The Path of Ascension

Chapter 231

When his eyes opened, Matt felt his entire body go clammy as the nerves immediately set in and ramped up to a solid three out of ten before he squashed them.

He was nervous, which everyone said he would be, but he was a professional, and had handled far worse with higher stakes on a weekly basis. Today was the big day, and beyond that, he had less than five hours until the actual ceremony, and he didn’t really want to spend it worrying.

Slipping out of bed, he went and took a shower, allowing the boiling water to wash over him as he finished settling his mind and pushed away thoughts of what could go wrong, instead focusing on what he could control.

Which, as he thought about it, was damn near nothing.

Everything had been set up in advance, through their extensive planning and preparation, and Leon and Mara were paying for everything. Combined, it meant nothing would be missing at the start of the ceremony, and given that the entire leadership structure of the Empire was attending, even if the sky literally fell it wouldn't so much as ruffle the tablecloths.

Feeling much better, he stepped out of the shower to see Liz brushing her teeth like they had personally offended her, which only got worse as she saw him drying off.

Using her free hand, she tried to cover his reflection and her face all at once and groaned out, “Don’t look at me yet. I’m not put together.”

Matt laughed, and after snagging his own toothbrush, went in to kiss Liz, but she fled into the now empty shower before he could so much as lean down.

Shrugging, he got dressed and was sitting down for breakfast when Keith came in with Duke Waters, and they both immediately sat uncomfortably close to him, giving him no room for his elbows.

Murmuring around a mouth full of eggs, he asked, “Can I help you two?”

Duke Waters cackled while Keith used his words like a normal person. “We are just making sure you don't make an ill-advised break for it.”

Matt raised an eyebrow at that statement and shrugged. “I feel no compulsion to run away. Did either of you?”

Aiden nodded as he snagged a piece of toast off Matt’s plate. “I tried twice.”

Keith also nodded. “I was looking at the windows wondering if there was still time to run, but it passed when I saw Travis.”

“Why are you the two to bodyguard me then if you tried to run? Aren't you the people who would try and help me escape?”

Keith chuckled. “Not a chance. We know best of all how it's just wedding nerves and nothing to be worried about.”

Matt ran his remaining slice of toast around his plate before it vanished, and popped the last bit of his breakfast into his mouth as he stood up. “Well, I'm going to go watch a movie with Aster.”

Aiden immediately poured water on that idea. “She’s on Liz guard duty.”

“Mathew, Kyle, and the rest of the gangs?” He questioned.

“On setup.”

Hearing Keith's remark, Matt cursed under his breath. “Is there anyone free to watch a movie with? Or anything else? Can I help with setting up?”

At the flat expressions his bodyguards shot him, Matt shrugged and went with his last idea. “I guess I’ll watch movies with you two.”

"Oh, I have some ideas!” Keith spoke up. “Which one do we want? Wave Goodbye III, Revengeamancer of the Deepest Oceans 2, or Duke Waters: Tsunami Boogaloo, extended edition?"

Aiden looked apoplectic, but Matt, using his rights as groom, shouted down his protests with enthusiastic support for Revengeamancer.

Duke Waters hated the movie more than anyone else and spent the entire time heckling it with far more accuracy than Matt could ever hope to do.

“I didn’t stop there and monologue like a fucking idiot. I ripped the sweat out of that guy's clothes and choked him out. We never even got into a proper fight! Dude might have been three Tiers higher than me, but he couldn't fight worth a shit.”

He slumped back into his chair and took a deep drink- of water, admittedly- but he played it up like he was drowning his sorrows in something stronger.

When they got to the scene where Duke Waters bravely saved his wife from the clutches of the evil corporation, he got the running commentary about that too.

While Matt had seen and read the reviews about this movie, he had never really focused on Medea and her capture. The combat here was at least entertaining, even if it was over the top, but having met the woman, he knew all too well that anyone capable of locking her up in a desert would be so strong, Duke Waters would never be able to best the man in a bout of single combat.

Medea was scary in her own right as a Tier 35, and as his former liaison, would have been the one saving Duke Waters at Tier 15, so her being the rescue target was beyond stupid.

