Steve's party was postponed till my summons finished their evolution.

The cocoon kept pulsing, the surface tightening and relaxing like it was taking slow breaths. Silver light leaked through the cracks, brighter each time. I stood a few steps away, arms crossed, watching the whole thing shake harder with every passing second. Even the trio tagged along with me, watching with fascination.

"Who do you think is the most powerful between all four of them?" Steve nudged me.

"Lyrate."

Suddenly, a loud crack rang out.

The cocoon split down the middle, and a wave of silver energy rushed outward, pushing dust across the ground. The air hummed, and I could feel a strange pull and push happening at the same time : polarity. Ragnar's domain was trying to form before he even stepped out.

Then the cocoon burst.

Light poured out, blinding for a moment, and a tall figure stepped forward through the glow.

Not the massive ape I had known until now.

A man.

Brown-skinned, towering, muscles thick like they were carved. His long hair fell across his shoulders, still carrying a faint silver tint. A heavy club rested in his right hand, and he swung it once casually, the air twisted around it pushed out with a force.

Silver energy spread across the ground in a wave, cracking the ground under his feet. His domain expanded in an instant, a silver force field blooming outward with a low hum. Anything close was pushed away, then pulled in, then pushed again, like the world couldn't decide where he belonged.

Ragnar laughed.

"HAHAHAHA! Look at this!"

I stared at his new form. He was a couple of inches taller than me and looked like a man in mid twenties and a robe similar in design to ours made of essence.

I raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you could transform."

He stopped swinging the club and grinned at me, teeth shining.

"Even I didn't know," he said. "But damn, I like this body a lot more!"

His aura surged again, and the ground cracked deeper.

I stared at his new form for a long moment. He was a couple of inches taller than me now, broad-shouldered, thick-muscled, and looked like a man in his mid-twenties. Even the robe he wore shifted with faint silver patterns, woven from essence just like ours.

Ragnar had evolved, in every possible way.

"Of course you were going to transform," Primus said as he walked closer, circling him like he was inspecting a rare beast. "You're a Feran after all."

"Feran? Nah, not me," Ragnar scoffed, rolling his neck as if testing his new body. "I'm different."

He stepped toward me, the ground shaking slightly under his feet. The silver force around him had calmed but not faded.

"Thank you," he said suddenly, looking me straight in the eye. "For pulling me out during the trial. That… that felt like the end for me. A real one. Like I wouldn't return if you hadn't interfered."

I shook my head. "No need to thank me. You're my friend."

His expression softened for a moment before he flashed a proud grin again.

"So," I said, "ready to see Knight and Silver?"

Ragnar let out a small laugh. "Yeah. Let's go. I want to see what they turn into. If I ended up like this, those two better not embarrass themselves."

Primus raised an eyebrow. "Knowing Knight? He'll probably come out looking even more dramatic than you."

Ragnar snorted. "Impossible."

I chuckled and snapped my fingers. Space folded around us, and in the next instant the four of us vanished from the peak and appeared on an open patch of land. The wind shifted as we arrived, and right in front of us Silver was in the middle of finishing his evolution.

"This is so convenient. I like this way of traveling," North said, looking around.

"Yeah, me too," I replied, rubbing my chin. "But I'm still not good enough to jump from one planet to another."

Steve and Primus scoffed together. "Show-off," they muttered under their breaths.

Ragnar frowned and crossed his arms. "Why was my evolution the first to finish?"

"Don't worry," I said. "I sped yours up. I pushed some extra Essence into your cocoon."

Ragnar blinked, then nodded like it made perfect sense.

Silver's massive body lay ahead, eyes closed, completely still. Wind blades circled around him, slowly at first, then faster with every breath. Soon the air howled as a tornado formed around him. Its color kept shifting between green and brown, wind and sound mixing into one domain.

"So that's your domain," I muttered, watching carefully. "Wind and sound."

The tornado tightened, shrinking bit by bit until it suddenly collapsed inward, Essence folding neatly.

A boy floated a few inches above the ground.

Silver was thin and tall now, almost my height, with fair skin and short silver hair. Two pairs of gray wings spread from his back, lightly dusted with crimson mist. Between them, faint crimson feathers flickered in and out.

His eyes scanned all of us before locking on Ragnar.

"Is that you, Ragnar?" Silver asked.

"Haha, yes, it's me! But are you really Silver? Where did all that muscle go? Why are you skinny now?"

Silver touched down and vanished instantly. One blink, and he reappeared right in front of us with ridiculous speed.

"Skinny?" he repeated. "This is perfect. Do you know how hard it was to get this shape right?"

"Weak," Ragnar said with a scoff.

Silver ignored him completely and looked at the rest of us. "I look good, right? Right?" He adjusted his robe. "Come on, say something."

I tilted my head and said nothing. Steve and Primus followed my lead, lips twitching.

Silver's smile slowly fell. "Is it bad? It's bad, isn't it? Don't tell me it's bad. I can't change it now—"

We all broke into laughter.

"It's good," North said, crossing her arms as she looked him over. "You can stop panicking."

Silver let out a long, dramatic sigh of relief.

"Not funny. Not funny at all," he said, pointing at his face. "I have this memory telling me that birds need to look good after transformation. It increases our chances of further evolution."

"What?" I asked, genuinely stunned. "Since when did good looks help with evolution?"

He shrugged, completely serious. "I'm not sure. But the memory felt a hundred percent true. I'm not lying."

I stared at him for a moment, then just nodded slowly. "Whatever you say…"

Silver kept touching his hair, checking if it stayed in place.

"So," I asked, "you feel stronger?"

His playful expression vanished instantly as he nodded. "Yes. A lot."

"Good." I clapped his shoulder. "Then let's go see Knight."

I raised my hand, space rippled, and in a blink the four of us appeared near the entrance of a large cave on the far side of the secluded realm.

A low rumble echoed from inside.

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