“It seems you have found me. Shall we talk?”

I take a deep breath. I have to be prepared for anything.

Holding out my right hand to my side, I splay my fingers. I pluck my link with Vel, ‘Come to me.’

I can feel Vel, and she sends me feelings of assent. In seconds, a stream of Gray katra ribbons flow into my hand from the surface of Amia, coiling around my spectral fingers. They flow together, twisting around each other and layering themselves, till they form a spear.

Details fill in on the spear, and in seconds, I am holding a spear made of pure white bone. The gray eye in the spearhead turns to look at me, pulsing like a jewel of power.

Still kind of creepy, but all the better to unsettle my opponent. I stare at Vel, marveling at how light she feels in my hands. I give a twirl and stop, holding her out to my side.

The dream with the man wearing my armor pops into my head, and the way Vel had looked pops into my mind. Does that mean I can rework her to be even more powerful?

With a gentle mental nudge, I watch as Vel unlocks her bone plates, the vertebrae looking shaft of the spear unlocking. She coils around my hand and up my arm, wrapping around it.

I am left with a long blade jutting out over my wrist and hand, bone coiling around my arm up to my shoulder, but not restricting it.

Looking to the sun, I take another deep breath. ‘Yes, we should talk.’

The voice comes again through the mind link, but it sounds like it is right next to me instead of inside my head. The voice sound eerily familiar, but I am unable to place it, “Then come.”

I feel a small tug on the mental link, and I start gently drifting forward. I tug on the link, following it towards the sun.

Flying up to the surface of the massive ball of fire, I look at it. Explosions of fire cross its entire surface, arches of flame boiling up from the surface and humongus flames lick at the space around them.

I feel the katra that makes up it. Closing my eyes briefly, I will it to split. IT feels like I am trying to move a crate full of iron ingots. I grit my teeth, holding my hands out in front of me, to help reinforce my will, and slowly pull apart them.

A seam-like line appears in the surface of the sun, it slowly splits apart, leaving a massive hole in the center of the sun, flames licking at the edges. The Origin glows in the center, its glassy Gray surface opaque and pulsing with power.

I float towards it, sending calming waves to Vel, with my hands spread to either side, shaking from the effort of holding it open.

My legs flowing out behind me, I slowly drift into the center of the sun. I pass into the split, massive walls of fire held at bay with my force of will. The strain is barely manageable, and I can tell that I will not be able to hold it for much longer.

I land on the surface of the Origin, a surprisingly cool feelings drafting up. It is like a spring breeze, not too hot, not too cold. I reach down with my left hand, my spectral fingers brushing across the smooth, polished surface of the sphere.

I can feel the Origin inside it, even though I can’t see it. I try to will my spectral body through the boundry, my it is solid under my fingers.

That’s not going to work.

I focus on the surface, willing it to let me through.

Standing up, I look on calmly as ripples ring out from my feet, the surface of the Origin moving like water. I slowly sink through, the gray going up to my knees and then my thighs. Quickly, it reaches my chest, the cool surface enveloping me.

This is strange.

Then my head is enveloped, the gray flowing around me. I sink into its depths, my spectral body not requiring breath.

My body passes through the surface of the Origin, and I am hit by a wave of vertigo.

With a jolt, my legs land on ground and I stumble out of the Gray wall of the Origin. I blink, my senses being assaulted.

My eyes adjust to the light, and I am bewildered by what I see.

Where am I?

I am standing in the center of an aile, huge stone bookshelves towering over me on both sides. The ground is covered in neatly trimmed grass, a layer of cool dew over it and a strong earthy smell along with the smell of fresh rain. Ivy grows up the sides of the bookshelves, covering them in a thick layer of green.

Large fireflies buzz about in the air, glowing a luminescent blue, lighting up the shelves. I take a step back as one the size of my fist zips by, it’s abdomen glowing blue.

This is strange.

I turn around, and take an involuntary step back. Where’d the wall of the Origin go?

The surface I stepped out of is gone, in its place is a long hallway, the walls on either side made of the massive ivy covered bookshelves. It stops, branching off into several other paths.

Is this the Origin?

I look down at my body, and am surprised by what I see. No longer am I a specter looking being. Instead, I have a physical form exactly like my real world one, tail included.

Vel is still curled around my arm, and I send calming waves to her, combating the confused and worried ones she is sending me.