Matt at least learned the real story, which was far more simple. The corporation was targeted by the Empire for some crimes it thought it had hidden better than was the case, and he was sent in to take it out as part of his training on the Path.

While more boring, it made a lot more sense, and Matt recognized it as similar to the missions Luna had them doing when they were Tier 9, and was preparing them to do after their honeymoon.

That led to a long debate about the best way to tackle various situations they had been put in, between Aiden and Matt, while Keith put on Tsunami Boogaloo to distract them. By the time that movie was ending, Matt finally needed to get ready and took another shower, which wasn’t as easy as it should have been.

Duke Waters thought it would be funny if he kept pulling the falling water away from Matt from the other room, forcing him to use [Water Manipulation] to keep the water falling normally. Except, Matt didn’t have an ice cream’s chance near a hungry Aster to beat the undisputed best water mage in the Realm in that fight, which left him trying to jump into the water so he could clean up.

Once he eventually managed to get clean, he got dressed, thankfully without incidents, and moved into the waiting room set up for him.

Keith jokingly floated up by the window so Matt couldn't escape through it, but Matt felt surprisingly good. The duo's distraction had been great for removing what little stress he had, and he was just ready for the main event.

He fidgeted with his outfit that was several degrees fancier than what he was accustomed to. His outermost layer was a deep, midnight blue long coat, but instead of sleeves, the outfit had something of a waterfall of darkness spilling from his shoulders, clinging to his arms like water until it cascaded to the ground below, fading away before it could do so. Under the coat, he wore a white, high-collared shirt and white trousers, and over the entire ensemble was a belt made of Woven Midnight, from which hung the sheath Liz had given him for their engagement.

The entire outfit, from head to the toes of his polished, jet-black boots, was patterned both subtly and overtly to accentuate his figure and in traditional manners that Matt only vaguely understood. It was quite the spiffy get up, but once he had it on and was ready to exit the villa and walk to his place on the manicured lawn, the nerves started to creep up his back like a chill. The music swelled, and he stepped out into the open in unison with Liz.

The moment he saw her, his nerves spiked before he tamped them down and just took her in.

She took his breath away.

He didn’t know it was possible for anyone to be that beautiful, but Liz somehow pulled it off.

She was in a blue dress that could only have been held up by magic, as it left her shoulders and collarbones bare, instead clinging to her torso in an impossibly alluring, yet still modest way. Her sleeves were connected to the front by a strip of thin purple fabric, and draped all the way from her forearm to the ground, where it faded away into what could only be described as a fogbank made out of light fabric. She was surrounded by the haze, and Matt could see where it coalesced into ivory flames running up the sides of her dress, dancing as though they were alive.

The light patterning on the fabric itself was an artful combination of the symbols for Leon and Mara’s kingdoms, entwined so naturally and subtly that without knowing what they were beforehand, Matt would have never guessed.

Her hair was substantially longer than it had been the day before, and cascaded down her bare back in artful curls that shimmered with gold, complimenting the silver circlet on her brow wonderfully. It wove in and out of her hair in natural-looking patterns, holding a solitary, iridescent sapphire right at the crest of her forehead that brought out the red flecks in her eyes.

As he set his eyes upon his bride, Matt felt complete and total calm settle upon him… until he registered the thousands of guests who had arrived for the ceremony.

He had been warned that this would be an official Royal Wedding, and to expect a large number of various people from all the Empire's kingdoms to be there, but there was a difference between knowing how large the wedding would be and actually seeing how many guests there were.

The first two rows were all the faces he knew, friends and family of Liz and himself, but past that, the crowd swiftly became less recognizable. He broadly knew who most of them were- Duke level vassals from Mara and Leon’s kingdoms, notable dignitaries from the other kingdoms, celebrities, even a few representatives from other Great Powers- but that was of little use here and now.

In total, it was a veritable sea of people, and he promptly ignored them all.

It was easy enough, as the ‘mist’ around Liz didn’t obscure his bride in the slightest, making her stand out from the rest of the world behind its veil.

