(Saturday, 31/10/1058, early evening)
(Henryk's PoV)
I woke up... or so I think. I feel nothing. Not heat. Not clothes on my skin. Not even my own movement. I felt none of that. I don't even know if I'm awake or not because of all the lacking senses. Well, I can still hear things, fortunately. Yet again, it could be a dream.
If this wasn't a dream, I'd be in bed. Judging by the position and elevation of the breathing of the person besides me, they are probably sleeping while leaning on the bed's side.
'It's either Carillon or Shira' I thought about it. 'It's definitely Shira'
"You should close your eyes, man" I heard Carillon's voice right by my side. My other side. My guess was right and the sleeping person is my wife.
"Don't smile like that either" He said as I heard him sighing, putting a hand on the bed.
"Is Shira leaning with her knees on the ground?" I asked. Although I tried to talk in a whisper, what I wanted to avoid happened.
"Henry?!" Shira heard my lowered voice and woke up. Laden with drowsiness, she called my name. Her melodious voice exuded anticipation, yet even more so worry and anxiety.
"Yes?" I said back, unsure of what to say after. I did put myself into a pretty nasty situation, after all.
I heard some shuffling from her side. Her sobs were getting louder as she came closer.
"Do you feel me?" She said, choking on her tears.
"..." I remained silent. Saying no or remaining silent, neither was better than the other.
Just then, I thought of something that might calm her mind.
"I can use the same magic to recover my sense of touch, then slowly work my way to f- living without the use of my eyes" I corrected myself, though not quickly enough as it appears. I heard a loud slap and my ears picked up the tiny draft of air from them moving. Shira slapped me.
"If entering the dungeon is more important than your life, then you shouldn't have met me!" I heard her sobs right where my torso would be. "Don't make me love you and then die in that gods forsaken dungeon!"
Long has it been since Carillon walked out. Maybe he wanted to be as silent as he could be, but he left hurriedly enough to produce some sound when he walked out.
Well, we are well and truly alone in the room now. It seems that Fey was also here. She remained silent the entire time before exiting.
'Acting cute and childlike for affection is one thing, but I need to give them some room' Fey thought, feeling a knot form in her chest while she thought about holding back on hugging me immediately. That was what I believe she felt, what I subsequently felt through the link.
'Love you, father' Fey thought as she was walking away.
'Love you too, my beautiful paralysis demon, always' I sent her through the link. I cut off the link before any more thoughts were exchanged. The last thing I heard, or rather felt, as I cut the link was her feeling flattered.
I went back to formulating something to convince Shira that I was fine.
"Remember? I already started transforming my body to the likeness of a Cluwr, starting with my tail" I said. I intended not to move, not sure if I did or if I didn't. "I can grow the same specialized hairs, the whiskers, to feel the world without seeing it with my eyes"
I heard a thud, then another, then another.
"I hate it!" Shira cried longingly. "The dungeon! I hate the mention of it!" I heard yet another thud. "I had to hear of my brother's death in the dungeon from a stranger!" She sobbed some more before continuing. "Now I have to see my husband lose pieces of himself, and possibly die, with my own eyes!"
I don't know how well this might work, but I tried to move my hands around the surface of the bed. If they succeeded in finding her or her hands, I couldn't know for sure. The only thing I know is that she was sobbing a little less and more quietly.
"I could relegate all fighting matters to my tamed monsters until I need to rank-up myself. How about that?" I said.
"I hate you" She murmured. "I hate how you coax me to calm down when I'm justified to feel angry"
I remained silent. This time, it was not to make mistakes. If one doesn't know what to say, one should stay silent.
"Say something..." There was a pause, filled with nothing other than her sobs, before a much softer thud.
'The pain I'll feel after restoring my sense of touch. Ouch'
"All I can say is that I need to try" I said. "Nothing is certain without trying"
Shira was very quiet. I waited for a while, but I heard no response. She may have fallen asleep.
I sighed.
After some time passed, and I heard her rhythmic breathing, I started chanting as quietly as I could manage. There were some hiccups, what with the chant needing a certain level of vocality. I almost exploded a few times through the chant from how near-silent I did it.
There was also Shira's hearing. Oh, Shira's enhanced hearing. I barely avoided waking her up. I was walking a metaphorical tight rope attempting to do what I did without waking her.
After a few attempts, effectively troubleshooting the multiple reasons why the sense of touch could be lost, I finally caught what the spell chose at random to be the cost that took my sense of touch. It was a combination of my nerve endings failing at their job and my brain rejecting their input when they occasionally did their job right.
When I asked for my sense of touch back, I fainted with a splitting headache. In that split second, I could feel the aftereffects of Shira hitting my chest, along with my entire body aching. I also felt my blood pressure spike with the sudden input of our tails entangled together. The way her body was pressed against mine didn't help. It was... very problematic.
