Chapter 102: Book 3 chapter 4

Did… did I die? Hecatolite thought as she opened her eyes, I must be in the void again. she looked around only to be greeted by darkness all around her. she felt… weightless? No, that’s not right… this feels… different. Surprised to find she had a human-like shape, she attempted to move her arms.

It felt as if she was moving through water as she lifted her hand to her face, maybe I went blind? She pondered waving her hand in front of her face, the only indication it was there was the feeling of it brushing past her nose slowly. 

“…” she opened her mouth to call out, a strange sensation as no noise escaped. 

That’s odd… it's like the first time I took over the body, maybe… am I not breathing again? She attempted to inhale only for her lungs to instantly flare with pain as they filled with…

“Warning, you are drowning.” Babylon's robotic voice filled her mind as she began to flail around. Her arms and legs slamming against a hard surface that encased her.  

Not the void! Not the void! She panicked realizing the darkness was not endless as she slammed her hands against the walls around her. 

Hecatolite’s mind ground to a halt as she flailed wildly in the darkness, her entire body starting to feel… heavy. A deep fear worked its way into her very soul as she realized that she was not only trapped in a small dark space, but she was clearly under water. She could feel her consciousness start to waver as she limply pressed against the walls around her. Death…. I’m going to die… i… her chest burned as she attempted to scream, though soundless, she could feel a draw on her power as she mouthed the words, “I… don’t… want… to… die!” 

The world around her was drown out by the thundering sound of her own heart in her ears, the erratic thrumming adding to her panic as memories flooded her mind; none of which offering a reprieve to the terror building inside of her. Images of tiny dark spaces, being trapped under immovable rubble, feeling water washing over her before being swept into the depths never to be seen again…

Deep inside her mind something bent, straining against the pressing horror as thousands of voices coalesced into her own thoughts. I will survive. She could feel her entire body tense as the singular thought rang out in her mind. The sound forced all the other muttering voices to the back of her mind as suddenly the chorus was overtaken by panicked determination, she could see them… the voices in her mind… where they came from.

A young man running in a dense forest. A mother clutching her child as she ran past burning rubble. A man in armor standing before an army… uncountable images flashed in her mind all at once, unknown to her if they were past lives or present struggles but one thing stuck out in all the images; the determination to overcome impossible odds, the stubborn refusal to simply die, the terror being pressed back by the unshakeable will to survive.

Again, Hecatolite flexed against the surrounding darkness, ignoring the burning in her chest as she pushed with everything she had; feeling the liquid being forced from her lungs as the darkness around her seemed to bend, a gurgling scream forcing its way from her as she could feel the solid walls around her flex. Just… a… little… more. The burning in her chest flared as she could feel a new haze working its way into her mind, one she knew well. She ground her teeth trying to fight back the creeping unconsciousness, knowing if she let it take her now, she wouldn’t wake up. 

With one final push she put everything she had into slamming herself against the wall in front of her. She let out another pained howl, slamming her eyes shut as she felt power rushing to her legs, the strain threatening to tear muscles from bone as she kicked off… 

Eryl watched Amethyst slam the pommel of her sword into the side of the egg. She had originally intended on stabbing the egg but Himari had managed to stop her, reminding Amethyst that with no way of knowing where Hecatolite was in the egg, she risked stabbing her sister if she blindly slashed it. 

Eryl did not bother to tell the two that it would have been pointless regardless of whether Amethyst used the blade or the pommel; that egg would likely withstand whatever any of them could throw at it given it was formed from X47’s own aether, the likelihood of anyone even scratching it was… unlikely. 

She couldn’t help but be confused, given the egg was formed using Hecatolite’s aether, she should be able to break through it easily; even more so with her claws she can summon, so why is she struggling to “hatch”?

Just as Eryl was about to tell the now panting Amethyst how futile her attempts were, a strange feeling radiated off the egg. Fear, seeping into each of them, caused a tremor to run down Eryl’s spine.

Eryl barely managed to catch Himari who all but fainted as the color drained from her face. “we… we should run.” Himari stammered as her entire body shook.

Eryl’s ears folded almost completely flat as she held onto the shivering woman. She could feel the fear as well but unlike Himari, Eryl had stood on countless battlefields; it would be insulting for her to succumb to a little bit of fear; she was a bit disappointed at the temporary administrator. The system wouldn’t protect the admin from “feelings”, things like a divine aura meant to be used to convey emotions were considered harmless in the system; though she was shocked by the amount of power behind this particular emotion, it was still just that, an emotion. “It’s only X47’s divine aura, she is radiating fear, there is no need to…” Eryl nearly bit her own tongue as she was suddenly forced to her knees.