“This way,” The feminine voice says from behind me.

I whip around, bringing my fists up. There is nothing behind me, but a bookshelf lined path, grass covering the floor. I feel a gentle tug on the mind link from the direction I had heard the voice.

I take a tentative step forward, following the gentle tug on the mind link. I leave a trail of dewless grass behind me as I slowly walk down the hall.

Looking at one of the bookshelves, I move to my right. Pulling some of the ivy back, I look at what is on the shelf.

Slotted neatly in rows are stone slates, scripting glowing silver along their surfaces in complex spiral patterns.

I let the curtain of ivy fall back and continue down the hall.

Looking up, all I can see is a white, puffy cloud, acting like a ceiling. I get the sense from how dim everything is that it is night.

The Origin never looked like this.

Then again, from my understanding, it has changed quite a bit since my “bonding” with it.

I reach the end of the hallway, the giant fireflies buzzing around. The hall opens up into a large room. In the center, upon a small hill, rests a cherry blossom tree, it’s pink petals flowing up in a breeze and twirling around. The room is in the shape of a large circle, lined on each side by the stone book shelves, paths branching out from the room.

The mind link leads to straight to the tree.

I walk cautiously forward, scanning the terrain for any threats. All I see is the short cropped grass and the large blue glowing fireflies.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly climb the small incline of the hill to the cherry blossom tree. Scanning it, I look for anything.

I stop under its branches, staring at the tree. Then I say cautiously, “Hello?”

“Hello, Kardin.”

A figure steps out from behind the tree, twirling a paper parasol slowly. She steps into the light, her tanned skin gleaming the the blue light from the fireflies. Her eyes twinkle with mischief and her warm smile stretches across her face, showing her white teeth.

Her dark hair flows down her shoulders, absorbing the light. She wears flowing white robe, embossed with cherry blossom trees.

I take a step forward, shock hitting me like a tidal wave, “K-karla?”

Karla’s smile turns slightly sad, but she doesn’t say anything, only staring into my eyes.

Then the shock wears off, and I take a step back, bringing my hands up and getting into a defensive posture. “No... this isn’t possible. What are you?”

Her smile slowly fades, and she looks at me with sad eyes, “I am Mother.”

I glare at her, my muscles tensing. This is some kind of trick. “Stop it, stop wearing her face.”

She shakes her head, “I’m sorry Kardin, it’s hard to explain. I am Karla, but I’m also Mother.”

Vel’s grip around my arm tightens, her bone plates clinking softly as she constricts slightly, reacting to my agitation.

“No, no. You can’t be Karla, she’s dead. It’s not possible.”

Karla -Mother-, whatever it is, turns to the left, looking at the tree. She stares up its lengthening, running a delicate hand along the bark. “You are right, Karla is dead. Though, I am alive.”

I grit my teeth, my head spinning. My thoughts are throwing themselves at each other as I try and make sense of this. “I don’t understand. Just, stop, please. You can’t be alive, how could Karla be alive? So stop. Stop trying to mess with my head.”

Mother looks over her shoulder at me, smiling sadly. “I remember dying. The pain, the sound of my skull cracking as that Tulnar gnawed on my head. I remember blood, so much blood. Then a ripping and tearing, a snap, then nothing.”

My heart wrenches as I remember that night. It feels so long ago, and the pain has yet to fade.

Mother turns away from me, her back to me. She spins the parasol, resting it against her shoulder, “I-Karla- was scared. So scared, unimaginably so. Then everything just… stopped. She drifted for a long time through nothingness, parts of herself slowly fading away. Memories, her soul, slowly dissolving, forgetting who she-I-, we were. After what felt like eternity, something changed in that nothingness. Something reached out the the last remnants of me, of Karla, and pulled her back. After that, well, everything is hazy.

Do you understand?”

I inhale, taking a deep, shaky breath. How does she… This can’t be real. Some kind of trick.

Mother laughs a tinkling laugh, Karla’s laugh. “I too wished for it to not be real. Only, it is. For a while, I just shut down, not wanting to believe anything,” She looks over her shoulder at me, the parasol stopping abruptly, “Then you came along.

I remember watching you, imobile and stuck in a vortex of power, a prison being built up around me. You argued with my jailer, he called himself Sol. You ignored him, and broke through that wall, plunging your arm into the vortex, pulling me from it.”

