Chapter 6: Chapter 5

Amethyst was rooted in place as the large paladin scanned her, then without provocation lunged towards her drawing his sword with blinding speed. She barely managed to flinch before Dora intercepted the blade with her long sword, sparks flew from the blades as they clashed, the paladin clearly surprised he was not only blocked but stopped by a woman half his size. 

“Amethyst, Run, now!” Dora yelled as she planted her artificial foot in the man's chest, she could hear the hiss of air as the leg ejected a long steel spike denting the paladin’s chest plate and sending him sprawling to the ground. 

Dora stomped her foot resetting the hidden spike before descending on the paladin. Dora knew if she let the man get his bearings it would be over for her, even in her prime she was no match for a fully armored paladin of Valor her only hope of victory was ending this fight quickly even if it meant fighting dirty. 

Dora kicked the man in the head, purposely dragging her foot across the ground kicking dirt up into his face as she brought the enchanted foot up. she would have preferred to just spike him in the skull and be done with it, but it would take a moment for the enchanted firing mechanism to recharge, and she didn't have time to wait.  

Just as she was about to bring her sword down, she was blindsided by a flash of light as a pillar of light slammed into her side launching her back as the bishop stepped into view bending down to help the stunned paladin to his feet.  

Dora lay on the ground; she could clearly feel her now cracked ribs as she fought to catch her breath. She swore in her mind, she forgot the bishop, knowing that mistake might be the end of her; she quickly looked to see if Amethyst had taken her warning to run. Surprised to find Amethyst standing right where she left her, black veins creeping up the girl's neck as Applejack tried to pull her away. the young bunny-kin finally looped his arm under her waist and hoisted her into his shoulder.

“I'm sorry Amethyst.” the young bunny-kin boy said as he began to run, carrying her up the road. Dora could see the girl's face locked into a wide-eyed expression staring back at the fight.

“I always tell you Vincent,” the young man's voice showed no concern by the outcome, “you can't underestimate the heretics”

“I am sorry, Bishop, it will not happen again.” The paladin said, setting himself into a proper fighting stance with both hands on his sword.

“Oh, heavenly father, please bless this child of yours with the power” the bishop began raising his arms as light began to pool around the paladin, his armor beginning to glow with golden light, “to deliver this tainted child into salvation, and protect this world from the…”

Just as the light began to condense into the armor a thunderous crack rang out, a large black screen appearing in the space above the paladin's head and promptly falling, splitting the man's skull with a sickening crunch as the screen forced its way down folding the man's body as it crashed into the ground.

The bishop stood stunned as his spell fizzled out, his mouth agape as he looked at the world screen that had fallen from the sky onto his comrade. strange pattern of 1’s and 0’s on it.

“01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110011 01101000 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101000 01100101 01101100 01101101 01100101 01110100 00101110” The screen flashed, not the normal pale blue of the world screen, but a dark blood red color.

Dora let out a wheezing laugh as she fought to stand, caught off guard by the audacity of the situation. Dora was a simple woman, an adventurer from a small fishing village, and now here she stood nearly 50 in front of a dead paladin who was just stuck down by what appeared to be the world itself and a speechless bishop.

“Well,” the swordswoman said, raising her sword with a shaking hand, clearly the beam had done more damage than she was letting on. The sound of her voice seemed to break his confusion as he stepped back. “Let's get this over with.” She dashed towards the man, swinging her sword with all the force she could manage only to be caught by a swift jab of his staff stopping her just out of reach of her target causing her sword to swing harmlessly inches from his neck.  

The jab was perfect, the aim landing squarely on two of her damaged ribs, and the timing could not have been better, right after she fully committed with her full momentum to what would have surely been a killing blow. Dora let out a scream of pain as the force of her swing pulled her off balance depositing her harmlessly in the pool of blood beside the bishop. 

“I have more important matters than you heretic.” The bishop spoke as if she was no more than a minor inconvenience in his way. “That Demon that summons the false voice,” he turned his back to her, removing the blindfold as he started to walk away from the struggling woman, “must be purged from this world.”

Dora fought her way onto her back, the edges of her vision beginning to blur as blood pooled in her mouth. He punctured my lung. and he's going to just leave me here to die! She thought as sat looking at the back of the man who was now walking away from her. “Fuck you!” she roared with the last of her energy forcing her leg into the air, grabbing a small lever by her hip, and wrenching it back. The familiar sound of hissing air filled the street only to be replaced by a loud cracking; as the metal spike fired from her heel tearing the gears from her leg as it ripped free from the mechanism, her leg all but exploding, never meant to be used as a projectile; it tumbled lopsided towards the bishop still with enough force to kill if it were to hit.

