KiAera remembered everything as if it were happening now: the searing pain of steel through her chest, Lorgagore's cruel laughter echoing in her ears, and the distant, indifferent voices of Abeion and DeNultra reshaping her into this…Merekit. How had she gone from human to this small, trembling creature, with ears that sprang forth like pistons and folded as though they had a will of their own?

  A thunderous rumble followed and shattered her thoughts. The sky above split like a fissure. Then it was gone.

  She didn't question why that phenomenon had happened or what it was.

  Instead, her mind throbbed with fragments of battles fought and missions led: machine claws tearing through concrete, the frantic rhythm of survivors’ hearts, her own steady commands cutting through the mayhem.

  That KiAera had once understood every shift in body and soul. Yet now her chest rose and fell in uneven, unfamiliar rhythms. Why wouldn't her spine straighten? Why did her paws tremble when she tried to stand?

  She exhaled in an attempt to calm herself. It became easier to think when she understood that her new form was facultative biped. She could walk on two legs, but this body preferred four.

  She took a step. Just then, a soft, plaintive voice broke her focus.

  "Where are we?" it squeaked, and her heart clenched. The sound was like a small creature hiding behind her thoughts, begging for answers she didn't have.

  Who are you? she wanted to demand, but the question stuck like a thorn in her throat. Her eyes darted around. She was the only person here, though everything about this place unsettled her.

  The world shimmered in alien hues: skies of violet-gray, drifting spores of light, and landscapes that defied every law she knew.

  Zeldritzon. That was its name. But did a name matter to a soul torn between two bodies and two wills?

  She crouched, weight settling into the curve of her rabbit-like haunches, ears drooping as she listened for anything to prove she wasn't alone.

  "I am not just a presence," the voice said again, calm yet brittle.

  "I'm uncomfortable."

  Two words, yet they carried a universe of questions. Who was speaking? The creature? A part of her own soul splintered in the transition?

  What had Abeion and DeNultra sacrificed when they remade her?

  Her stomach rumbled sharply and stole her focus. Hunger dragged her forward before she could think.

  She moved awkwardly, then more smoothly. One paw, then another. A half-hop, quick and low. Her ears twitched with each step, a surprising lightness in her movements.

  Her limbs adjusted into a four-beat rhythm, a waltz composed by instinct. She noticed she now walked on the balls of her feet, her toes stretching with feline grace, whisper-quiet against the ground.

  She stopped, trying to remember when she'd last walked upright. Then her legs bent and launched her forward in a bounding hop. The memory of human movement clashed with the sudden thrill of moving like this.

  Her body knew this. She didn't. What else did it know?

  "I'm hungry," the voice said.

  Fine, she—they?—needed to find food, but what was available to eat? Her nose twitched before her feet obeyed: she padded toward a low patch of grass. Instinct urged her to nibble, to graze like some forest creature, but the moment her whiskers brushed the green, she recoiled, shaking her head as if to dislodge a bad dream.

  Her body still remembered how to eat, but her mind balked at familiar fuel in an alien world.

  Heart hammering with that brief refusal, she lifted her gaze—and froze.

  At the edge of the clearing, clustered like frozen tears, lay pale blue crystals, their surfaces catching Zeldritzon's strange light and fracturing it into tiny sparks. They called to her, a soft, crystalline hum in the back of her skull. Her mouth watered; a low growl rose in her throat.

  She felt her whiskers bend, her paws shuffling closer, as if she would taste them raw. Promptly, she recoiled as a flicker of panic rippled through her.

  This wasn't grass; it wasn't food. But the craving wouldn't let go, and she sucked in a shuddering breath. What were these shards, and why did her body—along with the faint voice still whispering within her—so desperately want to devour them?

  "Eat."

  Her teeth sank into the nearest crystal, surprisingly no tougher than hard candy. Shockingly, the sweet flavor bloomed across her tongue, honeyed with a faint metallic aftertaste. The tiny shards cracked beneath her bite and melted on her tongue, releasing a cool tingle that danced along her nerves. For a heartbeat, KiAera felt suspended between worlds: the scorched fields of Earth's apocalypse and this alien clearing bathed in pale blue light.

