Alex wakes up before the sun had risen, and to his surprise, Vivi was already awake, drinking an alarming amount of coffee.
"You gotta get ready quicker if you don't want to lose your job" Vivi says, then begins to drink coffee straight out of the coffee pot. "To my understanding, The Ly'Lum has pretty strict rules, don't they?"
"Can you wake Siran up for me?" Alex says as he slips on his boots. "He should've woken up sooner, I'll be late because of him"
"Just go then" Vivi says. "I'll watch him, you can take off if you're worried"
"But I-" Alex says as he gets interrupted by Vivi.
"Don't worry about Siran" Vivi says. "He typically goes wherever he wants anyways, but he won't likely leave without letting everyone he gets along with know about it. You can always come back and get him later and if he leaves, you'll know about it".
"Uh" Alex says while scratching his head and trying to figure out a way to convince Vivi, "thanks for the offer, but I can't just-"
"Listen" Vivi interrupts again, "I have more of a reason to help him than you do, so seeing someone just try to butt-in like that seems fishy. I'll say this as accurately as I can. I still don't trust you, nor do I have a reason to trust you with the exception of Siran trusting you at least a little bit. So for the last time, I'll let him sleep here, you can come back later". Vivi had a stern, unflinching face showing how serious she was but also not showing any anger. "You seem nice and all, polite too, but you can understand that it's hard for the people in Seeira to trust any form of military".
The room got quiet for a while before Alex finally broke the silence with a sigh, shook his head in agreement and then left. As the door closed, Vivi sat down in her chair by the desk she keeps in the corner of the living room. From there, she could hear "He's a nice guy" from Siran on the couch closer to Vivi's desk. "He just has the wrong job, ya'know?"
"You were awake?" Vivi asked seemingly unsurprised.
"You know I'm a light sleeper" Siran says.
Vivi let's out another sigh and says "Sorry. It's been a while since I've seen you and some guy from The Ly'Lum military just wants to keep you around himself twenty four-seven? It's just suspicious"
"True, I might be getting myself into more trouble again" Siran says, "but the closer to danger, the farther from harm... unless you're a firefighter or something".
"That's not reassuring at all" Vivi replies. "But I do need to know about something important".
"What is it?" Siran asks.
"I've heard you whisper the name Naris in your sleep several times" Vivi says calmly. "And I want to know why".
"I can't tell you about that" Siran says.
"I swear to all that is sacred!" Vivi demands as she slams her coffee pot on the desk, "I will have your Ly'Lum pal help me extract the information from you, don't you dare try to hide this from me!"
"I can't" Siran says softly. "I can't tell anyone about that. I'm afraid of people knowing what kind of monster I really am, and worse, it'll put everyone in danger. So please... please don't pry into this one".
Vivi pauses for a moment thinking to herself. "Alright" she finally says, "I'll trust you on this. But, other than this-" Vivi walks past the couch Siran is laying on and gently puts her hand on his right shoulder, "no more secrets. You can trust me". Vivi walks away and Siran lays back down with his eyes still wide open, thinking to himself. Eventually, his eyes grow heavy once more and he falls asleep.
"You damn, stupid fool!" A deep menacing voice rings out as this scene unfolds. A long serpent-like creature that appears as if it's body is made of jet black smoke grows larger and larger until a giant beast hails over the heavens. "In your selfishness, you've only helped me achieve my goal alone, and now you will face ruin". Siran stares up at this creature, first in awe, then with a smile. "I've taught you everything you know. I've given you everything and I will take it away!" The creature howls.
"Not everything!" Siran shouts as he raises his arms in preparation.
"What are you planning?" The beast scoffs, "magic? Please! Magic is uselsss against me! You may be the only human so far who knows magic, but have you forgotten who gave you magic? ME! AND I CAN TAKE IT AWAY!"
Siran just raises one of his index fingers and gestures at the beast to challenge him. The beast grows angry and throws walls of black magic and pure force at Siran. Siran digs his feet deep into the earth, and begins absorbing the magic and body of the black beast as well.
"You!" The beast howls, "You trickster! You damned fox! You brat!" As the beast yells, more of its body is absorbed and this strange light forms on Siran's back, which then becomes a strange symbol. As the symbol completes, Siran's skin peels away, and new skin is instantly restructured, giving him a new appearance. Horns grow on his head, the whites of his eyes turned black, his hair turns silver, his skin grows several shades darker and his finger nails grow into sharp claws. "I curse you!" The beast yells, "I curse you with a new appearance that you will never shed! This is your curse! Your punishment for your trickery!"
Siran stops absorbing the beast's body and collapses onto his knees as he vomits blood, then collapses onto his back. "This is the end for you!" The beast howls as his giant fist hurls towards Siran's weakened body. The fist meets the earth with an impact strong enough to cause an earthquake. But when the beast raises his fist, Siran's body was nowhere to be found. Just blood, and a lot of it.
