Levi's spectral form stirred first. His torso, which had hung in the void like an unfinished carving, began to shift. The lower edge of his body stretched, pulling downward, thinning like strands being drawn from molten metal.
The strands thickened, bent, and slowly shaped themselves into legs. The rough glow around them settled, shaping knees, calves, and feet. His form no longer looked like a half-drawn figure, but the outline of a man— whole, standing.
Beside him, the other spectral half responded to the ashes too. Its grotesque stump rippled as if something alive was writhing beneath its surface. The golden light dug in, pulling out hidden strands of essence.
From the torn end, a long body unfurled, thick and wet, bending and curling. Segments appeared, one after another, until the outline of a full leech slithered into being. Its tail twitched once, and the body tightened, as though remembering its shape after being broken apart.
Both forms breathed out at the same time, though neither had lungs— just souls mended by fire and ash. Levi's upper body now rested on legs of his own, while the leech body had completed itself, lying low, whole again.
The golden ashes wrapped around Levi's form, mending into the spectral form, then flesh started to appear.
Levi didn't know if he was just being sentimental, but it felt like he was back in his mother's womb. Not that he had an idea how he felt to be in a womb.
But this feeling was akin to being in his mother's embrace. It was warm and soothing.
All his pain was uplifted, he felt light, no thought bared down on his back. Just comforting silence.
"... Am I in heaven". Yes that was possibly it. How else would he explain this feeling of constant.
"Hmmm it looks like I failed in the end! Thank goodness I didn't kill anyone and ended up in heaven". Silence returned, but this was comforting that Levi even purred like a cat.
But it didn't last. Slowly, his senses returned. First hearing— the sound of a steady heartbeat, calm and soothing. Then touch— he felt the warmth of the ashes against his skin. Then taste— the faint dryness of ash, bitter but strangely sweet.
At last, sight. His eyes opened to the golden ashes glowing all around him. They didn't burn, didn't blind. Instead, they shimmered gently, almost inviting. He stood or floated there stunned.
Had he fallen into the ashes?
Excitement flooded his entire system, as great as heaven was, he wasn't ready to go there now.
Levi raised a hand, watching it move through the golden haze. Then, with a surge of will, his hand broke through the surface. Ashes clung to his skin as his fingers grasped something solid— the pedestal.
With effort, he pulled, dragging himself upward. His body burst from the golden ashes, emerging into the open.
He landed on the slightly warm floor, golden ashes clinging to his onxy black hair and pale skin with a slight golden tone.
He looked around, taking in the sight of the collapsed Cecilia, the half desolved mouth of Lyra.
Then at his legs, sweet humanoid legs. Levi could already feel a fetish for long legs forming in his mind.
".. I made it... I fucking made it". Levi let out a loud laugh. He was so excited that he ignored the fact that Cecilia could still here him despite her paralyzed state.
But his laugh was cut short when he saw the ashes tremble, aggressively to the point it looked like something was trying to get out. For a moment he stilled.
"That... Wasn't supposed to happen". Levi was sure of it, in the story after Cecilia was baptized in the golden ashes. The remaining ashes formed into the three legged golden crow. And fused with Cecilia after noticing she was the successor of the Second heaven.
But this was different, it was as if something was trying to get out.
'Wait a moment'. Levi froze as a shiver went down his spine at the theory forming in his mind.
'What if the leech was born... Just like me'. As if to prize his point, the leech burst out of the ashes with a roar.
"Oh shit".
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.
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[Help this one with some power stone]