Chapter 284: New age
Electra’s POV
I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror, the edge of the counter cool against my palms as I leaned into it with a sigh.
Clean.
For the first time in what felt like a century, I was actually clean and scrubbed down to my bones. The grime from the bunker, the sweat from fever, and the ash from whatever plane of existence I’d been reborn in were finally gone.
I’d spent the better part of an hour soaking in the tub, letting the water pull the weight from my skin. It hadn’t worked completely since my muscles still ached like I’d been beaten with a hammer, and every time I shifted, something cracked or popped, but at least I didn’t smell like a damp tomb anymore.
My hair, though, was another story. It was tangled, dry, and being rebellious. I tried to smooth it down with my fingers, but I ended up wincing every time I hit a knot.
"Gods, I look like I fought a demon and lost," I muttered.
The light above the mirror flickered slightly as I adjusted my posture and tilted my head, assessing the face staring back at me. Pale skin, dark circles under my eyes, chapped lips, and hair that might as well be a bird’s nest, but the eyes.
That was what struck me.
They weren’t glowing, not exactly, but there was something different in them. A faint glint, almost like a light had been tucked behind my irises, and was burning low and steady.
Still watching my reflection, I lifted my hand and gently touched the side of my neck. I half-expected heat, or pain, or maybe a mark, but it was just skin. Tired and sore skin.
"Would you like to see what you really look like?"
The voice slid through my mind, but I didn’t flinch this time.
I’d grown used to it over the past few hours, the voice that wasn’t mine but lived inside me, even though it still hadn’t given me a name yet.
"What are you talking about?" I asked out loud, eyes still fixed on the mirror. "You mean this?" I motioned vaguely to my exhausted reflection. "This is what I look like, and you’re part of me. You should know that."
"Sure," it said, clearly amused. "But you think this is all of you? This dull, breakable, boring little human frame?"
I scowled. "Gee, thanks."
"I’m just saying," it continued with a scoff, "You saw what real phoenixes looked like in our realm, didn’t you? Or did your rebirth shake your brain that badly? We don’t exactly look like this," the voice added, "so why would you assume I would look like some tired girl in a bathrobe?"
I paused.
Okay... it had a point.
Back in that strange, blazing realm of flame and sky, the phoenixes I’d seen weren’t people. I’d barely understood what I was seeing at the time, but now, with the voice reminding me, the images surged back in vivid clarity.
"...Right," I said slowly. "I guess I didn’t really think about that."
"Clearly."
I rolled my eyes and grabbed a towel from the counter, blotting some of the water from my arms. "So what, are you going to make me burst into flames and grow wings or something? Because that sounds like a bad idea in a tiled bathroom."
"Calm down, candlewick," the voice muttered with a chuckle. "You’re still too weak for an actual transformation. Your body hasn’t adjusted yet, but I can show you what we look like, what I look like. I’ll show you through the mirror. It’ll be aglimpse, nothing more."
I arched a brow at my reflection.
"Through the mirror?"
"Yes. Think of it as... a reflection of the truth that’s under your skin. I’m not going to possess you or turn you inside out. I’m just showing you what’s hidden behind the veil of your human form."
"...That doesn’t sound ominous at all."
"You’re welcome."
There was a pause, and the silence in the room grew extremely still in a very creepy way, and then, like lightning through glass, I changed.
Well, my reflection did.
I didn’t feel anything in my body. I wasn’t burning or melting or anything like that, but the version of me in the mirror... she morphed into something that wasn’t quite human anymore.
Golden-red feathers appeared along my shoulders and arms, like they had grown from my skin and not laid over it. They didn’t look fake or like part of a costume, they looked alive, each one edged with light that looked like tiny flames.
My hair, still long and blonde, had taken on this coppery sheen and was glowing as if fire itself was threaded into every strand. It framed my face and ran down to meet the flame-textured bodice that hugged my new form, more like it had formed from my body than something I was wearing.
And my eyes... gods.
Still the same piercing blue I’d always had, but now they glowed faintly, and somehow, despite all the change, the face still felt like it was mine.
"Wow," I breathed out, the word escaping without permission. "We’re... beautiful."
There was a pause before the voice in my head responded, softly, like it had been watching right along with me.
"I know."
It chuckled, almost teasing. I blinked, slowly tilting my head as I studied the reflection again. "Do you... have a name?"
"A name?"
"Yeah," I murmured. "I mean... you’re me, but not really. You’re your own being, aren’t you? Do you have a name, or... do we just share one?"
There was a pause.
"I haven’t thought of one yet," the voice admitted. "So... for now, you can call me E?"
"E?" I frowned. "That’s the most uninspired name you could’ve come up with."
"Would you prefer I call myself something more dramatic, like ’eternal flame?"
I groaned. "Please don’t."
"Then E it is," the voice said cheerfully. "Short, mysterious, and minimalist."
I was about to roll my eyes when a sharp knock on the door snapped me out of the moment.
"Electra?" Roxana’s voice rang out, muffled but unmistakably amused. "I know you feel gross and all, but are you seriously going to stay in the bathroom forever? You’ve been in there for ages."
I blinked, suddenly remembering the real world existed. My gaze snapped away from the mirror as I grabbed the towel again and began patting myself dry.
"I’m coming!" I called out. "Relax."
"No promises!" Roxana called back with a giggle. "I’m giving you thirty more seconds before I break down the door."
I sighed, glancing back at the now-ordinary reflection. Just me again. Then I tossed the towel aside and stepped toward the door since tying it didn’t seem necessary.
I opened the door, and was immediately greeted by all three of them, Roxana, Irina, and Penelope, standing in a row with the biggest grins I’d ever seen. Roxana was holding a small, somewhat lopsided cake with pink icing and way too many candles shoved into it.
"Happy Belated Birthday!" they all shouted at once, grins stretched across their faces like they’d been dying to yell it.
I blinked, stunned.
"What?"
They laughed, Roxana stepping forward with the cake still in her hands, its frosting slightly messy, clearly homemade, or at least smuggled into school in a hurry.
"It’s your birthday," Penelope said, her voice gentle.
"Or... it was," Irina added with a shrug. "You kind of missed it by nearly dying."
I blinked again, then glanced down at the cake. I didn’t even know what to say. My birthday? I hadn’t thought about it at all.
"How old am I now?" I asked numbly.
Roxana grinned. "Twenty."
Twenty.
Huh.
I let the number settle into my chest. Two decades, and I’d stepped into my twentieth year with a soul-deep transformation.
Somehow... it fit.
"Wow," I said softly. "I forgot."
"We didn’t," Penelope said.
I looked at them, really looked, and felt something warm behind my ribs. Then, I cleared my throat and took the cake from Roxana’s hands carefully.
"I’m not going to cry," I warned them.
"No one said you were," Irina said, smiling just enough to prove she didn’t believe me.
I glanced between them, then back at the cake, and whispered, "Thank you, guys. I love you."