I blink, my mind going back to so long ago. Back to when I had been desperate for any power to make my own, even now looking back on it, I can’t help but realise that I hadn’t carried about my life. Hadn’t carried whether I would die.

Looking at Mother, I say, “You are the Origin? That thing I drained to attain my Gray katra aspect?”

Mother turns away, walking slowly around the tree, running her hand along its surface. “Even now, it is hazy. I don’t think I was the katra, only that I was inhabiting it. After I was pulled from that nothingness, I was placed in there, trapped. You pulled me out, set me free. Though, there are gaps in my memory from that time, I can barely remember my name. I was Karla, though I only have fragments of her memories. Back then, I could barely think, driven more on instinct.”

I slowly relax, but keep myself ready to move at a moments notice. “I don’t understand.”

Mother rounds the tree, her face adorned by a sad, small smile. “It’s hard to explain. Perhaps it would be easier to show you.”

She moves down the small slope of the hill, gliding across the dew covered grass like she isn’t touching the ground. Quickly moving across the clearing, she reaches the far side, looking up at the tall bookshelf.

She reaches a hand up, the ivy parts itself, writhing to the sides. It coils around one of the slates, pulling it free and bringing down to Mother.

Resting it in her hand, the ivy releases the slate and calms back down.

Mother turns, flowing over the ground and back up to me. She smiles sadly, the parasol no longer spinning in her hand.

“This is a Knowledge Slate, it holds my first memory. A memory I have had to piece together from several other ones. Stitched together from fragments of mine, Karla’s, memories and the Orgin’s,” She holds it out to me.

I hesitantly take it, surprised at how light the stone feels. Delicate and intricate silver scripting runs along its surface, glowing in the blue light. The pink cherry blossom petals shift in a wind that can’t possibly be there, gliding over my hands and the slate for a few moments.

Looking up at Mother, I ask, “What do you want me to do with it?”

With a delicate finger, she taps the center of the spiral, on a single rune. There is the sound of a chime, and Gray ribbons blossom out from the center of the rune spiral.

“Look into the center, and you will experience my first memory. Then, you should understand.” Mother says calmly.

I close my eyes, feeling the katra that makes up the slate. I might not be able to understand the scripting, but I can feel the intent of the Gray katra, and it’s aspect. I get the sense of memory, and that the Gray katra is tinged a deep purple.

I can’t find anything sinister in it, and from the way it moves, I can guess that it projects an image to the mind. I also feel like I can wipe it clean and imprint it with something. Essentially, a knowledge storing device…

I’ve heard of things like these, though they incredibly rare and usually only reserved for the richest of the rich. And this entire place is full of them.

Slowly, and reverently, I hold the knowledge slate up to my face, peering into the center of the blossom of Gray katra. The strands of Gray katra react to my face drawing close.

The strands gently caress the side of my face, feeling my face and enveloping it slowly. I close my eyes as me entire head is enveloped.

***

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Pain.

Red.

Confusion.

Noise.

Tearing.

Flesh.

Teeth.

Pain.

Screams.

Ripping.

Snapping.

Bones.

Pain.

A hand, reaching.

Green.

Pain.

Eyes.

Claws.

Pain.

Cackling.

Pain.

Pain..

Pain…

PAIN….

PAIN!!!

Death.

Calm.

Nothingness.

“Help…”

I gasp for breath, clutching my chest. Blinking rapidly, I spin around, my eyes looking around wildly.

I stand in a void of nothing, of darkness. I get the impression I am in a vast area, but cannot see anything but pitch black.

Behind me, is a ripped and torn person, blood pooling around them. Flowing from their many wounds. Their limbs are twisted, their flesh torn and split, the white of bone exposed.

The person gasps out, reaching a shaky and bloody hand towards me. “Help…”

I take a step forward, the darkness rippling from where my foot touches down.

Approaching slowly, a horrid realization comes over me. It’s Karla.

My mind flashes back to when I first awoke, the mutilated corpse of Karla in a circle of blood stained grass. Back when I was helpless. Back when Amia was destroyed.

Karla’s head is pressed to the ground, her hand reaching out and trembling in immense pain. She stares ahead, past me, with sightless eyes.

“Karla?”

Mother’s voice, Karla’s voice, echoes in my mind and I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn, but can’t see anyone. “This is a memory Kardin, she can’t hear you. Just… watch.”

