Unbound Souls [Closed]

[Legokiller]

OOC: Collab with Dyste, Glaristant, and Rohane Alista
Aoife's lab

The weeks since Rosa's disappearance had been quite hard on Aoife, with her seemingly having done everything possible to avoid acknowledging it. She had all but thrown herself into her work, sleeping little and eating less, all as she tried to crack the problem that plagued her father. "Come on…..work damn it…." She muttered as she watched blue bolts of light arc through a black gem mounted above her cluttered desk, causing it to warp until at last a white orb flew from it. The aasimar cheered as she guided the orb to an insert avian construct, the machine stirring to life as the orb entered it. The construct flapped its wings, pausing only to look at Aoife before it took flight. "Yes! About time…" she called out in relief as she slumped back into her high backed chair. She heard a loud knock at the door that her laboratory, causing her to call back, "Yes, who is it?"

"You asked for us," Vlad's voice replied, sounding slightly irritated. "Vladimir and Glacia."

“Yup, it’s us!” Glacia’s giggle could be heard from the other side.

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting you two for at least another hour." Aoife called back, snapping her fingers as the door swung open. The two could see that Aoife's normally spotless workshop was a mess, tomes and half unfurled scrolls covering seemingly every available inch of free space. Partially finished constructs and glyphs were scattered about, leaving Aoife little space to maneuver as she moved to greet her guests. She dismissed her wrinkled cloak, all the while futilely trying to straighten her unkempt hair, "My apologies for the mess, but I…well haven't had much time to clean given all that's been going on."

“You were always rather untidy, weren’t you,” Glacia’s voice said, but her eyes were glowing gold. “Never were the best at cleaning up, Aoife, in spite of how much I tried to get you to do it.”

"Forgive me if I created a little mess for your sake, dad." Aoife sighed, clapping her hands as the lab began to rearrange itself. The previously disorganized tomes and scrolls flew onto several nearby shelves, arranging themselves by subject. The glyphs and constructs bent and reshaped as they moved towards several racks, with any stains or lingering dust disappearing. Aoife's hair straightened before styling into a neat bun, while her robes were restored to their normal state. She smirked as she gave Glacia a hug, "There….now you can't complain about me being untidy."

"Can I ask why you called me here?" Vlad raised an eyebrow, ducking as a tome whizzed right past him. "I nearly didn't come, you know, I'm not a pet."

Glacia, or rather ‘Skathi’, accepted the hug, “I am sorry about last time we met, Aoife, but I do appear to be in control now… yes, what is this about?”

"It is simple, Vlad. I called you here because I need your assistance in a little project of mine." Aoife remarked, giggling at Vlad's remarks, "Oh yes, well…. Remember how you and Glacia were starting to have problems syncing? Well I have been doing some work on a long running project of mine….One which could very well offer you a chance to separate from her."

“... excuse me?” Skathi said. “You mean… separate my soul from Glacia’s?”

"Yes…. Essentially, the ritual I have in mind would sever your soul from hers. Naturally, this would then allow us to transplant into a new body." Aoife said, a slight smile spreading across her face.

"This is absurd," Vlad replied. "And stupid. And moronic. Do you have a single clue how volatile even a single, complete soul is? What are you planning, to kill them both and revive them?"

"Yes, I am well aware of it. Hence why I have been studying every tome and scroll on soul manipulation I have had access to. Not to mention that is why I have requested your presence, Vladimir." Aoife said, sighing as a glyph depicting two orbs orbiting one another appeared above the table, "It's less I plan on killing them and more creating a clean separation. The idea being we keep Glacia's soul in her body while transplanting Dad's into one I have prepared."

"One you have prepared?" Vlad enquired, looking at the orbs. "Why wouldn't you just let the soul create the body? That's what I- nevermind."

"Because Dad's soul has been gone from his original body for so long that it lacks the ability to create one from scratch. It would be one thing if it had only been a few years, but he has been bound to either objects or another for centuries. Not having one prepared for him could lead to his soul dissipating or being lost…." Aoife said, snapping her fingers as one orb was ensconced by the other.

"No it hasn't," Vlad shook his head. "Or, I don't think so?... Aiko lectured me on this stuff, uh. Souls inherently seek a body, and will make it when needed, if I remember correctly… maybe the metaphysics is different here?..." He was muttering to himself at this point, reaching out to poke the orbs.

“I… haven’t had a body to call my own in so long…” ‘Skathi’ looked down to the floor, “I can’t even remember the feeling of my own flesh, speaking in my real voice, swinging a sword as myself. I’m sometimes unsure if I really even exist in my own right anymore…”

"I can't speak for how things were in your world, but this it's the way things are here in Mystria." Aoife said, giving Skathi a sympathetic look as she snapped her fingers. The trio could see what appeared to be an exact duplicate of Skathi in his prime appear on the table, dressed in formal Silverdalean attire. The aasimar gave her father a pained smile as she embraced him, a few years rolling down her cheek, "I am sorry this took so long, but it took me the better part of a century to get everything to proper specification. Still, it was worth it if it means mama, sis, and I can finally have you back as you were."

Vlad poked the body. "Skathi, are you sure? If this thing has any defects, we probably can't fix them."

“I know my daughter can be rash in certain things, but I would think now of all times we would give her all to make sure it is perfect…” he looked it over, “It certainly looks like I did at least…”

"Have you tested the internals?" Vlad asked Aoife quietly, seeming fascinated with the body as he squeezed the palm of it. "How did you do this? That's real skin, isn't it?"

"Yes, I have tested the body down to the tiniest cell. It is in perfect working order but I can't be fully sure until we commence the transfer." Aoife said as brushed her hand over the duplicate, "Essentially, I took the basic building blocks of human body and used a mix of lifeweaving and alchemy to create a duplicate of my father cell by cell.It was agonizingly slow and very difficult, as I had to make sure I didn't make any mistakes. And yes, it is…."

"And this isn't blasphemy of the highest order here?" Vlad frowned. "I mean, this is the kind of thing that would usually get you a visit from Fafnir's Fang, Aoife. In other worlds, I mean…"

The door opened once again as a familiar arctic elven woman strolled down into the laboratory. “Yo! Is this one of your dummy clone projects again Aoife…” Blanca halted her moment and almost dropped a box of goodies for the group. “. . . What is this?”

“Blanca…” Skathi looked at her, “My snowflake… I…” he looked away, ashamed he couldn’t look at his wife with his own eyes, having to use Glacia’s.

“I’m lost for words, my golden knight…” Blanca looked at Glacia, and then back at the fresh cut ‘Skathi’ body.

