"I don't understand." Cayna said, not being able to help herself. "I just don't understand anything. I'm not important, I'm nothing in this world. I can't destroy or save this world."
Gina approached her with a terribly sad smile and placed a hand over Cayna's abdomen.
"This is true, young daughter, but the power within you is what makes you special. Special to those who would both love you and use you." She said, drawing her hand back. They looked into each other's eyes, being about the same height. It was like Cayna was looking into the eyes of her own mother, a woman she had no memory of. Without warning, a tear began to spill down her face.
Gina reached out her hand to wipe away the tear, but her hand was not solid and it passed right through.
"I cannot fight for you, child, but I can guide you. Even more, I can grant you power that even the first Matriarch never achieved. You will break the curse set upon our lineage, you must break the curse!"
"A curse by whom?" Cayna said and then realized her mistake. She asked a question. Was it the right one?
"The mother" Gina said but her voice began to crackle and break. Her image became partly static. She looked down at herself. "I am not strong enough yet. Her interference is too great. Child, the time is now to become more than you have ever been and join your true destiny!"
Cayna still hesitated. She didn't know what that destiny was. She always thought her destiny was to be forever relegated to living and cowering from shadow to shadow. No one would have believed her if she had told them that one day she would be bestowed with great destiny and power, least of all herself.
Now here she was, on the precipice of changing her whole life. To what exactly? She didn't know but instinctively she trusted this image of Gina, whatever she was. This was the right thing to do.
She reached out her hand towards Gina while the fore-mother reached out her own. Their palms met and this time, they did not pass through each other. Cayna felt something flow into her through her palm and before she knew it, pain was shooting through her body in agonizing waves.
She screamed, throwing her head back. Her scream turned into a howl, a long and agonized howl. She felt herself pitch back into darkness as she was flung from Gina. It seemed for a moment that the woman waved goodbye to her before being swallowed up in a passing black cloud of smoke. Then everything was darkness.
In the next moment, light exploded in her eyes again. Cayna felt a sensation of vertigo but then realized she was actually falling. No, she wasn't falling. She was flying backwards as an invisible force pushed her right off her feet. It felt like something had just slammed into her chest and in the next moment, her world was rocked as her back met the solid stone of the wall.
She coughed as the air was knocked out of her and then fell to a pile on the floor. The pain in her body was intense, making her groan and curl up into a protective ball. What was happening to her?
Nuka leaped into the air, landing next to her, he crouched, bringing his face close to hers. His eyes were, for the first time, unsure and maybe even scared.
"What did you see?" he said in a demanding voice. He sounded nervous. What did he do to her exactly? Did he trigger something beyond his control? Cayna thought Nuka was supposed to have all the answers.
The pain made it hard to think clearly. It pulsed through her body in waves, starting in her center and moving outwards, like tendrils moving through her veins. Her muscles tensed and her whole body was shaking. Her breathing became ragged as she tried to stay sane.
Her sight became blurry as tears squeezed themselves out of her eyes. The pain was getting worse, feeling like fire in her blood.
"Ah!" the scream escaped her mouth involuntarily.
Carn and Dormach appeared with blinding speed into the room. Dormach bared her fangs and gave a fierce bark. Carn's beautiful face was dark with anger.
"What have you done?" she said, advancing on Nuka. Nuka stood up with his hands in the air, proclaiming his innocence.
"I attempted to begin the ritual but something went wrong. I don't know what happened. I've never seen this before." He said, appearing genuinely concerned.
Carn moved between him and Cayna who was still on the ground, screaming. Dormach rushed to her side, coming to her humanoid form. She reached out to touch Cayna when Gwyn yanked her back.
"Don't touch her!" he said, alarm in his voice. They all backed away. Gwyn handed Dormach to Carn to hold. The redhead snarled and lashed out at Carn, trying to squirm out of her grasp so she could go comfort Cayna.
Gwyn joined Nuka who looked on the screaming girl with complete shock.
"Nuka, what do we do?" he said. "We have to do something."
"In all my years, I have never seen anything like this." Nuka said, almost to himself. "I have no idea what is happening to her."
"Do you see the notes that are emanating from her?" Gwyn said, glancing at Carn. He could tell that she could see them too. Dormach was clueless as she was less tuned to the unseen world.
