Isoko drifted in a dream of light and color and wind. She flowed on storms. She dove into tidal clouds. She lifted her arms and the world twisted into a hurricane, and then she rode that hurricane like it was a surfboard blender set upon the land, turning mountains to debris and oceans to droplets.

Lightning crackled, and Isoko rode the lightning.

Isoko cackled, like Grandma, and the world cracked at her laughter, detonating into fire and driving rain that Isoko ran across, escaping destruction and bringing destruction with her. And finally, Isoko formed a wrap of wind and lightning, creating a shield that she rode back into the endless storm, to shatter that storm in a great detonation of air and shock. And then the ride was done.

Isoko stood upon silver winds under a clear blue heaven of her own making, suspended in a great canyon of fluffy white clouds.

Everything was beautiful.

Nothing was wrong.

Tears of joy streamed down Isoko’s platinum face and the world rained tears of joy with her, onto her Full Platinum body, onto her reflection of the sky.

A golden glow intruded.

- - - -

The storm had not changed nor would it change, according to Eliot’s various machines, with which Quark was using to forecast the weather. Mark could tell the stormy sky would never change, even without mechanical verification.

The sky roiled with wind and very little rain. Clouds buffeted Mark, and Mark held on to the deck with easy caltrops. Most others would be scattered to the wind right now, and Eliot had needed to move the Dreadnought so that it pointed intothe storm, allowing the ship to take a better angle into the wind. But Mark was fine. The world touched him, and he broke the world if it needed breaking.

None of the storm even thought about touching Isoko.

She remained anchored in the air, more Full Platinum than the ‘glowing prismatic’ thing she had been doing, after exposure to Sleipnir’s prismatic mana heart. Isoko’s vector was still pointed inward, so Mark didn’t know what was happening with her exactly, but the effects of her second Awakening were already changing how her Powers presented.

Looking at her kinda reminded Mark of an egg without a shell. Or maybe like a jellyfish.

Her central body was firm, and she clearly had a Sky-Shaper-like thing going on because there were little silver sparkles in the air, reaching out into the storm and trailing into the breeze. That was not normal. Mark knew what Sky Shapers looked like, and Isoko’s control over her surroundings was not like any Sky Shaper control Mark had ever seen before.

Lee, the Sky Shaper back at the settlement, had a softness about him. You couldn’t tell where his control over the sky began or ended, unless he was actively using his power, and even then his Sky Shaper control was more like directional vectors he put into large sections of the air than any real control. Nothing precise.

That was a known issue with Sky Shapers and other big powers, like Land Shaper and Sea Shaper.

Macro control; that’s what it was called. Great for big fights. Bad for small fights.

Platinum Body and Union were precise Powers.

So Isoko was undergoing a big change, and she would likely have issues going forward.

Mark could see that change happening right now, in real time.

Isoko was gaining a sort of ‘largeness’. She was like drops of food coloring diffusing into a whole lot of water, but it wasn’t fully diffusing. Weird glittery strands scattered in the air… but not really like strands, actually. More like troughs or crests in the ocean. Isoko herself was nestled into a silvery, glowing air, like a woman resting atop the crest of a wave.

That cresting wave prevented all outside actions from really moving her, which made Mark wonder about asphyxiation from lack of moving air. Isoko had almost injured herself in that way, before, that first time she tried Altering for Wind Shaper under Elaria Valen’s tutelage. But, no. Isoko was breathing just fine, and in fact, every breath she took seemed to expand the silver-cresting glitter of her jellyfish-like astral body further into the sky beyond.

Her Power had been concentrated, and now it was diffusing.

It was kinda relaxing to watch her breathe.

Mark kept his eyes on the world, too, of course, keeping watch for kaiju and other monsters. But the only things to fly by in the last hour were some manta rays, each the size of a house. They had flowed on the storm, like they were flying through the ocean. It had been a little magical, honestly. Mark wished Isoko could have seen it, but they had taken pictures. Eliot was documenting everything.

Isoko remained asleep.

Mark wondered what the others were thinking about Isoko.