As the music seamlessly shifted to accommodate their entrance, the both of them began their steady walk towards one another, eyes locked and unwavering. Aster anointed their pathway with snowflakes, then returned to her place alongside the rest of the ‘bridesmaids’, functionally all of their female friends.

Behind Matt, Keith had taken his place among the groomsmen, while Aiden was in the front row, standing at attention next to Queen.

Moments after Aster had resumed her place of honor, Matt and Liz finished the last of their steps to meet in the center of the venue. Now with less than a foot between them, Liz broke into a smile and gave him a subtle wink. Then, the two of them interlocked arms and turned away from the very large crowd, taking two steps up a raised platform to meet Emmanuel.

The Emperor greeted them with a grin, and in a quiet voice that didn’t carry, he said, “Congratulations, you two.”

His next words were spoken with weight, ensuring that everyone in attendance heard him perfectly. “We gather here today to witness Elizabeth Moore and Matthew Alexander joining their fates and lives officially, for all to see. They do so to proclaim to the world that they, who were once two, are now one. A single, stronger unit than they were separately. While they may have met by chance, fighting over a rift…”

Matt’s mind wandered to that first meeting as Manny narrated some of the highlights of their first encounter and beyond.

Those were good memories, and he caught Liz’s eye when Manny talked about their first fight against innumerable odds, when they had fought the pyramid rift, and he had lost an arm.

While Manny kept to the official story, and didn’t linger on any specific details, Matt enjoyed the small summary of their time together. The highs and the lows, the good times and the bad. It was amusing hearing the slight boasting involved in them delving up ‘a full two Tiers’ as Tier 14s, as he was certain much of the audience would consider it to be aggrandized at best, not a grave understatement of their true capabilities.

“And so, today marks perhaps the single most impactful day they shall ever experience as a couple, a conflux of three pivotal events in their lives. They shall be married, and hand in hand, they step off the Path of Ascension into true immortality. They have fought long and hard to reach where they are today. That, none will deny. With blood and steel, they have cut their own Path, striking down all opposition, and now, they slay the final bonds which mortality holds upon them.”

From behind himself, Manny pulled out a pair of pillows, each laden with a special dagger.

His was a straight-edged, double-bladed dagger made from an artificial mana crystal and enchanted with sharpness and toughness. While most people would likely think it was simply a shallow look at his propensity to give away mana to others, the two of them knew what it really meant. An impossibly valuable substance forged into an equally keen weapon.

Her dagger, meanwhile, had a bone handle and a blade of black iron, tempered such that it would always shine red, but in complex patterns that would take Tier 40 perceptions to fully study. It was elegant, practical, and had endless hidden depths.

It was perfect.

As Manny levitated the two pillows in front of them, Matt and Liz drew their daggers.

It was time for their vows.

Matt had won their bet to go first, and holding Liz’s dagger, he said, “We met by chance. A lucky accident that could have gone a dozen different ways. But we became friends, and that was great. We quickly learned we worked together well, and our relationship started, which made everything all the better. Day by day, week by week, we worked. But all of that work is work well spent. Time building and confirming our relationship, sometimes through taking a hit for the others in a rift, guarding a blind spot. Other times through ensuring the other has stopped to eat when we go headlong into a crafting session. My life has undoubtedly been better for having you in it. You make not only my life better, but Aster’s as well. And it's those things that I promise to continue to do. I promise to love you, cherish you, support you, and be by your side. From the weakest world, to the highest realm, we walk the same Path. The two of us together. Forever. Elizabeth Moore, I love you and want to spend the rest of our immortal lives together.”

Liz swallowed as she tried to start speaking twice, before finally getting words to come out. “I was super nervous this morning, but as things got closer, I calmed down more and more. When I finally saw you, things settled into place. I was pretty isolated growing up, but when I joined the Path and made some friends, it wasn’t until I met you that I realized I found my other half. You keep me grounded in the best way possible and remind me every day that we can always be that little bit better. Matthew Alexander, I love you so so much, and shall do so until the essence of the realm burns out.”

