Aperio shifted her swordstaff, the blade of her weapon cutting through reality itself with no resistance. She kept her eyes fixed on Fel'Erreyth as a flex of her mental muscles brought Caethya and the mortals that had accompanied them behind her, encased in a sphere of mana she had drawn from the deeper, purer parts of her well.
"I have no intention to fight," the Dragon said suddenly, the mist in the crystal flaring an angry red. Fel'Erryth stretched out his wings before lying back down, tail curling protectively in front of his legs. "My God has told me that you would come; would kill me. But I respect the Law of the First, and I know you better than my God does. I know I have no chance of beating you, and I know what you have come for, Aperio."
"Do you?" she asked, taking a step forward as her wings came into being once more, spreading slowly behind her. "You call me a Tyrant like those who oppose me — even admit that your God is one of them.
"You took what is mine for yourself," Aperio continued, small cracks forming on the marble floor with every step she took. "Used it to strengthen yourself."
Fel'Erreyth's eyes followed Aperio as she came closer, lifting his head as she kicked off of the ground accompanied by a strong beat of her wings. It brought her directly in front of him, and she stayed level with his gaze, pointing her weapon at the crimson eye staring at her.
"I want them back."
"I don't know how to give back what you seek," the Dragon replied calmly. "I have sought a bond with the dungeon to gain strength, but the price that came with that strength was not worth it. If you must kill me to take back your memories, then so be it."
Fel'Erreyth shifted his considerable bulk before he continued to speak. "I will bear the consequences of my choice, even though I do not know what they might be. I just ask that my people remain unharmed."
Aperio relaxed her arm a little, her weapon lowering marginally, and the breeze that had started to flow through the chamber began to lightly subside.
"Would you die if I destroy the crystal?" Aperio asked, trying her best to ignore the voice in the back of her mind that wanted to fight the dragon.
"I am unsure," Fel'Erreyth replied. "The dungeon's core is now part of my being. Removing it would likely spell my end, First One. But there is a slim chance it might not."
The All-Mother stopped beating her wings, letting gravity take her down so she might look at the crystal. The stone cracked beneath her feet as she landed, something she had by now grown accustomed to.
Despite her body itching for a fight, Aperio did not wish to kill Fel'Erreyth. Unlike the others that followed the Gods that were part of the Repens Nabu, the Dragon in front of her did not seem to openly wish to kill her.
"Have you seen my memories?" she asked. Her free hand reached out to brush over the crystal, and she could feel the mana within calling to her. "Do you know what I was?"
She was not sure if he could see her memories, as his title made it seem like he made them available for someone else.
"Only in the beginning," Fel'Erreyth said, confirming her suspicion. "Lor'Kem soon took interest in my achievement and took that ability from me." A bit of smoke curled from the Dragon's nostril as it huffed. "He said it was to protect me from the Corruption of the Tyrant."
Aperio pulled her hand back, and a few hairline cracks spread erratically on the crystal in the Dragon's chest. His words had caused her to lose sight of her strength, the idea that one of the traitors would use her memories unacceptable.
But he had a point, Aperio thought to herself. She had little doubt that her memories would have unforeseen effects on anyone but herself. The pure mana that accompanied them alone would be the death of a mortal, perhaps even a God.
"Did your God do something with them?" she asked, her mana slowly seeping into the dragon as she tried to find a way to remove the Crystal without killing.
Fel'Erreyth lightly nodded his head, a motion Aperio had not expected from the large creature. Neither had she expected the calm acceptance of her mana, but Fel'Erreyth seemed to be actively preventing his own from fighting the All-Mother.
"I assume he did," he finally replied. "But I cannot be certain. The relationship of me and my kin with the Gods is tangential at best. They value us as warriors for their cause, and we accept the boons they give us in return.
"The devotion we gave to our creator is not for the current Pantheon to receive," Fel'Erreyth added after a moment of silence, the power in his voice slightly more pronounced.
Aperio let go of her swordstaff, the weapon floating next to her as she used her now free hand to physically move a few threads of reality away. She had had a sudden idea as to how she could destroy the crystal and take back her memories without causing undue harm.
While she was a long way from trusting Fel'Erreyth, she did not want to hurt him. He had been courteous enough; had not attacked her even though his God was one of the few that opposed her. Or one of the many? Her lack of knowledge about the deities that existed in her creation was something she would have to rectify later.
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Very gently, the All-Mother plucked at the threads of reality, trying to find the ones that bound the dungeon's core to Fel'Erreyth. While she was not sure if it would work, Aperio chose to trust the feeling at the back of her mind. The one that told her it would be fine if she wanted it to be.
Aperio knew, of course, that her will alone would not be enough to right all wrongs. Not yet, at least. How much stronger she would become? Thinking about how much a mere thought from her could potentially do in the future was a scary prospect, especially when she considered how easy it had felt to influence her creation after she had left her body.
A single thread of reality caught at her attention, the strand resonating more strongly with her mana than the others that surrounded it. Aperio focused on it, her senses following it as she had done before to find Vigil's Dominion. She doubted it would lead her to Fel'Erreyth's God, the mana that clung to this specific thread quite clearly her own.
The kaleidoscope of colours that greeted her senses beyond the threads that held the realms was oddly pleasant for her. Each minuscule part that resided here was an integral part of her creation — the knowledge an irrefutable fact in her mind.
What was also clear to Aperio was that the single thread that resonated with her mana did not belong, destroyed the perfect balance she had created here. Her mind followed the strand, faster and faster, the colour of this world beyond merging into a multi-coloured strip as the All-Mother devoted more and more of her mind to finding the end of the offending thread.
