Inside the tunnel like cave, there was only darkness. Rhaëlya had to stay put for a few seconds so that her eyes could adapt to the darkness. Thanks to her new identity as a shifter, a feline one at that, she could see clearly even in complete darkness.
But what she saw ahead was...simply a rocky and dusty tunnel. There were a few sparkly rocks on the walls and ceiling of the entrance though.
They might be natural minerals. Rhaëlya kept glancing at them, wondering if she could take them with her.
Still, she didn't stop once. Thinking that if she wanted to leave this cave faster, she should find an exit faster.
"Shouldn't you wait for your mate and the tiger courting you? Why do you wanna go inside that badly?" The jellyfish inquired. She didn't know what her host was thinking about.
"...while I do want to find an exit, I also want to know why there's this earth cave underneath the ground." Replied Rhaëlya in a calm voice, eyes shining a cold pink in the darkness of the earth.
The jellyfish kept quiet after that, as she didn't fully understand her host yet. But she did know that just now her host shed her naive schoolgirl persona.
Rhaëlya kept looking at the small jellyfish floating above her shoulder and opened her mouth, "By the way, jelly, what's your name? I remember you said that you were a system, right?"
The jellyfish froze for a second before it's small tentacles started trembling slightly in excitement and it's small voice got slightly bubblier "Actually! I've been waiting for the host to name me! Please give me a name!!"
Now it was Rhaëlya's turn to be stunned. She thought for a second before telling the jellyfish "In that case, I'll need to know your gender."
The jellyfish froze again before nodding it's small head in understanding. Right then, a warm and cozy light emerged from it's body and Rhaëlya had to cover her eyes.
When she opened them again, the jellyfish disappeared and in it's stead stood an extremely beautiful woman.
Then a low yet energetic voice came out of the woman's mouth, "While I may look like a woman to you, us systems do not have definite genders."
She said while smirking. Then another wave of light came from her body and Rhaëlya closed her eyes again, just to open them a second later and see a gorgeous man, with waist long flowy and jelly textured hair looking at her, with the same smirk as the woman from earlier.
He opened his mouth and this time, the same voice, yet slightly lower, came out, "I can take on any gender's appearance, or even have an androgynous one. So, host, which one do you prefer?"
He asked her while bowing slightly.
While the jellyfish's feminine form was slightly shorter than her, who stood at 1.70m*, the masculine form was taller than her, probably at around 1.80m*.
Rhaëlya looked at the man in front of her with curiosity before the sides of her mouth curved up a little.
Then she closed her eyes before answering, "I don't care about your form. Just use whatever you're comfortable with."
The jellyfish blinked it's eyes. It had many hosts before. Yet none gave it this much liberty.
On the contrary, many of it's hosts tried mating it after seeing it's humanoid form. And if it wasn't mating, it was se☆ual favors or rewards after completing quests and missions. Which lead to many issues.
And the solution to that was to always pair it with another system for the same host, this time it was a screen system, Ariel.
Just in case it's host starts creeping on it, then it's partner system can save it.
But it's host this time didn't show any lust or desire for it. Only curiosity, and it even gave it the freedom to choose it's form freely.
Truth was, as a jellyfish system, it didn't like humanoid forms, it always preferred animalistic ones.
But if it's this host then....
And just like that, another wave of light appeared. Luckily, Rhaëlya had already closed her eyes. And when the light faded, she opened them again...just to not see anything? We'll, rather, anyone?
"Look down!" A childish voice told her.
What she saw when she looked down was a smaller and somehow younger version of the two forms that the jellyfish took earlier. This time, it barely reached her waist.
"I prefer this form as it's the closest to my original form while also keeping me fully mobile and understandable to other people!" It said excitingly.
"Hmm...then I should give you a unis☆x name.." Rhaëlya mumbled.
The jellyfish, now under a small child's appearance, looked at her with shining eyes.
"...Star...star...Orion?" She mumbled again.
Now even Ariel, who was named after a children's cartoon mermaid, was silently waiting.
Rhaëlya lowered herself to the child's face and cupped it's face gently with her hands before asking it, "How about Orion? Nickname Star. Although Orion is mostly used for boys, I see it as more gender neutral. And Star seems to suit you as well."
The jellyfish nearly cried, "I love them!!" It screamed before hugging her.
It didn't have a name, not even after being born for more than a millennium. It didn't have a proper name even after the greatest war in the Above.
And now it finally had one! One so cute and special too!!
Ariel, named after a mermaid (after being mistaken for a woman by his past host): ... this isn't fair!
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Small chapter but I'm trying to coherently divide the scenes so that it's not confusing when you're reading (｡-ω-)
/!\ Crypt's appearance will change slightly in the next chapters! The author (me) made a mistake and forgot what he looked like so to make it clearer: Crypt went from red and silver hair to black and silver hair! His tail still has red hues, especially the tail tip.
Azrakai: Black-blue hair and grey eyes/slightly golden eyes
1.70m = 5'7ft
1.80m = 5'9ft