Solaris soared above the forest canopy, the cold mountain air rushing past his face. It still amazed him how natural flying felt now—as if his body had always known how but had simply forgotten. His shadow jacket rippled against the wind, a living darkness that seemed to drink in the sunlight rather than reflect it.

  The integration had been complete for a week. Alice was gone, yet everywhere—fully merged into his consciousness after their final threshold crossing. Sometimes he still caught himself waiting for her reply in his mind, forgetting momentarily that they were one being now. The loss and gain of it still felt strange, even a week later.

  Below, the Cascade Mountains stretched in every direction, a vast wilderness hiding Maron's compound—and now, their temporary home. The past week had been a whirlwind of reunions and revelations. Finding Maron, meeting the Tokyo trio, discovering Un'Claye and the impossible city she called New Tara... each day brought something that would have seemed unbelievable just months ago.

  And yet, here he was, flying.

  Eli's voice touched his mind through their twin flame bond. Something's coming. Southeast quadrant. Do you feel it?

  Solaris banked smoothly, adjusting his trajectory to scan the area she indicated. His awareness expanded outward, sensing energy patterns across the landscape. There—a strange signature moving through the forest below. Not quite human, not quite... something else. Yet oddly familiar in ways he couldn't immediately place.

  I see it, he replied. Two consciousnesses in one form. Like... like Alice and I were, but different. Wait, I recognize this energy…

  Be careful, Eli cautioned. I'm coming to your position.

  Solaris descended gradually, drawing closer to the anomalous signature. The entity was moving purposefully up the mountain trail that would eventually lead to Maron's compound. Not accidentally wandering, but seeking.

  Hovering above the treeline, he studied the figure below—feminine, moving with fluid grace through the forest. From this height, she appeared ordinary enough, but his enhanced perception detected complex energy patterns beneath the surface—obsidian darkness struggling against something more human.

  A decision formed in his mind. Rather than track from above, he would meet this strange visitor directly. With practiced focus, he allowed the golden light to gather around him, reality folding as he executed a translocation—not shadow-sliding anymore, but something more refined that Eli had taught him.

  The air shimmered with golden light as Solaris materialized on the forest path, directly in the entity's path. Reality seemed to fold inward before expanding again as he solidified where nothing had been seconds before. He stood calmly, black sclera with brilliant blue irises studying the figure before him with cautious assessment.

  “Yo,” he greeted calmly.

  The woman before him froze, recognition flooding her features. "The Host," she whispered.

  Solaris felt a jolt run through him. The voice—it carried echoes of someone he knew. Someone lost.

  "Sarah?" he responded, his voice carrying equal parts hope and wariness.

  He watched as something shifted within the woman, her body tensing as if wrestling with internal conflict. The skin along her neck rippled with obsidian patterns that appeared and subsided like waves beneath the surface.

  "Not exactly," she managed, her voice strained as if fighting for control. "I'm... a fragment. A piece that broke free."

  Solaris took a cautious step forward, studying her features more carefully. The resemblance to Sarah was unmistakable—the same face shape, the same build, though much taller. But her eyes were dark green and downturned, reminiscent of someone else he had known. And beneath the surface, something darker lurked, occasionally shifting beneath her skin in obsidian patterns.

  "You have her features," he observed. "But there's something else there too. Something..."

  "Darker," she acknowledged. "I call it Draco. We share this form, this consciousness. It's what transformed Sarah originally, but I contain a fragment of her too. Her memories, her feelings..."

  As she spoke, Solaris watched the obsidian substance ripple more visibly beneath her skin, the patterns becoming more pronounced. She seemed to struggle, her posture tensing as if fighting an internal battle. Draco was clearly reacting to his presence.

  "You're fighting something within you," he stated, recognizing the struggle from his own journey with Alice.

  "Always," she admitted, her features straining with effort as the obsidian patterns receded slightly. "I was once a microscopic shard that escaped. I've been... evolving since then. Consuming. Growing. Searching for you."

  "Why me?" Solaris asked.

  "Because you were important to Sarah," she explained, her voice softening with emotion that seemed genuinely human. "Her last clear thought before the transformation completed was of you. Protecting you. Choosing you."

