The house smelled like toasted garlic and sizzling oil. I was slicing onions with the kind of focus usually reserved for combat, but Lilith was casually throwing herbs into a pot like some ancient culinary witch who knew every spell for making food taste perfect.
We were making something basic—fried fish with some leftover seaweed rice and goose egg salad. Nothing too fancy, but it was the kind of meal that hugged your ribs and made the day feel warmer. Lilith was humming while she chopped vegetables, a little knife dancing between her fingers like it had been born there.
"You've gotten better with the knife," I muttered, eyeing how she was dicing peppers without even looking.
"Hey, I'm a cook. And besides, it's not just about practice."
With a small flick of her wrist, she flipped the knife and dragged the tip down the center of the wooden chopping board, carving a perfect shape into it. I leaned closer, brushing away the vegetable bits.
A star.
It had four points, cleanly etched: one facing up, one to the right, one to the left, and one down. And right in the center, a smaller shape with faint cross-lines.
"See this?" Lilith said, tapping each point gently with the flat of her blade. "This is the Flux Star. Almost everyone who knows anything about their own power learns about it."
She pointed to the north spike.
"Alteration is the Flux that changes the world around you. Think body transformations, matter re-arranging... it is rare, and usually flashy as hell."
She moved to the east.
"Psyche. Mind-based Flux. Illusions, memory erasure, emotion control. A little creepy, but also incredibly versatile."
Then to the west.
"Elemental. Fire, water, wind, earth. The classics. People love this one because it's so visually obvious. If you've got it, everyone knows."
South.
"Combat," she muttered, with a small laugh. "Pretty much the entire world has it. Strength boosts, speed, weapon mastery, reflex amplification and others. If you grew up surviving more than living, you probably ended up with this."
Her finger finally tapped the center of the star.
"And then there's Concept."
I stared at it. There was something different about the way she said it, like it carried weight.
"Concept is the rarest. Barely one in a hundred thousand have it. People who have a Concept Flux can use any of the four outer Fluxes as sub-abilities. They can weave them together however they want. The only limit is their imagination… and their soul's strength."
"You mean you can just… do that?"
Lilith turned toward me, lips curving into that mischievous, mysterious grin of hers.
"Yup," she admitted.
I stared at her, blinking. She tilted her head, brushing some of her messy bangs out of her face.
"I call it Divination. It's not just about predicting the future. It's more like… guiding fate. Influencing possibilities, steering people toward the versions of themselves they're most likely to become."
"That's…" I paused, completely thrown. "That's massive."
"Yeah," she said, like it was no big deal. "Which is why I don't tell the elders. They'd definitely try to throw me in a research chamber and poke my brain. If they tried to catch me anyways."
I could feel my jaw slacken. "You… you can influence fate?"
"Like I said, just a bit. But that's the thing about Flux. It's never just about having it. It takes years, sometimes a whole lifetime to make it yours."
Lilith turned back to the pot, stirring it absentmindedly while she kept talking.
"Every Fluxer, no matter where they are, goes through three stages to make their Flux real. One, they have to find their connection. It's usually tied to who they are, or what they've survived. Two, they have to understand the purpose of that Flux. Why it chose them. Why it resonates. And three?"
She turned to look at me again.
"They have to give it a name."
I swallowed slowly. Those parts were not new to me but hearing it from her, like this, in the middle of a messy kitchen filled with the scent of soy sauce and fire, it felt true in a way I hadn't grasped before.
"And that name is what stabilizes it. Without it, a Flux is just a loose wire. Name it, and it becomes your soul's extension."
I looked down at the carved star again, tracing the center with a fingertip.
"That's why everyone's Flux ends up different, huh? Because it reflects them."
"Exactly. You work with weapons? You're all about your body? You get Combat. You're always analyzing emotions, managing people? Psyche. Spend your whole life trying to tame fire or call the wind? Elemental. It all connects."
"And Concept?" I asked, still half in awe.
Lilith shrugged, looking uncharacteristically quiet for a second.
"Concepts come to people who live between the cracks. Dreamers. Thinkers. People who've touched something beyond what they can explain. It's not just power. It's philosophy."
The vegetables sizzled softly under the lid, fish crisping at the edges in the skillet as golden steam curled through the kitchen. Lilith leaned her elbows on the table, chin resting in her palm, her eyes flicking toward the etched star in the chopping board like it was whispering something only she could.
"Alteration Fluxers are different from the rest. All Flux types are like keys to a single door. You open it, you learn everything inside, and that's your lane."
She pointed back to the Flux star on the board.
"Elemental? You're locked into one element. If you get wind, you can't suddenly decide you want fire. Same goes for Psyche, Combat, even Concept has rules. But Alteration… that's imagination. Intention. Willpower. Your Flux is built on what you choose to alter, both in the world and in yourself."
I blinked slowly, the words landing like tiny puzzle pieces in my brain.
"Alteration is for people who want to rewrite. People who want to see the world in a certain way and make it happen. The first major advantage?"
Lilith lifted her fingers and tapped them lightly on the edge of her cup.
"Your Flux isn't fixed. You can shift it. Evolve it. Change it as you grow. It's malleable. You're not bound by a single power. You're guided by your imagination and the strength of your mind."
"And the second advantage?" I asked, already leaning forward, my breath caught halfway.
"Versatility. Alteration taps into body, mind, and soul all at once. It draws from a deeper pool than the others. It doesn't just cast power. It becomes it. That makes it the most sustainable Flux in long fights. While others burn out, you endure."
I nodded slowly. She kept going.
"That's why most Alteration Fluxers become mages in the modern world. Not the fantasy kind that wave wands around. I mean engineers, code-breakers, beings who refine their energy use down to milliseconds."
Back in past life, I used to manipulate metal. I could stretch it, bend it, liquefy it, sharpen it, rebuild it, all while fighting. I could hold a form for hours. Maybe I have thought of controlling metal for years and that's how I formed my metal manipulation.
"So… how do I use it?" I asked, my voice just above a whisper.
Lilith's eyes glinted.
"You decide what you want to alter. That's it."
She sat back, letting those words sit with me before continuing.
"But here's the catch. What you choose to alter has to be more than just practical. It has to be both literal and metaphorical. Otherwise, you'll burn yourself out chasing something shallow. You'll alter a skill or a stat and yeah, sure, you'll get stronger for a little while. But it won't stick. It won't evolve with you. And that's the main disadvantage of having Alteration."
She leaned forward again, lowering her voice like she was letting me in on something sacred.
"Alteration Flux is a mirror to your soul. If you alter something empty? You become hollow. If you alter something meaningful, something tied to your core, you become limitless. That's how it works."
I swallowed. "So what now?"
Lilith stared at me for a second longer. Then she asked:
"What do you want to alter?"
I froze.
"I mean deep down," she added, tapping my heart. "What part of yourself or the world around you do you ache to change? It has to be something real. Something that means something. Think about who you are. Your pain, your hope, your history. Your Flux is already listening."
I sat in silence as the words echoed in my mind. What did I want to alter?
My hands clenched slightly on the table. The question burned. It tore through me like wind against flame, searching the chambers of my heart for a locked box I didn't even know was there.
She smiled gently, reading me without pressure.
"Take your time. You don't have to answer now. But don't wait too long. Alteration doesn't come when you call it. It comes when you claim it."
The lid on the pot hissed, and the smell of perfectly cooked fish filled the room like a warm blanket. Lilith stood and moved to dish up our food, but my mind was miles away.
I wasn't just hungry for lunch anymore.
What did I want to alter?