Chapter 28: Chapter 27

Hecatolite let out a long sigh as she lay in the grass, she looked cautiously at her sister's soul that now sat in a chair in the center of a large spell circle. Inutil had insisted that she could move her sister from the circle and not disrupt the spell, yet Hecatolite feared if she moved the soul too far young Amethyst would get “lost” on her way back to the soul space. but not wanting to leave the soul in the awkward position of laying on the hard dirt she had opted to drag the most comfortable chair out of the cabin and place her sister in it.

She looked down at her blackened hand, it had taken her nearly an hour to completely reform herself after her “outburst” but she finally managed to condense her soul back down to the form she was now used to. “Hey Inutil, how long has it been?” Happy that something good had come from her earlier discomfort as she opened and closed her newly formed “soul mouth” as her words came out not dissimilar to her and her sister’s physical voice. Despite the two sets of sharp teeth that were hidden inside.

An exasperated sigh rang out, reminding her of another byproduct of her outburst. “It has been 12 hours since Amethyst awakened, 9 hours since your rampage, and exactly 5 minutes since you last asked.” An elderly man’s voice called across the field as a terminal floated at what Babylon felt was a “safe” distance from Hecatolite.

She let out a low growl as she called, “no not that one.” The voice stirred a strange annoyance inside of her. “You sound like an old… just no.”

“That is the 5th voice you have attempted.” The voice became distorted as it shifted. “Better” the voice caused Hecatolite’s mind to lock as it was an exact replica of Siofra, the tone however was overly seductive.

There was a long pause before a gunshot ran out as IRIS appeared in Hecatolite’s hand. Not even bothering to sit up as the mana bullet slammed into the terminal that exploded in an over dramatic manner before it reformed.

“I think I might have actually liked you better when you couldn’t talk.” She let the statement linger as she watched clouds.

Hecatolite was bored. Excessively so. She did not realize just how bored she would be if she returned to her void but after 3 weeks of constant stimulation, just a few hours in solitude were starting to weigh on her.

At first, she attempted to chase the “whites”, but they were simply too slow, even shooting at them with IRIS had grown boring given they simply did not bother to move unless she approached them herself. They appeared to be very simple creatures that always watched from the tree line, never stepping foot over the boundary into what she now called Amethyst's side of the void. She had drilled Inutil about what they were and if they were safe, and it had reassured her that they were simply fragments of her own soul that occupied the space. Explaining that each one was different yet not all, at the same time.

“Each fragment is unique, they all emit the same aether signature as you, yet they have very slight differences. I believe they are soul fragments you have gathered and pulled into yourself. That Bishop is likely in here as well, though it would be impossible to track a specific fragment through the soul space.” It explained though she couldn’t quite understand as it tried a simpler approach. “They are part of you. the same way the cabin is part of Amethyst. A soul space or “void” as you call it, is just a constructed realm that every soul has that houses its subconscious. So just think of them as that voice you hear sometimes that try and get you to do things like break complex system terminals.” 

“I don’t hear voices. I’m not crazy.” She replied, brandishing her gun.

Since it gained a voice, it had refused to come close enough to her for her to grab it leaving her no choice but to attack it with her only ranged option.

Inutil did not reply as it sat inert, simply shifting color as if it were thinking.

“Why can you talk now anyway?” She asked, firing at it again, the mana bullet simply bouncing off the screen.

Its color settled again into an annoyed yellow. “I already explained that to you as well. When Babylon absorbed the Overseer terminal it evolved into a new system all together. It would be best to leave it at that. I have all of the capabilities of your old terminals, given all my other functions have been locked per Eryl's orders or have you forgotten,” the voice shifted to mimic hers, “just do whatever she said.” 

“No, I haven’t.” 3 more bullets bounced off the screen before she threw the gun itself at it. “Stupid box. If you’re all locked up, why are you talking so much!”

“It was not a function of the Babylon skill before, as such, it had no restrictions placed on it.” The terminal did not move as the gun landed just shy of hitting it.

---

Amethyst sat stunned looking at a small Babylon terminal that floated in her room. 

“Can… Can you repeat that?” she asked as the terminal flashed.

“Of course. Hello Amethyst Lapidary, I am your personal Babylon Overseer terminal. How may I assist you?” a robotic female voice answered. “You have yet to designate a name for your terminal, would you like to designate one now?”

“MOM!” She yelled, her voice cutting through the calm morning, “I think Hecatolite broke Babylon!”