I'm very thankful I passed out right then. It could possibly be due to information overload, the change from feeling nothing to feeling everything again. It could also be my empty mind reserves, which emptied in both my additional core and the rest of my body. Maybe. I don't really feel much beyond my consciousness slipping in the same way mind down takes it.
I don't remember to whom, but I sent a message through one or two of my mental links so that they gather magic stones while I'm knocked out cold by my own hands.
(Sunday, 1/11/1058, morning)
I woke up to Shira hugging me in her sleep, much less problematic than before. I'm ashamed of feeling pleased with this hug while she's agonising over my plight.
'What time is it?' I asked Futura through the link.
'It's morning' I heard Futura's internal voice, riddled with something I couldn't quite grasp a hold of or name. She remained silent after that. Human facial expressions are far easier to read than direct emotions.
I cut all mental links. I would appreciate the silence with my wife by my side for now.
We stayed like that for some time before Shira shifted. I had to wake her up before things became awkward.
"Shira" I called her name. She didn't respond.
"Shira" I called her name again. I did it a few more times to no avail. By then, I started to feel uncomfortable. If she were awake, this would've been a hot moment. Problem's that she wasn't, and the moment's cold as ice.
Extreme moments call for extreme measures. I stood up and threw her on the bed.
"Nya?!!" She screamed in confusion as she tumbled across the bed, falling down the other side of it. I heard the thud.
"What was that for?!" She asked in protest.
"Well, let's say that I did that to avoid losing control of myself" I waved a hand dismissively.
'What I'd pay to see her expression right now' I sighed.
There was a short silence before things escalated without warning. I was grabbed and thrown on the bed. Even without my eyes, I could feel it, the predatory gaze of my kitten of a wife. She was pinning me down to the bed.
I may have taken it as a challenge and flipped our roles, pinning her under me.
(After everything was done)
"..." Shira was sitting in front of the vanity in utter, unadulterated shame-induced silence. I was braiding her hair. With my fingers' sense of touch restored, I could do it with my eyes closed. What I craved was the chatting I was starting to get used to as I did her hair the past days.
I pretended to try and get a strand of hair from the top of her head and felt the place of her ears. I blew into one and pulled away as I felt her trembling through her hair.
"Stop!" She said in a voice laced with embarrassment. "I'm dealing with enough emotions as it is!"
"What can I say" I said with a sigh at the end. "I felt challenged and replied in kind" I could feel a smirk tear its way across my face.
"..." She produced some unintelligible sounds. "Let's leave it be. Tickling me was a cheating move" I could feel her turn her face more to one side. She may be pouting, judging by her voice. It had the reverberation one gets from being made in a larger opening, i.e. an inflated mouth.
I blew into her ears another time, laughing as she playfully bit my arm, ears flaring to their limits.
"Going back to an important topic, I'll be attempting to slowly reproduce your transformation" I said while putting the finishing touches on her braid.
"Are you sure?" Shira said, clearly torn between celebrating me joining her and lamenting me becoming something other than what I was born as.
I kissed the top of her head when I was done with her hair.
"Worry not, my lady" I knelt on one knee, making sure I didn't accidentally turn to look away from her as I did so. I stretched a hand to her, which she held. "I chose this for more than I initially said"
"Demi-humans and animal people are people as well, I know that and I respect them, but changing a core piece of my identity... If I didn't have you, I may have gone crazy for a while" She shuddered. I felt it in my hand. She implied a question in her words, yet she didn't speak it. She was hesitant to do so.
"I'm fine because I don't take a particular attachment to being human" I said. "I won't lie. It'll affect me for some time after the change. However, humans are insane at adapting to change, and I want to walk down that path out of my own volition"
Shira let go of my hand and lunged at me, enveloping me in a tight hug.
"Words cannot express how much I appreciate your presence in my life, even if father tricked me into having feelings for you" Shira said sincerely.
'Oh, she finally acknowledged it and said it to my face. Anyway, I meant to transform to the same race as her to sooth her, but I also wanna do it for the combat advantages of a more feline body-plan'
We separated after a while, Shira's tail still clinging to mine.
'Whatever' I thought, looking at where I feel my tail to be. 'It won't pose a problem'
We walked to a dresser where I found some more magic stones, as intended. Did I ever mention that I told Futura and the bunch to gather the magic stones of minotaurs and ligerfangs before passing out yesterday? The wolves had enough teamwork between them, and Kob could carve the stones with the delicate expertise of a human-like hand.
I started chanting with the magic stones in contact with my body. I felt Shira's tail grip mine tighter.
{Keep an additional, perfectly complete copy of my DNA, undergoing pseudo-constitutive heterochromatin packaging in a separate nucleus. Specialised Polycomb Repressive Complexes would patrol the surfaces of the dormant nucleus to ensure absolute dormancy}
I felt the mind move through the stones and into my skin, replacing my mind as it was consumed. It was a truly corrosive presence. If I attempted to keep it instead of immediately consuming it, I may die almost immediately.
