It had been eight years since Zeraph had taken in Avien and in that time, she had learned quite a lot about the world of motherhood, much more than she ever thought she would in her life. However, as she had delved further, she actually found that she enjoyed it somewhat. When she brought this up to Lothia, he would often simply dismiss the feelings saying that it was the effect of the human body she inhabited or perhaps simply the pride in what she was creating and the knowledge that her goals were drawing closer with each passing day.
Even still, it had unnerved her at first, but that feeling had subsided over time. Now she simply accepted the feelings whenever they came. Avien was her child and she enjoyed having them around to a degree. When they were much younger, that was a much more minute feeling, but as they matured, it became greater. The ability to actually speak with the child in a more comprehensive capacity had its advantages, but it also allowed Avien to be more obstinate with their mother. Lothia had been helping quite a lot to ensure that their relationship stayed intact, knowing that Avien was essential for the future of his master’s plans.
While Zeraph fought with the child quite a bit and seemed to only struggle with parenting, Lothia had actually taken to the role of a guardian figure within Avien’s life quite well. He had always been rather good with children, even without the ability to see the future. Plus, Avien was quite a lot like his master and growing more like her every day and that only made things easier. Lothia had been under Zeraph for many years now and had never had any real problems.
Although, as Avien continued to grow, so too did their power, something that Lothia was becoming increasingly aware of. Zeraph had wished for the child to be in combat training essentially from birth and since she didn’t wish for Avien to come in contact with the outside world during these quite formative years, that left the role of training up to Lothia. The man had never been a very combat-minded individual, but if Zeraph requested it, he would get it done and Zeraph was quite happy to point out everything that Lothia was doing wrong.
However, as the years went on, Zeraph’s plan was nearing its next phase. Originally, she had been planning to simply procure a number of instructors that could help out with Avien’s training, but it had become increasingly clear to her that people were far more resistant to this idea than she had hoped and without her full power, she had very little that she could actually do about it, so she had had to shit gears and decided to take some of Lothia’s advice in the matter. Lothia would begin going out in to the world and collecting children a few years older than Avien, so that they would have opponents stronger than them to fight against and grow stronger than.
Zeraph additionally hoped that as Avien grew stronger, so too would the other children and she would eventually have a small army on her side. She hoped she would only ever need Avien to carry out her plans, but having other strong apprentices at her side would not be a terrible idea. Although, with the increase in the number of children, it would also mean that they would need some way of taking care of them all.
Lothia informed Zeraph that, while most of her disciples had died or strayed, there would likely still be those that are loyal to her and could help, so Lothia took some time to venture all over the world in an attempt to actually find some individuals like that.
Lothia was gone for almost five weeks before finally returning and with him, he brought good news. He had managed to secure the location of quite a few of Zeraph’s followers that still existed within the world and he found each and every one of them. Most of them had gone deeply underground in an attempt to keep themselves concealed, but when they were offered a chance to truly serve Zeraph, they were simply overjoyed. In total, Lothia had managed to procure thirteen individuals that were still loyal to Zeraph and were on board with becoming mentors for Avien and the new children that would be brought in.
And so, over the next few months, Lothia brought in more and more children. Eventually, they had almost one hundred residents within the facility and Zeraph was quite ecstatic at the turnout. She found that most of these children had been cast aside and were open to the ideas that she wished to imprint upon them. Everything seemed to be going perfectly. Avien was progressing quite nicely and even seemed to be getting along relatively well with the other children. This only seemed to encourage their growth further.
However, eventually, things took a turn that Zeraph simply was not expecting. Late one night, there was a knock on the door to her personal chambers. Not wanting Avien to feel smothered or too terribly controlled, Zeraph had opted to allow them to have their own separate sleeping quarters when they had turned five. They were still close by so that they wouldn’t feel that Zeraph had abandoned them and would still be able to find them quickly if they needed. Much to her surprise, the knock came from her child.
“Well, hello, darling. What are you doing here so late at night. I would have thought that you were asleep an hour ago,” said Zeraph, letting Avien in to the room and closing the door behind them as they walked over to her bed. She didn’t need to sleep, but it made her look a bit more normal.
“I couldn’t sleep…” Avien said softly.
“Aww… darling…” Zeraph picked them up and sat them down on their lap, beginning to softly stroke their hair. It was the first time in a while they took a moment to realize just how much they’d grown. They now came all the way up to her waist, though they were still rather skinny. Their skin was a pale cream color, close to their mother’s, but with no purple tint. However, the two of them had quite similar messy purple hair that went down past their shoulders. Avien seemed to always like their hair long despite the repeated offers for a haircut. They looked up at Zeraph with a soft smile as she continued to stroke their hair. Avien’s eyes shone brightly and she could see a deep concern in them despite their somewhat unusual appearance.
“What’s wrong, Avien?” she asked, seemingly genuine concern in her voice.
“I don’t know… I feel… weird…” Their voice was soft and rather squeaky still, but they also had the same soft accent that their mother had.
