Chapter 11: Chapter 10

Me, now known as Hecatolite, was very confused. One minute it was standing in a street surrounded by guards, the next it found itself in a lavish mansion, sitting in a room that looked vaguely familiar… was its Amethyst void space. It looked almost just like this room with the large table with a tapestry at the end, even the design on it was the same. The only difference it could spot was the lack of a large book at the head of the table. Sitting across from it was the kind lady that protected it, thanks to Babylon it now knew as the mother of its physical body Taaffeite Lapidary. The giant with a burning soul; it assumed to be the father, but it has not confirmed this. And another woman, who through soul sight has been identified as the pervert that tried to peek on it a few days ago. All three of them were talking ardently in a language it did not understand. It probably could have used Inutil to translate but it found itself to lack the energy too, just sitting with its head down.

This is not fun anymore. Hecatolite thought as its head throbbed, its aether seems to have subsided given the black veins on its body have shrunk to no more than pencil thin lines. Why does everything ache? It's hard to keep my eyes open. Inutil, am I dying? Make note if I die, I leave everything to sparkle. Oh, if I die, she will die too, won't she?

The screen blinked into existence before it, still no larger than a piece of paper yet the draw on its aether caused it to wince. “You have overexerted the physical capabilities of the body you possess. There is no indication of imminent death, you simply need to rest,” it flashed dimly as Me read through squinted eyes.

“dimmer” was the only reply it gave as the screen dimmed even more and continued.

“Also yes, it is very likely if you were to die Amethyst would as well. However, it is possible if you were to leave the body intact and your soul were to dissipate Amethyst might survive, but this outcome is unlikely.”

“Fine I get it I won't die,” Hecatolite moaned, batting the terminal off the table. “Just go away.” It closed its eyes and almost instantly the family could hear very light snoring coming from the young girl.

---

They watched in amazement as Hecatolite just fell asleep, after a minute she fell from the chair onto the floor landing on the Babylon terminal she had summoned and began using the hard stone tablet as… a pillow.

Taaffeite let out a sigh as she scooped the girl up and took her seat with the girl in her lap.

“Mother” Alexa started trying to find a way to voice her thoughts, “are we sure it can be trusted? It does have the deception skill, not to mention that alarming title… in fact all of its traits are… whatever that thing is, it is excessively dangerous.” She finished looking at the Hecatolite’s soul page with her very own Babylon screen. 

“What good is a deception skill if you have the voice of the world to tell you, her skills?” Alastair asked, looking over his daughter’s shoulder at the screen. “Besides, once you know about the skill it is less likely to affect you, isn’t it?”

“Dad, the Babylon skill even said it is not the voice of the world,” she retorted, “and besides our only theory right now is that it is the one this skill is for there's no saying what kind of control it has over it, I know I for one can’t break it.” She tapped the screen roughly on the table to emphasize her point. 

“Alexa please stop referring to her as an it.” Her mother replied. “And what else do we have to go on? What that bishop said and execute her? Or hope that somehow Hecatolite is protecting Amethyst? If she was deceiving us, why would she give us access to hers and Amethyst soul page?”

“I’m just saying mom, maybe we should be a little more cautious of” Alexa gestured to the young girl in her mother’s arms, who was drooling now. “The soul eating body snatcher.”

“Alexandrite,” her mother said, adjusting her position of Hecatolite in her lap to close the girl’s mouth, “you know as well as I do no one can grant skills or traits. That can only be done by the world or the gods. Second, even if she somehow did deceive us with the Babylon skill would it not simply be easier to use your inspection skill to confirm what the terminal says?”

Alexa was quiet for a moment; she had not considered her other skill since last time she used the skill it had gone so awry. 

“She's right, you know,” her father said, taking the tablet from his daughter’s hand, “it would be the fastest way to determine the truth.” He finished as he attempted to break the tablet, first trying to fold it in half then pressing it against the table.

