The hallway stretched before them as they walked. Thales and Verdamona walked side by side, the weight of their earlier battle and the devastation of the desert still echoing in their bones. Thales carried the Azure Sword casually across his back. Verdamona adjusted her grip on her while, her eyes sweeping every shadow.
Eventually, the hallway opened into a massive chamber with arched ceilings rising higher than the eye could follow. They saw Phaser, standing in the center where seven tablets floated far above him. His gaze was fixed forward but the moment they stepped closer, his eyes flicked toward them.
"Finally," Xaessia's voice rang out, crisp and amused, as she emerged from the shadows beside Hinesia. "We've been waiting for hours."
Verdamona blinked, glancing between the two women.
A woman was beside Phaser. She was draped in black robes. The fabric was impossibly dark, almost absorbing the light around her. A veil covered her face, hiding her features completely. Phaser finally noticed them. His eyes widened when they fell on Thales and the Azure Sword.
"You… finally got it."
Thales inclined his head slightly, not saying a word. The sword thrummed lightly across his back but it wasn't the sword alone that drew Verdamona's attention. Phaser himself had changed. A black crystal crown of thorns floated above his head. His sleeves were torn to tatters, revealing black thorned vine tattoos that crept across his forearms.
Verdamona ran forward instinctively, stopping in front of him.
"Phaser! Are you okay?"
His entire outfit was covered in blood.
Xaessia sighed, a faint roll of exasperation in her voice.
"Verdamona, he's fine. Well… relatively. My brother underwent Fluvium Mutation."
Verdamona blinked. "Fluvium… mutation?"
"Yes. It happens to any human who consumes the flesh of a Fluvium. The process is… complex."
Verdamona's brow furrowed as she tried to parse the explanation, but Xaessia picked up with more detail.
"When a human consumes the flesh of a Fluvium, the body enters a three-stage mutation process."
She held up three fingers for emphasis.
"First stage is called Assimilation. The consumer gains the innate physical capabilities of the Fluvium. If the Fluvium could manipulate energy, run fast or breathe underwater, the human gains the corresponding capacity in rudimentary form. It's a stabilizing phase. The body learns to recognize foreign DNA, integrating them with human physiology. This stage is almost always survivable but taxing, with severe strain on organs, muscles, and even neural pathways. Many fail simply because their bodies can't process the mutation."
Verdamona's eyes widened. "Okay… that's stage one."
"Stage two is Synthesis. This is where the human becomes an extension of the Fluvium. Their body begins to alter cellular structure, merging with their neural and body systems. At this stage, new abilities emerge. The body can now instinctively wield the powers of the Fluvium like enhanced reflexes, extraordinary strength or manipulation, depending on the creature consumed."
She paused and let a shadow of amusement pass over her face.
"But stage three… that's the extremely rare one called Transcendence. Only a few humans can reach it because it requires the body to possess a naturally occurring Flux. In humans without Flux, the process stalls. Their mutations are incomplete. For Argemenes like me and Phaser, the mutation can proceed to this stage, where the human's essence merges symbiotically with the Fluvium, amplifying their Flux and sometimes unlocking abilities beyond the Fluvium itself. But it's unheard of. And he couldn't have reached them."
Verdamona shook her head. "So Phaser could never activate stage two or three because…"
"Because of his curse. It suppressed the mutation. His body could only survive stage one without killing him, and he couldn't advance any further. But now…"
She let the pause hang, watching him.
"Now he can. He is finally able to use the three of them. You see it in his body. The tattoos and the crown are evidence for it."
Phaser's eyes, wide with wonder and disbelief, flicked toward her.
"Wait. How do you know this?. Not even I knew this!"
Hinesia's voice was soft now.
"Our mother told me. I didn't tell you before because we didn't think you'd survive long enough to reach the other two."
This was new information to Phaser but he decided to set it aside for later. He already died and came back to life because of Enheduanna and before he could ask her who she really is, Xaessia and Hinesia had arrived in the hall.
"Phaser… who is she?"
Phaser turned his head slightly toward Enheduanna.
"I can't tell you that, Mona."
"Especially not you, Hinesia."
That didn't go down well. Xaessia scoffed, folding her arms.
"Wow, we nearly died out there and you're still keeping secrets. Classic Phaser. My trial was to fight Fluviums in a forest and I did that for days. You just came here and you're covered in blood. You're not even talking about your Trial."
Thales smirked faintly at that, leaning the Azure Sword against his shoulder.
"He's always been like that. You'd think the near end of the world might make him more chatty."
Phaser ignored them, looking back at the woman.. She hadn't moved much but he could tell she was watching them and listening to them.
"All I can say is that she's coming with me."
Verdamona frowned. "You're trusting someone who won't even show her face?"
"I don't need to see her face to know who she is."
