“I will not speak their name again,” the Crying Demon said. “Even now, danger approaches. You will not be safe, not even here.”

Everie snapped out of her reverie. “Right,” she whispered. “Right.”

“You are waking as we speak,” the Demon continued. Urgency filled her voice. “So listen closely, Everie. We are running out of time.”

The Crying Demon stood. All around ether sparked. Now that she had awakened, Everie could sense the flow of magical energy around her even better than before. But this...

This was still beyond her. World of her Mind or otherwise, it seemed the Crying Demon was still a force beyond what she could reasonably comprehend.

“The lattice that surrounds your soul is an artifact,” she explained. “An amalgamation of a fragment of my soul and the... Medean blessing. Your incarnation was performed with the intention of this happening, and it seems your integration has been largely flawless.”

Everie would have nodded, had she still possessed a head. “What is it you want me to do?”

“The artifact is... a key, of sorts, meant to unseal the Root within - I believe you call it a Well. As you develop your magic, the lattice will strengthen. Once you reach divinity, it should open the path to what lies within.”

“A Path,” Everie said. “Daphne mentioned something like that.”

Hell rumbled. The Crying Demon stared at her. “Yes,” she said, slowly. “You understand now, do you not? As you construct your own Path, the artifact should concomitantly construct a road to the treasure within. Once unsealed, our victory shall be assured.”

Everie stilled. “You’re being awfully cryptic about this.”

The Crying Demon... sighed. “I’m sorry, Everie. But there’s only so much I can tell you. Not even here.”

“Why?” Everie snapped. “I don’t appreciate lies, Demon. Don’t try to hide things from me.”

“That was never my intention,” she responded. The Demon almost sounded affronted. “Remember, Everie. I just spoke our greatest enemy’s name. This is the domain of my half-brother, who, although not our foe, is hardly our ally, either.”

She creased her single, gargantuan brow.

“We are being watched,” the Crying Demon whispered. “I cannot share more than what they already do not know without good conscience.”

Everie growled in frustration, but the fear was there. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll play your game.”

“Your path, however,” the Crying Demon continued, “Will not be so simple as other mortals. The artifact will grant you great strength, but it will also inhibit your growth in certain ways.”

She paused. “I cannot not inform you of the specifics,” the Demon said, “But you should understand that Insight will come differently to you than it does for your peers. Each... stage on your journey to true understanding will require the help of another.”

Everie twitched. “What? What the hell does that mean?”

“I can say no more,” the Crying Demon said. “Lest I endanger more than just you and I.”

She was about to respond, but it was precisely at that moment that the entirety of held chose to shudder. In the back of her consciousness, Everie felt a terribly oppressive presence appear.

Fear. Everie shuddered. The Crying Demon, meanwhile, was already moving.

“You will wake soon,” she said. “Prepare yourself for that.”

Everie twitched. “Ah. Yes.”

“...then, I suppose this is goodbye. At least, for the foreseeable future.”

She paused, then winced, shuddering. Her single eye flared with pain.

“You’re wounded,” Everie blurted. “Will… will you be okay?”

It had been bothering her this entire while. The Crying Demon hadn’t spoken of it, but Everie didn’t need a physician’s diagnosis to tell that... guarding this place had taken a toll on her.

“...that, I am, child,” she said. “But it is no matter. I will be able to maintain the seal from this side for the foreseeable future.”

“The seal...” Everie jolted. “Right. Haswalth did mention something like that.”

“You’ll figure that out on your own, too, out soon enough,” The Crying Demon said, before waving one razor-sharp talon. Everie felt herself being dragged into the rift.

She let it.

There was that same sensation of something tearing at her from all directions, twisting her through what she could only imagine as two walls that were pressed far too close together for her to travel through.

Everie let it. She let her consciousness waver as she traveled through layers of space, flickering across unimaginable distances.

All the while, she clenched her heart, the energy within her fluctuating wildly.

Insight, huh? She thought.

The hell is that?

----------------------------------------

Everie awoke in the trembling arms of Briar.

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Her… mother.

She twitched, groaning. “...mother?”

Briar gasped. “Everie!” she exclaimed, jumping. Her eyes, previously creased with worry, flared. “You’re alright! You’re awake!”

Wearily, Everie’s eyes flickered across her surroundings. In her peripherals, she saw that Daphne and Cherry flanked Briar respectively on their knees. The guardsmen maintained a respectful distance, while Haswalth-

Haswalth’s over yonder, Everie thought. The man was scrutinizing the magic beneath them. It didn’t look any different from before, but her fainting probably appeared worrisome for the ceremony.

Even if, Everie thought, frowning, the ceremony ended up being a success.

She felt it, in her core. What Haswalth had called the blessing had fused with the original fragment the Crying-Demon had given her. The polyhedron-structure carefully contained the magic of the Well of power in the center.

As Everie flexed her magic, she felt tiny trickles of the impossibly pure energy filter through the cracks in the lattice, before transforming into more recognizable ether.

It was that same, wondrous feeling as before. Only now, it was… stable.

Or was it?

Everie laughed. She laughed long and hard - because it felt just that good. She hardly noticed how the magic resisted any alterations she subconsciously imposed upon it.

For now, nothing else mattered but that liquid-gold sensation of power.

“...Everie? Are you alright?”

Briar twitched, and Daphne squeaked. Everie blinked; right, it would be worrisome to... family, if someone they considered their own started laughing hysterically. It felt weird, being addressed with her old name, but in a way it was also comfortable. Like slipping back into an old skin.

