Day in the story: 16th October (Thursday)

I spent the next few days living, almost, like a normal person again.

This time taught me that my magic protected me in ways I hadn't fully realized. I felt colder, the autumn days cut sharper than before. But when the shadowlight danced within me, my own, my personal light, the one I conjured like a miniature sun, I didn't notice it as much. Without that inner glow, my body shivered in the chill.

The real sun wasn't doing much better. The days were bleak, the sky a dull, milky white. Sadness drifted like fallen leaves on the wind. Yet, life slowed down a bit and there was a strange kind of beauty in that stillness.

People, though?

Well…

Dam wouldn't stop rambling about how stupid and reckless it had all been. That a backlash that strong would've definitely caught the Guild's attention. And the live stream? He nearly had a stroke over that one.

But if the Guild noticed… they never came.

Zoe made sure everything was streamed anonymously enough. She's clever like that.

Penrose wasn't exactly thrilled either. He gave me an earful for destroying the necklace he'd wanted for himself. I told him I had no choice, he didn't argue much after that. He turned his focus instead to ending the conflict with Robert, who apparently regained access to his Domain. Continuing the feud would've put Penrose's entire operation in debt. Now he's trying to build a network of mages and figure out how to claim a Domain of his own.

He was a scary man and I decided I'd do everything in my power to end my relationship with him on good terms, but end it, nonetheless.

I remade Ella the day after the fight, left her former shell wherever the wind took it. Reality only knows.

Afternoons, I painted again. Tried to remember what it was like to create for joy, not survival.

Believe it or not, I even went on that boxing date with Jason.

It was good. Funny. Exhausting in a nice way.

He was a good sport about all of what I let him knew about. Which wasn't much and mostly lies, but…

I changed my phone. Got a new number.

Let the people I actually care about know.

And then, this morning, Thursday, I woke up and felt it.

The connection.

My soul core.

Back.

After three days of silence, the thread between us pulsed again.

It thrilled me.

And bummed me out.

Dam had told me not to worry. That my Domain hadn't been erased, just… quiet. That it would reach back out to me in time. And he was right. But still, it was a strange thing. To feel magic return, like a limb waking from numbness.

Anansi. You there? What's the status of my progression?

[You are at 22%. You need 78% more essence of Authority to initiate growth.]

Wow. So much progress in such a short time.

And yet… still such a long way to go.

**********

I spent that afternoon after classes at a furniture outlet, picking out things I needed for my Domain, motivated partly by Peter's comment about having nowhere to sit and partly by my own realization that I didn't even have hangers or places to put my stuff.

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I walked through the aisles, casually touching things: chairs, rugs, beds. Each item vanished the moment I made contact, whisked straight into my Domain. Yet no one stopped me. No alarms went off. No confused employees confronted me. Things just… disappeared into thin air and no one batted an eye.

I could get used to that.

I probably will.

Now I was back inside my Domain with Peter, Zoe and Sophie, all helping me arrange furniture, decorate and figure out where everything should go.

"This place got bigger, right?" Peter said, looking around.

I paused, squinting at the space. Had it?

"I didn't notice before," Sophie said, "but yeah, it really does feel wider. More open. Can it grow?"

I looked at Zoe, but she just shrugged.

Anansi?

[Your Domain is tied to the power of the soul core. It will grow bigger in time.]

"Apparently, yeah. It grew. I didn't even realize," I said, grabbing the other end of the bed Peter was moving. We'd already set up three beds, I wanted four total, just in case I ever needed to bring someone here. Never again would I be unprepared for guests.

I learned I could shape the Domain with thought alone, walls, partitions, even rooms. So I'd created four bedrooms. Toilets were a bit of a challenge, but if necessary, I could open the Domain temporarily to the shadow version of our apartment, where the bathroom was accessible.

My suit now hung proudly from a custom-made hanger next to one of the statues, like my own version of a batsuit. I stood there for a second, staring at it, wondering if I'd ever make another. Maybe someday. But not now.

I had also set up a sort of armory. The new Ella hanged like a sword in a display frame above, humming faintly. Noxy rested within its holster, still clipped to the belt I'd worn so many times.

Everything had a place now.

Everything was mine.

We moved a few cabinets, desks and easels around, including my sewing machine, shaping four distinct workstations: one for painting, one for tailoring and sewing, one for makeup, with a tall mirror and soft ring light and one for metallurgy. That last one was how I'd made Sophie's necklace. The makeup station also had access to a large wardrobe, filled with persona-tied outfits I could call on later, depending on who I needed to be.

I had a bookshelf now, too, where I kept the six books I'd stolen from de Marcos so far, one of which I had already studied thoroughly. The one about Domains. The one that let me play Eveline like a fiddle.

And finally, inside the bedroom I claimed for myself, Peter helped me install a few closed-off shelves along one wall, a place for trophies and mementos. Objects of meaning. Reminders of what I'd survived and what I'd done to get here.

"Well, you've got a pretty nice apartment in here, Alexa," Sophie said, looking around. "Are you ever going to sleep in your actual room again?"

"Of course, Soph. This place… it's kind of a home, yeah. But my real one is still back on Earth. With you guys."

"Oh, don't make me tear up for you," she said with a teasing smile.

"Will you bring Jason here?" Zoe asked.

Just a few days ago, I'd have said never. But now…

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Oh, don't tell me he's grown on you," Sophie said with a mock-displeased grin.

"Let's just say I'm willing to give him a chance."

Peter laughed at that, then threw an arm around Zoe and flopped down onto one of the three sofas we'd arranged around the central crystal core. I took a seat on the opposite one while Sophie walked forward, slowly, toward the crystal hovering above the obsidian floor.

Without warning, she extended her hand and touched it.

I felt it. A warmth bloomed deep in my soul, soft, golden and strangely loving. Like being seen and held at the same time.

"You're beautiful, Lex," Sophie said, pulling her hand away. "Cracked and dark in a few places, sure… but who isn't, right?"

"Thank you, Sophie," I whispered as tears began sliding down my cheeks. "Really…"

I wanted to say more, but she came to me instead. Took my face gently in her hands, smiled that fierce little smile of hers and then just pulled me into a hug.

And I thought,

I really thought,

that was the kindest thing anyone's ever done for me.

**********

After I sent them all back to my Earth Room, I lingered a little longer, just to breathe it in before movie night. Jason would be joining us too. I wandered the space slowly, taking in the Domain as it now stood. My Reality. My own.

The space was now fully furnished, desks, cabinets, hangers, easels, couches. It even had rooms with beds and more furniture. Statues lined the walls, each depicting me in various personas, the masks of people I wore, shaped by their quirks and motivations, but masks all the same. Among them stood a new one: me in full battle armor, wearing a rabbit mask and holding a card. I looked incredibly badass, I loved it.

Eventually, I walked toward the bedroom I'd claimed and stopped by the trophy shelves. Carefully, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the necklace, the one that had started everything. A silver dragon nesting five egg-shaped pearls. It was cold now, dormant, maybe even sleeping. Every time I touched him, I felt tendrils reaching out for my soul, trying to make a connection. And each time, I refused.

I placed it gently on a jewelry stand behind glass, nestled in the center of the shelf like a crown jewel.

Shiroi never noticed the switch.

When he dropped it and looked into my eyes, I handed him the replica I'd spent three days preparing. It wasn't perfect, but it didn't need to be, not in that moment. He was distracted. Focused on relief, on me, on what we'd been through to reach that point.

And now the real thing, with all of its untapped potential, was here. Safe. Contained.

Mine.

And only I knew.

A perfect theft.

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