The bishop sighed, not even looking back as he simply leaned to the left letting the spike fly by him. “Struggling to the bitter end.” he turned to face her once more, his solid gold eyes emitting a flame like smoke as golden vines branched out from the sockets. “How unsightly” he said, raising his hand and a beam of golden light rained down from the sky filling the entire street with a blinding light.

---

“Amethyst,” Applejack wheezed, though the young woman was by no means heavy, running at full speed for several blocks was more than the boy could manage as he ducked into a side ally, “do you think you can walk now?”

He placed the young girl down and inspected her, her normally only slightly pale skin now seemed drained of color with pulsing black veins branching up her neck and down her arms, her normally vibrant purple eyes now seemed dull as they slowly changed to a murky black. she stared at him unblinking, tilting her head ever so slightly in an unnatural jerking motion. 

“Amethyst” he spoke, his voice filled with fear as he tentatively reached for her, “what is wrong with you.”

She didn't reply, just standing there, slightly jerking as her eyes darted around. Her knees buckled inward, and her shoulders seemed to sit at an uncomfortable angle as her whole body began leaning to the side. Applejack quickly grabbed her shoulders worried she was going to collapse, causing her arm to snap up unnaturally fast, grabbing his wrist, gripping it in the way a child who was unaware of their own strength would. The two stood, him holding her shoulders, her gripping his left wrist in a white knuckled death hold.

---

“Eryl… why is the void breaking?” Me asked, looking around its home for the last 10 years.

“You broke the outer shell when you force teleported two terminals out,” Eryls voice, once again devoid of emotion, replied in her mind, “the fact you didn’t die instantly from the stunt is a blessing in and of itself.” 

“Outer shell? what shell?” Me asked, watching the cracks in the void spread.

“The shell, the one that was put around you to section you off from Amethyst consciousness while you healed.” Eryl said, though emotionless, the being felt like her tone was very condescending. “The one to keep your aether from leaking into her, the one you just punched a hole in by weaponizing my terminals.”

It stopped listening to the disembodied voice as it started piecing together what had happened, “wait a shell, am I in an egg? Also, I would hardly call what I did weaponizing them, I simply put a teleportation circle on the back and poofed them out of my void. sure, I had to take them from your almighty system, but they should be in one piece where they ended up, they even float so they should be fine, if anything I gave the dumb boxes a chance to be useful for once.” It snapped back now completely oblivious to the crumbling walls around it.

There was a slight pause before Eryl replied. “Irrelevant. You are about to be forcefully pushed into Amethyst's mind; this is going to be problematic for everyone involved. Once you are out of this “egg” you are immediately going to begin suppressing the young girl's soul, and since you are currently leaking aether you're going to begin flooding her mana channels with pure aether, way more than her skills will be able to cope with. Given you both survive the forced introduction I estimate you have one week at most until you poison her body beyond the point of repair, and even if you manage to seal the leak in yourself you will need to find a way to burn off the excess power, not to mention the disparity between your two energy pools.”

“Disparity? Because I am made of Aether and she is made of Mana?” Me asked, trying to ignore the fact the walls were now vibrating.

“Partially, more because the amount of mana her soul has versus the amount of Aether you have, if her mana pool was a large lake, yours would be a ocean, you will need to find a way to balance the two pools less one will overpower the other. I suggest, once you are out, finding a way to burn as much Aether as possible without ripping yourself into pieces or your power will overpower hers and you will be forced to assimilate her soul into yourself.”

 “Got it, fix the hole, burn aether, find a way to suck aether out leaving mana behind.” me said, crossing its arms and nodding. “Anything else.”

“I… I won't be able to contact you.” Eryl said, catching the being off guard.

“Wait why!” It cried out as the void began to collapse.

“Too risky, they will notice.” Eryls voice said, as the “shell” dissipated, blinding the being as it felt like it was being thrown through a tube.

Pain racked its body as it slammed headfirst into a hard surface, its body feeling as if it was boiling as it roared in pain, thrashing about on the ground before the pain finally subsided. It lay there for a moment longer holding its hands before it to find they were still the same jet-black voids they were before, the jagged lines on them pulsing.

Finally managing to stand It found itself standing in a large open field, what appeared to be a cliff to one side and a single wooden cabin to the other, the grass swaying in a breeze, the sound of water lapping against the cliff side filled the air as it looked around. The space felt… familiar. it took almost a full minute before realizing it was in another void space. 

“Well, not what I expected. This must be Amethyst void… mind?” Me spoke, its voice gravelly, “might as well as see if anyone is home.” it began a slow trek towards the cabin, its movements still slightly off despite all its practice. As it walked it trailed wisps of black smoke behind it as the wind blew through its open wound, every step it took wilted the grass beneath its feet leaving a trail of perfectly round patches from where it landed to the cabin.

