Shades of the New World

Chapter 176: Changes inside the shadow

Two more hours passed as Rith and Nasst waited for Evin to come out of the barrier. Both didn't know how long it was going take, so eventually they started having some small-talk as they waited. 

"By the way, what kind of things will you be teaching Evin afterwards?" Rith asked suddenly.

"Hmm, after he got the hang of Spellbreaking, I was about to teach him how to have it on his body passively. After that, the Somaturgy expert should come and keep him busy. Aside from that, nothing much. The limit of what I can teach ends at that point after all aside from the stuff that normal kids learn, of course But for that, I'm planning to just throw some books about it to him. I suppose he'll just wait for the Horn Ceremony after that, absorbing Core Shards in his spare time," Nasst said, cocking his head sideways.

"Oh, then you don't mind if I teach him the World of Space, right?" Rith asked.

"Oh, I have no problems with that. I was just wondering how I should keep him busy How long do you think you will teach him?" Nasst asked.

"Well, that mostly depends on Evin himself and his talents. I can only guess after I've seen how he does," Rith answered before continuing: "But, if he isn't too terrible at it, it should take about three months..."

'And after that, it was goodbye,' Rith thought with a sigh. It was awfully enjoyable being with Evin and it was an overall fun ride, but Rith had her own life to lead. She couldn't continue being Evin's pet cat all the time. Her boring, old, adult life was waiting for her. 

'Who knows? Maybe I'll find another mad 300-year-old spirit inhibiting the body of a child. Maybe he'll also be the same fun company that Evin was' she sighed again.

'But at that point, my responsibilities should increase from hunting for young talents to actually maintaining contact with important business partners' she thought, reminded of the bright white color of her stars. 

'Guess at that point, I should probably keep my distance from Evin. I feel like I become more and more dumb with every minute I spend with him,' Rith pondered.

But obviously, that didn't mean she was going to shove Evin away from her life. Experience told her that such moves rarely had the intended effect.

Nasst also seemed to be thinking about something of his own, as he seemingly made a decision on something.

"After he finishes with the World of Space, he'll have almost half a year of doing nothing Perhaps I should make him start working a bit earlier? He'll work for me for 4 months, come back for the Horn Ceremony, and then get back to working afterwards," Nasst murmured.

"Is there some emergency going on? I feel like everyone's a bit on edge lately," Rith asked, thinking of the busy atmosphere with the rest of the Cosmics.

"Well even if I knew, I'm probably not allowed to talk about it to you," Nasst laughed.

"Oh, of course," Rith said, once again shocked by her increasing stupidity.

'Damn you,' she cursed Evin in her head.

But a sudden change forced both of them to look at the barrier.

A small hole appeared on the barrier and a girl's voice came from inside.

"Please come inside, Rith," it said.

Rith looked at the hole suspiciously before looking at Nasst, not really sure of what she was trying to find in the old man. Nasst, obviously, simply shrugged and gestured his head towards the hole.

'Well, it's a request from an Authority, I don't think I'll be able to refuse anyway,' Rith decided and jumped into the hole, which closed in behind her.

Inside, she noticed that everything outside was visible to her eyes, making her guess that the barrier worked similarly to a one-way window.

Twelve Jokes was sitting next to Evin, beckoning Rith with her hands. Rith warily walked close to the Authority.

"If you're wondering about Evin, don't worry about it. At this pace, he will wake up in an hour or so," Twelve Jokes calmly reassured and continued: "I wanted to ask you to get inside his shadow and explain that everything will be fine in an hour or so. It's a bit distracting to see it so distressed all the time."

Rith's eyes fell on Evin's shadow and sure enough, she could see a thick wavy substance spreading all over the floor, but not quite daring to engulf Twelve Jokes inside it.

Rith didn't bother questioning the Authority, and just warily touched Evin's shadow with her paws. And with a plop, she appeared inside Evin's shadow without even realizing how. 

But she didn't have enough time to worry about those things, as she noticed the great changes that were happening inside the shadow. 

The cute little World Sprites that were only about Rith's height had all become much taller, some of them even becoming twice as tall as before, and from what Rith could guess, they were still growing, groaning in pain all the while.

They now had proper faces, instead of their featureless heads; their limbs were much more detailed and realistic, which made them look like actual young children... except of course, they were completely coal-black. But one thing that really stood out to Rith was that there were a mix of girls and boys. 

She really didn't know why this part was so important to her, but she supposed that she expected everyone to be a girl.

Ayn, Vyn and Lyn were also experiencing the same change inside the shadow. Their forms looked more beautiful, and Rith could see much more complex emotions being depicted on their usually simple faces.

But a loud bark-like snarl came from all around her, forcing her to look at the ginormous fox-head, almost as big as the head of a shark, floating in the sky and constantly spewing out a black fog-like substance from her neck.

Rith knew that Enri floated around as a fox-head, with a thin trail of smoke following behind her. But the amount she was seeing now was obviously much larger than what she was used to. And from what she could see, the huge amount of fog was also trying to gather into a proper body. 

[Rith, you're here!] Runa's telepathic voice sounded inside her head and Rith saw the blob of metal slowly sliding towards her.

[Runa, what's happening here?] Rith asked, as she let the skinshifter wrap around her body and turned into an armor of some sorts.

[I-I don't know! Everyone just suddenly started becoming bigger and bigger! Where's mother? I-I want to see mother!] the skinshifter's panicked voice uttered. 

[He's fine, the Authority said he'll come back in an hour. We just have to wait until then, alright?] Rith reassured Runa in the most calming voice she could manage. She knew that Runa was still a child, so suddenly having everyone around her transforming without warning was probably a bit too much.

[It's alright, it's alright,] Rith just continued to tell the child, even though she herself was quite shocked. But she couldn't let herself panic alongside her, as she felt like this was her responsibility as an adult.

She then looked at Enri and the other World Sprites, trying to guess at what was happening. Thankfully, it didn't seem to be anything bad for them, as Rith's natural sense were telling her that the everyone's existence was becoming sharper and sharper, with Enri being the biggest example.