"Honestly… is it really blasphemy for a Goddess to create life? Even if it is, I don't care if it means getting my father back…." Aoife retorted, her lips forming into a frown, "Eh ..not quite, mama. More of a special project I have been working on…."

“Special project?” Blanca looked at the body and back at Glacia. “Uh, can you explain Aoife?”

"Long story short, this is going to be Dad's new body…..provided Vlad and I can successfully separate his soul from Glacia's." Aoife remarked as she gestured to the body.

“. . . And the soul has to be transplanted inside the body?” Blanca said. “Darlings… You understand this is dangerous right?”

“I… I know, darling,” Skathi said. “... but I can’t keep living like this, and neither can Glacia… it’s affecting both of us, damaging our souls the longer we stay together like this. If this stays like this… I don’t know if we’ll end up being ourselves anymore…”

"Essentially, this is the only real way to ensure that dad is able to remain himself long term. It is dangerous, but between Vlad and I…We should hopefully be able to ensure the procedure's success." Aoife remarked

"Uh, excuse me," Vlad finally interrupted. "Why are you assuming I want anything to do with this? Or that I even could help you? Souls don't even work the same way here, and I was never the expert, Aiko was."

"For the former, I had been willing to bet you would want to ensure Glacia's long term health, particularly given the current issues they just raised. Not only that, but I…was hoping you would be willing to do so out of the goodness of your heart. I mean, can you really just stand by while a family stands to lose their loved one and a good man is set to perish if you do nothing?" Aoife inquired, raising an eyebrow as she wondered his last question, "That may be the case, but you also have a wealth of magical power that can be guided by my knowledge. With my instruction, it is likely you can use that power to ensure a clean severance and transplantation."

“Vlad.” Blanca spoke up. “I understand we’ve met, but is it true that you can aid my daughter? This would mean both the world for us. Alongside Glacia, and my husband as well. The poor man suffered through a century worth in a sword, and potentially years in the poor elf’s body. If you do this, you’ll earn not only my love, but also a boon from a queen.”

"Look, I know we haven't known each other all that long but…." Aoife said, looking at Vlad pleadingly, "But helping me give my dad a new lease on life, would mean everything to me, mama, and my sister's. Hell if need be, I can even throw in a boon of my own if that is what would take to get your help…."

“I… don’t know if I can offer anything myself,” ‘Skathi’ said, “But you’re teaching Glacia now, and you’ve seen what this has been doing to her, haven’t you? If nothing else, can you help her out?”

"I don't particularly need your boons," Vlad muttered, staring at Skathi. "I want to speak to Glacia."

Skathi looked up, as the eyes turned gray once more, Glacia blinking, “Oh… what is it, Vlad?”

"I assume you've been listening in?" Vlad asked her, indicating the body. "This could easily kill you, even if we do figure out something perfect. I won't do it until you show me you recognize the danger."

“I always am aware when Skathi takes over,” Glacia said, frowning; there had been a few times she wished she hadn’t. “But I understand the danger; there’s always a risk. Skathi was right on one thing at least; we can’t live like this any longer. It’s ruining both our lives, and keeping him away from his loved ones. I… want to do this, for both him and me.”

"... We do this my way," Vlad said to Aoife, frowning. "And we do it in the Divine Springs, not here."

"I suppose I can tolerate this change of plans….even if it is a bit of an odd request for you to make." Aoife remarked, narrowing her eyes.

Blanca narrowed her eyes. “Divine Springs?” She looked at Glacia. “Darling? Why are you putting too much faith into a man who disrespected me a number of times? Ahem, your wife. I have heard of what happened with my daughter, and both of you in her realm. This is a massive gamble. “

"That's where my library is," Vlad shrugged. "You want my help? Then I'll need those writs," he turned to Blanca, looking confused. "I don't recall ever even having met you, miss…?"

“Blanca.” Blanca spoke up. “And Skathi is my dear husband. Which, you’re trying to separate his soul from Glacia is that correct?”

“Ahem,” Glacia cleared her throat, “I think perhaps I get a say on where the procedure on me happens? Blanca, I trust Vlad to do his best here, and if he needs his library, we’ll do it there. Please, I trust him. He saw that I was struggling and he took me under his wing, and taught me a lot so far… the last person I really got that with was… well, Skathi, and I owe it to him to try this.”

“I see…” Blanca then turned to Vlad. “Now, I know you need the library for this task… However, is there anything else you need to do in the Divine Springs?”

"I suppose that makes sense to some degree, but….it seems like there maybe more to it. Am I wrong?" Aoife said, giving Vlad a puzzled look.

Vlad sighed, looking back to Glacia. “We might as well have Skathi back for this, then.”

Glacia’s eyes turned gold again, as Skathi spoke. “... what is it, then?”

“The… other week, someone contacted me about separating Skathi and Glacia,” Vlad spoke slowly. “A woman with pink hair who wouldn’t tell me her name. Narris knew her, though, Aoife.”

"Rosa….she contacted you?" Aoife said, her eyes going wide, "What did she say, Vlad? Is she alright?"

“She was covered in black ichor, actually, it was kind of disgusting,” Vlad replied. “Narris told me she’s your helper? What the hell do you have her doing, Aoife?”

"I haven't seen her in weeks, Vlad. Not since she took off from my rear following a….bit of unpleasantness." Aoife said, her tone wavering as she averted her eyes. She mumbled, "Rosa….what are you doing, love …"

“I… I worry I might be responsible in a way,” Skathi sighed, “I… said some things then that I shouldn’t have. But… Roland was like a son to me, and after what happened to my sister, I just couldn’t handle it…”

Blanca frowned deeply. “I’m sorry to hear that… I’m sure we can resolve some form of understanding with Rosa.” She then added. “But now we must go on and take care of this dangerous task first.”

Vlad sighed. “You’re all missing the point. She doesn’t want to see you, I was able to get that much out of her with Narris’ help,” he said, looking right at Aoife. “But she does want to see Skathi and Glacia separated… so I’ve already begun looking. Absolutely no progress, though, so I’ve got nothing to contribute yet.”

“... she said that?” Skathi looked up. “Roland…”

"She…really said that.…." Aoife said, looking dejected as she sighed. The aasimar sulked for a few moments, before giving a pained giggle as she muttered "Clearly….she must be unwell!….or it could be whatever that ichor was causing it..That's all"

“Aoife,” Skathi said sternly, “Look… Roland, Rosa, whatever… it’s clear that we need to talk to them later, but… I think that perhaps I, as in me, not me in Glacia’s body, should do it. Roland always was willing to listen to me, and if Rosa is really him, then I can do it. I will promise you that at least.”

