Emory began, "It's great to see all of you in one place again. It's been too long. I'm also happy that all of you have improved so much in such a short time as well. I brought you altogether for a few reasons with the biggest one being that Shepherd wants to see all of us tomorrow. We're not going to talk about that too much because, honestly, I don't really care what Shepherd has to say tomorrow; we've all outgrown his leadership. First, let's catch the rest of the group up to speed about Tethys. Do you want to tell them or should I?"
"I can," Tethys said as she cleared her throat, "As most of you know, when I was still under the Commission, I battled Emory using a black energy. After meeting the Elandrian, I learned that not only did I still have that energy, but I also learned it was the Void sphere."
"Called it," Gwen spouted gleefully.
"How did you get it?" Sam pressed, "After all, it's as infamous as the Arcane sphere."
Tethys shrugged, "Honestly, I have no idea how I got it except through some experiment from the Commission that I don't remember. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter how I got it. Through trial and error, I've improved it to level three which gave me a magik core just like you all."
"That's great! So, all of us are fighting with an effective level of at least ten?" Nephenee asked, "Does that mean all of us will be fighting when the Apleem come next time?"
"It does. If I were to guess, they will attack the same bases as before but with a much stronger force. That means Gwen and Tana will reinforce Gatrie and Sam while Tethys will join me to defend with Innes and Nephenee. When they come, we'll leave Galle and Cath in charge of those outposts," Emory nodded.
"With all this extra strength, we should be able to repel the Apleem easily," Gatrie smirked, "They won't know what hit them."
Emory grimaced, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves; there's more I have to tell you all. Recently, I went on a mission with the Elandrian to destroy one of the facilities they have to create Mantoan. We were successful, but there may be some unintended consequences from doing that. First, they will almost certainly deploy Laxtros to the field now. If you haven't read the reports about them, they are much stronger than the Elandrian. If they were to send them to attack the outposts, it's quite possible it would take several of us to defeat even a single one. That's assuming the head Laxtros herself didn't come. But more likely, they will send more Uthid than last time which would still be challenging for our armies."
"The Uthid caused far more casualties than the Mantoan did the last time their armies came, but shouldn't we at least have the numbers advantage this time?" Innes questioned, "After all, unless the Apleem come in the next few days, we'll be nearly nine and a half million strong on each planet. Last time, they only sent two million troops, and most of them were Mantoan."
"As I said then, they only sent a small incursion force last time. It wouldn't surprise me if they sent ten million troops this time. Furthermore, we've only seen a tiny percentage of Uthid using magik, which, to me, means they sent the weakest Uthid last time. I don't think we truly know their strength yet," Emory shook her head.
"You aren't suggesting we could lose, are you?" Tana trembled slightly, "We can't have gotten this much stronger for nothing."
Emory corrected her, "I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying we should prepare for a much harder fight than last time. That's why I sent you all plans to increase our defenses. But I also have a trump card I'd like to present to all of you. I think I've talked to all of you individually, but Myrrh gave me a spell that will transform your borrowed cores into independent ones, Basically, you would become something more like me than Hexbloods. I've cast the spell on Lady Romanovs, and Myrrh cast the spell on Lord Ide."
"Like you?" Tethys's eyes grew wide, "What do you mean?"
"You'd gain a deeper mana pool and gifts just like a being with an independent magik core. Plus, your lives wouldn't be tied to mine anymore, not that I'm planning on dying anytime soon," Emory explained.
"Sign me up," Innes bowed his head slightly, "Since my life is already yours, I will glad undergo this spell to be of more use to you." The rest of them all agreed to take the plunge as well because they were happy to continue supporting Emory in any way they could. Emory's eyes filled with tears because, at this moment, these were more than friends; they were her family.
Since the spell didn't take a lot of magik or stamina, Emory readied the spell before going to each one. One by one, she cast the Transformation spell on all seven of her friends. Each of their bodies lit up as the ethereal chains wrapped around them. When the light dimmed, they all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Everyone took the opportunity to get up and stretch to feel how much their bodies had changed. However, Tana got a little woozy and sat down quickly, prompting everyone else to swarm around her.
Emory asked sternly, "Tana, what's wrong? Are you okay?"
"Emory, why are there two fires in your heart?" Tana mumbled as she rubbed her eyes, "We all have one fire with a funny character in the center, but you have two, each with a different marking."
"Those are my two sources of magik, one from my mother and one from my father. I bet I know what your gift is, but everyone, wait for a minute," Emory raised her hand before closing her eyes and appearing in her mind's eye. "Ninian, are you available to help me?" Emory called out into the Void, "I may have acted before I thought out the full implications of my actions."
Ninian appeared straight away with a worried look on her face, "What's wrong, Emory? What happened?"