Mark said to Quark, and to everyone else on the comms, “So I’ve seen a lotof Powers, and looking at Isoko’s soft silver waves in the world… I’m not sure what that is. Could it be her Platinum Body’s Tactile Telekinesis and Sky Shaper at the same time? There’s some Union in there, too, but it’s so subtle I can barely feel it. She doesn’t seem to be waking up as fast as expected, though… How long is this supposed to take?”

Lola said, “I’ll come up and look. One minute.”

Tartu was down in the bowels of the ship, working on something with Andria. He spoke up, “Based on reliable histories of the Tutorial, most people take between 10 to 30 minutes from finishing the Tutorial to coming back to Earth or Daihoon. Larger Skills take more. I have no idea what ‘bathing in kaiju prismatic mana’ does to a person besides what Walaria told us would happen; power ups for everyone involved.”

“I think I took an hour in the Tutorial,” Mark said, “But that was because Malaqua specifically

held me back to talk to me, and to delay putting me out right next to Addavein. It’s already been two hours for Isoko.”

“… Well maybe Freyala is talking to her?” Tartu asked, his vector suddenly focused on the conversation.

David and Lola got real interested, too.

Mark looked at Isoko as best he could, to see if there were any gold glows in her vector. “… I don’t see any gold glows. It’s all silver.”

David suddenly stood beside Mark in the driving rain, getting soaked right alongside him, saying, “I don’t see any touch of Freyala.”

Mark put out a black umbrella to shield David from the rain and wind as he said, “It looks like it’s settling down, right?”

Lola was currently racing up the stairs of the forecastle. She burst out of the doors and walked over, composing herself as much as she could after running as fast as she could. Mark shielded her from the rain, too, and she curtsied at him, briefly, as she stepped to Mark’s other side, to regard Isoko.

Lola watched for a while before she said, “The prismatic glow is lessening. How much less, Quark?”

Quark said, “20% of the original radiance.”

“Ah! Quite a bit less than I imagined.” Lola watched— Her eyebrow went up, and then she stepped closer— she stopped herself. “Curious.”

“What?” Mark asked.

“I’m usually rather good at discerning Powers,” Lola said, “But the exact nature of this assortment of Powers eludes me… It could simply be a tug-of-war between Platinum Body and whatever level of Wind Shaper she has now acquired... What’s the timetable on the scanner, Mister Cybersong?”

Eliot spoke up, “It’s ready. Tartu has to activate it, though.”

Something about that sounded odd to Mark.

Mark asked, “Why does he have to activate it?”

Tartu answered, “It’s more of a System call than a proper scanner so I have to put up some domains to heighten the depth of the scan.”

“… You can do a System call?” Mark asked, “With the System?”

“Sure,” Tartu said.

“Really?”

“It’s not usually done, but… yes? What’s the problem?”

Mark asked, “Can we actually interactwith the System outside of the Tutorial?”

Tartu scoffed. “We’ve been interacting with the System on Daihoon for thousands of years, Mark, back when all we knew was the Thresher. The tech from Earth just makes it a whole lot easier.”

“Well I never knew that— No wait… Sacrificing goats and entrails reading. Someone said that… I think.” Mark asked, “Is that all a scanner is?”

“… Kinda?” Tartu said, “Those metal contraptions we call scanners are ‘sacrificing goats and entrails reading’ but without the sacrifice and goat shit, and some are a whole lot better than others. Eliot and I made one of the upper-middle ones, and I canscan Isoko right now. We can scan anything within my range and within range of the ship, actually. But I’m not chancing getting near her and the scanner won’t work correctly until she’s closer to fully Awakening. So we wait.”

Mark nodded a little, accepting that answer. He glanced backward at Derek, coming up to stand in the forecastle, far behind everyone else. Mark wondered if he wanted to stand with the three of them, and so he angled his head and gestured for him to get up there.

Derek shook his head.

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Mark bobbed in the air and then turned back to face Isoko. He asked Lola, “Should I try Unioning with Isoko?”

Lola shook her head. “No no. We can stand here, waiting. I don’t think she’ll be cooking for much longer—”

A golden glow entered the world.

Lola suddenly gasped.

