Lukas Aguilar was no stranger to curveballs. He had only just woken up after a first-hand experience of getting his ass kicked by a creature that could probably throw down against the khorkhoi, the aqāru-doppelganger, and his newly bonded ifrit at the same time, and win. And that was just his most recent experience. The earthquake, the Crypt, dealing with Inanna’s shenanigans while trying to survive the anomaly— it had just been one thing after another.

Seeing literal roots growing out of his chest freaked him out greater than any of the rest.

Which probably said something about the kind of day he was having.

Must be a Wednesday, Lukas thought with a chagrin. It simply meant that the week was only half over and the rest of it would be equally as bad.

“Perhaps you should focus on more relevant things, Partner?”

Oh. Right. He had all but forgotten about Arah. About how the Ifrit had access to his surface thoughts. Not the terrifying way Inanna had, but the kami could catch on some if Lukas thought too loud.

Funny thing about having voices in your head. When you got them, you absolutely hated them. Call it an alarming intrusion of privacy, or the fear of having your inner thoughts leaked out, there was no end to having trust issues with your mental renter. Especially if the voice belonged to a being that had survived for eons and wanted to manipulate you to no end for their goals. But after you get to know them for a bit and then they literally drill themselves out of your gray tissue to protect you from the whims of an Omphalos, you actually realize just how much you got used to them, how much you'll miss them.

But only until you get another voice and then you realize that even without the temptations and agendas, it was still really annoying to be renting room space in your brain.

Regardless of how good the rent was.

“This is hardly a time for reminiscing, Partner. I cannot feel my legs.”

Lukas frowned. You are a kami. You don’t actually have any legs.

“Mean,” said Kami murmured inside his head. “I embody the Void. The spirit. I can have legs when I want, how I want. But currently I cannot. Which means, something is draining my power.”

Lukas blinked, and looked down at his chest. At the growing cluster of roots that seemed to pulsate from time to time. And if he wasn’t wrong, there were random bursts of electricity flickering through the surfaces as well.

Yeah, he thought. Those.

“I was getting worried when you weren’t waking up,” Banksi said, not at all caring to hide the amusement in his voice, “Thought I had hit you too hard.”

Yeah, that kind of explained the throbbing he felt at the base of his skull. Lukas stared at him dully, which was probably the only way he was capable of staring at the moment. Then he croaked, “...hit me too hard?”

It felt good to know that his voice still sounded human.

“Why yes,” Banksi drawled, “your advice was spot on. A solid hit to the head was good enough to cut off whatever oddities you were experiencing. Just like you said back in the Anomaly.”

“I’m….” He croaked again, “in your place?”

“And healed as well,” Banksi grinned, “Tanya here has been telling me all sorts of things about your travels. But first—time to get you out.”

Lukas narrowed his eyes. Tanya was there? That meant everything had worked out in the end. But even if that was so, how had Banksi found him? The last he remembered was—

The world was red and howling. The tempest—Raikou had surrounded him on all sides, and was gunning for him with incredible prejudice. If not for Kirin’s power rushing through his veins and Tachypsyhcia amplifying his thought and perception, he’d have been black charcoal upon the ground. Everything around him was burning, completely destroyed by the cold wrath of that titan in the sky. Even Arah, with all his newfound power, had turned out to be unable to counter this monstrosity.

Raikou thundered and sent down a bolt of lightning at him.

Lukas raised his own arms and sent out a torrent of fresh flames, courtesy of Inanna’s spell. The lance of energy that shot out of him was an order of magnitude more potent than anything he had thrown before, thanks to the mana saturation in the borderland around him. The very air boiled and shrieked in protest, and when the blast hit the ground, the thermal bloom that erupted was a sphere of white-hot light. The concussion of that expanding heat slapped Lukas in the chest so hard that it rocked him back a step.

Yeah. It was true. Nothing cut through bullshit better than a flamethrower.

Lukas poured in everything he had and yelled—

"SOUL. SIPHON!!!"

…

“I still cannot believe you are capable of manacrafting on your own. Nothing about you makes sense.”

Story of my life. Lukas thought with chagrin as Banksi began to perform… well, something. He was muttering something under his breath and it was affecting the coffin Lukas was in. Even though he wasn’t moving, he could feel the coffin around him get altered. Like some great beast that had gotten life breathed into it, the earthen contraption shook and began to reshape itself, the lid slowly retracting away while the tendrils slowly pushed themselves away from his body.

