Four days.
I let time pass while my crystalline structure slowly regenerated, fragments reassembling like melting ice flowers reforming themselves.
In the quiet boredom of the process, I decided to distract myself.
"Come here…" I thought, sending a playful command to the crystal fish.
The little school responded immediately, swirling around me in perfect spirals, their translucent bodies catching and reflecting the colors of the mana that flowed through my dimension.
I extended one of my long crystalline filaments, playing at "lassoing" some of the fish, who darted away agilely, leaving shimmering trails in the void.
For a brief instant, I was simply… happy.
I suppose that, deep down, even as a cosmic entity, there's still something human left in me.
"Okay, children, time to work…" I teased, sending new commands for them to update the structure of the relays that were almost complete.
While I organized the processes, I monitored Victor quietly.
He was… changing.
At first, small things.
Like now, sitting by his grandfather's bed, with the window open, letting the cold breeze in while he patiently fed the old man.
Victor stared out the window, his gaze lost in the shattered moon hanging in the sky.
"You're calmer," I said, sending the message directly to his consciousness, a gentle, non-intrusive whisper.
He blinked, raising his head.
"…Huh?" he muttered, looking around, confused.
I smiled—or whatever the equivalent of that is for me.
"Just a thought. How do you feel?"
Victor pulled the blanket tighter over his grandfather, observing his breathing, still weak but stable.
"Better… I think. I don't know… sometimes I feel…" he closed his eyes, searching for words "…like there's something else inside me. Like… a different warmth."
I let the [Corona Solar] pulse lightly, sending a subtle wave of energy that soothed his discomfort.
"It's okay," I assured him. "It's just… growing."
He sighed, relaxing.
"And… these weird things I understand? Words… I didn't even know I knew…?"
Ah, yes. The [Linguagens].
"Part of the same process. You'll notice more… with time."
Victor fell silent for a moment, then gently held his grandfather's hand.
"Just… don't leave me alone, okay?"
My crystalline core vibrated softly.
"Never."
Meanwhile, the [Linguagens] was ready.
A small multifaceted fragment, pulsing softly and steadily, floating like a miniature star.
I sent the final command.
"Seek a compatible host. But don't rush… observe."
And it departed.
It slipped through the subtle currents of planetary aura, crossing mana flows and natural circuits.
Soon, it found the first candidate: a faunus child, no more than seven years old, playing with the wind at the edge of the village, with a wide smile and vibrant eyes.
The Shard hovered, curious.
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The child opened her arms and… spoke to the wind.
Or rather… through it.
The air around her responded, carrying words, whistling short and gentle messages, like whispers borne by the breeze.
[Semblance: Aeolian Communication]
[Potential: high]
[Emotional stability: fragile]
[Age: too young]
The [Linguagens] assessed coldly.
Yes… the Semblance was perfect… but the mind of the child, no.
Too early. Far too fragile to withstand even a minor Shard.
The fragment quivered slightly, as if sighing, then moved away, leaving the child to play in peace with the wind, never knowing that, for a moment, a cosmic entity had considered her part of something greater.
The Shard continued.
It traveled to the next city, floating among conversations, absorbing patterns, analyzing voices and gestures.
Then, it stopped.
A merchant.
A middle-aged man, sitting behind a stall, selling goods of questionable quality, but with a tongue… razor sharp.
Even without aura, without a Semblance, the man was pure verbal power.
He convinced clients to accept bad deals with a warm smile. He turned words like blades, wounding, seducing, manipulating.
The [Linguagens] paused, interested.
[Aura: nonexistent]
[Linguistic capacity: extreme]
[Cognitive resilience: moderate]
Yes… there was potential.
But something was missing.
That deeper connection… that symbolic link that would make the host not just functional, but perfect.
The Shard hesitated… then drifted away.
And continued.
For long minutes, maybe hours… time didn't matter.
Until finally… it found.
A technician, young, eyes marked by sleepless nights, surrounded by prototypes of prosthetics and neural interfaces.
He was adjusting delicate circuits with precision while transmitting commands through electrical signals, mixing spoken language, binary codes, and data streams.
And his Semblance…
[Semblance: Neural Synchronization]
[Capacity: integration with multiple communicative systems, organic and electronic]
[Aura: moderate]
[Emotional stability: high]
[Cognitive resilience: high]
Perfect.
The [Linguagens] rotated gently in the air, sending a silent confirmation to the network.
[Host identified. Preparing integration.]
Meanwhile, I, Alex, watched everything with rare serenity.
My fish played in the distance, slowly constructing the last segments of the relays, while Victor slept peacefully, unaware that, little by little, he was becoming an essential piece of something much larger.
And the [Linguagens], now with its new partner, would expand its function, ensuring that never again would any Shard have to ask:
"What the hell is my host saying…?"
[Shards Active:]
- [Corona Solar] — Status: Germinating in Victor
- [Linguagens] — Status: Integrating with Technician
[Data Network:]
- Dust: Ongoing analysis
- Language: Advanced processing
Everything was fitting together.