Viewed from the outside, it was amazing that the training center could remain anonymous, even in the middle of nowhere in western Oklahoma, even with magical protections. It wasn't even a single training center; it was two parallel academies, one for magi and one for outsiders, even if nobody liked to use the word academy for such things anymore.
It had taken Chris a few minutes to work his way up into the hills, but once he was safely out of sight he'd dropped down onto four legs and let his wolf's body race. Wolves couldn't do that here in the Mundus, unless they'd learned to store Grey the same way that magi did to inform their spells. Chris didn't care; he'd been out in the Grey enough recently that even if somebody noticed, it wouldn't seem out of place. As long as he didn't do anything that would require Cleanup's attention, he should be fine... and he was betting that anything within half a mile of the training center would be thoroughly scrubbed so that Cleanup never had to deal with it.
He stopped on the edge of the Witchita Wildlife Refuge, and resumed a human configuration. That wasn't all the Dark Heart needed, though, so he dropped from the taller, leaner body of a wolf in human form to his own, original form: purely human though a magus, and nothing more.
Very good, the Dark Heart pronounced. Now, through your own power, I will be one with you.
He staggered back as it moved within him, mimicking the power that he'd used to absorb its essence, to take it into himself. He had pulled it in and captured it so that it could rest; that had been the bargain. Now it poured itself into him, destroying itself as it transformed him. Thousands of years of divinity washed through him, revenge and reconciliation side by side, destruction and mercy walking hand in hand: dark fires, cold imperatives, the nightmare weight of divine judgement.
He felt the fallen god's last, ambivalent emotions as it finally let itself go: regret and relief, mixed and inseparable. Then it was quiet, and he stood in the wilderness burning silent and strong, wings spread behind him, tail lashing at the ground, claws and fangs extended. He reached for the Reconcilation side of this strange new power, this strange new self, and felt himself fall back into his original body. He'd need to find a mirror to make certain it was unchanged, but standing here, now, he felt like his old self.
Thank you, he thought, to the last of the departed god, and you're welcome.
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