Amethyst was not as well acquainted with Babylon as the rest of her family, yet she was positive it could not speak. At the young girl’s call, her mother rushed into her room, surprisingly already dressed as if she had been working.

“What do you mean broke Babylon?” Her mother asked as she eyed the screen. 

“it… it talked.” 

“Talked? Babylon can’t talk. It’s a skill…”

“Good morning Matriarch,” the terminal turned to her, the words displayed as normal yet they were read out loud by an unknown voice.

“And… skills… ALEXA, get in here!” Taaffeite yelled down the hall, summoning her eldest daughter in hopes she may have gleaned some insight on this development.

After the three women convened in the dining room over morning tea as they discussed the new behavior of the skill. The only conclusion they could come to was that Hecatolite must have done something last night while she caused that wave of energy that had... changed the skill. Babylon itself refused to give them any answers aside from it had evolved into “Babylon Overseer” and in doing so had developed the ability to speak to better assist the family. It was around this time Taaffeite received a message from Jasper.

“Message from Jasper Lapidary: Dear mother, I do not know what has happened, but my Babylon skill has changed. I have never heard of a bloodline ability skill evolving before… There are a lot of questions coming from my superiors about what exactly this skill is, and rumors about its origin. They are not good rumors either. So, I ask you mother, how exactly did you acquire an ability like it? No one other than a world sage can call the voice of the world even a false one like this, and even the world sage’s skill cannot call a talking terminal. Sincerely, Jasper Lapidary.”

“Great.” Taaffeite sighed, “I was hoping he would keep that quiet for at least a little bit. What happened to the good old days of keeping your skills private?”

“Are… are we in trouble?” Amethyst asked, overhearing the message, Babylon not bothering to make any motion to hide it when Taaffeite opened it.

“Not at all. I will just have to go to the capital sooner rather than later at this rate.” Taaffeite rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I will have to talk to Irithyl myself and set this straight.” She stopped herself, looking at her daughters. “It will be fine, no need to worry. We just need to lay low for a little bit… after of course we go see what the church of Valor is moving through our city.”

“As long as Hecatolite doesn’t send a message to the god himself and summon a whole army of priests to our gates.” Alexa commented off handily causing her mother to glare at her.

“I… I’m going to go back” Amethyst said as she jumped up. “Into the soul space, to watch her.” She ran off before either could reply.

“Is it safe for her… to go back into the soul space?” Alexa asked nervously as her mother sipped her tea.

“Babylon has told me that Hecatolite will do everything in her power to protect Amethyst.” She said calmly. “Hopefully after tomorrow we can put all this behind us.” Even as she said the words she knew they were not true, it was more than likely that their actions tomorrow were going to only be the beginning.

---

Sitting atop a modest throne sat a woman, she scanned the room of advisors all bustling about with a bored gaze as she let out a small yawn. 

“And what, exactly, requires my attention?” her voice seemed to pierce the room causing everyone to freeze before an elderly man stepped forward.

“Your majesty we have just received word from Alamgir that they have successfully summoned heroes to...” His voice was shaky as he kneeled.

“Is that all?” Her voice caused the man to pause as he shuttered. “We were aware they were attempting to summon heroes years ago for their crusades, it is no surprise they finally managed to succeed. We will remain as we have in the past, neutral. Alamgir and Ecrein can remain at each other’s throats until the gods themselves descend for all I care, but I will not allow my people to die over such a petty squabble. Next.” She waved her hand prompting the man to back away from the stairs.

She glared down at the next man to step forward with hazy white eyes as she let out another sigh. “If this is about the war to the north I will not repeat myself.” Her eyes flashed with an unknown power as the man before her faltered and retreated.

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“Do none of you have any news from inside our borders?” She asked, running a hand through her long brown hair. Her spotless olive skin almost glowing in the midday light as she adjusted the simple crown atop her head. “A wind cut through our entire nation just yesterday and yet all you seem to worry about is this holy crusade that has been going on for ages now.”

“I have something, your majesty.” A weak voice called from the back, a small man pushing his way to the front of the crowd. He was no larger than a human child, dressed in prominent sky blue robes that had been torn and patched in several places. Though he looked childish in his features his hair was white as snow with large round glasses atop his tiny nose making his already large sky-blue eyes appear even larger. A comically large white mustache seemed to branch from each side of his large head, bobbing as he walked. 

“Aww, Gillum, it has been a while since you have come down from your tower.” She replied with a smirk. “Please, share.”  

