Telling the Whole (Part of) the Truth

"Do you have any other abilities?" Seth asked.

"A couple," Alesha answered. "I'm not sure what this means, but I apparently have a weak ability to dominate 'lesser beings.' I guess that means I can intimidate them into submission. This one's new as of this morning, though, so I have literally no idea what its limits or strengths are."

[Tell him about your partially exposed mana core,] the System prompted. [It wouldn't do for him to be unaware of one of your weaknesses.]

Weakness? Well, alright then. "Also, you asked about what my strengths and abilities are, but you might need to know about a particular weakness I have. My mana core is partially exposed, since I just barely developed it."

Seth's eyes shot open at this. "Wait, your mana core is partially exposed? That's practically unheard of. Can I see?"

Alesha cleared her throat and said, "Well, it's kind of in an embarrassing spot…"

Seth nodded. "How bad?"

"About 6 of 10 embarrassing?" Through her shirt, she tapped the mana stone on her chest, where it sat below her sternum. 

"Ah, I see. I can understand why you wouldn't want to show me there." He seemed to understand, but he also looked torn. There was a spark in his eye. Though for some reason, Alesha couldn't tell it wasn't a predatory one, but that of a curious scholar.

While he was contemplating and biting his lip, Alesha interrupted, "You look like you're curious for scholarly reasons. Is it really that strange?"

He looked up, the spark of curiosity still vibrant. "Yes, it is! Mana cores are always formed inside the chest cavities of magical beings, and though I am but a student, I have not heard of a single case where mana crystals have formed outside the body, exposed to the elements. It's a weakness to be sure, you could lose all your magic power or even your life were it to be crushed, so I really cannot fathom as to why it formed outside your chest cavity. Have you any idea?"

Alesha was beginning to see into this kid's true nature. He seemed like a curious boy, simply pursuing knowledge for its own sake rather than for power. Could he have answers as to what was happening to her? He mistakenly saw her as a demon, sure, but perhaps while she was here, among people who knew she wasn't truly human anymore, she could find some answers. But… would the System let her?

[Yes, as long as you do not expose my existence, I will not stop you from explaining your situation to this boy.]

"Well, the truth is, I used to be human, until a couple days ago," she started.

The boy's eyes widened. "Seriously? You've only been a demon for a few days?" He looked both excited and disappointed. Alesha could imagine why. He was faced with an incredibly unusual "demon," which would be exciting to his scholarly side; but in terms of his exam, it could spell disaster.

"Yes." Alesha proceeded to explain about her world being attacked by some mystical creature, waking up two months later with unusual eyes, experiencing a strange craving for meat (she didn't explain about it being related to a quest, but explained it as if she could feel it coming), then growing stronger inside a video game. They got sidetracked for a while as she tried to explain what a video game was, and she ended up explaining it as if it was a complicated, high-magic form of illusion. The comparison wasn't quite accurate but it worked well enough to get the point across. She then recounted the second attack, how the Chaos Moon had called to her (she explained as if she knew instinctively rather than having been told by the System), and how despite not wanting to, she went into an evolution in order to use up the Chaos Energy inside her. She fibbed a little and said that Korak's effects had come with her evolution, leaving everything about Korak out entirely. She didn't want him to interfere with her quest to feed others Korak by the evening. It was possible that he'd be curious enough to let her do it, but she didn't want to risk it. Even if it killed her, she wasn't ever going to let the System get that 30 minutes in control of her body!!

Seth pondered her story for a while. "What an intriguing journey," he remarked. "I'd really like to know how being set on fire by a strange creature could turn a regular human into a demon. How very, very interesting. Alas, I cannot ask the creature itself… have you any other insights as to what happened to you, such as how or why?"

Alesha shook her head. "Not really. As far as I can tell, I am the only one affected by the fire in this way. However, I suspect that the creature was an incredibly powerful Chaos Dragon, and that its fire has entirely random effects. I was told afterwards that other things were affected by the fire in unpredictable ways. Things didn't just burn. The fire made them grow vines, change substances, replicate themselves, gave inanimate objects life, and more. It was utter chaos. My city, Faxton, was completely destroyed, and apparently 15 other survivors were said to have died when they actually didn't. I'm guessing my government is keeping them in quarantine because they changed too much to be allowed back into society. They're… rather controlling that way. They wouldn't want anything to cause the populace to panic."

This explanation caught Seth's interest anew. "Wait, fire that randomizes things, a Chaos Dragon that breathes it… I swear I have heard of such a beast before… Curses, I cannot recall. You are free for the day, before I forget, I am going to the library to research this!" 

More excited than Alesha had seen him yet, Seth cut their "training" session short and hurried off.

"What's he so excited about?" She muttered, though she was curious herself. Could the boy really have heard of the same beast before? Was it the same, or just similar? Regardless of what was really the case, Alesha was curious about what the boy would learn. If she could learn more about the being that had started this whole mess, she might even consider this whole jaunt to another world worth it.

Even if it meant she'd suddenly poofed into nonexistence as far as her family was concerned… yeah, she wasn't looking forward to trying to explain this when she got back.