Special 2nd Anniversary Chapter: Bodyswap!

Special 2nd Anniversary Chapter: Bodyswap!

The pallid Nexus flashed with a veil of darkness one unexpected day.

The last time the pale axis mundi’s color swapped to darkness resulted in a resonance akin to a struck tuning fork, except that the sound it created was that of a roaring trumpet.

During that time, the sound of six consecutive trumpets was heard across the entirety of the world of Elysia, heralding the impending approach of an Apocalypse – one trumpet more than a Woe of the Fallen Star-Classed Corrupted.

The Nex Megalopolis remembered the flaming brimstones and the observant Eyes of Caldera Industries that rained into their cities. Swaths of land left burning as machinery kilometers wide were left to smolder in great craters like fallen meteors.

Today they heard one such trumpet resonate from the Nexus. The Injector Sites of the City of Clubs were immediately filled with organ doners. Ateliers instinctively prepared for the worst, for the discoloration of the Nexus only meant one thing for them.

The Head was undergoing a Corruption Event; a psychological breakdown that saw one become swallowed by their woes and despairs. However, the coloration lasted for only a split second, and no additional trumpet followed the first.

Countless eyes peered from barred windows, reinforced doors, and gravity-locked trains that abruptly force mid-transit. After minutes of deafening silence and seeing nothing but undisturbed clouds pass overhead, the trains began to move again as the Train Conductor spoke through a magical intercom.

“Caldera Industries would like to apologize to all on-board passengers. Please head to the nearest Guild or Clinic at the next stop for serious injuries. Healing potions will be dispensed accordingly to all passengers. Reminder: Caldera Industries is not liable for any injuries sustained aboard our Gravity-powered trains.

Endorse Attachment.”

The question had to be asked – just what happened to the Nexus?

The answer was easier to show than to explain.

* * *

Within the wonderous walls of the Nexus resided a garden of flowers as far as the eye could see. The many rustic homes of a small town of roughly a few hundred sat at the foot of a hill where a manor sat atop.

This was the Floor of Amalgamation; a walled paradise where only few could visit, and even fewer could call their home.

“Hehehe…. Hahaha!” Someone ran through the flower fields. A number of silhouettes trailed behind, but no matter how fast they ran, they could not chase them. “It’s mine… This body is now mine! So this is how it feels to be the Amalgam!”

A Frost devilishly cackled to herself as she embraced her body, causing an oddly expressive Nav to shiver in despair.

“CER! GET BACK HERE AND GET OUT OF MY BODY!” Nav…?

No. This was not Nav.

Nav could not have made such a frenzied expression. Nav’s golden eyes were brighter than usual as Frost’s lost a part of their luster. Not only that, but the golden strands that were supposed to be a part of Frost’s hair were now found on Nav.

“Do you really want to swap back so soon?” An unexpressive Ber spoke in a monotone voice, her eyes glowing the same shade of gold that used to belong to Nav.

She watched them from a short distance as she squeezed her shoulders together, enjoying the unusual plumpness of her chest.

“Consider this my wish fulfilled.”

“Don’t just stand there ogling at my chest! Grow your own!” Ber in the body of Ignis cried out, glaring at Nav accusingly. “Ignis! Come here and help me bring her down!”

Ber’s cat-like tail rose like a needle behind her back as threatened Nav with a hiss never heard from the mouth of Ignis.

A depressed Cer could be seen cradling their legs underneath an oak tree, their eyes glaring at a fallen apple that rolled to their feet.

“Ignis!?”

“I’m Cer… They made me Cer. Why am I Cer? A smelly wet dog…” Poor Ignis was trapped in Cer’s body. “Worse than Corrupting. Worse than being a slime. Papa… what did I do wrong to deserve this?”

She had been imprisoned in the body of a slime, and a Corrupted, but nothing compared to being trapped in the body of a wolf that smelt like a wet dog.

“CEEEEER! Dammit Nav… Why is your body so hard to run in!?” Frost could not catch up with Cer no matter how hard she tried.

Her joints locked like they were the ball-joints of a marionette, and her speed was laughable. Snap in Jury’s body tugged her by the hand as she made “Brrr~!” sounds on occasion, still unable to communicate with words despite having a proper body now.

Nav’s body was cold, and she could barely feel the ground beneath her feet. It was akin to running with numb legs before an impending assault of pins and needles.

“Hard to run? I don’t run in the first place.” Nav said as she eyed Jury – who was in Snap’s body. Rather than helping Frost, took pleasure in rolling down hills in Snap’s ball form.

“Bzzzzt~! (Wheeeee~!).”

“Brrrzzzt! (Can I join Jury too?).” Snap said in Jury’s body, blowing her tongue as she pointed at the hills.

“Huh!? Snap – I know your body is in good hands but look who is in mine!”