"Yes, she needs a firm talking to…..after I bring her home from whatever trouble she has gotten herself into. After….after I ensure she's alright, I will set everything right….like it used to be…" Aoife said, seemingly only half paying attention to Skathi's words as she performed a few checks on Skathi's body, "Alright …I think we should be good to go …when you are Vladimir. ."

There was no response for a moment before Vlad pointed at himself. “Me? Huh. No one’s called me Vladimir in my entire life, except Narris when she’s angry about something,” he shrugged. “We can go. Are we bringing… that thing… with us?”

"Do you think I would have gone to the trouble of creating it if we weren't bringing it?" Aoife retorted, sealing the body in a scroll alongside a few tomes and gems. She glared at Skathi, the aasimar being able to feel the coldness emanating from her as she spoke, "Please….let me worry about her for now. You…you have done enough for now…."

Skathi said nothing to Aoife, instead looking to Blanca, “Darling… I will come back to you once this is finished.”

Blanca sighed. “Why of course. That being said: once this is completed, I want to speak with Glacia as well. In private.”

“Yes, fair enough,” Skathi said, before giving control back to Glacia, “I’ll be okay, Blanca. I wanna do this to help both of you, and Aoife too.”

"No reason to waste more time," Vlad said, placing his hands on Aoife's and Glacia's shoulders. "The sooner this is finished, the safer Glacia will be," he added, taking a step forward with the two, into nothing.

[Dyste]

(OoC: Collab post with Rohane Alista)

Alvis's Home, Divine Springs

Rosa laid on the bed in the room she had been given, her usually tidy and well made up hair loose and knotted on the pillow. The blankets were messy as well, kicked all over, but Rosa was still warm enough in the arms of the man she was with. She breathed slowly, pulling his arms tighter around her as she woke up, keeping hold of his hands in her own, but it wasn’t enough to keep the small frown off her face.

Alvis yawned as he woke up, the dragon elf giving a little smile at first before noticing her frowning a bit. “Morning, Rosa… is something the matter, there?”

“Oh!” Rosa looked behind her to the dragon elf, her frown changing into a small, strained smile. “Just bad dreams, I think. Nothing to worry yourself about, I promise!”

Alvis frowned a bit himself, “Rosa… look, you asked me if you could stay here, and, well, I’m all too happy to help, but if there’s a problem, we can talk about it. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable here.”

“You’re the nicest, silliest man I’ve ever met,” Rosa giggled, giving Alvis a peck on the cheek, but she followed by looking away. “You really are too nice for your own good, Alvis. I don’t get why you took me in in the first place.”

Alvis sat up on the bed, patting Rosa’s shoulder, “And let you keep wandering by yourself all alone out there? Azata or not, it’s no way to live, you needed a place to stay so I offered one. It’s the least I could do…”

“Alvis…” Rosa flipped over, wrapping her own arms around him too. “Stupid nice, dummy,” she muttered into his chest, sighing. “Do you really want to know? It’s… it might be a lot…”

Alvis patted Rosa’s back, “It’s okay; I’m a pretty good listener, or so I’m told,” he pointed to his elven ears.

Rosa giggled, then began speaking. “You know I am… was... in the service of La- of Aoife?”

“Oh, yeah, Glacia told me all about that,” Alvis said, “She met you in Cohlane a few months ago, if I recall.”

Rosa nodded, sighing again as she buried her face in his chest. “Yeah, we did, at Ivrea’s disaster party,” she said. “Actually, that’s where I got my first glimpse of you, hunk… but the important thing is that I was in Aoife’s service, and have since left. I…” Rosa trailed off as a few tears started to form in her eyes.

Alvis shuddered a bit thinking of that party, it had taken him weeks to fully recover from those potions’ effects. When he noticed Rosa crying, he held the celestial tightly, “It’s okay, I understand, these things happen, Rosa. Sometimes people fight, and need some time apart. Even Glacia and I don’t see eye to eye on everything. But you can stay here as long as you need.”

“No, Alvis… this is worse,” Rosa was still not quite fully crying, but clearly whatever this topic was, it pained her. “I… I found out my whole life has been a lie, Alvis; my memories are fake and I don’t know who I even am!”

“... what?” Alvis’s eyes widened; this was the first time he had heard about it. “It’s fake…? And… you mean Aoife…”

“She created me, Alvis!” Rosa sobbed, screwing her eyes shut and squeezing the dragon elf as hard as she could. “She made me like… like some kind of experiment! And… oh gods, you deserve to know, but I, I don’t want to say it…”

Alvis rubbed Rosa’s back, “... if it’s too much, Rosa, you don’t have to. Regardless of anything, you are still a person, Rosa, with as much right to exist as anyone else. I’m certainly happier having known you.”

“I… Alvis,” Rosa fell silent, still crying, but with a sniffle she started speaking again. “No… no, if we’re… maybe this is a thing, I don’t know, you deserve to know what she did, what I am. Just promise you won’t… you won’t hate me or anything?”

“I… alright, then, Rosa,” Alvis nodded slowly, “Tell me as much as you’re comfortable with saying.”

“She made me, Alvis… out of the soul of someone she knew. Out of her dead husband,” Rosa mumbled. “I’m a freak.”

Alvis understood this concept a bit; as a demigod, he had a celestial serving him who was made from the soul of one of his former fellow knights. But she had been able to retain more of her sense of self than this, and it wasn’t him who had chosen to do that to her. “Hey, come now… no, what’d I say? You have as much a right to live as anyone. I don’t think you’re a freak, Rosa. What she did… I can’t condone it, but it doesn’t mean you’re worth any less as a result of it.” He would have to talk with Aoife later about this…

Rosa sobbed some more, and when she finally responded, it took her a few minutes to collect enough breaths to make any sense at all. “I’m a freak! Everything! Everything I thought… I was, who I am, is fake… And the dreams, Alvis! Of, of people I’ve never even heard of, of events that I don’t remember!” She moved one of her hands to her head, gripping it as she began to hyperventilate. “Oh, gods, Alvis, who even am I? What other lies have I been living? I… I thought she loved me!”

“I… I don’t know what you’re experiencing there, Rosa, but trust me, I’ll help you however I can,” Alvis said, a pained expression on his face. Even if Aoife didn’t intend for it to go this way, she still had a lot to answer to, “I can’t think that everything in your life is a lie, Rosa; everything you’ve done like this still matters. And… I don’t know what Aoife was thinking, but there are people who care about you.”

