Nimanuhn waited for the rest of the group— even Dala and Merritt— to gather before beginning their tale. "Most people best know Manabe to be monstrous hybridized beasts with no control— would rip you to shreds soon as look at you— if they even believe in them at all. But does anyone ever talk about what causes the anomaly in shapeshifter genes?" Nim sat up straight, resting their hands in their lap. "Obviously I'm not from here. You can tell just looking at me. Back home, my parents studied magical beasts, Manabe included, but the world pretends like we're the only rare beast of shifter blood. But we're not, not by a long shot. In their studies, they discovered something— a link between another kind of shifter and Manabe children."
A link?
Callan furrowed his brows. His gaze settled on Sachi during Nim's momentary pause, but his attention returned to the other Manabe once Nim started up again. "According to their research, most Manabe are born to shifter families with a mythical lineage. Not always recent, but somewhere in the line is a shapeshifter of legend."
"What do you mean of legend?" Cal cut in.
"Legendary beasts," Nim clarified. "Like dragons, kitsune, the great elemental birds, pegasi, unicorns. Fabled unnatural creatures. Shifters with those kinds of forms are those of legend. They're more than your average shifter; their power and strength can be just as fantastical as their beings." The Manabe cleared their throat. "Anyway, families like that are more likely to create Manabe because both are magical alterations of the shapeshifter DNA that enhances their abilities. Which brings me to what I was saying earlier about shifter classes. Canines, felines, reptilians, and so on— that much is pretty straight forward, yeah?"
Cue resounding assent from Nim's attentive audience.
"It's obviously a bit more complicated with Manabe, since we're often part of more than just one class, but most tend to identify with their most prominent animal, especially since that's the scent that they project the strongest. Take my form, for example, I'm primarily a drake, so that smell overwhelms my more bird or fish-like aspects. I smell like a dragon. It's a more vibrant smell than your average reptilian because of the heightened magic of those mythic beings. As Manabe go, I'm a fluke. Legendary beast as a part of one of us? Ludicrous. I've never met anyone else like me." Nim stared at Sachi, their air slightly anxious as much as it was excited. "It's not your primary animal— feline, I think?— but that sweet draconian smell is a part of you too. You're like me."
Sachi didn't seem the least bit taken aback by that information. He wasn't even looking at Nim, his full attention on Callan instead. That glint in the boy's eyes— was it worry?
"I'm a reptilian shifter, sure, but I'm not anything that impressive," Callan started, "I shouldn't smell anything like—"
"The scent doesn't lie. People can."
"Orin..." Sachi mumbled, nearly making Cal jump out of his skin.
"Huh?" The shifter saw how distressed the boy looked. "Sachi, what's wrong?" Sachi shook his head, not wanting to reveal the secret that Callan had kept to himself. "You can say it. I vaguely remember something."
Sachi peeked over at Phoe, who tilted her head at him, her brows furrowing. The blonde looked from him to Callan, and Cal realized that Sachi was going to clam up until he said it himself. Callan took a calming breath, slowly exhaling. "I honestly don't know how to say this, so I'm just going to say it. He's my brother. I— I almost died. The Grand Commander had me revived and my memories replaced." He swallowed roughly as Phoena blinked at him, her mouth slightly agape, and Cal imagined that Sol would've had a similar reaction had she been there too. They were the only two of his own party that hadn't become privy to that information in one way or another. "I was— well, I am Orin Crue."
"You were... you are... what?"
That final bewildered word reverberated in his ears, and Cal flinched. "I was going to tell you. I just—" he started, only to be cut off brusquely.
"You didn't owe me an explanation. It's not my business."
But it felt like he did, and it felt like it was from the betrayal in her expression, her tone— from the way that what she said stung, like she wanted him to feel as insignificant as she did. He knew it wasn't fair. Braedyn knew, Erzia too, and Callan wanted Phoe to know the truth. He just hadn't known how to approach it, not just to her but in coming to terms with the reality of it himself. This wasn't something he could fix now, though, and his words were bound to be minimal comfort to Phoena's hurt feelings. He knew that too, so he sighed, his eyes skirting the ground as he turned back to Sachi.
