*Morning, Thursday, 17th of March 2011, Zarak’s Palace, Other Side.*

Oriko considered herself in the mirror.

It was strange.

The precognitive power she had received as the Magical Girl didn’t prepare her for the drastic changes that would occur to her body once she accepted Zarak’s offer, and still, she had zero doubts when she kneeled in front of the Dragon, pledging to follow him to save the world. She had to do what needed to be done. Now she inspected her reflection, a new body that was that spat in the face of biology, and strangely enough, still had zero issues with it. There was no creeping discomfort a human would expect, no need to re-learn how it is supposed to work, almost like it was always supposed to be there.

Her lower body from the waist down was the body of the ash-colored lion, or a similar large cat, almost like a mythical centaur just with a different animal connected to it, just with a long whip-like tail with a razor tip and silvery-colored feathery wings growing from the back of her feline lower body. She turned on the spot, and even though she needed the space to do so, there wasn’t any difficulty in the way her body moved, almost as she was born this way. Memories protested against that assessment. She did remember who she was, after all, but she pushed them back. She went back to the mirror, almost like she was ascertaining herself of something.

Her upper body was still human, even if fur now covered her arms, matching the ashen blonde color of her hair, and fingers tipped with sharp claws. It didn’t end there, her ears were now pointed and shaped like an animal's, hard to say whether canine or feline, positioned on the top of her head while her human ones were nowhere to be found, suggesting her entire skull had been re-structured. Her eyes now were yellow, with slit pupils, and she still didn’t find anything to be distressed about.

Oriko felt some guilt, though. Guilt for being terribly vain - after all, she admired her own appearance for a while now.

Almost as it was a last attempt to find inconsistency in her thoughts, or even actions, she closed her eyes and tried to strain her ability to see the future to the fullest. It didn’t have the desired effect. Or it did for better or worse, and Oriko wasn’t even sure what that desired effect should be.

Gone were the visions of Earth and its demise. Only distant references to worlds that may be and never would. It felt almost like being human was a bad dream she finally woke up from and she was back home. The more she pressed her ability, the more certain she felt about her current situation. She didn’t know if her precognition was the blessing or the curse in disguise before, but now, her ability to see the events that didn’t transpire yet made her even more accepting towards her current situation after she felt the possibility of ages she might have in her new form. The daughter of a failed politician was gone, the Magical Girl was gone, she was Oriko, the Diva, the finest of Anrak, executor of Zarak’s will.

She removed the torn remains of her old school uniform, clothing destroyed when her body was reshaped into its new shape and form, and tossed them away on one pile, a last reminder of the life that felt so distant now.

A brief look outside the windows of her luxurious room, where flashes of unending lightning storm illuminated the perpetual canopy of clouds wrapping the world like a safe, powered blanket. It felt like home.

Her power led her to the closet where she found a new dress, simple, white, plain, and not quite fitting - she had more pressing matters to attend to than satisfying her vanity. Once appropriately dressed, she walked out of the room.

Oriko’s ability conveniently connected the dots about everything she wasn’t told about yet, but she would be in the future. Magic that dwelled inside her gave her this sense of familiarity almost like she already wandered those majestic halls before. If anything, it assured Diva even further. Precognition only gave her nightmares before, a pressure to save the world, and now, even if many places and events lay in the dark beyond her reach of her magic, it gave her a sense of belonging.

Lizard-like creatures that stood guard at her door looked at her - kobolds, as her magic helpfully supplied.

“Do you require anything, lady?” They asked.

Oriko didn’t reply. Instead, she looked around. She had to find Kirika.

Guards were visibly a little surprised as she rushed the corridor, but they gave her a stern salute anyway as she headed to the next suite where her friend still slept after her fateful transformation.

“Kirika is going to panic when she wakes up.” She announced.

One of the guards looked up at her, and asked, carefully: “Lady?”

“I’ll handle it, don’t interfere.” She ordered.

“Yes, lady.” Guards answered immediately, with another salute.

“Oriko, my name is Oriko,” Diva corrected them.

“Yes, Lady Oriko.”

“We need some way to heal if any of us gets injured.”

“Yes, Lady Oriko.”

Both guards stood aside, and she entered the guest-chamber where on the large bed Kirika tossed herself in her sleep, affected by the nightmare for reasons even the future sight couldn’t pinpoint.

