Novaris. Novem. 904. AGC.
Aunt Emeline couldn’t get her part of the plan ready until it was almost their birthday. The delay was caused by safety regulations. Since it was fine if some rich merchant, noble house, business, or temple put in a quest to capture a monster alive. However, some random person from an orphanage putting in such a request was a bit concerning.
After all, if any of the previously mentioned institutions or individuals put in such a request, it could be written off for a variety of reasons. A merchant might be interested in keeping it as a pet, so might some noble, or they could even use the monster to train their children. Also, the monster could often be used for research and experimentation by alchemists or researched-focused businesses. Naturally, they got monsters to test potions or even magical defenses. Temples were even easier to write off. After all, paladins and clerics needed some real-world experience.
However, some random lady that could very well be an undercover agent for some sort of villainous group was a completely different story. As such, the Adventurer Guild did their research by speaking with the city guard and learning about this person, even going as far as calling her in for a truth test with a cleric or paladin of Xitrix, God of Order, Law, Justice, and Truth. Naturally, if the person declined the truth request, their adventurer request would also be rejected.
Emeline, having nothing to hide, gladly accepted the request. And after some questioning regarding whether she was planning any malicious things they let her go about her business. Afterward, it took some time before any adventurers took the request as it didn’t have the best rewards for its difficulty level. Eventually, someone did take it, and Emeline got the ring safely and, more importantly, unnoticeably to Jasmine and Arelion.
The twins looked inside the ring and found a Low C Rank lindworm, which was important to not confuse with a lindwurm or lindwyrm. Something they had learned when perusing a monster catalog.
A lindworm, unlike its more dragon-like counterparts, was a large pink worm that could grow small appendages from its long, round, and ring-like body. The thing didn’t have a face, but its front opened, revealing a large round mouth filled with teeth. Additionally, it had minor telekinetic and telepathic abilities, allowing it to burrow at impressive speeds while mentally tracking its prey.
Considering the whole thing was twice as large as the twins and had magical powers when they did not if the creature managed to surprise them, it would mean a swift death for them. Luckily, it was injured, and their training room floor was made of enchanted stone, which was further altered by space magic holding the place together, meaning the monster wasn’t going anywhere.
After having brought the ring, the twins had given Emeline a goodbye hug, knowing they wouldn’t see her again for a long time. Of course, she didn’t know that, as they had told her they would make sure the ring got back to her, something they knew Aunt Emy would believe to be was them passing by the orphanage for a last goodbye.
Now, with the ring in their possession, all they had left was to wait for the next new moon, when they could put their plan into action.
They had been looking forward to their escape for some time now, but after their latest dream on the night of their birthday, they were looking forward to freedom even more. They had also really hoped that their 16th birthday last year was their transformation's final phase, which was still true. The only thing they had been missing was the truth, the full truth, something they had finally learned the night of their 17th birthday.
Compared to their last and constantly repeating dream, this new one had one significant difference: nothing was hidden from them. They could hear, smell, feel, and see the entire room, but nothing in the room could actually notice them or affect them in any way.
They found themselves in the familiar stone room they had now seen hundreds of times. There was the same bucket of water, towels, and the almost fully nude pregnant woman. There were also the same dark figures as before, except now they could see their faces. Only to realize they didn’t know any of them. There was a human woman, a short dwarf, a bulky dragonkin, and some deadly pale elf. They all had completely dark hair and eyes and were all rather good-looking, as could be expected from what had to be high-rankers. The only one that caused them to get a chill down their spine in repulsion was the pale elf. It wasn’t that he didn’t look decent enough. It was more that his existence wasn’t right.
As they watched the room, trying to find more clues, they noticed that though the room was lit by the braziers with black flames, there weren’t any actual shadows. That particular thing made the entire thing feel odder but not as odd as what happened next.
“Hello, Jasmine and Arelion.”
A voice said in their minds with a rather monotone and unemotional tone. Then, as they debated how to respond, it continued.
“I brought you here so you could see the truth.”
The thing and its speech were odd, almost like it wasn’t used to talking. However, before it could say anything else, they responded with an obvious question in order to appease their curiosity.
“Who are you?”
“I am the thing you would know as the World Crystal. However, that is not important. We must continue with the truth.”
Then, the scene that had been unmoving continued as things began to move, something that caught the twins by surprise.
“This is your mother.” The thing said as the pregnant woman weirdly came into focus before sorting back into the rest of the scene.
“At this point in time, Jasmine was already imbued with Luxana’s essence, and Arelion was imbued with Setiel’s. Setiel’s plan was to kill Jasmine and train Arelion. However, the goddess did not understand the bond you two had created.”
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The voice said all of this without an ounce of feeling; it was just simply stating facts, and it continued to do so as the scene in front of them continued. The crystal also had gotten a better grasp of speech, and though still monotone, it now spoke more fluidly.
“Twins already have a special connection. This connection is further increased by the touch of divinity given to the two of you by the goddesses. The problem is that you two belong to opposing forces of nature. One is Light and the other Darkness. In the natural world, these forces are in a cycle. However, when divinity is involved, all natural law is discarded and replaced by the will of their wielder. In this case, Luxana and Setiel cannot exist harmoniously. So, their energies fought in an attempt to tear each other apart, and such a battle cannot be contained by a mortal body.”
Finishing its presentation, the scene blurred for a second, stopping when their mother clearly began to give birth. The woman had silver hair and eyes as her Moon Touched lineage entailed. Sadly, her beauty was tarnished by sweat, dirt, tears, and the screams of pain.
