Myth//OS - Chapter 58

I pushed open the door and got my first look at the man that would become my manager. Although he was wheelchair bound, the guy was incredibly well built. It looked like he just got out of the military a day ago rather than honorably discharged several years ago. 

He had a similar grizzled veteran vibe that Sarge had, though he seemed a bit more tame. Being off the battlefield could dull even the sharpest of claws. That didn’t mean they weren’t still deadly though.

While I inspected him, he likewise inspected me. A look of mutual understanding passed between us. He had a deep, baritone voice that echoed like a drill-sergeant’s. “You must be Warden Moon.”

”Nightin. Gale.” I nodded my head to the Expedition Team vet. 

“The CEO’s assistant, Lucia, mentioned your voice was cursed.” He rubbed at his beard. “I understand how… irritating that can be.”

”Assistant?”

”That’s how she introduced herself…” His head tilted to the side. “Did I get her title wrong?”

“…” What game were you playing at, Lucia? I casually shook my head, going along with whatever the girl was doing without any prompting.

My eyes flicked down to his legs. I could feel an unpleasant vibe from them. Definitely some type of contaminated ether, though not one I recognized. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

The man smirked. ”Take a picture. It’ll last longer.”

“Sorry.” I shifted and slid into one of the chairs near him.

”All good… you don’t look like a rook. Been through the trenches?” Nightingale asked me without looking up from his datapad.

“Outworld.” Seyhymn wasn’t exactly peaceful even before they came to it and messed everything up. Oh- should I’ve kept that private? As far as most people here knew, I was just from the frontier.

He shrugged and grumbled under his breath. “War is war. Doesn’t change.”

I rubbed at my head lightly, trying not to sink back into memories. “So?”

”I was just looking at your files.” Nightingale flicked through the dataslate. “I assume your SIGIL’s information is all wrong?”

”Aylin Io.” I nodded my head. He didn’t seem to be too bothered by it. 

“Hmm…” He typed out on the data pad with a half-smile. “I had a friend once. Outworlder like you. Came from a world dominated by telepathic cats. Can you believe that?”

”…”

[Nighteye twitches. Dominated was a strong word…]

“Alright.” He flicked up on the data pad, sending it up to a projector on top of the room. A bunch of charts and graphs popped up. He turned serious and the smile dropped from his face. “I have a few questions, if you don’t mind?”

I slid into one of the chairs at the meeting table. ”Go ahead.” 

That started a lengthy conversation about all sorts of stuff. At first, I was able to keep up with what he was saying. It was basic questions about my alias, theme, and the sorts of stuff Pursius prepped me on. I answered everything to the best of my abilities.

And then he went onto public relations, media social, and tons of other stuff that just went right over my head. Eventually he got the memo that I had no idea what he was talking about and sank back into his chair. The meeting ended shortly after that with him promising to do some more research and write up a battle plan to get my name out there. 

I spoke with Lucia a bit more after that and then went home to take care of my two new Red Evo. I was a little worried about finding cores to keep all my Traits up at the same level, but it wouldn’t be that big of an issue if Lucia was going to supply them for me. Yet another benefit to serving as Cernobog’s Warden.

I curled up with Nivia and settled down to spend both points. There was no point in keeping them, anyway. I started with All-Speech.

[All-Speech]

• Soft-spoken
  Weak voices evoke pity
• Vicious
  Not all strikes are physical
• Discerning
  Lie and truth are two sides of the same coin

The options changed from last time. How intriguing. Were the paths not set in stone like I thought they were? I wasn’t particularly attached to any of the previous options, at least. Hmm… as for the new options, Soft-spoken was immediately out. I didn’t need pity, nor a weak voice.

That just left Vicious and Discerning to pick from. Vicious looked like some kind of psychic attack, maybe? Or a taunt, I guess. It was cool enough, I guess. It reminded me of some old spells tricksters and musicians used to use back before the fall.

Discerning though… if it was an evolution that let me know when somebody was lying, it’d be a good idea to pick it. It’d vastly drop my chances of getting scammed, if nothing else. After a moment of decision, I picked Discerning. It just seemed like the kind of thing that I’d get more use out of. 

[Code: EC-1-1]

[Updating…]

I felt a flush of warmth through my throat and head. It was a deeply comforting warmth that made me slightly drowsy. I fought it off to the best of my ability and pulled up my next Trait evolution. 

[Dream Stride]

• Fabricating
  Control the sleeping world
• Realm Walker
  Walk between the two uncontested
• Dream Shift
  Bring the immaterial to life

The options changed here too. It was… unfortunate. I was looking forward to picking up Shore Walker or whatever that evolution was called. I didn’t find anything about the Shore in OuroSec’s archives, which just made me all the more curious about the weird place. I had yet to return to it, but I had a feeling it was only a matter of time.

As for my new options? Fabricating looked like some kind of dream manipulation booster. It’d probably help in figuring out what I wanted to know or manipulating someone through their dreams. It could be useful?

Realm Walker was definitely an evolution based around actually entering dreams. Maybe I could do it from range if I picked that one up? It’d make some things so much more convenient then how I normally had to do stuff.

And then there was Dream Shift… I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, to be honest. Was it something that’d allow me to make a dream real? If so… I was definitely picking that one. Outside of selfish reasons, it was the only evolution that brought a massive qualitative change that might make Dream Stride more useful.

