Twelve Years Prior…

Taking this form… using my own abilities to shift between the sexes brought me nowhere and was exhausting. Was it because it had been years since I took on the female form and had to go through an entire cycle before I could take the genetic tissue needed?

Again, I sat painfully stiff on my stool and watched as the line attached to my arm filled with darkened crimson blood. It was out of the question to use anyone else’s. If people were to learn what I was attempting to do it could cause an imaginary sense of optimism. No, I had to use myself and only myself.

This time I filled ten vials, as opposed to my usual three. They just ran out so quickly, and my arms were becoming tender from all of the injections, even with the rapid healing of the puncture marks. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the end of taking samples from myself. Being able to harvest my own eggs was something I was grateful for in order to conduct the experiments, but the pain was worse than collecting my blood. Although bone marrow was becoming more promising for building artificial eggs I still hadn’t perfected it.

Placing the new samples into the special ice box I commissioned from a group of ice dragons, I pulled out three glass containers and placed them on the workbench near my notebook.

With my new, painstakingly created spectacles, I looked at each glass tray to record any differences of the eggs. The glasses were the biggest breakthrough in all of my experimenting. With them, my analytical abilities increased ten fold, as they recorded my observations and made it possible to observe specimens on a microscopic level. Pouring in essences of my energy and aura, I adapted them to be the most intricate tool at my disposal, being able to detect living beings' auras and levels of power as well. And there was zero chance I would reproduce them for others. The process was just too difficult. A spare for myself was all I could manage.

Looking into the petri discs I focused the lenses on their contents. Perhaps the shape could be what caused issues, or maybe color? But then what causes them to not be identical? And which egg would be the culprit? Did it have anything to do with the eggs at all? Perhaps male sperm was the issue.

Personal ethics stopped me from cloning my genetic material by combining my male and female tissues. Though, desperation was likely to force my hand one of these days.

Three light taps sounded on my door. A sweep of a piece of paper slipped from the bottom of the threshold, folded neatly into a perfect square. One of my eyes had finally returned.

A tightening sensation gripped my lower abdomen as I stood to retrieve the letter. After all these years I had forgotten what a female cycle could feel like and it nearly had me bedridden. But I wouldn’t change back until I was satisfied with the collection I was building. Eggs were just so much harder to collect than sperm.

Unfolding the paper that had no visible markings on it, I lit my fingertips with a small flame to hover just under it. Words formed where all four creases met and for the first time in years I felt a small glimmer of hope.

Latonia Beckett

Oksana, Regnum

Pushing through the cramping and pain, I went to Aurora’s room across the hall, knocking on the door.

“Come in,” she called, smiling at me when I walked in. “Oh, hi Huri.”

It was impossible sometimes to comprehend that she was an adult in the eyes of the world. My once curious and impulsive little toddler was now a grown woman and preparing to leave me, which made what I was about to do all the more pressing. Time was up and this was a chance at something that could help.

“Hey, my little Sun,” I replied, coming to stand beside her at the window sill. Fortunately, the spoiled brat from Demarcus was going to be away for much of the time until the wedding so Aurora’s mood and outlook stayed consistently positive day-to-day.

“I’m afraid that I have to take a trip for a couple of days, maybe a week. Something came up and I need to see to it personally.”

It wasn’t the first time I had to take trips away from home. I was still an agent to my homeland whether I agreed with my father or not and was tied to keeping the peace for our community. Most days I was sent to lend a helping hand and bring good will to various areas of Demarcus and Ignatia, but occasionally there were unpleasant individuals that I had to track as well. My small band of spies were invaluable for those situations, but it was not always possible to stay put in Hyperion.

When I looked down her mouth slanted downwards and her brow creased.

“Are you sure that you should be going anywhere? You’re awfully pale,” she said, placing the back of her hand against my forehead just as I would do for her as a small child.

“It’s nothing too strenuous, I’ll be fine. But I would appreciate it if you kept yourself out of trouble while I’m away.” I pulled back from her hand and putting my hope between us. She wasn’t always well behaved… much to my chagrin of being the one to raise her.

A small hand flew, fingers outstretched, to her chest as she gasped out in feigned horror.

“I would never cause trouble.”

Gods, soon these moments will be gone.

“I’ll hold you to that while I’m away,” I smiled, giving a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

It was early evening when I reached the small, oceanfront village of Oksana. Pulling the hood of my red robes down, I approached an elderly woman behind a splintering wooden desk of the only inn I could find. While the building was remarkably clean, it clearly did not experience the same boom in tourism as places like Maris and Nautica - Regnum’s largest cities.

Rough patch jobs were visible on the walls of withering paint and nearly all of the floor boards creaked under my weight. I made a mental note to leave a generous tip before I left.

“Good evening…” the raspy woman greeted me before her voice seemed to trail as she observed me.

I supposed I should have changed some of my appearance - at least my clothes.

Too late now.

“Good evening,” I returned and widened my mouth as much as I could, hoping I appeared friendly. “I was hoping to rent a room for the next few days and enjoy some of the magnificent scenery your area has.”

There was a long pause, as if the woman suddenly went mute. Rather than wait for a response, I continued towards the desk.

“Do you have one available?”

Her gray eyes blinked twice then cleared, as her senses seemed to return.

“Of course! My apologies for my rudeness. We don’t see a lot of foreign travelers in these parts.”

“That’s quite alright,” I continued to smile. “I am just taking a personal world tour and have been making a point to visit any smaller villages I come across. Your village is quite lovely.”

Her posture relaxed and there was a sense of pride infused with her aura.

“Yes, I like to think so,” she smiled and pulled out a long, age-worned, ledger with arthritic swollen hands. “Any particular preference for your room? We have ones that overlook the ocean, but they are a bit pricier.”

“That sounds lovely, thank you. I would like to pay for three days now, if that’s alright and if I should like to stay longer I would pay at the end of the three days.” Clinking touched the desk between us as I flashed another smile before releasing the drawstring bag. Though I could see curiosity running through her, the inn owner didn’t ask any further questions before handing over the key.

The room was clean, simple, and quaint with its main focal point being a large arched window overlooking the sea from a safe distance. The inn was at least half a mile away from the shore and I wondered, briefly, if they experienced issues with flooding in the past.

Setting my small sack down on the patch-quilt covered bed, I prepared for my afternoon search. The first thing was going to be to change out of my conspicuous robes.