It took Zy a full two hours to get from the castvernon’s assembly hall to the east Scyronside apartment he and Aka had rented out specifically for this occasion. His delay was affected by many different factors, such as the holographic form of Emery he had to keep up, the legions of castvernon chasing him, and the emotional baggage and adrenaline rush he got from what he just did.

When he finally got to the apartment and locked every door, window and ventilation shaft leading into the place, Zy collapsed against the wall, taking a moment to catch his breath, despite not being able to breathe. While waiting for his strength to recover, Zy took out the pocket dimension he and Aka had stolen from Jita’s shelf. The pocket dimension was an almost-glass, ping-pong ball sized orb that was currently glowing a warmish pink color, most likely from housing Aka’s near-dead body. Once Zy’s shock was almost completely gone, he pressed the activation pad and tossed the orb onto the floor, where it burst into a miniature pastel pink lightshow. Aka’s body materialized from the light and hit the floor with a soft clunk sound, the broken parts of her slightly rattling when she made contact with the ground.

Zy immediately crawled over to Aka’s unconscious body, pulling a small vial from his belt. Inside the vial was the liquid form of Aka’s essence. The liquid, much like the pocket dimension, glowed a soft pink. Zy opened it and poured some of it into the palm of his, then started to lather Aka’s wounds with it. The liquid had the consistency of lotion and smelled strongly of roses. After a few moments settling into Aka’s surface, the liquid started to glow and be absorbed into Aka, who woke up with a gasp. Zy helped Aka sit up.

“You ok there? I didn’t hurt you too much?” He asked.

Aka waved off his questions. “I’m fine, you did exactly what you were supposed to do. Now, let’s get charnivauch ready.”

“Right.” Zy stated as he helped Aka to her feet. “What did Ikari’s letter say about preparing it?”

“Ikari said to pour it into a tub” Aka gestured to the square shaped tub the two of them made sure to prepare before, “and heat it to a near-boil.”

Zy turned his attention to the tub. “Having Kit around sure would be useful about now.”

Aka pulled Zy to face her. “You know she can’t know about this. No one can know about any of this.”

Zy pulled his hand from Aka’s grip. “Yeah yeah I get it. I’ll get the heaters started, you start pouring the charnivauch.”

Aka nodded and walked over to the closet where a vessel of liquid was being held. She grabbed the vessel and walked over to where Zy was hunched over a contol panel by the tub.

“You can go ahead and pour that into the tub.” Zy instructed. “It’ll take me about fifteen minutes to get this thing all heated up.”

Aka nodded and followed the instructions she had been given. The liquid smelled like rose flowers and was a translucent dark pink. There was enough to fill the entire pool, and some extra. After she finished pouring, Aka set the vessel on the floor.

“Just in time.” Zy stated, standing up. “It should be just about boiling now.”

“Good.” Aka said as she started to derobe.

“Wait wait wait-” Zy said, looking away and putting his hand over his eyes. “You’re not gonna- I don’t know… wear a bathing suit? Or a robe?”

“Ikari’s instructions made it clear that my core had to be exposed for this, or else it wouldn’t work.” Aka snapped bitterly as she climbed into the bath. “Plus, it’s not like I haven’t stripped in front of people before.”

“Ok” Zy said, keeping his hand over his eyes. “Just tell me when you’re completely covered by whatever liquid that is.”

A few moments later Aka replied. “I’m covered.”

Zy took his hand off his eyes. “Ah. good,” he stammered, clearly uncomfortable. Aka, on the other hand, seemed relaxed.

“You doing ok?” Zy asked her.

“Yeah, yeah.” she replied. “It’s really just a tingly sensa-” Aka bent over in pain, clutching her stomach.

Zy leaped up and ran over to Aka was. “Whoa whoa whoa what’s happening? Are you ok?”

Aka remained curled over in pain. “I…. I don’t know…” She grimaced as she spat out the words like a curse.

Just after that, Aka emitted a bright flash of light and screamed out in pain, both of which went on for a good minute or so. As the light and piercing sound faded out, it was revealed to Zy that Aka was now encased the a crystalline shape of a rose. From the looks of it, the rose was composed completely of diamond.

Zy rapped on the mineral a couple times. “Hello? You ok?”

He received no answer but silence.

Zy, disappointed in the (lack of) response he got, pressed his hand up against the rose. “Hey, don’t leave me here.”

The minutes stretched into hours which stretched into days as Zy watched over the crystalline rose. It was the fourth day when something actually happened.

The rose exploded into a beam of light, much like its creation. After the light faded, Aka fell to the ground with a heavy clunk.

“Are- are you alright?” Zy stuttered, frantically scrambling over to Aka’s cold body.

Aka’s hair had somehow gotten shorter during her transformation. Her entire body had changed from her former pastel pink to a vivid, bright crimson.

Aka started to laugh. “It worked!’ She exclaimed with relief. “Oh lord, it actually worked!”

That night marked the birth of Phoinex.