I turn back to the horrible scene, Karla’s mutilated body barely clinging to life.

She croaks out again, blood spilling from her torn lips, “Help…”

The darkness ripples, and I look to my left, where a figure steps out from a fold in reality. It wears a horrible visage, a mix between a man and fox.

The bipedal fox is clothed in colorful, traditional robes, gems and gold jewelry covering them from head to toe. Their arms are folded in with their robes, and they step forward slowly, the darkness rippling with each of their steps.

I mutter one word, as my mind flashes back to that shop and the strange vision I had scene. “Palmz…”

Palmz’s muzzle is twisted into a vicious smile, teeth gleaming in the darkness. He steps towards Karla’s broken form.

I move out of his way, stepping to the side to let him pass.

Walking past me like I am not there, he stands before Karla. Slowly, he sits down on his knees, looking down at Karla.

A scratchy voice with a strange accent comes out of his mouth, he sounds like he isn’t used to speaking in the Common Tongue. “I can help you.”

Karla’s head shakely rises, looking up at at Palmz with sightless eyes. “Help…”

Palmz’s smile widens, more of his sharp teeth being revealed and his eyes crinkling. “All you have to do, is touch my hand.”

He methodically, slowly, unfolds his sleeves. He reaches out his right hand, palm up and covered in reddish fur. He reaches down, holding his hand out to Karla’s broken form.

“You’ll… help…?” Karla croaks out, looking up at Palmz.

“Yes, my dear. All you have to do, is give me permission to save you. To use your soul.” His smile is shifts slightly, his expresion becoming amused.

Karla’s hand reaches up shakily, crimson flowing from her torn up arm and dripping into the pool of blood that surround her. Her bloody fingers brush against Palmz’s.

Then Karla’s strength leaves her, her hand falling down with a quite smack, a last gasp of cold breath escaping her lips like a hiss.

Palmz cackles, “Don’t worry dear, all shall be fine now. You shall serve me in a new vessel, and bend him to your and my will. It’s almost poetic.”

He stands, flipping his hand and splaying his fingers, hovering it over Karla’s broken form. There is the sound of a rushing river, of flame crackling, and a pinprick of light flows up from Karla’s corpse.

It flies into Palmz’s hand, and his fingers clap around it, holding it tight.

He turns his hand to face his face, his muzzle twisted in amusement. He leans in close to Karla’s soul, slutched in his palm, and whispers in a foul language, “Ank tor vane Demonium ka.”

I watch as the bright, multifarious orb that is Karla’s soul shifts. A tendril of darkness wiggling itself up from Palmz’s hand and into the soul. There, is coils in the center, resting. I can feel the sinister power of it, pulsing in hunger.

Palmz opens his hand, stroking Karla’s soul with black claw tipped fingers, “Now, my sweet seed, shall we plant you?”

He turns, his robes billowing out and flapping.

I turn to where he walks, and there I see myself.

I am splayed one the ground, my pack a foot away from me. A hole is torn in my shoulder, blood gushing from it. I can tell that it is a mortal wound. My hair is not a combination of Gray and dark brown, and I don’t have a tail.

My past self.

Walking slowly, I move around my dying body so that I can see my face. It is twisted in pain, unconscious.

Palmz gently brushes my brown hair out of my eyes, his smile vicious and amused. He looks at the wound in my shoulder and clucks his tongue, “Now, we can’t have you dying quite yet.”

He snaps his fingers, and I watch as the blood flowing from my past self’s wound turns to a trickle, then nothing.

Palmz turns to my pack, pulling it closer to him. He gently opens it, reaching inside. He rummages around for a few seconds, then pulls out a black box covered in scripts.

He whispers in that foul language again, at the box pops open, revealing the orb nestled inside it. He holds up Karla’s corrupted soul, and gently pushes it into the orb, his fingers moving about it delicately. He continues to speak under his breath, the grutal syllables ringing in my ears.

Then, Karla’s soul is completely inside the orb, it’s shining light gone.

Palmz snaps the box closed, and puts it back into my pack, cackling quitely.

He stands up, looking down at my past self’s form. His smile twists, becoming a snarl. He barks out in anger and excitement, “You shall be one of the tools that shall be his downfall. And you will help me, whether you want to or not.”

