Chapter 7: Chapter 6

This… this is very strange. Me thought staring down the strange… boy? While it was in the void it had plenty of time to read, it knew vaguely of the races other than humans, but it found itself more inclined to magic study than people, they were all similar as far as it could tell. Made of meat, blood, and mana, labeled firmly in the “do not eat” category despite all the rituals one could find involved in eating the flesh of other sentient creatures. But this boy seemed different than it expected, his face looked… What is that expression?

Me racked its addled mind to pinpoint the expression of the long-eared boy as it turned its head side to side as it inspected him.

“ꋫꁒꍟ꓅ꑛꐟꌚ꓅?” The boy spoke.

Its mind stopped as it tried to process the words it spoke, what did it just say? Maybe I should just ask? “...” why did no sound come out! normally I just will to speak, and I speak! oh no, is poor Amethyst mute? Wait, that wasn't on her page. What was on mine about languages? non-fluent? Am I mute!

Applejack watched as Amethyst stood unblinking, still clutching his arm in an uncomfortable grip, watching him as if this was the first, she had ever seen him. The black veins still pulsing slightly on her neck as her face began to contort into an array of emotions almost as if she were testing them. When he spoke her name all she did was open her mouth, but no words came out which seemed to surprise her.

“We have to go; we have to get to your house or to a guard.” He spoke quickly, making up his mind that whatever was wrong with her could wait, but when he went to pull her along, he found himself unable to. Her grip on his arm though not painful was ironclad whenever he would tug against it the veins on her arm would pulse and her grip would tighten ever so slightly. 

Oh, he's trying to run. Well, that makes sense he looks young, was he there when Amethyst got attacked? what happened to the woman with the armor, she seemed like the one who was on her side… hopefully. I did teleport the screen in front of the big guy in hopes he would bonk his head on it. Me thought as it tried to release the boy's arm, with a slight groan its hand opened, all of its knuckles popping in the process. This body is all creaky? Is she taking care of herself? I'm going to have to tell her to drink more milk. Me inspected its hand, noticing the black pulsing lines running up its forearm. O the aether, i need to burn aether off… how? Inutil?

With a slightly quieter pop than before a large screen appeared besides the couple Me noted that the dimensions of the screen did not change even though it still felt different than the world screens it was used to.

“To burn off aether you would need to use magic, or your skills to use aether.” The words flashed on the red screen. “You are currently using the skill, self-reinforcement, this risks damaging the body if the skill is overused please be cautious… Please note that “unknown” is currently not breathing, suggestion, correct this immediately.”

Breathing? Me pondered as it identified the word in its mind before letting out a breathless yell, how could I be so stupid! body's need air! I have the body for 2 minutes and almost asphyxiate myself! Wait, how was I not breathing for that long?

“Self-reinforcement reinforces the body on a muscular level and all body functions, while active it is possible to perform inhuman acts at the risk of damage to the body. With this skill active it is possible to not need to breathe for several minutes, however this can cause damage to the organs and mind if overused. Patch Note: this skill cannot be used to build muscle mass or body resilience per system restrictions, “you can't use magic to negate hard work”-system administrator 31211. ``

Applejack watched in amazement as his childhood friend wordlessly summoned the voice of the world and began reading off of it, too bad he had still not learned to read fully. He knew enough to get by but the speed at which the words were scrolling by on the screen was well beyond his ability to keep up. He couldn't help but feel relieved when amethyst took a large breath for the first time since he sat her down, she also seemed to blink a few times. the black veins on her arms and neck seemed to shrink slightly as she took a few more deep breaths.

The air tasted slightly dusty, and smelled slightly of waste only slightly, however. The being noted that the city around it must be relatively clean as it finally stopped and listened to its surrounding it could hear people in every direction some yelling, as distant footfalls echoed up the empty alleyway it found itself in, hidden between two buildings no more than a full arm’s length apart for a full grown man the Inutil box floating on the wall to the side as if it was a hung picture.

“Ok testing,” Me tried to speak after remembering to breathe while it spoke, it came out unnaturally loud not quite a yell, but way louder than it meant it to. “O sorry” it said, noticing its voice startled the boy.