The red-eyed Frost cackled as they chased her into the shorelines of the Floor of Amalgamation. Suddenly, the overconfident Cer froze in terror as she found herself surrounded by her mortal enemy.

“No… I was so preoccupied with how I was gonna keep your body that I didn’t realize I was… *gulp*” She took a step back from the shallow waves that ran into the sandy beach. “W-Water…”

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say that with my body! You’ve done it now Cer!” Frost took a battle stance, as Snap tried to copy her stance with a silly smile. “It’s over! A wire scrub isn’t going to it anymore.”

She rolled up her sleeves, her eyes glowing bright as Snap dragged a finger across their neck, not really knowing what it meant other than they had seen Cer do it in the past.

“Heh. Tch. You’re no fun Frost. You know what…” Cer cracked her knuckles, then her neck. “I always wanted to see just kind of power you had as the Amalgam. Now that I have it, here in my hand and in my chest – I’m going to…”

“Don’t… DON’T!”

“Bzzt!? (Cer!?)”

Cer lifted a finger to her lips, then, she hovered it between her teeth.

“… eat myself with your body –!”

“Enough.” A flash of golden light suddenly struck Cer from behind. Anna appeared behind Cer in the blink of an eye, her voice carrying a gravitas and a shape that did not belong to her.

The light of Absolution knocked Cer out. It was a soul-wrenching agony Frost had been used to since she wielded Ignis in her Corrupted form. But poor Cer had never been exposed to such pain, and even with Frost’s Abilities and Passive Skills, it could never prepare her.

As a result, her body shut down before she could even conceive of it.

Anna stood nonchalantly over Cer’s body, her bare foot planted next to her face. Her clothes were ragged and torn from the seams due to the attack, and her hair carried strands of white, and her eyes glowed gold.

“The hilarity dies when one tries to commit a crime in another’s body. Though in spite of this, I do quite adore this body of little Anna. You’ve kept it pure in hopes Sinder would –”

“T-That’s not true!” The Arbiter’s voice spoke but had the same stutters and awkwardness of a certain Archivist.

“Implying that it’s impure?” The Arbiter teased, somehow enjoying the facial expressions Anna made in her own body.

She was overly animated, and she’d occasionally strike herself with her seven tails for she had no idea how to control them.

“I jest. It must have been a shock to you here. Thankfully, this phenomenon seems to only be affecting those on the Floor of Amalgamation.” Michaela noted as Frost approached a blacked-out Cer.

“I look weird without golden hair. So if you’re Anna, and you’re Michaela, then those two must be the swapped Res and Lailah.”

“Correct.” Lailah spoke with Res’ lips, also carrying golden eyes. “Do not be alarmed by the phenomenon. It is but a temporary fluctuation of Light that refracts into one another. When it passes, the light shall no longer refract.”

“Meaning?” Frost asked quizzically, before Res translated with:

“It’s like we’re being projected and mirrored into another vessel. Like light being beamed to somewhere else, at least that’s what I’m getting.” Res fiddled with her body, like how Frost did due to the overwhelming numbness of their machine-bodies.

“Wondering how it is that I can move so fluently in metal shackles?” Lailah questioned. “Because must live with it, as a certain ancient Creator of mine declared. Either way, it matters not here nor to you, but isn’t it interesting being in a body unbelonging to you?”

Lailah suddenly approached Frost, wanting to reach for her chin.

“Since Nav isn’t in that body… may I take a closer look…?”

Suddenly, Michaela’s small frame defended Frost, blocking Lailah’s hand.

“You should settle with it yourself. Nav would be pleased if you simply asked, than took a bite from a low-hanging fruit.”

“We are both in different bodies. Merely touching Nav with my own would cause certain issues. Michaela. It is alike the desire to pet the head of an old mirror of oneself.”

Lailah assumed a position where it seemed she would strike Michaela. Res’ body was insanely powerful, and the Anna present did not adorn Sinder’s coat. A single strike would be all it would take to erase her existence.

“STOP! Settle this in your own bodies!” Frost grabbed Anna from behind. Despite being bigger than her, Anna was like an immovable tree stump; her feet rooted so greatly with the soil that Frost’s grip slipped by there mere contractions of Anna’s breaths.

“Lailah – Even if you’re an Archetype, I’m not going to let you do what you want in my body!” Res growled, attempting to hold her splitting image back.

Anna could only wear a look of panic as her ears quivered, and her giant tails wagged high above like inflatable, flailing tube-men.

But to their surprise, Lailah did not intend to fight the Arbiter. Rather, her cheeks puffed up, and her brows knitted.

“I suppose this Creator of mine still wants to impose rules upon me.”

Lailah, an ancient automaton created by the Light and the blood of a Star, sulked because she could not pat the head of herself.

