Unfortunately it was very late so he didn’t know if he was still supposed to go to et Tim.
Luckily or unluckily, he got a ssage from a contact he recognized as Ava’s, telling him to co in tomorrow morning before classes to speak with Tim.
So... he was free for the night.
He wondered if security would just let him spend the night in the dungeon but Freya inford him that it was unlikely.
He walked for a few minutes, wondering what he could do for the night when he suddenly stopped.
"Hmm?"
He looked to the side, feeling a familiar presence and he imdiately caught a glimpse of a girl’s back. Her glittering black and white hair flowing in the wind as she looked up at the moon.
"Hey"
She called without looking back.
"It’s late. What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the sa "
Zaria paused for a bit before muttering.
"Zyro "
"Yep. Zen’s been out a while. I can switch back if you wanna talk to him"
She shook her head.
"No that’s not necessary. Plus. I feel more comfortable treating you all as... the sa? That’s what you said right? You’re all-"
"Used to be, but yeah"
He decided to join her.
"Late night?"
"Yeah, also I napped through most of the afternoon,soooo..."
Zyro wasn’t sure if what he did counted as a nap but he also didn’t feel tired, though that might just be the jitters.
"How’s Jade "
"Asleep. I hope. Diane’s watching her"
"Any changes?"
Zaria thought for a second.
"Let guess, she isn’t eating?"
"How’d you know?"
Zyro didn’t answer. After evolution, taste for normal food lessened considerably. Not to the point where it was unpalatable, but just enough to be slightly unnerving
Food was starting to taste bland for her. It seed most her changes were complete
"Listen. I know you’re still figuring things out but i really need to know what’s going on, for her sake "
"..."
"Don’t you trust ?"
Hearing that,a mory flashed in his mind of soone else asking that sa question. Celia
What a pain
"I know we don’t know each other th-"
"Okay"
"W...what?"
"I do trust you, believe it or not "
"..."
"What?"
"Nothing, it’s just... thanks . But...are you sure you don’t have to... discuss?"
Zyro shrugged.
"I’m just one part of one guy, sa for the others. Feelings are complicated, but the three of us have clear distinctions. I trust you, but at the sa ti I’m uncertain, and at the sa ti i don’t. Regular human emotions are just as ssy and complicated, just a lot less visible"
"... I...think I get it. So what’s going on?"
He thought for a second.
"Maybe i should just show you"
He took a quick look around and black who was flying around the halls said they were clear so he didn’t hesitate.
Before Zaria’s eyes,a pair of golden wings ripped out of Zyro’s back through his uniform, spreading out.
She stared,a bit surprised but not shocked since she’d seen them before.
"I don’t get it"
"They’re real"
"..."
Zaria slowly reached out to touch the wings, feeling them in her hands
They were filled with energy and coursing with life. From the very first touch she could tell they weren’t pieces of gear or sothing made by an ability.
"How..."
He gently flapped them a bit to loosen them up.
"I... might not exactly be human "
"That... makes sense"
"It does?"
Zaria looked like she had way too many thoughts going through her mind but she didn’t seem very affected by them.
"Yeah... so other races are rumored to have strange powers like mutations even without abilities or aether"
"I guess so"
"But... I’ve never seen or heard of sothing that can do what you do while looking so much like a human"
"Let’s just say I don’t look like this all the ti"
"Wait but how would that work?"
"What do you an?"
"I an... the..."
She looked around cautiously and whispered.
"Arcade. Wouldn’t they try to kill you?"
"Oh... well it’s a bit confusing to explain"
He was internally wondering if this was such a good idea but there was no going back now.
Zaria was still confused though.
"Then what about Jade? How does that involve her?"
"Well, funny story actually. My... species has increased strength durability, healing and just all-round power compared to humans"
Zaria nodded, motioning for him to continue.
"Well,we also sort of have the ability to make more of us...or turn regular people to be similar to us. When Jade died a quickly turned her so -"
"Your species special biology and accelerated healing would save her"
He nodded.
"And luckily it worked "
For a few seconds, Zaria was silent, pondering sothing.