He gave it a quizzical look as he spoke again. “ꋫꁒꍟ꓅ꑛꐟꌚ꓅? ꋫ꒓ꍟ ꐟꆂꐇ ꆂꀗ?”

After a moment “Inutil what gives, why is this kid speaking in tongues?”

““unknown” has learned to read every known language in this world, and several from another. “unknown” has not learned how to speak the languages of this world.” Inutil scrolled, its screen dimming slightly.

“That's… that's crap I got the skill didn't I… What was it?” Me thought out loud as it practiced using its voice, it's something that it remembered how to do but still felt very strange, everything felt strange in fact, now that it thought about it. Its body seemed to droop if it didn't focus on keeping upright and its legs seemed to bend and wobble if it tried to walk. Though with the addition of gravity it now had a new respect for toes as it could feel them working when it stepped. “All that practice in the void for nothing, this is totally different than what Eryl said it would be like. Did she lie to me? Is that why she won't talk to me anymore because she lied to me?”

“Trait: Polyglot literate non-fluent, be proficient in more than five languages, can read and write in more than five languages but cannot speak in any known language of this world.” Inutil flashed, “it is unlikely the System administrator Eryl falsified any information it has given you. It is more likely that Eryl did not account for the differences between the void and the physical world given there are no known cases of a person spending a prolonged time in a void space such as you have.”

“Blaa your part of the system she runs of course you would say she didn’t lie, anyone who likes boxes as much as her shouldn't be trusted.” 

“Negative, Skill Babylon is a special skill that was created for the Lapidary family. It is an AI terminal created to access the lost library of Babylon separate from the world system that governs this world. Although Babylon can access parts of the system such as the soul page of its users it is unable to change any aspect of the system. The system cannot access the Babylon sub-system as per the system administrator Eryl, Babylon is a one-of-a-kind skill that even the world system cannot change without Eryls direct command.” The Inutil box scrolled as it let the being process what it was reading. “Your irrational dislike for “boxes” is alarming, suggestion, seek professional help.”

“She made this for the family?” Me said it casually punched the screen, though it would appear Amethyst tiny arms were not up to the task of breaking the screen as it was used to instead its wrist bent at an odd angle. 

Applejack watched the lightning-fast exchanges between Amethyst and the world screen, her speaking a strange foreign language that sounded harsh on the throat and the screen replying with text that was clearly Solresol the common language of human nations, but it was flashing words way faster than he believed even a scholar would be able to read. He flinched when she smashed her hand against the screen causing her to hiss and yell a string of what he could only assume were swear words, shocked that she would so casually touch the voice of the world, many religions would have someone hanged for such an act. 

“We don't have time for this!” he yelled, grabbing her by the waist again and trying to lift her, “I am sorry Amethyst, but we need to…”

His voice was cut short when Amethyst grabbed him by the pants and launched him into the air, he was stunned as she seemingly effortlessly launched him above the buildings, only to let out a scream as the alley filled with a blinding light.

What the hell was that the fucking sun! Me thought as its body careened down the alley it could feel its self-reinforcement kick in pulling itself into a ball to keep from breaking any limbs, though it knew it would mitigate a lot of damage this way, unlike before it could actually feel the strain on its muscles as it bounced out onto what seemed to be a main street, people on both sides screamed as the body of a young girl flew out slamming into a building and falling into smoking heap.

“I found you, demon.” An icy voice called out as a man stepped from the alley.  

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Isn't that the guy that was with the shiny man? damn it I was sure the woman could take them that's why I wasn't worried. Me thought as it fought to untangle its aching body, though it knew nothing was broken it knew it was going to have a rash on its back… what was it, road burn… road rash? God damn it Me, focus, guy trying to kill you! It snapped its attention to the golden eyed man.

“Are… are that guy's eyes made of gold?” Me asked, turning its head from its now prone position.

