Chapter 9: Chapter 7: Complications

Lilith sat passively inside of her own head, watching the voice that had come from within her talk with Judy and Vithi. She was still conscious, to an extent, but she was also…out of it, just beyond caring at this point. So, she was content to let the voice do whatever she wanted for now.

“I’m not Lilith, not…exactly.” The voice said. “I’m…” she frowned, searching for the right words, “I’m an alternate personality of sorts. I’ve been lying dormant for a long time, and when Lilith really started being in danger, I came out.” She stopped, waiting for the other two to reply.

There was a silence, and then the voice realized that she had yet to release the spells that were binding them in place. She did so, and Vithi immediately stomped over. “That was an awful thing to do!” She accused, pointing a finger at the voice. “You can’t just…just enslave people and change them like that!”

The voice frowned, tilting her head in what seemed to Lilith to be genuine puzzlement. “Why not? She was going to enslave us, and I made sure she’d like her new form. So, it all works out, right?”

“No!”

“This was the logical solution. We get all the info she has, and she doesn’t enslave us. You don’t want to be put in a lamp again, right?”

“Absolutely not! But my point is that you essentially killed him and replaced him with a new person!”

The voice laughed. “Did not. She’s still got all her memories, habits, feelings, likes, dislikes, everything, she just has a new body and a love of serving me. Aside from those two quirks she’s the same person, right, Alex?”

Alex nodded happily, pressing her head up into the voice’s hands. “Yup! I was pretty unhappy before, but now I’m way happier, so I count this as a win!”

“Besides, if Lilith doesn’t like it, she can remove the mental effects. And if she wants to change Alex back to how she was before, then she’ll have to learn transformation magic, and that’s one step closer to restoring her old form, so win-win there.”

Vithi pinched the bridge of her nose. “Look, that’s not…Judy, back me up here.”

Judy was staring at the voice intently, then shook her head, sighing. “I’m going to level with you here. I really don’t care what happens to Alex if it doesn’t directly affect our safety. Yeah, what was done to her was messed up, but she was also trying to do messed up stuff to us. What I care about is this alternate personality. Will we be getting the regular Lilith back?”

The voice nodded. “Yup, as soon as she’s ready to take over again I’m going to hand over the reins. She’s kind of out of it right now, she’s still under the effect of Alex’s magic.”

Alex’s hands flew to her mouth. “I’m so sorry, mistress, I’ll cancel it right now!”

“Don’t.” The voice said. “I still need to talk, so hold off on that for a bit.”

“Of course, mistress.”

The voice leaned back in her chair. “So, let me pre-emptively answer a couple of questions you might have.” She held up her hand, counting off on her fingers as she spoke. “No, I have no clue what that pact I made was. It was instinctual and a lot of improv, mostly demonic but I tried to throw in elements of the djinn pact and whatever else felt right. And no, I don’t know how to break it.

“And, since I’m sure you were wondering, all the magic I just did was instinct too. Honestly, magic’s all seemed kinda…weirdly familiar to me, so I just sorta did what I felt would work and it did so no, I don’t really know exactly what I did either.”

She shrugged. “And, Alex, you’re to listen to Vithi and Judy just like you listen to me, got it?” Seeing Alex nod, she looked back to Judy and Vithi. “Any other questions?”

Judy frowned. “Since you don’t seem to consider yourself to be Lilith, what should we call you?”

The voice thought about that for a second. “Carmen seems good. Anything else?”

“Will you be coming back regularly?”

“Don’t plan on it, not unless we’re in another situation like we are now. I’m content to just stay inside of Lilith and live through her until she needs my help. Vithi, any more thoughts?”

Vithi sighed. “I suppose not. Just…go, bring Lilith back.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Carmen said, winking. “Alex, do your thing, please.”

“On it!” Alex said a few words and Lilith felt the fog that was over her mind begin to clear.

Alright, I’m out. Carmen told Lilith mentally. I’m going to sleep now, but I’ll be here when you need me. Just give me a call.

And then Lilith was back in full control. She shook her head, dispelling the last of the fog that remained, then looked at the room around her, idly dismissing some annoying ability window as she did.

