Niko, belly full of a mushroom feast extravaganza now sat atop a large, comfortable but firm mat that had been placed around a large, copper bowl filled with a variety of dried plants and powders. Sigaldry marked the inside and outside of the bowl, and from the floor beneath the bowl, Niko could plainly see inked lines that glowed faintly with an orange light. The essence in the room hummed in tune with the faint vibrations Niko could hear from the bowl itself, though no obvious cause was visible as to why that was happening.

Following the lines outwards, they circled his current mat with plenty of room to spare, with several more such formations set around the bowl. In each of those circles, Niko saw his companions, and as he looked to each of them, felt an echo of meaning course through the room.

Skye, The Grovewitch of Allgreen; Ronald, The Sentinel of Hearth’s Steel; Mithel, The Philosopher Twins; Dachna, The Laughing Shadow of Empyrean; Stella, The Infinity Glyphkeeper; Sasha, The Vantablack Stalker; Thokk, The Earthen Hulk; Charlotte, The Brilliant Webweaver; Niko, The Miracle Seed, The Wayfinder.

He felt his soul shudder at the meanings behind them, both a piece of who they were, but also what they could be. Many meanings had changed even subtly since the last time they’d tiered up, but Niko wasn’t certain if that was a good thing or bad thing. He was still The Miracle Seed, but his other title, The Ravaging End, was no longer present. In its place, he now bore The Wayfinder. What that meant, he didn’t know, but he found he wasn’t too sorry to see his previous title go. It hadn’t exactly left him with any positive impressions.

Before his thoughts could wander further to his friend’s inner identities, he felt the core of his being shutter and almost seem to grow. It was uncomfortable, almost painful, and Niko instinctively felt what his body wanted to do.

This time, no others were in the room with them. The materials in the bowl ignited, smoke unnaturally billowing from the burning substances and swarming outwards, spiraling around each of the Wyldwalkers. Niko barely noticed, feeling his mind somehow lighten, as though the bonds to his body were weakened. Yet, with that came a certain, acute clarity, and as the smoke pushed its way over his body and into his lungs, he prepared for the work to come.

Rising to tier three wasn’t in itself especially difficult. With enough time and enough essence, the body and core could ascend. What they were attempting now was anything but simple; each of them now had an image of what they were going to be, with the details private to themselves. It was this image, this self-determination, that was required for moving into tier four, and granting greater power unto themselves. Many creatures reached tier four with a poor understanding of this, and may never rise beyond. The Wyldwalkers, with The Great Eye’s aid, had been given the most potent look into themselves they’d ever had so far.

It would be such a waste not to use that, wouldn’t it?

Niko fell deeply into his soul, pulling forth his inner self, attached to the blessings given to him. Instinct guided his claws, and steadily he pulled forth on the ideal of himself, the blessings, the power of essence that welled up deep within him. At first, he guided them together, trying to meld them with each other. They began to mix, yet… Niko felt unsatisfied looking upon the pieces.

‘This isn’t good enough.’ Niko felt a stroke of inspiration, and reaching even further into himself, truly looked upon what he was. The Miracle Seed, The Ravaging End, The Wayfinder, none of these things felt right. They felt like they were snapshots from an outside perspective, but not encompassing enough. Perhaps the others might feel the same, perhaps what they were offered truly encapsulated them, but Niko was… dissatisfied.

‘I’m more than my blessings,’ Niko resolutely believed that. ‘They’re a part of me, but that’s all,’ He followed that line of thought with contemplation, ‘So… let’s work with that first.’

Niko pulled the pieces apart, feeling his mind and essence-body strain from the pressure. A part of him knew that what he was doing was something he shouldn’t have been able to accomplish in the second tier, and even in the third would have been horrifically difficult. Yet, no other creature had likely absorbed as much essence as he had in the second tier. With brute force, Niko clamped down on the errant parts of his work, preventing them from falling away, forming a shell around them.

An egg. One that briefly conjured images of the chaotic amalgamation from his nightmares so long ago. Yet, this time, Niko didn’t fear it, and instead he pushed his intent within, guiding it with essence flowing through like a breeze through the trees. Firmly, but gently, he put his self-image together.

“I am more than my suffering, and my given gifts. I’m more than just a beast, or an aberrant. I have many goals, but I also have friends that I can trust to help me. And I may not fight for everyone, but I’m a bird of my word.” Niko felt the form of what he wanted to be come together, but it was lacking something. He shook his head, before realizing he wasn’t truly encapsulating what He was.

