The news hits everyone like a bombshell – silent for a fraction of a second and then an explosion of sound as every single samuran seemed to have a reaction they wanted to share with their neighbour. Or someone across the crowd from them.

  Though unable to make out much more than the odd word here or there, I hear and feel enough to know that the reactions are mostly incredulous anticipation. And I don’t miss the many hopeful glances sent the way of myself and my Pathwalkers. After all, one Enlightened samuran appearing in the village could just be luck. Two, however, indicates that there might be something else going on. Something almost magical.

  Of course, that’s assuming that Flower manages to complete the Evolution. Just starting it is enough of a feat, but it’s no guarantee that it will succeed.

  Though I know that it will take some time for the Evolution to complete – success or failure – I stride towards the flickering light. The samurans before me shift aside so I have a clear route though, but I’m not surprised when I hear the sounds of them coming together again and following me afterwards.

  Though I had mixed emotions about Windy Evolving again, given her personality – and since the first thing she did after Evolving was try to break free of my Bond, my fears were justified – I am less worried about Flower. Still, I want to be there for her and, if it looks like things aren’t going so well, perhaps I can intervene as I did with Fenrir. Or, if things are going well, perhaps I can learn more about what happens during the second Evolution.

  Though Flower isn’t necessarily loyal to me, she is loyal to her village. She and Tarra are much the same in that way – they both put the good of the village above their own personal qualms, as long as they have faith that whatever is happening is indeed for the village’s benefit. It’s possible that the first thing she does, presuming a successful Evolution, will be to try to pull free from my control, but perhaps not.

  I’ve seen her attitude change over the months I’ve been here. Though she was always one of those willing to give me a chance, her immediate reaction to my suggestions has changed from careful impartiality, logically weighing up the potential pros and cons, to something more trusting. She doesn’t always agree with me or my ideas, but I seem to have convinced her that my intentions are always for the good of the village itself, even if the idea might be unworkable for whatever reason. It’s a subtle difference which gives me hope that, even with more power, I’ll still have an ally in a way that Windy isn’t.

  Rounding one of the newly-created huts, I stop dead at the sight before me. Though I saw it with Windy, that wasn’t enough to inure me to the awe and amazement I feel at the brightly crackling ball of light around her. Glowing a soft green interspersed with patterns of brown, the ball of sparks around Flower is at least as big and bright as Windy’s was. That’s a good sign.

  I am a little surprised that it’s Flower who’s Evolving next, though – I’d thought Tarra was ahead of her in terms of progress to the next level. Touching the Bond I have with the sometimes-prickly herbalist, I sense both amazement and frustration. I get enough of a sense of her emotions to be able to guess what she’s thinking: she feels it’s unfair that the younger Pathwalker is the first to Evolve. Which just emphasises that Evolution isn’t just about age or accumulation of Energy. There’s something else to it. Hopefully Flower will be able to explain that when she comes out of the blinding ball of sparks.

  Around her, it seems like the whole village has gathered, samurans new and old are all coming together to see the rare sight of an Enlightened Pathwalker coming into being. Hopefully, anyway.

  I frown as I see a slight wobble to the sphere of sparks whirling around Flower and concealing her from view. Was it my imagination?

  A moment later, I know it isn’t as the same thing happens again – a small group of sparks leaped out a little further from one side than the others. It seems so small a defect, but something tells me that small defects indicate large faults – Fenrir’s sparks were far weaker than Bastet’s and he’s a relatively weak Tier two.

  But I don’t interfere. Not yet. I step forwards until I’m almost touching the whirling ball of sparks, ignoring the hisses I hear from the audience. This close to the sparks, I can actually hear a sort of humming, like the sparks are physical objects which are whirling through and displacing the air. Closing my physical eyes, I open my magical senses to their utmost, not hesitating to draw on the Bond I have with Flower to gain more insight.

  For a moment, the brightness of the sparks is all I can see, searing itself onto even my non-physical retina and causing almost physical pain. But I persevere, sensing that I’m not actually being injured, even though it feels like I am. And then, as if I’m slowly piercing a veil, the sparks begin fading in brightness even as what is beyond begins glowing with greater intensity.

  I find myself spellbound. I can see the currents of glowing Energy running through Flower like rivers. It’s like…the faintly-glowing patterns that Windy has set into her scales. Like the Energy matrix, or part of it at least, has emerged to be painted on her very skin.

  And that’s what seems to be happening here. Every moment I look, the rivers become more and more apparent, like veins coming to the surface of the skin as someone increases in heat.

  Peering past the most obvious channels, I see the rest of Flower’s internal matrix beyond, still tucked away. And in the centre of that mass which grows out like the roots she enjoys using, the Core sits glowing brightly.

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  Flower is on the verge of doing something. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I sense that it’s the wrong time. It’s too soon. Something that should be present is not. Not yet.

  Wordlessly, I urge her to wait. She responds with a flood of sensation: the sense of building pressure that she cannot contain; that if she tries to contain it any longer she will lose complete control of the blast.

