The first thing Andy felt when he drifted back into awareness was warmth—two different kinds, pressing from both sides. Nia's steady breathing curled at his neck, her arm tight across his chest in a possessive hold. On the other side, Aurelia's cheek rested against his shoulder, her fingers sketching idle shapes on his skin as if she had every right to.
Andy tried to steady his pulse. This is madness. They're both here, both so close…
"Careful," he muttered, voice husky, "if you keep doing that, Aurelia, I'll forget how to breathe."
Her lips curved into a smile he could feel rather than see. "Then maybe I've already won." Her hand pressed lightly against his chest, right where his heartbeat thundered. "Listen to that. All mine."
Nia stirred, eyes still half-shut, but her lips found his jaw. "Don't be ridiculous. That's mine." She kissed him softly, deliberately. "Always has been."
"Oh?" Aurelia lifted her head just enough that her golden hair fell across Andy's chest, tangling with Nia's auburn strands. "You claim his heart… but what about the rest of him?" Her voice was daring, edged with wicked amusement.
System resonance detected…
Bond Progress Updated: Nia ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 16% / Aurelia ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 13%.
The phantom chime rang inside Andy's skull.
He clenched his teeth, heat rising to his face. Damn it, they're feeding the system by teasing each other like this…
"You're blushing," Aurelia teased, brushing his chin with a fingertip. "Adorable. For a man who's fought Hunters and divine beasts, you're undone by two women in bed."
Andy groaned. "Stop ganging up on me."
Nia chuckled, her breath hot on his skin. "Do you want us to stop, Andy?"
His silence betrayed him. Aurelia leaned close enough that her lips ghosted near his ear. "Thought so."
For a heartbeat, the world shrank: the creak of the ship, the rhythm of the sea beyond, and the two women pressing closer, their rivalry and bond weaving around him like a constellation made flesh.
He laughed then, helpless. It was ridiculous, impossible, overwhelming—and yet, he wouldn't trade it for anything.
Andy's back hit the cabin wall before he realized either of them had moved. Nia's hand still claimed his collar, but Aurelia had pressed against his side, her lips dragging fire down his jaw to his throat.
He gasped—half from the shock, half from the heat blooming through every vein.
"This… isn't fair," he managed, voice raw.
"Who said we were playing fair?" Aurelia purred, her breath warm as she traced his ear with a nip.
Nia bit back a sound, her jealousy sharp but her hands refusing to leave him. "Andy belongs to me," she growled, even as her lips sealed over his again, fierce and needy.
Aurelia only laughed, wicked and sultry. "Then why does he answer my kiss, too?"
Andy couldn't answer. Not with both of them pressing him, their warmth merging, their scents tangling until he could barely think. His hands moved helplessly—one tangled in Nia's auburn hair, the other sliding down Aurelia's waist, feeling her arch into him.
The cabin filled with ragged breathing, the creak of wood, the thunder of his heart.
System Notification…
Bond Progress: Nia ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 22% / Aurelia ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 20%.
Shared Inventory: Synced.
The chime rang deeper, as if the constellation above them responded to the fever of the moment.
Nia broke from his lips, cheeks flushed, eyes blazing. "You'll drive me mad, Andy."
"Then… let's fall together," he whispered, before Aurelia claimed his mouth again.
This time there was no restraint. The kiss burned, hot and consuming, Aurelia's body pressed flush against him. Nia's fingers threaded with his, refusing to yield even as Aurelia dominated the kiss. Andy groaned low, helpless between them, every shred of composure shattering.
Clothes shifted, a cape sliding from his shoulders, Aurelia's sleeve slipping loose as she pressed closer. Nia pulled him down onto the edge of the bed, her lips at his temple, whispering fiercely, "Don't forget me… don't you dare forget me."
"Never," Andy swore, breathless, before Aurelia's smirk silenced him with another searing kiss.
The three of them toppled together onto the sheets, laughter tangled with groans, the air thick with heat and tension. The system threads above flared bright, weaving tighter, until Andy thought the stars themselves might break.
The cabin still held the warmth of tangled breath and star-lit threads when a crystalline chime slid through Andy's mind—clean, bright, undeniable.
[Constellation System Activated]
[Current Constellation: Orion]
[Progress Bond → Nia ⭐ 22% | Aurelia ⭐ 20%]
[Reward Unlocked → Shared Inventory (Tier I)]
The interface didn't feel cold anymore; it felt alive—like the sky itself had leaned in. Lines of runes spiraled, then settled into meaning that wasn't read so much as understood, directly against his pulse.
Shared Inventory (Tier I)
— Item storage without weight limit.