  The words struck Solaris like physical blows. Sarah's sacrifice in the alley. The promise he'd made to return for her. The horrific transformation revealed when they'd encountered Neph Mark 1. All of it cascaded through him, guilt and grief mingling with a fragile spark of hope that some fragment of her might still exist.

  "And what do you want from me now?" he asked, gesturing toward her. "What does... Draco want?"

  She hesitated, seeming to search for words that could articulate complex motivations. "I want to understand," she said simply. "Who I am. What happened to Sarah. Why I exist at all." Another pause. "And Draco wants... completion. Connection to something beyond itself."

  Solaris studied her with his enhanced perception, looking beyond the physical to the energy patterns beneath. What he saw was remarkable—two distinct consciousnesses existing in delicate balance, neither fully dominating the other. The fragment of Sarah's consciousness provided a moral framework and identity cohesion, while the darker entity—Draco—provided structure and raw power.

  "You're not lying," he said finally. "At least, part of you isn't."

  The air beside him shimmered as Eli materialized, her translocation as elegant and precise as ever. Her blue eyes immediately focused on the strange visitor, her perceptive abilities far exceeding even Solaris's enhanced senses due to their upgraded bond.

  "She's telling the truth," Eli confirmed, her voice gentle yet carrying absolute certainty. "The fragment of Sarah within her is genuine. But the other consciousness is... problematic."

  As if triggered by this observation, the obsidian patterns flowed more visibly beneath the woman's skin. Her eyes shifted from dark green to a luminous blue with black sclera that reminded Solaris of Neph Mark 1's terrifying gaze. Her voice, when she spoke again, carried harmonic undertones that hadn't been present before.

  "We seek belonging," she said, the altered speech patterns suggesting increased influence from the Draco entity. "We seek purpose beyond consumption."

  Eli approached cautiously, extending one hand toward the woman. "May I?"

  The woman nodded, understanding the request intuitively. Eli's fingers gently touched her temple, creating an immediate connection that transcended physical contact. Solaris watched as Eli's expression shifted through subtle gradations of surprise, concern, and finally, something approaching wonder.

  After several seconds, Eli withdrew, turning to Solaris with complex emotion evident in her expression.

  "It's remarkable," she said. "Two distinct consciousnesses in perfect equilibrium.”

  "Are they dangerous, though?" Solaris asked.

  "Potentially," Eli acknowledged. "The Draco consciousness is fundamentally predatory, designed for consumption and assimilation. But the Sarah fragment has established impressive boundaries and control mechanisms." She looked back at the woman with something approaching wonder. "They've created a functional symbiosis where neither can exist without the other."

  The woman's expression showed profound relief at being understood. "We've been fighting since we emerged," she explained. "Draco wants to consume, to grow. I want to understand, to connect. We've reached... compromises."

  Solaris felt his defenses softening as he recognized something in this strange being that resonated with his own journey. The struggle between light and shadow, between separate aspects of self fighting for dominance only to eventually find harmony in integration.

  "Sarah made a choice in that alley," he said quietly, memories of her sacrifice surfacing with painful clarity. "She chose to save us, knowing what would happen to her. Whatever you are now—whatever fragments of her remain—that choice deserves respect."

  The acknowledgment seemed to touch something deep within the woman—not just the Sarah fragment but the Draco entity as well, a complex reaction visible in the subtle shifting of expression and energy patterns.

  "What happens now?" she asked, the question directed at both Solaris and herself.

  "That depends," Solaris replied, exchanging a meaningful glance with Eli. "On what you want to happen. On whether you can control what you've become."

  The woman considered this carefully, an internal dialogue clearly occurring between her dual natures. Finally, she spoke with careful precision. "I want to understand. To learn about Sarah, about what happened to her. About what I might become." She paused before adding, "And Draco... Draco wants to belong. To find purpose beyond hunger."

  Solaris nodded slowly, memories of his own journey with Alice informing his decision. He remembered what it meant to share consciousness with something other, to struggle toward harmony rather than dominance. The fear, the uncanniness, all of those emotions and memories came rushing back at once, threatening to overwhelm him. He remembered his breathing exercises, instantly incorporating them to cool down.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "Then come with us," he offered, extending his hand. "Not as Sarah—she made her choice, and we honor it. But as something new. As someone with their own purposes and choices."