  But yet, she must wait. Or something bad will happen.

  I urge her to hold fast, somehow sending my consciousness over the Bond partly to join her own, my Willpower giving strength to her own grasp over that which presses against her control.

  I work more by instinct than understanding, choosing to set my logical brain to one side as I feel the swells of age-old primal understanding grip my Bound and, wound as tightly in our Bond as I am, me too. It’s only the depth of the Bond that we hold, its base rooted in Dominate as it is and tightened with time and trust that allows me to lend something so integral to myself to her.

  And perhaps it is also the echoes of the Skills I’ve chosen – the Skill which allows my Bound to borrow each others’ abilities, and the Skill which allows me to mimic one of their aspects. Somehow these two Skills form two sides of a triangle, and in this moment of Evolution and change, that is enough for me to touch the third side of that triangle.

  But these are concerns for later. When I don’t need every ounce of my concentration to enable Flower to keep a lid on that pressure which seeks to escape.

  As I hold her metaphorical hands, I notice peripherally that the Energy channels are growing and glowing even brighter. And, as if those veins aren’t sufficient to allow her body to cope with the intense Energy flush she’s dealing with right now, more channels come to the surface.

  Now?

  Not yet. But soon.

  Yes.

  Our communication flows easily, almost as if we are sharing the same mind. I sense the instability which I had noticed before stabilising and I’m sure that if I was still watching from the outside, the glowing, whirling ball would be brighter, louder, and more solid than ever – a perfect sphere.

  Now.

  I do not know who breathes it – perhaps we both just know it simultaneously – but that the moment has come is unquestionable. It is time to release the pressure that yearns to explode.

  Yet we must do so carefully.

  My instinct fails here, I have no knowledge of the way forward to guide me. The direction of the ancestors or primal instinct, or whatever it is vanishes completely, as if it had never been there.

  But fortunately, my partner, my companion, is not so clueless. I thus lend my strength to her, supporting her in where she leads.

  Slowly, carefully, I feel Flower relax a little of her control. A little of the pressure escapes, sending a blast through her entire body like a shockwave. Her Energy channels hum and I sense the whirling ball of sparks around her intensify further.

  And then…she releases the pressure completely. That bright ball of glowing green Energy in the centre of her Energy matrix…shatters into a myriad fragments.

  A bolt of terror goes through me at her actions – what has she done?! Perhaps she hears my thought or she feels my horror, but she sends a reassuring feeling – this is meant to happen, it seems to say. I would be more reassured if I couldn’t feel the desperate hope she cradles close to herself. She’s not nearly as sanguine as she wishes me to believe. But I have no guidance to offer her.

  Unable to do anything but hope along with her, I watch as the myriad fragments of Core are sucked in by the Energy matrix, their presence making every strand of it glow brighter than ever.

  Appearing increasingly like the roots of an immense tree, I watch as the matrix grows before my eyes. I notice something, though – for all its growth, nothing really new appears. No new patterns are created, no new Skills appear, not like in my own Energy matrix. But what is already there is maximised. It becomes bigger, stronger, more defined. More definite. Like it’s always been there and always will be, but needed some effort to reveal its form, as if it were bones revealed by an archaeologist’s careful brush-strokes.

  And then, three small balls slowly begin to grow, cradled like eggs or tubers in the roots of the internal matrix. The internal matrix as a whole dims as the brightness is attracted to these three little balls. From the size of a fish egg, they grow to the size of a marble, and then to the size of an egg in truth, though spherical and not ovoid. And there they stop.

  I suddenly realise what has happened, and the realisation is enough to push me back fully to my own body. But that’s fine – I sense that it’s now a question of allowing the Evolution to wind down by itself. It’s probably better for me to withdraw now anyway.

  I open my eyes and look at the samuran before me. I am still exactly where I was before, my fingers touching the bright sparks that continue to whirl, though they are doing so far more slowly than before, almost seeming tired.

  I drop my hand and step back, my thoughts whirling. Flower allowed her Core to explode, but in return has gained three small Cores in its place. Considering that I know Windy only has one Core, I’m curious to see what Flower’s stats look like when she’s fully finished her Evolution.

  At least I don’t need to be worried about her challenging me – one benefit of the weird kind of mind meld we had is that I can sense our Bond is stronger than ever, and not in the way my Bond with Windy is. Hers was strengthened by my Willpower, because I refused to let her go and held on until her will gave in first. Our Bond is strong, but only as strong as my own Willpower.

  My Bond with Flower, however, I can sense has been strengthened by trust and shared experience. I chuckle quietly as I realise something – it’s no longer a Dominate Bond. Flower has jumped straight to Companion. I don’t even know how that’s possible when I’m supposed to release the existing Bond first before Companion Bond becomes viable, but the proof speaks for itself.

  Silence reigns as everyone watches as the last of the sparks are finally absorbed, revealing the newest Enlightened samuran.

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