— Durability preserved; elemental auras remain intact.
— Access granted to bonded partners (Nia & Aurelia).
— Soul-Tag security: only bond-linked may summon/withdraw.
— Battle sync: tagged armaments respond instantly to mental call.
Andy exhaled a laugh he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Finally. It's fully open."
On instinct, he reached with a thought. A cluster of starlit motes spun in his palm—then condensed with a low, harmonic thrum. The Draconic Oathblade landed against his hand like a promise kept: one blade, yet many, its fuller veined with living lines that breathed ember-red, tidal blue, storm-white, and earth-gold in slow rotation. Where metal should have been still, it flowed—a serpent of light caged in steel.
"Inventory—stow," Andy murmured.
The blade dissolved back into motes and vanished, leaving only the ghost of heat across his palm.
Nia, propped on an elbow, eyes still soft with sleep yet bright with pride, held out her hand. "Let me try." She touched her staff's engraved haft. "Lumina—return."
The Staff of Lumina answered like a breath: a veil of silver light, a soft chime, and it winked into her grip from nowhere, crystal head blooming with gentle radiance. No weight. No strain. No flicker of mana loss. She smiled, almost a child again at her first spell. "Durability intact. Resonance perfect. It's… beautiful."
Aurelia's lips curved, playful. She lifted two fingers and flicked a thought toward the corner where a leather harness hung. Twin arcs of moonlit steel—her blades—answered from the unseen, sliding into her palms as if they'd been waiting in midair beside her. "Mm. Instant. So if his hands are busy…" She tilted her head, amber eyes wicked. "…my knives won't be."
Andy covered his face with his hand and groaned, the sound caught somewhere between mortification and delight. "You two will be the end of me."
The system chimed again—softer this time, like approval.
Soul-Tags bound: Andy (Core), Nia (Lumina Path), Aurelia (Huntress Path).
Distance clause active: Tagged items may be summoned across sightlines and barriers if line-of-bond is intact.
Combat alert: When danger is detected, tagged armaments may auto-ping the bearer.
He tested the feeling—sent a thought, and the Oathblade reformed in his palm with zero lag, its edge whispering like surf over stone. He rolled the grip once; the elemental bands along the blade chased one another—ember to tide to storm to terra—and stilled at a calm, balanced glow. Another thought, and it vanished, clean as a breath.
"Full sync," he said, quieter now. "No more half-working. No more losing a weapon to a corridor or a collapsing cavern. If I call, it comes." He looked from Nia to Aurelia, his voice going gentler. "If either of you call, it comes."
Nia's fingers laced with his over the sheets, possessive and warm. "Good. Then nothing separates us again."
Aurelia twirled a blade and let it dissolve back into motes with a satisfied hum. "And if something tries, it'll learn how fast a shared inventory can turn into a shared execution."
Andy couldn't help it—he laughed. The sound loosened something tight inside his chest, something that had stayed coiled since the night the constellations first ignited. Above them, the faint, silvery threads of Orion pulsed once, as if the stars themselves agreed.
"Welcome to the future," he murmured, letting his head sink back to the pillow. "We finally have a system that keeps up."
The glow of the system runes faded slowly, leaving only the lingering hum of aura in the cabin. Andy still felt it beneath his skin, like embers refusing to die. He exhaled, steady, and the Oathblade dimmed in his grasp before sliding back into the Shared Inventory with a thought.
Nia's sapphire eyes tracked the shimmer, her staff of Lumina shimmering to life in her hands. The crystal tip pulsed gently, as if greeting her. She hesitated, then—almost shyly—she released it into the Shared Inventory. The glow vanished. When she called it again, the staff returned in her grasp seamlessly, not even a breath later.
Her lips parted in awe. "It feels so… natural now. No resistance. The flow is smooth, like the system is finally breathing with us." The light of Lumina bathed her face in silver warmth, and Andy caught the reverence in her voice.
Aurelia, sitting cross-legged at the edge of the bed, smirked. A flick of her wrist and a small golden brooch appeared between her fingers—a piece shaped like a phoenix feather, delicate and unnecessary for battle but precious all the same. Without hesitation she tossed it into the Shared Inventory. The shimmer swallowed it. She leaned back, stretched like a cat, and then tugged it back into her palm.
"Works perfectly." Her grin turned sly, eyes sliding toward Andy. "Maybe I should try storing you next. Keep you tucked away safely—pull you out whenever I need you."
Andy choked on his own laugh. "I don't think the system would allow that."
Aurelia tilted her head, pretending to think. "Mmm. But imagine—Andy, the portable hero. Convenient, no?"