"When the canal exits, you might feel a tad uncomfortable. Try not to panic, will you?” Zuken advised, moving away from him. Even from his vantage point, Lukas could see the Asukan conjure walls around him, with Tanya standing behind him, her icy blue eyes watching him with a mix of concern and caution. If he didn’t know better, he’d have thought that she was expecting him to attack.

“Uh…” Lukas tried again. All this physical talk hurt his lungs. “All that for me?”

He coughed.

“I prefer to have precautions,” Banksi replied enigmatically, “You ready?”

And before Lukas could even ask what the man was rambling about, the roots embedded inside his freaking chest were yanked out.

A lightning bolt seemed to hit his chest, an agonizing ribbon of silver power that bent his body into a bow. Lukas started screaming, and before his hips had come down, Lukas shouted. The words might not have meant anything, but the anguish alone spewed out power into the air.

Someone shouted and someone else cursed, and sparks exploded all around him. Lukas was sure he had noticed some ice forming around him— Tanya’s power at play, while the nigh translucent walls separating him from them made weird sounds as raw power from his body smashed into them, throwing up a miniature gale of wind and dirt. The coffin shifted again, and bands of earth— thicker and denser than steel— formed around him, trapping him down. Lukas fell back to the coffin, both Banksi and Tanya out of his line of sight.

The room was quiet for a few seconds.

“I remember telling you not to panic.”

“....wasn’t panicking.”

There was a grunt. “If that wasn’t panicking, I’d hate to see you panic.”

“By Wind,” said Tanya’s quavering voice. “L-Lukas?”

“I’m fine,” He said. His throat felt raw. “What the hell are you doing to me?”

“Your—” She began.

“Helping you,” Banksi interrupted, “The last few times you woke up, you weren’t yourself. You nearly destroyed half the room one time.”

His prototypes had taken root again? Damnit.

Is that true?

“I have no clue, Partner. My senses are tied to your consciousness. And they are draining my power for me to try anything otherwise.”

“Now if you swear not to panic again, I can try again.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN CAN TRY—” Lukas snarled out a curse and then went limp. He sat there not resisting for a moment until he thought they’d be listening. Then I said, “Fine! Get these straps off of me.”

“Lukas, your body is healing,” Tanya said. “A pinched nerve, broken bones, damage to the organs in your lower abdomen—for Wind, what were you thinking, taking on that thing?”

“A Raiju,” He corrected. Speaking felt a little easier now. Or maybe he had simply gotten used to the pain. “And it— I didn’t do shit. It came after me.” His voice hardened a bit, “Unfasten the straps. Do it now.”

He heard her sniffle. But then she sat up and came up to where she could see his eyes. “Um. Lukas. Are you still … you know. You?”

Lukas blinked at her for a second, impressed. His companion’s insight was evidently serving her well.

“I’m me,” He said, looking back at her eyes. That should have been verification enough. Had he been under the influence of any of his prototypes, seeing Tanya would have instigated some kind of primal reaction. “Well, for now, at least.”

Tanya bit her lip. Then she said, “Okay. Okay, let him up.”

Banksi muttered something under his breath again, as the earthen straps went loose. Immediately there was a sudden eruption of lifeforce within him, as well as a bonfire of pure mana coming from the ifrit.

“Finally,” He heard the kami speak.

“Did I really lose control… again? Like in the Crypt?” He asked, his voice lowered, though there was no doubt Zuken could hear him. “Which one was it?”

“I really… couldn’t say,” Tanya explained. “It was strange. There were bursts of flame exuding out of your body, charring your skin. Zuken knocked you out and put you into this contraption. Apparently, it’s used to control people that have lost control over their kami.” She paused, her thin, pale hands touching his cheek, “We thought the ifrit might have done something.”

Arah grumbled.

“Arah’s senses are tied to my consciousness,” Lukas replied. “It was some other… thing. From my other powers. Like it happened back then at the Crypt.”

“Arah?”

“My ifrit.”

“Why do you keep calling it the Crypt? It was an underground anomaly.” Zuken asked.

“Your naming sense sucks,” Lukas retorted. There was no need to tell him about his Scan and Analyze functions. The willy Earth-Shaper already knew too much for his own good.

“The Earth-Shaper has a point.”

You suck too.

His stomach gurgled and at the same time, a roaring hunger went through him.

Tanya smiled. “I guess you are really you.”

“Get him up,” Zuken replied with a snort. The Earth-Shaper walked up and looked him in the eye. “Let’s get you fed and watered. I don’t know about others, but I’m looking forward to seeing how myself and Avriel fare against a wild Ifrit.”

Tanya rolled her eyes and moved her lips so as to say, “Boys!”