As both of them were smiling at each other, Manny finished his part of the wedding. “Matthew Alexander, do you take Elizabeth Moore to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“I do.”

Saying that, he sheathed the dagger he was holding in the sheath on her belt.

Seeing that, Manny continued. “Elizabeth Moore, do you take Matthew Alexander to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do.”

As he felt the dagger click into place, Matt was already leaning in to kiss Liz even as Manny said the words.

“Then kiss, and may you step into eternity as one.”

The cheers and applause was almost deafening as Matt and Liz turned to wave at the crowds.

Once again, Matt had to marvel at all the people he had never met before.

Before he could dwell too much, Aster jumped into his and Liz’s adjoined arms as they, all together, Tiered up to Tier 15.

As Matt used the little bit of free essence in his spirit to crunch his core, he smiled as he felt the others do the same.

The sensation was odd, to say the least.

He could feel his cultivation cores give off tiny amounts of essence that floated into his spirit, before being absorbed by his body. It was almost automatic, but now he knew that if he so chose, he could use that essence to fuel his body's natural processes.

Air for his lungs? A small bit of essence could cover that.

Blood fueling his brain? Essence.

His bones producing more blood? Essence could take over all of that.

Alongside that, he knew he could direct his essence to fuel a body that just wasn’t quite what he had, and his body would change accordingly. It was a difference unlike anything he had ever felt, and for the first time, it truly sank in that he was immortal. He would genuinely live forever.

Unless someone cut off his head when Melinda wasn’t around, he would never die.

At that moment, he understood why so many people simply stopped advancing at Tier 15. After all, why not? There was so little to gain, when he already had eternity.

Thankfully, he couldn't think about it too long. They were still at their wedding, and had a number of guests to thank for their attendance.

Things quickly turned into a blur as everyone moved to the spatially expanded reception hall, where they took their seats while Matt, Liz, and Aster made their rounds to meet and greet all the movers and shakers who appeared.

Most were interested in Liz as the daughter of Mara and Leon, but a number were interested in Matt himself, which he used to his advantage.

When a woman named Brandy from a prestigious tournament hosting organization chatted with him about his time in the Tier 10 Pather tournament, and asked if he wanted to hit any of the other tournaments her organization hosted, he turned the question around. Instead of participating in a tournament, Matt wanted to host one.

He had already cleared this with Luna, Leon, Mara, and Baroness Margaret Thresh, who he indicated to Brandy with a nod as she was sitting at another table, but this was one of the things they intended to use to cement his cover as having stepped off the Path, and disguise his actions as Quill.

“Mara and Leon are willing to sponsor an unawakened and below Tier 3 tournament on my home world of Lilly, and Baroness Thresh and myself could use some assistance in all of that. Simple prizes like Tier 8 skills and some training with some competent fighters. All paid for by Mara and Leon of course, so I’d like to get better people than no name fighters…”

Letting the quick pitch trail off, he watched as Brandy’s mind raced. She was well known in the tournament hosting business, and her organization took care of most of these logistics and had a network Matt could only dream off, which made things that were hard for someone like himself or a newly appointed Baroness, incredibly easy. While she hadn’t only been invited for this reason, Matt wasn’t going to let such an opportunity pass him by. Not when it cemented his cover story and helped out his home planet.

Baroness Thresh had already told him when he came to her with the idea that she had done similar things, but they had all been small, local affairs with strict budgetary constraints, as even the smaller tournament hosting organizations considered her and Lilly beneath their time.

Matt, and more importantly his in-laws, changed that equation to the point Brandy immediately agreed to link up with Baroness Thresh. They were aiming for a tournament early next year, to coordinate a tournament for almost immediately after his and Liz’s honeymoon would end.

Moving onto another table, Matt went back to thanking the various people for coming and their well wishes until, what felt like days later, they were able to return to their seats for the dinner.

It was fantastic, as all of Aunt Helen's meals were. Matt had tried to argue she should take the event off and just enjoy herself, but Aunt Helen just laughed at him and said she cooked for those she considered family, and that was that.

If he argued beyond that, he’d be saying the older phoenix wasn’t family, which she most certainly was.