"I think it will be easier to show you," Emory winced, "Can I teleport you to my body?" Ninian raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms as she slowly nodded. Emory blinked a few times before she returned to reality and snapped her fingers which caused Ninian to appear next to her in a flash of golden light. Ninian rubbed her eyes a few times before shooting Emory an exasperated glance.
"You kids get one new toy and start running around with it before you even think of the implications. This was the surge of magik I just felt, wasn't it?" Ninian sighed as she rubbed her temples.
"I read all of my father's journals, and they were all the surest cases to try it on," Emory rolled her eyes, "We're in a war, remember?"
Ninian scolded, "Except you don't know all the gifts, so you want my help figuring out what they are. Luckily, it seems you won't need my help for this much longer."
"Excuse me, but who are you?" Gatrie interrupted.
"My name is Ninian, and I am Emory's aunt as well as a fire child like all of you," she smiled, "I'm here to help you figure out what gifts you have. My gift as well as the gift of that girl there is called Clairvoyance which means I can see what all of your gifts are." Her finger pointed straight at Tana which was exactly what Emory had guessed.
Tana stuttered, "Is that why I can see a fire in everyone's heart? It overwhelmed me at first seeing everyone."
"Yes, I can imagine why it would be overpowering at first," Ninian nodded as she gave a side eye to Emory who nervously chuckled in response, "It's very rare to see this many gifts in one room, let alone for your first experience after gaining the gift. Over the next few days, you'll learn to read the symbols as though they were written in English. Why don't you study each person as I describe their gift?" Tana slowly nodded as she took in what Ninian said.
"Let's just go around the table, and I will tell you all your gifts one at a time," Ninian sighed, "Tall girl with the teal hair, your gift is Freedom. It allows you to move through any terrain as though it was solid ground. Bald boy who's the size of an ox, your gift is Growth. You use your magik to grow or shrink something to whatever size you want as long as you are touching it. The more you change its size, the more magik you will use, but the object you're touching will stay that size unless something else changes it. Average boy with longer brown hair, your gift is Influence. It can be used as a truth detector for anything anyone says to you or as a way to force someone to tell you the truth. Shorter girl with green hair, your gift is Tracker. It allows you to know the exact location of anyone you form a link with, be they enemy or ally. Small girl with curly black hair, your gift is Invisible. You and everything you touch will become invisible as long as you keep using your magik. And tiny girl with long blond hair, your gift is Shield. Your magik body will protect you from fifty percent stronger magik than the average magik body."
Emory bowed, "Thank you for helping us, Ninian. Sorry for the impromptu group meeting."
"Anything for my only niece," Ninian smirked, "Before I go, let me give you all a piece of advice. You may have just been granted a massive boost, but you don't know how to wield that much power yet. Take some time to practice before you get into a situation where you need to use it. Emory can fill you in on all the other changes. Take care." Just like that, a puff of smoke replaced Ninian's place in the room as she disappeared. An awkward silence filled the room as they sat stunned by Ninian's display until Gatrie finally broke it.
"What did she mean by other changes, Emory?" he cautiously asked.
"Well, as she alluded to, you all now have magik bodies which means your body can't be hurt directly by a sphere lower than fifth level. Though you can still feel the impact of a strong blow and suffer internal damage," Emory explained, "Because you have magik bodies, you'll age much slower with a lifespan in the thousands of years. Also, your Meta Form will be very different now, transforming your body into another creature or figure. For example, Lord Perceval looks like a tree person while I look like an anthropomorphic dragon. But I suggest you use your true form only in dire situations because it will affect the people around you no matter if they're allies or enemies. Additionally, using that form will accelerate magik poisoning very quickly because your bodies will draw in so much magik."
Sam interjected, "How do we know what our true form will look like? And when you say thousands of years, how long do you mean exactly?"
"As far as I've seen, your true form will look similar to the form your cloak takes when you used Meta Form before," Emory answered, "It also depends on your spheres, or at least it did for Lord Perceval. As for age, your guess is as good as mine. Except for one person, everyone who's had the spell cast on them is still alive."
"Well, I'm ready for whatever comes our way. I thought I had grown strong before, but this is incredible. Let the Apleem come," Gatrie boasted as he punched his fists together.
"Are you going to join us in the front then?" Gwen stuck out her tongue, "Didn't you just cast from afar last time?"
Sam laughed, "He did. And he shivered the whole time!"
"I'll blast them out the sky before they even reach the ground!" Gatrie walked back his earlier statement. Everyone laughed at his bravado, but it did the group well to laugh about the tense situation. Through the chaos, Innes and Gatrie both informed Emory they had picked a second sphere, Radiant and Entropy respectively. They continued chatting and catching up as the night went on like the days they were back at school. Eventually, Tethys brought out some brown liquor she had stowed away for a special occasion. Then Emory found a deck of cards for them all to play. Finally, a few hours before dawn, they grew tired and headed off to bed, not looking forward to the early morning ahead of them.