  Suddenly, the light intensified, and a pulse lanced through her mind. She felt warmth bloom behind her skull, expanding until the sigil above her eyes flared too bright.

  A translucent panel hovered before her.

  ??. .??

  [KiAera's Status]

  APeX: [1 Unit] → [2 Units]

  ??. .??

  Then, a gentle, curious voice wove through her thoughts: "One crystal gives strength?" Its tone was almost playful, amplifying the mirth that churned in her chest. She felt more vigorous than she had before eating the crystal.

  Curious yet perturbed, she took a bite out of another crystal. Sweet, delicious, exhilarating. The same panel illuminated from her sigil.

  ??. .??

  [KiAera's Status]

  APeX: [2 Unit] → [3 Units]

  ??. .??

  She blinked at the sudden glow and then glanced at her paws, marveling at the gentle strength coursing through her limbs. APeX. It seemed like an energy reserve? A level? She wasn't sure—but the logic behind it felt...familiar.

  A soft rustle came from the undergrowth broke her introspection, so faint that she might have imagined it. Yet, her ears stood upright. The scent wafting on the breeze was impossibly sweet…like the night air after a summer rain on Earth, scented with Aria's lavender shampoo. She started to move; but knew she'd never see her again.

  That's when melancholy washed over her as a shard of memory cracked open in her mind: her little sister's laughter as KiAera twirled her around the campsite, doubling over in joy. Her chest tightened at the recollection. That laugh, she had promised to protect Aria from every danger.

  Yet the promise felt both impossibly vast and achingly close. The hunger receded, replaced by a fresh ache—the familiar pull of leadership, the urge to scan the horizon for threats, to plan, to protect.

  Then reality snapped back. The forest was no longer silent. Somewhere to her left, a low chitter rang out, echoing against crystal-carved trunks. She froze, nose quivering, whiskers brushing frost-like motes drifting in the pale light. Whoever—or whatever—made that sound was watching.

  She bolted into a sprint before her mind could make a decision. She was surprised by how fast she was moving, with foliage blurring at the edges of her vision as they shifted from forward to sideways.

  Soon, she stopped and took shelter behind a log. There, a translucent panel shimmered into view again, hovering just above the flame at the tip of her tail—surprisingly nothing burned:

  ??. .??

  KiAera's Status =

  Stamina: [Low] ?

  ??. .??

  Stamina: Low. She could feel the slight wobble in her haunches, the dull ache behind her ears. But that chitter came again, closer now, mixed with a rasp.

  "Safe?"

  Her body reacted before she could think—tail flicking, muscles taut. Another hop. Another bound. And there it was again, that four-beat dance of paws she hadn't chosen but now depended on. Somewhere, that childlike voice—the creature—giggled faintly. "We're good at this."

  KiAera grimaced. "We," huh?

  "I meant me. Me're doesn't sound right."

  The voice started to concern her, not just because it spoke with clarity now, but because it felt… anchored. It wasn't an echo anymore. It had tone, rhythm, humor. And worst of all, identity.

  "Me're?" she thought, trying to latch onto the word like a puzzle piece that didn't quite fit. Was that what it called itself? A Merecritt? A Me're? A merge?

  "'Me are', silly. Are you always this serious?"

  The voice was playful now, teasing. But underneath the soft cadence lay something sharper. As if this… Me're—she would call it—was growing alongside her. Or maybe within her.

  "'Me are,'" KiAera said, landing softly beside a pale root that glowed. "That's not even proper grammar."

  "Of course. We're not proper anything anymore," the voice said.

  KiAera glanced around the clearing, tension returning like a wave. The chittering had stopped, but not in the comforting way. It was the kind of silence that meant something else had moved. Her instincts were split now: the soldier's caution warred with the creature's curiosity. Her nose twitched again, and she realized it wasn't by habit. This was a full-sensory scan. Her body was adapting. Fast.

  Her ears rotated, picking up minute vibrations in the air. Someone—or something—was circling her. Not close, but interested.

  "I don't have time for—" she began, but the voice cut her off.

  "You don't have time," it echoed softly, almost sad now. "Not here. Time isn't your time in Zeldritzon."