Kirika was blessed differently than Oriko was. Her body remained in still roughly humanoid shape, two arms, two legs, albeit now with a pair of dark-grey feathery wings growing from her back. Her legs were now digitigrade, with plated grasping talons, and traces of fluffy feather, her arms were similarly equipped with claws. Humans would call her monstrous, she thought, but Divas weren’t prone to such assessments.

Oriko half sat, half down next to Kirika, away from her current body was arranged to make this a most comfortable approach. Former Magical Girl, now Diva, noticed the difference but didn’t consider it awkward. She pushed the outdated human notions to the back of her brain.

She outstretched her hand and gently caressed Kirika’s face and hair, not minding their changed structure or occasional feather. She initially thought of the girl as her tool in the attempt to get rid of the world of great danger, but she had become her only companion and only friend.

Kirika suddenly jerked, almost like she was startled by the touch, and opened her eyes. She immediately lashed out.

Long steel claws pierced the air, missing Oriko’s head by mere millimeters.

“Please, calm down,” Oriko whispered and caught her friend’s hand from which the metal claws formed.

It didn’t stop the confused girl from lashing out more, as she formed the blades from the other instead, slashing against Oriko’s face, and once again Diva dodged only narrowly, metal tips scratching her nose. Oriko wasn’t a competent combatant, while Kiriko had the edge in her strength and experience, not to mention the ability to slow the opponent, but precognition no longer limited by the dimming Soul Gem provided the necessary counter.

Oriko caught the other hand, and both Divas struggled, but Kirika was not the one to give up.

Instinctively, she used her leg talons instead, showing the agility she wouldn’t have as a human or the Magical Girl when she got her leg up between her and her enemy. Another set of magically created blades nearly cut off Oriko’s hand, forcing her to let go and jump back, bleeding.

She hit the wall, with her new body being an impediment in the situation, while Kirika was back on her feet almost instantly, her wings spread and forming blades from her arms again.

Ash-coloured Diva briefly paused, realizing once again that her body was different from the one she remembered from when she was still human, and Oriko used the opportunity to pounce forward, pushing Kirika to the wall with her own body. They looked at each other, face to face.

“Oriko?” Kirika said, confused.

“Yes,” Oriko said, wincing in pain as one of the blades pierced her side, a strike she wasn’t able to avoid. Diva’s both hearts started to pace, and her entire body shivered.

“Oriko!” Kirika shrieked in realization she just stabbed the most important person in her life.

“It’s alright.” New Diva whispered to another and still held her friend tight even as she had to lower her lower body to the lying position. She dragged the other girl down with her.

In her mind, she counted to seventy-eight, certain of the series of events she foresaw will turn in their favor and continued to use her only companion in the tight embrace even as her senses were slowly dulled by the injury she wasn’t entirely used to receiving. Even though she wasn’t gifted with healing power, her body was acclimatizing to new sensations. The pain was a learning mechanism; she thought to herself, the life of Diva wasn’t as lonely as one of the Magical Girls.

“It’s nothing, just hold on.” She whispered even as the other girl kept struggling, or rather panicking and trying to slow the blood slowly flowing out, but that all was part of the plan.

Finally, a long seventy-eight seconds passed, and the promised help came in the form of Blanka, the fellow Diva, gifted with required powers and Oriko could finally ease her hold over the girl to let the healer do her part. She could hear Kirika begging for help to save Oriko, along with calm, assuring answers she received. It worked, just as planned, Oriko thought.

With a bright glow of light, she could feel her fleshing knitting over and mend, injury quickly disappearing into nothingness with her body vigor renewed.

“Thank you!” Kirika gasped, and perhaps for the first time remained silent even though her facial expression betrayed that she was struggling to not burst out with either a series of questions, accusations, or another eccentric outburst.

“Thank you, I was certain you’ll come.” Oriko seconded, pleased that her prediction worked perfectly.

“You are welcome.” Blanka said, with a pleasant tone of her voice, and a smile on her face then added: “Even though I would prefer you display your mutual affection in another way than stabbing, at least until you would be able to heal it on your own.”

Kirika was about to speak out, probably arguing something about the true meaning of affection, but decided to drop the topic immediately, likely driven by the guilt for the injury she caused. It was something Oriko didn’t need the ability to see the future for, as she had quickly learned to predict a girl’s thoughts and behavior.

A half-lion-shaped dive lifted herself from the ground, towering over others as her form made her the tallest of them, and said: “I presume we will have to go see Lord Zarak immediately.”

