Chapter 2: Chapter 1

Amethyst let out an exaggerated sigh as she plopped into a chair in the overly opulent dining room, sinking into the cushioned seat as she absentmindedly swung her legs. She scanned the room, taking in the decorations while she waited for the rest of her family. the dim light from the enchanted illumination stones that lined the room painted everything in a pale glow giving the dark wood furniture a almost otherworldly look as she tapped her small hand on it humming a song as she inspected the tapestry with the family's crest that hung at the head of the table. The large floor to ceiling red tapestry with a disembodied blue dragon claw clutching a large multi-colored gem embossed on it. 

Though she had seen it every day of her life the young girl couldn't help but be enamored by the design, the one of a kind emblem granted to their family along with the noble title when their father took up the mantle of Marquess after his performance in subjugating a blue dragon landing the killing blow, granting him the “dragon slayer” title, and becoming the ruler of the border city of Navratna some 25 years ago. 

The multi-colored gem represents her mother's family, the previous rulers of this city, the Lapidary family. Although they were the previous rulers, they willingly gave the mantle to her father when he married into their family under the condition they take her mothers last name (given he was only a viscount at the time he raised no argument).

So by combining her father's dragon slaying lineage with the prominent enchanter family, the ruling queen decided that they would need a new family crest and rewarded them with this design when they birthed their first child (Amethyst's eldest sister Alexandrite) stating that the united empire expects great things from such a powerful bloodline. From then on our family has become very well known, given the accomplishments of Amethyst's elder siblings and parents.

Her father Marquess Alastair Lapidary, the dragon slayer. To say he is a mountain of a man would be an understatement, towering over his fellow man and dwarfing even seasoned warriors in size. He is a pale skinned warrior with bright red hair and beard that he lets run wild, giving him the nickname “the flame maned dragon slayer” back from his adventuring days. He is known to be a kind ruler, if a little rambunctious and a bit uncouth. One can often find him “training” with soldiers or the adventures guild, he calls it training but given his stature and skill it looks little more than playing, given the hearty laughing that can be heard from streets away when he does.

Then there's her mother, Marchioness Taaffeite Lapidary, the light enchantress. She is the true backbone of Navratna, taking the lead of most every administrative endeavor of keeping the small territory running. Though not a small woman she would be the definition of dainty compared to her husband, standing just above average height she radiates dignity with her long sun bleached hair pulled back into a tight bun never a strand out of place and her impeccable posture, she stands unwavering at the head of the Lapidary family. Known to be a just ruler but ruthless negotiator, only once has anyone attempted to attack Taaffeite in the 25 year rule over the territory, to which the only reply given was “if you wanted a quick death you should have gone after my husband.” People often forget she stood with her husband against the dragon as a support mage in his party.

their children are quickly making a name for themselves as well, their eldest daughter Archmage Alexandrite Lapidary, the ice mage, is the youngest mage to ever gain the title Archmage at the age of 20. She has been said to advance magical and enchantment theorems by centuries with her unique enchantments, she already had several offers from prominent guilds and schools across the land even from places outside of the United empire’s reach. And she has no shortage of suitors. She is the eye of every young noble, standing tall she looks over most everyone in a crowd, her light brown hair framing her lightly tanned complexion. but her most stunning feature is her piercing crystal blue eyes that when the light hits them just right seem to glimmer with green accents. Not much is known about how Alexandrite will rule once she is in power, but she is known to encase young arrogant noble men partly in ice and cast healing magic with the flick of a wrist.

Their second child Jasper Lapidary, has yet to gain a title of his own, but it is said to only be a matter of time. At the age of 13 he enrolled in the royal army, the youngest one can, despite his nobility, and in the two years since has risen to the rank of royal guardsmen at an unprecedented pace. Unlike his elder sister he took to the sword instead of the magical arts taking the mantle of magic swordsman from his father; it is believed he will get the title within a year or so. He can be picked out of a guard line given his wild red hair like his father, but he lacks the imposing figure of his father instead taking after his mother with a thinner body. He is best known for his devastating flame strikes that are said to cause even forged steel to bend and glow red.

Then to round it all out, the youngest Amethyst Lapidary, the twin soul. Though she despises her title, where her family is a line of achievements and accommodations, she was born with her title. She is the smallest of her family and even through reassurances that she is still growing she knows that will never change given her impressive list of traits and skills she was born with she can almost guess the outcome of her life. She is a relatively plain looking young girl, long dark brown hair and bright purple eyes, at just barely 10 years old she has done nothing but study and attempt to train to live up to her family name since the time she learned to walk. Yet she has not been able to achieve much more than becoming known as a hardworking astute young noble woman.

Amethyst let out another long sigh that was unfitting of a child her age as she gazed at the tapestry. The imaginary weight she put on herself to live up to her family clearly weighed on her as she tried to recall the magic lesson she had earlier that day unaware that her elder sister had already entered the dining room and was eyeing the young girl quietly. 