“My senses are raw and sound, unlike my mechanical body with only a handful of nerve endings across each hand. But it’s fine. My Creator can continue to be this way. She has changed, hasn’t she?”

She sealed her eyes, and peeked to see if they were buying it.

“Urgh…” Michaela made a sound unlike herself. “It was never my intention to prevent you from indulging in the things you never had. I was simply…”

Frost placed a hand on Michaela’s head, then, she took Lailah’s hand and plopped it on her own.

“Let’s not drag out this apology and just… Well, enjoy this while we can. I didn’t know Nav’s body was… not really a body as much as it is just a chassis. And I thougth she was joking about that.”

Frost spoke somberly to snap them out of it, whilst also speaking her heart.

“Goes to show how much you’ve both struggled, huh. Hey, Lailah. How long will this last for?”

“Approximately 32 hours in Universal Time, or 320 hours at 10x Relative Time within the temporal influence of an Isolation Sphere.” She answered, causing Res to shiver not because of the time limit, but by how natural her own body looked spewing out such verbiage.

Res was no stranger to speaking in such a way. In fact, Moons had to be eloquent, precise, and punctual with their greetings. But this was on an entirely different realm due to Lailah’s unique presence.

“Calm now? Good. Help me tie up Cer so she can’t get away when she wakes up. Hm?” Nav with human-like facial expresssions was endearing, to the point where Res, Anna, Lailah, Michaela and even Snap plopped a hand on her head. “Huh?”

“Can you smile for me?” Res asked.

“Not bad. A mortal Nav would be quite complementary.” Lailah hummed.

“F-Frost. I-If you don’t mind, can you make that face again?” Anna sheepishly asked. “Nav’s always stone cold so it’s refreshing to see her so emotional.”

“Mayhaps I should have put more effort into the human part during the creation process.” Michaela uttered to herself.

“Bzzzt~!” Snap suddenly embraced Frost.

A little too hard, unfortunately, causing Frost to topple over with Snap smothering her in Jury’s body. Since Snap was so used to absorbing people into their fur, they expected Frost to disappear.

“Snap –! Mmmmph! I can’t… Wait, I don’t need to breathe… But you’re crushing me!”

“Bzzzt! (But doesn’t Jury do this to you all the time?”

“HUH!? That’s different!”

“Brrrr? Bzzzt?” (Not really? You always seem to enjoy whenever she pins you down?)”

Frost, at her wits end, succumbed to Snap’s embrace. At the same time, the real Jury appeared, walking on two legs whilst her other six were held against her underbelly. She refused to walk on all eight legs like a spider, resulting in the most cursed image she had ever witnessed.

Corrupted born from human nightmares did not compare to a spider that walked on two legs. Jury had to pivot her entire body like a double-hinged door just to move, combined with a dose of invisible lat syndrome.

“Bzzzt. Brrr. Zzzzt. (Wanna come inside, Frost?)” Said Jury as she loomed over Frost.

With a small approving sight, Jury collapsed onto both Snap, Frost and Cer like a log-trap, gobbling them into her body. She rolled away without another word said, for she had only come for Frost and nothing more.

What, was she supposed to say hello to the Arbiter? Pay her respects to Lailah?

No. Frost was her only priority. Like a shepherd, she brought back the straying flock to her pasture where she could observe them.

“… Jury seems to be having fun.” Res muttered.

The Arbiter approached the edge of the beach, staring at the crashing waves with sudden intrigue.

“It would be wise to make good use of this human body, even if we are all born from the Light of the Nexus. Human blood flows stronger in this body, and the burdens of my soul feel loose.”

Michaela elegantly held the hems of her skirt to the side as she stepped barefoot into the water. A bright smile formed across her face, and before the others knew it, Michaela began to walk along the shallow beach, enjoying the sensation that Anna’s body brought to her.

“It’s nice to be able to walk within the water, than to walk on it.” She said, splashing some water on her knees. “People will still find a way to complain to a higher being when they see them walking on water, and then shout that they should have run.”

“Agreed.” Lailah uttered, following Michaela in suit as she rolled her jeans up to her knees. “A miracle should not be taken for granted. Res. May I enjoy your body?”

“Please don’t word it like that.” Res sighed. “It’s not place to tell you what to do, but that’s my body so please don’t do anything that crosses the line.”

“There are too many lines drawn in the sand that are constantly crossed.” Lailah teased, but she twirled in the glistening shores, and then bowed before Res. “But lines created by us are firm, for we are the ones who must create standards for all to follow. Enjoy my body while you can. I would not mind if you were to probe its deepest reaches.”

“… excuse me?”

“The way my heart functions. The methods used to strand each neuron of my miraculous anatomy akin to a Boltzmann Brain. The metaphorical rings that syphon power from a reactor of light like a Matryoshka Brain… Such is the power of Light.”

