[Valerianne Yul]

“WHAT?!” I stared at my burning body made of radiant, brilliant white light.

“Ha ha ha ha… this is amazing.” Nox laughed. “The Triumvirate made sure that Virtue never manifested in their halls by slapping my magic-eating triskelion runes all over their churches and cities, but the Dryads had no such limitations! By making your aura the most pure and immutable thing woven from absolute light, not only did they contain me, they captured the combined belief of all of the people of Europa in you. Your aura is the manifestation of the Avatar of Virtue!”

“What?! I’m a divinity?”

“No. You are an intentional or perhaps accidental, unregistered, unassigned Avatar of Virtue. You should technically be able to manifest and wield the power of Virtue - absolute, pure White divine magic, but there is something clearly wrong here... by design. Something that the Dryads have done to you that makes you unassigned. Maybe that’s what the aura or seed does, or maybe it’s something else entirely. No idea.”

I frowned.

“I don’t know enough White magic to help.” She said with a shrug. “Also, I don’t breed humans, like some monsters.”

“So, what now?” I asked.

“Here’s what we’re going to do. You and I are going to create our own pact, a new type of a pact made between two divinities. Between the Avatars of Virtue and Void. Between Yul and Nox. One of mutual belief, shared power and coexistence. One that will hopefully manifest the power of Virtue and also make me stronger. A pact of unity and understanding! I’ll speak my vows and you speak yours and then we seal the pact together with a kiss.”

“What’s with you and demanding kisses? Why are you so shameless?”

“What? It’s a perfectly normal human gesture. It’s the ultimate, binding representation of trust. It’s got nothing to do with shame and everything to do with accepting someone. In my Void temples, I was more of a shapeless Void fluid, not a person with two eyes, and four limbs. My Apostles drank from me all the time using their lips, via especially dedicated platinum chalices to gain power in exchange for belief. I look like I do now, because I’m inside of you and you think that I’m your dark side or something equally dumb...”

“Lewd and weird.” I muttered, looking at her naked body made of Void.

“It’s not any of that! Stop being a prude! This is your dream. You subconsciously believe I look like this, therefore I look like this. Just focus on the pact and on nothing else! I’m going to come apart any minute now and then you’ll be on your own. The pact should grant you my power, awaken you enough for you to stand up to the Dream mage!”

“Fine, fine! Make with the vows, I’ll follow!”

“I… Nox, the Avatar of the Void, do hereby swear to let Valerianne Yul, the Avatar of Virtue make decisions in regards to this body’s System evolution and progression, to share this body as equals.”

I nodded.

“I... Valerianne Yul, the Avatar of Virtue, do hereby swear to let Nox, the Avatar of the Void exist in me, to share this body as equals.”

A hurricane of light and darkness ignited between our interwoven fingers. Two lines of power, formed from me and her, dancing side by side next to each other in perfect parallel, weaving strange, bewildering, fractal patterns around our hands.

“This is an unbreakable, divine pact, a bond of partnership struck between us till erasure or death do us part.” She said and I repeated it. The lines grew far more defined. The white line became more brilliant, blinding, wholesome and warm. I felt a connection to it unlike anything else. The line of Void representing the power of Nox became richer, deeper, darker, colder. It felt deadly, dangerous.

“I hereby swear to never intentionally murder another human, unless they intend to harm your physical body or June.” Nox said. “I hereby swear to protect you and June, to sacrifice my memory, self and divinity if need be.”

I frowned a bit. It wasn’t perfect, it had a bit of a loophole, but it was definitely a huge step in the right direction. She looked at me, expecting an equal sacrifice. I knew that it had to be equal, felt it on a metaphysical level. The lines of divine power dancing around our intertwined hands had to be of equal potency as to not outshine, not to dim, not overpower the other, so that there would be eternal balance between us, a new unity of purpose.

“I hereby swear to be more understanding towards the Void, towards you, Nox. I hereby swear to be your and June’s friend, to do everything in my power to help you reunite, reconnect with her, to reawaken her memories,” I said and Nox smiled.

I felt that it wasn’t enough. The dark line was stronger. I needed to say more!

“I hereby swear to protect you and June, to sacrifice my life, memory, self and divinity if need be.” I said.

We pulled each other close and we kissed.

There was no fondness in this kiss from my side, only the desire to be friends, to share power, to protect and to reshape each other, to be stronger together, to stand up to the monsters that played with our lives, to change, to heal our fractured world and to make it a better place for everyone. There was passion in it, but not like that between lovers. Passion to change each other and to change the world.

The line of darkness and light separated, moved up from our hands, spun around our heads in winding spirals creating halos over both of us. I saw myself in third person and suddenly realized that this was my dream, my mind, my representation and love of my home.

Darkness and light struck from each halo, pushing against each other in equal measure. A cascade of power detonated between us. It wasn’t painful, it didn’t fling us apart. Waves of dancing fire made of both darkness and light stretched out around Moosy, engulfing the sky, reaching out across the illusory forest of Bree, dancing over every rock, hill, branch and tree.

“Thank you.” Nox said with a wide, big, happy smile, her image fading, breaking up into wisps of darkness and sparkling stardust. She was gone, she had run out of Void mana. The halos were gone with her. I snapped back into myself. My skin no longer shined like the furnace of the ring around voidstar.

I was alone. The Dreamancer was coming.