And then the full weight of what she’d done hit her. Yes, it wasn’t exactly her, but it was her body, her magic, and, therefore, her responsibility. She gingerly extracted herself from Alex, standing up and backing away slightly. “I am so, so sorry.” She said. “Let me fix this, I really shouldn’t have done this to you.”

Alex tilted her head. “I was planning to do pretty much the same to you. Don’t feel bad, mistress.”

“Don’t call me mistress.” Lilith said flatly.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Lilith groaned. “You know what I mean. Just talk to me like you would anyone else.”

“Alright. So…what are going to do?”

Lilith frowned. “Well, to start with, I can put you back to normal mentally. Then I can try to fix your body, though…I might need some time to figure that one out. I’ll have to practice on myself, I don’t think I can immediately recreate what Carmen did, especially because I don’t know what she did.”

“Nope, vetoed.” Judy said. “You’re not practicing on yourself. We can find you like a rat or something to work with, that’s way too dangerous to try on a person. We have no clue what the consequences might be.”

“Agreed.” Alex said. “Besides, why change me back mentally anyway? I’m super happy right now, and I’m going to be your servant anyway, so really you’re just going to make me unhappy by trying to ‘fix’ me.”

Lilith faltered. “Well, I…no, it doesn’t count, you’re not you right now. If the original you wants to go back, then fine, but as is this just isn’t right.”

“I am the original me!” Alex argued. “I just have a couple extra likes, and what’s wrong with liking more things? Just makes you a happier person!”

“No, no, no. Alex, go back to your original state of mind.” Lilith said, exasperated. “We’re not going to argue about this.”

Alex shuddered briefly, then the smile vanished. “I’m back to normal…thanks, I guess.”

“How…do you feel?” Lilith asked.

“How do you think I feel?” Alex responded, standing up. “I’m in a body I hate, and I’m forced into servitude.”

Lilith looked down apologetically. “I’m really sorry, I don’t want this.”

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Alex drew in a long breath. “I get it, I heard. But…can you at least make me comfortable with my body again? I don’t think anyone here aside from Carmen knows high-grade transformation magic and she seemed unwilling to change me back, so, since I’m stuck like this, I might as well like it while I am.”

Lilith blinked in surprise. “Like, as much as before or…?”

Alex shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Then…go back to liking your body as much as before, I guess?”

Alex’s face brightened instantly. “That’s much better. Don’t know why I was so attached to my old body anyway, this one’s much better. Younger, too, so that’s a plus.”

“You…like it more? I didn’t…realize that you would…um, you want me to…turn that down or something?” Lilith laughed nervously. “I’m talking about you like you’re some sort of robot or something.”

“Absolutely not. I happen to like how I’m feeling right now.” Alex said, putting her hands on her hips, and leaning forward. “And I knew exactly what I was getting into when I said to put me back to how much I liked this body. So, don’t give me anything about ‘unaltered state of mind’, I’d make the exact same choice and it’d just be a waste of our time.”

“Fine, fine.” Lilith replied, raising her hands in surrender.

Alex collapsed into the chair Lilith was sitting in before, sighing heavily. “So, what are you going to do with me?”

Lilith floundered for a moment. “Um…well, I’m going to need you to tell me about the Society’s plans, and then…nothing, I guess. You’re just gonna…stay here until we figure out how to fix you.”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “That’s all? You have a servant who unconditionally has to do anything you tell her to with no resistance and you’re going to do…nothing?”

“Yup.”

“Whatever dude, not gonna complain.”

“But, first, we need details on the Society. Now.” Judy said.

“Don’t know what to tell you. It was just me on this mission, you’ve probably got a few days before they figure out I’ve failed and send someone else after you. Not sure you can really run, though, they have some people who are really good at figuring out where people will be. Still, I’d like to be as far from here as possible by then, so might wanna get packing.”

“You’d like to be as far from here as possible?” Vithi said. “I figure you would want to, you know, get rescued or whatever.”

