When May opened her eyes, she found herself clinging to the body of Evangeline Amelia Alcmene, the daughter of a duke who also happens to be one of the three main characters in an unfinished novel she was reading before she had died.
You might be t...
Deep under the covers of darkness, the sounds of wrinkling sheets filled the silence in the air. What started as a soft struggle soon became louder and more apparent.
CRASH!
The table lamp was swept off the table, tiny pieces of porcelain scattered across the floor. Next to the broken lamp was a girl who was desperately clawing at her throat, her hands reaching for the empty void. Her face was flushed and her breathing was ragged.
Another crash penetrated the night, this time it was louder than than the one made by the broken lamp. Evangeline fell off her bed. She felt her vision was slowly blacking out.
'I have to call someone,' she panicked.
She didn't understand what was happening. Was it the original owner's sickness coming back? If so, she couldn't imagine what the body's owner had to go through the past few months leading up to her death.
"H... Help"
Evangeline's throat felt like it was burning with every gasp she makes. It was like someone chained her body to lead, each step was heavier than the one before.
She could see the door right in front of her. Just a little bit more and she could call for help.
Mustering up all her strength, she leaned all the weight of her body onto the door as she turned down the doorknob.
Nothing.
Was the door always this heavy?
"Please..." she begged her body. She had to try one more time. Her vision was barely a pinhole now.
She was scared. She didn't know what was happening to her. Is she going to die again?
"I... have to live." It wasn't just about her now. The image of the Duke and Duchess, Marise, Sir Klein and everyone else who is living in this reality flashed through her mind. If she died, what would happen to all of them?
As she was thinking about everyone, she felt her body falling over.
"MY LADY!"
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"How is she? Is our daughter going to be alright?" the duke asked. Although he still looked fairly young, the wrinkles on his forehead deepened with worry. The duchess was crying softly while gripping on to her daughter's hand tightly. Marise, who was standing on the other side of the bed, was pale as snow.
It was a good thing that Marise just so happened to pass by her lady's room that night, otherwise she would have never heard the noises coming from Evangeline's room. As soon as she opened the door, her lady passed out in her arms. She immediately screamed for help.
The doctor who treated Evangeline when she first woke up placed his statoscope down. He looked at the duke's eyes and shook his head.
"It isn't her old sickness. Her awakening is starting."
The duke sucked in his breath. He knew her daughter had the potential to become a great mage ever since she came back with a divine spirit. In fact, she might even be greater than other mages seeing as it's supposedly impossible to contract a divine spirit before an awakening.
It is general knowledge that awakenings are painful. Most mages would experience fever, fatigue and headaches. These would usually go away after a few days but, it highly depends on the body's ability to cope with a sudden explosion of mana.
But, what about Evangeline? Her body had barely recovered from the brink of death a few months ago. So, to experience an awakening soon after is dangerous, especially if she might be receiving an abnormal amount of mana.
Unfortunately, there's really nothing they could do to stop an awakening. Once it happens, a mage has to go through it.
"W-what should we do, dear? We can't lose her again." the duchess clung onto her husband's robe. Her eyes shook with panic.
The duke opened his mouth but, no words could come out. He didn't know what to do either - he was helpless. He turned to his daughter and suddenly realized that a tiny golden bird was sitting on her head.
That's right! Her divine beast!
"Sir. Divine Beast, is there any way to help her?" he pleaded. Surely, he must know something.
"I will try to siphon as much mana from her as possible. But I can only do so much in this form."
Nova spread his tiny wings on top of her head and closed his eyes. He was trying to concentrate on bringing the flow of mana into his body. Usually, a divine beast is supposed to take in their partner's mana and turn into a weapon but, this is only the case if the divine beast has already matured. Unfortunately, with Nova's current incomplete form, he can only take in so much before his own body will overheat.
"If only... I had a purple moon flower," Nova grimaced.
"Wait! D- did you say purple flower?"
It was barely a whisper but Marise's hearing was sharp.
"Yes, it will temporarily increase my mana vessel so I'll be able to absorb more."
A moon flower is an extremely rare commodity that can only be found in the East. Before Nova met Evangeline, a few divine spirits had passed by his nest on the way to their homeland and they had mentioned the moon flower in passing.
"Are these it? I found these purple flowers on the lady's balcony last night. The lady wanted me to get rid of it but, I thought they were much too pretty to throw away."
Marise grabbed a few flowers from her pockets and showed it to Nova. There were already starting to wilt but, that didn't stop Nova's eyes from shining.
There it is! The purple moon flowers!
Hastily, he started to peck on the flowers and swallowed it.
"Perfect," the little bird gave a smug laugh, "Now, just watch as I save your precious lady."
A burst of light appeared from both the divine beast and Evangeline, blinding the four adults in the room. As soon as the light died down, the painful groans coming from Evangeline was replaced with a soft breathing.
"She'll be alright now," a deep baritone voice sighed.
Marise and the other adults gave a loud gasp. For instead of the usual grumpy golden bird, a handsome man with golden eyes stood hovering next to her lady.
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(Quick sketch of how I imagined human Nova to look like)
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Alright! Sorry for the long wait! I'm happy to see there are still readers reading this silly story 🥺 your support helps keep this story going (literally)
