-originator of chaos-
[https://i.imgur.com/PY3dRZ7.png]
What in all that is aetherial is that girl doing down there?
I felt the binding bond with my little disciple open, and then she began to draw significant quantities of magicka through.
There should be no reason for that much energy on the mortal plane unless she needed to resurrect another thousand souls.
Did the empress fail in her assault? No. Absolutely not possible with Ikuye at her side… unless?
I conjured a scrying orb to my side and willed a view of my daughter’s whereabouts. The scene quickly focused in on the little seraphic girl, her wings revealed and Iteria-given aura pulsating off her body.
And I was enraged.
“Why are those things here!? Aurielle!” I screamed, summoning the only daughter I had with any lick of common sense.
A circle of flame appeared beside me and out stepped the golden-haired Alaetüs.
“Hello, Mother.”
“Auri, explain.” I growled, pointing at the scene of voidlings being slaughtered by Ikuye and Airis.
“The void-influenced humans have been sacrificing souls to the Aver’terians. Originator Gemini has transcended several of them into void-beasts in exchange. It looks like sister Ikuye and our new sister are taking care of things.”
My hands were clenched tight.
“Auri,” I said, straining to keep composure, “why am I just now finding out about this?”
Aurielle cocked her head to the side.
“I have informed you of this rampantly growing predicament many times over its development, though?”
I dreaded that would be the case.
Haaah. I hate when Virgo is right about things.
A surge of magicka flooded through the soul-binding pathway and my attention turned back to the scrying orb. Airis was mass conjuring her chaotic bolt magick as she and Ikuye stared down a void-reaver.
“Auri.” I prompted.
“That one is new.” She replied listlessly, “I had no idea the followers of Gemini had conjured a reaver. There are still a few planeswalkers inhabiting the mortal plane after the… incident. However, none of them should have been in the hands of the Void Axis.”
“I’m going to see my sister. Inform Vi of my visit—and clear your plans, you’re attending as well. I have been too lenient of my own studies and this has gotten too far out of control.”
Aurielle disappeared in a flit of flames.
I can’t handle any more surprises…
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“What do you mean, she's a demigoddess? How does that make any damned sense!?” I seethed with rage, shaking the foundations of my sister’s domain.
Virgo looked at me with a smug look, “It is as I said. Airis was able to access an Iteria with the help of your daughter and gained a keystone that unlocked her ties to divinity.”
“That still doesn’t explain why she can access divinity,” I huffed, “Do you have any idea how many experiments I’ve carried out? How much of my essence I’ve poured into trying to recreate what we’ve lost? So, how!? How have you managed to do what I could not?”
Wisps of chaotic energy emitted from me, and I took a moment to breathe.
“I hold dominion over the Aether and magick.” I said, as calmly as I could, “I am the only archdeity in our little pocket of the cosmos. So, do explain how an intermediate deity, such as yourself, could have imbued a spark of divinity with a lesser being and brought it into fruition as a beginning-ranked demigod?”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
My sister seemed to be contemplating, so I allowed her the time to best put this together in a way I’d understand—she knew me best out of all us, after all.
“Let’s say,” she started, “that I wasn’t the one who placed the spark there. If it was, perhaps, an untended seed that I came across and nurtured… would that help you come to terms with her existence?”
“And untended…” I trailed off, delving into thought.
The only possibility that fit her carefully crafted narrative, couldn’t be possible.
“…she’s one of us?”
My sister smiled.
“A little seedling, lost in the cosmos when our overdeity was embroiled in the war with that upstart, Libra, and his foolish siblings.”
Every fiber in my body was inflamed as a tumultuous sea of emotions raged within me.
“You’ve been hiding away,” I said slowly and deliberately, “the last remaining vestige of Terae herself, this whole time?”
“Well, they haven’t been hidden, really.” Virgo motioned at the fields of blood-red tinged flowers. “One little spark turned into two, then four, then ten… well, you get the idea. If they show promise, I let them rest for a while. Then, I socket the souls neatly back into a newly born Altaerian to cultivate a little longer.”
I was stricken with shock—perhaps for the first time in millennia.
My voice wavered, “Who gave you the right to play with a divine soul as you pleased?”
“Is it that much different from what you’ve done with the Alaetüs?” my sister scoffed.
“They were mine to empower!” I shouted back. “I created my children from nothing but strands of Aether!”
My sister looked at me with disdain.
“You copied Her creations, same as me,” she accused, “My Yvanili and Humans bear the same appearance to the Arryth, just like the Alaetüs.”
Strands of chaotic magick began to arc across my skin again, “You claimed these Altaer as your own and hid the fact they were Her children!”
“Come on now, sister. What are you trying to say? What’s done is done. Why not just be happy we have another companion to aid in the management of our declining ruler archive?”
I could no longer hold my anger back. I lunged at my sister, bearing down with claw and tooth.
The ground under me was torn apart as my magick surged, wreathing the entire area in a deluge of chaotic energy.
Virgo beat her wings in an attempt to escape my range, but my magick had already formed an impenetrable spherical barrier around us.
She hit the barrier, then turned back to face me when she’d realized she was trapped.
“See some reason,” she pleaded, “I’m sure we can talk this out.”
“I’ve heard plenty of reason. Reasons to banish you along with that traitor for attempting to usurp archive and drive Aevum into madness.”
Virgo frowned. She dove at me with her talons raised.
In a fluid swipe, my tail sent her flying into the barrier, knocking her down onto the ruined ground.
Ardent blood glistened under the aetherial light which illuminated her realm.
I loomed over my sister, poised to strike and bind her Iterial core.
When I reached out with my hand, she flinched.
“Wait! Wait,” she shrunk back, “It’s all for Her. I swear. Terae wasn’t slain by Libra. I have proof.”
I narrowed my eyes. The wave of pressure exuded from my magicks abated slightly and my sister shuddered.
“Haaah,” my sister sighed, “Terae is down there. Trapped in Her own world. Why do you think I put everything I had into maintaining an entire empire of mortals? For the fun of it?”
“Explain quicker. Get to the specifics.” I demanded.
“Terae is in a state of banishment—similar to what you did to Libra. Except instead of being stuck in some purgatory, Terae was trapped on the mortal plane. That’s why we can’t remain there. Her dominion is being enforced there.”
I eased my magickal influence, and Virgo sat up.
“We’re going to have a long discussion about everything you’ve seen and everything you’ve done. Auri, you will transcribe every single word in that record book of yours. And, Vi…”
I turned to face my daughters, expecting to see two of them, but instead found another of my children.
“Hello, Mors. It’s always nice to see you. We’re a little busy at the moment.”
Mors’ eyes shifted between Virgo and I.
“I see that,” they said in a deadpan voice, “however, that child is back.”
“That child?” I asked.
“The Altaerian. Airis.”
I sighed, “Please use more words, Mors.”
“Airis has appeared in the Wanderer’s Plane along with a mortal soul heavily damaged by the Void. It seemed pertinent that I ask what Virgo wanted to do with them, but you were engaged in deadly combat.”
“Thank you. How very convenient,” I mused, “If you wouldn’t mind, bring them here. I need to have a few words with Airis. We’re going to sort this all out. One way or another.”