  The woman hesitated, internal conflict evident in her expression. The Draco entity probably hadn't anticipated acceptance, perhaps expecting confrontation or destruction instead.

  Finally, she reached out, taking Solaris's offered hand—a gesture that somehow sealed an unspoken covenant between them. Not friendship yet, not trust, but recognition of shared connection to what had been lost.

  "I can't promise perfect control," she warned honestly. "Draco is... persistent."

  "We understand persistent shadows," Eli said with gentle humor, glancing meaningfully at Solaris. "Perhaps better than anyone."

  As they turned toward the path leading to Maron's compound deeper in the mountains, Solaris felt the weight of new responsibility settling onto his shoulders. This strange being—part Sarah, part something else entirely—represented both memory and possibility. A connection to what they had lost and perhaps a chance to honor that loss through guidance and protection.

  "Do you have a name?" he asked as they began walking. "Something you call yourself beyond Draco?"

  "Era," she replied. "I don't know why, but it felt... right."

  "Era… Sarah… Era," Solaris repeated, testing the name. "It fits. A new period, a new beginning."

  Eli walked slightly ahead of them, her presence a gentle beacon leading the way home. Solaris felt her awareness brush against his mind through their twin flame bond.

  She carries echoes of both Sarah and Vander, Eli observed privately. Look at her eyes—Vander's exact shape and color. Yet Sarah's features. As if she's inherited from both.

  A daughter of sorts, Solaris agreed, the thought carrying both wonder and melancholy. Born from sacrifice and transformation.

  Family comes in strange forms.

  As they ascended the mountain path toward Maron's compound, Solaris found himself studying Era's profile in the dappled forest light. The resemblance to Sarah was unmistakable, yet there was something of Vander in her as well—not just the eyes, but something in her bearing, her quiet determination, her height.

  "The others will have questions," he warned Era as they walked. "Maron, Yuki, Akira, Mei, Eleanor, the list goes on... they'll want to understand what you are."

  "I barely understand myself," Era admitted. "But I'll answer what I can."

  "And New Tara," Eli added, glancing back at them. "We were planning to return when Un’Claye comes back and she should be here any day now… Un'Claye will be coming to guide us deeper into the city."

  "New Tara?" Era asked, curiosity evident in her expression.

  Solaris felt a smile touch his lips, remembering his own astonishment at the underground city Un'Claye had shown them. "An inheritance, apparently. Though I'm still not convinced I'm any kind of 'Sun God' despite my cosmic tribal affiliations."

  He watched as something shifted in Era's expression—recognition, perhaps, or understanding beyond what he had told her.

  "Sun God," she murmured, as if confirming something she had always known. "That's what Draco calls you too. Not just Host, but Sun God."

  "Well, I prefer Solaris, or Tris if you prefer," he replied with a self-deprecating smile. "Less pressure that way."

  The mountain air grew thinner as they continued along the rocky trail, with Era following several paces behind Solaris and Eli. She paused at a natural plateau, the perfect spot for a demonstration. "Show her," Eli encouraged. "We need to see what will happen."

  Era approached cautiously, her body language betraying Draco's wariness. "See what?"

  Solaris took a deep breath, centering himself as Vander had taught him. He reached to his side where no visible weapon hung, fingers wrapping around an invisible hilt. With practiced deliberation, he drew upward and outward as if unsheathing a sword.

  Reality shimmered around his hand, and suddenly he was holding something magnificent – a gleaming white katana that seemed to capture and purify the mountain sunlight. The cross-guard formed a perfect halo of light that emitted a gentle, high-pitched hum like distant crystal bells. Within that halo, blue flames danced and swirled, contained yet powerful. The grip alternated blue and white wrapping, and the pommel formed a small, stylized cat head with two pointed ears, facing downward when the sword was held upright.

  "It manifested during meditation," Solaris explained as Era stared in wonder. "Different from Vander's, but clearly connected. The Blue Flame, but expressed through my own consciousness."

  Era took an involuntary step back, Draco's influence evident in her reaction. "Is that—"

  "Guardian energy," Eli confirmed. "Pure Blue Flame, just like Vander's. But this is Solaris's own manifestation of it."

