Thriexa Aizih POV

  I sat beside Jace’s bed, watching the slow rise and fall of his chest, the only sign that he was still with me. His body was still, his face peaceful in a way that sent panic clawing at my throat. I wanted to shake him, to force him to wake up, to hear him say something—anything—but I could only sit there and wait.

  The Klaro had assured me that his body was healed. The transformation had repaired the damage, reinforced his cells, and given him the strength of an Eova. But he had been through too much. His body simply needed time to adjust.

  Time. Something he nearly ran out of.

  I exhaled shakily, tightening my grip on his hand. “You need to wake up soon, Jace,” I whispered. “You don’t get to leave me. Not now.”

  He looked so different now, his features subtly changed—his form no longer human, but Eova. The structure of his face had shifted, becoming sharper, more defined, his jawline stronger than before. His skin, once pale, had darkened into a rich, deep brown—not the shade of any of the nine Eova nations, but something entirely different. Faint markings traced along his arms, barely visible but unmistakable, as if they had always belonged there. His dark hair now shimmered with faint streaks of iridescence, shifting under the light like something alive.

  He was handsome. He had been attractive before, as a human, but now… now it was different. Maybe it was because he was the same species as me, because the barrier that had once been between us had dissolved. Or maybe it was simply because he was Jace, and I had always been drawn to him. But now, I found myself even more captivated, unable to look away.

  A deep ache formed in my chest.

  One of the reasons I had pushed him away, why I had held back despite everything between us, was because he was human, and I was Eova. No matter how much I cared for him, I knew I needed someone of my kind—someone who could share my life fully, someone who could ensure the future of the Aizih.

  Eova could not bear children outside of our species. That was simply fact. And I had told myself it was enough of a reason to put distance between us.

  But now…

  Now he was Eova. Now the line that separated us was gone. But at what cost?

  Would he hate me for this? Would he wake up and resent what he had become?

  I closed my eyes briefly, steadying my breath. I had lost people before, entire worlds before. I had told myself I could not afford to let this happen again. But I had not been ready for what losing him would have done to me. I had not been ready to feel this kind of fear.

  The door behind me slid open, and I turned to see my mother step inside. Xilta’s expression was unreadable as she approached, glancing at Jace before looking at me. “You are troubled,” she said, her voice calm, but knowing.

  I opened my eyes, looking down at Jace. “I have spent so much time pushing him away, reminding myself that we could never truly be together,” I murmured. “And now, he is Eova. And I do not know what that means for us.”

  Xilta studied me for a long moment before speaking. “You chose this, Thriexa. You made the only choice that could save him. But now, you must decide if you will keep running from what is in front of you.”

  I let out a slow breath, my hand tightening around his. I had spent lifetimes making difficult choices, but this one felt heavier than all the others.

  Because this one had the power to change everything.

  “I will be leaving soon,” she said. “I’m taking a transport back to Earth, it is time we return to our lives there. The others are ready, and the Eova will want to celebrate this new peace.”

  I swallowed hard and nodded. Earth. We still had responsibilities there. Despite everything that had happened, the Eova had begun building something on that planet, and now they would continue—without fear of being hunted.

  She studied me for a moment, then spoke again, her voice softer. “You did this, Thriexa. If it were left to me, we would still be at war, or running. But you… you made peace happen.”

  A lump formed in my throat, but I pushed it down. “I only did what needed to be done.”

  Xilta gave a small nod, then turned toward the door. “Take your time here. But don’t linger too long. You still have a place among our people. And they will need you.”

  She left without another word, the finality of her departure sinking in. The war was over, but it felt like I was still standing in the aftermath, waiting for something to tell me it was real.

  The ship was quieter now. Almost empty. The only ones left were Tocci, a Klaro, a Bopro, and Jace.

  We were all waiting.

  Waiting for Jace to wake up.

  The next day, I was still by Jace’s side, unwilling to leave him for even a moment. His breathing was steady, his body still healing, but he remained unconscious.

  The silence of the ship was broken by the arrival of Vorak Algoks and Sculki. They had come for one reason—they needed to see Jace for themselves. They needed proof that the impossible had happened, that an Elaron now lived among us once more.

  Jace Strickland POV

  Consciousness returned slowly, like wading through thick fog. My body felt heavy, foreign, as though I was being held down by something unseen. My breath was steady, but different—too deep, too controlled.

