Hardness of Body. Solidity signifies strength, while Malleability assures resilience.

Clarity of Mind. Translucency signifies efficiency, while Dullness assures concealment.

Dimension of Soul. Grandness signifies power, while Petiteness assures swiftness.

Color of Talent. The fiery Red of Blood signifies restoration, while the crystalline Blue of Krall assures destruction.

Three elements complete Her potential, while the fourth reveals Her abilities.

Flawlessly hard yet soft, clear yet opaque, large yet small, red and blue.

The Witch’s gem, the complete equilibrium of paradoxes and the source of limitless magic.

- Andanian Chronicles

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“Mother! Save me! Mother!” The girl fought furiously against the web of dimeritium chains that rooted her against the reinforced dungeon wall.

“Answer me, you witch! What have you done to Dagon?” Archdiviner Zinnridi swore with an anger that rivaled that of his captive.

The gathered archdiviners and enchantresses murmured among themselves before the most prominent member stepped up to confront the fuming weasel, “I’m not certain why you’re so insistent that the witch was responsible, but it is obvious that this line of questioning is futile, Zinnridi.”

“For the last time, Arastina! She was there at the scene, she was the only one who could have…” Zinnridi spluttered in exasperation, “We must torture the truth from this criminal immediately, restoring Dagon is our utmost priority!”

“And questioning her any further is clearly not going to help us. It is painfully obvious that she is just another victim in yesterday’s still unexplained magical tragedy. Both her personality and physical body have regressed back into a preschool level and she can barely control her own Talent. It is doubtful that this child retains any memories that would be useful to us and agitating her further is clearly a waste of our efforts. It would be more productive for us to study the traces of magic still remaining in the temple, instead of leaving such a delicate task to our juniors.”

“She is clearly a threat! Look at what she did to my apprentices!” Zinnridi gestured angrily at the protective gaggle of hissing, croaking, and growling animals surrounding the witch. “She transmuted them into a horde of jungle beast guards!”

“Anyone of us could have done that.” Arastina shrugged, “It was legitimate self-defense. You should have taken more precautions while you were imprisoning her. We will work on reversing the effects of her childish prank later, after we analyze the magic at the temple.”

“You can study the magic by yourselves,” Zinnridi raged, “She is guilty! And I’m not leaving this place before I squeeze a confession from that accursed witch!”

“The conclave has decided. In the absence of any further instruction from god Dagon, we will return the witch unharmed to Prince Aryan. And we will all proceed to the Temple, together.” The enchantress’ eyes narrowed with suspicion, “You know Zinnridi. You might be Dagon’s closest aide and the most senior member of the conclave, but sometimes, just sometimes, I wonder if you know something we don’t. Maybe something important about what actually happened last night? Or about how the perpetrator managed to evade all our detection magics and spatial snares?”

“How dare you.” Zinnridi roared indigenously, “Everything I do, I do for the good of Dagon and Vaishya!”

“Yet far too often, you insist on taking unilateral actions in direct opposition to the democratic will of the conclave.” Arastina shook her head disapprovingly, “In this situation of extreme uncertainty, we have decided to ensure that you will take no independent action. Three of us will remain with you, at all times. Unless of course, if you have decided to relinquish your position and all its accompanying privileges and responsibilities.”

“You will all regret this mistake.” Zinnridi’s eyes smoldered with barely suppressed rage as he strode towards the exit.

…

“Laura!” Aryan shouted with a voice filled with worry as he shoved his way through the final set of guards. Momentarily, the prince paused in confusion as he eyed the solitary child chained within the chamber. Then he pressed his lips together in determination and strode swiftly towards the imprisoned witch. “Laura, what happened? What did they do to you?” He questioned anxiously.

“Mother! Save me! Mother!” But the witch ignored the prince as she continued her repeated cries for help.

“Laura, you must listen to me. The diviners said that your memories have been…”

As the prince continued to approach the seemingly distracted child, she snapped her head towards him and spat out a mixture of blood and saliva, “Monkey!” She chortled, “Turn into a monkey and untie me before that undead mage returns!”

The prince sighed as he wiped the spittle from his face, “Laura. You don’t have to use any magic to convince me to help you. But you have to promise that you won’t harm any of my people if I release you.”

The faintest flicker of dismay. “Protection? Or insufficient blood?” The child muttered before biting deeply into her tongue and spitting out an even larger glob of magic. But the forewarned prince sidestepped her spell. “Stand still, you Krall forsaken monkey!” The witch cursed in frustration.

Aryan took a final step forward and cracked his hand loudly against her cheek, “Listen to me! You foul tempered, unreasonable, and reckless witch!” He yelled.

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An expression of complete shock. “You hit me… You dared to lay your hand on Princess Laura Alexandra Muriel. I’ll kill you, I feed your ashes to Krall!” The child spat out a deadly stream of power that should have incinerated the prince instantly.

Aryan wiped the ineffective spittle from his face, raised his hand, and slapped her again. “I’m Prince Aryan Ishmael Zimran, remember me? You’re my wife.”

Tears of panicked trepidation. “Huh, a prince? Wife? I’m married?” The child sobbed with disbelief, “Mother, didn’t I promise not to be naughty ever again? Why did you sell me off? I’m only six!”

“Laura, you are sixteen. You came to Vaishya willingly, but you seem to have lost all of your recent memories. And your mother passed on over a decade ago.”

“WHAT!? Mother’s dead? I’ll never believe you!” The child yelled, “She’s the Witch of Andania. The Best.”

“You are the Witch of Andania now. Remember this?” Aryan retrieved the intricately carved Calamity Ring.

“That’s… that’s Mother’s ring. Why do you even have it?” The child gasped, “She’s couldn’t have lost in an honest fight. Who was it? Who betrayed Mother?”