The centerpiece dish was a twelve foot long roast pigeon, surrounded by dozens of different soups, salads, and other sides. Liz steered him away from the worm salad, though he did sneak a bite of it from her plate when they had sat down. Matt didn’t see the appeal, despite the obvious skill that had gone into the dish, but it also wasn’t bad. He was still more than content to stick with his mutton curry over golden rice after that, and the braised boar shoulder was heavenly.

Mara made a show of swallowing a whole stuffed salmon, at which Liz muttered something about being ‘raised in the woods’ and ‘not fit for polite company’.

Matt almost felt sorry for the vast majority of the attendees who had to settle for the ‘normal’ fare, which by all accounts was still utterly fantastic, but he also couldn’t bring himself to truly care. Aunt Helen's cooking was just that good. Regardless, things lightened up after the food, when everyone started to dance and mingle in a more natural way.

Matt wasn’t able to spend as much time as he wanted with his friends, but that was precisely why they arrived before everyone else, and they got their celebrations out early.

The reception itself was a veritable whirlwind as everyone wished to greet them, offer them best wishes, and in a few cases, offer them jobs. There was even one man who insinuated that Liz was wasting herself on such a ‘pedestrian, valueless peasant’.

Matt wasn’t entirely sure where Aiden had come from, or how long he had been listening, but the Ascender appeared from nowhere, punched the offending minor noble clear into the ocean, paused just long enough to toast Matt and Liz, and vanished once again. He hadn’t even spilled his drink. No one even blinked as who was going to question Duke Water's if the royals didn't?

In total, the party lasted for a full day and a half, which was almost a shock to Matt. He wasn’t tired in the slightest, but considering he’d never need to sleep again unless he wanted to, perhaps that shouldn’t have been a surprise.

Before they could rest, however, they had an unexpected last piece of business to attend to. Matt was carrying Liz to their room, and upon opening the door, he found the Emperor sitting on their bed and sipping from a glass of swirling, crimson wine. Only once Matt had set Liz down did Emmanuel look up at them.

“Your Majesty. How may we help you?” Matt said. They had exchanged some brief words during the reception, but he hadn’t mentioned any need for a private conversation and from his general demeanor this felt official.

Emmanuel smiled as he said, “It’s nothing urgent, I just needed a brief moment to talk. You’ve earned your immortality now, which is commendable in its own right. Doing so while on The Path is even more so, and comes with due rewards.” At that, he opened his hand to reveal two spatial rings, which floated onto their awaiting palms.

“I recommend waiting on opening it. I would have given this to you later, but I’m leaving soon, and wanted to do this in person. It’s your wedding, and soon honeymoon. You will have plenty of time to focus on work in the near future, but for now, you should relax and enjoy the festivities as much as you’re able.” He gave a small laugh. “And for as long as Luna can stand the thought of spending time away from training. We’ll be relying on you in the near future, both of you, so this is a small token of our appreciation, paid in advance.”

Matt was hungry to see what he had been given for their Path milestone reward, but knew it would be rude to check after the Emperor himself had said to wait. Concentration potions were assured to be included, but more than likely, there was going to be something else on top of that.

Apparently, Emmanuel wasn’t finished.

“There is one additional gift, of a more personal nature. Normally, I should include this with the rest of your wedding presents, but one of the perks of power is that I can give the best gifts, and see the reactions first hand. It’s a highly underrated aspect of being one of the strongest people in the Realm. So, without further ceremony, I present to you: wedding photos.”

Matt looked to Emmanuel’s hand, where a data cube was offered up, which he took gingerly. He was highly confused as to how pictures of his own wedding would be considered a gift, which he was sure was evident on his face.

Emmanuel just grinned.

With more than a bit of hesitation expecting a prank of some kind, Matt connected to the cube with his AI to download the contents, at which point everything became clear.

They weren’t his wedding photos. It was the photos of his parents’ wedding, along with so much more. A video of the night his father proposed, photos of his mother with her college friends, his father meeting Matt’s maternal grandparents, thousands of photos and videos along the same theme of important moments in the life of his parents. There was some overlap with the information packet Matt had received from the city after the rift break, but many of them were previously lost, or likely not recorded in the first place.

