The young human girl appeared slightly different from before, it was the first thing Leor noticed as he got closer. At first he couldn't understand what exactly had changed about her, but after pondering it for a few breaths time he quickly understood.
"She looks… Really good." He whispered under his breath as he approached from afar.
Alina had always been blessed with a beautiful appearance. No one appreciated that fact more than Leor did. He regularly took a few moments to appreciate it, in fact, whenever he was in her presence. That was likely why he was able to notice the change so quickly.
Her Chestnut hair looked healthy and thick, like it was glowing with lively vigor. Her skin was smooth and nearly without blemish, a touch paler than usual, but not unhealthy. Her yellow eyes looked sharp and intense, almost an entire shade brighter than he remembered.
As Leor finally stepped up beside her, he watched a subtle blush come over her pale cheeks, accompanied by a soft smile.
"Uh. Thank you, Leor. My senses have really been enhanced ever since I woke up, especially my hearing." Alina chuckled as she watched Leor's expression turn to one of surprise, then of embarrassment. He forced an awkward smile on his face, quickly changing the topic to cover up his mistake.
"I'm glad to see you out of bed, how are you feeling? What you went through a few days ago has refused to leave my mind. It's been difficult shaking off lingering fear you put me through. To be honest, I've been anxious for days." He admitted.
Now it was Alina's turn to smile with embarrassment, she stepped forward and wrapped her slender arms around Leor, hugging him tightly as she spoke.
"I know. It was bad. I thought I wouldn't make it, but you stayed by my side, and eventually found a way to help." She said, before releasing him to step back and continue speaking, "I only realized sometime after I awoke what the problem was with the transformation. It was the light nature Will inside my body fighting to stop the Beastly transformation from taking place. But for some reason, your prayers, and the sacred words of the house of flame helped ease the conflict between the two powers raging inside my body. Also, it turns out I haven't become the embodiment of a Sphinx at all." She revealed.
Leor's eyebrows scrunched together as he listened. "I don't understand, I saw the changes to your body myself. What else could you have become if not a Sphinx?"
A heavy grin spread across Alina's face as she stared at Leor. Instead of answering with words, she intended to show him, as a process like the one he had seen a few nights previously began to occur once again. Patches of thick fur spread across her pale skin, while her bright yellow eyes took on the telltale characteristic of a feline. But unlike the transformation a few nights ago, one thing was very different.
Leor's eyes went wide as he leaned closer to observe her. Gently running his fingers across the fur on her arm. Instead of the deep golden color of the night of the transformation, it was now a milky white. Giving him an almost sacred feeling.
"What does this mean?" He questioned, pulling back his hand from her soft fur. It felt really good on his fingertips, and he had to force himself to stop, before he accidentally continued touching her for too long.
Alina shrugged as she gazed curiously at the thick claws that had grown from the tips of her humanoid fingers, before gently closing her hand and tracing it across the fur on her neck with the back of her palm.
"I'm not entirely sure myself. All I know is that the nature of the Will inside my body had a profound effect on the transformation. Rather than become the embodiment of the sacred Beast like I thought was going to happen, I became the embodiment of something new. A combination of light realm Will and the Beastly form. A light-Sphinx maybe?" She answered.
Leor nodded along, listening intently to every word she spoke. A look of intense and complete fascination was spread across his boyish features.
"I wonder, Alina… My Will is the same light realm nature as yours. Does this mean that any Beast I decide to embody will also become a light aspected version of the same Beast?"
"Probably" She quickly answered, still wearing her Beastly transformation. "I'm not exactly sure yet how the light aspect of my transformation has affected the abilities I inherited from the Sphinx though. Mostly because I wasn't familiar with the powers of a normal Sphinx in the first place. So I don't know what's changed. All I can do is take it one step at a time."
Leor's curiosity grew even more intense at the mention of Beastly powers, quickly pressuring her to fill him in on all the details.
"So what have you learned so far? What's changed after your transformation, has your prophetic talent strengthened at all?" he asked.
His eyes widened in excitement as he watched her slowly nod her head.