It was uncomfortably quiet and tense amongst the group until the kid spoke again. "They used to talk about your animal being special, that if you kept training, your form would only continue to grow until it took its truest shape." He paused, chewing on his lip as he peered back at Nim for a moment. "I never really knew what that meant, but Mom and Dad were always so proud of you..." Such a stark contrast to how they'd treated Sachi and what he was.
One son a blessing, and the other, a curse.
Sachi focused on Cal again, his brows tucking as he sought out those memories of their shared past. "It's weird. I remember your shifted form being bigger than it is now."
Which was particularly odd. As far as Callan knew, he'd never heard of a shapeshifter's form reverting on development. Shifter children always had to grow into their final transformation, but lack of control or practice simply kept their progress towards that stationary. You could only take steps forward in development, never steps back. It made no sense, unless...
Erzia must have read his mind— or the two had shared the same thought and she was simply the first to voice it. "Those repressed memories..." she murmured, shaking her head in disbelief, "they stunted you." Louder then, as she explained what she meant. "You had such a hard time training at the Academy that you dropped out, right?" Cal flinched and dropped her gaze, which was enough confirmation for the telepath. "Without your memories, you didn't have any of that progress you'd made in those years. It was like you were missing a huge step, of course you were going to struggle. You reverted because you didn't have the recollection to be what you were."
"You're quite the fascinating bunch, aren't you?" Nim mused, the Manabe slipping off the table and meandering over to Callan again. "Looks like little lizard boy isn't what he thinks he is," they cooed, beaming with an enthusiasm that was both contagious and overbearing.
Callan shifted away again, but this time, Phoe wasn't a comforting warmth beside him, the blonde keeping her own distance. "You smell like a dragon," he said slowly. Nim nodded. "And Sachi and I have that scent?"
Nim nodded again. "Yeah— you more than him— but yeah."
Callan blinked at her, and Sachi was the one to speak the conclusion that they'd all come to aloud. "You were always meant to be a dragon, but your stolen memories kept you from developing properly."
"Bingo." Nim confirmed. "Which is kind of a bummer. Like, how often do you get to see a real dragon— am I right? You could probably breathe fire and everything!" They waved their hands dramatically through the air, pouting lips betraying their disappointment.
"Nimanuhn. You're being rude," Dala warned.
Their eyes flicked to the Manabe leader. "Yeah, well, it sucks. For me. For him. I just wish we could—" Something sparked behind Nim's eyes as they sprung towards Dala. "My notebooks! My parents' research notes!" they shouted, rambling on. "Can I see them? I let you guys keep them to study them, but I need to look at them. I think I have an idea."
Dala's expression grew terse, his posture equally as rigid. "I don't know, Nim. If you're contemplating what I think you are, I'm not sure it's a good idea."
Nim groaned, grabbing the man by the arms and giving him a shake. "Just let me look, Dala! It's harmless to just look."
"Fine. Since you insist." He relented and brushed them off with a sigh before turning to Merritt. "You go with Nim. Otherwise they'll leave the records a mess."
Merritt nodded, urging Nim to take the lead without a word, and Nim scrambled off with hurried promise of their own. "Thank you! I'll be back soon."
Brady waited until the two had left the common area to interrogate Dala on what had Nim acting as they were. "What was that about?"
The Manabe leader glanced at Brady, but once he spoke, his attention had shifted to Callan and Sachi. "Like Nimanuhn said, their parents studied magical beasts. Once they found a link between mythic creatures and the Manabe, much of their research focused on exploring that. They hypothesized that Manabe blood with elements of certain legendary beast could accelerate the development of those exceptionally rare animals or heighten their abilities, as Manabe don't grow into their beings in the same way that shifters do— even mythic shifters." He rubbed his forehead, softly sighing as he let his hand fall back at his side. "I've read those theories plenty of times, but I still don't entirely understand them, and as rare as legendary shifters are and considering they believed this process only to work for Manabe and mythics of the same class, Nim's parents were never able to test these suspicions before their deaths."
"So basically, Nim thinks they can unlock Callan's repressed dragon side with Manabe blood?" Brady asked, simplifying Dala's extended explanation to the root of it all.