"I… cannot." Nuka said, his voice lowering to a growl. Gwyn saw anger pass over his expression. "What do you see, Gwyn?"
Gwyn's eyes began to glow as he sparked his godnote. His voice, now deeper, spoke "Interesting. All I can discern is that whatever is happening to her is intimately linked to her godnote. Anyone who touches her right now will most surely die." His eyes lost their luster, returning to normal.
"You've seen this before?" Nuka said, eager to know what was happening. "Is it killing her?"
"No, she will not die." Gwyn said, bringing a hand to his chin. "She will, however, be changed in a way I don't understand yet. Are you sure that the covenant of Tetriel has never manifested this way?"
"This is not the covenant of Tetriel or any part of it. If it was, I would know." Nuka said, very sure of himself.
Cayna couldn't hear any of this. She was too busy fighting the pain as it wracked every fiber of her body. She felt as if every part of her was on the verge of being ripped apart. If this was the power that Gina was talking about, she doesn't want any part of it! This is too much! No one should ever have to go through this to gain power.
As she slowly descended into madness, her capacity to handle the pain going past her limit, she felt a hand go inside hers. She couldn't open her eyes as they were shut tight against the pain but she felt that soothing pressure. Her mind drifted to her foster mother who had so many times grabbed her hand to reassure her that everything was going to be okay.
It was impossible. It couldn't be her foster mom. It had to be Carn or Dormach, or even Gwyn. Yet, she knew that it wasn't so. It was her foster mom. As if to answer this seemingly impossible conclusion, a voice spoke inside her mind.
"Don't let go." The voice said. The voice was her foster mother. There was no mistaking it.
"Ah!" Cayna felt herself slipping further into darkness.
"Remember you are not alone."
She screamed as her hands unclenched inch by agonizing inch.
"Rise up, Cayna." The voice said, growing a little stronger.
Cayna gave a pained groan as she began to uncurl herself.
The others held their breaths as they watched her trying to gain control of herself.
"Rise up, Cayna."
Something was happening to her body now. Her bones felt like they were elongating and reshaping. Her flesh rearranged, grew. She felt powerful muscles wrap themselves around her now stronger bones. A terrible hunger grew in the bowels of her belly, becoming a pain unto itself, as if she had been starving all her life.
Her body heat came off in waves, sweat dripped off her skin. Her clothes grew so tight that they eventually burst, giving way to her expanding body.
The pain was just too much. Her body began to curl again. The hand that grasped her hand gave a squeeze.
"No, my love. Don't give up."
"Hold on a little longer, Cayna. Just a little longer." Another voice said. It was the voice of Gina. Cayna managed to open her eyes for a moment and she saw Gina standing in the room, looking down at her, a sad smile on her face.
No one else saw Gina. All they could see, besides Gwyn, was Cayna roiling around on the ground.
Gina reached her hand out towards Cayna, a light shining in her palm. As she looked closely, she saw it was a small pentalpha.
"It's almost over." Gina said. The hand with the pentalpha came closer and closer until it finally touched Cayna's forehead.
Cayna's body jolted, the pain rising even more inside her, which she didn't think was possible. With a scream she began to writhe worse than ever.
*Ding!*
Cayna heard the ping inside her head.
*Ding!*
She began to concentrate on that sound and managed to open her eyes again. Amazingly, there was a screen floating in the air in front of her. It contained a message.
*Welcome to the Lycan Matriarch System. Please finish the upload by pressing the appropriate command.*
Below the message were two options. Finish and cancel.
Cayna, desperate for the pain to end before she went completely insane, reached her hand towards the cancel option. Her body felt like it was made of lead, as if something had turned up the gravity dial to ten times what was normal.
"Cayna." The voice of her foster mother said.
In her mind, Cayna responded. "I can't do this." She said, her finger growing closer to the cancel option.
"I know you can, my love. I know you can!"
"I can't!"
"Rise up! Now, child!" it was Gina this time.
With a scream, Cayna changed the trajectory of her finger at the last second and selected the complete command.
* Ding!*
Another message appeared.