They watched as her belly began to glow. Then, a few moments later, bubbling darkness appeared through the skin of her belly, causing their mom to pass out in screams of pain and tears of loss.
As they watched in horror, they felt their anger grow.
And like their anger, the light in their mom's belly grew until her flesh began sizzling away as it burned while trying to remove the darkness. The darkness, in turn, just bubbled even more as it attempted to consume the light and the flesh.
What had to be members of the Setiels cult ran in and out of the room, seemingly in a panic, as they tried to figure out what was going on. However, nothing they did seemed to help, and they just stared in horrific awe.
Jasmine and Arelion could not do much else, so they also watched while steeling their nerves and containing their anger for what was going to happen next.
The light grew, and the dark grew to match it, and as the two forces battle for control, the twins watched as they killed their own mother.
Jasmine burned her flesh to ash while Arelion consumed anything and everything.
The uncaring crystal then continued its explanation.
“If it had simply run its course, I would not have interfered. You both were bound to destroy each other, even if not willingly, thus bringing everything back to balance. However, your patron deities decided to intervene.”
And intervene they did.
They felt the power of the two goddesses descend into the room, causing a surge in power that, in turn, had the two twins watch as their mother’s body was fully destroyed.
As the body disappeared, Jasmine and Arelion watched as two newborn babies floated in the air. One glowed with silver-white light while the other was obscured in an almost physical undulating darkness. Their room was now empty of cultists and fluctuated in bright light and obscuring darkness. They both could feel the two deities clash, using their bodies as conduits for their power. The problem came when their young bodies also began falling apart.
“As you can see, the two goddesses began competing. At first, it was fine, but their power soon passed D Rank, and your bodies could not hold the power. So, they began deteriorating until finally, it was just your souls.”
The crystal spoke up once again, and as it explained, they watched their young bodies fall apart. Jasmine’s body began to be burned away by Luxana’s light, while Setiel’s darkness consumed Arelion’s. They watched as the power of the goddesses grew until finally, the only things remaining were a silver-white and an abyssal dark orb that floated around in the air, spinning around each other at ever-increasing speeds.
“Even now, I would have let the two be. Eventually, your souls would have been destroyed. Sure, the planet would have suffered massive damage as the energy was released, but nothing world-ending.”
Sure enough, they felt the power increase to an amount they assumed would be S Rank. As the two souls spun with power, they saw that the stone in the room began to be burned and eaten away. They could also visibly see chunks of the now solid white and black orbs begin flinging away from each other, causing massive chunks of reality to disappear and creating massive underground caves.
“The Problem.” The crystal said in a deep and rumbling voice, conveying just how angry it was. The emotion was so powerful that the entire image shook and became distorted. After being monotone for so long, the crystal's clear emotion surprised the twins and let them know that whatever happened next clearly violated a rule of reality. The crystal, seeming to gain control after pausing for a few seconds, continued in its monotone voice once again.
“The problem came when the two gods attempted to elevate you two into gods. Gods cannot create Gods. They do not have the ability, knowledge, or right to even attempt such a thing. So, I intervened and punished them the only way I could.”
From there on, they felt the explanation more than they heard it as the World Crystal intervened. It was an odd experience seeing the past while also feeling the intent of both the past World Crystal and the current one.
As they watched, the orbs, which were now crescent-shaped, came to a halt as a fist-sized translucent crystal that shimmered with multicolor light appeared between them. The orbs that had turned metallic-white silver and void black as they had slowly solidified returned to their original soul-like nature. They became more ethereal and gave off passive energy as they bobbed in the air. A clear issue was the fact that the souls were clearly missing parts that they had lost as the energies tore chunks of them apart.
The twins felt the World Crystal regret losing its ability to create souls as it would not be able to restore the two souls back to pristine condition. Instead, it would have to take another approach. So they watched as the crystal stretched their two souls into rings. One emanating silver-white light, while the other radiated dark undulating smoke. The dark ring went inside the silver one and both were connected yet separated by a small piece that broke of the World Crystal and grew to create the core of their soul as well as the walls that held it all together.
They had just seen the creation of their soul. They had a piece of the World inside of them, and the sheer thought seemed impossible.
After the soul creation, the World Crystal glowed as its colors became vibrant, and they saw their soul encased in something else—a fake soul. Then their souls shrank, and a body began manifesting around it until it fully encased both souls. That was their body. The World had made their body. Another seemingly impossible thing that caused them to look down at their ethereal hands in sheer wonder and amazement.
Then they saw a basket and a silver-black blanket come into existence and soon they were put inside the basket as they slept peacefully. Finally, they saw the scene shift, and they were looking at the Free Spirit Orphanage. There, they saw the basket appear out of thin air and, moments after heard a loud knock ringing throughout the building before Aunt Emy brought them inside.
Finally, they heard the World Crystal speak.
“During the next New Moon, you shall be free. Your plan will succeed. Enjoy the life I have given you to the fullest.”
However, as it spoke, the scene in front of them began shifting in speed, and they saw their whole life up to their current point in Luxana’s Temple flash before them. Then they understood why the World Crystal had done what it did, its intent flowing into their minds.
Finally, for what was possibly the last time in their life, they heard the World Crystal utter its final words to them. This time, though, it spoke with clear care in its deep rumbling voice.
“Goodbye.”