Siran then finds himself in a white void, seemingly floating through nothing as visions flash through his mind. Many voices ring through his ears all at once until all the voices seem to say the same thing. "YOU MUST RETURN TO YOUR WORLD. YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN STOP HIM FROM DESTROYING ANOTHER REALITY". Siran wakes in a grass field surrounded by a few small groups of trees, a peaceful place. But he's met with the smell of smoke. He turns around to find the entire land behind him burning, shaking and demolished. The giant beast, standing amidst the wreckage, destroying and laughing, destroying and laughing, and destroying some more. Siran jumps up, screaming "NO!" before finally waking up once again. Except this time, he was finally, really awake and back on Vivi's couch again. Siran wiped sweat off of his forehead and looked around. Vivi was once again, sitting at her desk, but not staring at Siran. She was no longer surprised by this scene of Siran panicking in his sleep.
"Bad dream again?" Vivi asked.
"Yeah" Siran said, "I dreamed you were about to wake me up with a ratchet or something again".
Vivi's eyes quickly glance over at Siran to show a lack of amusement and then goes back to tinkering with a project that she's working on at her desk. Siran stands up and walks towards the kitchen. "I need to grab some water" Siran says. As he walks by, he puts his hand gently on Vivi's left shoulder and says "thanks"
"For what?" Vivi says, her eyes not leaving sight of her project.
"For taking care of me" he says, "there aren't many people in this world I can call my friend. So every good person means a lot to me". Siran walks away to the kitchen.
"You're starting to creep me out" Vivi says. "Was your dream that scary or something?"
"It was nothing special" Siran shouts from the kitchen. "Just thought I'd show some appreciation from time to time, ya'know?"
"Well" Vivi shouts back, "while you're feeling generous, why don't you help me out with a project or two? I'm trying to create more compact models of personal defense weapons. Magic weapons are a little tough to deal with and you're a magic expert and all".
Siran comes back from the kitchen with a glass of water. "Sure" he says, "it'll give me something to do I guess".
The two tinker around with separate components, compare their progress, and occasionally get into arguments about which one is better until eventually a new patron shows up at the door. A knock is heard at the door, and Vivi goes to answer the door as Siran continues to tinker. The man looks around the front room, both surprised and disappointed that the first room of the house is both the front desk for business and a living room. The man was wearing a military uniform. A Ly'Lum military uniform. His eyes eventually met Siran, as he tinkered. He lets out a short laugh that sounded like a mixture of amusement and disgust as Vivi sits back down in her chair.
"What's this man doing here?" The man asks. "I heard this shop was run by some gear-head girl, not a gear-head and some pipsqueak".
Siran continued tinkering but raises one eyebrow to his remark. Vivi elbows Siran in the side to gesture him to not start any trouble. "Are you here for business?" Vivi asks, "because if not, I'm going to have to ask you to leave".
"No, no" the man says, "I'm here for business". He shows a piece of paper with a precise set of customizations that he wanted for a magic casting gun. "I want something like this, and I heard this was the place to get it" he says.
Siran glances over the list and lets out a confident laugh. "Sure!" Siran says, "I can do something like that. It's pretty easy".
Vivi looks over at Siran and scoffs, "I'll do it, I'm the better developer, AND it's MY shop!".
"But I can do something like this, no sweat" Siran replies.
"Maybe he doesn't want you to do it" Vivi argues, "after all, you're the pipsqueak!"
"But I'm taller than you are!" Siran argues. "So who are you callin' a pipsqueak?"
Vivi picks up another tool and waves it around. "You, you little twerp! Wanna fight about it!?"
"If it's a fight you want!" Siran shouts as he picks up a tool as well. "Then it's a fight you'll get!"
"I'm just going to, umm" the man says as he opens the door. "Leave you to it then. I'll be back same time next week to see if you have the custom weapon finished. I'll have your money for you when it's done". The man glances at both Siran and Vivi in total confusion then walks out the door.
"Oh" Vivi says.
"He left" Siran replies.
The two sit back down and let out a sigh. "That guy didn't seem to like you at all" Vivi says. "Friend of yours, or perhaps someone Alex knows?"
"Not a clue" Siran replies. "But I'm sure he knows at least a little bit about who I am"
"Then one thing's for sure" Vivi says with her arms crossed. "It's not safe for you here anymore. We have to get you out of here by next week"
"You're right" Siran says. "I knew something like this was going to happen eventually, I left so you wouldn't get involved but that seems unavoidable now. My bad"
"I already know, you told me before you left the first time" Vivi says. "But don't worry about me, I'll be fine. They can't attack me or my business here in Seeira"
"I certainly hope not" Siran says.
The man from The Ly'Lum military makes it back to his car and a few other men in the same uniform are waiting next to the car on the outskirts of town. "It's confirmed" the man says. "Siran has been located. For now, we're returning to base to await orders".