Finally reaching the door it raised a long taloned arm to knock, its talion’s tapping the door a little too hard. The wood instantly blackened at its touch starting to flake away as if it was burnt. “That can't be a good sign.” It said as it resigned itself to just pushing the door open.

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The inside of the cabin opened to a large mansion type building, with stairs that led up to a nonexistent second floor on either side of a long hallway that seemed to lead into a large open room. 

“Come on Sparkle, that's just weird.” it said as it began to walk into the building taking great care to not touch anything, “why go with the cabin if you're just going to change the inside.”

It crossed into a large room with a dark wood table lined with chairs, a tapestry hung at the head of the table, and a large tome like book sat at the head seat as if someone had been reading it. it crossed the room dodging the chairs and glanced into the book.

 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, mana burned, 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, Aether sickness 

“Is this her soul page Eryl keeps talking about?” it asked not daring to touch it but simply glancing at the second page that was open.

Name; “Unknown” Lapidary

Age; “Error” 10

Race; unknown

Titles; Twin soul, Me, X47

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

Skills: Soul sorcery, Enchanting greater, Skill override greater, Enchantment override, Self-reinforcement greater, Soul shaping, Spell circle creation, Spell chant negation, Aether mastery, Deception greater, Soul sight, Blessed by “error”, danger sense greater.

Lapidary Bloodline skill: Babylon

“Hey, we have the same last name, does that make us siblings? Well, at least I have more skills and traits, though I’ll have to talk to Eryl about some of…” it trailed off at the mention of Eryl “Oh yea, no talking. Why is that? Did I offend her? Was it the Box thing? She does like her boxes… no focus, you must find Sparkle. Fix hole, burn aether, fix energy gap.”

It moved deeper into the mansion chanting the last sentence like a mantra, looking for any sign of its coinhabitant of this place. It didn't have to look far before finding what appeared to be a small purple human shape, it lay motionless next to a window towards the back of the house, its body a deep dark purple with what looked like stars floating in it, black jagged lines forming on it much like the beings own. 

“And you must be amethyst, I am me, nice to meet you.” Me said as it stepped up beside it, bending to look down at it. 

It didn’t reply, or move, just lie there, unmoving. 

“Hello?” it called out louder, not wanting to touch it. 

The soul still did not move. The being looked out the window to see… nothing just a field that led to a cliff. “Well, this is getting no where… what should I do maybe Er… wait I can’t call Eryl… do I have any skills that could help?” it wondered out loud thinking over its skills, most were self-explanatory, one however was odd to it. “What is this Lapidary bloodline skill? How do I use it? What was its name? Babylon”

Instantly a thunderclap rang out and in front of the window a screen appeared, It noticed that the screen was no longer a pale blue like normal, but a deep crimson. 

“Hey box, like the new color scheme, now if you could do something about those corners, I might actually respect you a little.” It said reaching out and tapping the box with a claw, “why is this girl not moving?”

“It would appear the Amethyst is currently in shock from “unknown”’s sudden invasion of its soul space. Amethyst is also currently being suppressed by “unknown” and will continue to be inert until “unknown” has ceased suppressing her.”

“Well how do I do that,” it nearly yelled, “dumb box, got a fancy name and your still useless, I’ll fix that!” it murmured, reaching a claw out and scratching “Inutil 11” on the bottom of the screen in Aquin this time.

“Skill updated, Lapidary Bloodline skill; Babylon, updated to, Lapidary Bloodline skill personal; Babylon “Inutil”. Trait acquired, Stubborn. Traits, stubborn and problematic have merged into a new trait, trait arduous acquired” the box flashed as it finished, “to fix the suppression effect, “unknown” would have to fix its own soul, suppress its Aether, and coax Amethyst soul to reassert itself.”

It stood stunned for a second, this box was clearly different than the old ones, it was… “No you’re still a stupid box!” It said batting at the screen, “how the hell am i supposed to do all that if I’m stuck in here!” 

The being stood glaring at the new Inutil box, its color shifting slightly before words appeared. “Solution found, Spell, soul magic, Soul possession. Allows a being to possess the physical body of another being if it is able to overpower the others will, Amethyst soul is already suppressed, probability of Possession success, 98.5%”

The being blinked, looking back at amethyst soul then turning towards the box, “will it hurt her?”

“Negative, as long as one is careful with the body they possess, no harm should come to the soul that houses it.”

“If she's suppressed, why is there a 1.5% chance of failure?” the being asked tapping the screen again.

“User error.” Inutil flashed quickly before displaying a spell circle, “carve this into the center of this space and fill it with your Aether, that will activate the spell.”

“I saw that!” it said jumping out the window and grabbing the screen before it could blink away.

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