REBIRTH

Sibyl's POV

There is no proper way to explain to another what it feels like to have the very core of yourself treated like a piece of outdated clothing. A seam ripper taken to your very soul, turning the fabric of your spirit into nothing more than a blank sheet. Ethereal claws moving like needles, sewing you into a new form of being. A loss of self, as if someone had plucked out the essence of what makes you who you are and perverted it into something beyond humanity and divinity. A bastardization of who you truly are.

Then, there was the sudden rebirth. As Aleister fixed the last thread into place, she felt herself act like a star, imploding and then bursting forth. Feeling another presence inside of her she dove towards it, searching it out. It filled in all the places that she felt herself missing, then expanded outwards. She felt the boundaries of herself blurring, as if she could not only just feel what her flesh felt but more, so much more. It felt as if ages had passed as she traced herself over all those different parts, like running your tongue over a tooth over and over again.

Slowly, things came into focus. It was like de jevu, like reliving her first moment in the Menagerie all over again. This time, she was in the same laboratory she passed out in. The lights in the room were soft glowing balls, floating right below the ceiling. She was laying in a typical patient's bed, sitting upright. It was positioned against a wall and in the middle of an arcane symbol. Her eyes hurt as they took in the view, each detail seeming finer, her mind swimming with all the information it was receiving. The herbs in the room smelled more intensely than before, and she felt like she could feel every thread of the blanket covering her.

She tried to block all other senses out besides her sight as she looked around. She had never gotten the chance to see the laboratory inside of Aleister's basement. On the wall next to the stairs there were hanging herbs of all kinds, some healing, some poisonous, and some who held both qualities. Below them was a large desk littered with drying implements and notes. On either side of the desk were large floor to ceiling bookcases, bursting with books. The bookcases had glass looking doors on them and seemed to be sealed.

Beside her were patient beds on either side, and in front of her were the two arcane circles that were used in her grafting. She shivered as she looked at them, remembering her lack of torso, then looked down at her own body. She was wearing a green silk robe that she assumed came from Aleister, but that was all, and a white sterile blanket covered her body. She pulled the blanket down and put a hand on her stomach, tracing the lines of where her skin stopped and the fae's skin began. It was almost seamless, no scarring, no bumps, just the stark color of her warm pale skin against the fae's cool toned, almost pigmentless skin.

She didn't want her eyes to water, she didn't want to care about the change of her body. She didn't want to feel so vain and frustrated. The body she woke up with yesterday would never return. She would never see it grow to fruition. When she ran from The Sanctuary she had been eighteen years old, and while at the Menagerie she had turned nineteen. Twenty was less than two months away and she would not celebrate it as the same person who celebrated her nineteenth. She didn't know it then, but the feeling she felt was grief. Grief for a loss of life she would never have again.

As she wiped her eyes she heard the turn of the lock up the stairs, her new hearing surprising her. Heavy and fast steps echoed down the wooden stair, as if the person was all but skipping. Aleister himself appeared from beyond the doorway, yellow eyes gleaming.

"My musa!" he called excitedly, then put a hand over his mouth and crinkled his eyes humorously, then softly said, "Sorry, that must hurt. New ears and all."

Sibyl scowled, quickly closing the robe over her form and pulling the blanket up. The fae moved forth, standing just outside the circle she was inside of. His eyes darted about quickly, as if he was looking at something she could not see.

"Your vitals all look good," he said, more to himself than her, "now that you're awake I can confirm acceptance of the mana system alongside your nervous system. No errors during initialization."

He murmured to himself and she stared at him with a complicated look on her face. This was the man who saved her life, twice now in fact, yet somehow she still wanted to wrap her hands around his throat and shake the life out of him.

"Accelerated heart beat. Absorbing ambient mana," Aleister shook his head and then looked her in the eyes, "Sibyl, are you alright?"

She almost replied "just fine" but before she did so, she caught a glimpse of her body. Lines on her skin, like veins, were glowing a soft blue, but as soon as she recognized it and her frustration fled her, it disappeared.

"No idea what you were thinking of, but be careful, my musa. Until you understand your new body you must keep aware of your feelings. Wouldn't want to let off some mana without some direction, would we?" Aleister chided softly, shaking his finger at her.

She wasn't looking at him, instead she was tracing her fingers along the lines that had disappeared. Before, during her mana introduction studies, she was able to do small things with the guidance of Aleister. Imbue extra power into salves and potions, or make a blade fractionally stronger. This, apparently, was amazing news. Only about a fourth of humans could interact with mana, and even fewer who could communicate with it, or program it as Aleister called it. To her, these things were nothing.

She had seen Svetlana create amazing illusions that couldn't be distinguished from reality. She'd seen Merle turn into a giant blackbird. Yifa could even tap into people's hearts and help heal their wounds, as long as they were willing. Then, she'd seen what the demons could do. Petty magic was worthless in a world that would rip you in two just for breathing in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now, though, she could sense that there was much more than petty magic in her veins.

"Sibyl? Sibyl? Sibyl!" Aleister said more and more forcefully until she looked at him, "Ahem," he coughed, "I know that you've just woken up but I do, in fact, have some unfortunate news. It looks like that demon Merle slayed was someone rather important," he motioned towards the stairs, "We're going to have a meeting about what to do next. I thought if you were awake you'd like to participate. Shall we?"