  "Then what is it?"

  "I don't have a clue. But take a look at this." And once again her sigil shone.

  From there, she then noticed something alike a HUD of her innermost secrets.

  Her stomach lurched at the reminder that she was, in this world, freshly born—zero cycles old—yet somehow twenty?five by some alien reckoning. And Genesis, the panel called it. A beginning she hadn't asked for. She pressed a trembling paw to the words "Human." "Explain to me. What does this mean, what exactly are you?"

  "You're still the pilot," Me're said, a little gentler now. "I just… help you remember how to fly."

  Her eyes scanned the woods again. A shape stirred—tall, narrow, cloaked in the glint of crystal bark. A figure? No, not human. But not entirely beast, either. It didn't move. Just… observed.

  Engage?

  → [Y]es / [N]ot Yet

  (Warning: Stamina Low. Suggest Evasion.)

  Stamina: [Very Low] ??

  The panel updated again. She bit down a hiss and blinked it away.

  "Can we rest?" the voice in her head asked. "Please? Curl up, just a little…"

  "No," her own voice sounded strange. Too high-pitched and too soft. "Not until I know what that sound is."

  "But you're tired! Can't you feel how our legs feel!"

  KiAera's gaze flicked back to the translucent panel in the air.

  Stamina: [Very Low] ??

  The warning sign was flashing brighter now, the weight of it pressing against her awareness like the gnawing hunger that still tugged at her belly.

  She could feel the tremors in her paws, the slight wobble in her legs as they resisted the urge to collapse. The strain in her muscles was real. But she couldn't afford to rest—not yet.

  "Resting is a luxury I can't afford," KiAera said, but her voice rasped in that unfamiliar tone of her new form. She didn't even recognize the sound of it anymore. Merekit. The word echoed in her mind with a sharp sting.

  Me're whined softly, a sense of longing bleeding through its words. "But we're so tired... and that thing's not even moving. It's just... staring." There was a strange shift in the tone. "Let's just hide somewhere and sleep. The world is... too big."

  The urge to curl up and hide was so strong, so undeniable. Her instincts pulled her toward that warmth, that comfort. Her body was begging for it. But KiAera's mind pushed it aside.

  "Not yet," she growled, her ears flattening. She couldn't escape to comfort. Not when there was so much at stake.

  That shape, cloaked in the glittering light of crystal bark, still stood motionless, like a sentinel.

  What was it? And why was it watching her?

  The silence stretched. She could almost hear the weight of time in the stillness. It was watching her with the same intent gaze that made the hairs along her spine bristle. She could feel its awareness. She could feel its curiosity. And it was getting closer with every passing second.

  "Why is it staring?" Me're asked. "What does it want from us?"

  KiAera's gaze shifted to the Status Screen once more.

  Engage?

  → [Y]es / [N]ot Yet

  Warning: Stamina Low. Suggest Evasion.

  The panel's warning was clear. Her stamina was dangerously low, but there was no guarantee she could escape if she tried to flee. Her muscles burned with the demand to run, yet her instincts screamed that she needed to assess.

  What could she fight with, if it came to that?

  Claw Swipe? Too slow.

  Flare Flick? Not enough fire for that distance.

  Spectral Flame? Maybe—if she understood it.

  But… this was different. That thing in the distance. It props wasn't just a threat. She sensed something else, something deeper.

  It wasn't the usual enemy. Yet the hairs on the back of her neck stood upright. It was unusual when she felt a strange hum of resonance filling the space between her and the figure.

  "Should I just go for it?" The voice sounded more desperate now. "Should we just leap?"

  KiAera felt the pressure of her decision crash down on her. Her paws itched to move, to act—but in this moment, every move felt like a commitment. Her survival instinct was tangled with the strange new identity she was discovering within herself. Me're? Was it her, or had it become a part of her? A shadow that followed, that whispered?

  The creature's tension rippled through her chest, and the voice began again, softer this time.

  "You can't fight every battle. You know that. But I can feel it. The air, the way it presses against us... This thing isn't our enemy. Not like the others."

  KiAera froze. Her heart skipped a beat. It wasn't an enemy.