Then he dissolves, along with my past self and pack, flowing away in Gray strands.

I blink, coming back to myself. I am still in the void, surrounded by nothing. Looking around, I say, “I don’t understand. Palmz saved me? He corrupted your soul?”

I can hear Mother, Karla, sigh, “He placed something evil into my soul, something that tried to slowly consume me. I was desperate, I didn’t want to die, so I accepted his help. I wish I hadn’t, I wish that I had let myself die.”

There is a flash, and a enlarged version of Karla’s soul appears before me, it’s multifarious surface glowing and the darkness inside it pulsing, reaching tendrils out.

I watch as the darkness shoves spikes into Karla’s soul, tearing away chunks and consuming it.

“It tore away at my soul, devouring it and perverting it. I was unable to do anything, trapped inside the Origin. I fought it, keeping it at bay by feeding it tiny portions of myself, leading it about, not letting it completely devour me,” Mother’s voice echoes out.

Karla’s soul, slowly being consumed, shrinks and a clear sphere surrounds it, the soul becoming encased in a gnarled root like structure that glows Gray. If I focus, I can see her soul inside it, writhing in agony as it is slowly perverted.

“Sol, the one who was overseeing the Bonding process of the Origin to you, was unwittingly keeping me prisoner while my soul was devoured. Then you came, defied him.” Mother’s voice sounds both sad and excited.

I watch as a hand breaks through the surface of the still forming Origin, clamping down on the gnarled root like thing that contains Karla’s soul. I watch as it pulls it out, Gray katra being absorbed into the black wrapped hand.

Mother’s voice is filled with sorrow as it echoes in the void, “By then, I only had fragments of my soul, my memories. When I realized that you were draining the Gray katra, which was keeping me suspended there, I saw hope.”

I look at the center of the Origin, clutched in my hand. Karla’s soul nestled inside it is nearly completely black, the darkness withering in hunger. I can see a few flashes of multicolored light, fighting against the darkness desperately.

“I couldn’t fight it, I was on my last legs, barely keeping it at bay. When I saw you draining the katra away, I saw an opportunity.”

I watch as those few glimmering fragments coalesse together on the edge of the soul, a tiny pinprick in an ocean of darkness. I watch as it forms a small multi colored strand, desperately peeling itself away from the dark and flowing out to the vortex formed from my draining of the Gray katra.

It tears itself from the darkness, flowing up with the rest of the Gray katra and into my hand, vanishing.

The image dissolves into mist, flowing away.

Mother speaks in a solemn tone, “I escaped. But I was weak, feeble and crippled much like you. I could barely make sense of what was happening, confused and in fear. So, I used the Gray katra that was running amuck in your body, forming it into structures that would drain you a bit of your life.”

My mind flashes back to when I awoke to those strange structures that had surrounded my heart, weakening me.

“It was never my intention to hurt you, I only needed a bit more strength so that I wouldn’t fade away into the Gray katra. Then you started smashing them, and I tried to communicate with you, but was unable to. So, I let you destroy the structures.

I had barely enough strength to survive, but I knew that if I did nothing, that demonic seed inside your Bond would break free, and consume you and me.”

Another image forms before me, this time of a small, tiny pinprick of multicolored light. It barely keeps itself above a sea of Gray katra, floating on the surface.

“I was unable to talk to you, to tell you I was there, and needed help. So, I embraced the Gray katra. Let it into the last fragment of my soul.”

I watch as that pinprick of rainbow light is consumed in the sea of Gray, falling under the surface.

“I believe that was when I was no longer Karla. She died then, and I was born.”

The sea of Gray katra calms, it’s surface smoothing out and becoming stagnant. Then a single ripples pulses out, and it shifts, colors bubbling up from under it and staining it in millions of colors.

“Impossibly, I had become one with the katra. I become it, and it become me. I found then, that I was no longer in danger of fading away. But I still couldn’t communicate with you, I tried, and failed.

That was when I turned my gaze to the demonic seed Palmz had planted inside my soul, and you.”

An image of a completed Origin appears before me, a sea of multicolored Gray katra around it. Half of it vanishes, and I can see the inside of it, and the darkness that hid there.

“I was still getting used to being one with the Gray katra. That’s when, I realized that the darkness was already trying to escape.”

I watch as the dark orb in the center of the Origin shoots out withering spikes, stabbing into the surface of the Origin, cracking it.

