Morn lay down on a bedroll Oscairo had conjured from thin air, his head rested against a firm pillow. He had been fidgeting nervously after Oscairo informed him that he needed to maintain full awareness over his body. As such, Oscairo had discouraged the use of painkilling alkimiya gas.
At the moment, Morn had already consumed the Vaihn heart, he now anxiously awaited the beginning of the metamorphosis process. The organ had tasted far better than he had expected, which is not to say it tasted good, it just didn't taste bad. It tasted faintly of very bitter tea, but saltier, similar to drinking ocean water.
Oscairo had informed him that all Vaihn fog had a unique flavour and colour combination- this would appear when the Leviathan used their Vaihn Spell for the first time. Additionally, a symbol unique to each leviathan would appear on surfaces and creatures the Vaihn fog touched or affected.
As an example, Oscairo had released his own Vaihniir. The fog rested on the table for some time, it was gold coloured and had the scent of aromatic spices. After the fog had dissipated, a feather shaped symbol had appeared on the table. The mark shimmered faintly with a golden hue, eventually disappearing after several minutes passed.
As Morn lay pondering what his own Vaihniir would be like, and what his own Vaihn spell would be, he suddenly felt a sharp pain around his stomach.
"Oh no… it's starting!"
Morn began to panic, but quickly remembered Oscairo's instructions. He breathed deeply as the pain spread to his chest. Cracking sounds echoed through the small laboratory. Oscairo sat calmly across the room, reading a book in a comfortable padded chair. Briefly looking up from his book, Oscairo encouraged Morn with a thumbs up before promptly returning to his reading.
Morn grinned through the pain, Oscairo's easy going mood helping him remain calm, if not a little annoyed. As the minutes passed, spikes of pain grew more frequent and more pronounced. Eventually becoming as excruciating as Oscairo had explained.
His ribs broke one by one, rearranging themselves to make room for his new organ. As the process continued, Morn grew slightly taller, though he had no time to rejoice! Throughout the process, the pain spread from his ribs to his heart, from his heart to his entire abdomen, then throughout his extremities, and finally, to his brain.
Morn grit his teeth the whole time, feeling a burning sensation coursing through his body. It felt like a million ants were carving away at his body, restructuring him from the inside out. Occasionally, bursts of steam emanate from his pores. Morn made sure that the Vaihniir spread evenly throughout his body, focusing to his limit to control the fog like an extension of his body.
At first, he could only barely redirect it when it lingered too long in one area; however, he eventually found himself able to direct its flow along with his blood. As it began to circulate along with his blood flow, the pain lessened. Over an unknown, but seemingly endless amount of time, the pain slowly died down to a dull ache.
With a loud whooshing noise, a final and enormous burst of black fog shot out from every pore on his body. Steam gushed from his mouth, his eyes, and his nose with a furious roar.
After several seconds, the fog cleared, revealing Morn who now lay panting on the bedroll. The pain had completely dissipated, much to his relief. Though he was exhausted, he felt invigorated. He now felt more in tune with his body, he felt the flow of Vaihniir in his body, and through it- he felt the structure of his body.
His musculature had improved immensely and his bones seemed to be more solid than before, his skin had also toughened. Morn quickly came to the conclusion that his skin could stop lower quality blades and arrows fired from low poundage bows.
Through this inner sense, Morn continued observing his body. He felt the presence of thousands of runes throughout him, carved into his flesh from the inside. As he focused on these runes, knowledge poured into his brain like memories.
It took only a thought to call the information to the forefront of his mind. Of course, it wasn't spelled out- it was more of an instinctual feeling, a memory of how his Vaihn spell worked. Morn began to go over the information, hoping to process it better.
'My ability is called Fallacy, or Amana in ancient Manthalan.
It allows me to create and control hallucinations in the minds of those who breathe my Vaihniir. I can then sense and puppeteer these hallucinations as I wish. If the target believes the hallucination to be real, it plants a hallucination seed in their mind.
I can then force the hallucination to resurface in the victim's mind, even over great distances. The resurfaced hallucination takes my form and can interact physically with the target, though the power of the hallucination depends on the ridiculousness of the initial hallucination used to plant the seed. At most, the hallucination can be as powerful as myself.
It can also only use equipment I actually have, and any equipment it uses will draw from my own supply. So if it uses a can of gas, the actual can of gas in my possession will also empty. Finally, I can use this seed as a point of view, allowing me to spy on the surface level thoughts and vision of the target... Interesting!'
As he came to understand the function of his Vaihn spell, Morn grew excited. Of course, the ability had also removed the constant hallucinations Morn had experienced, as he had now gained authority in the domain of hallucinations. As Morn excitedly pondered the possible applications of his ability, he suddenly recalled Oscairo's earlier words.
'you will gain a special power, one similar to mine in fact!'
Growing curious, Morn sat up from the bedroll and turned to Oscairo. The pirate remained seated across the room, patiently reading his novel.
"Oscairo, what is your ability? You said mine would be similar to yours?"
The pirate calmly closed his book. He looked down at Morn, smiling genuinely.
"I'm glad to see you survived! Now that you've become a Leviathan, our previous agreement has been notarized by the hallucination realm- this is something you must be aware of in the future. A powerful Leviathan can use their authority over certain mystical domains to create verbal contracts. Anyhow, congratulations, my friend. With our agreement set in stone, I can speak more freely."
As Oscairo spoke, Morn stood from the floor and sat in a padded chair. He desperately wished for a change of clothes, as his current ones were soaked through with sweat. Ignoring his discomfort, he eagerly listened to Oscairo.
"Now, as you have asked, my first ability is called Reify. I can induce and dispel hallucinations in myself and those that I touch. I can also physically interact with hallucinations, and can give them physical form in reality. This excludes items with mystical power and living creatures, though I can still reify plant life. For example, these chairs and the bedroll I summoned are hallucinations that I gave substance to. The Vaihn heart you consumed comes from the same species of Levjottun as the one I consumed, this is how I knew you would have similar abilities."
Morn nodded excitedly, wanting to test out his ability.
Unfortunately for him, Oscairo quickly extinguished his mood with a warning:
"Don't try anything yet, Morn. Using Vaihn comes at a cost. If you produce too much Vaihniir, you will overwhelm your bodies' newly adapted veins. You could explode, hypermutate, boil alive, etcetera. Always pay attention to your body when using Vaihniir, do not get carried away."
Morn frowned, 'Hypermutation? Boiling alive?! I need to be careful in the future! '
Seeing Morn pondering his warning, Oscairo smiled.
"Anyway, once you've rested, it will be time to send you off. Tomorrow morning, I will give you an artefact of mine, one that will allow you to communicate with me so long as you're still within the All Sea. I also have a gift for you, now that we're officially friends and allies. But that will have to wait until your departure, for now, get some sleep. You may feel better than ever, but your mind needs time to adjust to your body's changes- it needs to learn the limits of your new body."
As he finished speaking, Oscairo smiled and waved his hand. Fog filled Morn's vision. When it dissipated, he found himself in a small room atop a comfortable bed. Moonlight filtered through an illustrious curtain, dimly illuminating the minimal contents of the room.
The door had no handle, in its place a sign hung from a nail. It read, 'I removed anything remotely entertaining from the room so that you'd be bored to sleep. Rest, my new friend."
Morn rolled his eyes and laid down in bed. Without realising it, Morn rapidly fell asleep as tiredness overwhelmed him. The elation from his metamorphosis finally caught up as his mind grew in tune with his body.