Captain Bark stared at the footage of the most recent incident to occur on the Meras-102 with a bit of worry, and not a small amount of relief.

  It depicted a scene that he was reminded of back on the homeworld, as well as it’s several outlier moons.

  That of biological monsters.

  “To think there was one inside the capsule we took from those refugees…”

  He shook his head.

  This couldn’t have come at a worse time, but thankfully he and his crew were able to capture the creature before it could retreat and inform its masters.

  However, the reason for his worry was something altogether a bit more horrifying, and it plagued his imagination as he combed through the footage.

  It knew, somehow, it knew where our escape pods were. That isn’t something you gain from going through computers, especially on my ship.

  Being the Captian, Bark was part of the druid caste as was required to operate a vessel like the Meras.

  For the vessel was created from one of their very own tempered trees, and built with umbral oak, the only known substance to withstand the crushing pressures of space.

  It made for effective ship plating, but that was secondary to its true use, which was the ability for druids like himself to merge with the vessel.

  From his captain’s chair, Bark could feel every soul and prospect on his ship, and the Meras whispered to him about the goings on across the vessel.

  Were it not for this very ability, Bark and the crew wouldn’t have realized that the bioweapon had made it aboard, nor that it was loose.

  He happened to be keeping an eye on his resident scientist Dr. Bayleaf and her entourage, his security chief Tarva.

  It was mostly to be sure that the doctor didn’t blow a hole in his ship, as mages like herself were very capable of doing.

  Though it would be hard, an Imperial Harrier like Bayleaf Thistlebranch would be able to do it.

  So, due to his worries, and the subsequent request for data regarding the fight between the anomaly and the Wujack, Bark was able to find out about the creature.

  Amorphous, but incredibly dense, able to shrug off magic of all things and still continue.

  Not to mention it could enter someone, hiding within their flesh until they are ready to burst out of the host.

  He had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind, a sign that his ship wanted his attention for something.

  Bark allowed it to guide his consciousness, bringing his along as it brought his attention to the makeshift cage that held the anomalous bioweapon.

  Inside the escape pod, a small creature not unlike an Elfari child was sleeping softly, the rise and fall of its chest indicative of peaceful sleep.

  Able to disguise, shift its form, and even imitate…

  Bark couldn’t help but shiver as he thought of the chances that there might be more of these things out there, especially if it was the Verdant Hood’s doing.

  However, that was for another time. For now, he let the Meras bring him to Dr. Bayleaf, who was resting next door to the containment room, where the creature originally broke free.

  She insisted on being quarantined after finding out what had happened to her, and Bark couldn’t dissuade her from her course.

  Not that he would, as this was a very possible bio-contagion at work.

  Even if she showed no signs of tampering, Bark would have insisted they at least observed her.

  Thankfully he did not have to, as she had done so of her own volition.

  The Meras pointed his thoughts towards the footage from earlier, showing how the anomaly had dealt with the Wujack.

  Handedly…

  A creature with the ability to regenerate from most wounds, and even take solid magic projectiles, was being handled like a toddler by the much smaller child form.

  A thought told him he should have just let it go, and saved himself the worry.

  Another part worried that it was an espionage unit, sent to steal data from the Meras and give it to their enemies in the Verdant Hood.

  In the end, caution told him to capture it.

  Now…

  Now he had to figure out what to do with it.

  Meras, inform the Doctor that I will be there shortly to brief her.

  The presence sent him an acknowledgement, assuring him it would do so right away.

  Bark summoned his magic as the ship carried him through the vessel, his body floating and sinking through the wood as it crossed several levels with ease.

  On this ship, Bark was able to do great things.

  Even redirect escape pods back into the quarantine.

  He smiled as he felt his connection with the ship guide him to the doctor, and with a slide, he appeared in the room adjacent to her quarters.

  His security chief, unfazed that he suddenly appeared, saluted him with both arms as she bowed afterwards, the sign of respect and service in the Alfheim Empire.

  “My Captain, it is good to see you.”

  Bark nodded as he assessed her.