A few moments emphasized by heavy, shaky, breaths later, Rosa returned to wrapping Alvis in a hug, her breathing slower but still unsteady. “Alvis… you have no idea how much this means to me,” she spoke softly. “I… thank you for letting me be here, for… for caring about me. I don’t… I need to find out who I am, but I can’t see her, Alvis, she’d just… she’d lie to me, I know she would.”

“You’re safe here,” Alvis held Rosa softly, helping her breathe, “If you don’t want to see her, then we don’t have to. We’ll figure this out together, at your own pace, Rosa.”

"Thank you," Rosa replied, her breathing slowly settling. "I… I'll stay. You're so good to me, and… maybe it'll help…"

“I hope it will, Rosa,” Alvis said, a soft smile emerging. “Now, c’mon, I bet you’re starving. I can have Valentia cook up something nice for us. Also I’ll get some coffee for you; Glacia always makes sure we have the best available.”

"I'm a bit of a snob on coffee," Rosa laughed weakly, sitting up finally. "Oh… I never knew why I was so demanding about it… that must be something from…"

“Hey, now, let’s eat first,” Alvis said, standing out of bed. “We can talk more about it then, alright? If you’re anything like a certain person I know, some caffeine will help you out.”

"It'll make me feel like me, maybe," Rosa agreed, standing slowly. "Ok, Alvis, you're right, I need to eat and… maybe just not think about stuff for awhile," she sighed, looking at Alvis. "You're not going to let me go back to the Abyss to fight again, are you?"

“Absolutely not,” Alvis said. “You need to relax a bit. Thankfully you chose a good place to do it; I even have a smaller spring here in case you need it.”

"I guess it would have been too much to hope for," Rosa sighed, putting on a robe and taking Alvis' hand. "But I'm still taking that food and coffee you promised me."

“I insist on it,” Alvis took Rosa’s hand, leading her out of the bedroom. “I’d be a pretty poor host if I didn’t!”

[Rohane Alista]

Written with Dyste, Silverdale, and Glaristant

Vlad, Glacia, and Aoife stepped out, or in, entering a library already filled wall to wall with books, scrolls, and tablets, some magical items locked in display cabinets, a few of the tomes themselves also locked away. "Welcome to my collection, again," Vlad said, opening his arms, then pointing at a messy desk, volumes already stacked on it. "You've seen most of this before, of course, but now we get the chance to go through it all. That's the work I've already done, which has led to absolutely nothing useful."

In one of the nearby lines of the library, Yuki was careful to examine each title and glance over one of the tablets. That was until the sound of the arrival of the others that halted her curiosity. “Ah, you all returned. Rather sudden I must say… unless there is one tome here you need.” Yuki said..

“Oh, hi, cuddlefox,” Glacia said, looking more emotionally drained than usual, “Been looking through a lot of the books already I take it?”

“Why yes. I was hoping by chance there’d be a new spell unfamiliar to myself, Glacia.” Yuki frowned as she approached her to give a small hug. “Is everything alright?”

“Well, um…” Glacia looked at the others, “You see… we’re researching a few things… Aoife had an idea and we were trying to see if we could make it work…”

"Everything is fine, Yuki. We are just here to take care of a few matters. "Aoife said succinctly, trying to hide her growing awe at the library.

"We're going to separate Skathi from Glacia, if we can figure out how," Vlad added bluntly. "You should help, if you're going to peruse my library anyways."

“What?” Yuki stood in place as she gazed upon the group. “Is that even possible?”

"Theoretically it is possible…At least based on a few experiments I have performed. Mind you, it's definitely not without risk…" Aoife admitted, averting her eyes.

“Risk? Aoife, you must understand this isn’t a simple unbonding of chemistry here. It is a whole fused soul of a deity that is near… unheard of in all the literature in Silverdale. Now, you plan to put Skathi into a soul jar if you’re successful?” Yuki asked.

"Some artificial body," Vlad shuddered at the memory. "I've already given them the spiel about how dangerous this is, they don't care. Or maybe they just don't believe me, actually…"

“Yuki…” Glacia’s eyes flashed gold, “You know that the longer Glacia and I have been like this, it’s… affecting both of us. We’re beginning to lose our sense of self. I’m having trouble at times even remembering which memories are mine and which are hers… we have to do something.”

“Why yes. You can’t put away the sword any longer.” Yuki huffed. “Honestly, I thought you two might’ve learned to share but… Predictably your personalities are clashing far more often. I suppose it is the time to end it.”

"Yuki….If there had been another choice, I would have taken it….but there wasn't. We either do this or we risk the permanent loss of both Dad and Glacia." Aoife said coldly before looking to Vlad, "I will get the body prepared for the ritual. Just let me know what you need after that…"

"Help searching. You all have spells to let you read anything magical, right?" Vlad asked moving over and unlocking a case with a pair of bifocals in it. "If not, these will help. Haven't found anything it doesn't translate yet… which means now I will," he sighed.

“Why of course. If it revolves around soul manipulation, then necromancy is the department for the task. It must be a powerful spell. No one easily replicated an unreliable wish spell.” Yuki said. A wish spell in her mind was too dependent on the wording, and given it was a god: very dangerous. A mere split of the whole body or one of the souls flung elsewhere is a troublesome issue.

"Well, I'm a ritual specialist, powerful and difficult is par for the course… are you sure, Yuki? I don't don't have necromancy manuals, but…" Vlad frowned. "I don't like them."

"She is right….We might need to rely on some elements of the necromantic arts to separate their souls safely. I have some tomes on them that we can use if need be. Though, if you do not wish to use such methods…there might be another way." Aoife said, looking to Yuki, "if memory serves, you are quite skilled with Life magic, are you not?"

“Why of course. It is more dependent on other devices to do so, but I am familiar with it. You believe it’d provide an alternative?” Yuki asked.

"Possibly….At the very least, it might provide a somewhat less dangerous means of separating them. At the very least, it would be worth looking into." Aoife responded.

"Right then," Vlad said, walking over to one stone tablet, then across the room to another. He stood both up on the floor, lightly touching them, where they started to glow and grow. Soon, there were two stone doors to nowhere, one with a skull emblem and the other with a dagger. "Glacia, Yuki, you two decide if you'd like to help me or Aoife. You can investigate the necromantic manuals, Aoife," Vlad pointed to the door with the skull. "I'll take a look at the magical knick knacks I've got, see if there's anything useful."

