While they traveled, the steady rhythm of their footsteps and the bahat passed between them gave Vivienne plenty of time to think. Her mind wandered, uhered, and for the first time in a long while, it wasn’t ed by the incessant hunger or the looming presence of fear.

  She thought about her family in another world, the people she had left behind—their faces blurred, memories fading like a dream upon waking. She thought about who she had been, how she had once been bound by the fear of her own weakness, of her own mortality. And thehought about what she was now—what she had bee, in this strange, new world where she was free from the straints of her former self.

  A smile pyed across her many lips, sinister and satisfied, but something else flickered behind her grins. A certain kind of peace, though she wouldn’t admit it aloud.

  Rava gnced sideways at her, notig the shift in her demeanour. “What’s that look for?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “You look like you’re thinking of eating from more victims.”

  Vivienne’s grin stretched impossibly wide, her eyes gleaming with something like amusement. “Nothing like that, in this insta least,” she replied, her voice light, almost pyful. “No, I was thinking about myself.” Her form rippled as she shifted her gaze toward Rava, the many eyes of her faarrowing slightly. “I’m certain I don’t—’t feel fear anymore. It’s… gone.” She let the words linger in the air, sav the weight of them.

  Her many maws twisted into a grin as sharp as a knife. “And who am I without fear ruling my whole life?” She chuckled, a low, haunting sound. “I feel like I’m more me than I ever have been.”

  Rava looked at her for a long moment, her expression unreadable. She wasn’t sure what to make of it—what to make of Vivieransformation. She’d seeerrifying side of her panion, the part that devoured and ed, and the part that revelled in the chaos it created. But there was something else in her now—something that wasn’t quite so monstrous, a more uling in its own way.

  “You’re certainly different from when you first arrived.” Rava said, her voice softer than before. “But I’m gd you are happy.”

  Vivienne’s many heads tilted in curiosity, the wicked grin never quite leaving her lips. “What do you mean?”

  Rava shook her head slightly, a hint of a smile tugging at the er of her mouth. “I don’t know. Just—there’s something about you now. Like you’re… more fortable in your skin, if that makes sense.”

  Vivienne hummed, a low, almost purring sound. “Maybe that’s the point. I’ve shed the old skin, and now I get to py with the new one. Who knows what es ?”

  Rava was silent for a moment, chewing over the words, then she sighed, the tension in her posture easing just a little. “Just don’t fet, yeah? You may not feel fear, but you still o watch your baot everything here’s gonna roll over just ‘cause you don’t feel scared.”

  Vivienne’s smile faded for a sed, repced by something more ptive, her many heads turning inward as if sidering the implications of Rava’s words. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she muttered, her voice softer than usual. Then, without warning, her griurned, wider and more predatory than before. “But don’t worry, I’ll be sure to make it iing.”

  Rava snorted, clearly unsure whether Vivienne’s words were meant to reassure or terrify. The tensioween them lingered in the air for a moment, but it was broken when a pierg scream ripped through the forest, eg off the trees like a khrough the silence.

  Both of them froze, every muscle in their bodies tightening in respoo the sudden sound. Vivienne’s eyes narrowed, her many heads snapping to attention as her body rippled, the uling aura of her presence being more pronounced. Her smile vanished, repced by something more focused, as her senses sharpened.

  Rava’s ears flicked back, her posture stiffening. “That doesn’t sound like something we want to ignore,” she said, her voice low but steady, eyes sing the dense undergrowth for any sign of movement.

  Vivienne’s lips curled into a faint, knowing smirk. “I do love a good interruption,” she purred, her tone dripping with dark amusement. But the spark in her eyes was no longer pyful—it was something else entirely, a glimmer of the hunger she’d once been ed by.

  Rava shifted, her muscles coiling with anticipation. “Stay sharp. I don’t know what’s out there, but if that scream’s anything to go by, we won’t be dealing with something ordinary.”

  The scream came again, closer this time, the frantic desperation in it sending a shiver down their spines. Vivieilted her heads slightly, as though trying to judge the distance. “Not quite my usual fare… but I’m intrigued,” she murmured, her grin stretg once more, revealing a hint of her mah.

  Rava’s hand instinctively went to the pce where her gaus should have been, but they were still gone, left behind after the chaotic events in the ruin. Her eyes flickered to Vivienne, who had already started moving toward the source of the sound, her limbs unduting in a fluid, uling motion.

  “Are we really doing this?” Rava muttered, a mixture nation aant curiosity in her voice.

