Shocked by the voice's revelation, Leon remained motionless in the void for a long moment, his thoughts colliding. The silence of Chaos seemed to weigh physically upon him.
— My friend, you do not have much time if you wish to keep your humanity, interrupted the disembodied voice, its vibration now seemingly more pressing. Creatures of chaos, by nature, have no fleshly shell. You look like a hybrid species to me, an unstable mixture of human and chaos. But if you stay too long in this environment, your primordial side will end up devouring your mortal part. You will be nothing more than a shadow among shadows.
— Damn... and how can I get back? Leon asked, feeling a glacial urgency rising within him.
— You cannot. You are not strong enough to move by your own will in this realm. But... I can help you.
Leon narrowed his eyes, searching for a presence in the darkness.
— Help me? And what will be the price? I know nothing is free in this world, especially coming from someone as powerful as you.
— Hahaha! Such insight! the creature laughed, making the space ripple around Leon. Do not worry, my fragile little friend. I have a spell that can send you back to your world... What did you call it again? Aetheris? I have never heard of it; it sounds like a mere realm of mortals. But you see, here in chaos, there is nothing amusing. I am certain one can find much better entertainment among humans. Something tells me your journey will be fascinating to follow.
The voice paused, as if already savoring what was to come.
— If you agree, I will send an avatar of myself with you. I will visit your world through its eyes. For if I were to enter your realm with all my strength, I would risk destroying it simply by setting foot there. Hahahah!
Leon thought quickly. Pros and cons clashed in his mind, but the advantages outweighed them. Having such a powerful entity by his side, even in avatar form, would allow him to get answers about his nature and about controlling this dark energy.
— I accept, he finally said. But on one condition: you must protect me at least once in an absolute emergency, and you will teach me how to control this chaos energy.
— That does not bother me, the voice replied. But be careful; my avatar will only be able to deploy real power once. Beyond that, it is merely an observer.
— No problem.
As soon as Leon uttered those words, a crushing fatigue washed over him. His senses went dark, and he sank once more into unconsciousness.
Leon woke up abruptly, not because of a noise, but from a repulsive stench invading his nostrils. It was a smell of decomposition, rotten eggs, and burnt ozone. Opening his eyes, he recognized the cracked ceiling of his inn room. Everything seemed as he had left it, save for one detail: his body.
He was covered in a viscous black pus and thick grime that clung to his sheets. The stench was so strong he nearly fainted. Hurrying to the shared washroom, he locked himself in and ran the water in great jets to scrub his skin.
After a shower that lasted nearly an hour, Leon inspected himself in the small copper mirror of the bathroom. What he saw left him speechless.
His metamorphosis was radical. He had grown twenty centimeters, now reaching a solid six feet (1.80m). His skin, once tanned by the sun and hard labor, had become a creamy clarity, soft to the touch but incredibly firm, as if concealing an invisible armor. His body had been sculpted; fine, wiry musculature defined every limb with surgical precision.
But it was his face that troubled him the most. His features had become finer, sharper. His obsidian black hair, once dull, now shone with a deep luster, streaked with almost imperceptible violet strands in the direct light. His eyes, finally, had changed entirely: he was now afflicted with striking heterochromia, the left eye an electric violet and the right an intense blood red.
He exuded a cold and mysterious beauty, a presence that would never go unnoticed again.
After drying off and devouring a gourmet lunch at a nearby restaurant to fill an immense gastric void, Leon returned to the inn. At the entrance, the innkeeper stopped him dead, looking at him as if he were seeing a ghost.
— So, what happened to you, kid? Were you so desperate that you paid for a magical metamorphosis to change your shitty face? Hahaha!
Leon passed by him without answering, his gaze cold. But the man insisted:
— And first of all, where were you the last ten days?
Leon stopped short on the first step of the stairs.
— What? What day is it? How much time is left before the train to the Aetheris Academy arrives?
— I see you had so much fun you didn't see the time pass, the innkeeper mocked. The train arrives the day after tomorrow, at nine in the morning. Careful not to miss it, "pretty boy."
Ten days. The awakening had lasted ten days. Without another word, Leon went up to his room to plan the next steps. Entering, he froze. On his bed, comfortably settled on the straw pillow, an obsidian black cat stared at him with its violet eyes.
— Well? Aren't you even going to bring me something to snack on? Where are the host's manners among mortals these days? the feline launched in a voice that resonated in Leon's mind.
— Eeeh... who are you? Leon stammered.
The cat stretched with aristocratic elegance before licking one of its paws.
— Such ingratitude. You beg me to save you, yet you forget me the moment you get home.
— Wait... time out... Are you telling me that you are the creature that spoke to me in the Chaos?
— "A creature"? Where are your manners? I am the avatar of your savior. You may call me Yato, and I shall follow you from now on, in accordance with our agreement.
The cat jumped off the bed and began inspecting the room with an air of sovereign disdain. Leon sat heavily on his chair. His peaceful life as a coffee server was fast receding. Between his new powers, his appearance of a dark noble, and a chaos god reincarnated as a house cat, the journey to the Aetheris Academy promised to be much more complex than expected.