As Zay opened his eyes, he flexed his fingers and rubbed his hands together, expecting the familiar coarse texture of calloused skin. Instead, his palms were smooth, his fingertips softer than he could remember them ever being.
The sensation was unsettling. He turned his hands over slowly, studying the delicate lines in the skin, the way the tendons moved under a finer, more slender structure. Even his wrists looked different, narrower, the bones seeming smaller beneath the skin.
A faint shift of weight drew his attention to his chest. It wasn't much, but it was undeniably there. The black trench coat that had once molded perfectly to his frame now hung awkwardly over this altered form. The shoulders sagged, the sleeves hung just a little longer, and the fabric brushed against his sides instead of fitting snugly.
His center of gravity had shifted, lower now, but his balance adjusted instantly. His legs felt lighter as well when he took a step forward.
He glanced down, taking in the slimmer line of his legs beneath the coat. The rain-soaked fabric clung faintly to him, outlining a narrower frame. He rotated one shoulder, then the other, feeling the looseness of his coat and the absence of his usual physical heft.
'My hands are soft… there's a slight weight on my chest. My body feels lighter, and I'm definitely shorter now… but that's fine. I made this choice. No point in whining about it.
He exhaled slowly, letting the rain slide down his face and drip from his chin. 'First thing I need to do is get clothes that actually fit. Let's just get that over with.'
...
After several hours of taking measurements at clothing stores, buying clothes, and even receiving some for free thanks to his charm, along with free meals as well, the day had begun to slip away.
It was now 7:52 P.M. He stood in the same place he had earlier that day, at the port. He now wore a white tunic paired with matching white leggings and black boots that fit snugly and comfortably around his feet.
'I really need to think of a name… A fake identity, a fake name, and a fake background…'
Zay looked out toward the sea, but the ship was nowhere in sight. He sighed, turning the thought over in his mind for several minutes before eventually giving up on creating a new name. 'I'll just use Sable. Sable Rosefield. As for my background? I'll come up with something on the spot if it gets asked and hope it works.'
He slowly inhaled, then exhaled, closing his eyes and accepting that for the next four months, he would be known as Sable Rosefield. He had no plan for his background, no proof of identity, but he was ready to face those challenges when they came.
'I guess this is the best way to do it. I'm unsure… but it doesn't really matter. I just need to get it over with.'
Sable opened her eyes, glancing down at her hands before materializing Evershade into her grasp. The blade felt just as light as always, and she smiled faintly, relieved to know that this change hadn't altered her ability to wield it.
'It's nearly time for the rift to open. I suppose Rei wasn't wrong when he called it a perk. Still… I don't understand how the charm never affected either Rei or Naomi, even after all this time. I expected it to, but it didn't. Maybe they're simply too strong-willed for the passive effect to take hold.'
Sable shrugged her shoulders, then glanced back at the sound of approaching footsteps. She saw Rei and Naomi walking toward her.
Naomi stared at her, unable to believe what she was seeing. "Rei explained what might be happening… but I didn't actually think this would happen."
Sable rolled her eyes and sighed. "Might as well get it over with now rather than have it interrupt something important later. Also, I'll be going by Sable until this curse is over with."
Naomi's gaze moved over her, taking in the clarity of her skin, the fullness of her lips, and the way her hair swayed around her shoulders. She blinked several times, still refusing to believe this was real. "I still can't believe you actually went through with this... Sable."
Sable chuckled softly and gave a simple nod. "Well, it doesn't really matter now. The rift for Varnis will open in a few minutes. It is supposed to be around here somewhere. That is the main reason we came to the port. Did you both get everything you wanted to bring with you?"
Rei nodded. "I have stored everything inside my Arbiter: Vault."
Naomi replied after a moment, "I just gave all of my belongings to my shadows. I figured they would be safe enough there."
Sable exhaled softly before sitting at the edge of the port, tucking her left leg beneath her right so that the top of her left boot rested against her right leg. She leaned back on her hands, eyes drifting closed as she listened to the waves crashing into one another.
The wind caught her hair, tossing the dark strands across her face before she brushed them aside and opened her eyes. She checked the time. 7:58 P.M. Two minutes until the rift to Varnis opened.
'Two minutes. When it happens, it'll be interesting to see how Rei and Naomi react. It's their first time experiencing something like this… their first step into the Second Realm.'
She closed her eyes again, listening to the distant crash of the waves against the port's stone foundation. The air felt heavier now, the breeze carrying a faint, almost electric tingle that teased the skin. Even without seeing it, she knew the rift was close to forming.
Another minute slid by. Sable rose to her feet, her boots scraping lightly against the damp wood. She drew in a slow, steady breath, uncertain what form the Second Realm would take for her this time. Every arrival had been different.
The last time Zay had entered Varnis, he found himself conscripted into training as an officer for a powerful kingdom. The time before that, he had been stationed behind a guild counter, serving as a Guild Receptionist. Day after day, he'd handled registrations for both veteran adventurers and fresh recruits, processed rewards for completed quests, assigned contracts, and mediated disputes between mercenaries who preferred steel over words.
But that wasn't the only lives he had lived there. In another, much darker incarnation, Zay had served as an officer for a kingdom that would eventually fall, not to an invading force, but by his own hand. The ruin had spread from within, ignited by nothing more than a coin flip. That single, careless gesture had determined whether cities stood or burned, whether armies marched or withered, whether kingdoms endured or vanished into ash.
It had earned him a name whispered with both awe and fear: The Coinflip Destroyer . And in the wake of that title lay the ashes of kingdoms, nations, villages, and even the hidden halls of caves that once teemed with life.
Now, standing on the wet planks of the Ovaris port, Sable felt the weight of all those past lives pressing at the edges of her mind. The Second Realm was opening again, and she had no way of knowing what role it would demand of her this time.
Without warning, the entire port shook violently. The three of them felt the tremor instantly. Waves turned erratic and unpredictable, smashing against the dock with bone-rattling force. A massive swell crashed over the edge, drenching them to the skin. Then it came, the unmistakable surge of Aura that struck their senses as if they were smelling a corpse rotting away.
Sable's gaze snapped toward the source. A building near the shoreline crumbled in an instant, stone collapsing in on itself and killing a guard beneath the debris. As dust rose, deep fractures spread outward through the air itself, spiderwebbing like shattered glass. From within those cracks, darkness bled into reality, writhing and pulsing.
The fractures widened. Light burst through, green, pink, red, blue, and yellow. The colors swirled together in a violent dance. Each color spun within its own current, never quite merging, brushing against one another only briefly before pulling away again.
A slow, confident smile curved across Sable's lips. "That's our ticket to Varnis!" she called, her voice cutting through the howl of the wind and the crushing pressure spilling from the rift. She took off toward it, boots pounding against the slick boards, and came to a halt just a few paces from the swirling chaos. She held her ground on the very edge of its magnetic pull, feeling the air tug at her clothes and hair.
Naomi and Rei were only moments behind her. They skidded to a stop at her side, rain pouring from the heavens in heavy sheets. Rei raised his hand to shield his eyes from the deluge. "Is this safe?" he shouted above the roar of wind and water.
Before Sable could answer, she stepped forward subconsciously with a firm nod. "It's fine!" she called back.
Her words had barely left her lips when the pull seized her. The magnetic force wrenched her from the dock and into the rift, her body swallowed in an instant by the swirling, prismatic void.
End of Volume III