“Honey, that tablet survived the full blunt of a divine spell caster I doubt your simply going to fold,” a loud crunching sound rang out as flames erupted from her husband and he finally managed to fold the terminal like a book, leaving the large man wheezing clearly exhausted from the endeavor but a large child like grin on his face. 

“Probably a lot easier with those claws she summons.” He said as the terminal slowly dissipated.

The Babylon terminal on the floor did not deem it necessary to inform them that the Babylon skill used whoever cast the spell’s mana to fuel the protective enchantments in the terminal itself. So though Alexa’s mana was able to fuel the terminal it would be considerably weaker than one summoned by Hecatolite’s aether. It did however flash yellow rising from the floor catching their attention.

“Please refrain from hostile actions towards the Babylon terminals,” it flashed, “please do not use Hecatolite as a baseline for how to use the Babylon skill.”

Alastair let out a booming laugh as he caught the screen “oh, it would seem you two really don’t get along do you.”

“The Babylon system has no personal vendetta against Hecatolite,” the box replied to soliciting another laugh from the man as he placed the terminal down next to his wife. 

“Babylon, is there any way to contact Amethyst?” Taaffeite asked, looking down at the terminal.

“Not currently, Amethyst is being suppressed by Hecatolite however given recent events Hecatolite has lessened this suppression considerably.”

“Suppressed? How is she being suppressed?” Alexa asked, grabbing the terminal. “Is it that soul eater? Is it trying to take over her body?”

Before the terminal could reply it was snatched by taaffeite, “Alexa!” her voice boomed, “what good are your accusations and assumptions?”

“How can you be so calm! That is clearly not..”

“I understand that this is not Amethyst Alexa!” Taaffeite slammed the Babylon terminal on the table causing Hecatolite to jerk awake.

---

What happened? Why am I in the lady’s lap again? Why are they yelling all of a sudden, Inutil what did I miss? It was still groggy.

“They are determining whether or not Hecatolite is a threat to Amethyst or not.”

“Well, that’s fair I am in her body I guess.” It spoke, causing them all to stop at the sound of the foreign language and look at the dreary eyed girl. “Babylon translate this, hello, testing one two three, you getting this box, hey why are you so small get bigger again so they can all see you. No don’t translate that they will think I’m... stupid box.”

They all watched as the Babylon terminal expanded to take up a wall of the room, Hecatolite’s words being transcribed as she spoke.

They watched as she let out a loud sigh before starting again. 

“So, I was, as you know, existing in the void like I had done forever when suddenly I heard a baby, which was super weird because I was the only thing in the void, just me and my void space, Me was my name by the way, I was Me and the baby that was crying was Sparkle, I named it when I found it...”

This explanation went on for hours like this, each person asking questions as Hecatolite replied best it could, sometimes going off on side tangents much to the amusement of its physical parents and annoyance of its now elder sister.

“Which brings us to now, I need to fix the hole, burn aether, find a solution to the power gap then wake sparkle up.” It finished flopping into a chair and they all watched as the screen flashed.

“The hole in Hecatolite’s soul has been repaired by the consumption of another soul, and with the spell’s used during the confrontation Hecatolite has managed to burn off the access aether that had accumulated in the mana channels of the physical body. However, the power disparity between Hecatolite’s aether pool and Amethyst mana pool is still too great for true cohabitation. If this is not fixed Hecatolite will remain the dominant soul and it will be harder to coax Amethyst to assert herself.”

“Any ideas on how to fix the power disparity?” Taaffeite asked.

“Mom you can’t seriously believe this?” Alexa asked jumping from her seat, “dad talk some sense into her!”

Hecatolite saw this outburst and looked quizzically at Babylon that translated for it before the whole room grew cold as it replied.