“Not necessarily, considering the situation,” Blanka allowed, then added to the pause, “But he is expecting you soon.”

Oriko was, however, eager to see the Dragon, as something within her suggested that her destiny was intertwined with him on several levels, despite the fact that she couldn’t foresee his actions. The mysterious ruler of the realm was firmly positioned in one of those dark areas her magic cannot breach. Oriko had played with others to prevent the disaster caused by Madoka’s eventual transformation into the Witch, but now, it was her turn to be the piece to the play now she passed the metaphorical torch.

“I suggest you take care of that, at least,” Blanka said, with a smile, pointing to the flower of blood on Oriko’s clothing, “Presentation. We don’t use magical costumes that repair themselves, but we are, at least, not bound by a single style of fashion like Magical Girls.”

“Oh.” Oriko scowled, reminding herself how pointlessly vain she felt when she looked at herself in the mirror.

“I must go back to Lord Zarak,” Blanka said. “Would you please head to the throne hall once ready? Guards would let you through, you are expected.”

“I see. I am sorry we called out from important business.” The ashen-haired Diva did her best to stay polite. After all, her skill with people served her well. She even added a small polite bow that also lowered her front legs. As different as her new body was, it came to her naturally.

And with that, and another polite smile, the Diva left, leaving Oriko and Kirika alone. It was, in its own way, an intentional or unintentional reminder to the ash-blonde seer how much of her plan was relying on the presence of others. She shuddered.

“Are you fine with all of this? I mean...you...we changed and...we can’t go home like this.” Kirika let out, finally.

“Are you that keen to see your mother again?” Oriko approached Kirika.

“No, I am not,” Kirika answered immediately. She looked up at her friend’s eyes for the moment. But then shifted her sight away after the moment. She flexed her wings and idly scratched the floor with her talons.

“Stay with me then. Here, forever. It is our new home.” Oriko offered.

She unbuttoned Kirika’s blouse.

“What...what are you doing?” Kirika stammered out, and blood rushed to her cheeks, even though she was more surprised by the rather bold approach than actually objecting to anything in any meaningful way. She didn’t even move, just looked up.

“Did you realize that your clothes are entirely torn at your back?” Oriko explained calmly, “And we seem to have an important meeting to attend.”

Clothes torn to make way for limbs that weren’t there previously were difficult to remove, at least in any traditional fashion, but sharp claws made a short process of that, with which Kirika seemingly gladly helped with her previous protest rather moot.

Oriko stepped away and checked the closet each room was seemingly equipped with, which offered several types of clothes supposedly for this kind of situation, albeit with largely mismatched sizes as it was impossible to predict who would take a residence here. Or they belonged to other Divas, and were gracefully shared with newcomers, she thought. Kirika now enthusiastically joined in the fashion choice, while rattling:

“It’s quite weird, you know.” She mentioned, “I have wings and… look at those legs and…”

“Yes,” Oriko said, seemingly focusing on replacing stained clothes. A half-lioness was rather disappointed again, but a simple flowing dress in default white and gold seemed to be the best choice.

“I don’t feel bad.” Kirika continued while randomly picking a piece of clothing while rambling almost incoherently: “Like, I know I should feel bad. I suddenly changed into… a monster. I remember everything, that I looked differently before, and… I am now this, and it still feels like it has always been. Even if it always wasn’t this way.”

She picked probably the most mismatching combination of colorful clothing, something which she had a tendency of doing even in her previous life, and kept talking: “It’s so difficult to describe. I am trying to find a fault… flaw, and error, something in the lie they put in my head.”

“Then don’t look for the fault when there isn’t one,” Oriko suggested. She perfectly understood how Kirika felt, but unlike her, she decided not to fight the tide, as this was the road she was predestined to make for the greater good.

“Your fur is quite soft.” Kirika suddenly changed the topic and touched Oriko’s now feline-like lower body.

“Thank you.” Oriko smiled pleasantly, “You don’t look bad yourself.”

It made her friend blush.

“I wanted to follow you everywhere where you go.”

“Do you still want that?” Oriko asked carefully, even if she relied on the particular answer to be given.

“Yes, I will follow you anywhere.” Kirika declared, as erratic as her speech was a moment ago, at this moment she showed all the certainty she needed.

“Then come with me, we have new lives to live.”

Kirika nodded resolutely, and two new Divas set off towards their future.