Alex snorted. “You’re joking, right? Do you have any idea how the Society treats its grunts? It’s awful and I’ve been looking for a way out for a while now, but again, they have people who are good at figuring out where people will be. I joined the Society because I wanted to make a difference and get Earth’s magic back, not to perform acts of terrorism.”

She shrugged. “Who knows, if I play my cards right, I may be able to get asylum by staying under Lilith’s thumb. I doubt Haven’s going to be eager to mess too much with a Perfect Chimera’s personal attendants, so…yeah. Honestly, the more I think about this, the better this is turning out for me. We just need to not get captured long enough to get to Haven.”

“Haven?” Lilith asked.

“You don’t know? Guess you are from Earth, so it’s not too surprising. Haven’s a sort of…parallel dimension connected to Earth.” Alex explained. “I was born there, and most people involved with magic were too. A long time ago there was a big war on Earth over resources, and to make a really long story short it ended up being humans versus most other species.

“The humans lost, and the other side ended up making an entirely new dimension, escaped to it, and stripped the humans of magic and all memory of magic. Honestly, I think it was a hugely disproportional punishment and has long since outlived what is reasonable, especially given the amount of space on Haven, which is why I–” Her explanation was cut off by heavy knocking on the door, causing her and everyone else in the room to jump in surprise.

“It’s not the Society, not as far as I know.” Alex said, standing up. “But I’m still hiding. If it’s someone from Earth, they can’t see me like this, and if it’s someone from Haven I’d rather not have this conversation just yet.” She bolted into the next room, and Lilith hesitated for a moment before following. If it was just a regular person, then she didn’t want to be out there while looking non-human, but if it was dangerous, she didn’t want to suppress herself, so leaving the room seemed a decent choice.

She made sure to leave the door open, though. That way she’d be able to hear and, to a lesser extent, see what was going on.

The knocking repeated itself, and Lilith heard Vithi and Judy talk briefly amongst themselves and then Vithi walked towards the door, presumably to peer out the peephole.

There was silence for a moment before Vithi spoke up. “It’s…Tunem?! He’s safe, he’s the one who gave my lamp to Lilith in the first place. Come back.”

Lilith began walking back into the living room, but Alex hesitated. She stood there for a moment as if debating something, then sighed and followed. As she did, though, she made a point of staying behind Lilith, almost as if she was hiding from Tunem.

Vithi opened the door and Tunem smiled. He wasn’t the old, raggedy looking hobo Lilith had original seen; instead he was tall, thin, and well-dressed, his nice suit and neatly arranged black hair giving him a general air of professionalism. “Ah, Vithi, good to see you.” He said, flashing a smile. “How are things going with you and Lucas? Things work out well for you?”

“You know full well how things worked out.” Vithi said, exasperated. “What do you want?”

“You’d be surprised.” He replied, still smiling. “I have a particularly hard time foreseeing things around these events.”

“Fine, whatever. I’m free…for a given value of free, so that’s nice, I suppose.”

Tunem raised an eyebrow. “Given value?”

“Long story short I hid from the Society by making a pact with Lucas and hiding inside of him to mask my magical signature.”

Understanding dawned on Tunem’s face. “Ah, so that’s what he ended up wishing for. Good to know.”

“You’re such a know-it-all.” Vithi said. “Why are you here?”

Tunem waved a hand dismissively. “Generally, a complication happens about now, so I figured I’d drop by and check on you and offer what assistance I can.”

“Complication’s one word for it.” Vithi muttered.

“So, there was one.” Tunem said. “What happened?”

“Got jumped by a Society goon. It’s dealt with, he…well, she now, is under control.”

“Did you happen to catch his name?” Tunem replied, a strange eagerness to his voice as he stepped forward.

“Steven, though she’s going by Alex now. Why?”

Tunem’s smile grew. “I have unfinished business with him. May I come in?”

Vithi sighed. “Not like we can stop you.”

Tunem practically pushed his way past Vithi, ignoring Judy’s protest as he rushed over to Lilith, ignoring her too as he reached Alex. And then, contrary to all of Lilith’s expression, he scooped Alex into a big hug. “Oh, Steven, my boy, I’ve missed you!”