[Code: EC-1-1]

[Updating…]

[Aylin Io

Titles: Nyx, Moon

Innate Trait: [Dream Shift], [Adaptive Ebonshroud], [Discerning All-Speech]

Skills: [Echoing Reinforcement], [Brace-6], [Guard], [Mictal Fog-1], [Ether Physique-4], [Radiance-1], [Darkest Night]

Boon: Nighteye - [Guiding Moonlight]

Bound: [Will Wire], [Thorn’s Defiance]]

My status was slowly but surely growing. I wanted to swap out Michal Fog, Guard, and Brace for some other Skills coming up. I had an idea for a Skill Resonance that might work when I was reading through OuroSec’s files. 

That could wait for later though. For now, I was more interested in my newly evolved Traits. Discerning All-Speech would need someone else to test it, but Dream Shift should be usable.

How- hmm… I activated the Trait in a similar way to the Skills. Ether flooded across my body, obscuring everything in a shadowy fog. By the time it disappeared, I sat on the bed, completely- oh- oh no…

[Nighteye shouts in joy! You’re so cute!]

Ugh- I shifted, feeling my paws press down on my bed weirdly. I was in my Dream Stride cat form… but in reality. It felt so weird. I could feel my fur. In the dream, there was a level of distance that made this acceptable. In reality it was just… I think I might puke.

I pushed myself up, tail flicking in annoyance behind me. Slowly but steadily, I got used to the new overwhelming sensations and feelings. In a word: tiring. Being like this made me so, so tired for some reason. So very sleepy. I blinked, and sat down, drooping like I just ran a mile.

[Nighteye nods her head knowingly. Baby cats can sleep up to twenty hours a day. Sweet dreams!]

Why-?

I plopped down on my bed. So cozy. So warm. I pulled at my blanket, creating softer bedding underneath me. A paw stretched out almost of its own, snagging Nivia. I pulled the rabbit close and curled around her, taking in her calming scent. It was so much stronger like this, to the point it was almost overpowering.

My tail flicking in agitation slowly settled down and fell still. I took a breathe-

— — —

The door cracking open woke me up. I pushed- 

“Mrow!” I slipped, my paws going out from below me. Nivia’s limbs wrapped around me like a big hug, completely tangling up my confused mind even more.

”Aylin? Why’d I hear a cat-“ Lucia paused at the door and stared at me struggling to free myself. All the tiredness on her face immediately vanished like she just had a dozen cups of coffee.

I froze and stared back at her. She wouldn’t recognize it was me, yep. Maybe this wasn’t as embarrassing as I thought it was? I was just a stray cat that randomly got in, yep.

I looked nothing like my normal self anyway, so there was absolutely no way she knew-

Lucia stepped over and picked me up like I weighed nothing. Her warm hands pressed gently into my fur. “What happened to you, Aylin?”

“…” How- no… let’s face it, this was not the worst thing she’s found me doing. 

“Wow, you’re even cuter like this.” She bobbed her hands, making my outstretched limbs reach out like I was requesting a hug. It felt incredibly odd being manhandled like this.

”…?” I tilted my head to the side, ears pressed low against my skull.

“C’mon, you may be in a different form now, but that sulky expression of yours is immediately recognizable.” She set me back down on the bed and played with my ears. I had a tuft of fur sticking up off my head like a cowlick. “I never got the appeal of cats, but…”

Oh- that felt good. Why did this feel so good? My eyes slowly closed once more and I leaned further into her touch. “Mrow?”

”I was planning on asking you to eat dinner with me, but… can you change back? Or are you stuck like this?” She scooped me up in her arms before I could even try and laid back on my bed like she owned the place. “Actually, nevermind. I’m not hungry anymore.”

Lie. Intuition screamed at me that she was lying. A repulsive feeling spread through me. My tail twitched erraticly. Discerning All-Speech might be a bit annoying if this was how I felt every time someone lied. In the modern city, it’d be harder to find someone telling the truth than someone lying.

I settled down, mind drifting while I allowed her to keep stroking my fur. If turning into a cat was it for the evolution… well, I wouldn’t call it useless. I could still feel my Ebonshroud, so I wasn’t entirely defenseless like this. I tested it, dredging up a small spike out of my fur. It was probably still lethal, though I’d have to adjust how I did things. My Skills still seemed to work too.

Being a cat had its benefits. It’d make infiltrating way easier. People just didn’t notice cats. I’d be able to blend in, especially with my dark fur. I was never the sneak type—I was downright atrocious at it, actually—but cats were naturally stealthy, yep? Maybe it could shore up some of my weaknesses in that regard.

As for how much I’d use it… probably not much. It was marginally better than the normal Trait, though seemed just as inconsistent. It was easy to fall asleep like this. With her hand on my head, I was having a harder and harder time keeping my eyes open.

Lucia’s hand stilled and her breath turned much shallower underneath me. I shifted, trying to escape her grasp. The movement only made her hug me tighter. “…?!”

Did I- did I Dream Shift back? How would that work with her pressed into me like this? I wouldn’t hurt her, right? Or should I just wait it out? My eyes blinked repeatedly. Hmm… maybe I should just… wait-

My eyes shut entirely.