"First, Tista’s Divine Beast form, then your human side, and now Zoreth’s hybrid form. How do you come up with all these weird names?" Morok asked while confronting the Infirmary’s readings for his wings with those of Zoreth’s arms.
"Does Mogar talk to you like when it named you the Father of All Demons? Besides, what does Arke mean?"
"Respectively, I have a brain, no, it doesn’t, and it doesn’t mean anything. If you don’t like Arke, I’m open to suggestions." Lith snorted. "Do you have a working theory on Zoreth’s arms or not?"
"I do, Mister Grumpy." Morok replied. "What if, unlike our wings, Zoreth’s arms absorb the world energy more slowly, but they are capable of storing it? It would explain why the runic patterns cover only a portion of her arms and what she can do with Ryla’s powers."
"That’s..." Lith suggested the Tyrant’s theory to the database, and the Infirmary performed a series of scans that confirmed it. "Brilliant?"
"Was that a question or a statement?" Morok crossed his arms, his lips curling up into a smug grin.
"Neither. It was utter disbelief."
***
Zoreth returned to the Vastor Household a week later, after Lith had taught her everything he knew and they had exhausted all the theories about her potential powers they could think of.
The Shadow Dragon hadn’t discovered a single new bloodline ability and had made little progress with her shapeshifting skills. Spending so long in her Arke form had allowed Zoreth to perceive its energy, but she had failed to hear its melody.
No matter how many times she tried, whenever she reverted to her Dragon form, she needed Baba Yaga’s spell to turn humanoid again.
’Over ten days of hard work and all I got to show for it is a name.’ She inwardly grumbled as she crossed the threshold of the Warp Gate while in her Arke form.
Vastor waited for the returning couple in front of the stone arch, and when Zoreth appeared, the height gap, proximity, and size of her bosom eclipsed part of her face to him.
"Bytra warned me I had to expect some changes, but this is not how I pictured the new you." The Master took a few steps back to look only at the right eyes. "I’m flattered you chose this form for our reunion, but I’m a married man."
The other hybrids in the room joined on cue, whistling, cheering, and commenting about Zoreth’s figure like she wasn’t there. Tezka even howled in approval.
"Stop it, you jerks!" Bytra jumped to her wife’s side, covering her with a heavy coat. "Zor didn’t come here like this because she wanted to impress someone." She then wrapped the Shadow Dragon in a thick woolen blanket.
"If Zor goes back to her usual appearance, she has no way to recall her newfound Arke form." Bytra put a fur coat over the blanket. "She’s going to look like this until she gains an understanding of her new body, and I’d be grateful if you avoided making rude comments."
A scarf covered Zoreth’s face so tightly that it felt like a muzzle.
"I expected better from you guys. You are all older than the Kingdom, for the gods’ sake! Haven’t you ever seen a beautiful woman in your life?"
’I don’t know why, but suddenly I don’t find Zor’s transformation so exciting anymore.’ The Raiju thought as she growled and scowled around the room like an angry dog.
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