“I could see it trying to escape, trying to devour everything around it. Sol, the one who was monitoring the Bonding process, was unaware of it. Till it was too late.”

I watch as a single eyeball appears, hovering over the surface of the Origin and looking down at it.

“He was powerless to stop it.”

By this point, the darkness has completely filled the Origin, trapped and probing its surface. I watch a it presses onto a single point, pouncing on it. A small crack forms in the surface of the Origin. And the darkness flows out.

It washes over Sol, and past him.

“By this time, I knew there was no way I could fight the thing Palmz planted inside me. So, I had to expel it.”

I watch as a Gray tendril reaches into the darkness, hauling Sol out and saving him. Then the Gray katra constricts, forming a tight tunnel and funneling the darkness away.

A image to my left meterlizes. It’s me, leaning against a tree trunk. I lean over, spewing up my lunch, vomiting.

“I expelled as much of it as I could from your body.”

My past self finishes throwing up, and leans back onto the tree, gasping. Then he dissolves.

The puddle of vomit stirs, coming to life and creeping away. Then it too, dissolves.

“I had managed to expel the vast majority of the demon that consumed my, Karla’s, soul. Of course, it wasn’t completely helpless against me.”

I turn back to the other image, of the broken Origin, the Gray katra, and Sol.

“It had left a part of itself behind. It had corrupted Sol.”

Sol looks at the cracked Origin, a dark tendril having coiled itself inside him.

“I had saved him from being consumed, but it had planted a seed inside him. And considering he was the one in control of the Origin, and the Soul Space is was nestled in, it was the perfect ploy.”

I watch as the darkness inside the Gray eyeball wirths, slowly consuming him.

“I thought at the time I had completely expelled the demon, and I went to work helping you. All while soul went back to rebuilding the Origin.

I watch as Sol moves around the Origin, Gray katra seeping into the crack and repairing it. A new gnarled root forms in the center, and I watch as complex runes and structures start to build themselves in the orb.

“While you battled the Gray katra demon in the real world, I continued to help you. I was the one who made the healing and enhancement crystal in your body and built the crust around your core. I improved upon your cycling technique. I still had a connection with the Gray katra and the corrupted part of my soul, and I tried to show you what it was doing, but I failed in that regard.

The demon had taken on certain qualities of the Gray katra it bathed in, like the ability to absorb other katra and build structures.”

My mind flashes back to those strange dreams and visions I had of the chimera, of them devouring the forest.

“I was content to let Sol finish the Bonding process, and he was unaware of me. Much like I was unaware of what was inside him.”

I watch as the darkness nearly completely fills Sol, leaving certain parts of him untouched.

“You and your friend, Vicar, killed the demon. You absorbed it, and gained all the knowledge of the katra and creatures it had devoured. I didn’t know where to store it, so I turned back to the Soul Space, and Sol in it. By then, It was too late for him.”

Sol is almost completely consumed now by the darkness.

“It didn’t act then, only hid. I think it was scared of me, and it knew it needed to dig its claws in if it wanted to gain control of you.”

Sol vanishes, fading away somewhere in the darkness.

I watch as the multicolored Gray katra flows around the Origin. It seeps inside, into the complex, web-like structures that make up the repaired Origin.

“I used your soul space and the Origin to create the Repository.”

A small blue marble of Gray katra forms in the Origin, orbiting the center of the Origin.

“There, I stored all the knowledge you had absorbed from the demon. You could call it a Soul Space within a Soul Space, a reality marble might be the best thing to call it.

I soon learned after that I could store memories in it, specifically mine. Back then, I only had a vague idea of who I was, unable to piece together my fragmented memories. So, I copied all of my memories into the Repository, and was finally able to piece them together by looking over them.”

The image shifts, and Sol comes back, the eyeball filled to the brim with darkness.

“That was when Sol came out of the recesses of the Soul Space, wherever he hid, I am not sure. But he had been completely consumed, corrupted.

It was about this time you tried to make Vengeance in the real world. Only, you imprinted the katra with you emotions and intent on gaining revenge for Karla’s death and Amia’s destruction.

The katra, as you know, was unable to form what you wanted. I wasn’t there to help you, to give you the necessary knowledge to form what you wanted. So, the unfinished being you created spiraled away, slowly dissolving.”