You still have the role of daughter to play, Everie reminded herself, snapping back to attention.

“Nothing, mother,” she said, smiling. “I feel fine. What happened?”

Briar sighed. “The ceremony- it, well, I can’t speak of that. But after Haswalth gave you the... blessing, you collapsed. I’m glad to see that you’re safe.”

“Your mother was very worried, my lady,” Cherry said. Everie turned to her; she hadn’t heard the elderly maid speak in a long time. “And I, too, am glad to see you in good health.”

“...Great Ancestors, I almost died of stress,” mumbled Daphne, under her breath. Everie couldn’t help but crack a small smile upon hearing that.

Then a thought flashed across her mind. “Where’s father?” Everie asked, frowning.

Briar’s visage darkened. “That man- he is perusing the runework of the Herofall,” she said, gesturing to the flickering magic of the barrier beneath them.

Cherry tapped her lightly on the shoulder, as if to reprimand her. “My lady, that’s not fair,” she said. “Maintaining the-” she coughed, “the seal, as well as carrying the blessing, is part of his duties as former inheritor, after all. Duke Haswalth explained that to us.”

At that, Everie twitched.

Right. The Seal.

The Herofall was a Seal. It was a literal barrier, covering a depression in the earth that seemed to stretch endlessly. It was a connection-point for souls to that inky-black space Everie passed through whenever she reincarnated, as well as Truehell.

The Crying-Demon had told her that the blessing had combined with a fragment of her soul, to form the artifact. What she hadn’t mentioned was just how tremendous that magic was, to need a container this vast.

At the same time, Everie’s heart sank.

Those... things are hunting me.

It was what Everie had suspected, but hearing it from the being that had supposedly made the seal keeping those... monsters out was jarring in a different fashion. She’d claimed to be able to maintain the seal for longer, but...

Those wounds of hers. She said she guarded the entrance to the ‘layer of soul’ from the Sereph, Everie thought, nibbling her lower lip.

Something didn’t feel right. It wasn’t anything tangible - just an instinct. Rationally, she would do well to ignore it; after all, the Herofall had held for over a thousand years. There was no reason her arrival through it would portend any significant change.

Like she’d thought before, she had time.

But as a Sister, Everie trusted her instincts. “Wait-”

It was Daphne’s voice. Everie froze. She felt sensory ether, as pale as it was, press against her core. She tried to rebuff it with her own magic, but-

-it was too late. Daphne’s eyes widened.

“The young miss has awakened her core!” she exclaimed. Everie’s blood froze.

They knew.

They know!

They knew her secret. That she could use magic. Curses! She thought, biting her lower lip. She’d read in the library that magicians could use their Inner eye to detect cores... and she had done so herself. It hadn’t mattered to her before - despite the obvious presence of magic in her body from the Well, she hadn’t actually possessed a core. That meant any sensory magic would slide right through her body and over her magic’s origin without ‘sensing’ a thing.

But now, with the Blessing and the original Fragment Medea had given her, Everie had formed that strange lattice core around her Well. And it was large enough to be sensed.

What should I do? She thought to herself.

Briar squealed. Internally, Everie screamed. There was literally nothing I can do- they-

Fear - irrational fear - flickered through her heart.

But… what they said next jarred her.

“Congratulations!” Briar said, grinning toothily - an expression Everie would have expected to come from Daphne, not the stately woman that was her mother.

“Heavens,” whispered Cherry. “A core at the age of one? It’s never been done before. Never!”

Daphne blinked. “Is the ceremony not supposed to do that?” she asked, frowning. “I felt a large surge of magic going into her from it.”

“I can almost certainly assure you that it’s not,” Cherry said, shaking her head in a daze. “The blessing doesn’t contribute to the magic of the original wielder. There are legends that one day it could, but there’s never been any precedence for it.”

The woman frowned. “Unless...”

“That doesn’t matter!” Briar said, happily. “My daughter’s a prodigy. Well, I suppose with her blood, that’s to be expected. But still!”

By then, the guardsmen had started cheering too. Soon, Everie thought, a little sick, Haswalth will know too. My powerful father.

But... why was I worried in the first place?

Briar pressed Everie’s fetal form to her bosom as the entourage exploded into a cacophony of cheers and celebration. Awakenings, as they were called, were apparently one of the most significant events in a person’s life, if Everie remembered correctly.

I was afraid, she realized. I didn’t trust them. I thought they would treat me like some sort of freak.

And I was right. I have to be more careful. I can’t let them know I’m an incarnation.

A hallucination of Briar’s disappointed, angry visage flashed into her brain’s purview.

But... it’s been a year, and these people haven’t hurt me. Daphne trusts me. Briar... seems to love me. I can trust them.

...gosh, she thought, laughing. What a foreign emotion. It’s been so long...

The celebrations continued throughout Everies’ deliberations. But eventually, they cessated, allowing the girl-of-honor to speak.

“What now?” Everie asked.

She phrased it as a rhetorical question. But someone saw fit to answer her.

Briar blinked, dispelling the smog of happiness from her expression. Her previous anger at Haswalth was all but forgotten.

“We go home, my daughter,” she said, caressing Everie’s head. Locks of black-violet hair tumbled down her still-too-chubby face.

Home, Everie thought. She felt the barest of smiles curl up on her lips.

Ah, right. That is a thing now, isn’t it?