The tiny man bowed, nearly dropping his arm load of scrolls he carried. “Thank you, your majesty. About that strange “wind”, as I am sure every mage in the nation yourself included noticed, it was a very condensed wave of power”

The queen silenced him with a wave of her hand. “The point Gillum.”

“Yes of course.” He stammered as he unrolled a scroll onto the floor. “I spent the better half of the night and most of the morning triangulating the origin of the “Wind” and found it likely came from either the dead sea or… the Navratna territory. Given that there are no reports of the wind traveling eastward, or northwards. I am awaiting word from the ships at sea to know more but if we wish to investigate…”

Before the little man could say any more the queen stood from her throne and with amazing grace descended to stand before him.

 Gillum was dwarfed next to the queen but given his gnomish heritage it was no surprise standing only 4 feet tall, that the average sized queen still stood a foot and a half taller than him. Yet the sudden appearance of the queen standing over him caused the man to shrink back.

“Navratna, you say.” She eyed the map that had a spew of small red arrows drawn all about the Empire, likely directional markers from reports. “And have we heard anything from Navratna?”

“The Lapidary family had told their city that it was a magical item disposal gone wrong. It took them only a few hours to restore order to their territory after the wind swept through.” He said, rubbing his mustache. “Though that is likely a cover to quell the masses, I cannot help but be impressed at its effectiveness.”

“Speaking of the Lapidary family.” Another voice called out as a large man in armor stepped forward and bowed. “Your majesty, I would like to open an investigation on them. They are clearly up to something.”

“Denied.” The queen replied curtly causing the man to nearly stumble.

“But my queen, they are clearly attempting to start a war with the church and what….”

“Whatever that magical wind was could be a weapon.” She finished as she eyed the man. “Yet you have no proof other than hearsay.”

“They killed a Bishop of Valor.” The man struggled to keep his composure.

“A Bishop that entered our lands illegally and proceeded to rain his judgment onto one of our cities.” She sighed; in the last few weeks this had been a daily occurrence. Every day a new advisor, general, or noble family. All trying to gain leverage over the border territory. “The Lapidary family has served this nation for generations, even their son is currently guarding this very castle. They are a trusted noble family, and as such have earned at least enough trust to oversee the execution of a man who was cutting people down in the street. I will hear no more accusations against them in my court unless someone has actual evidence to bring forth, or are you all going to continue jumping at shadows because they have gained favor with the world?”

Everyone stopped as she spoke, her words cutting down several overzealous nobles who had arrived today in hopes to gain a foothold against the budding family that was growing too quickly.

“Now Gillum, as royal magical engineer, do you believe such an event could be caused by a weapon or magical item.” 

The gnome was silent for a long moment, twisting the ends of his facial hair as he thought. “Not likely. The amount of energy required to send a wind across even half of the area it covered would be immeasurable. No item ever recorded could ever hold that much power and given they are a family known for enchanting I doubt they would even attempt to create such an item. If they did, whoever was holding it when it went off would likely be little more than paint on the nearest wall.” He hummed as he adjusted his glasses. “But that is another oddity, as far as I can tell the wind itself was harmless. It is reminiscent of a mana beast blustering to warn away predators.”

“You think that was a mere deterrent!” The armored man gasped as a whisper spread through the crowd.

“Anyone who has hunted mana beast would recognize it. They are known to release a wave of energy to scare away predators.” The gnome began to roll up his map. “But to who, and from what. I do not know. I would like to send a few magical researchers to the territory to look around for clues however.”

“Yes, I do believe that would be best.” To everyone’s surprise the queen agreed readily to the request. “But only researchers, do remember it is a border territory with a nation that is currently at war. We don’t need them thinking we are amassing troops at their borders. It is bad enough that Alamgir keeps sending ships into our ports.” She sighed as a courier arrived beside her. “Any other pressing matters?” she asked as she took the letter addressed from royal guardsmen Jasper.

“Your majesty, my mother would like to accept your request for tea and has stated she will leave her territory in 3 days’ time after she makes preparations, she estimates her arrival to be a minimum of 1 week if conditions are favorable.”

“Poor Taffy’s ears must have been burning.” Irithyl smiled as she read the note before handing it back to the courier. “Send for guardsman Jasper to meet with me to discuss the details of this after court has adjourn.”  The man bowed and hurried off as she turned her now smiling face to the crowd. “Ok, which of you is going to ruin my good mood now?” She eyed the crowd with a new vigor.