“Would you rather Amethyst just be dead and there be no hope of recovery? For me to be the monster they claimed me to be so they can just cast me back into the void I came from? Honestly it was quieter there in the darkness, I did not have to worry about if my power would harm anyone else. I didn’t have to study so many useless languages, or spells, or anything for that matter. I could just exist, quietly, alone. If that’s what you want then I can try for a solution like that, I can leave back to the void probably. Maybe make another egg in Amethyst mind and just never come out again, it wasn’t so bad in there, it was cozy only about this big, but I had the dumb boxes and Eryl for company, I didn’t have to worry about things like gravity and some ass hole blasting me with the sun. I wasn’t even sure the sun existed before I came here. It wasn’t too bad… Why are my eyes leaking?”

Alexa's heart nearly stopped as she read, not because of the words that were displayed but the look on her sister’s face. Hecatolite smiled as she spoke, but tears were welling up in the corners of her eyes, her smile so hollow that it wrenched Alexa’s heart to see her beloved sister's face look so broken. Even if she could not bring herself to believe the creature that took her body, the look it had now was so lost, it reminded her of an old soldier she once met. A man who had gone to the wars in the north, only to come back from all the death and carnage of war to find his wife had died in his absence from an illness. To see that same hollow lifeless look in the eyes of a ten-year-old child as it spoke calmly about casting itself into exile broke the woman’s heart.

No one replied to Hecatolite’s outburst, Taaffeite simply stood, walked to her daughter, pulled her from the chair she sat on and embraced her. Much to her surprise she could feel the small girl’s shoulders shake as she held her, as she felt the all too familiar dampness of tears on her shoulder.

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Why… Why does my chest hurt? I simply said I would leave if they wanted me to leave… Why do I want to stay? The void… was lonely. Eryl left too I wouldn’t have anyone would I? I would be alone again. 

---

Hecatolite stood for a long time, silently crying on Taaffeite's shoulder as the older woman whispered in her ear. She knew the child couldn’t understand her, yet she continued to whisper that everything will be alright. She held her till the young girl’s energy finally gave out and sleep took her again, and for a few minutes longer before taking the limp form of her daughter to her room and laying her on the bed and returning to the dining room where her husband and eldest daughter waited. She did not speak as she sat simply glancing over the room.

“Mother…” Alexa started the words caught in her throat as she looked up to meet her mom’s calm eyes. 

“Alexa, I know this is hard,” Taaffeite spoke quietly, barely louder than a whisper, “But I do believe Hecatolite. I believe that she is nothing more than a child who was very lonely for a long time trapped after recklessly saving her sister. You remember Amethyst's birth do you not, how difficult it was we almost lost her, and how we mourned the loss of a child unborn when we found she had the Twin soul title.” Alexa gave a weak nod as her mother took a deep breath. “I however will not say I do not understand your concerns, but for the time being I have chosen to believe that the child has saved Amethyst in the past and will try to do so again now. Regardless of all of that I do in my heart believe Hecatolite is born of my own body and will be treated as such in this house. I will not ask you to love her as a sister, but I will tell you to keep in mind that she is only 10.” There was a long pause before taaffeite stood, “it has been a long day, I believe I will retire for the night. Sleep on it Alexa, we will have much to discuss in the days to come. Alastair, please prepare the guards, there is a church that I feel has overstayed their welcome behind our walls.”

With that Taaffeite left the two who sat unmoving the silence weighing heavily on Alexa as she finally found her voice. “I am sorry.” Her voice was barely audible in the quiet room. She sat with her head hung the knot in her chest refusing to loosen as she replayed the events in her mind.

She jumped when her father placed a hand on her shoulder. 

“My daughter,” his voice lacked the normal joy she was used to, “please understand, we do not have blind faith in the child that has been dropped in our laps. But the alternative… let's not speak of that.” With that he left.

---

Alexa was on her way to her room, passing her sisters room she heard an odd rustling followed by a thump. Concerned, she peeked in the room to find Ame… Hecatolite lay in what could only be a very uncomfortable position, her lower half still on the bed but her head and shoulders pressed against the floor. Despite what could only have been a very violent impact the young woman was still quietly snoring. 

Despite herself Alexa couldn’t help but smile at the display as she entered the room and lifted the girl back onto her bed, pausing when she caught sight of the black lines that now adorn her body. 