Nia's cheeks flushed, caught between indignation and embarrassment. She shot Aurelia a pointed look. "Don't joke about such things. He's not some… some trinket you can put in your pocket."
"Of course not," Aurelia said smoothly, eyes twinkling with mischief. "Pocket's too small. I'd need a chest, at least."
Andy groaned, running a hand down his face, but laughter escaped anyway. Their bickering didn't sting; it warmed. He could feel the thread between them—the bond the system had quantified in cold numbers—stretching, weaving, but no longer brittle.
They're so different, he thought, watching them—Nia's noble composure, Aurelia's brazen playfulness—but the space between those differences wasn't a void. It was filling. Slowly, stubbornly, inevitably.
For the first time since the evolution, Andy let himself smile without restraint.
The laughter inside the cabin still lingered faintly when Andy finally pushed himself up, exhaling through his nose as if the banter of the two women at his side had settled into something almost comforting. The shared inventory had been tested, the playful sparks between Nia and Aurelia had left the air warm, and the tension was now laced with a strange harmony.
He rose, and both women followed—not trailing, but beside him. The hatch opened, light from the outside spilling in like a tide of brilliance. The sound of waves struck first, steady and calmer than the storms they had faced before.
The three stepped onto the deck.
The sea stretched endlessly, but no longer wild; its surface was a gleaming expanse of glass-blue under a morning sun. The storm that had once battered the vessel had long subsided, replaced with a horizon that promised both peace and foreboding. Seagulls wheeled lazily in the skies, and a salty wind tugged playfully at cloaks and hair.
Crewmen were already bustling about—securing ropes, patching sails. Villagers who had been rescued huddled together near the railings, faces still pale but softening with relief. A few of them looked up as Andy appeared, whispers running like currents through their midst.
"There… that's him."
"The silver-haired warrior… and the women beside him."
"They saved us…"
Nia walked close, her sapphire eyes drinking in the horizon. Aurelia, as if by instinct, positioned herself at Andy's other side, her golden hair catching the sunlight like molten fire. For a moment the crew and rescued villagers stared—three figures framed against the brilliance of the sea, each carrying an aura too heavy to mistake for ordinary.
Andy leaned on the railing, eyes narrowing as the wind shifted.
One of the elder villagers, a man with a beard white as foam, shuffled forward. His voice carried a tremor, yet it was steady with memory.
"To the north," he rasped. "There is land—scarred and cursed. Long ago it was said… the corruption took root there first. The dragons that once guarded those mountains fell. Twisted. Broken. What remains… we call them the Corrupters."
The words rippled across the deck. A hush fell, even the crew pausing their work. Nia turned her gaze sharply toward the old man, lips parting. Aurelia's playful demeanor melted for a heartbeat, her hand brushing unconsciously closer to Andy's arm.
Andy's pupils thinned just slightly, dragon core within him resonating.
"Dragon Corrupters…" he echoed under his breath.
The horizon, where sea met sky, shimmered in heat-haze. But within that haze… something darker bled. A faint smear of shadow, almost mist, but heavier—like a bruise spreading through the blue. The aura was distant, almost imperceptible, yet to Andy's heightened senses it throbbed like a pulse against his chest.
The villagers recoiled, some clutching charms, others turning away.
Andy straightened, his cape snapping in the wind.
Nia stepped closer, voice calm but edged with iron. "So it begins again. The world stirs warnings, and the system never lies. This—" she lifted her staff, Lumina, its crystal faintly resonating— "is no coincidence."
Aurelia tilted her head, half a smile playing at her lips though her eyes were sharp. "Then what are we waiting for? North is calling us. Sitting still isn't our style."
Andy looked at them both—Nia's serenity, Aurelia's fire—and then at the villagers who stared with hope and fear braided in equal measure. He placed a hand on the railing, tightening his grip until the wood creaked.
"The Mountain Scars are behind us," he said softly, though every ear caught it. His voice carried not just command, but inevitability. "The sea too. What lies ahead… is corruption we cannot ignore. North, then."
The ship shuddered as the captain barked fresh orders, sails unfurling to catch the steady wind. The bow turned gradually, cutting the waters with renewed direction.
Behind them, laughter faded into memory. Ahead, the horizon darkened subtly, a smear of black across the blue sky, like ink spilled on a canvas too wide.
Unseen in the clouds, the faint outline of wings stirred.
And as the vessel pushed forward, the bond threads—those glowing constellations only Andy could see now—shivered, weaving tighter in preparation for what was to come.
The age of Corrupters had begun anew.
---