  Vivieurned her head, eyes glinting with mischievous delight. “What’s life without a little chaos, Rava? Besides, we might just make a new friend.”

  Rava groaned. “I’m starting to hate that phrase…”

  The two of them moved forward, the forest around them darkening with the weight of unseehe screams tio eingling with the strange sounds of the wild. Whatever awaited them, it was clear it wasn’t just a simple animal in distress.

  As they pushed deeper into the trees, Vivienne’s form twisted and torted with each step, her body morphing as if adapting to the very air around her. Rava’s senses were heightened, her sharp eyes sing every shadow, every rustle of leaves.

  And then, suddenly, they came upon it.

  A clearing y before them, bathed in dappled sunlight that flickered and danced across the ground. In the tre, a figure was kneeling, its body wracked with sobs. It was humanoid, but there was something wrong about it—a dark aura g to it, twisted and unnatural. Around it, the ground was scorched, the remnants of burnt foliage curling up into the air like smoke from a long-dead fire.

  Vivienne’s eyes narrowed, and her many heads tilted curiously. “Now that is iing.” Her voice had shifted, no longer pyful but deadly serious.

  Rava stepped forward, though her stance was cautious. “Is that... what we think it is?”

  Vivienne didn’t answer immediately. She took a few steps forward, her many tendrils swirling in the air around her as if testing the atmosphere, her eyes narrowing with reition. “Looks like a creature touched by Loam Aether…” she muttered, almost to herself, before her gaze shifted back to the figure, her smile creeping wider.

  Rava’s fingers instinctively hovered he empty space where her ons should have been. She frowhe ck of her gear now feeling all the more pronounced. "We o be careful. Something feels off."

  Vivienne spared her a sideways gnce, a sly grin tugging at the ers of her lips. "That’s why we make it iing, right?"

  Rava didn’t respond, her focus entirely on the creature in the clearing. The sobbing had stopped, leaving behind an eerie silence, and then, slowly, the figure began to turn toward them. Its movements were jerky, unnatural, and its eyes—burning with an unnatural, fiery light—gred at them with a desperate, frantitensity.

  And then it spoke, its voice rasping from deep within its throat. “Help… me…”

  Rava blinked, her ears twitg. “Is that… a talkiherbeast? But that’s—”

  “Impossible. Like me, right?” Vivienne’s voice cut through, sharp and knowing.

  The figure’s eyes widened even further at the sight of Vivienne, and with a grotesque, rasping sound, it let out anuttural scream—louder this time, filled with a primal terror. “Monster!”

  The word hung in the air like a curse, vibrating with the weight of both fear and reition. The creature stumbled back, its body twitg in spasms, as though trying to flee from Vivienne’s gaze. The word, the scream—it all made something cold coil in Rava’s gut.

  Vivieilted her head, her form rippling with amusement, though something darker lingered behind her smile. "So, that’s how it is, then? I must be the monster now? Don’t worry, I am a friendly monster!”

  Rava’s grip on the air tightened for a brief moment, but her eyes remained on the creature, still unsure whether it was a threat or merely a victim of something much bigger. "Vivienne, we don’t know what’s happening here. We o figure this out first."

  Vivienne gave a dismissive bob of her heads, turnitention fully to the creature.

  The figure was twisted, its limbs spindly and covered in gnarled wood, as if it had been formed from the earth itself. Its face, though humanoid in shape, had no nose—only a mask of bark, with a jagged split along the face where a mouth might be. Its eyes glowed a sickly green, and its movements were erratic, like it wasn’t quite in trol of itself.

  Vivienne’s eyes gleamed as she studied it. "Loam Aether," she muttered, barely audible, but her voice carried an unmistakable reition. "It’s a twisted kind of thing, shaping the earth into new forms. But this? This isn’t just the earth’s will. There’s something more here."

  Rava’s expression remained focused, but a flicker of sympathy passed through her eyes. She took aep forward, keeping her dista making her presenown. “We ’t just undo it, whatever this is,” she said quietly, her voice steady. “You’ve been twisted by Loam Aether. We don’t know if it even be reversed.”

  The creature’s head jerked in her dire, its eyes wide with desperation. “It hurts... I feel it ging me.” It scraped its wooden fingers across its face, leaving jagged marks in the bark-like mask. “Please... stop it...”

  Vivienne’s many heads tilted in thought, her form shifting slightly as she approached the creature with unnerving calm. “I feel it, too,” she murmured, her tone almost too soothing, though the gleam in her eyes hi something else… something structured. “The aether they are abs, it's tanised.”

