it was important as it played a major role in their life. Once he explained the seal to some extent, he began talking about how they have been fairly normal except for their ability to see in the dark and read many languages. He also mentioned that at the time, Jasmine was in control, and he had been merely a passenger in her body. Of course, there was also the addition of all the many odd things that happened around them as people forgot about many odd things that were happening to them.

Their explanation then moved to how their birthdays began to unlock more of their combined nature. How Jasmine changed and how things slowly developed until finally, on their 16th birthday, things kind of derailed as they seemed to fully break the barrier. Arelion added their attack by Setiel’s assassins and told Alyx who was looking confused, that it would make sense soon enough.

Of course, he also had to explain the whole thing with Luxana’s church which forced him to reveal that the things behind the experiment had actually been two deities. However, he still did not explain that what had actually fixed them was the World Crystal. Additionally, Arelion did not add the part that they needed to consume mana from other creatures in order to use magic.

The last part that Arelion explained was how they changed with the moon’s phases. He explained how, during the full moon, Jasmine was fully in charge, and their body became female. Then, this progress would slowly shift until the new moon came around, and their body became male once again.

Throughout the whole explanation, Alyx had been rather quiet, though some of his emotions were easily spotted on his face. He had been confused by some of the explanations, such as the moon phases, since the planet's moon was not visible. His face also revealed how shocked he was about finding out that two deities were behind the experiment.

However, by the end of the explanation, Alyx’s face did not really express anything, and he seemed like he was following through the whole thing just fine. In fact, he seemed more interested than ever before. Arelion was sure many theories were going on in the gnome's head. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry, and Arelion reached out, asking if the researcher had any questions.

“I want to make sure I have the list of events and facts correct. So, I am going to go through the whole thing again and see if you can answer some questions.” Said the gnome before beginning his recap.

“So, during your gestation period, both of you were being infused with one of the two goddesses' power. Now I know the two deities don’t like each other at all, so it's more than odd that-that set of circumstances just came to be. Unless you two are one of the children that were kidnapped some time ago by that coalition of the dark gods?”

A question that Arelion simply answered with a nod, his face as serious as it could get as he evaluated the gnome in front of him.

“Alright, that makes sense. This means either you or your sister were already being used for Luxana’s project, probably your sister since the moon goddess prefers females. Then, being kidnapped explains Setiel.” The gnome spoke aloud more to himself than to Arelion before pausing.

“Obviously, something went wrong during your birth, and you fused. The problem is that those two gods don’t get along with each other, so it doesn’t make sense that they ended up fusing instead of just destroying each other. Though you said something intervened, correct?”

The question was answered by another nod from Arelion.

“That means it had to be some other power. Possibly a Monarch or even the Eldritch God. I highly doubt another god was involved, as they can’t control each other's divine energies like that.

“Either way, whatever it was, encased your new merged souls to hide you, and as you aged, the cage slowly eroded, exposing your true nature. Thus, when it was finally destroyed, it allowed the two gods to find you, and it makes sense that Setiel would try to kill you while Luxana wanted to use you. Even the whole moon phase makes sense since both gods are attached to the moon. Though if it was an aberration that saved you, I doubt Luxana would let you live, so it was probably some Monarch. Though, why would they do that?” Alyx finished looking over at Arelion, who just shrugged.

“We aren’t sure. It doesn’t matter either. Will you be able to fix us?”

Alyx smiled at the pale half-elf as he spoke, “Well, that is the million gold question, isn’t it? How about I take a look at your soul?”

Then, Arelion saw the gnome's gem eyes light up before also looking inward himself, leaving the silent Rose virtually alone in the room.

Inside the soul, Alyx saw something truly amazing and terrifying! The soul had three layers. The core held everything together as multicolor walls sprawled outward, holding the other two forces together. Surrounding the core was a sea of darkness that ate away at the walls as it tried to escape. Thankfully, surrounding that sea was an ocean of light that helped keep the darkness at bay along with the colored walls.

Alyx had never seen anything like it before, and his excitement was rising! Whatever this was matched Tesilim’s soul for sheer uniqueness! There was no precedent for two celestial souls living in one body. It simply wasn’t possible. Any entity that had such access to power would be nearly unstoppable, but it would first need to be durable enough to access said power without being reduced to ash.

“Just what on Earth could have enough power to make such a thing work?!” Was the only question going through Alyx’s brain as he saw the spectacle in front of him.

However, as he watched, he noticed something. It was something he never really paid much attention to, as all living things had it. The cycle of mana. Except he didn’t spot any such thing! There was no mana entering or leaving the soul! However, there was mana in the inner core! How in Axel’s name was that possible!?

It was just as he pondered that two figures appeared on either side of his avatar. One figure was all black with strands of deep purple emanating from it, and the other was fully silver-white. Alyx, of course, said the first thing that came to mind.

“How do you get mana!? I don’t see the workings of the mana cycle in here.”

His question did not please the two figures, and they spoke in unison. One male and the other female.

“You have seen too much! Leave!”

Then Alyx’s view was divided as light and darkness overcame his avatar, and he returned to reality.