In addition, there were recordings of important moments in Matt’s life. He had his own recordings of most of them, naturally, but they were from his own perspective, and didn’t have the detail or artistry that Emmanuel had seemingly put into these recordings. Meeting Eric and Dena, the rift challenge, Aster’s birth, meeting Liz, important rifts they had run together. It was a significant amount of material to go through, and he would be looking over it all in more detail in years to come.

He wasn’t sure how much time and effort it had taken for Emmanuel to use his Talent to peer back in time and record everything, but Matt was eternally grateful for the preservation of those moments.

By the time Matt came back to his senses in the present, Emmanuel was gone, and Liz was out of the shower. After muttering a sincere, “Thank you.” into the air, Matt wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and headed for his own shower, before joining Liz in bed where they went over some of the pictures.

While sleep may not have been needed, it was still nice, and he and Liz took a quick nap in each other’s arms. The half an hour it lasted was more than enough to rejuvenate them completely, and they rejoined their friends and family for breakfast, substantially more energized and chipper than Matt had ever felt before.

Immortality felt good.

As if sensing his thoughts, and wishing to disprove them, Luna swept in as they finished their food. She zeroed in on Aster and Liz and said, “Before the two of you leave my care, I want to discuss your alternate forms.”

Liz immediately popped out of her chair, even as all of her siblings tried to hide gleeful expressions, and Mara looked ready to self immolate at the thought of her being able to teach Liz how to fly. A topic she had been talking about for the last week, endlessly.

Aster, meanwhile, was literally vibrating with excitement at the thought of gaining a human form.

“Can I come?” Matt asked. When he received a nod, he gave a couple of hasty farewells, downed his last bite of breakfast, and scrambled after the three ladies.

“The first step in learning to change your form is to learn how to change your current body. Conveniently, you’re well-equipped to do so already. Many of the self-control exercises you’ve practiced can be extended from controlling mostly-autonomous tasks, to manipulating your body in ways your biology would prefer you not. Stop your hearts from beating, please.”

Though he didn’t have a beast form that he was trying to unlock, Matt still followed along the directions, as it sounded like there was overlap between transformations and reshaping his body.

In his chest, his heart came to a standstill, and from there, Luna guided them in following that feeling along their essence, to where they could sense their physical form as it was reflected in their spirit. Matt got it slightly after Liz and well before Aster, thanks to his Concept manifestation already connecting his Domain to his body in a tangible way.

While Matt worked on suppressing his glowing white pupils for himself, Luna taught Liz and Aster how to look for the same sensation of their ‘spiritual body’ as they delved inside their spirit, from their physical cultivation core to their bloodline core.

“I’m sorry, their what now? Did you say they have an additional core in their spirits?”

“They do, yes. Now that you’re Tier 15, you are permitted to learn more of the function of bloodlines, but that is less relevant at the moment.”

“But why can’t I sense the core?”

“In theory, you can, but for a multitude of reasons, including the different structure the core has and its slightly different behavior within the spirit, you probably won’t notice it unless you possess one yourself. or vastly out Tier someone with one.”

Something clicked for Matt and he asked, “Is that how people with bloodlines are able to sense one another?”

“It is related, but there is more to it. Now, once you’ve found your beast form within your bloodline, do you feel how it’s connected to your outer self? Try to find the connection between your bloodline and physical form. Aster, this will either be very difficult or very easy for you, as the connection is so large and obvious as to make the two forms seem practically the same. Once you’ve found it, you need to either push or pull the two forms in opposite directions, whichever feels more natural, until they are wholly distinct entities. Liz, that part should be fairly easy for you.”

It took a fair amount of time, with Aster finding her other form fairly quickly. but struggling to separate it from her current body, and Liz having difficulty finding her beast form. Once she did find it and isolated it from her current body, Luna had her do some kind of twisting and pulling that Matt presumed made sense, given what she was experiencing, but he couldn’t follow.

Then, there was a pop.