Freyala stepped down onto the deck of the ship, a golden light upon the world. She stood like a golden light at the edge of Isoko’s silver waves, regarding the young woman.

David and Lola suddenly stood much, much prouder. Derek gasped in shock back by the forecastle.

… Mark put up a wind and rain shield at Freyala’s back, too.

Freyala gave a little nod toward Mark, and then she went back to looking at Isoko—

“She’ll be dangerous,” Freyala said, without looking at anyone. “But I think she’s proven herself and we need all the help we can get. If nothing else, several good backups are necessary.”

David and Lola tensed.

Mark barely heard it as Derek whispered/shuddered a quiet ‘holy fuck’.

They dared not speak.

Mark dared.

Mark asked, “What do you mean? Backups?”

Freyala said, “Gods can die; as they have in the past, as they will in the future. If you’re aiming big then there will be collateral damage, and no one knows how deep or far that damage will go.” She turned and Looked at Mark. “But sometimes some damages must be done. Good luck.”

And then Freyala vanished into the silver waves in the air, like a sand castle vanishing under water.

Gold shimmered and trailed away.

Mark, Lola, David, and Derek back there, all kinda just watched—

The air tensed.

Isoko’s silver waves crashed against the world as she stirred, shockwaves cracking the wood underneath her floating body. Mark barely registered the danger, but Lola suddenly panicked. Mark flickered adamantium into the path of the shockwave, encapsulating himself, David, and Lola. Derek was too far back to be hit easily. The shockwave passed around the party.

Mark pulled the adamantium barrier away and Isoko stumbled out of the air, a platinum foot touching down on the deck of the Dreadnought and platinuming the nearest 50 meters of ship with her touch. Shockwaves in the air rippled through the deck, the wood crackled, and Isoko suddenly stopped, eyes widening at the ground, realizing what she was doing. The entire deck was corroded with splinters.

Isoko instantly pulled her foot back into the air and the platinum waves returned to the air, making her look once again like some sort of wave machine in a swimming pool, and also kinda like a jellyfish.

Derek was slightly injured.

Lola was bleeding from the face, ears, and body, but Mark was already healing her strongly. She was fine, and she cleansed herself to remove the blood.

Derek had popped back there, but he was fine further down in the ship.

Lola smiled and wiped away tears of happiness, lost to the rain, saying, “Congratulations, young lady.”

David said, “Congrats, Isoko.”

Mark smiled wide and teased, “Why ya always gotta be nude, Isoko!”

Isoko scoffed. “Fuck you too, buddy!”

Mark laughed.

Isoko radiated pure happiness, and also platinum shockwaves—

“Take it away from the ship, Isoko!” Eliot said, “You’re breaking my deck!”

Isoko laughed even happier and then she took off, into the sky, propelled on glittering platinum air, right up into the storm—

And then Isoko truly opened up, her platinum waves dispersing like smoke in a hurricane, touching the sky for the nearest several kilometers, breaking the storm.

Clouds tumbled rain and turned to mist and wind.

Lightning stilled.

The sun shone.

And Isoko floated, arms spread wide, legs together, embracing the world and creating a wide, blue heaven of her own making.

Mark zipped up there, rotor spinning hard as Eliot repaired the ship and everyone back there started talking about Freyala’s latest appearance. Isoko noticed Mark through Unionsense, long before he reached her, and she tensed the air around him with a barely-there platinum glow that soon faded. But the effects remained.

Mark barely had to lift himself up because the wind was working with him, and soon he floated beside Isoko, smiling, saying, “Congrats!”

Isoko crashed into him, full platinum and weighing about 1,500 kilos herself, but still a lot less than him. She hugged him tightly, saying, “Thank you.”

Mark easily held on to Isoko, saying, “You’re welcome.”

Isoko breathed against his chest for a moment, the wind holding them up just like his rotor. There was no storm right here. Just them and a gentle breeze from below.

Isoko confessed, “Freyala talked to me.”

“She appeared to all of us before you woke.”

Isoko nodded against Mark’s chest. She didn’t say anything else.

Mark continued, “She said stuff about how gods can die, and collateral damage, and how sometimes damage must be done anyway.”