  "Then what is it?" she asked, but the question felt silly as soon as it left her mouth. How could she know? She didn't even know what she was.

  A silence, thick and heavy, settled in her mind as Me're tried to respond, but the words never came. Whatever it was, it was more than just a watcher. More than an observer.

  Without thinking, KiAera's tail flicked again, sending a stream of spectral flame across the space before her. The fire licked at the air, but the strange figure remained untouched, unbothered. And that unsettling calm continued.

  She took a step forward, then another. This time, she didn't feel the familiar weight of the soldier's caution so much as a new, curious strength, a pull that came from deep inside her. Her ears perked up, listening, sensing, attuned to this forest. Was the land itself… inviting her forward?

  The figure finally moved, a slow tilt of its head. Its eyes, if they existed at all beneath the shadows of its billowing cloak, focused on her—intense, knowing, unblinking.

  It vanished from the spot.

  KiAera's gaze flickered from where it stood before trailing toward where several feathers fell. Above.

  A shadow stretched long over KiAera. Every instinct screamed at her to run, to hide, yet her limbs were locked in place, betraying her fear. A presence descended—formidable, yet strangely familiar.

  KiAera turned slowly, cautiously, her oversized eyes locking onto the figure that dropped behind her. The cloaked creature landed without a sound, white bat-like wings folding neatly against its back. A spade-tipped tail curled and twitched as it regarded her with an unreadable expression.

  Its hood lowered, the statuesque figure revealed herself—horned and possessing a celestial beauty that starkly contrasted with the eerie forest surrounding them. Her golden eyes burned with an intensity that felt both distant and hesitant.

  KiAera swallowed hard, feeling impossibly small in comparison. "Who—" she attempted, her voice cracking into a pitiful, high-pitched squeak. She winced at her own weakness.

  The winged girl stepped closer. KiAera scrambled back, her heart racing as she thought, DeNultra?

  Again, hesitation flickered across the winged girl's features as if she were battling something deep within. Then, in a whisper barely carried by the stagnant air, she asked, "Do I… know you?"

  A strange sensation stirred in KiAera's chest, rippling through the fog of her mind. She felt she should recognize the figure—should know her—but no name came, no memory surfaced. There was only the weight of the girl's gaze and the strange familiarity that pricked at the edges of her consciousness.

  "…No," she finally managed.

  Something crossed the girl's face—disappointment? Doubt? It vanished too quickly for KiAera to discern. Yet the girl didn't move or retreat; she simply stood there, watching KiAera with those piercing eyes.

  KiAera shifted awkwardly, her ears drooping further. "Who… are you?" she asked, though the words felt wrong on her tongue, as if she should already have known the answer.

  The girl exhaled sharply, her tail flicking in agitation. "No one important," she said, shaking her head as if trying to dispel an unwanted thought.

  But she wasn't looking at KiAera anymore. Her gaze was drawn to the mark glowing faintly on KiAera's head. Then it trailed to the book tucked in her arm. The air between them grew heavier, charged with something unspoken.

  Then, in a voice laced with quiet confusion, the girl whispered, "Impossible. You're…"

  She looked from the book and then back to KiAera. With a wry smile, she knelt, extending the tome toward her.

  "Take this. You'll need this relic more than me."

  KiAera blinked, her gaze flitting from the book to the golden eyes of the one before her, searching for any hidden motive. Yet she found none; only a wistful glimmer, almost tinged with sadness.

  She hesitated for a moment, then cautiously extended her small, trembling paws. The book loomed large and heavy, far too cumbersome for her frame.

  The girl—no, the devil-like being—studied her intently.

  "Strange… The mark accepted you."

  "Explain."

  Her gaze flickered to the faintly glowing symbol on KiAera's fur. "That sigil. It wasn't there before, was it?"

  "What is this?"

  The girl stood, her white wings stretching as she looked down at KiAera, her tail curling in thought.

  "A remnant."

  "A remnant of what…?" Tears began to bundle her eyes.

  The girl waved her hand, causing KiAera to fall into a deep slumber. But the girl's voice whispered in her ears, "Forget about me."

  ???

  When she awoke, she found herself staring at a creature that looked just like her: her Merekit form.