  The creature’s eyes flickered with reition, but then it recoiled as if something i fought against Vivienne’s words. “I—don’t—want—this...” It gritted its teeth, trying to fight the pull of the earth c through it. “I don’t remember who I was... I don’t know who I am anymore...”

  Rava’s voice softened, but there was a firmo it. “The us help you. You’re still you, even if it’s buried under all this... whatever this is. But we o know what happened.” She stepped fain, this time closer, reag out a hand in an almost f gesture. “Who did this to you?”

  The creature froze, its body trembling, and for a moment, Rava thought it might sh out. But then, it spoke again, its voice barely a whisper, filled with pain. “I was a miner, I-I think. It’s so fuzzy. there were people… they took the others… they took me, did something to me. I ran. It’s all so fuzzy…” They rasped out.

  Vivienne’s smile faltered for a moment, a shadow passing over her features. "They? Well that’s ominous." She turo Rava, her voice low. “I probably eat the aether as it flows into them. Would probably halt whatever is happening to them.”

  Rava didn’t flinch at the suggestion. “Well, that’s about as good as we’re gon. Let’s give it a shot.” She turoward the creature, her tone softening, though the warrior iill held steady. “My friend here may be able to help. But it’s going to take all of us, alright?”

  The creature’s eyes flicked nervously betweewo of them, instinctively pulling away from Vivienne. A tremor ran through its body, but it didn’t move. Instead, its gaze locked onto Vivienne, filled with a blend of fear and something else—an odd sense of hope.

  “o worry,” Vivienne cooed, her grin widening, though it did little to calm the creature. If anything, it made the air feel colder. Still, the creature didn’t move to stop her, nodding shakily in agreement.

  Vivieook a step closer, her tendrils curling with anticipation, her form rippling with an almost predatrace. "This won’t hurt," she murmured, though the cold, calcuted edge to her voice told a different story. As she reached out, the creature flinched instinctively, but her tendrils were surprisingly gentle as they cupped its face. The touch was almost tender, yet there was something darker lurkih the surface.

  The aether surged through the cracks in the creature’s bark-like skin, a thick, verdant pulse that ed around Vivienne’s hands, drawn to her as if it reized her hunger. It twisted in the air, the raw essence of Loam, so familiar to Vivienne, yet wild and untrolble in its current form. The flow was thid heavy, pressing against her like the weight of the earth itself.

  The creature shuddered violently beh her touch, its eyes snapping shut as if brag itself. A small whimper escaped its throat, an almost human sound of desperation.

  Vivienne’s smile widened, lips pulling back slightly as she felt the aether fight against her, squirming in her grasp. "There we go," she murmured softly, her voice ced with a chilling ess. She leaned closer, her other heads twisting with satisfa as she fed on the energy, her own form rippling with increasing power.

  The creature’s breath became shalled, as its body jerked involuntarily. It was trapped in a da didn’t uand, caught betweeher that held it and the one draining it away. A frantic tremor ran through it, but Vivienne held firm, her grip never faltering as the flow of aether grew stronger.

  "Yoing to be fine," she said, almost too soothingly, her voice slipping into something sweetly venomous. "Just breathe. I’ll take care of the rest."

  The creature let out arangled whimper, its bark-like skin crag open slightly uhe pressure of the aether p through it, revealing soft, fragile flesh beh. The emerald light in its eyes flickered like a dying fme, and for a moment, it seemed as though it might crumble entirely, ed by the force Vivienne was drawing from it.

  The creature’s breath came in shallos, eae a fragile plea as Vivieendrils tio pull at the aether, her tendrils coiling and unwinding with an almost hypnotic rhythm. She could feel the pulse of the earth’s energy deep within, a raw and unrefined force, vibrating with potential. The power was like a drug—seductive and overwhelming, promising more than what she had ever felt before. She leaned closer, her lips curling into a smile as the flow of aether thied, flooding her senses.

  She could feel the creature's strength slipping, each breath med, each tremor more violent. It was losing itself, the earth’s pull overwhelming its will. Yet Vivienne—she felt nothing but the rush of power. Her hunger pushed her onward, a hunger for more.

  The creature’s eyes fluttered open, weak and pleading. “Stop… please…”

  Vivienne’s smile didn’t falter. "It's almost done," she whispered, the words too soft, too sweet. "You’ll be free soon, just a little longer. Let go."

