Dance with the Nightingale-Chapter 91 - 86: Finally, One

[Upper City, Lueurre]

In the darkest hour of the night, when even the sentries and patrols were half-awake, an intense meeting was taking in the slums of Lueurre.

"What was that power…? Anyone knows? Hm? No one?", Lekas or the demon possessing Lekas’s body, [Varkain] asked.

His voice, inhuman and beastly, but still full of contorted cunning, as if an ancient demon was speaking from the depts of hell, while his eyes were a void of darkness, the only thing lighting them were his burning star-shaped pupils giving his eyes an ominous shade of purple. His burning pupils contracted sharply, as he peered into each member attending the meeting. The attendees despite being powerful magic users themselves, shivered as they felt the burning gaze directly staring at their soul.

Scared out of their minds, one of the attendees, a noble incharge of rationing the knights food, squeezed out, "I-I don’t know!"

"Lies…", Varkain said, but to everyone in the room, it felt as if someone whispered inches behind their necks.

Then, abruptly disappearing, the possessed vessel reappeared. His hand wrapped around the very same noble who spoke.

"Tell me the truth, or…", he said, opening his mouth wider than humanly possible, as his tongue licked the noble’s cheek.

"…I will have a snack."

"Eeeiikkkk!!!", the captured noble screamed repulsively, while the others stood up in horror. Terrified by the thought of suffering the same fate as that noble.

In the end, the only one who didn’t stand up, an aged noble with green eyes and head full of long grey hair, tied in the back in a ponytail, sighed and said, "Stop…we will tell you."

"No, Grand Chamberlin Agnil!", the others shouted, but the old man, or Grand Chamberlin Agnil, the leader of the [Church of Light], just raised his hand to stop them.

"Hmm…?", Lekas, who was possessed by the demon of stealth, [Varkain], turned his head towards the old man while literally grinning from ear to ear, showing his sharp demon-like teeth.

"You will? So, you do know?", Lekas mused, chuckling in amusement. "Then, tell me…No.", he paused, his pupils burning even fanatically for a moment before he said, "Show me..."

A few minutes later, a lone carriage set out from Lueurre, in the darkest hour of the night.

Going towards the [Misty Root Forest], made of Atlas’s roots. A forest that even experienced adventurers of Lueurre didn’t dare to venture alone.

***

[Upper City, Lueurre]

[Rayne’s POV]

It seemed as if dawn arrived at the upper city earlier than it should. Gentle light falling on the Atlas’s leaves, while its massive shadow loomed over the lower city.

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"Nine hundred ninety-eight…nine hundred ninety-nine…"

Hearing the birds chirping a sweet melody, I did one final one handed push-up…

"One thousand."

…And got up, walking towards the window to pull its curtains apart.

Faint gentle lightrays of early morning permeated through the room, and for some reason I could feel a slight holy aura lingering in the sunlight.

Taking in a deep breath, which refreshed me even after a whole night’s workout, I reasoned, ’The Atlas’s blessing, it’s remnants are still in the air.’

-Huu

Exhaling the turbulent air, I decided to take a shower.

’There’s still a lot of time, before the meeting.’

-Shaww

Water droplets fell on me as I turned on the shower, drenching me with jets of water.

Suddenly, I had the urge to revert into my original form. I usually avoided that because changing frequently would mean getting unfamiliar with bigger body that I was currently using, which could be very fatal in a fight.

’But it’s been so long.’, I gave into my urge and slowly changed into my original form.

A magical light shone, as my whole body started shining silently, slowly the body of Ray Niger shone brighter and ’my’ body the body of Rayne Ellsworth stayed dim.

Then with a final burst of light, the body of Ray Niger collapsed, breaking like shards of broken glass leaving behind the body of Rayne Ellsworth.

My original body.

Pale skin, sky-blue hair with a shade of blue so light, that they looked almost translucent, shining cyan eyes, thin lips, and a small nose.

The first thing I noticed when I completed my transformation was, ’Oh… My hair grew longer.’