Across Liz’s entire body, reddish-orange cracks formed in the blink of an eye, glowing as though ‘Liz’ was simply a layer of skin over top of a molten core.

Then, his wife fell apart. Unlike the instantaneous and painless transformations he’d seen before of beasts changing forms, Liz broke into several charred pieces of flesh and bone, the former pieces of her body igniting into a tremendous pyre that stretched a dozen feet into the sky and filled the air with the smell of roasted cinnamon. Liz’s family appeared as though they had been waiting for just this. Upon further reflection, Matt realized they probably had been.

Several minutes later, the fire receded to reveal Liz once again.

Her new body was beautiful.

Dancing flames puffed out from between her feathers, giving her the appearance of something like a bird of paradise, with wings and a tail that swept out like a river of fire, a living firework giving off a few errant sparks. But beneath that initial exterior was a bird that was all predator.

Yellow eyes tinged with flames stared unblinkingly at all of the watchers, a ferociously curved beak gleamed a reddish-bronze color, and claws the color of molten steel came to a wickedly sharp point. Beneath the flames disguising themselves as puffy plumage, her actual feathers were streamlined to the point of being an airborne missile, a two-foot-tall creature of pure muscle and danger.

She chirped, then flinched at the sound of her own voice in an adorable display of confusion, her head cocking back and forth.

Using her AI, Liz projected. “I can't speak?”

Luna just looked at her before saying, “Some birds' vocal cords are close enough to manage it with training, but phoenixes’ are not.”

As Mara started vibrating in excitement, Luna turned to Aster, who had watched Liz transform in horror.

“You next.”

Aster wilted. “Actually, I think I'm good in my fox form.”

“You’ll be fine. Yours won’t be nearly so dramatic, it’s just good to familiarize yourself with how to transform before you start making your human form.”

It took a bit more work for Aster, but eventually, a layer of snow formed on her, obscuring her body for a moment. The fox promptly sneezed, sending the snow drifting to the ground and revealing… Aster. She looked around at her unchanged body and then looked up at Luna in confusion.

“Did it work?”

Everyone’s ensuing laughter made Matt realize that while they may have ostensibly been around to watch Liz take flight, most of what they were actually waiting for was this.

Luna elaborated with a small grin. “You did indeed transform. You are, just like Liz, now in your ‘beast form,’ or technically your ‘bloodline form.’ The body you’ve been in for your entire life can be thought of as your ‘human form,’ though it’s also called the ‘true form,’ ‘birth form,’ or ‘malleable form.’ Now that you’ve properly separated your true form and bloodline form, changes made to either your bloodline or body won’t be reflected in your other form. For example, if you were to change your bloodline from winter to fire, your ‘human form’ would now remain unchanged as a fox with white fur, while your bloodline form, which you are currently in, would become a fire fox with red fur. With enough training, even most wounds won’t be carried between forms, whereas as of now they would be.

“However, your original form is not called the malleable form for nothing. That is the body which born beasts will shape into their human form. While your bloodline form will only ever be a reflection of your bloodline, and must stay within certain bounds without changing your bloodline, you can reshape your birth form to be whatever you please, such as a human.”

Liz squawked in indignation at that. “But I needed to explode, and she didn't? How is that fair? That hurt!”

Luna opened her mouth to respond when Mara was momentarily engulfed in flames, residing a moment later to reveal Matt’s mother in law in bird form. She looked similar to Liz, of course, but her plumage was sculpted into a more regal form, a crown of feathers atop her head, and was also twenty times as large. She scooped up a protesting Liz in one claw, and all of her siblings in the other, then took to the sky in a flap of her wings strong enough that the wind nearly knocked Matt to the ground.

Her departure made Matt momentarily chilly, as the building-sized living bonfire left, but Luna’s voice pulled him back from staring at the rapidly-retreating raptor of flame.

Luna sighed before saying, “She can explain the rest to Liz while she learns how to fly. As for you, Aster, you can stay in either form as you like for now. Do either of you have any questions?”

Aster yipped her own indignation. “It feels unfair that I need to make my human body from scratch.”