  Solaris held the sword horizontally, its light casting beautiful patterns across the rocky terrain. "Vander told me the Blue Flame can only be wielded by those with pure hearts. It burns those who serve darkness."

  "Which gives us an opportunity," Eli added, her gaze locking with Era's.

  Era instantly understood, her expression shifting between fear and determination. "You want me to touch it."

  "If you're coming with us up the mountain," Solaris nodded, "we need to know where Draco's influence ends and your will begins."

  Era's face contorted, internal conflict visibly manifesting as she took a hesitant step forward. "Draco doesn't want this," she whispered. "He's—he's fighting me."

  "Of course he is," Eli replied softly. "The Anunnaki created him to consume, not to serve. But you are more than their creation now."

  Era raised her hand, fingers trembling as she reached toward the glowing blade. With each inch closer, her movements became more strained, as though fighting against invisible restraints. Perspiration beaded on her forehead, her breathing growing labored.

  "I can't—" she gasped, her hand freezing midair. "He's too strong."

  "You are stronger," Solaris encouraged. "Sarah made a choice once. Now you must make yours."

  Era's face hardened with renewed determination. "I am not their weapon," she hissed through clenched teeth, forcing her hand closer.

  When her fingers were mere centimeters from the blade, something extraordinary happened. A violent ripple of energy pulsed through Era's form, her body suddenly splitting as though torn apart from within. The separation flung a smaller, cuter humanoid form—Era herself—forward toward the sword while a mass of obsidian substance was propelled backward, slamming into a nearby boulder.

  Era's form had changed dramatically—she appeared younger, smaller, barely as tall as the already-short Eli, with large dark green eyes that reflected her shock at the separation. Her hand, propelled by the momentum, made contact with the Blue Flame sword.

  Blue fire immediately engulfed her arm, racing up from her fingers to her shoulder in an instant. Yet instead of pain, her expression showed wonder as the flames spread across her body, enveloping her completely in ethereal blue light.

  "Era!" Solaris called in alarm, though Eli placed a restraining hand on his arm.

  "Wait," she whispered. "Look."

  Meanwhile, the obsidian mass—Draco—had recovered enough to attempt escape, flowing across the rock face with desperate speed. Eli reacted instantly, extending her hand to create a perfect golden sphere of energy around the entity, containing it completely.

  "You won't interfere with her choice," Eli stated firmly, holding the barrier in place despite Draco's frantic attempts to break free.

  The blue flames continued to dance across Era's form, not consuming but transforming. As they watched in awe, her features shifted, taking on leonine qualities—white fur sprouted across her body, her facial structure elongated slightly, and when she finally opened her eyes, they had transformed to a brilliant blue.

  She stood before them as something new—a bipedal lioness figure with pristine white fur, maintaining the graceful proportions of her original form but with the unmistakable essence of a Guardian-touched being. Though lacking the mane of a male lion, she radiated the silent strength and dignity inherent to a female of the species.

  Era examined her transformed hands and body in wonder, speechless as the blue flames gradually receded into her fur, leaving a subtle luminescence beneath her surface.

  "Wow," Eli whispered. "The Blue Flame has recognized her. Not just as pure of heart, but as a vessel of 13th dimensional frequencies..."

  "You did say that Sarah had a soul right? What if her soul was from..." Solaris started, but he was cut off by a terrible sound.

  Their amazement was short-lived. A loud, jarring heartbeat sound echoed across the mountain plateau, and Era suddenly doubled over, clutching her chest in agony. The transformation began to waver, patches of her fur dissolving back into human skin as she collapsed to her knees.

  "Something's wrong!" Solaris exclaimed, dropping to her side instantly with Eli following suit.

  "What's happening to you?" Eli asked, her enhanced perception scanning Era's energy patterns but finding only chaotic, unstable frequencies impossible to diagnose.

  From within the golden barrier, Draco's obsidian form rippled with what could only be described as laughter. "We cannot exist without each other," it spoke with multiple overlapping voices. "I am not just bound to her—we are one."

  Solaris looked to the contained entity and saw it was struggling to maintain cohesion, parts of its obsidian substance liquefying into formless puddles as Era's condition worsened.