  Normally he would try to poke at her stiff demeanor, as Tarva’s normal state of being was a stone statue with a stick up her ass.

  Despite what she may say, Bark was certain that she needed a vacation from anything Militarum related, for like, a decade at least.

  Now wasn’t the time for jests though.

  “Thank you security chief, how is the doctor, any progress with the tests?”

  Tarva only nodded back as she turned to the clean room that held the woman in question.

  “Turns out that despite confirmation that the weapon had entered her body, the doctor shows no adverse signs, no mental tampering besides recent memory loss, and…”

  She paused, which caused Bark to turn to her in curiosity.

  “Well, go on.”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “She… is in peak health sir.”

  Bark nodded, “as an Imperial Harrier, I would expect nothing less.”

  Tarva only shook her head at his words, “no sir. It’s more than simple conditioning, more than even some kind of stimulant or magical enhancement. Dr. Bayleaf has no waste in her body, no biological waste specifically. It was as if something scooped out all of her damaged parts and replaced it with health cells.”

  Tarva pulled out a board, showing a diagram of the doctor’s vital readings, which even now the doctor’s were performing, “she’s shown more density in her muscles, her bones, even her skin. When we tried to insert an intravenous solution to give her some fluids, she broke the needle. Captain… her body is showing signs of de-aging…”

  Bark, who had grabbed a drink of water while overhearing the report, spat out his drink in the air as he turned around to gaze at his security chief, “I beg your pardon?”

  Tarva shook her head, “I can’t say it any other way sir. Dr. Bayleaf is actually showing younger than she was four hours ago. The medical staff claim she’s somewhere in her adolescent years, around a century old.”

  Bark shook his head as well, “that’s impossible Tarva, what you are describing is stuff I would hear from my uncle and his crackpot theories on alchemy.”

  Tarva did not show signs of jest though, and that only worried Bark more.

  “I do not joke about work sir, you know this. Whatever happened to her, Dr. Bayleaf is now at her prime… perhaps even better than before.”

  Tarva pulled up the chart once more, and pointed it at Bark.

  As he stared, he couldn’t believe his own eyes.

  It was showing the mana channels, the essence of every mage.

  It was through these channels that they casted their spells, preformed their miracles for the people and the Empire.

  Most were small, some were even clogged which prevented most elves from using magic.

  The geniuses though, their channels were always large and open, acting like veins in the bloodstream as they fed magic to their hosts.

  Bark had seen many such charts, some impressive, while most were sad and pathetic to see.

  The chart in front of him showed him that mana literally bathed the good doctor’s body in magical energy, a natural enchantment that permeated her every cell.

  “My Goddess…”

  There were no veins, no channels, because there didn’t need to be any.

  Instead, next to her heart, Dr. Bayleaf had another heart in her right-most chest cavity.

  All of the magical energy readings showed that this thing, this organ, was feeding her magic all on its own.

  Tarva pulled out another chart, showing something that Bark remembered seeing, something that made the first chart all the more galling.

  “These are the doctor’s charts before she got aboard the Meras, Captain.”

  It showed her having normal channels, and while they were large and impressive, they were still normal considering she was an Imperial Harrier, one of the elite of the elites in the empire.

  All gone, replaced with a simple… mana heart.

  “Has there been any adverse-”

  “None, captain. The doctor is showing clear vitals across the board.”

  “My… goodness…”

  “Sir, if this was related to… the bioweapon, what could that mean?”

  Bark turned to stare across the room, at the chamber that held an escape pod with a little Elferi girl.

  “We need to bring her back to the homeworld. I don’t know what exactly she is, but she might be the key to stopping the conflict with those serpents, perhaps… even curing all known diseases.”

  Tarva nodded, “even… death, sir?”

  Bark stared back at his security chief.

  “It’s funny, a second ago, I would have thought that was a joke, security chief Tarva.”

  Tarva giggled, “I… can see why sir.”

  …

  Chimera woke up with a sigh, her arms and legs stretching in the much roomier… room she found herself in.

  Wasn’t she being crushed alive and sprayed with pinky poison?

  “Hmm… that nap was actually kind of relaxing too.”