“… Yeah. She said some of that…”

Mark could tell that Freyala had told Isoko more than the rest of them, and Isoko knew that Mark knew that, too, but she didn’t say anything else and Mark did not press her.

Mark hugged her. “Wanna get scanned? Eliot and Tartu have it ready.”

“I can already tell what most of it is,” Isoko said, letting go. She floated away and held the sky at bay, saying, “It’s macro-sized Power, across the board. I think I have the full Union, too, but it’s not how it was. It’s… kinda spread out.”

Mark hummed, then said, “So first off: Amazing. Thought some of that might happen, especially with Freyala appearing. But also: Everyone is shit with Union to start with, so you need to practice more. I bet Lola can give you all sorts of tips, and there have to be some Sky Shaper-level Union users out there. You can talk to them. And if you can’t everdo fine control, then I’ll give you a big ‘ol adamantium blade to use while you zip across the sky, cutting through kaiju, and that should help you get good points across.” Mark smiled, adding, “I did promise you a Wind Sword of Empire, after all.”

Isoko teared up and started crying. Happy, sad, worried, exhausted, thrilled. So many emotions, all at once, from a thousand directions in her life, crashed into Isoko and left her a crying mess. Mark kept hugging her, and she hugged him for a long while, too.

Eventually Mark set her down on a bed of adamantium, and she kinda just collapsed with a soul-deep exhaustion that was deeper than she thought possible. Her Power collapsed inward when she finally nodded off, for real, and then she began to radiate silver waves again, in time with her breathing. The storm returned, but Isoko remained a calm spot in the rain, clouds, and wind.

Eliot made a little room for her on the deck, at the front of the ship, and Mark set her in that bed. Or at least he tried. Isoko floated above the bed, above the solid ground of the deck, and so Mark just put her in the room, and that was good enough… maybe.

It turned out that putting her into a contained room was exactly good enough, because as soon as Isoko wasn’t exposed to the sky, she started to calm. Her Full Platinum faded, and she gently lowered into her bed, grabbing at her pillow sleepily and then pulling on her covers, tighter. She slept, and the storm outside of her hut on the deck returned, raging against the hull of the ship. It was not quiet.

Isoko was comforted by that noise.

Tartu stood about 20 meters away, with Mark, holding on to rain jacket and trying to talk over the wind, “We should scan her now!”

“We can’t do that!” Mark said, almost scoffing. “We can’t take that moment away from her!”

Tartu countered, “I’m not sticking around while she’s awake and active! I wouldn’t stick around youduring a decouple ritual, either! It’s basic safety!”

“… Okay fine… I guess? Ugh… I don’t…” Mark frowned, exaggerated, and said, “Okay!”

Tartu whipped out a bubble of a Domain around Isoko, inside of her wooden cabin, and then he retreated fast, racing down an anti-wind Domain that barely functioned in the storm, saying, “Eliot’s got the rest!”

Soon, the scan came through Quark.

Mark waited until Lola, David, and Derek were back to read it, though.

They all read it together.

Body, Platinum Body: 092

Shaper, Sky: 092

Mind: 92

Natural, Union: 092

Soul: 92

Arch: 92

Estimated astral body strength: 92%

The little 0s in front of Body, Shaper, and Natural, meant that those were Isoko’s Powers, and not grafted on. She was a full and complete Tri-Talent, now.

Lola gasped, putting a hand over her mouth, joy overflowing. “Oh, Isoko.”

David chuckled and then laughed. He disappeared into the ship for a bit and then came right back out, carrying some small glass bottles with clear liquid that he handed out, saying, “I knew I needed to save some of that alcohol from that monkey brew layer!”

Derek stood in the back, but David had him come forward, too, saying he was a paladin of Freyala as well. Soon, David slapped a bottle of alcohol into Derek’s hand, too.

They all raised a small bottle, and said, “Cheers!”

They took swigs, and David downed it like a man. Derek shuddered and laughed. Lola was apparently made of sterner stuff than just about anyone, because she drank it like it was water. Mark laughed at that, even as he sipped his drink, tasting it but not really feeling it.

Mark smiled, saying, “Awesome.”