Luna shot that complaint down immediately. “Life isn’t fair. The Academy will teach you all you need to know about making your new body however you choose, but if it makes you feel better, both Matt and Liz will be completely remaking their bodies in the meantime as well.”

Matt reached down and patted her and noticed something. “Huh, your fur isn’t as soft in this form.”

He realized that was the wrong thing to say, as Aster pulled out her brush set and begged him to fix that for her while she tried to mope. An unsuccessful venture, due to the fact they had front row seats to their own comedy show…

Liz trying to learn how to fly.

To put it nicely, she was not good.

To put it bluntly, Matt had to wonder if she would make a better fish than a bird, as she spent more time in the water than in the air. Every time she splashed down, though, one of her siblings would swoop in and scoop her out, drying her off and reigniting her natural flames a moment later with a spark of their own.

It took a few hours, but Liz did start to get the hang of it, and was able to fly around in a circle without losing control and plummeting to the water below.

Landing was less successful, and she stumbled in a feathered heap, much to Aster and Matt’s enjoyment, when she finally called it enough practice for one day.

Her transformation back to human form was both much less grotesque and much faster, taking only about a minute of her trying before flames billowed out and resolved into her human body, now completely naked. She didn’t miss a beat, sweeping the lingering flames from her transformation into a short dress of fire before she ran off to the villa to change with an excited gait.

She returned a few seconds later once redressed, and Matt handed her back her teleportation ring, having retrieved it from the pyre of her first transformation. He was met with an enthusiastic hug, and subsequently was treated to quite a bit of gushing about how excited she was to fly genuinely on her own, no skills, items, or even Domain needed.

Luna took a few moments to explain that if she stored some clothes in the ring she could, with some practice, put the clothes away before her transformation destroyed them and resummon them quickly enough she didn’t need to worry about being naked in public. That was a task easier done with a special spatial ring that could transform with her, but they would need to buy one of those on their own in the coming years, due to the higher price for the specialized enchantment.

Then they spent one last day with their family and friends before heading off for a three planet, two month long honeymoon where they could relax and enjoy themselves before they got back to work.

It also marked the occasion where Aster needed to leave for Red Feather Academy.

Matt and Liz made sure to go over all of her spatial rings and the belongings in her house to make sure she wasn’t missing anything, but he still felt like she was forgetting something as she boarded the shuttle.

Even promising to keep in touch felt hollow with the restrictions in place for the first year or so for bonds.

Aster had been by his side from almost the moment his journey on the Path started, and her going away was a hard pill to swallow. She tried to keep up a brave front, but they were still bound spirit to spirit, and he could feel her sadness as the shuttle rose into the sky.

Adjusting to Aster being fully gone wasn’t easy, but Matt and Liz kept busy enough, and the exotic locales they were touring were interesting enough that the lack of their cold-nosed companion didn’t bother them too much.

They also sorted through their wedding presents.

Of the mountain of gifts, most were assuming that they were leaving the Path, and so were beyond what they were actually allowed to accept. They all went into a pile for Luna to determine a fair method of ‘earning’ them. Those privy to the fact Matt and Liz weren’t, in fact, actually off the Path tended to choose presents that would be much easier for them to earn. A new formation for riftmaking from Erwin, a flying sword from Travis and Keith, some skills from Mara, a book on winged flight from Leah, a set of recordings about Domains from Duke Waters, it just seemed never-ending.

Others were fine for them to use on account of being functionally useless. Landscapes of tropical beaches, spatially expanded terrariums filled with miniature landscapes, a miniature phoenix made out of fire in a shell of glass, a potted glassleaf tree, and more. Those were used mostly as intended, save for an animated drawing Erin had given them. Liz snatched that out of Matt’s hands the moment she realized who it was from.

He hadn’t seen it since despite looking.

There was a bit of overlap in the middle, like a new blender and tea set from Aunt Helen, but those usually went in the first pile. The one exception was a new mattress courtesy of Leon that literally felt like sleeping on a cloud, and they shamelessly planned to use, in multiple ways, until they were told they weren’t allowed to.

All good things came to an end, of course, and their honeymoon was no exception.