“I will stride to where I wish, free to adventure. There are many sights to see, many beings to meet, and many delicious things to eat. Experiences that I could never have had before, the rush of battle, the joy of being appreciated.” As he continued to speak, putting everything together, he felt a sense of harmony build. Part of him was chagrined that his own selfishness was what was pulling everything together, but another part of him grew emboldened, elated, and so he pushed on. “No matter if I am to become a Titan, no matter if I am a weapon for Alterra, I will be free, I will persevere, and I will live.”

Niko trembled as he felt his sense of self deepen, and along with it felt the gazes of two beings rest upon him. They were massive, greater than him by so many orders of magnitude that Niko couldn’t quite grasp it. Yet, he knew them, recognized them, and felt a kind of kinship with them. Wordlessly, but with a warmth that nourished Niko, Alterra’s will reached out to him, helping to fuse her blessing into the greater parts of the whole.

With a chuckle that made Niko’s mind quake, Venris reached out as well, pressing his own blessing down, and guiding it to merge seamlessly amidst the chaos that roiled around. Niko wasn’t sure, but he almost felt like Venris was competing with Alterra, a one-up-manship of sorts going on.

He wasn’t able to confirm, though, as he was forced to focus entirely upon his transformation, and to solidify his Image within his core. Essence rushed through him, burning his pseudo-body and physical form as it forcibly recrafted the channels within. Where his mind had been distant from his body before, now he felt like everything was being drawn intrinsically together. Mind, soul, and body were bound together with intent, image, and essence, with every cycle growing closer, more than it was before, greater than the parts that constituted him.

Finally, he felt everything solidify, Fate’s Chosen, and his consciousness fled him with echoing words accompanying him.

“Well done, child of two worlds,” Venris’ whispered, so softly that Niko had to strain to hear him, “You have fully incorporated my blessing. I will look forward to what happens next.”

“I am proud of what you wish to be, and what you are,” Alterra spoke, too, deeply into his subconscious, “Whatever happens, I hope you never lose sight of your pursuit for happiness and freedom.”

Their words gave rise to several questions and yet, Niko felt satisfied as he fell further into unconsciousness.

When he next was cognizant, Niko snapped to attention within himself. Even without any time to sense what was happening, he knew he wasn’t yet free of whatever uplifted state that occurred while tiering up. He felt his heartbeat speed up at that, ‘Lucky!’ He crowed internally, before immediately trying to determine the state of his pseudo-body.

He was transforming physically, that much was immediately clear, but it seemed as if the changes were finalizing. That he was conscious once more meant that he should be near to awakening. His patterns were carving themselves into his being, far more vibrantly and clearly than they’d been before. Niko knew that this was almost certainly the result of the way his body, mind, and soul were closer, and couldn’t help but grin with satisfaction.

Niko had a plan, and before he could waste any more time he familiarized himself with the changes he could feel. In between the tiers, creating a new essence pattern was difficult, and often was done immediately following a tier-up. However, Niko had a bit of curiosity to satisfy – a growing impulse as it were.

What if you could make a pattern during your tier up?

He’d heard nothing saying it couldn’t be done, but then, he wasn’t sure going into this that he’d even be conscious enough for it. Though, he suspected that perhaps his blessings might have a role to play in this, whether Venris’ or Alterra’s blessing, he couldn’t tell. The blessings were fused into his very being, now made entirely his, and so he wouldn’t be able to tell which had been which even if he cared to.

As Niko started to work on his planned pattern, he balked at the sheer number of changes his body had undergone. He felt upset at first, but shook it off, ‘Different doesn’t necessarily mean worse,’ He chastened himself, cycling through the rest of his body.

Then he realized that there were more changes than he’d realized, but these ones were far from unwelcome.

Niko grinned as he got to work on applying his will and intent to crafting his new patterns. In a twist of fate, or luck, these new changes would work perfectly with what he’d had in mind… If it worked.