Aperio's thoughts came to a halt as she found the end of the strand she had chased. In front of her mind's eye was not the solution she had sought, but a carefully woven pocket of reality that housed hundreds of crystals; all filled with the same red mist.
"Conduit," Aperio mumbled to herself as she drew more mana than ever before from the depths of her well. The pain that spread through her body was easily ignored with the promise of so much of her past so close by.
The arcs of her mana that danced across her skin and jumped between her hair and feathers were ignored. Aperio did not care about the stone melting beneath her feet, simply hovering in place with lazy beats of her wings. The wisps of her mana that were thrown across the room whenever she moved her wings were also of no concern, the barrier she had created between herself and Caethya and the mortals more than strong enough to protect them.
Slowly, Aperio stretched out her arm, following her instinct to both retrieve the mana in the crystal in front of her physical self and the ones hidden beyond the realms of apparent reality.
Arcs of mana leapt from her skin, creating cracks whenever they struck the crystal embedded in the Dragon's chest. A thought of the All-Mother forced her mana into Fel'Erreyth and commanded it to push the crystal out of its host.
The Dragon roared in pain for a moment before Aperio directed her mana to heal him with another thought. A part of her wanted to kill him for trying to take what was her own, but a greater one did not. Fel'Erreyth had not known what the dungeon's core contained, what it would lead to. He would not die, but he would not get to keep the power he had gained from her memories either.
With a flex of her mental muscles, Aperio suddenly pulled the crystal free. No blood flowed from the Dragon's wound, his flesh quickly regrowing and filling the space the dungeon core had recently occupied.
The All-Mother did not know what the Dragon needed to survive, only letting her own mana aid that of Fel'Erreyth as his body seemed to instinctively know what was required. She did devote a small part of her mind to improving what she found lacking in the Dragon's body, a way for her to reward him a little for being cooperative.
Most of her mind, however, was focused on the small pocket of reality that housed more of the crystals then she had ever seen before. A thought of the All-Mother caused more mana to flow from her well, coiling around the crystals to aid her in pulling them into the mortal realm.
One by one, crystals came into being in the space around her body. The largest one — the one that had been in Fel'Erreyth — slowly floated towards her. The closer it got, the more the fractures on its surface seemed to spread. The space around Aperio became more and more distorted with her power, and a flex of her mental muscles teleported the unconscious dragon behind the protective barrier she had previously made.
The air surrounding Aperio was slowly being pushed away by the sheer magnitude of mana flowing from her body. She drew still more from her well, the omnipresent pain in her body ignored as she broken and was reforged again and again; a small price to pay for so much of her past.
A loud crack echoed through the hall. Broken shards fell to the floor as the crystal that had been embedded in Fel'Erreyth's chest shattered. The red mist within held steady in the air, confined by the might of Aperio's will.
She took a deep breath. Mana poured into her lungs, seeping into her flesh with a burning sensation. Slowly, Aperio spread her arms and wings, a thought drawing the cloud of red mist into her body.
As soon as it had made contact, Aperio's eyes opened wide. The noise of countless crystals shattering, breaking apart as fast as they could emerge from their hidden space, filled her ears. Unbidden, more mana flowed from her well, and for a moment she feared it was too much, the mana too pure for her body to contain.
But that was not the case. Her mana mixed with the mist of the crystals; with her memories. It seeped into her muscles, her bones — her very being. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath of the mist and mana that surrounded her.
Every cell in her body tingled as the mixture of pure and reclaimed mana spread through her. She threw her head back, gasping for air she did not need. The ceiling and walls of the cave cracked as though in reply, pieces of stone falling down only to settle into an orbit around Aperio's floating form.
She had stopped beating her wings, simply hovering above the molten stone. Her feathered limbs twitched slightly with every shaky breath she took, and her muscles shivered as more and more mana flowed into her shell, trying to reinforce it so it stood a chance of containing the seemingly boundless might of her formless self.
The last of the crystals emerged from its hidden space, the shell imprisoning her memories burning away as soon as it entered the mortal realm. The red mist surrounding Aperio was so dense that it seemed distorted, and arcs of her mana flashed through the mist to slice reality apart above her. From the wounds in the world came the cold comfort of her Void, spiraling down to embrace her pained form.
She needed the calmness her Dominion brought. The pain and pleasure flowing through her body, the anticipation of knowing more about herself and the apprehension of remembering the atrocities she might have committed; it was too much for her to willingly bear.
Despite the fear mounting in her mind, Aperio drew more of the mist into herself, letting it fill her with its foreign comfort of times long past.
With an effort of will she slowed her breathing, closing her eyes. She heard the worried voice of Caethya at the back of her mind, but did her best to ignore it. It wasn't that she didn't want to send reassurance to her disciple — her friend — but she knew that in her current state, any effort of communication would be far too much for even a Demigoddess touched by herself to bear.
Instead, the All-Mother focused on the first fuzzy memories forming in her mind, nudged them closer to her mind's eye. As the scene coalesced, already she recognised a few people. Chellien, the Beastkin God that had played with her young Ferio, was talking to a mortal she did not know. And yet, as she observed their interactions, she couldn't help but feel that they were somehow familiar.
The mortal kept glancing at her, seemingly wanting to say something to Aperio before Chellien chastised her and she focused back on him. Gradually, at a glacier's pace, her form resolved into something clearer, and Aperio was finally able to make out her face.
Brown, mottled fur, with a few white patches. A crooked ear, and a scar that ran from the outer fringes of her right eye, over her cheek and neck all the way to her collarbone.
Moria?
It was Aperio's last coherent thought before an immense flood of memories filled her mind, melting and overlapping with one another and making it impossible to distinguish any one memory from the whole.