"Yes. My prophetic powers have been greatly enhanced, but don't get too excited. The changes aren't exactly what I was expecting. In fact they are quite far from any ability I thought I might gain. It seems that the powers of the solitary and mysterious Sphinx were actually focused on supporting others. Or at least that is the nature of the powers of a light aspect Sphinx." She began to explain, as Leor's excitement slowly gave way to confusion. "Don't worry, I'm going to show you exactly what I mean. I intend to make you, Leor, the beneficiary of my newest talents. So you will see first hand exactly what I mean."
Alina stepped closer to him, placing her sharply clawed fingers flat on his shoulders.
"Don't resist me. Like my original talent, this requires your full cooperation." She explained, as she pulled on him forward and pressed her face against his own. Leor felt the warm skin against his cheek as Alina put her lips right up to his ear.
Then, quite suddenly, he felt an intense heat radiating out of the young girl's palms, and a strange and terrible whisper was released from her lips at the same time. The moment the sound hit his mind Leor's eye's lost all focus for a moment, while his thoughts turned into a chaotic jumble, making it impossible for him to even understand the words she was saying. It took all the strength inside him not to resist her at that moment, but the great trust Leor had for Alina helped him suppress that instinct.
Then, his vision returned to him and the strange inhuman mumblings filling his mind slowly vanished. Leor glanced at Alina questioningly, his confusion was now greater than ever.
"I don't understand. What use is this, is your new ability to dizzy the minds of your own allies?" He questioned.
Alina just gently smiled as her body slowly returned to its human form.
Leor suddenly flinched in surprise as he realized that Alina was not speaking to him using her mouth, she wasn't even using human language in fact, but her meaning and intention had passed into his mind in a more fundamental way. As if the symbolic underpinnings of the words themselves, the ideas the words represented, had been directly fed to his mind. It was a form of communication a hundred times faster and more capable than speech.
"C-can you read my thoughts?" He questioned her, a bit of terror on his face as he did.
She giggled happily at his clearly exaggerated response, letting him worry for a few more seconds before she cleared away his doubts.
"No, Leor. You can hear my thoughts because I am capable of projecting them into your mind. For me to hear yours, you would need to possess a similar ability. Which you do not." she spoke aloud.
Leor tried to hide his clear relief, feeling embarrassed at his own overreaction as he nodded his head.
"Well… Still, it's a tremendously useful skill. Though I can't help but think this talent was probably much more important to a Beast like the sacred Sphinx, since they needed to communicate with other Beasts who could not speak like humans can. Still, I think you made the right choice choosing to embody such a creature." Leor suggested.
Alina's smile turned to an amused grin as she shook her head.
"That's not the support ability I was talking about. Being able to communicate telepathically is just a simple trick I have discovered that I am capable of after this transformation. The support ability I gained is tied to my strengthened prophetic powers." She gestured towards Leor as she continued, "Here, try this. Take a look at the bow in your hand, and try to summon a feeling of curiosity, as if you wish to know more about the item."
Leor was confused by her request, but he suppressed that feeling and quickly did as she asked. Holding the small hunting bow out before him as he focused his gaze on it. The bow was rather simple. It was dark wood, with common elven features. It bore the same fluid inscriptions commonly seen on their items, clothing, and formations. With a leather handle sunken into the center, making it flush with the wood.
As Leor continued to observe the bow, a change began to happen in his mind. Suddenly, the strange symbolic communication returned. Filling his mind with new information about the bow.
Now Leor was truly impressed, his eyes wide with excitement as he look at Alina.
"H-How is this possible? Does it work with everything?" He demanded, but before waiting for her to respond he pulled out his sword to quickly repeat the process.
Alina lightly shrugged her shoulders as she gently pushed the blade down from Leor's eyes, forcing him to focus on her.
"I'm not sure what the limits are exactly, but I do know that it is not omnipotent. Also, it puts a small burden on my mind each time you use it, so please do so wisely. On the bright side, I can already feel that the burden it's putting on me will help to strengthen my mind. Anyway, let me show you what I mean about the abilities limits. Try it once more, this time focus on me." She suggested.
Leor became curious at once, he hadn't thought to try using the power on a living being yet, but now that she suggested doing so, it made sense that it should be possible. Locking his focus on the bright yellow eyes across from him, Leor repeated the process in his mind. This time directing his curiosity at Alina herself.