“I… I think I’ll help you, Vlad,” Glacia said, seemingly a little uneasy around Aoife at the moment. “I’m familiar with such things, handled quite a few myself,” she glanced at her side, the sword that caused all of this trouble in the first place hanging from her belt.

“Then I’ll aid in Aoife’s search.” Yuki said.

"Good. Try not to break anything, alright? There's at least one jar in there that I'm pretty sure is the trapped soul of some kind of super evil djinn, and I don't think any of us want that problem," Vlad informed them, opening the artifact door. "After you, Glacia."

“Thanks…” Glacia floated in slowly, looking a bit apologetically at Yuki, and avoiding Aoife’s gaze.

Yuki gave an odd look at Glacia and then turned to Aoife. “Is there anything wrong? I thought Glacia would be more happy to finally kick Skathi out of her body.”

"It is….a long story, Yuki. Let's just leave it at this, she's not exactly thrilled with a few revelations about a mistake I made…." Aoife said, shaking her head as she watched Glacia and Vlad depart.

“A mistake?” Yuki frowned. “I haven’t seen Glacia severely hurt like this before… It’s that bad?”

"Yuki….yes. I broke several taboos in an experiment for the sake of someone I cared about. Dad…and Glacia found out, and let's just just say the fallout cost me a good deal, both in reputation and emotional terms.” Aoife muttered, not looking at the kitsune as she led her into the necromantic section of the library.

“Taboos?” Yuki shook her head. “Look, we can discuss this at a later time. We’ve to keep our focus on the task at hand. Unless…” Yuki wasn’t sure what to ask next. This is far too uncanny for this to happen for both parties here. “You want to address it now.”

"Yuki…. Let's just focus on the job, okay? We have to keep our minds occupied for the time being without getting distracted by my transgressions…" Aoife responded, beginning her search of the library.

------

Behind the artifact door, Glacia found rows and rows of shelves, many of them with glass separating their contents from anyone inside, most locked, some magically and some not. Vlad closed the door behind them as he entered, putting his hands on his hips, looking up to where the shelving finally reached the ceiling well above them. “Well, welcome to the repository. A lot of this stuff isn’t anything significant… small Ioun stones, or pearls of power, you know, simple stuff, but some of it’s pretty special.”

“Ah, I see…” Glacia looked around, “Yeah, I suppose a lot of this isn’t too different to what I have myself, but I can sense a lot of auras that are quite strong. Don’t have as much of that aside from this sword,” she glanced at her rapier.

“That sword is pretty strong on its own,” Vlad replied, leading her deeper into the shelves which seemed to just keep continuing. “If we’re separating your souls, I don’t think a pearl of power is going to have what we need. Let’s take a look at some of the more dangerous things here. I doubt I need to tell you, but be careful what you touch. Even I don’t know what some of these things do, I don’t even remember where I got a few of them.”

“Fair enough, a lot of them must be from a long time ago,” Glacia said. “And I know it won’t be some run-of-the-mill item. If it was, Aoife would’ve figured it out already. All this trouble caused just because of one stupid mistake…”

“Stupid mistake?” Vlad asked, grabbing a board from one of the shelves and setting it on the floor. “Step on. What kinda mistake we talking about? ‘Tried to kill your lovers dad’ bad?”

Glacia stopped floating, stumbling slightly before stepping on the board, “Well, I suppose it’s more two things, but I found this sword when I was on a mission with Alvis and Yuki as part of the royal knights. I… don’t recall the full details, but I think my previous sword was damaged at this old battleground, and I needed a replacement, so I suppose I noticed this in the ruins and picked it up and… well, my headspace got a new roommate, so to speak. Just my luck, huh?”

Vlad twisted his wrist, causing the board to rise and begin moving forward much faster than either of them were walking before. “Hmm. You know what I’m going to say about picking up weapons you don’t fully understand, right? I’ve given Ivrea this exact same lecture.”

“Yeah, I know,” Glacia said, “I was lucky enough that this one had a soul that was more benevolent, but it didn’t mean we exactly got along well at first. Skathi had been trapped in there for who knows how long, and he lashed out; it was only due to the intervention of the queen that we were able to work it out. Since then, he mostly had a passive role unless I was being too indecisive or careless… until, well, that’s where the second mistake comes in.”

"And what was this second mistake?" Vlad asked, raising an eyebrow at the woman.

“Well, I told you a little about what I was doing before we encountered you, right? Some friends of mine were dealing with a Demon Lord’s forces, and on a mission, we met one of her generals, a Marilith by the name of Morothi. Turns out, she had slain Skathi’s son in the past, and in a moment of rage, he managed to take over for the killing blow… and we absorbed some power at that exact time. It strengthened us, but it seemed that because Skathi was inside my head at the time, it had forced the soul to remain there instead of going back into the sword like it normally did. And that’s how, well, this situation happened. It seemed fine for a while, but the longer we’ve been like this, the more problems we’ve been having…”

"Huh," Vlad replied, looking forward and guiding them through a gap in the shelves. "That's an odd one. Never really liked intelligent weapons, much less soul-bound ones, but I'm surprised that's possible. You'd think that the physical vessel wouldn't be able to contain… but maybe that's why it eats away at the personality?" The man began muttering to himself before turning to Glacia. "Before we separate you, there are a few things I'd like to check out. Hopefully nothing, but I wonder if your souls aren't… combining into one. And if not, why they aren't."

“Yeah, that’s probably why it’s affecting both of us in such a way,” Glacia said, “I don’t think my mind was meant to handle two souls like this… but alright, it’d be good to check that.”

"No one's mind is meant to house two souls," Vlad replied. "I mean, the metaphysics are different here, Aoife tells me, but I can't believe that one vessel can hold two different essences without mixing. That's just… well, that would be pretty ridiculous, I think, but I'm really just theorizing here."

“Yeah, for the first while, that’s what I thought was happening,” Glacia said, “But maybe it’s not? I don’t know for certain, I might’ve learned a lot of things but this is outside my field of expertise.”

"What we really need is some kind of, and I can't believe I'm saying this, god of the dead to answer these things," Vlad sighed, watching the shelves fly past, and slowing their flight. "Preferably not the soul eating kind."

“Um… I kind of know one of those?” Glacia said with a smile. “Her name’s Kyara, and she is the other goddess that lived in that realm that Cohlane was. She’s actually quite nice in spite of the job she does.”

"Ugh," Vlad shuddered. "Keep her away from me, please. I have yet to meet one who didn't think it was my time to join her eternal embrace… actually, all the death gods I've ever heard of are women. Odd."