*Congratulations on acquiring the Lycan Matriarch System. Biological systems upgrader, green. Godnote integration, green. Covenant inhibitor green. Power level translator, green. Party builder, green. Alpha tracker, green. All systems are green. Press start to begin tutorial.*
Cayna lay on her back, reading all this as she tried to gain her breath back. Meanwhile, Dormach finally managed to wrest herself from Carn's grip and rush to Cayna's side. Gwyn didn't stop her. The redhead flung herself on the exhausted, sweaty woman and hugged her, whimpering and licking her face. This time, Cayna didn't bother trying to push her off. She didn't have the strength to. Besides, it felt good to have the clingy girl there. She felt some of the trauma from her pain wash away as Dormach rubbed up against her, seeming to cry for her.
Nuka and Gwyn stepped closer while Carn stayed back, her eyes narrowed on Nuka. Something was bothering her but she didn't know what.
"Cayna," Gwyn said, drawing her eyes to him. "Is it over?"
Cayna couldn't even shake her head. She couched as she tried to speak and eventually croaked out, "No."
"What's not over?" Nuka said, agitated.
Cayna's eyes fluttered almost closed. She was beginning to lose consciousness.
"What's not over!" Nuka said, now enraged. Dormach looked up at him and bared her fangs.
Gwyn looked at the lycan elder. "Relax, Nuka. Let's let her rest for now."
"No," Nuka said, his eyes showing a pure fury. "This was not supposed to happen. I have waited millennia for this day. This was supposed to be my day!"
Gwyn's brow furrowed. "Your day? What is really going on here, Nuka?"
Nuka rounded on the edenite, towering over him, giving him a menacing glare. The edenite didn't budge.
"None of your business, failed king." He said, spitting out the mocking title. Carn and Dormach hissed and bristled at the lycan but immediately Gwyn motioned for them to stand down. They continued to glare at the lycan, coming to the side of their husband.
"You know, I've been wondering why exactly you asked for my help." Gwyn said. "There are plenty of rogues you could have approached. Also, you have been aware of the lycian lineage for centuries. Why are you so desperate to resurrect your precious matriarchs now? After all these years?"
Nuka glared at him, his hands balling into fists. His eyes began to glow like molten gold. "You played your part well. I don't need you anymore. I gave you what was agreed, now begone. This is no longer your matter." He said.
Gwyn glanced at the now sleeping Cayna. "And what of Cayna? What will become of her?'
Nuka growled. "None of your business! This is the business of the lycans. Go back to your life of exile."
Gwyn didn't react to his obvious attempts to get a rise out of him by poking at his pride. "This is for the lycans? Or just for you?"
"You know nothing!" Nuka said.
"It's not about what I know, Nuka. It's about what you aren't saying." Gwyn said, his eyes began to glow again. "Now, what do you intend for Cayna?"
"What do you care? Fallen, failed and forsaken king! Your life is tossed out to the wind by your own court! How many have you left slain in your wake during your many travels? How many regrets do you have stacked on your shoulders? Go answer for your crimes against your own people before you stick your edenite nose into ours. Begone!" Nuka said, his hands growing deadly claws.
Gwyn bowed his head. "As you wish. We will go." He said and turned to Carn and Dormach who looked at him with worried glances, showing obvious concern for Cayna. They didn't want to leave her with this dangerous lycan.
"Do not worry my dears." He said, matching Nuka's intense gaze. "We all go."
Nuka lunged at them. Gwyn blocked his arm while Carn shot out a lance of light right at Nuka's chest. It struck him, knocking him slightly off balance. Dormach grabbed Cayna around the waist and threw her over her shoulder. With quick leaps, she bound away towards the exit.
Nuka roared with all his fury.
"Go, now!" Gwyn said, rushing Carn out of the room out by the hand. Behind them, Nuka's shadow grew as he transformed into his lycan form. With a howl he pursued them, coming down the path with terrifying speed. The elder lycans had immense power and were not to be trifled with.
As soon as they were outside, Carn made a pentalpha appear on the ground and they all gathered inside it. Nuka's roar sounded from the entrance of the tunnel. A moment later he lunged out at them with his black claws.
They disappeared just as he reached them, their images blinking from the world. He raised his head and howled at the night sky.
"Gwyn! I will find you! I will find her! The matriarch will be mine!" he said, raising his vow to the sky, which answered him in silence.