Kat slowly awoke to a pitch-black room and was startled, not from the lack of light, but because she could still see. *It seems like my eyes had more upgrades in them than I thought.* Trying to move Kat found her body not responding, her muscles silent and unmoving despite her commands otherwise.

Kat waited, and started to feel something strange, centred halfway up her back ripples started to exude from that point but instead of the calming sensation previous this time it seemed to worm through her muscles, bending and twisting them out of shape as that pressure continued to build in her back. Minutes past and the twisting got more frequent, growing increasingly uncomfortable and unnerving yet not causing Kat any pain in the slightest. Finally the pulsing stopped, but the pressure in her back continued to build, turning herself over so that she was now on her side Kat still felt something was wrong. Wrapping on the back panel of her hiding space it took only a moment for Shizuka to open it.

“Is everything alright? Night has only just started to fall you still have…” Shizuka trailed off when she saw the distorted look on Kat’s face, quickly taking a step back to give her more room Kat pushed herself, desperately moving her twisted muscles as she fell onto the floor. Pushing herself slightly further away from the wall. Everything was still for a moment

“Kat, what’s going on?” asked Shizuka. Just as Kat was about to answer, a great ripping and tearing sound occurred as from Kat’s back emerged two huge leathery wings before Kat’s body shuddered and she lay completely flat wings and all against the ground.

“What in Everfrost’s name was that” asked Shizuka

“Well, if I had to guess, this is the next stage of my awakening” said Kat

“Yes but what even happened to you. Your face was twisted in pain and you have wings?” said Shizuka

“Oh that wasn’t pain. Whatever it was, was extremely weird and uncomfortable, and I hope to never experience it again, but it wasn’t pain. As for the wings, well I’m not a fully fledged demon yet, I am still undergoing an awakening which is meant to slowly increase my powers, I thought they happened after I returned from my summoning once a week but clearly, I was mistaken. This time it’s wings and maybe muscles? It felt like they were changing as well but hard to tell on account of not being able to move right now” said Kat

“Will this impede our mission at all? This plan took a lot of preparation on my behalf and we can afford to delay it for a day if we must. Ideally I want the highest chance to succeed and for that the sooner we leave the better because the beast twins aren’t here yet, but they are supposed to arrive within the week” said Shizuka

“Well that depends on a few things. Firstly how long it takes for me to move again, and secondly if gaining wings has messed with me in any way. My tail was a bit annoying but that was only because I wasn’t using it properly because I had to hide it, my skin changing gave me no problems whatsoever and my eyes were the worst because I don’t have a blind spot anymore and my brain freaked out” said Kat

“So, make a guess, we have a bit of time before it would be best to leave. I’ve already made an appearance for dinner but normally I see my mother before sleeping. Do I need to be prepared to leave when I return” said Shizuka

“I think, emphasis on think, I’ll be fine. It’s very likely that the wings will be like my tail. Centre of balance will be completely thrown off but somehow that will already be compensated for. As long as I don’t need to hide my wings somehow it should be fine” said Kat

“Right, well the plan is for you to be my contracted demon, in fact the wings will probably help with that, your tail is easy to miss but I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, your wings are massive” said Shizuka

“Oh stop that, you’re making me blush” said Kat

“I am, in what way? Why?” asked Shizuka

“Dunno, just seemed the right thing to say” said Kat

“Well, while you’re having fun, I’m going to quickly say goodnight to my mother. I expect you to be ready to leave when I return or else we will delay the departure by at least a day understand” said Shizuka

“Of course” said Kat. Shizuka nodded and strode purposefully towards her door before exiting the room and leaving Kat to enjoy the scenic view of the floorboards her face had decided was a comfortable spot to rest. It took Kat five minutes for the horrible twisting feeling to leave her muscles and allow her to begin attempting to stand up. As soon as she had the thought Kat instantly shifted into a crouching position with her wings flared and tail poised over her shoulder. *How did I do that? I don’t even remember how I stood up.*

Attempting to straighten out Kat once again found herself confused because as soon as she began to right herself, she found that she had already reached the position. *Ok, this is weird, why does it feel like I’m skipping through time?* Kat slowly rotated her hand in front of her face and found it did as asked, a slow rotation putting her hand on full display. Ok, so maybe time isn’t messed up, what is going on then. This time trying to take a couple steps towards Shizuka’s bed Kat was amazed to find herself beside it in only a few moments. *Ok this is weird; I seem to be a bit faster but not enough to account for how quickly I was able to change position. What is going on? *

Kat did some more tests, trying for flexibility this time Kat found it was now an extremely simple task to touch her toes… and continue long past that. Bending over backwards seemed to be similarly smooth until her wings got in the way blocking her progress. *Right so I’m super flexible now* Kat tried to switch between a number of poses as fast as possible and found surprising results. Much faster than she could have thought possible her form changed and shifted rapidly barely a instant between increasingly complex forms. *Ok so it seems that my body can switch between stances extremely quickly. I was still unfocused before so it was hard to tell, but it seems like I can’t move that much faster than before. Maybe-* Kat’s train of thought was interrupted by a small giggle.

Turning on a dime Kat found herself face to face with Shizuka who stood with a calm look on her face and no trace of the laughter that likely left her mouth but a moment ago. “I see that you are able to control your movements now Kat. Are you ready to move on” said Shizuka.

*Two can play at that game Shizuka.* Kat switched from a position of mild surprise to one of serene calm with her hands held within her sleeves before she bowed towards Shizuka.

“I’m ready to leave whenever you require Shizuka, I have completely recovered and have been waiting for you”

“Of course, just one thing left to do before we leave then” said Shizuka as she started gathering ice in front of her. Slowly building in size a light began to shine within the chunks until it shattered sending pieces of ice flying around the room bearing itself in the walls, the furniture and any other exposed surface available. Kat tried desperately to continue appearing calm and aloof in this situation but her wide eyes full of shock betrayed her efforts.”Quickly, we must leave through the secret passage, the room is soundproofed but my spell may have damaged the enchantments somewhat.. Let’s leave quickly” said Shizuka as she pushed on of the flower petals on her walls to reveal a hidden passageway before she took of running at a light jog.