“Fair enough, I can talk to her myself about this sort of thing,” Glacia giggled, “She cares about me a lot. But in the meantime, I suppose we should still check out and see if there’s anything here that can help us?”

"We should, and we're at the relevant portions of my vault," Vlad said, setting them down again and stepping off the board. "This is where I keep the really scary or powerful stuff. That," he pointed to a box covered in wards and cold iron chains. "Has the still beating heart of a high vampire in it, as an example."

“Geez,” Glacia shuddered, “Yeah, I can see why you don’t want most people to get into here,” she said after she stepped off the board. “Even for masters of magic like Yuki or Aoife, this’d be a lot to deal with…”

"Even I don't usually come back here," Vlad replied. "A lot of these aren't my trophies, but things people gave to me to protect. A few," he pointed to a yellow tome with a lightning bolt on it. "I decided were too dangerous for their current worlds, and took them. That tome has a spell in it that can instantly kill nearly anything that isn't immune to electricity."

“Yeah, no wonder it’s locked away like this,” Glacia stayed away from it. “Considering you’re okay with Alv learning how to use Fafnir’s Fang, if an item’s here I know it’s best not to touch unless it’s absolutely necessary…”

"Oh, well, Fafnir's could've been back here too, but it's a little lacking in the 'instant doom' thing all on its own," Vlad said, seemingly enjoying himself as he pointed to another object, a bronze dagger with a handle shaped like a dragon, the eyes two ruby's that seemed to follow them around. "But they're not all that kind of thing. That dagger is key to a really powerful ritual, and as far as I can tell doesn't do a lot outside of that, but it's definitely worth enough to crash the local economy."

“Ah, I see…” Glacia had heard something about a ritual involving a dagger from Aoife, could that be it? “Either way probably not something you want people to get access to in case they do find out about the ritual?”

"Exactly. And, well, it does whisper things to whoever is wielding it," Vlad sighed. "Lots of stuff does that. It's why I don't like intelligent items, too many of them end up being insane artifacts that want to destroy stuff."

“Yeah, I hear about that often,” Glacia sighed, “I guess I was lucky that Skathi wasn’t like that? His soul was put into a weapon to help fuel the ambitions of this necromancer named Forgemaster, I fought him in Hell just before Blossos in fact. But his was the soul of a noble knight, not some demon or the like; the souls in the blades that lich made were victims more than anything.”

"I'm not saying your roommate is evil," Vlad said. "Just that a decent number of intelligent items are, or become so. Hmm, there is the guillotine…" Vlad stopped in front of a fairly normal looking guillotine, except that it was a deep blue and had a silver V emblazoned on it. "You know, I don't remember where I got this, but I do remember being told it was for soul manipulation."

“Hm?” Glacia looked it over. “It might be helpful, then, but… a guillotine, really? I’m not expected to have my head chopped off to use this, right?”

"Uh, no, it draws out the soul and then cuts it directly, I think," Vlad frowned. "It might actually have been meant to ensure soul fusion, actually, now that I think about it more. That's kinda the opposite of what we're looking for, huh?"

“Yeah, we’re trying to separate souls, not fuse them,” Glacia sighed. “Dunno if something like this could do that…”

"Well it isn't like there's that many positive soul-changing things, that's constant across worlds," Vlad shook his head, walking further in and picking up a silver sword. "I recall this sword was once used to trap a fey lord inside it, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say 'into another sword' isn't on the table?"

Skathi spoke up, having remained dormant for most of this, “Absolutely not. Not another blade. I’m not even sure I want to look at another one if we’re successful; Glacia can keep Tizona, even, she uses it better anyways. But I can’t go back to that, I nearly went insane from being in one.”

"Right, fair enough," Vlad set the sword back down. "I do… have one more suggestion, but you won't like it."

“... what is it?” Skathi said, looking uneasy.

Vlad silently led them to an area heavily protected by wards, removing them one by one to reveal a small silver orb sitting on a pillow, looking entirely ordinary. "So this is… I don't even know how to explain everything about it. It's called an Annulus. It's incredibly dangerous."

“... and what does it do?” Skathi asked. “How would this help?”

"I don't know the specifics, but it's capable of tearing apart a god… at the soul level," Vlad swallowed. "Obviously that's bad, unless… unless we wanted to tear apart a divine soul, of course."

“I…” Skathi frowned. “I suppose that could be possible, but I would worry about Glacia’s well-being in that case. I wouldn’t want to cause her own demise just to get me out of here…”

"I'm not exactly enthused by it either," Vlad said. "This thing is locked up for a reason, you know? I'm pretty sure I know less than half of what it does, and I'm convinced it's the most dangerous thing to exist. I only… I only keep it in case the Void is taking over and can't be stopped."

Glacia had taken control, looking sympathetic, “Vlad… look, if it’s too much, then, well… we could learn to manage this? I don’t really want to lose who I am, but if I’m endangering people as a result of this, I can’t let them do that for my sake.”

"I think we both know Aoife will stop at nothing, Glacia," Vlad replied. "I didn't let her see my artifacts for a reason, if she knew what was in here, who knows what she might try to use? But I hate feeling useless too, you know, I want to help you, and not just because that Rosa girl asked."

Glacia’s eyes watered up a bit, “... thanks, Vlad… I know I’ve been asking a lot out of you recently, but I really have enjoyed learning from you and all that. I know Aoife is trying to do the right thing, too, but I know sometimes people go to drastic means in order to do so…”

"Yeah, I know, trust me," Vlad scowled, but he didn't seem upset at Glacia, or even Aoife. "Maybe the other two will have more luck, but if they don't, then we'll get to my real expertise. It could take months, but I can invent a ritual, probably with help, that will handle it. The risk to you will be extreme either way. Both of you."

“I understand…” Glacia stopped for a moment and stood in silence, before speaking again, “... we both do. Either way, doing nothing we know won’t be good for either of us, so if we can find a way… I’m sure we will. I do believe in all of you.”

"I'm pretty sure I've caused nothing but disasters since I arrived, so let's hope I can break that streak," Vlad muttered, resealing the Annulus. "I don't need another fuck up on my conscience, I've got enough for several lifetimes."

“In that case, let’s get going, and hope that they had more luck,” Glacia smiled. “... either way, thanks for letting me look at this. In spite of their danger, it was still good to learn about them. You’ve seen so much over your life, and this seemed like just a little look at that…”

"Well, maybe when you're both free, I can show you the fun section instead," Vlad replied, leading them back to the board. "There's this sword in there that does absolutely nothing in terms of damage, but sprays laughing gas when it hits things, it's a great prank!"