Lailah left Res and Anna to digest her words. Anna stood close to her, leaning over to whisper in her ear.

“I still think they’re insane.”

“You’ve been here for over 300 years. No one ever was sane in the Nexus to begin with. You’re not going to go with them?”

“I’d rather stay here…”

Res suddenly chuckled to herself as she slyly looked at Anna.

“Sinder, hmm~?” She jabbed.

“E-Eh!?”

“Nothing. Nothing. At. All~” Res retreated with her hands behind her head.

“R-Res!? You’re teasing me, aren’t you!?”

“Maybe, maybe not.”

She then peered over her shoulder.

“But I think I have a new subject to create a painting on~”

Anna was left alone. She wanted to follow Res, but felt it was for the best if she stayed put. At these times she’d hold onto Sinder’s coat to protect her from the shadows of loneliness.

However, that coat was not with her, and neither was she in her own body. Just before she shadows could creep in, a voice called out to her.

“Anna! Hurry! The waters are cool!”

“I imagine Michaela’s body is not as dull to worldly sensations as mine. Join us, O’ Archivist. The clouds are parting ways. The stars are bound to dance tonight. Come, help us catalogue the skies of our home.”

Anna smiled from ear to ear.

“Mhm. Of course! Leave the star charting to me!”

* * *

Swapping bodies gave them major insight into how they all coped with things they could not control. Ignis came to realize that Cer could not help it with her scent, and there was always a compulsion she also could not control when it came to danger.

It was different from Ignis’ feline instincts which always told her to run away. A wolf’s instincts were predatory, and despite this, the triplets were among the nicest people she knew.

She pondered on this as she watched them from a fireplace, drying herself off after a long shower in Cer’s body.

Likewise, Ber was impressed by how Ignis was able to coordinate what felt like a million limbs. Every cell within Ignis’ body could be individually controlled, and she could not believe that Ignis had never expressed difficulty or asked for help to cope with the overwhelming sensation.

Ignis was still so incredibly young, and Ber sat close to Ignis by the fireplace, ruminating on their shared childhood struggles.

Snap observed Jury as she helped Frost tie up Cer to a chair. Snap was used to their freedom and relatively carefree life in the Nexus. Despite knowing how much effort and struggle Jury and the others underwent to fix the Nexus, only now did Snap understand the weight of it all as they listened through Jury’s CognitO Mediator.

… Snap did not wish to comment on the thing they heard.

Jury on the other hand, simply missed her body. It was not easy embracing Frost in the body of a giant spider, and she’d occasionally accidentally kidnap Frost since she’d keep being absorbed into her fur.

It made her appreciate her form even more. Jury still had vivid recounts of being called a monster by travelers and the children of the Village of Virt – an unholy abomination, with feathers like an Avian, teeth like a Demon, and a tail like many Demi-Humans.

She stared into Frost’s eyes. If she had tear ducts, then she would have cried.

Because she took a risk when she first confessed to Frost. Had Frost not accepted her then…

“Jury?” Frost wiped Jury’s lens with the sleeve of her coat. “Keep your hands steady. We can’t let Cer escape and do what she wants with my body, can we?”

“Brrr… (I love you).”

“I love you too.”

As Frost was embraced for the nth time, she came to understand why Nav desired mortality. She could only describe Nav’s existence, like seeing the world in black and white, and tasting food like it was made of clay. It dulled every experience, and she could imagine how difficult it was for Nav to witness people reacting to things that she didn’t understand, nor could experience.

Like why do people make such a happy face when they eat a bowl of warm soup in winter, if Nav could not feel the bitter cold to appreciate the warmth of the soup?

Frost kept it to herself.

And she promised again that she would one day help Nav achieve mortality once and for all.

* * *

32 hours later, Frost woke up in her own body. Refreshed, she visited the bathroom to take a good look at the body she had dearly missed.

However, her clothing was looser than she remembered. Her sleeves dangled from her hands, and why is the vanity so high? She had to get a small stool in order to see herself in the mirror.

… Eh?

Frost was groggy. Her eyes were droopy. Surely, it was the morning drowsiness playing tricks on her. She ran a hand through her hair, and still, the pair of pointy ears would not go away.

“Jury… did you tie them down to my head…?”

She tried again.

And again.

Soon, her movement became frantic.

She placed both hands on her pair of fox-like ears as the realization dawned on her.

“I’m… a Demi-Human…?”

Frost, due to another fluctuation of the Nexus’ Light, had grown animal-like ears like she had manifested an Alter Frost. It shocked her to the point where she had not yet realized that her body had also shrunk to 135 cm as opposed to her usual 160cm.

Indeed.

Frost was smaller than Cer.