Eryl had a lot of defenses, built over thousands of lifetimes along with an unnaturally inflated mana pool; it was safe to say that she likely had an unshakeable constitution. The fact it took a relic from a god to suppress her mind was a testament to that fact, having even gone so far as to train in some soul magic to bolster her mental defense… Yet, in all her time she had never felt something so encompassing as the blinding pain radiating through her skull in that moment. 

She couldn’t even call out as the echoing scream threatened to rob her of her consciousness, her entire body convulsing as she toppled over on top of Himari who let out a surprised yelp. 

Himari found herself pinned under Eryl who seized as the entire island shook around them. Himari could feel a massive draw on her mana as the system moved to protect her, hundreds of terminals appearing around them as they circled the now glowing egg. Unlike Eryl, Himari had the entire world system in her mind to protect her from the massive mental force.

Amethyst didn’t even slow down as the world around her shook, raising her sword again to bash the obstacle that separated her from her sister. Himari did not know if Amethyst wasn’t affected or somehow ignored the power that swirled around them, not that she had time to worry about that as she attempted to move the much larger elven woman off of her; a task that reminded Himari that she had been excused from any physical training on account of being a saint as well as having an injured leg.

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Again, the world pulsed, another scream ripping through the air, this time carrying more force as it kicked the sandy beach into a sandy tornado. 

“Just,” Amethyst called out over the mayhem, “COME OUT ALREADY!” 

As if commanded by her voice, the chaos was replaced by the sound of shattering glass, a dull thud followed as two forms flew out of the growing sandstorm; careening off the surrounding terminals as they bounced down the beach. 

Himari finally freed from the soul gripping fear, managing to sit up as Eryl lay unconscious beside her at the edge of a large crater; pieces of the egg embedded in the sand leading towards the two unconscious figures a dozen yards away.

“It would appear that Hecatolite collided with Amethyst during her hatching,” Overseer’s robotic voice called from one of the nearby terminals that the two had collided with. “Though the damage is minimal, I suggest healing them when you get a moment as Hecatolite will likely blame you for any “faults” she finds in her body once she awakens again.”

“Great.” Himari sighed, fighting her way to her feet. She took a moment to look for her cane only to let out a defeated huff. “Can I get a hand?” She asked, beckoning a terminal to her side that she used to steady herself.

“Mother Himari, I suggest maybe tethering your cane to yourself in the future.” Babylon flashed a happy blue as Himari used the floating terminal beside herself to walk. 

Himari rolled her eyes as she tapped a finger on the terminal, “It was never a problem before I ran into Hecatolite. Even in my last life I never lost a cane, you know. Damn girl is going to be the death of me.”

“Unlikely, mother Eryl would not allow Hecatolite to harm you.” Overseer floated around her before darting ahead to the tangled mess of limbs that were the twins. 

“Are they still in one piece?” Himari asked as she limped towards them.

“No, they are definitely still separated.” Overseer called back much to her annoyance. Babylon seemed to enjoy the joke as it flashed a lighter blue before returning to its usual sky blue.

“I will check for you, Mother Himari.” Babylon chimed before Himari could retort.

 Himari braced herself as she felt a draw on her mana, the terminal beside her flaring brightly as it scanned the beach before her. 

The world seemed to slow to a crawl as the terminal under her arm vanished only to reappear before her.

“Universal threat detected, enacting safety protocol one. ERROR, protocol failed. Chimera detected outside of the harvester world, repeat Chimera detected. Error, error, error, unable to contact mother system, unable to contact primordial court, error. Sending a message to the nearest world, message sent. Enacting secondary protocol. Chimera found outside of containment, locking systems from universal systems, attempting to lock the world from dimensional travel… ERROR, failed. Limiting dimensional travel… success, world travel now off limits until chimera is destroyed. ERROR….” 

She watched the screen flash several times before turning red and falling into the sand at her feet as another terminal appeared beside her for her to brace against. 

“Well, that went about as well as I expected.” Overseer grumbled as Himari held onto it, “I shut Babylon down for now, once Mother Eryl awakens we can ask her for help disabling that protocol.”

“What one?” 

“The one that locks the system up to keep her from eating it. I still can’t understand why they removed her from the system they created; even less so now since it appears one of the main functions of the system is to be sure she remained on the harvester world.”

“Maybe they were afraid,” Himari commented as they finally made it to the two women, “Some things are best left unspoken lest you gain their attention.” 

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