Glacia giggled as she sat back on the board, “Oooh, I look forward to it! It’d be nice after everything to just have a little fun like that.”

Vlad stepped on the board, once again lifting them and flying back towards the entrance. "Good. Something to look forward to will make this all a lot more bearable. Don't worry, Glacia, none of us are giving up. Not on you either, Skathi."

------

The necromantic wing of the library looked fairly similar to the rest, but runes in the floor slowly pulsed positive energy across the entire collection, and instead of the soft lights of the previous collection, the ones here seemed almost to be miniature suns. Several flowing water features rounded it off, confirming something: this place was designed to be hell on earth for anything undead that did manage to get in.

“Impressive. I wonder how much of a mage or a collector Vladimir truly is…” Yuki mused. She admits that he had an impressive hoard. One well maintained of a true dragon. She wondered if there were other secrets, like one with some demonic crystals to aid in transformation, or something else entirely. “Now then, let’s see if we can find the right book. Nothing elementary, but far advanced.”

"From what I understand, he does specialize in some rather esoteric forms of magic…particularly rituals. Yet with that being said, I would guess much of this is merely a collection. Nonetheless, it is highly impressive….even moreso than anything I have seen," Aoife said, seeming rather impressed as she perused the collection. Though she would not say it, she was quite envious of Vlad's library. Between its size and decor, it was almost a paradise for one such as her or Yuki, "Hrm…It might not hurt for us to start to look for tomes dealing with the creation of phylacteries or soul transference. Then we can expand our search from there…."

“Soul transference.” Yuki insisted. “Let’s start from there first.” She then paused as she looked at one of the books and then turned around at Aoife. “Well, here is one loose book from Thanatos himself.” She then took the book and opened up the skull imbued tome. “I doubt this would help in our search, but the lich is quite a master. If toyed with the wrong beings to lead to his creation. However, his ritual to resurrect an entrapped deity showed us that maybe there is something here…

”Go ahead and grab it, Yuki. At the very least, it can provide us with a potential foundation to build up on." Aoife said as she pulled a black grimoire bearing a red stone in its cover. A small smile appeared on her face as she delved into it's contents, "Ah, it's not quite what we need….but this tome does have the instructions I need for creating a phylactery powerful enough to hold a deity's soul. Could prove useful in holding dad while we transfer him…" Aoife muttered

“That powerful?” Yuki asked. “I know for this passage here is a similar soul transfer… However this one is far sinister. Oh poor girl…” She then sighed. “It reads ‘to resurrect a god or allow possession with complete dominance is one to mold the host to its ideal. Pure at heart. For Garyx I believe the hatred, destruction, and want to end all matters of life is needed. Lastly is at the epicenter of one’s demise.’” Yuki read. “Not related to what we required the most. That being said: what does the phylactery creation require?”

"It is a powerful spell, yes…..Dangerous if performed improperly, but nonetheless useful in the right hands. Particularly the one we will be building…." Aoife muttered as the grimoire hovered before as she retrieved a purple tome from her satchel. The tome emanated a faint blue glow as Aoife read through, with her occasionally consulting the grimoire. A small smile spread across her face, as she closed both books, "As intrigued as I am about that particular spell, it is fortunately not the one we will be using. Though …I do ask you make note of it for future research. At any rate, we will need a few a large and rather durable soul gem, a white gen, and some arcane essence as well."

“Right…” Yuki caused as she looked at Aoife and pondered on the various items. “Those items might help in our case… Although I am concerned that there is something bogging you down to handle the ritual required for this task. Is there anything troubling you?”

"Heh….Of course not…nothing is bothering me, Yuki. " Aoife scoffed as she looked through a few notes scattered about on a nearby table, she growled as she searched through the notes, "Ugh …damn it…This would be so much easier if I had…Rosa here…"

“You can’t say that and then admit that Rosa is your main concern.” Yuki sighed. “Look, what’s the issue with the lass?”

"Fine….if you must say know, I….may or may not have upset her while back….” Aoife said with a huff as she set the tomes aside on a nearby table, “She did not take it well and ended up fleeing my realm to who knows where. Between being worried over and this…..I…I just can’t get her out of my head.”

“From your statement, I can tell you definity upset the lass. I know Azatas can be quite chaotic in nature and fickle, but what happened here?” Yuki asked.

"She found out that I had taken the soul of my deceased husband and had…..Well I had used it as a base for her. She took that to mean I was just using her as a replacement for him…even though I had truly loved her." Aoife said, sighing.

Yuki’s ears twitched as she stood there. As if to hide her obvious stunned expression. At least before it broke down into a simple ‘what’ face. “Let me get this straight: you used your husband’s soul to create Rosa as your new lover?”

"Not exactly….I had been trying to bring him back in a new body, but I made a mistake in the transposition process. Essentially, I had misaligned one of the crystals used in the process, which led to the creation of new persona from Roland's soul." Aoife said, sighing.

“Aoife… Look, I’ve performed a similar action when I created Vanna the angel from a soul of what appeared to be a druid and she has a lot of former ties. So much that it is quite surprising.” Yuki said. “But… Did Rosa, that’s her name right? Did she discover her memories from Roland?”

"No, she….had heard me confessing to my father what I had I done and why I hadn't gone about it the proper way. She took that to mean she was either a cheap replacement or as a failed experiment…" Aoife sighed, shaking her head as she leaned against the table.

“So Rosa interpreted that somehow she is a replacement goldfish.” Yuki let out a shrug. Not amused by the reaction of Rosa. “I am not sure if the proper way is to use divine abilities of ours to reborn him into something else. There is always something that may linger or morph into another persona. That said you did this out of love right?”

“It probably wasn’t, but at the time I didn’t care…..but in retrospect it was something I should have been far more careful with. Had I been….none of this would have happened.” Aoife said, shaking her head as she let out a long sigh. She nodded at Yuki’s comment, “Yes….it was my last ditch attempt to bring him back, even if only for a time. That being said, i still love her even if she didn’t turn out the way I had hope.”

“Look… This creation is rather… Well complicated as we both figured out. However, there might need some time and a… good explanation and an apology for it. Just remember that if there are traces of Roland within her, then in both hearts and minds, you two still care for each other. Besides, I think Skathi could understand once we finally. I mean FINALLY. Separate him and Glacia apart.” Yuki said.

“I know…..and I fully plan on making amends for what I’ve done to her once we are reunited. Yet with that being said, I will need to determine where they disappeared to first….” Aoife said, giving a sigh as she gathered some tomes.