My hair almost touched my shoulders. And then, I noticed something else too.

I had grown taller, not that much but with my eyes I could say I had grown more than two inches.

’Am I finally entering my growth spurt?’, I giddily thought as I took my bath.

It felt good finally taking my original form, somehow my body felt at peace. A different type of peace that I never felt before.

As if I was finally in harmony with my body.

’Maybe…’, a random thought emerged in my head.

So, closing my eyes, I decided to confirm if my thought was true or not, by entering my soul scape.

***

White.

Pure White.

Just like always, my soul scape was pure white, a blank room with nothing but my soul in it. And it will continue to be until I develop a domain and ascend it to second phase.

Actually, I developed a little trauma of my soul space. And with what happened the first time I entered it, it was no surprise that I did.

So, in this blank empty room, how would I confirm it?

Confirm that my soul had finally taken ’my’ form…

Actually, I could already tell that.

My hands were smaller, my legs were shorter, and especially my belly was all gone. But that didn’t mean I was satisfied with that.

I wanted to see myself.

So, extending my hand, which was a mix of both gold and silver colored energy, I slowly concentrated. Trying to shape my soul in the form I wanted, of course, temporarily.

And after a few tries, I succeeded. Creating a rectangular frame half my size, then molding my soul even more, I tried to change its property, change it into a mirror.

It was difficult, but I knew the trick to it, or more like I knew the correct way to do it.

If I simply tried to replicate the mirror I saw, then it won’t work. But if I remember how a mirror felt with my mental sense, if I could replicate the inexplicable feeling that my mental sense felt when I sensed a mirror, then I could certainly replicate it.

So, I tried to do it, replicate the feeling, slowly filling the empty frame with a translucent liquid that was turning more and more into a clear one. And after a while, it happened, the liquid turned completely clear, reflecting my face, just like a mirror.

And I was right, my face it wasn’t a middle-aged man’s. Not anymore!

Now, my soul held the tender face of a youth with ridiculously handsome features.

If only there weren’t those damned pikes attached to my back!

I groaned in frustration.

As if sensing what I thought, the pikes suddenly pulsed red, as searing pain assaulted my soul.

"Ahhhh!", I screamed.

It was painful, very, very painful. But with what I endured ’that’ time, this much pain was bearable.

It still hurt like bitch, though… It felt as if my soul was being shocked by a taser.

In the first place, no one should have a fucking taser in their soul! Especially not it the form of black pikes.

"Fuck! Stop! Stop! Stop! I said Stop!!! you dumb fuck! I won’t feed you if don’t stop now!", I threatened.

And only when I did, did the pain stop, surprisingly there was no damage to my soul, only pain. Though, I don’t know if I should be happy or sad about it.

Sighing, I extended my hand and touched one of the six pikes digging into my soul, then in a coaxing tone, I said, "You are hungry, right? I know you are. I can feel it, your hunger. I am sure you can feel mine too. My hunger for power. So, calm down. Very soon, I will let you have a feast. A feast that you will be satisfied with."

The pikes pulsed again as I said this, no pain this time. So, taking that as a yes, I decided to end my visit to my soul scape and returned to reality.

Finally, my body and soul were one.

***

My bath was a long one. I took almost an hour to bath and get ready, so by the time I was ready, Cana, Syrus, and Allen, all three of them were already in the hall about to order their breakfast.

"Good morning, guys.", I said as I stepped into the hall, of course in Ray’s persona.

"Good morning...", a still sleepy Cana said, almost yawning.

"Good morning.", Syrus greeted.

"Good morning, big brother!", Allen cheered.

Nodding, I acknowledged everyone before dropping the bomb, "Don’t order breakfast guys, we will have it at the Baron’s mansion today! So, get ready, fast."

But unlike my expectations, all three of them just said "Yes.", and went in their respective rooms to get ready.

In the end, it was Cana who noticed my confused self and answered, "We got used to it leader~"