Luminary Institute

81: Feathered Dragons

Nyssa, this time around, elected to transform into a feathered pure-white dragon. Soaring through the air with everyone—bar Seraph—on her back, she carried the net beneath her. With Seraph providing the directions back to the Hunter’s Association, she flipped through the air as sleepy thoughts dominated her mind. 

“Don’t drop us please,” Celeste leaned down to hear ear and whispered as they bobbed in the air. “You’re doing great though.” 

Gliding in the air, Nyssa felt a tad more awake after Celeste’s comforting words. After a couple minutes, they left the fog and once in the bright sky once more, everyone admired the wonderful, untouched expanse of nature stretching out in front of them. 

Cerbos Lake, in particular, glistened under the sun as its distant shore could be seen just at the edge of the horizon. For a brief moment, Nyssa, along with everyone else, could understand why the ancient times had called Cerbos Lake an ocean instead. 

Due to their decent flying speed though, they began descending not long later. Like a plane out of the sky, Nyssa flew in slow circles while in the air far above the Hunter’s Association’s empty field. Having called ahead, the Hunter’s Association matched the description of Nyssa’s transformation to the dragon in the sky and didn’t blast the creature out of the sky. 

After a long, but gentle descent, Nyssa set the net on the ground before letting everyone disembark. Once they had, she transformed back into a cat and dove into Celeste’s arms for an extended nap. 

“Good job,” Celeste stroked the cat’s head while patting it to sleep and cradling it in her arms. “Get some rest after today.” 

Employees from the association walked out from the building, admiring the undamaged bodies now-laying across the grass. The net, having been reinforced by Mira and Albion, began melting into both water and wisps of blue energy, and before long, only vines remained in place. 

“Impressive work,” One worker clapped his hands before scratching his head and looking around. “Where did the dragon go though? I thought one of you would be a dragon tamer with how well controlled it was.” 

“Transformation,” Angelica pointed towards the white fluffy cat now asleep in Celeste’s arms. “A good guess but you were off the mark.” 

“Ohhh... a super-powered cat, I’ve never heard of animals having powers before, but it makes sense if that’s the case...” The worker stroked his chin. Everyone, at this point though, gave him a stare. Angelica, in particular, looked towards Kael, her gaze in disbelief. A creative assertion for sure, but one far from good this time around. 

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“It’s a person,” Ryker broke the silence, speaking up with his hands behind his head. “Who transformed into something else, and is now asleep. It's easier to sleep as a cat than a person if we’re just standing around like this after all.” 

“Ah...” The guild worker nodded after taking a second. Their eyes seemed to say “I don’t believe you,” but everyone, by now, didn’t care to convince him. 

“I wonder how Nyssa does sleep in transformation,” Titus reached over and stroked Nyssa's head. “Celeste do you know?” 

“Well...” Celeste thought back to her conversations with Nyssa. In them, she had learned about Nyssa's entire situation, her family's entire situation, and everything Nyssa could remember about her powers. She had shared hers too. Of course, they hadn't done it in one go, but after spending enough hours together, everything ended up tumbling out at some point or another. “She explained it with a potential energy metaphor.” 

“Like physics?” Titus squished one of Nyssa’s paws. 

“Yeah, pretty much that out of all her transformations, because she’s spent so much time as a cat, both human and cat are energetically low enough that she recovers more than she’s expending,” Celeste took a turn squishing Nyssa’s paw. By now, Nyssa’s sleeping face had contorted a slight touch and she batted both of their hands away before curling up again in Celeste’s arms. 

“Interesting,” Titus stroked his chin. “That just makes me wonder if she’s a cat or not secretly in disguise. Maybe this guild worker is onto something.” 

“Oh, are you talking about our theory?” Albion walked over with Conrad. “That Nyssa’s secretly a cat not a human?” 

“She spends enough time as a cat to be one,” Conrad raised his eyebrows. Reaching out to pet Nyssa, he received a slight slap on the wrist from both Celeste and Titus. “What?” 

“She already batted us away,” Titus explained, “Let her sleep, she took a big section of the battlefield and carried us all back.” 

“Got it, got it,” Conrad nodded. “But yeah, that was a theory we were joking around with.” 

“I mean... I’d hope not,” Celeste looked down at Nyssa in her arms. “I’d rather date a human than a cat after all.” 

“True, true.” 

“That would raise some moral quandaries.” 

“Imagine the post online... my girlfriend turned out to be a cat... that’s like the would you love me if I was a worm but actualized...” 

Only after a couple of exchanges did all three of them look at each other as enlightenment dawned in their eyes. They froze, and an awkward silence broke out between them. 

“Wait a second, is this dating confirmation? You two are dating?” Titus blinked. 

“... Oh, I guess it is,” Celeste coughed into her fist as she shook her head in exasperation. “Well, it is what it is, I'm surprised you three haven’t noticed. It’s not like we’re hiding it.” 

“Cooked, it’s cooked,” Albion laughed while patting Conrad. 

Conrad, with an empty tundra behind his eyes, froze in place like a statue. 

“Don’t worry, he’ll recover in a minute or two,” Titus reassured. “Congratulations though, we wish you two good times.”

“Is it worth asking Nyssa about the whole cat thing though?” Albion looked down at the cat. Nyssa, unperturbed by the conversation, frolicked through dreamland living her best life: getting to sleep in her dreams.

“I... have,” Celeste nodded after a second. “She reassured me that she was human. There are some more specifics that you can ask her about. But her family did apparently wonder about it at one point, especially since as long as she could remember, both transformations have been so comfortable, and the doctors also ruled out the fact that she was a cat.” 

“Nothing to worry about then,” Titus offered a fist-bump. “Why the hesitation though?” 

“Because apparently her powers are near otherworldly,” Celeste shrugged. “They have no true limits if you really think about it... She outclasses everyone in the world, and is quite a danger. How can I not worry about her? She’d be a prime target for kidnapping for... quite literally anyone.” 

The trio in front of her, after a brief moment, fell silent as well. All of them had experienced similar concerns about themselves before... but their classmate of theirs did indeed have a unique draw no one else would have. 

“Stop worrying so much, it’s our job to protect her,” Angelica’s voice interrupted all of their thoughts. She went around ruffling everyone’s hair. “Come on, help do some dissection, this is good hands-on learning.”