Xaessia made a little "hmph" sound. Phaser's only reply was a dry glance her way. To break the tension, he asked calmly.
"Anyway, did everyone get their Primal Synsiline Treasures?"
Thales chuckled, holding up the Azure Sword.
"You're looking at it. Took collapsing an entire cavern to get it, but hey, it matches my eyes."
Verdamona groaned. "You and your eyes. By the way, it changed the color of your eyes. Huh..."
Hinesia grinned, summoning Xana into her fists. Two gleaming gauntlets materialized. They were dark silver streaked with faint red lines of molten light. When she clenched them, the sound they made was like steam.
"Mine are called Indrivis. Apparently, they're attuned to my body and so it can never get lost. Wish I could tell you what it does but not yet."
Xaessia gave her a teasing smile. "Finally, something that matches your personality."
Hinesia grinned back. "You're just jealous yours doesn't come with a sound effect."
Xaessia raised her wrist and a faint hum filled the room. Bracelets emerged from her wrists. They were dark crimson in color, releasing faint streams of smoke-like Xana that twisted upward.
"Mine's called the Bracelets of Amizerq. It enhances my body's exusion of Xana. Like Hinesia, I'm not revealing it's effects. I haven't figured them all yet."
Verdamona crossed her arms. "Well, lucky you. I didn't get anything."
Thales turned toward her and gestured toward her right hand. "Are you sure about that?"
She frowned and looked down. Her whip shimmered faintly, rippling with black and silver light. The entire while extended and segmented itself into metal plates shifting and reforming into a blade-like pattern before it split apart again into a long, coiling chain.
It was no longer a whip. It was a whip sword.
"Wait. I know this name. Vightwhip. That's what it's called. So once we get a weapon we know it's name?"
The weapon responded to her voice. Xaessia tilted her head, impressed by how it emerged.
"Vightwhip? It fused with your Flux weapon directly. You're basically wielding a living weapon now."
Verdamona's eyes widened. "It fused with my Flux weapon?"
Thales grinned. "Guess it likes you."
She stared at it for a long moment before smiling.
"Incredible. I can feel it… it's linked to my heart rate like it's alive."
Phaser was silent again, standing perfectly still. He didn't expect them to have weapons he never heard about before. They weren't in MoDS lore at all.
Thales leaned slightly forward noticing him thinking about something.
"And you? What'd you get?"
Phaser raised his hand slowly. A set of strings materialized around his fingers. But unlike before, they weren't the emerald or silver tone of his usual threads. These were pitch black. He flexed his hand, and the strings coiled together before snapping outward like miniature blades.
"Mine are called Neveolus. They fused with my biological strings."
Verdamona blinked. "Wait, I've always wanted to ask. What do you mean by biological strings?"
Xaessia rolled her eyes. "He's had them since he five. My claymore appeared when I was five too. All humans who undergo the first mutation undergo through it. They her a biological weapon like a Combat Fluxer."
Thales crouched to inspect the strings.
"Neveolus… that's rare. Usually, Synsiline material doesn't fuse with organic matter. It rejects it. That's why none of ours are attached to the body. But yours… it's completely fused with it. That means they're feeding off your Xana directly."
Phaser nodded. "Yup. They're part of me. They respond faster, stronger and more instinctively than before.."
Hinesia chuckled faintly, glancing at the veiled woman.
"And what about her? She's been awfully quiet through all this. Are we going to know who our silent shadow friend is, or is this going to be another one of your little secret side quests?"
Phaser turned to the woman again. "She's… the reason I'm still alive, apparently."
Verdamona frowned. "That doesn't answer the question."
"I know, and it won't. I told you — I can't tell you who she is."
Hinesia opened her mouth, then closed it again, for once, deciding not to press him.
Finally, Phaser sighed and turned to the veiled woman.
"We should leave. We've been here too long. How do we leave this place?"
The woman lifted her head slightly. Her voice was gentle but it had a very heavy accent.
"You can leave now."
She raised one hand. She waved her palm through the air and reality itself tore open before them. A massive door of light and shadow unfolded from nothing, lined with sigils none of them recognized.
"Go."
Thales muttered, "Yeah, sure, walk through the ominous mystery door opened by the creepy lady no one trusts. Great plan."
Xaessia elbowed him with a grin. "You first then, hero."
Verdamona rolled her eyes but stepped forward anyway.
"If I die, I'm haunting you all."
One by one, they walked toward the light. The energy from the door hummed softly. Phaser was the last to move. He turned briefly to the woman, lowering his head and sighing.
"You know they'll ask again."
"I know. And you'll lie again."
"It's not a lie if I never confirm it."
.
As Phaser stepped into the door after the others, the woman watched them vanish. When the last trace of light disappeared, she whispered to the empty hall.
She walked into it.