“Inspection.” She whispered to be greeted by a familiar sight, a flickering soul page, this time however the Blackened soul page was in the forefront.

Name; Hecatolite Lapidary

Age; 10

Race; unknown

Titles; Twin soul, Me, X47, Soul Sorcerer, Enchanter, Soul eater.

Traits: Aether body, Marred soul, Abomination, shared body, Twin soul, Soul magic affinity, Enemy of boxes, Arduous, Indomitable will, Weak focus, fractured mind, Scholar, Forbidden Knowledge, Polyglot literate non-fluent, Albinism.

Skills: Soul magic mastery, Enchantment mastery, Skill override greater, Spell circle creation, Spell chant negation, Aether mastery, Deception greater, Blessed by “error”, danger sense greater, Blessing.

Lapidary Bloodline skill personal: Babylon “Inutil”

Locked spells; Moonlit devourer 

“She must have gotten the blessing skill after eating that bishop.” Alexa spoke out loud as she switched her focus to the second page.

Name; Amethyst Lapidary

Age; 10

Race; Human

Titles; Twin soul

Traits: Space affinity, mana bathed, stunted physical growth-increased mental growth, dual soul, social butterfly, nobility, poor directional bearings, weakened constitution, shared body, suppressed soul.

Skills: Spacemancy, alchemy minor, enchantments minor, mana control, mana manipulation, spell circle creation minor, shortened spell chant minor, etiquette, housework, first aid minor.

Lapidary Bloodline skill; Babylon

Hidden traits: Blessed by “error”, God seed, Aether touched, scarred soul, aether conversion

Much to her relief she found her sister's page mostly unchanged, minus a new trait.

“Suppressed soul? Must be what is keeping her from controlling her own body.” She said reading the page again. “God seed? That’s new.” She inspected the hidden trait to get more information.

Trait: God seed, this is a trait given to those who have begun down the path of ascension. Opposed to the Demon seed trait the God seed has shown great compassion for its fellow souls and strives to make the world a better place. Live your life virtuously and strive to better oneself to sprout the seed into godliness. Next step towards ascension, embrace the universal power and evolve into a godling. 

Alexa was stunned, the trait itself made nearly no sense to her but one word stood out. “Godling… like the god king before he ascended…”

Her train of thought was abruptly cut short as she was jerked down onto the bed by unnaturally strong small hands. Before she could right herself, she found herself stuck in a koala-like grip as Hecatolite wrapped all her limbs around the source of heat it found next to its bed.

“Hey.. let me go.” Alexa struggled to get out of the mass of limbs she was now trapped in but found herself unable to without hurting either of them. And much to her distress she found herself unable to rouse the girl from her exhausted slumber. “Fine, I’ll stay for a moment.” She managed to roll onto her back and find a comfortable position as she summoned her Babylon screen leaving it floating next to the bed.

“You keep saying you have a library, what books do you have stored?” she asked incredulously as she eyed the terminal.

Her skepticism was quickly erased when a list of books appeared and started to scroll… and continue to scroll… for minutes it was seemingly endless, thousands and thousands, if not millions of books. She noticed some of the titles were grayed out, however.

“Why are those ones darkened?” she asked, expecting them to be banned books.

The scrolling stopped only to be replaced by text. “It is a setting implemented by Hecatolite while it was in the soul space. They are titles it has read already. I will remove the setting for your personal use.”

“Wait.” She said quickly. “How many…. How many books did she read?”

“4687 titles read to completion. 1542 titles started but not finished.” 

Her mind stopped, unable to process reading nearly 5000 books. Most people wouldn’t even see that many books in a lifetime, even fewer would be able to read that many. Then it finally started to sink in.

10 years. With nothing but books to keep it company… no wonder it looked so hollow when it spoke of going back. Alexa felt a twinge of guilt as she looked at the sleeping form of her sister. Wow your kind of an ass hole aren’t you, Alexa. 

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