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I got up to a very pleasant smell of some unidentifiable meat cooking. I went to investigate and found that Raptyr and Mazurek had left. Raptyr had been working at the Atheneum, investigating something. He didn't really say what it was though, his avoidance of the question had become quite artful. I went out to the kitchen and nuzzled Rin's neck, she had just finished making breakfast.

"Wow, your timing is amazing, finishing just as I woke up." I told her gratefully as she handed me a ceramic plate with whatever she had just cooked up, it was some kind of blue meat. It looked rather odd, but the smell was delicious.

She let out out a laugh that sounded a lot like a hiss, something I had grown quite fond of. "Actually sweetie, that was a spell Zayla had taught me, it wakes people up. Its a type of minor illusion magic." She told me, gesturing for me to eat a bit faster (the meat was delicious, tasted slightly like fish, making me wonder what it had come from). "I have been talking to Zayla and Lynear. Zayla refused to offer help but Lynear is willing. If you're ok with it, Lynear and I will be able to help you achieve a form that balances your demonic and regular half. It means you won't have to worry as much about demonic rampages. It might even unlock a new level of strength for you."

I looked at her, thinking it over in my head for a bit. I have to admit, the offer sounded tempting. I also trusted that she wouldn't suggest this if it was a step in the wrong direction. I continued to eat my breakfast (she had made a generous amount of it). When I was finished, I took it to the sink and cleaned it. I turned to look at her and gave her an approving nod.

It had gotten rather dark, the only light came from the moon above us. There was enough light for Rin and I to see, though i'm not sure about Lynear. Lynear is supposedly Zayla's half-sister, she reminded me of the various phoenixes I had encountered, though she was blue and claimed that her powers were more centered around water manipulation. The trees were somewhat illuminated by the moonlight but not by much. It was just enough to make them look eerie, like monsters that could jump out at any second and attack for seemingly no reason.

Rin had spent the last hour or so trying to help me wrap my head around it. The lunar cycle of the Forest is rather confusing. Different areas of the forest seemed to experience different lunar cycles (somehow...). Lunar energy exists here, but it doesn't come from a moon in the sense I had become accustomed to. There is a moon and stars but they don't exist in a space outside the forest. While there is a sky, it seems to have a limit, if you were to fly straight up, you would eventually get turned upside-down. It makes my head hurt just thinking about it to be perfectly honest.

Decided to try her hand at explaining it. "Zayla is the one who discovered the phenomenon. She suspected that each particular area of the Forest functions separately. This is the explanation for why we can only free limited areas. They all work independently of one another and on different rules that can be major things like 'fire burns you in area A' and 'Fire freezes you in ice in area B'. Some are differences so minor that you wouldn't even notice, like a small differences in the rate at which time flows or things are slightly lighter in area A than they are in B, so on and so forth. In short, even though these areas appear connected, they aren't."

"But Isn't the Atheneum some kind of giant mega-library that houses all the knowledge of the forest?" I asked her.

"Yes and no..." Lynear said slowly, "Yes, it does store all the information, but that doesn't mean we have full access to it. We are in the dark on a lot of things unless we discover them on our own. Aidan is constantly unlocking new areas with new knowledge, much of it is stuff we already figured out. Sometimes though, it helps us better understand what we thought we knew or confirms our theories. In rare instances, he even manages to find stuff that is extremely helpful that we had never even considered or dreamed possible."

"If it has all the answers, why don't you put more focus on unlocking it." I asked, almost assured there was a perfectly obvious reason to explain this.

"A few reasons..." Lynear said thoughtfully, "First of all, we arent an organized group..." she seemed to remember someone and space out for a moment. I waited patiently. "He and Zayla were the only ones who were able to unite us all towards a singular purpose." I was about to press on who 'he' was, but Rin grabbed my shoulder and shook her head. "He stopped though and became really focused on his experiments with plants. We're almost there, story time later. Rin can fill you in on the rest later."

Slowly, the trees became less and less dense, until finally I spotted a round stone altar that the moon shone directly on. There were no trees growing near it, as if they had all decided that the altar was something to be kept away from.

There was a circle on the top of the altar, dead center, a magical array that could hold great power. It dawned on me that what we were doing was no small deal and could go horribly wrong. Still though, I trusted Rin and Lynear. I laughed inwardly, trusting the half-sister of the woman who nearly killed me (and probably still wanted me dead)and the person I've barely known. What a laughable situation indeed.

Lynear gestured for me to get up on the altar and I did so, standing dead center (another funny concept, given that death could easily come from participating in a ritual like this if the magical energy isn't carefully controlled) and waited patiently.

"I invoke the Book of Wardens" Lynear said in a soft yet unwavering voice. Something that looked like a spellbook appeared out of thin air (Again I had to laugh inwardly at the mage casting magic from a spellbook cliche, there was no end to the jokes tonight apparently).

To be honest, I was actually expecting chanting. It quickly dawned on me that this spell was taking all of her focus though. It had begun when she opened the book, which radiated a powerful yet varied type of magic. I had never encountered an object before now that had such diversity. It held types of magic I had yet to even encounter attached to it.The book was flipping wildly, floating open before her (I hadn't noticed her letting go, despite being so focused on the object.) It'd flip forwards and backwards as if it couldn't decide on a page.

Suddenly, I was assaulted by an immense pain, as if I was being ripped apart on the deepest of levels. I could feel the pain and see through my eyes, yet I could see a different perspective as well. I could see my body as it began changing. My scales shed off, disintegrating as they detached from me. New ones were forming underneath them, dark purple scales formed on my chest and stomach and under my muzzle, on the insides of my legs and arms as well. Everywhere else sprouted fur however. The fur that was growing on my body looked mostly black, but undeniably red as well, a very very dark red.

My legs kept their vulpine configuration, as did my arms. I still possessed the same pads on my fingers and palms. My ears were scaled over, though the scales were the same color as my fur, they also had distinctly draconic fins, a cross that displayed my vulpine and draconic heritage. My muzzle was slightly shorter and was a strange amalgamation of draconic and vulpine features. My tail grew a bit longer and slightly stronger, though not heavier and I felt but did not see as muscles for my wings grew through my back, as my body developed lithe new muscles that it hadn't possessed before. I wasn't very outwardly muscular, but there was a magical energy that ran throughout my body now, enhancing various aspects of my body's abilities that I would have to test later.

The transformation of my body was done, I felt something that I cannot quite describe as the two parts of my soul that I had separated for most of my life suddenly became one. It was sort of like I was being pressed against something that I resisted and that resisted me. Yet there was no actual physical sensation. The moment the merging feeling passed, I was back in my body, unable to see from that other perspective I had just moments before. I was still pretty weak though. I wasn't even able to tell Rin or Lynear that I was ok. My eyes fell shut. I felt a lurch slightly after, but that was all I felt before my consciousness faded away.