Alexandrite stood silently in the doorway watching her younger sister, the girl had always bewildered her. At the age of 10 the young girl consumed knowledge at an alarming rate, and her magical power was nothing to scoff at either, her seemingly endless mana pool had made training in magic not only easy but necessary. Alexandrite was no stranger to young mages who weren't trained, accidentally discharging mana to sometimes devastating effect, which was the main reason she had insisted on training her sister herself. Yet given how amazing of a student Amethyst had been she is quickly running out of things to teach her in terms of mana control. 

Those are not the things that confused her about young women however, it was this unprecedented drive to be something more than she was. at the age of 10 even Alexandrite who was well into advanced magic training, was still immature. however, Amethyst shows growth and wisdom beyond her years in almost every aspect of her life with so few variations it is easy to forget she is just a child, but Alexandrite knew her sister's secret, though calling it a secret is a stretch, given Amethyst had willingly shared it with the family when she asked to not be baptized for her 10th birthday. 

Alexandrites eyes flashed a light blue as she used her skill “inspect” on her younger sister. blinking as she read the flickering screen that popped up before her.

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 

Skills; Spacemancy, alchemy minor, enchantments minor, mana control, mana manipulation, spell circle creation minor, shortened spell chant minor, edicate, house work, first aid minor.

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She increased mana control again; it was lesser just last week. Alexa thought as she focused on her sister's soul page. She knew it was taboo to peek into another person's soul page like this; however, as the only person in her family with the inspect skill trained all the way up to greater inspection, she felt it would be a waste not to use it. Besides, Ame had given her permission in the past to do it so why would she care now.

Alexa didn't mention to anyone that using “inspect” on her younger sister for the first time caused the skill to skyrocket through all the levels (inspect minor, inspect lesser, inspect, inspect greater) and evolve into “greater inspection”. Normally inspect would only let you see the bits of a person's soul page, the first two lines for lesser, then one line for every level above that, but greater inspection allows one to not only inspect one's soul page, but the individual traits and skills themselves in further details inspecting someone else's page as if it were your own. 

It wasn't the list of traits, most of which Ame had been born with, or skills that caught her eye when she inspected her sister, it was the fact her page flickered. She had never seen or heard of anyone's soul page doing that and that piqued her interest, and there seemed to be words in the darkness between flickers, though Ame had already shared in detail what the second page said Alexa still tried to catch a glimpse of this alleged second page.

She stood there, unblinking, as she looked at the box only visible to her. Frozen in place as she watched her sister's soul page turn dark.

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

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Alexandrite stared in awe at the second page, its jet black background a stark contrast to the pale blue she was so used to seeing. the words on the page shown in white letterings, she couldn't help but inspect one of the traits.

trait; Scarred soul, Your soul has been torn and repaired repeatedly, it is now more resilient to manipulation and will be harder to damage in the future.

To acquire the scarred soul trait one must damage their soul and fully repair it a minimum or two times. your soul has been damaged and repaired, two times.

Alexandrite found herself enamored by the page ever since she first saw it, coincidentally that was the time her inspect skill leaped and evolved. She had inspected every skill on the page multiple times, picking them apart trying to figure out what the two “errors” were but even inspecting at its highest level could not discern what god had given her sister the blessing or what boon it provided. Then she found herself looking at the timer, yet another enigma on her younger sister's page, a timer counting down a seemingly random amount of time. The only time ever recorded in all of history she could find a timer had ever been present on a soul display was when the goddess of life and knowledge bestowed a boon on humanity granting them a timer to prepare for an oncoming disaster. The records say the display showed up in the sky reading “Time until volcanic eruption, 13hours26minute37seconds, evacuate to towards the eastern sea”. but even with them both being a timer, Ame’s timer was different. It was just a timer. A timer until what, not even Amethyst knew. but she was worried enough about it that she didn't want to get baptized because part of the ceremony is presenting your soul page to the gods by a priest inspecting you. 

I wonder if, Alexa focused on the timer willing her skill to work on it.

A cold chill ran up her spine as the page flashed a deep red and Alexa found herself stunned, her body locked in place unable to move words that seemed to float to the surface of the page.

 It’s rude to peek into another's soul.

Alexa could feel a cold sweat begin to form on the back of her neck, as the words faded back into the red page before it snapped back to the black page she was looking at previously. Releasing her from her petrified state she sank to her knees, barely sparing a glance she canceled her skill.

Hidden traits; Blessed by “error”, “error”seed, Aether touched, scarred soul, Aether conversion

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what in all of the hell’s was that!? she sat in a stunned silence thinking over the experience, running over it again in her mind she caught a detail that she nearly missed. did… Did the timer go up by an hour? she considered repeating the skill but the moment she considered it a chill ran up her spine. probably best to leave it at that. she thought, not wanting to face whatever was laying dormant inside of her sister's soul again.

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