“Are you ill, my dear?”
They shook their head and sighed. “I’m not sure what’s wrong… It’s… the other kids… they all seem to know who they are… but… I don’t… I’m not very happy when I see my body in the mirror… It feels… wrong… And it makes me upset…”
Zeraph’s eyes widened. They weren’t really sure what was going on. They had never had a particular association with their own body. To them, it was simply a vessel to carry around their consciousness. He, She, They. It all felt the same to them. But it seemed that perhaps that wasn’t the case with humans.
“Well, darling, is there something that you would like me to do about it?” they asked, hoping to get some insight in to how they might be able to rectify the situation on their own, though they feared they would have to seek Lothia for help.
“I don’t know… Is there a way you could change my body?” Avien asked, looking up at their mother.
“I don’t have that power, darling. Although, if you knew what you wanted to do with your body, I do believe that Lothia could help you. He is a medical professional and has a very deep understanding of how the body works. Why don’t we go talk with him? He might have a better understanding of what’s going on with you as well,” Zeraph offered.
After a moment of consideration, Avien nodded. Zeraph placed them back down on the ground and stepped down, taking Avien’s hand in hers before making her way to Lothia’s room. She opened the door and headed inside, flipping the lights on. Lothia didn’t seem to be affected by the changed, so Zeraph released Avien’s hand and walked over to Lothia. She removed the covers from him and took a single finger and began dragging her fingernail down his neck. This caused the man to practically jump out of bed, knocking his head in to the ceiling and falling to the ground.
“Ah, you’re awake.”
“…I am now, sire… Oh, Avien. Hello.” Lothia said as he attempted to straighten himself out, still a little out of it.
Avien gave a little wave to Lothia and he nodded. “What brings you here at this time of night?”
“I need you to assist me with an issue that Avery is having. They seem to have issue with their body. Though, I do not fully understand, so you will need to assess it for me,” Zeraph explained.
Lothia nodded and sat down on the floor. “Alright, Avien, what seems to be the problem?”
Avien then went on to explain how they felt that their body wasn’t correct for them. Lothia listened intently the whole time, nodding along to certain parts. Once Avien was done, Lothia stood up and took a seat on his bed, thinking for a moment, trying to decide how to approach this.
“Avien, can I ask you some questions?”
Avien nodded.
“Avien, you say you feel a disconnect with your body. Now, when did this first surface?”
Avien thought for a moment, unsure at first. “I think it was when the other kids started to arrive. They were all so different and they have all kinds of different bodies. And there were ones with bodies that were a lot different from mine.”
“Are you referring to the girls?” Lothia asked, seemingly finding a point to latch on to.
“Yeah. The girls. Although, I kinda felt this a little before then too…” they explained.
Lothia nodded and took a deep breath before finally asking, “Avien, do you think that you would be happier if you had a body like the girls?”
Avien just sat there for a while, not saying anything. They seemed to be rather intensely pondering the question before finally answering simply, “Yes. I do.”
Lothia nodded. “Alright, well, Avien, I want you to know that this is not something out of the ordinary. There are a lot of people just like you who did not like the body they were born in. And, because of that, there are also ways to change your body. However, I want to ensure that this is the right decision for you. As it stands, it very much seems to be, but I’d like to take some time, maybe a year, for us to talk regularly and get to talk about what exactly is going on. Would that be alright with you, Avien?”
Avien nodded quickly.
“Alright. That sounds great. Assuming your mother is alright with this, we can get on with it.”
Zeraph thought for a moment. “Will this in any way affect their training?”
“I can do all of this during our down time. It should take no more than half an hour every few days,” Lothia added.
“You may then.”
“Excellent. Now, may I get back to sleep, sire?” Lothia asked sheepishly.
“You may. I will go bring Avien back to their room so they can get some rest as well.”
With that, the two left Lothia, heading back to Avien’s room. Before Zeraph even left the room, Avien was fast asleep. Zeraph returned to her room, deliberating over some of the plans that she had been working on for modifying the facility.
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One year later, it was finally the big day. Lothia and Avien had spent the last year going over things and Avien had reached the conclusion that not only would they like a female body, but they would also prefer to be referred to that way, even eventually deciding to adopt the name Avery. And when things were all said and done, Lothia was sure that the changing of her body to that of a female would be the best decision. So, they set a date when Avery would be able to undergo the process. Lothia had to refine his skills and collect the necessary materials before performing the operation.
Once the day finally came, Avery was extremely nervous, but also quite excited. The procedure took several hours and once it was over, Avery was out for almost two days. Once she woke up, she was excited at the sight of her new body, though it took quite a bit of time for her to adjust to everything. Zeraph helped as much as they could, but they still couldn’t really understand. However, once Avery was able to participate in training, she noticed that Avery seemed to be more engaged and was even performing better. Over the following months, she seemed to grow even more than she had before her transition. Everything seemed to be looking up for Avery.
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