Suddenly it could feel power rush into its eyes as it focused on the man, it could see his silhouette surrounded by what looked like a mass of golden tentacles, writhing around the man leaving two black holes where his eyes were. The sight of the monstrosity made it feel sick, like the whole thing was wrong. it seemed to pulsate with a disgusting energy. it watched as the monstrosity began towards it, chanting in some language that it didn’t understand, as a much smaller mass of reddish energy fell from the sky into the gold mass as it willed energy out of its eyes only to see the golden eyed man sidestep the falling boy it had thrown into the air when it felt danger. The man gave the boy a swift kick the moment he landed, sending the young boy sliding limp across the ground before beginning to chant again.

this is very bad… very very bad. Me thought as it struggled to get its body to move. Though it could tell there were no severe injuries, it hoped. The body felt relatively the same, well it hurt all over, but it was dull pain hardly what it would think is life threatening. It struggled to even get to its knees, its muscles refusing to relax and move instead remaining all but locked in their balled-up position. 

Me watched as the energy began to condense at the tip of the man's staff as he pointed it at it, then just as suddenly as the overwhelming warnings of danger came, they vanished. Me was dumbfounded as the man's spell fired yet it just knew that it posed no threat to it, watching in amazement as right before its eyes the spell seemed to bend taking a sharp angle into the sky less than one Inutil screen away from its face.

---

Taaffeite did not question her daughter when Alexa said they needed to find Amethyst now, pulling her rapier from the wall beside her desk and darting out of the room. She did not spare a second thought to the notification the screen had shown before accepting, Bloodline skills were some of the most powerful skills known to man, usually only granted to a family after generations of study in a specific art it was unheard of for a family as relatively young as hers to receive one. She could count on one hand the number of families she knew that had one, and only as she exited her house did, she find a moment to worry that it was the right decision to put such a burden on her small family. 

Only a moment however, even from their mansion she could see a pillar of light descend onto her city and she knew from the spell that just landed near her home she would need every scrap of power she could get to fight the threat she now faced.

“Alexandrite,” she started her voice stern as she prepared herself, “go get your father from the wall.” She began casting reinforcement spells on herself. 

Alexa froze at the sound of her mother’s voice, her tone itself seemed to still the very air as she watched her mother bend her knees. With a tremendous force Alexa watched her mother launch herself down the street before their home like a cannonball. Never had she seen her mother move in such a manner. The calm monarch that always walked with such dignity was now flying up the street in a dead mana induced sprint reminding Alexa that her mother was no frail noble woman but a warrior, one who had faced death multiple times before. But it was not the movements, but what she said. Taaffeite was powerful, the mountain that Alexa strode to climb, yet for the first time in her life she saw worry in her mother as she told her to go get her husband, the unspoken statement sinking in. Her mother was not sure she could win against whoever fired that spell.

Taaffeite sped through her city, multiple incantations causing her to kick up a trail of dirt behind her showering people she passed and blowing some less fortunate bystanders to the ground as she cleared blocks in moments. What would have taken nearly an hour to walk took her mere minutes as she came to stop at what could be described as a battle zone surrounded by people gawking at the carnage.

“Begone!” Taaffeite’s command boomed through the crowd causing it to part almost instantly, people scrambling to get out of her path as she strode confidently up the road. 

She did not know what to make of the scene before her, laying under what looked like a obsidian slab was the crumpled form of what appeared to be a paladin. The slab clearly another world screen like the one that was currently in her office this one however had a strange pattern of numbers on it. She gave that only a fleeting thought as she looked at the other body, this one she recognized by the remnants of the mechanical leg attached to the crushed torso.

“Dora.'' She said feeling rage flooded her mind as she looked down at what was left of the adventure her husband scouted to guard their daughter. A ping of guilt in the back of her mind as she remembered not trusting the woman to do her job properly despite her family's assurances. “I owe you an apology, thank you.” She said solemnly as she scanned the field of carnage noting that her daughter's body was not there. She couldn't help but hope Dora had bought Amethyst the time to run but she knew better, that paladin was not the one raining divine judgment in her city.