  It was Me're.

  They were somehow inside an unusual, glossy dome that shimmered with scenes KiAera could only vaguely visualize. The only other significant feature at the center of the platform they stood on was a levitating crystal structure.

  "KiAera," Me're said, turning to meet her gaze, "I believe it's time to complete the merge."

  "Where are we now?"

  "A decision," Me're replied, stepping aside so she had a clearer view of the crystalline pod. "Or maybe a reflection. Depends on how you take it."

  KiAera's ears flicked, frustration swelling. "Don't be cryptic. You said we need to complete the merge. Clarify. Everything. Please."

  Me're blinked slowly, then turned her head—just enough for her sigil to catch the light. The same mark that now pulsed gently on KiAera's forehead shimmered on the creature's brow.

  "You're stuck between stages," Me're said. "Your soul's caught midstream. The Book—that relic the winged one gave you? It was an anchor. Something that remembered you when you forgot."

  KiAera stared at the tome clutched in her paws.

  "Look ahead," Me're said.

  She felt her heart stutter. Behind Me're, suspended like a specimen in a crystal sarcophagus, floated a second figure: her own human body no longer clad. A spindly gray tail curled at its heels, an aberration that made her stomach drop.

  She staggered, paws slipping on the smooth floor. "This… that's me. My old self."

  Me're inclined her head, ears folding back in sympathy. "Part you," she replied. "Part us."

  A translucent panel blinked into existence above the human form:

  ??. .??

  Merge Progress: 0%

  APeX Available: 3 Units

  Choice Pending: Integrate → [Y]es / [N]ot Yet

  ??. .??

  KiAera's instincts screamed in dissonance: her mind catalogued tactical options—retreat, stall, interrogate—while the creature's heart longed for wholeness, for reunion. Her gaze darted between the lifeless human and the warm, living Me're.

  "And if I choose not to complete the merge?" she asked.

  Me're hesitated. Then, softly: "Then you'll remain like this. Stuck between. Not quite human. Not fully beast. Your body will survive. But your soul?" She glanced at the crystal. "It'll eventually starve."

  KiAera looked down at her paws. They trembled…but not with fear this time. With decision. She thought of the soldier she'd been, the strange creatures she'd fled, the curiosity that now burned stronger than fear. And the memory of the winged girl's voice:

  “You'll need this relic more than me.”

  KiAera raised the book.

  "What happens if I say yes?"

  Me're stepped closer, the floor rippling beneath each delicate paw. "Your humanity and your new essence will fuse. You'll gain access to the power of the Chimera's Mark… unlock hidden skills, stabilize your form. You won't be… fragmented.”

  KiAera's ears drooped as she pressed a paw to her chest, feeling two hearts tick in sync. "You… were born from me?"

  "Yes. And no." Me're tilted her head in that oddly childlike way, as if tasting the truth as she spoke. "You broke through something. And that break needed a bridge. I was made from that—fragments of your will, your fear, your instinct to live. I'm not a parasite, KiAera. I'm a version of you that never had a name."

  "We were never separate," she resumed. "We just needed to remember."

  The dome pulsed once, then again.

  KiAera turned to the crystal. A shimmer passed over her sleeping human form, and the sigil—her sigil—appeared across its chest.

  A prompt appeared in the air.

  [Merge Initiation Detected]

  Merge Candidates:

  KiAera and Me're

  {Human} and {Merecritt}

  WARNING: Evolution Irreversible

  Proceed with Merge?

  → [Y]es

  → [No]

  → [Ask Me're]

  "Me're."

  "I will be fine."

  KiAera swallowed. Her tail curled. Her voice, stronger now, whispered: "…Yes."

  [Merge Progress: 100%]

  [You have synced with the Chimera's Mark]

  Behind her, Me're began to dissolve, her form breaking into motes of spectral flame.

  A solitary tear traced a path through her silvery fur.

  "Wait—!" KiAera turned, reaching out, but Me're only smiled. And the last fragment of Me're flickered out. The world cracked like glass. Light consumed her. The dome shattered. And KiAera fell.

  During the fall. Its first eye opened. The book drew its first breath.

  「Greetings.」「I am GamaGen.」