two

Alan, gracefully, and ever so slowly floated to the bottom, and Ecaura followed him, then the ground closed on them

"Do you recognise the place?

-I do, it's one of the two rooms where we used to give existence to new Quantum shifters, but why are we here?

-turn yourself into ash and travel through the tunnel to the second room, you'll know why by then"

Ecaura suddenly realised what was happening, she muttered "no.. this can't work.. or can it? I don't know.. I never.. saw anyone like you.. could this work.. will it?

-let us try, we got nothing to lose, we'll find out how it goes, worst case scenario is that nothing happens, come on"

Ecaura took a second to process what was happening, then she turned into a gas and swam through air until she reached the second chamber.

After a small pause, she asked in her head "are you ready, Alan?"

To which he telepathically replied, "I am"

Alan was in the peak of his spirituality, he felt it, he felt his subconsciousness and spirit connected like never before, which is why he was able to perform the second move, Lathinsé.

Because of how much energy both were generating, air started moving around them, Alan was taking long deep breaths and focusing, and so was Ecaura,

In one synchronised motion, an energy boulder generated in between their hands, and they both fired it off into the tunnel, it was so strong that it violently pushed Alan against the wall.

The two boulders met in the middle sphere, and merged together occupying the whole sphere, Alan and Ecaura kept generating that energy until a big explosion happened, and knocked both of them out,

a new Quantum shifter just came to existence.

The ground opened, and ejected the three creatures out, then closed again, the only conscious one was the new Quantum shifter, Alan had a bloody face, and Ecaura was on the ground.

The new shifter was extremely confused, they scouted the place, then slowly moved toward Ecaura, and leaned in besides her, as soon as they touched her, light came out of the whole creature, it stayed lit like that for a while, and as soon as the light disappeared, they took their hands away from Ecaura, and Ecaura woke up, what just happened was Quantum memory, another phenomenon Ecaura discarded while talking to Alan because she found no reason to mention.

Since Quantum shifters are born the same age, and they do not change, there is no time for them to progressively learn certain things, like their identity, and their surroundings, so whenever a new shifter exists, the first time they touch an old one gives them that shifter's memory, and they instantaneously become aware of the area they're in, Quantum memory only passes memories of physical existence, it does not pass knowledge, or power. The only energy it passes is from the new shifter to the old one, just some, enough for them to wake up.

Ecaura swung back up and immediately rushed to Alan, before even looking at the new shifter, she owed him too much, and if she didn't give him any energy, there is a really big chance he would lose his life.

Alan wasn't breathing, his heart stopped beating, the impact of the creation was too much for him to handle, Ecaura took him to the water, and noticed the moons are starting to set, she can get him back to life, but it's a matter of her, versus time, who would win?

She went a bit far away and laid his lifeless body in the water, she felt that his spirit and mind were still alive, there's still a chance, she stood a bit back, and was going to perform a manipulation of the Wayx, so that she's able to control his blood flow.

But....she couldn't, she was extremely confused at first but then she realised after a brief look at her inner spirit and subconsciousness, she lost it, she lost the portal of Chi, as a result of making the new shifter, which means Alan was the one to temporarily lose his portal, and she's the one who lost one permanently, of all portals, Ecaura lost the portal of Chi..

Xynar's pages started turning black, slowly but surely, one by one, Ecaura sat motionless in the water looking at the corpse, he sacrificed himself for her, for her people, for her continuity, and she can't even help him.

She felt a presence behind her, it was the other Quantum shifter, it spoke

"Glabitra" the first word a shifter pronounces is their name

"Nice to meet you Glabitra, Ecaura.

-Who is that?

-it's a human, he's not from here, but he was the one who made your existence possible, and he.. lost his life in the process

-he's dead?

-he is, only the Wayx could save him, but I lost it

-but I have it

-you do?

-of course, the first portal a new Quantum shifter performs is the one that the older one lost

-you're right.. that's actually true..

-I don't understand how you forgot about this, I know this information because of you and your memory that was transferred to me.

-can you do something?

-I can try"

Glabitra took a different approach, she did not touch Alan's blood, she controlled the water and started making swirls of it around him, the swirls looked like spaced braids, they were beautifully perfected, and then, the water started glowing, and after all of it had glowed, Alan started levitating and so did the water around him, the water started shrinking on him until piercing through his skin, and with that, his eyes opened, and he fell back down in the water.

Alan started breathing again, and shortly after, slowly opened his eyes, simultaneously, Xynar's pages receded back to normal, the fight was not over yet, it actually hasn't even started.

All three rushed into the Queendom to hide from the sun, and as soon as they entered, Ecaura got on her knees and said "I am eternally grateful for what you've done, assuring the continuity of my people, and giving me something no power I ever held, or creature I ever met has ever given me, hope.

-oh, Ecaura, it's an honor to help. Besides, you, have guided me and my spirit through a great journey, I have grown and evolved so much thanks to you and your vision, least thing I can do is pay you back.

-you are unique, and I do firmly believe your journey has just began, and to continue it, you know what has to be done.

-I do.

-and now, we shall part ways, me and Glabitra will work on our Queendom, and you work on yourself, head to the West, calmly surf through the waters, and you shall see Neris, and remember, I lost the portal of Chi permanently, you lost DCM temporarily, but do not worry, it should come back as soon as Glabitra learns it, and I will make sure that happens fast, good luck to you.

-thank you Ecaura, and thank you Glabitra, good luck to you both as well"

And with that, Alan bowed his head to them one last time, and headed out...