Just as she was about to cast another spell to track her daughter, another light cut through the city just a few blocks away, she wasted no time jumping clear over the crowd of onlookers landing in a sprint. drawing her rapier as she rounded the corner her heart sank as she surveyed the new battlefield.

Standing at the opening of a alleyway was a priest of Valor, holy magic radiating off him as he chanted a spell. Laying at his feet was the bunny-kin boy her daughter had taken a liking to, and a mere 20 or so feet from the holy man was her daughter smoking body, her dress was in taters revealing her small battered frame. She appeared to be burnt and bruised; black marks covered her back and arms as she seemed to struggle to stand. 

Taaffeite wasted no time casting her most powerful barrier hoping it would be enough, “Refraction!” She roared creating an angled barrier just in time to send the beam of light harmlessly into the sky.

She instantly knew that she would be able to do that only a handful of times, hopefully the priest had used most of his mana to fire such a destructive spell repeatedly.

“Miss Lapidary,” The man spoke his voice calm despite the situation “I don’t believe we have formally met.”

“I do not believe we have,” she replied as she moved herself between the man and her daughter, “yet here you are destroying my city, killing my guards, and attacking my…” she spared a glance back at Amethyst and knew instantly something was off.

What looked back at her was not her loving daughter but something different wearing her skin. Her skin was pale as if she had been bled dry, her normally purple irises were now a inky black that seemed to bleed into the whites, and what she thought were burns and bruises were black pulsating veins. No whatever this was, it was not Amethyst, she looked back at the creature as it attempted to stand in jerky unfamiliar movements like a child who had never stood before.

“What is” she started but was cut off by the man.

“A demon,” he said drawing her attention back to him, his solid gold eyes pulsing with energy, “One that has taken the very soul of your daughter and twisted it into this perverse visage you see before you.” His voice boomed, dripping with divine fury as he stood arms outreached, “how it breaks my heart that you must see your flesh and blood in such a state, know that your family has my deepest sympathy. But this demon has deceived you, please step aside Miss Lapidary while I release your daughter from her torment. The only salvation we can grant her now is a swift release from the demon's clutches and deliver her into the arms of our holy father.”

 Taaffeite Lapidary stood, her life replaying in her mind, everything leading to this moment. The decision to recklessly follow some oaf of a farm boy into the heat of battle becoming a dragon slayer. Marrying that same man, and taking up the position of Marchioness and taking over her family’s territory. Spending five years slowly rebuilding her territory before deciding to bear children. Being blessed with her first daughter, five years later their son again planned. With both a son and a daughter she and her husband decided that would be enough, but one passion filled night on their honeymoon had gifted them their youngest daughter. She remembered every moment with her child, every scraped knee the young girl had gotten clawing her way behind her siblings. She knew Amethyst was different from both her other children from the day she was born, even with her overflowing mana she could never get the control her elder sister had, and with her stunted growth she would never get the physique her elder brother had. When she learned of the second soul page, she threw herself into finding answers, hoping beyond hope for an answer for why her daughter seemed to struggle in every endeavor she took. She remembers being crushed when she came across the book that filled her with such dread, she stored it in a spatial ring in hopes to forget ever reading it, only to show it to Alexa earlier this very day. Her mind was filled with a torrent of emotions and memories as the priest's words seemed to dig into her psyche, painting her daughter with a demonic image in her memory. 

“Miss lapidary I would never ask a mother to be present at such a moment, if you wish to turn your back to the monster none would dare judge you.” His honeyed words pierced her very heart as it stirred her memories yet again this time bringing one from earlier this very day to the forefront.

“I nearly forgot for a moment.” She said as her mind snapped back under her control, “The only time a parent would ever turn their back on their child,” she resolved herself, all her titles, all her accomplishments “Is to shield them from what is ahead” are meaningless. “I am Taaffeite Lapidary, and this is my daughter. Now bastard of Valor if you wish for salvation, come find it at the end of my blade.” She stood blade poised to strike, her daughter to her back not abandoned, but defended. Whatever that creature was, its eyes did not scream evil demon, no when Taaffeite looked into them she saw a scared child who didn’t even know how to stand on its own, the eyes no mother would ever abandon.

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