  Part of her thought she was going to wake up with a splitting headache, or drowsy as hell from tranquilizers.

  Being awoken with a cushy pillow and room to stretch was definitely not something she expected.

  Did I die? Holy crap, is this that heaven place Sarah always talked about with her fake parents? Stupid memories… but this place is nice.

  She smiled as she laid her head against the wall of the circular room, placing a hand against the wall as she rubbed it against the soft grains of the wood.

  “Even the walls feel better, just what is up with this place?”

  Chimera closed her eyes for a second, feeling sleepy.

  Only for something to bump her.

  Not in a physical way either, more of a mental bump, like something was trying to…

  Chimera opened her eyes, but instead of seeing her room, she saw…

  A silhouette, one that showed the face of a woman.

  She had leaves in her hair, deep amber eyes, and was wearing a leafy bra and shorts.

  It was pretty awkward all things considered, but clothes aside, she didn’t seem like an enemy.

  So Chimera laid there as the massive leafy woman observed her.

  “Got anything to say, wood woman? Because this is getting awkward.”

  The leaf woman gasped, or at least made the motion of one.

  Chimera smirked as she spoke, “what, didn’t think I could see you? Lady, I already got the whole of your language plus extra in my head. Good luck hiding anything from me.”

  The leafy woman didn’t speak, but a sense of unease seemed to come off of her as she looked away for a moment.

  “...You alright there, leafy woman?”

  The being in question turned back to her, floating towards her in this strange dreamscape.

  Stopping just before a barrier that surrounded Chimera’s side of this space, she tilted her head, worried, but also curious about her, it seemed. .

  “Hey, I know this might seem like a weird question, but could you let me out? I just want to go home.”

  The leaf woman seemed to understand her, slowly shaking her head back and forth.

  “So that’s a no then, great.”

  Chimera sighed, “figures that I would be back to being a prisoner.”

  The leafy person raised her eyebrows at that.

  “Oh, yeah. Got a whole story if you want to hear about it.”

  The woman only nodded, a small smile on her face.

  “Well, since this is probably a dream or something, why not? So, I was born in a lab to a crazy mad scientist and his alien girlfriend’s daughter. I wasn’t even aware of who I was until later, but for the longest time…”

  Chimera spoke about her past to the leafy being, which was oddly cathartic for her as she had been in survival mode earlier.

  It was just one crisis after another, and when she finally separated from her family for good, it felt too soon, unfair even.

  Thinking about them though, it brought back a warmth to her heart as she remembered their faces.

  “So yeah, an alien bio weapon turned into a superhero, at least for a while, before I got jettisoned into space to stop my city from melting from a solar cannon.”

  The leafy being was shedding tears, and sobs seemed to wrack her features for a bit as she tried to dry her tears.

  “Woah, hey! It’s alright… I mean, I’m captured and stuck in this ball for now, but…”

  Chimera smiled back, “don’t worry about me, I’ll find a way back.”

  The leafy woman tried to smile back in reassurance, but only seemed to break down again.

  “Oh damn, you’re a softy aren’t you? Well, thanks for shedding tears for me I guess. It’s really alright though, no need to get all sappy about it.”

  The branches growing off of the woman moved in a gesture that made Chimera think she was chuckling.

  “Yeah, pun intended.”

  They both laughed for a bit as Chimera tried to calm the tree person’s mood, telling her jokes and letting her know more about her adventures.

  After a while, the wooden woman made a gesture, something Chimera recognized as a need to leave.

  “Alright, thanks for the company strange tree woman… actually, what is your name anyway?”

  The woman froze for a moment, but smiled back as she wrote words in the air between them, leaving a small glow for the letters to be seen.

  “M-E-R-A-S? Woah… hey, wait a minute. You could have spelled me this entire time, why did you not speak that way?”

  Meras only giggled as she floated away.

  “Hey! Damn wood woman, could have saved me the trouble of trying to suss out her mood.”

  Chimera, despite her earlier words, had a smile on her face though, and as she stared up at the strange dreamscape and its stars, she grinned even wider.

  “Meras, huh? Seems nice.”

  …