  I tried to move, and a sharp, tingling sensation rippled through me, like static crackling just beneath my skin. Every part of me felt off, as though I was inhabiting something not quite my own.

  Then I heard it—a voice, soft but urgent. “Jace.”

  I forced my eyes open, the light above me blinding for a moment before it settled. The first thing I saw was her—Thriexa. Her violet eyes were wide, filled with something between relief and uncertainty. She was close, her hand gripping mine tightly, as though letting go would mean losing me again.

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  “What… happened?” My voice was hoarse, and I barely recognized it. As the fog in my mind began to clear, flashes of the attack surged forward—the banquet, the sudden chaos, the Dephorian leader’s enraged face, and then the sharp, searing pain in my side. My breath hitched. “I… I remember the attack. The knife—Thriexa, what happened to me?”

  Thriexa swallowed hard, and I saw the conflict in her gaze before she spoke. “You were dying. I couldn’t—” Her voice faltered, her fingers tightening around mine. “You’re alive. But… you’re not human anymore.”

  Not human.

  The words didn’t register at first. Then, instinctively, my gaze drifted past her, catching the faint reflection of something in the polished metal beside me.

  I froze.

  The face staring back at me was mine… but not. My skin—not human flesh, but something else entirely. Something darker, richer, more solid.

  A deep brown, untouched by any of the nine Eova nations I had come to know.

  I forced myself to sit up, my movements stiff, unsteady. The world around me felt too sharp—the sounds crisper, the air heavier, my own breath too controlled.

  I turned my gaze back to Thriexa. “What did you do to me?”

  She hesitated for only a second before answering. “I saved you. The Klaro couldn’t heal you, not as a human. There was no other way. I had to use the transformation portal.”

  My heart pounded, my mind racing. I wasn’t human anymore.

  I looked down at my hands, flexing my fingers. I could feel something pulsing beneath my skin—energy, strength, something completely unfamiliar.

  Thriexa’s voice was softer now, more hesitant. “Your coloring… it’s not one of the nine nations.”

  I met her eyes, still struggling to fully grasp what had happened. “Then what am I?”

  She exhaled, her voice barely above a whisper. “The Elaron.”

  The word meant nothing to me, but the way she said it—the weight behind it—told me everything.

  I wasn’t just something new.

  I was something lost. Something forgotten.

  Silence stretched between us, heavy with uncertainty. My chest tightened, my mind scrambling for something solid to hold onto, but the only thing I was certain of was this—

  I wasn’t Jace Strickland anymore.

  I was something else entirely.

  I tried to move, but my limbs felt heavy, sluggish, like I was trapped in a body that wasn’t mine. Every motion was unfamiliar—too fluid, too controlled. When I shifted, the muscles in my arms responded faster than I expected, and I nearly lost balance trying to push myself up.

  Thriexa reached out instantly, pressing a steadying hand against my shoulder. “Careful,” she said, her voice gentle but firm. “Your body is still adjusting.”

  Adjusting. The word felt wrong. My body shouldn’t need to adjust—it should just be. But I wasn’t human anymore. My breaths were too deep, my senses too sharp, and my strength… I could feel it under my skin, humming like something waiting to be unleashed.

  I gritted my teeth and tried again, forcing my legs to move, to obey. The moment I swung them over the side of the bed, my balance tipped, and Thriexa caught me before I could collapse.

  “Slow down, Jace. Give yourself time.”

  I swallowed hard, frustration burning in my chest. “I don’t even know what I am anymore.”

  Thriexa took a slow breath, her fingers tightening around my arm as if anchoring me in place. “You were dying, Jace. I couldn’t—” She exhaled, shaking her head. “The Klaro couldn’t save you, not as you were. There was only one way. I had to put you through the transformation portal.”

  I stilled, the words sinking in. I had already known the answer, but hearing it spoken so plainly made it real. My hands curled into fists as I stared down at them—at this new body that wasn’t mine but somehow was. My chest felt tight, my mind racing to process what she had done.

  I expected to feel anger, but instead, all I could grasp was the undeniable truth—she had saved me.

  I turned my gaze back to her. “You made the only choice you could. Thank you, Thriexa.”

  She shook her head, her grip on my arm tightening. “No, Jace. I should be the one thanking you. You saved my life. You didn’t hesitate, you didn’t think about yourself—you just acted.”

