Merlin winced slightly as the winged Elf lowered herself to eye level, brushing a few strands out of her face. This close to the person Merlin was utterly unprepared to be meeting, she could see specks of silver wandering across the other woman’s iris, changing every time Merlin blinked.

She felt a shiver run down her spine as her own mana ignored her commands, joining the tide of foreign magic that swept through her.

"Your meddling is crude," the woman said as a tendril of mana somehow moved around the very essence of her being. "How many others did you try this on before you succeeded?"

Merlin tried to reply, but her body did not obey. The words did not even begin to form in her throat as more and more of the woman's mana flowed through her, turning over what felt like every cell of her body as it went.

"Answer," the woman said. The command was not yelled, or spoken any more harshly than the words that came before it, and yet Merlin could not help feeling like she wanted to disappear.

The other Elf stepped up next to the winged one, placing a hand on her back before she whispered a few words that Merlin did not understand. In response to the words, the winged woman's muscles tensed and her feathered appendages flared slightly.

A moment later, the flow of her mana ceased and Merlin slumped forward, gasping for breath as the muscular woman stood to her full height again and glared towards the door, likely seeing something that only she could actually perceive.

"I still expect an answer," she said, setting her eyes back on Merlin.

"They are me," the mage rasped. She took a deep breath and shook her head, trying not to focus on the tendril of mana that still flowed around her essence. "A body devoid of life that grows until I have need of it."

"A shell," the woman said, running a hand over her stomach. "That does not answer my question, however."

"I only ran my tests on myself," Merlin replied as she lowered herself to the ground. "That's all I ever do." She leaned until her back rested against the desk, then looked up at the woman. "But how do you know my name? I haven't met you before."

"I think you know how I know," she replied, a small smile on her lips. "You came here to observe me, after all, so you should know who I am."

The worst part about this person — Aperio, she remembered Gale telling her — was not that the words were delivered with a slight note of smugness, but the fact that Merlin was receiving knowledge on what felt like two levels. She had been told something, but she could also perceive it as well.

"Self-proclaimed creator of the universe," she said quietly, her eyes leaving Aperio's own to look at the rest of the Creator.

If nobody had told her — and she could not feel the mana flowing off of her — Merlin would have never thought that the woman in front of her was a mage, much less someone who had supposedly made the universe; a revelation she still was not inclined to believe. Her initial thoughts would, in that case, have run more towards noting that this Elf had lived in the gym for a few centuries, utterly unlike the rest of her kind, and now seemed ready to run around and throw silly Humans into walls. Or whatever else Elves do for fun.

"I have not given this title to myself; it was mortals like you who did." She crossed her arms in front of her chest, the tensing muscles in her arms causing Merlin to wince a little. "While it might be true, I prefer All-Mother, or simply Aperio. Lady Velkari would also suffice, if you wish to be formal without the divine connotations."

Aperio turned her head slightly, presumably looking at the storekeeper who had very much been caught up in something he was not prepared for. She held her gaze for a moment before her eyes flicked back to Merlin, her wings spreading slightly behind her as she shifted her weight to her other leg.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure, Lady Velkari?" Merlin asked, moving herself up a little so she could sit a bit straighter. "Besides questioning me on my immortality, that is."

"You are not immortal," the woman declared with a raised eyebrow. "Far from it, even. Though, I do see now that the people here have a vastly different definition of that word than I do." Aperio stood just a little taller, somehow, and squared her shoulders, her hands now resting on her hips. "Let me rephrase: to me, you are very much mortal."

"Everything is," the other woman in the room said with a shake of her head. "I am pretty sure we had this talk already."

Aperio looked at the other Elf, her ears twitching slightly as the other woman smiled. "We did, but I do consider some people immortal. You, for example. This one” —she gestured towards Merlin— “does not count among them. She may be able to transfer her Soul into a new body, but that does not stop me — or anyone else, for that matter — from simply removing them all and then killing her."

"I'm pretty sure that there aren't many people with the means to find all of her bodies," the other Elf said. "You can do it, maybe I can too, but someone from here? Probably not; and definitely not alone."

The All-Mother moved one of her wings in a small sweeping gesture, seemingly waving her companion off as she turned her attention back to Merlin. "It matters not what I think of her self-proclaimed status of an immortal. My only concern was her Soul and now that I have her answers, I only need to verify them."

"And how do you intend to do that?" Merlin asked. "Truth magic is hardly a thing, and what little people have figured out about it does not paint it as reliable."

///

Aperio could not help but to heave a sigh at the mortal mage. A part of her still wanted to simply erase the woman from existence despite the fact that she had technically not tampered with Souls. In fact, what Merlin had done was more akin to reincarnation, just that the methods were crude and very much fell into the realm of moral ambiguity.

The bodies she used were apparently her own, free of a Soul or any other sign of life. Aperio had confirmed the claim as best she could by looking at the location the woman had specified. If she truly wished to know, however, she would have to scour the entire planet and that was not something she wished to do. But taking her by her word…

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"I have no intention of influencing your mind or Soul to determine the veracity of your words."

Aperio closed her eyes, a small twitch of her wings accompanying the pulse that ran through her aura, causing it to spread across the entirety of Earth and ignore anything that had no connection to Merlin. It only took a moment for her to find more than a few buildings that housed bodies for the mage; all of them frozen inside engraved sarcophagi that — as far as she could understand the rather foreign-looking runes — were supposed to keep them… fresh.

