Ferra measured the distance between the two conversion circles three times before permitting anyone to place cloth near them.
The circles occupied a sealed palace hall whose windows opened toward an empty garden. Prepared coverings rested beyond both outer lines, folded so separate hands could reach them without entering either formation.
Vella stood beside Hajin’s right shoulder, while Didi guarded the doors against officials who considered every unknown soul a royal security question.
Hajin opened the Soul Selection entry and let its impressions resolve into their full separate forms.
Two sleek creatures ran through a broken landscape where distance behaved like frightened water. One sister opened a road by striking empty air with her forepaw, and the other collapsed that road behind their prey.
Their last hunt ended beneath a rift storm when human trappers shattered the opening anchor, then killed both animals before either abandoned the other.
[Linked Soul Selection]
[Species: Rift-Lynx]
[Sex: Female / Female]
[Relationship: Littermates]
[Compatibility: 92%]
[Warning: Selecting either soul independently will collapse both anchors]
The two impressions pressed against the same boundary without blending together; one watched every possible route, while the other watched everything capable of following them.
"They can refuse after conversion begins?" Hajin asked, keeping the panel open.
"Each retains an independent rejection point," Aria said within his thoughts, then continued, "One refusal ends both constructions because their source anchors remain linked, but acceptance creates separate contracts and bodies."
Hajin placed one hand above each circle without touching the inscriptions; "I will not make either of you survive alone by destroying the other," he said, addressing the waiting souls, then continued, "If you both accept, I can offer separate lives with a bond you define yourselves."
The route-watching impression moved first, touching his left palm through the panel. The closing impression waited until her sister withdrew, then pressed against his right palm with greater suspicion.
Two separate confirmations appeared; "They accepted," she said, and five dormant circuits demanded attention at once.
Hajin opened the first Ring, then the remaining four in controlled succession. Five halos rotated around his right forearm, multiplying the strain before either circle received a soul.
Vella laid two fingers against his wrist and stabilized the hybrid pathways as the linked conversion began.
Light rose from both circles in opposing spirals; the left formation expanded outward as though searching for a destination, while the right folded inward around a point that refused escape.
Soul matter crossed Hajin’s core twice, and the second passage nearly pulled the first construction apart.
"Hold the outer rhythm," Vella said, keeping her voice level, then continued, "Do not feed the second body through the first one’s channel."
Hajin separated the currents through Ring rotation rather than force; each soul received divine structure and demonic circulation through its own pathway, while their linked anchors remained touching along one narrow boundary.
The double conversion drained mana faster than a battle exchange, yet five Rings prevented the demand from consuming the core supporting them; Two bodies formed inside the light.
The left woman appeared first with tawny skin, dark amber hair, and triangular feline ears flattened against her head. A long tail curled protectively around her bare legs while clawed fingers tested the stone beneath her.
That right woman followed with smoke-brown hair, pale amber eyes, and similar feline features arranged into a distinctly sharper face; her tail lashed once before wrapping around her own ankles.
Ferra moved only after both circles dimmed; she slid each prepared covering across the floor without crossing the lines, letting the women choose whether to take them.
The amber-haired sister seized hers and draped it around both shoulders; the smoke-haired sister copied her several heartbeats later, watching Ferra throughout the movement.
Hajin closed all five Rings before the drain could deepen; "The circles are no longer holding you," Hajin said, lowering himself so he did not stand over them, then continued, "Your bodies are separate, and nobody here will touch you without permission."
The amber-haired woman tried to rise immediately; her new feet crossed in opposite directions, sending her sideways into the other circle.
Her sister caught her by the covering, then lost balance because she had expected four legs beneath herself; they landed together, claws scraping across stone.
Didi covered a smile with one gloved hand; "Two legs are a deeply overrated royal custom," she said.
The sharper sister bared unfamiliar human teeth at her, although confusion weakened the threat.
"She is not mocking you," he said, offering his forearm without moving closer, then continued, "She falls often enough to respect the problem."
"That is slander," Didi said, carrying an unmistakable dialogue tag beneath her dignity.
The amber-haired woman studied Hajin’s arm before using it to stand; her sister rejected the help and rose against the circle’s edge through patient trial.
Once upright, they leaned toward each other until their shoulders touched, as Aria recorded the result.
Neither possessed human speech yet, but both soul impressions supplied meaning through the unfinished contracts. The first associated herself with openings, pursuit, and the sound of rain entering stone.
The second carried closure, guarded dens, and the silence after a trail disappeared.
"You need names that belong to these lives," Hajin said, letting each impression settle independently, then continued, "Rumi for the one who opens roads, if you accept it. Nari for the one who closes them, if you accept that."
Rumi repeated her name with a rough first syllable, then touched her own chest. Nari listened, tested her name more carefully, and nodded only after Rumi said it correctly.
Two mirrored insignias formed above the circles; Rumi’s mark opened along an amber edge, while Nari’s folded inward through smoke-gold lines; the symbols resembled each other without sharing the same center.
[Active Summon Contract Established: Rumi]
[Progression: 0 / 30,000 EXP]
[Goddess Soul Fragment Recovery: +2.50%]
[Active Summon Contract Established: Nari]
[Progression: 0 / 30,000 EXP]
[Goddess Soul Fragment Recovery: +2.50%]
[Total Fragment Recovery: 30.00%]
Warm pressure passed behind Hajin’s sternum as two lost fragments settled into the resurrection engine. No memory called the sisters retainers, guardians, or halves of one intended servant.
The recovered impressions recognized only two monster lives accepted without alteration, before the next response arrived.
Rumi took one uncertain step away from Nari, testing the growing distance between them. Nari’s claws flexed against the floor, but she remained where she had chosen to stand.
When Rumi turned back, both women released breaths they had apparently been holding.
Vella offered separate cups of water and waited until each sister accepted her own. Rumi sniffed the cup before tasting it, while Nari watched the liquid for movement and tested the rim with one claw.
Their matching caution expressed itself through different decisions, which mattered more than the resemblance everyone noticed first.
"Separate rooms?" Ferra asked, kneeling beside the folded spare garments; Rumi and Nari answered together with immediate, emphatic refusal.
"One room, two beds," Hajin said, allowing the correction, then continued, "They can change that whenever they choose."
Nari pointed toward the guarded palace door, then traced a line downward with one claw. Her new contract carried the impression of a hidden route beneath stone.
Rumi touched the same mark and looked toward Hajin with widening amber eyes.
Their first chosen hunt in human bodies had already found the palace foundation; both sisters remained alert.