With a manic, razor focus, Niko labored on until finally he was finished, and felt his consciousness begin to fade once more…

`````````

“How upset do you think he’s going to be?” A voice stirred him from his thoughts, hazy and indistinct.

“Very, Dachna, but don’t say anything about it. He’s really sensitive about his feathers.” Skye’s words held a note of defensiveness, “I’m serious.”

“Hey, okay, I get it,” Dachna said, “Mark my heart, I won’t say a thing!”

“I want all of them.” Stella said, and Niko felt a strange sense of fear tingle up his spine at the sheer hunger in her words. He stirred, forced himself up and—

“Whoa…” Niko swayed on unsteady limbs with an unfamiliar posture. Everything seemed off, heavier, and like he was leaning over. It was bizarre, and as he blinked the bright lights out of his eyes, he could have sworn that everything looked even sharper than before.

“Hey, easy, you’re okay,” Skye said, suddenly beside him and putting an arm around his neck. He blinked, feeling like his angle of viewing her was off somehow.

Then he realized that it wasn’t just a feeling. His angle was different.

“You had your evolution, so your body is different now.” Skye said in a soothing tone that Niko tried not to think was a little too like someone was about to break some very bad news to him.

“Oh, peck me, how bad is it?” He failed utterly, before looking down an—

Screeching like a banshee.

“My feathers are falling out! No! Nooooo!! !” Niko cawed, only for Skye to grab onto him and keep petting him. It was comforting, aside from the itchy feeling that he realized was from feathers that were still in the process of falling out.

“Hey, it doesn’t look—” Dachna stopped himself, before covering his mouth as a sound that was suspiciously akin to a laugh was choked off from him. He cleared his throat and then decidedly looked away.

Then said, “Erhm. Excuse me for a moment.”

Niko barely registered as the man briefly exited the room, but he damned well heard the laughing afterwards.

Mithel stepped forward apologetically, “It really doesn’t look that bad. You’ll grow them back in… Right?”

She said the last part to Skye, who gave a long, suffering groan, “You’re as bad as Dachna, y’know?”

Niko ignored the banter, still bemoaning his precious feathers falling out. He didn’t even notice as Stella came over and began collecting them, which would have certainly troubled him, had Ronald not casually walked over and sat down next to Stella while holding her hand.

“Here, I’ll help you pull them,” Skye pet Niko’s head, “Would that be helpful?”

Niko sniffled, but nodded, feeling all of his previous success wane in the light of having lost his precious feathers. They’d grow back… He had to believe they would grow back, anyways. He hoped they were as good as before, he didn’t want boring, normal feathers!

It took him nearly ten minutes to stop having his mini-tantrum and even attempt to look himself over. The lack of feathers, though, immediately put a halt to any endeavor to truly inspect himself.

When Dachna came back and offered a mirror, the others wisely pulled him to the side before Niko could contemplate blasting him with a full on Carrion Call to the face.

Yet for all his pouting, his new feathers were indeed growing in, and the rest of the Wyldwalkers examined him while they did so. Ordinarily, he would have wanted to do this privately, but they’d already seen him naked, so at this point Niko was just giving up and letting it happen. So instead, he took this chance to look them over, too.

Charlotte hadn’t visibly changed, but could tell that whatever had linked them together had benefited her still. The link between himself and the fruit-eating spider was still present, and he could feel that a qualitative shift had occurred within her.

The others, though, had many changes. Thokk’s fur had greyed out, looking somewhere between granite and slate, and Niko could taste an earthen-flavor from the essence around him. His body had actually shrunk somewhat, but Niko could plainly see the slabs of muscle that flexed beneath his fur. Sasha, on the other hand, had grown slightly larger, but the greatest changes came from the smokey energy that constantly seeped from the black stripes across her fur. Moreover, her fangs now had some glyphs, ones that Niko recognized from their vision given to them by the Great Eye. She’d clearly undergone some substantial upgrades.

The others changes, though, were less evident in their physical forms, but Niko could still tell each of them had grown in power. Dachna’s every movement seemed to somehow slide into place, and if Niko concentrated on him too hard, it almost looked like he was always moving. Mithel, on the other hand, had no obvious changes, but was clearly in tier three based on the essence Niko could see in her body.

Startled at that realization, Niko noted that his Aether Sight was far more potent, and he turned his gaze upon Ronald curiously. The man physically appeared no different, but his essence hung off of his form like armor, and Niko could almost feel a kind of force pushing outwards from him. Stella, on the other hand, appeared to him much like Mithel had – he knew they were firmly in tier three, but nothing else stood out.

Skye had the most distinct form in his vision, appearing almost as if she had a dense layer of bark on her form, more resembling the Dryad that he’d seen during their shared pilgrimage vision.

All of the distractions fell away as he suddenly started fidgeting, the itch of his growing feathers suddenly growing intolerable. Niko groaned, “Uuuuugh, I hate this paaaart!” In spite of his best efforts, he writhed at the sensation, but the others made appreciative sounds as the feathers grew out rapidly. Niko fed essence through his body, attempting to expedite the process that much more, and hoped that it was helping.

“Molting plucking sucks!”