What was important, however, was that none of them seemed to even have the capacity to have a Soul. They were, in essence, nothing more than husks. Empty shells that could never live a life, or even dream of one. Just a lump of meat. Vampires would probably kill for this.

The mortal mage had not even finished the breath they had begun to take when the All-Mother opened her eyes again, focusing on the woman.

"You have quite a few bodies prepared across the planet," Aperio said. "But at least your claim that they are without Soul is correct. Whatever you have made there is devoid of life and incapable of hosting any but your own. Though, going by how crude it is, even that part seems to be more an accident than anything else."

"Many great things were discovered on accident," Merlin replied, rubbing her throat as if Aperio had tried to strangle her. "My research is no different. But do enlighten me, oh great creator. How can I transfer my essence to another body better when I can hardly perceive it?"

"I will not instruct you on how to handle Souls," Aperio scoffed. "They are not tools for you to use or experiment with. Be happy that I do not consider what you do to your own Soul undue torture." She stepped closer, the mortal mage lifting up from the floor to float at eye level. "If you ever use that of another, however… You can be most assured that nothing of you will remain in my creation."

Her words were accompanied not only by the intent to utterly remove this Soul from existence, should she mess with Souls not her own, but also by a tiny unexpected shift in the System's mana as it continued to flow into Earth. It would seem that her irritation for mortals messing with their own Soul had caused the System to make a small adjustment to itself.

It was a change that she would have to investigate further, but a preliminary glance at the ever-shifting mass of runes that turned parts of her subconscious mind into the System suggested that the feeling of unrest that accompanied the mere thought of the Repens Nabu, or a similar organisation, taking form again deserved a little more attention than she had given it.

Aperio let go of the magic that held Merlin aloft, her eyes once again settling on the storekeeper. She inclined her head slightly. "I apologise for breaking into your store like this, but the matter was simply too important to delay."

"And I don't get an apology?" Merlin asked, rubbing her neck again.

"No, you do not," Aperio replied without looking at the mage. "Though perhaps I should thank you for not turning to random praise or into a blubbering mess as soon as you knew who I was. It is a distressingly common occurrence for mortals to simply cease functioning once they know exactly who they are talking to." She gestured towards the storekeeper with a wing. "Or horror and silence, like this one." I'm not scary, just adequately intimidating.

"In any case," the All-Mother continued, "I have heard what I needed to hear and will not take more of your time; I do have other things to do."

"Like throwing our world into chaos?"

"Perhaps," Aperio replied, turning to leave, "perhaps not. As you came here looking for me, I am sure you know other people that can tell you of my plans, and if not, it will only be a little while longer before it becomes obvious. How your kind will react to the change is not something I know, but also not something I overly care about. I have come here primarily to judge; fixing what I found to be broken was an afterthought."

The mortal mage stared at her back for a moment longer, apparently at a loss for words. When Caethya joined Aperio by the hidden door, they seemingly began to realise that they would, in fact, leave without giving any more answers.

"Fix what?" Merlin finally asked. "And judge us? For doing what?"

"I will fix what you call 'the Voice of the World,' and I am judging mortal kind." She gestured broadly at the outside world. "How you treat one another in the absence of meddling Gods."

"And what happens if you find us wanting?" the mortal mage asked as she slowly stood up. "Will you just kill us all?"

"That was an option, yes. A far more encompassing one than you seem to think, too, but rest assured I have thought of something better." Aperio gave a wave of her hand, the hidden door opening once again to let Caethya and herself step outside. "It is a change you will not even notice, but will make all of existence a better place." And the people in it stronger.

"You sound like a lunatic."

"And I do not care. Mortals do not believe what I tell them, even though you can feel the truth in my words and know what I am." She shrugged, her wings filling the room as they mirrored the motion. "I tire of explaining myself again and again to people who seem to be unable — or unwilling — to comprehend the words I say.

"Anything else you wish to say?" Aperio asked, turning just enough to look at Merlin with her eyes. "Perhaps you can find an insult that will actually bother me. Something I have not heard yet, maybe."

"I'd rather not get myself killed," the mage replied as she stepped closer to the still-frozen shopkeeper. "I do have a lot of questions, but I am also sure that you wouldn't answer them. You do not strike me as the friendliest of eldritch beings."

"Does that term not imply a certain unfriendliness?" Aperio asked, her mind readily supplying her with the definition she had read in the dictionary. "It is a surprisingly good descriptor for me, though. I am beyond mortal comprehension and if I tried to show you more than a fraction of what I can see, your mind would fall apart like a house of cards." Something that could actually be fixed if the mortals get stronger.

Caethya no longer seemed to have any complaints in regards to weathering their telepathic chats, and the only minor discomfort of her love had been when Aperio had thrown in some largely unfiltered views of how she saw the world. In a few more months — or maybe years, if the way in which Caethya gained strength was still even remotely close to that of mortals — they might be able to exchange thoughts directly without Aperio having to make any adjustments. That would be nice…

While it was very much a minor annoyance in the great scheme of things, having to hold back essentially all of her strength even around her love still grated the All-Mother. Sadly, she knew that this was something that would very likely never change. What she was was simply too far removed from anything resembling sensible.

"If you do not wish to try your luck, we will be leaving." Aperio waited a few more moments, and when the mortal mage did not ask further questions she allowed Caethya and herself to vanish.