  The creature shuddered violently, its body shaking as the light in its eyes dimmed further. Its limbs sagged, brittle and unsteady, barely able to support its ow. A low groan escaped its throat, a sound of despair, but Vivienne was toone in the rush of aether to notice the signs of its impending colpse. She was lost in the flow, her tendrils unfurling in anticipation, drawing every drop of essence she could.

  From the er of her eye, she caught Rava’s figure, rigid and silent, her expression unreadable. Rava’s gaze flickered between Vivienne and the creature, her body tehe weight of the momeling in the air like a storm before it broke.

  "Vivienne..." Rava’s voice broke the tension, sharp and steady. "Yoing too far."

  But Vivienne didn’t react. She was too deep in it, her senses overwhelmed by the torrent of aether. The creature’s breath was being more erratic, its body weakening, the pulse of the earth it was tethered to flickering out like a dying ember. The once vibrant green in its eyes had turo a dull, lifeless hue, and the cracks in its bark had deepened.

  Rava stepped forward, her hand twitg toward where her ons would have been, though she knew she had none. “Vivienne!” Her voice was louder now, cutting through the haze of Vivierance. “You’re killing it!”

  The words sliced through Vivienne’s mind like a knife, a sudden crity breaking through the fog. For a moment, she hesitated, the pull of the aether faltering. But it wasn’t enough to stop her—she could still feel the creature’s essence slipping away, could still hear the faint whisper of its pain, and it felt so good, so satisfying…

  Rava’s hand shot out, her fingers closing around Vivieendrils with a force that jolted her from the trahe raw power Vivienne had been drawing from the creature cut off abruptly, and the weight of the moment crashed down on her. She looked at Rava, disoriented, her breathing shallow.

  “What—?” Vivienne’s voice was strained, her gaze unfocused, as if the sudden interruption had shocked her system.

  “Enough,” Rava said, her voice tight with trolled fury. “You were going to kill it.” She gave Vivieendril a sharp tug, pulling her back, away from the weakened creature.

  Vivienne blinked, slowly being aware of the fragile state of the creature before them. It was trembling violently, barely able to stand, its body sd vulnerable. The green light in its eyes was almost gone, leaving nothing but emptiness. She had taken too much.

  A flicker of guilt tugged at her, but she suppressed it quickly, her smile reappearing—this time tinged with something darker, a hint of irritation. “I was helping.”

  Rava didn’t flinch, her grip unyielding as she stared at Viviehat wasn’t helping. You’re not a goddess of ption, Vivienne. You ’t just take from things until they break.”

  The words stung, but Vivienne didn’t reply right away. She looked back at the creature, her expression unreadable. The energy she had drawn from it had left a gaping void, and she could see now that it was teetering on the brink of colpse, as fragile as an old, rotting tree.

  For a moment, Vivienne sidered drawing more from it. Just a little. To make it right.

  But the flicker of Rava’s ahe way she gripped her tendrils with unspoken force, snapped Vivie of her haze. She exhaled sharply, the weight of what she had doling on her chest like a stone. She hadn’t meant for it to go this far. She hadn’t meant to break it.

  “I’m sorry,” Vivietered, the words tasting bitter oongue. She didn’t say it often. She wasn’t sure she had ever meant it before. But there it was, slipping out unbidden.

  Rava studied her for a long moment before releasiendrils, stepping back to assess the creature. “You o fix this. Now.”

  Vivieurned back to the creature, her gaze softening. “Right,” she said, the edges of her voice still carrying the remnants of that hunger. She crouched down before the creature, her tendrils reag out gently. “I’ll fix it. Just… give me a moment.”

  Her fingers brushed the creature’s bark-like skin, feeling the pulse of life that remained, faint and fragile. The e was weak, but it was enough. She closed her eyes, fog. This time, she didn’t take—she healed. Slowly, carefully, she allowed the remainiher to flow bato the creature, her tendrils steadying as the light in its eyes began to flicker back to life.

  It took time. Mihat stretched iernity. But slowly, the creature’s form became more solid, the cracks in its skin knitting together, the ragged breath softening. Its eyes brightened, no longer clouded by the fading light of the aether it had lost. The aether it had been pulling from the earth had ceased flowing into it too.

  When Vivienne finally pulled her tendrils away, the creature took a shuddering breath, its limbs no lorembling. It blinked, lookiweewo of them, a quiet gratitude filling its gaze.

  “Thank you,” it whispered, its voice weak but clear.

  Vivieood, her posture regaining its familiar uling grace. “You’re wele,” she said quietly, her eyes flickering toward Rava.