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The ball of fire in her hand began to bubble. Moments from bursting. And she’d lost control.

Chergoa, please...!

‘I’m here, Em.’

She felt new life surge into her as those words found her mind. ‘Chergoa!’ Where was she? Emiliana still couldn’t see her. She couldn’t see anything.

‘Listen to me. We’re gonna merge. Right here. Right now.’

‘I--ah--but we’ve--’

‘Never done it before, yeah. But it’s okay. Pan-wzrost is way easier than the other hyper-states. There’s nothing to worry about.’

That sounded like a lie, but Emiliana appreciated the confidence in the reaper’s tone, at least. ‘What if it’s too soon for us?’

‘It’s not.’

Yeah, that was definitely a lie. ‘It’s not worth the risk, Chergoa. I’ll be fine. The mutation will only... it’ll only affect me... so... just... don’t--’

‘It’ll be fine. After we merge, I’ll take some of the mental pressure off you.’

‘But--you have even less experience than I do!’

‘Girl, I am three thousand years old. I’ve done this plenty of times.’

‘You’re lying...’

‘No, I’m not. You’re just panicking. Listen to my voice. I’m going to start the merge. Everything will be fine. Just don’t freak out when you start seeing all my memories. I’ve borne witness to some pretty fucked up shit, so just try and focus on the present, if you can.’

‘Oh, god...’

‘Here we go.’

And then Emiliana felt extremely strange. Like her mind was being stretched across her whole body. From her skull down into her feet. Nameless sensations filled her thoughts, pushing out anything logical or coherent, overwhelming her with foreign feelings.

Which was not entirely unfamiliar, oddly enough. This was, in some respect, how it felt when glimpsing Agam’s knowledge--or at least, it seemed to be. Somehow, this was putting those prior moments into a new context. A clearer view, when they’d previously been so confusing and vague.

Perhaps because this was so much more potent. There was no uncertainty about what was happening here. This was Chergoa’s mind melding with hers.

Present. She needed to stay present.

But there was so much. The reaper hadn’t been lying. Not about her history, at least. She really was three thousand years old, wasn’t she?

‘Don’t wander,’ came the reaper’s voice again, this time with much more power behind it, reverberating all around. ‘We’re together now. Stay with me.’

Emiliana listened. It took all she had, but she listened.