"Something like that."
Nimanuhn would explain their self once they arrived back, Merritt just a few steps behind with a couple of notebooks carefully toted. Nim was a whirlwind by comparison, snatching them from him and strewing various pages across the top of a nearby table. "It's actually a ridiculously simple process if you really look at it," Nim started, though they took a few mental bounds back rather quickly. "Figured Dala told you what the idea of the whole thing was, yeah?"
"Yeah, but—" Cal didn't get to finish before Nim hopped right back in, the affirmative seeming the only part that registered to them.
"Manabe with legendary pieces naturally exist in their fully grown state, right? So, imagine if a legendary shifter was exposed to fully realized blood of their same class? How might that affect their own make up? You see, my parents thought that it would jumpstart their own development and help the shifter more rapidly mature without years spent focused on enhancement through training and control."
If you asked Braedyn, these parents of the Manabe's sounded like mad scientists to him...
"But do you really think it would work, Nim?" Merritt cut in. "It's never been tested, so you can't even be sure that there wouldn't be negative side effects, if it worked at all."
"My parents were brilliant. I trust their work. What's the worst that could happen?" Nim countered. "The way I see it, there's two possibilities here: my blood, since I'm a part drake Manabe, reptilian class— so basically the closest animal match— or the kid, since they're blood relatives and he does have some draconian elements, though personally, I don't think it's as strong a match given he's primarily feline class."
The way Nim talked about the process made it sound as if it was already a done deal, which itself put Callan on edge. "How is this physical acceleration supposed to work anyway?" he asked. Nim had said it was simple— almost too simple— but details on what that entailed had yet to be shared with the rest of them.
"Oh, that. Super simple, you'd just have to drink the blood. Shift for it to meld thoroughly with you own. And wait."
"And why not inject it?" Brady asked. Logically, that make the most sense to him. That was how they'd inoculate patients at the clinic anyway, but Nim just shrugged their shoulders.
"My parents believed that the legendary shifter's body would reject the Manabe blood as a foreign agent that way. Drinking it, however, allows it to incorporate in the shift instead, where their cells are already undergoing a natural transition and are more susceptive to melding the two together." Again, they reminded the others that this was only one possible conclusion. "Theoretically."
Callan wasn't the only one feeling squeamish about drinking someone else's— especially a complete stranger who continued to riddle the shifter with anxiety— blood, as multiple of his friends were taken about. Phoena, however, was the most outspoken. "You want him to what?"
"Unlock his dragon form and the powers that come along with it, duh," Nim said, entirely ignoring the root of the issue. "Wouldn't that be better for all of you anyway? Quest and all?"
"I need a moment to think." Cal hurried toward the exit to get some air, his stomach reeling and his mind muddled and foggy. He couldn't recall progressing anywhere close to being an actual dragon, and now a Manabe wanted him to drink their blood so they could see him shoot fireballs from his mouth. He just couldn't wrap his head around it, and he was pretty sure that he was going to be sick...
No, he was most definitely going to be sick.
A/N: It's been awhile... is anyone still here? (Probably not, I do not blame y'all, I'm inconsistent AF.) Anywayyy, there's been some stressful, anxiety-heightening things going on in my life right now, and as any fully functional adult should, I've found myself drawn back into writing as a coping mechanism despite definitely NOT having the time to be doing this. I'm also having a moral crisis about my ending for this novel, but alas, I cannot ask for advice without MAJOR spoilers...
I think I might've mentioned dropping the sequel/companion novel title soon a chapter or two back. (Yes, back in Toxins and Water Torture— I checked.) So, I'm going to keep good on that promise. Book Two of this hot chaotic mess, drum roll please!
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D E S C [ E N D ] E D ...(care to make any guesses as to why? Any and all are welcome. I'd honestly be SO excited but also SO baffled if someone got it?)
Alright, well, I think that's all for now. I hope anyone who made it to this point enjoyed the chapter and hasn't entirely lost interest because I'm not really around. Those of you who've stuck with me through all of this really mean the world to me, and I adore y'all for it! ~Rissa