Kiera awoke to the smell of antiseptic and the low hum of the safehouse's life support.
The first thing she noticed was the quiet. The roaring fire of her own ChainForce, a constant companion since her childhood, had been reduced to a low, gentle hearth.
The power was still there, but it was... diminished.
Muted. It was like looking at the world through a pane of glass.
She was herself, but a lesser version.
And there was something else. A faint, background hum that was not her own.
An echo.
It was Ryu's energy, a tiny piece of his wild, chaotic power that now resided in her, a permanent reminder of the link they had forged.
It was a strange, unsettling feeling, a foreign presence in the sanctum of her own spirit.
She sat up, her body aching with a profound, bone-deep weariness.
Joric was sitting by her side, a cup of nutrient broth in his hands.
"Welcome back," he said, his voice unusually gentle.
"You were out for eighteen hours."
"And Ryu?" she asked, her voice raspy.
"See for yourself," Joric said, nodding toward the other side of the room.
Ryu was sitting up in his bed, staring at his own hands.
He was no longer pale and trembling. A healthy color had returned to his cheeks.
But the real change was in his eyes. The haunted, fearful look was gone, replaced by a new, startling clarity.
He looked up and met Kiera's gaze.
"I can feel it," he said, his voice filled with a quiet awe.
"The energy. It's not a storm anymore. It's... a river. I can feel the currents."
As if to prove his point, he held up his hand, and a small, faint globe of blue light, the color of an Azure Dragon's power, coalesced in his palm.
It was weak, flickering, but it was controlled. It was intentional.
The transfusion had not just saved him; it had given him the blueprint. Her blueprint.
Kiera felt a complex mix of emotions: relief that he was alive, pride at his newfound control, and a sharp, painful pang of loss for the power she had given away.
She tried to summon her own energy, to create a similar globe of light. It took a supreme act of will, and the light that appeared in her own palm was noticeably dimmer, less intense than what she was used to.
It was a stark, undeniable confirmation of her sacrifice.
"The link is permanent," Joric said, answering the unspoken question in her eyes.
"A part of you is now in him, and a part of him is now in you. You will always be connected. You will feel his emotional state, and he will feel yours. Your power is diminished, Kiera, but his is now stable. You have given him a foundation to build upon."
Ryu looked at Kiera, his eyes filled with a gratitude so profound it needed no words.
He understood, on a level beyond thought, what she had done. He could feel the echo of her sacrifice in the very core of his being.
"Thank you," he whispered.
Kiera merely nodded, the gesture tight.
She was still a warrior, but her primary weapon had been blunted. She had saved his life, but she had crippled her own quest for revenge.
She looked at her own, weaker energy, then at the flickering, nascent power in Ryu's hand.
She had made her choice. Now, they would both have to live with the consequences.