---

Holy father Isaac sat at a lavish dark wood desk as he looked over reports that poured in from across the continent. Each one stating the same thing, no one seemed to know the origin of the “wave”, though that may change in the coming days as further churches send in their reports. Not that it mattered much to him either way he was content that it had given him the perfect opportunity to convince that irksome elf to begin training the heroes. And with a small platoon of summoned “heroes” finally getting the training he needed his plans could begin in full soon.

“If only a proper sage had arrived we could have expedited this all.” He removed another letter from the pile and opened it. “There is still that small problem of the missing 7 heroes, but even that should rectify itself soon. If we are lucky they will be properly educated before we find them, I would hate to add to the rejects any more than necessary.” He muttered absentmindedly as he read the report from their sister nation Utinora.  The report in question brought no news in particular, they have no more hero candidates but it was dated nearly a week ago. 

Then a faint knock came at his door drawing his attention away from his task. “You may enter.” He called as he set the report aside.

A young man dressed in travel clothes entered and kneeled. “Holy father, it is an honor.” it was clear this man had just arrived and came right to his office without bothering to adorn his vestments.

“Speak your business, my child.” Issac made no motion to stand as he leaned back in his chair curious as to why he was interrupted by someone who didn't even bother to bathe before coming before him. 

“Yes father, I bring news from the Empire of Crown.” The mention of the Empire caused Issacs face to twist in disgust. Despite his best efforts the Empire of Crown has refused an alliance with Alamgir, that on top of being a human nation they continue to mingle with the tainted nations even allowing the beasts into their lands. He believed he had rectified that when they put a plan to build faith in their borders into motion; however, Alexander not only failed his mission but got himself killed the same day he arrived. However,  outside of the death Issac had heard very little about the goings on in the Empire. He had a network of priests and other resources scattered through Crown’s territories that he had faith would keep anything too unpleasant from happening and has decided to leave that entire nation to its own devices while focusing on the growing war with the beast. The only real thing he knew was that 3 of the true heroes were dispatched a week ago to clean up the “package” Alexander was supposed to deal with as a trial of their power. “It would seem our friends inside their borders have identified a possible hero candidate though the reports have been inconclusive.”

Issac rubbed his beard, this was indeed good news yet did not warrant barging into his office. “And? I doubt I need to inform you of what to do if you find a candidate, approach the family and attempt to acquire the child.”

“Of course father.” The man pushed his head into the plush rug. “But we also have reports of a family developing a very particular bloodline ability that is… It's the voice, father.” The man looked up at the Holy father with reverence in his eyes. “The family has access to the voice of the world.”

That cannot be. They both sat in complete silence now. A whole family? Of potential sages.

“And you are sure of this?” Isaac asked the bowing messenger, his face not showing his new found interest.

“Yes, holy father. Our priest in their court has confirmed it with his own eyes. A guardsman in their royal capital suddenly developed the skill claiming it was a bloodline skill his whole family had acquired.” the man said eagerly. “Not only that, but this guardsman is a follower of the holy light of our heavenly father, and a skilled warrior.” 

“There has never been a male sage….” Issac stood and began to walk around his desk as he started to think. “Then again, our records never show an elven one either. So there are first times for everything.”

“He has a sister. two infact.” The man stammered. “One of which is an Archmage, the other is young enough to be a hero herself. We are attempting to gain information on the young girl.”

“If her sister is an Archmage, and brother a prominent guardsman then she must be quite something herself.” He couldn't help but grin as he formed a plan in his mind. “A potential hero in fact. A trio of siblings all powerful, all with the voice of the world. Yes, tell our priest to approach this guardsman and ask if he would like to assist our heavenly father Valor for the betterment of this world. The girls as well, see if the youngest would like to be a hero and if the elder would be a good fit as a sage.” He dismissed the man as he began to laugh to himself.

“Wonderful, truly wonderful.” He could hardly contain his excitement. “Finally, a way to remove that elf.” His grin wide as he removed a small box from his desk. “Too bad we can’t just execute her, but our holy father wishes for her to remain alive.” He hummed as he lifted the lid revealing a small gold collar, it pulsated with a sickly power as it emitted an ominous golden glow. “That's fine though, the rejected heroes seem to enjoy her company. Once we have a proper sage, we can use her to keep them in check. Once all six true heroes return, we will remove her from their training, however. Best to get them properly educated.”

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