“I don’t know, your mother passed on years before we established formal relations with your kingdom. And King Muriel handed me the ring, moments before he was assassinated.”

“They got Father too? Then who’s the new ruler of Andania?”

“Andania was destroyed by Krall. And you sister was kidnapped by the Saadians during the chaos.” Aryan replied.

“Lost… so it’s all gone. Everything!” She wept bitterly.

“There, there. I’m here now, and everything will be alright.” Aryan held her close to comfort her.

“Don’t touch me, you lecher. I’ll never wear that ring, I’ll never be your thrall!” The child resisted desperately.

The frustrated prince clamped his hands on her shoulders, “Listen to me, Laura! You were already using the ring’s powers, that is why you lost your memories.”

Utter despair filled her tear stricken eyes. “So that was why my magic failed. I understand now, your humble slave will not resist.” She bowed her head lifelessly and sank against the wall.

The weary prince shook his head in exasperation as he released the child from her bindings, “Can you please turn all these animals back into humans?”

“Yes, my Master. Immediately.” The child dashed up to the torturer’s rack, snatched up the closest sharpened instrument, and gashed herself deeply in the arm.

“Stop hurting yourself!” Aryan yelled in anger.

The blade fell from her hand and clattered noisily onto the ground as the trembling child prostrated before the prince, “Your slave seeks forgiveness for failing to comprehend your commands. A witch’s blood magic is most efficiently dispelled with a greater blood magic.”

“Whatever is wrong with you? You are acting strangely, Laura!” Aryan questioned angrily as he lifted the child to her feet.

“My soul is hostage to Calamity Ring. You have fulfilled the conditions of our contract by explaining the situation to me and I may not knowingly refuse any bearer of the ring. I await your orders, Master.” Laura answered dully.

“Damned witches and their bloody cursed artifacts!” Aryan swore loudly in reply as he snatched up her hand and thrust the ring back onto her finger, “How about now? Better?”

Laura stared numbly at the ring on her finger, “You are a super suicidal idiot.” She muttered as eyed the prince calculatedly, “Do you actually understand how much power you just handed back over to me?”

“Yeah, the last time you used it, you almost destroyed the entire known world. Just try not to do it again this time.” Aryan sighed as he rummaged through his pockets, “Here. I’m not sure if this actually helps, but I also retrieved the pieces of your soul gem.”

“A ruby? You must be mistaken.” Laura frowned as she examined the shattered gem, “Mother was the only one with a ruby of this size and clarity. My sister and I? Well we’re both obviously Alexandrite, it’s even in our middle name!”

“You have been using that ruby from when we first met,” Aryan replied, “and that was the gem you mounted on the Calamity Ring. I’m certainly not mistaken.”

Laura frowned, “Even assuming that I believe you, using a ruby as my soul gem would have been grossly inept. How do I even explain this? Pure red rubies are a good fit for Mother because her Talent is rigidly specialized, that’s why she’s literally the best healer in the world, though she’s limited to treating patients one at a time. My Talent isn’t as focused. And by the way, that means that I can literally be great at everything. Hence, that is why the pleochroic properties of Alexandrite are an excellent fit for me. Anyway, the most important takeaway is that while I could have shoved my amazingly adaptable powers into this stone, it would have limited the daily use of my powers to basically…” She closed her eyes in thoughtful contemplation.

“Three hours?” Aryan added silently.

“… a maximum of eight hours theoretically, depending on the specific ruby. And if I was limited to just three hours, then this particular gem must possess an incredible...” her eyes snapped wide open, “Wait a minute, you mean that you weren’t just jesting? That I actually did use this super incompatible thing as my foci?”

“I do not jest.” Aryan stated calmly.

“If that’s the case, it seems that I have a considerable amount of catching up to do. Tell me everything you know!” Laura demanded imperiously.

The prince crossed his arms in refusal, “Didn’t anyone teach you any manners at all?”

The child smirked pridefully as she gestured at the animals milling about behind her, “I’m the crown princess of Andania, and my surviving minions tend to learn their lessons.”

“I’m the prince of Vaishya and your husband, and I’m certainly not one of your servants. You are in Vaishya, so can’t you treat me with a little more respect?” Aryan argued.

“Problem solved.” The witch snapped her fingers and the bare dungeon floor was instantly replaced by a luxuriously soft carpet. And the moldy surroundings were substituted by seemingly endless sections of scholarly literature. “Welcome to the Andanian imperial library, now answer my questions immediately unless you prefer a visit to the Andanian zoo.”

“This does not change anything.” The prince stated defiantly, “And your magic was ineffective, remember?”

“That’s… Well that’s only because I didn’t have a talisman!” Laura blushed in shame as she snatched up the nearest pen and paper and scribbled furiously, “How dare you, I’ll teach you the meaning of obedience! Now tell me everything or I’ll turn you into my puppy!”

“No. Not until you learn your manners.” Aryan countered stubbornly.

“I warned you…” Laura growled childishly as she brandished the talisman at Aryan, “Spend an hour as my cute fluffy puppy and reflect on your actions!” She proclaimed as she activated her brightly glowing charm. Reflexively, the prince of Vaishya braced his arms against his face as they were both surrounded by a blinding whiteness.

A rapid shrinkage in size accompanied by sprouting fiery red fur of incredible fluffiness. Then eager panting and the damp sensation of a tongue against flesh. “Huh? Nothing happened?” Aryan blinked in bewilderment as he stared at the cutest little puppy, perched amidst a jumble of oversized garments.

“Woof. Woof.” The puppy eyed the prince’s picnic basket with undisguised longing.

“I guess that it’s almost time for lunch. And I even brought along all your favorite pastries Laura.” Aryan sighed, “Now sit!”