Regardless, I felt that it was unable to accomplish anything before its consumption. I focused on the internal state of my refined mind stone and my body. My refined mind stone ran out first. That's when my body started draining its general mind reserves.
"Mind potion" I said briefly. Shira went back to the place where we arranged our equipment. There was exactly one mind potion remaining. I hoped there were two, at least.
I popped the potion. It restored around 15% of my mind, including the refined mind stone. By the way, this thing is equivalent to a fresh level 1's mind reserve in terms of capacity.
Now, where am I going with explaining all of this to myself? I'm trying to keep myself awake by distracting my brain from my near-empty mind reserves and the subsequent creep of a Mind Down. Hell, the spell emptied all of the magic stones of the strongest monsters of the floors 15 through 17, which numbered 23 magic stones.
"Shira... I'll sleep for a bit~" I swayed and slurred in my speech as I tipped over, falling into her arms.
I woke up a few hours later, having been hauled haphazardly on the bed. It seems that even with the boost of a falna, Shira elected not to deal with my weight. I don't blame her for that.
By now, I felt refreshed enough. Also, Loki was in the room. I knew that when I heard her coughing into her hand to grab my attention.
"To what do I owe the honour?" I said elaborately.
"Cut the nonsensical theatrics" Her voice came in sharply. I righted myself in response.
"You've continued to push yourself past the breaking point recklessly, Henryk Williams" She said.
"So? What's the point you want to make?" I asked her.
"First, I want you to know that I'm not playing games right now, nor am I gonna trick ya" She tried to reassure me.
"Go ahead" I said as I sat at the edge of the bed.
"You are also blind right now" She added.
"That I am, indeed" I said.
"So, you are no longer allowed to go to the dungeon, not before you figure out something with your magic" She said. "Preferably, you could change races" She suggested.
"I already started preparing for something big that involves complete transformation" I said, leaning on my interlocked fingers. "I added a secondary, completely dormant nucleus to facilitate transforming into a Cluwr and back to being a human at will"
"Interesting!" She listened to my explanation enthusiastically, humming at many of the tweaks I wanted to make and their details.
"Start with the whiskers" We both said in unison. She snickered, a mischievous streak coming back to her voice. "I need to replace my eyes in the meantime" I said
The rest of the day was spent planning what to do to adapt to the whiskers and arranging for a familia member who was willing to spar with me in close quarters for a while.
(Chapter End)
Now, for the scientific section. For those who will leave now, stay well.
Since it was such a long block of text, Author's Notes refused to save it and I had to put it as paratext.
Let's start by saying this: I highly advise you to review the next words with a Geneticist before believing them.
Now then, we should start by discussing what Henryk is doing right now.
Henryk created a second nucleus, housing its own copy of DNA inside of every cell in his body. He did so for two reasons. One he mentioned in the chapter, he wanted to transform into either form at will. The other reason is that he wanted to keep an intact copy of his DNA, unaltered, completely untouched. He kept that second copy also as a failsafe in case the primary nucleus, the genome of which he will alter regularly, goes rogue.
Now, for the "DNA silencing" mechanisms.
Genes are normally "packaged" to preserve space in the cell. This is what we call chromatin. Chromatin is further separated into Euchromatin and Heterochromatin. Heterochromatin is even further separated into Constitutive Heterochromatin and Facultative heterochromatin.
Euchromatin: It is the state of the genes when they are active and are accessible for transcribing and being used to form proteins.
Heterochromatin is when the genes are silenced, or deactivated, whichever term makes you understand it. In these states, the genes are inaccessible to the transcribing machinery of the cells.
Constitutive Heterochromatin: Genes under this method of deactivation are permanently deactivated. Those are mainly repetitive genes that are not needed under normal circumstances.
Facultative Heterochromatin: Genes under this method of deactivation are only temporarily deactivated. Examples of this are genes for body formation and development. You need thoracic genes to be active in the thoracic region but not in the head, so the body leaves them in Facultative Heterochromatin, when the first cell of your body is formed, to reactivate them when the related regions are to be formed, only to deactivate them again once their job is done. Those include genes that affect circadian rhythms, cellular stress responses, immune reactions, and hormone signaling, among others.
Do remember, neither Heterochromatin is truly permanent. The body, given the right signal, will reactivate genes in either states of Heterochromatin. It is more in line of the difficulty in doing so that Constitutive Heterochromatin is "permanent" and Facultative Heterochromatin is "temporary".
The body forming genes, again, are in Facultative Heterochromatin, yet they remain in it indefinitely once they are deactivated again.
Back to the main topic. Henryk put the entire secondary nucleus into heavy Constitutive Heterochromatin with Polycomb Repressive Complexes (PRC1 and PRC2) patrolling the crystalline-like deactivated nucleus to ensure that it is well-deactivated while not in use. With the use of his magic, he will switch which one he wants to be acting normal while the other is dormant.
Thank you for reading the ramblings of someone who is not specialized in Genetics. Again, I highly advise you to review these words with a professional before believing them.