Everything was a muddled haze. Logan had awoken not long ago, sat atop his ruined bed—at least, it should've been ruined. Instead, its silk was completely repaired, any signs of wear and tear removed from reality.
On the other hand, the rest of his room which had been decimated by his surges of mana sat completely unbothered, fresh and vibrating with all the same resilience that a new toy possesses.
"What's going on?"
Rubbing his head, he looked to his sides, then below him. There sat the little succubus, nuzzled up in his lap. The way she'd been drifting aloft so carefree earlier, it was weird to see her in a relaxed state. She was in such a deep sleep that Logan might've even been able to make out a sleep bubble expanding from her nose.
Lazily, she opened one eye, staring up at the exhausted Logan. He didn't try to get up yet—not with the severe aches heating his joints. It was like he'd just ran a hundred miles, and it didn't help that he wasn't even used to this new body.
To add on, he didn't even need to bother sensing his core to feel that his mana had been completely used up, a sensation that he was unfamiliar to. It was like being deathly starved, but the feeling persisted in every single cell of his body, not just his stomach. Like something vital was being constantly waved in front of him, but never received.
"Oh, so you're up," the succubus asked calmly, floating up off Logan's leg.
"Cut the bullshit!" he retorted, cutting his hand through the air like a butcher's knife. For a moment, Logan looked down in pursuit of the power he held not that long ago, but it didn't respond. He could sense its distant presence, but it slept like a tired boar.
"You should really watch your tone with me," the succubus persisted, "after all, we're partners in crime now."
With a raised eyebrow, Logan looked at the succubus just once. "Partners in crime?"
"So your memory's foggy—a side effect of a spiritually binding contract. Don't worry, I'll catch you up to speed." With her hand pressed against Logan's forehead, a bright flash of light zoomed through the air, bringing with it a tide of insight.
'Ah that's right, the contract!' he realized, jumping up from the bed with sudden rapidity. 'Selene, how is she!'
Yes, he'd just entered a contract with the succubus in order to save Selene's life. However, if he's here by himself on the bed with no sister in sight, then...
Slamming the door behind him, he rushed to the other side of the house where his parents' bedroom was—also the room that Selene had been sleeping in until their mother's return.
"Wait!" the succubus pleaded, struggling to follow his speed. "Damn this small body... wait, Logan! She's alright!"
With one sudden jerk, he wrenched the door open to reveal his younger sister, balled up under the king size bed with a single, purple cover.
Despite the room being dim with little to no outside light coming in through the windows, Logan could still hone in on her rising chest—perhaps due to his increased natural perception after the awakening—a telltale sign of breathing.
Like ice had crept its way through his blood to calm his heart, his face fell, giving in to the relief. 'Thank god... Selene, you're safe."
A sigh of relief and downturning of the tension in his limbs was all it took for the succubus to catch up, hovering closely above him. "What did I tell you? Is it really so hard to trust me?"
Carefully, he closed the door to not wake his sister. Then, once closed, he made his way back to his bedroom, his gait far more casual than before. "Well, I'll say you didn't have the best first impression. I mean, you come into my room fully naked, try to squeeze me out of my life, and then offer me a contract through handshake like some type of devil—if you're not one."
The succubus was squeezed between laughing and pouting, deciding instead to give their best attempt at a smile. After the two were secluded in his room once again, she decided it best to sit down on his bed, patting the space next to her to signal where he should sit.
"What I said wasn't a lie, earlier. I have to do it for survival, though, in that specific case, the type of survival I sought wasn't from natural death. See, there's things worse than just simple death. In my case, if I didn't gobble you up, I, and everyone I love may very well have been erased from existence."
Logan sat down, laying his back on his bed. "What do you mean?"
"Ah, nevermind. It wouldn't be good to concern a little boy like you with such matters anyway."
Unsure of how to respond, Logan just turned himself in her direction, looking at her current form once more.
"Okay, but explain this form you have. Why didn't you die when you were turned into a shriveled prune?"
"That's a rather crude way of going about things." She laughed, holding her hand up to her chest. "But it is as you say. I really thought I was going to die. Right when I thought I'd lost all my mana and my spiritual form would disappear, I was able to take in some of the ambient mana that you'd left behind—Left me in this state and fried my mana circuits. Thankfully, you don't seem to have very much control of your powers, yet."
Logan made a curious hum. "My powers...? That's right. Do you know what exactly I did when we... were dancing?"
"Boy, don't be so prudent, just say we had sex." The succubus tapped Logan's side, almost teasing. He pulled back a bit at the contact, but eventually settled down. "But no, not exactly. See, I've never seen anyone or... anything like you. In some ways, you're more spiritual than human."
"Elaborate."
Flying up in the air, the succubus wrote entire circles through its mana-infused wings. "Mana particles, these pink things floating in the air—which you should be able to see, given your refactored spiritual physique—exist all throughout the world. A gift from the gods, as they say."
Logan shuffled upright to listen to the succubus more carefully. "Yes, everyone knows this. What's your point?"
The succubus made an affirmative 'hmph,' now spinning up in the air to dive back down, sending a splurge of mana in every direction. "When goddess Kathria crashed down upon the earth, she spent a great deal of her energy protecting herself from the impact. From it, she was defenseless. However, the olden creatures that roamed the planet of that time—now believed to be the progenitors of humans and spiritual beings—helped her recover, giving her the fruits of the earth and teaching her of its culture. In time, the goddess grew to appreciate life, a quality that she didn't possess in her time before."
Tilting his head, Logan crossed his arms while taking a moment to soak in the information. "I've never heard about this version of the story before."
She nodded. "Version...? Yes, this story is kept from you humans. For us spiritual beings, it's common day curriculum." Now floating still in the air, she continued. "As a departing gift, Kathria handed the peoples two gifts. One, the power of mana. She infused it into the earth's very core—empowered the planet to produce its own mana and infinitely recycle its resources. And the second—"
"The Gift..." Logan added.
"Correct, the power of the Gift, or, in other words, the ability for those unequipped with spiritual physiologies to use mana. At that time, Kathria granted the olden peoples two choices. Either become one with the mana and learn of its power, or maintain their physical forms and naturally acclimate themselves to the Gift. Eventually, the ones who chose the latter became humans. That is how you humans are able to fight in the same way us spiritual beings do."
'If the mana is the earth, then...' he thought. Looking down, Logan watched the way the mana in his core moved, swirling with its own intent.
"Okay, but what does any of this have to do with me?"
"It has everything to do with you. See, you have components of a spiritual being's physiology, but a human mana core used for the Gift. Still, the power swirling inside you is not a Gift by any metric, but more an Aspect that us spiritual beings use. It's all really confusing."
"In other words, you have no real way of gauging what my powers are?"
"Not truly. Although, if we recreate the conditions for your awakening..."
For a moment, nobody bothered to speak, saturating in the awkwardness. Then, reservedly, Logan spoke. "You mean having sex with someone again?"
"Correct. But next time, you very well may die."