  "They're connected at the fundamental level," Eli realized. "Neither can survive the separation."

  Era's leonine form flickered more violently now, her breathing becoming shallow. "Help me," she gasped, her voice barely audible. "Please."

  Solaris dismissed his sword immediately, returning it to whatever dimension it inhabited when not manifested. "We need to get her to Draco."

  Together, they helped Era toward the golden barrier, but her transformation continued reversing with each labored step. By the time they reached the sphere, she had returned completely to human form, barely conscious and unable to support her own weight.

  Eli created a small opening in the barrier, just large enough for Era's hand to pass through. The moment her fingers made contact with Draco's substance, both entities reacted instantly. Draco flowed up her arm like a living liquid, gradually reintegrating with her being. The process looked almost like a reversal of the violent separation—obsidian substance merging with flesh, energy patterns realigning and stabilizing.

  When it completed, Era sat back on her heels, fully restored but clearly exhausted.

  "What did you see?" Solaris asked quietly. "When the Blue Flame touched you."

  Era looked up at him, a complex mixture of emotions playing across her features. "Everything," she whispered. "What I was meant to be before they twisted it. What I could still become." She closed her eyes briefly. "And why Draco and I need each other, at least for now."

  "The separation wasn't the answer," Eli noted thoughtfully. "But perhaps integration can be, just as it was for Solaris and Alice."

  Era nodded slowly, one hand unconsciously moving to her chest where the pain had been most intense. "Draco is terrified of the Blue Flame, but felt... recognition in it too. I don’t know why…"

  Solaris helped her to her feet, steadying her as she regained her balance. "Whatever you saw, whatever you felt—it means the Blue Flame recognized something worthy in you, Era. Something worth saving."

  "Or something worth becoming," Eli added softly.

  Era looked between them, then up at the mountain path that continued beyond. "Then we keep going," she said with quiet determination. "Together."

  As they resumed their ascent, Solaris reflected on what they'd witnessed. The separation had failed, but it had revealed something crucial—Era wasn't merely a container for two opposing forces. She was becoming something new, something neither the Anunnaki nor the Guardians had anticipated. Like his own journey with Alice, her path forward wasn't through rejection or domination, but through harmony found within contradiction.

  The mountain air grew colder as they climbed higher, but a new warmth had kindled between them—not trust, not yet, but the beginnings of understanding. In the distance, the first structures of Maron's compound became visible—a carefully concealed installation built into the mountainside itself, designed to withstand both conventional attacks and System Zone manifestations.

  "Welcome to our temporary home," Solaris said, gesturing toward the compound. "It's not New Tara, but it's secure. And more importantly, it's where we're gathering the Monad. Some of them are already here."

  "The Monad," Era echoed, the words carrying reverence beyond what she could have learned from Sarah's memories alone. "The Twelve. The ones who will break the system."

  "That's the plan," Solaris confirmed. "We're still missing several members, but we're stronger together than apart."

  As they approached the compound's concealed entrance, Solaris felt Era's hand tighten slightly on his arm. He glanced down to see obsidian patterns briefly rippling beneath her skin before subsiding.

  "Draco is... anxious," she explained, clearly struggling for control. "Being surrounded by many powerful beings is... challenging for it."

  "You can do this," Solaris assured her, remembering his own struggles with integration and control. "One moment at a time. And we'll be right beside you. In fact, I have a breathing technique for you to try…"

  Eli turned back, her expression compassionate as she observed Era's struggle and Solaris's breathing lesson. "The journey toward harmony is never easy," she said gently. "But it's always worth it."

  As the compound's entrance slid silently open before them, Solaris felt a strange sense of completion—as if some cosmic cycle was turning toward resolution. Era represented something he couldn't yet fully articulate—perhaps redemption for his failure to save Sarah, perhaps a second chance to protect what remained of her. Perhaps something else entirely that would only become clear with time.

  Whatever she might become—whatever balance she might eventually find between Sarah's moral legacy and Draco's predatory nature—she would face it not alone but alongside others who understood transformation from within.

  "Welcome home, Era," Solaris said as they stepped through the entrance together. "Whatever comes next, we face it together."