"So... like how vampires and werewolves were rumored to turn people "
’yeah, that’s not exactly a rumor ’
"Exactly "
"That’s also why the Arcade didn’t kill . I was also turned pretty recently. Just a while before I joined the academy ."
"I’d love to help Jade but problem is I’m new at this too. I’m still not completely sure what I’m doing myself, though I’ll probably figure it out soon. I don’t want to freak her out without having a valid answer for exactly why what happened to her happened to her"
Zaria sighed and started massaging her temples.
"This cannot be real. I’ve heard of genetic recoding and geno editing,heck we take that class on Tuesdays,but that stuff is just theory."
Zyro didn’t really know what to tell her.
"I an...if it were an ability i guess it’d make sense, but these guys can just straight up do it? "
"Yeah,I was surprised too"
She took a deep breath and cald herself.
"Okay. What about the person who turned you?"
Wouldn’t that technically be GK? They created the system that had done this to him after all.
"No clue. They contact , sotis. But I’ve never even seen her face"
"And you’re sure it’s not just an ability that can be passed from one person to another ?"
"Zaria. I’m certain. I’m not human anymore "
She sighed.
"And neither is Jade. I get it now"
"So do you have any ideas on how to tell her?"
Zaria didn’t answer, which in itself was an answer.
"What about you? You seem to be doing... okay"
"Yeah well it’s been months since i was turned. It took ti too, and that’s with the system"
"The system?"
"Oh, it’s how the person that turned communicates"
Theia facepald. Where was this guy’s sense of secrecy. This was the second ti he’d ntioned the system out loud, even if he didn’t give clues as to what it was
Zaria looked at Zen’s back where his wings had poked out. Feeling her gaze, Zyro sighed.
"I know,I know. They keep ruining my clothes. Maybe i could start cutting a big hole in the back of my shirts"
Zaria thought about the idea and although she felt it would probably work, sothing at the back of her mind told her it was probably a bad idea.
"Maybe we should try sothing else first?"
Zyro was a bit stunned by her choice of words.
"We?"
She nodded.
"You believe "
"Eh...if I can believe in ancient magic monkey gods,what you said isn’t that weird. Plus, not all species, sentient or not reproduce like humans. So just clone themselves, others do even weirder shit than that. It’s a bit confusing, but I can wrap my head around it "
Zyro was suddenly reminded of the monkey issue. At this point it was basically confird that gods existed in the past, even if they were mostly lost to history. Then would it be so strange if so of earth’s native myths were more than just that?
He saw she still had the thin, almost invisible strand of hair tied around her neck.
"Sun wukong "
He muttered, his eyes glowing intensely just at the thought of it.
"That guy might actually be real"
Zaria chuckled.
"Yeah, maybe he could help with your little problem "
She said, pointing to his choker
Could he?
Well honestly the most important question is actually would he? Because according to the legends, wukong was... kind of a dick,or a troll at the very least
That also posed an interesting question. Assuming it really was the mythical monkey? What was he doing on so other planet? And more importantly why would he give a strand of his hair to Zaria.
From what Zaria said, she hadn’t been picked at random. It had specifically asked for her, and it could speak fluent Chinese,a language few people on earth still knew.
"You still rember seeing it, right?"
Zaria nodded.
"It looked hurt, and sad. Even Diane almost rushed to it. Diane of all people... though it makes sense she’d feel more for animals than humans. She even acted like she understood so of what he said"
Diane, huh? The beast king ability was still one of the world’s most mysterious. Maybe he’d have to ask about her experience as well.
"Anything else?"
"Not that I can rember,no. They just sort of let us go after that"
Zaria looked at the hair, gently rubbing it between her fingers
"Why a hair though?"
"Well according to the myth it also has magic properties. Shape shifting ,you and Zen have already seen it do that. Indestructibility..."
"Well the only other power this thing has is it’s impossible to loose "
"What do you an?"
Zaria sighed and took it off her neck before throwing it out into the wind
"No matter where i drop it. It always finds . I even threw it into a portal once and the next day i woke up with it on my face"
Zyro watched it get blown away while Zaria didn’t look concerned at all, and surely,after about a minute, the wind suddenly shifted directions, blowing it perfectly back into her open hand.
"See?"
"Huh"
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