  Her voice wavered, and for the first time, I saw past her composed exterior. There was something raw in her eyes, something she was barely holding together. “I’m sorry I did this to you. I couldn’t lose you,” she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.

  I took a slow breath, trying to process everything—the new sensations coursing through me, the weight of what had happened. But staying still wasn’t going to help. I needed to move. I needed to understand what I had become.

  I pushed against the bed, my muscles responding faster than I expected. The moment my feet touched the floor, my balance wavered, but I forced myself to stay upright. Everything felt too light and too heavy at the same time. The world had changed, and I had changed with it.

  Thriexa reached for me again, but I shook my head. “I need to stand on my own.”

  She hesitated, then stepped back, watching me carefully.

  Step by step, I tested my footing. My movements were unnatural—too smooth, too controlled, as if my body knew what to do before my mind did. It felt powerful, but foreign. I focused on each step, forcing my body to obey me, until I reached the doorway.

  Just as I was about to step out, two figures blocked my path.

  Vorak Algoks and Vorak Sculki.

  Thriexa stepped forward slightly, her voice careful but firm. “Are you here to talk about the Elaron?”

  Jace barely processed her words. The term still felt foreign, meaningless in comparison to the overwhelming sensations running through him. He clenched his fists, frustration tightening his chest.”

  “I just want a mirror,” he muttered, his voice strained. “I need to see what I look like.“

  Thriexa reached into a nearby compartment and pulled out a small, reflective panel, holding it up for me. My breath hitched as I hesitated before finally looking at my reflection.

  The face staring back at me was mine—but not.

  My human features were still there, but everything had been subtly altered, reshaped into something more. My skin had darkened into a rich, deep brown—not the shade of any of the nine Eova nations but something entirely different.

  My eyes, once a stormy blue, now glowed faintly with an intensity I had never seen before. The structure of my face had changed as well—sharper, stronger, more defined. My hair was no longer just dark, but woven with faint streaks of iridescence that shifted under the light. Even my posture felt different—more balanced, more efficient.

  I turned my hands over, flexing my fingers. They responded too quickly, too smoothly, as if they anticipated my thoughts before I even moved them. My body felt lighter yet denser, filled with an energy I didn’t understand but could feel humming beneath my skin.

  I swallowed hard, forcing myself to breathe. “This… this isn’t me.”

  Thriexa’s voice was gentle but unwavering. “It is now.”

  Before I could dwell on her words, Vorak Algoks gestured toward the bed. “Sit, Jace. There is much you need to understand.”

  I didn’t want to sit. I wanted to move, to shake off this strange new body and prove to myself that I was still me. But the weight of their stares made it clear this wasn’t a request. Reluctantly, I lowered myself back onto the edge of the bed, every movement still feeling too smooth, too effortless.

  Sculki folded her arms, her gaze unreadable. “The Elaron have been gone for centuries, wiped from history when Aizilaha fell. You are the first to exist since their extinction.”

  The name again. Elaron. It meant nothing to me.

  “I don’t care about the past,” I muttered. “I just need to figure out what’s happening to me.”

  “Understanding the past is the only way to understand yourself,” Algoks countered. “You are not merely an Eova now. You are something that was lost, something none of us ever expected to return.”

  Their words grated against me. My jaw clenched. “I was born human. I am human.”

  Sculki and Algoks exchanged a glance but did not argue. Instead, Algoks continued. “The Elaron were the balancers of Aizilaha. Unlike the Borzork, who harnessed heat, or the Klaro, who used crystals to heal, the Elaron’s ability was Elemental Fusion—the power to combine different materials and energies into something entirely new.”

  I frowned. “So they… mixed elements?”

  “Not just elements,” Sculki clarified. “Concepts. Structures. Defenses. Their power was not just physical—it was conceptual. They could merge two things that should never interact and make them one. That is what you carry within you now.”

  The room felt smaller all of a sudden. The weight of their words pressed in on me. I didn’t want this. I didn’t want to be part of something ancient, something that tied me to a history I had no connection to.

  I ran a hand through my hair, stopping when I felt the unfamiliar texture, the faint iridescence shifting beneath my fingertips. I wasn’t just human anymore.

  I exhaled, my voice quieter this time. “I don’t know how to be this.”

  Thriexa, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke. “You don’t have to figure it out alone.”