A image of a gaseous red tinged Gray cloud appears before me.

“Sol was a powerful construct of katra, ro something I am still unsure about, and I believe he had ironclad directives built in. It came out of hiding to finish the Bond, and that's when I think it realized that it could in fact corrupt it, so it gave in.

Desperate, I gave form to Vengeance, and shaped him with your intent and mine, making a Jailer. I had Vengeance jail Sol to stop him from corrupting the Origin and you.”

I watch as the dark eyeball is wrapped in chains, and pulled into the Origin.

“I needed someplace to keep the demon, so I formed Purgatory.”

A reddish orb appears in the Origin, opposite the blue one. It orbits the center of the Origin, much like the blue one.

The corrupted Sol is pulled into the red orb by the chains.

“I begged Vengeance to not tell you of any of this, not till I was ready to reveal myself. He assented.”

The images dissolve, and I am left once again, standing in the black nothingness.

“You know most of what has happened after that. With the demon imprisoned, for now at least, the Bonding process continued. The Origin completed itself, with my two additions to it. But the built in protocols of the System detected the demon, and was intent on destroying it and replacing you. But I had put in my own protocols, restricting it from out right killing you, so it activated its replacement protocol.” Mother sounds tired now, her voice seemingly having aged a millenia.

“You defeated it’s built in protocol for replacement, 303. It was then that I urged, without you realising, to absorb 303 and the protocol that gave him permission to form in your Soul Space.

It took work, and with your help, I was able to integrate his Moderator permission level into the Origin. I guided you to use his soul to mask your own core, so that the System wouldn’t send another to try and kill you.

With time, while you were creating Amia, I fully integrated myself and you with the Origin and 303’s Moderator tag. After that was done, I kept myself hidden in the Repository, guiding you in your creation process.

It took time, but I was able to help you finish your world at a satisfactory level, and to use the System to help strengthen you by activating its Classification protocols. They me to more easily guide you, and to allow you to bring things from the Soul Space to the real world.” Mother sounds sad now, and tired.

I look up at the ceiling that isn’t there. “Why did you hide? Why didn’t you talk to me before?”

Mother hesitates for a minute, then tentatively speaks, “I was bound by the Origin, and the System’s protocols. Trapped in here, in a sense. I spent the time sifting through 303’s memories and imprinting them on Knowledge Slates in the Repository. I also tailored your Bond’s ability, Siphon to work with your broken channels. When you invoked your Bond’s power, that meant you gained access to the Origin.”

I shake my head, sitting down. “This… is crazy.”

I feel Mother’s hand on my shoulder again, her voice kind, “I know. I am nearly finished. There were unseen side effects to your using Siphon, ones I hadn’t intended. You made more Gray katra than your core could handle, so I nudged you towards making another storage place for that extra katra. To using the umber hulk’s core.”

I nod, my mind slowly digesting. “You’ve been here the whole time? Why didn’t you talk to me once you could?”

“I have been.” She says quietly.

My hand drifts to the back of my neck, massaging the flesh. “That was you?”

“Yes. It took me a long time before I could figure out how to ride on the link between you and the Origin, but once I knew how, I could talk to you. I was afraid though… Of your reaction.”

I take a deep, shaky breath. Standing up and staring into the darkness. “I understand now. You didn’t choose this, you were tricked into it. I’m… I’m sorry Karla. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”

I feel a wetness on my cheeks, and wpie at it, my hands coming back moist with tears. At the sight, I let out a little laugh. How long has it been since I cried?

Mother’s voice echoes out of the dark, “I forgive you, I know you couldn’t do anything. Karla know you tried, she forgave you, even in her fear.”

These aren’t tears of sadness, but of joy, of relief. I wipe them off my face, my teeth clamping together. I nod once.

Mother sounds sad, “It’s time for you to go. Time for you to go back to the real world. Your time is almost up.”

“My time?”

“Yes, the portal is about to open and if I am not mistaken, you have to talk to Kamar.”

“Alright, but we will need to discuss this more. I need to ask you so many things,” I say, looking around at the darkness.

It feels like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders, one that I hadn’t even known I was carrying.

“Goodbye, Kardin. Till our next meeting. Now, wake.”

I can feel her delicate finger on my forehead, even though I can’t see it.

With a flash of light, and a rush of power, I open my eyes, gulping in air.