“You can stop sighing now.” Yuki booped Aoife on the nose. “Now, what spell and material can help you discover them? I am sure there are a number to find them. Besides the usage of familiars and servants to help.”

“Yuki, I guarantee you there will be times when you do quite a bit of sighing yourself…” Aoife muttered, opening one of the tomes as she read an incantation, all the while brilliant purple lights burst forth that began to dart through the library.

“Look Aoife, I have done my fair share of sigh many times when someone brings up my involvement in the civil war and being on the wrong side of history. It stings, and usually the elderly or long living folks.” Yuki then crossed her arms.

“Yuki, just wait until you reach my age…..You will be quite amazed at how much you will have ended up regretting or wishing you could alter, if only so it can bring the slightest bit of relief to your mind. At any rate, I think i see something that might help us…” Aoife muttered as she followed two of the orbs, withdrawing a purple tome bearing the title, On Soul Mechanics and Arrays. She skimmed through the tome before adding it to the pile, all the while a slight smile formed on her lips, “This should be good enough to get us started…..”

“Great: more guilt over the ages.” Yuki retorted. She then looked at the book, and turned back to Aoife. “Right, this should be a start.”

The magic seemed to trigger a change in the library, slow to be felt at first, until a bookshelf just beyond the two suddenly lifted, twirled, and began to shift positions rapidly, more and more shelves and books flying across the room as the floor became a wall, the flowing water flowing up nothing into the air. The room as a whole began to twist into impossible, unnatural shapes, even as the door back to where they came began to slowly shrink and slide upwards, off its pedestal.

“Oh great. Did we trigger a security alarm?!” Yuki said.

"By Chione's tits….what a nuisance .." Aoife grumbled, casting time stop around the pair before grabbing the books, "It's quite likely we did….Come on we need to find a way out of here….."

“No kidding!” Yuki replied. She picked up the aasimar woman and began to dash forward to… anywhere but right at that spot!

Aoife for her part did what she could to maintain the spell, but felt the crushing weight of the counterspells and security arrays in the library slowly breaking it.

The door continued to shrink and move, now slowly floating directly above the two. The room continued to curve in on itself, bookshelves colliding with crunches and then seeming to nearly fuse, the books still on them flying off, new ones arriving, a bright ball of light growing steadily right in the middle of the room.

Yuki tried to use her scythe on one hand to slice and dice various books, and use a blade to move past one of the domino rows of books. She then looked at Aoife. “QUICK, use teleportation spell or something to give us a better distance!”

“Right….just hold on..” Aoife said calmly, muttering a few words as she and Yuki began to ascend towards. The two rapidly closed the distance between the door and themselves, with Aoife latching onto its handle as she gave a hard yank, muttering, “Come on….open.”

The door wasn't locked, apparently, opening easily as Aoife yanked on it, nearly sending her spiraling back to the floor. It didn't stop shrinking even when open, and was starting to get to the point that fitting through might take a little bit of flexibility already. On the other side, though, the two could see, almost as if through water, Vlad and Glacia leaving the artifact storage.

“Come, we have to go….” Aoife said as her and Yuki’s forms began to shrink, with their heights being cut in half by the time the process finished. The aasimar smirked as she pulled Yuki through the door, easily slipping through with their reduced heights.

Yuki quickly slipped through and tried to help Aoife to get closer to the two by a long sprint. “Come on, we're almost there!”

Something propelled the two as they exited the room, adding momentum to their escape. The end result was Aoife and Yuki being nearly spat out onto the floor in front of the other two, to the sound of a barely suppressed snort from Vlad. "I see someone tried to use magic to grab things in there, hmmm?"

“You should be more careful in there,” Glacia giggled, “Both of you are too used to your own libraries.”

“It ain’t booby trapped.” Yuki huffed. “Make it easier so visitors don’t get killed.”

"Aye….I can understand the need for some defenses to dissuade intruders, but I have to say….That was quite excessive, far too much so to be reasonable.” Aoife huffed, nodding in agreement at Yuki’s remark.

“There’s a lot of dangerous things here, after all,” Glacia remarked, “No doubt Vlad is extra careful, it is part of his hoard, after all.”

“The traps are the more dangerous thing than Ivrea trying to get her hands on a forbidden book.” Yuki remarked. “Anyway… Aoife, you want to show what we found?”

"Ladies, I have things in here that could kill any of us in a second or worse," Vlad scolded. "It is far more imperative that I protect those sorts of things at any cost than I make the most dangerous parts of my collection safe."

“Fine….I suppose it is understandable given the nature of your collection, but even still it does not mean it wasn’t annoying.” Aoife snorted, placing the tomes and couple of soul gems she had retrieved from the library before Vlad and Glacia, “It’s a bit of a long shot, but we found a few volumes in the library that speak of a ritual that would allow us to separate Skathi from you, Glacia. It would essentially involve using a mix of a modified necromantic array to split his spirit from yours with a precise application of power, after which we would capture his soul in one of these gems.”

"I hate necromancy," Vlad mumbled, looking through the largest tome. "I can do this ritual, but I don't have everything I need. First off, I need a ritual knife that's appropriate… and a better place to store the soul than one of those gems, preferably."

“I think I might have something that could suit our purposes, but I am afraid I may not be able to help you with the ritual knife…..at least not without some time..” Aoife remarked.

“Hm?” Glacia looked over, “Why not? Is there a problem, Aoife?”

“It’s more just, I’d rather not create such an implement again….not after what happened with Rosa.” Aoife said, averting her eyes.

"Ah, that," Vlad nodded. "Yeah, by everything I've heard you really fucked up, Aoife. Better to let me handle the ritual knife, then."

“I suppose that is one way of phrasing it….” Aoife said, rolling her eyes, “Might I suggest you don’t speak on matters you don’t have a full understanding of?”

“C’mon, you two,” Glacia sighed, “We’ll just have to handle all this differently this time.”

“I advise we avoid pile up on Aoife.” Yuki said. “She’ll solve her own love and creation troubles in the near future. Now, we require all focus on separation of Skathi and Glacia, and not cause a great irreversible disaster.”

"Yeah, thanks, I can handle a ritual," Vlad rolled his eyes, looking through the book further. "I'll need to gather materials for this, but I can make the knife… there isn't a forge here, right? I don't think I've ever seen one…"

“Hm, I guess there isn’t…” Glacia considered that. “Perhaps we should build one? It might come in handy in case we need to modify our weapons or create new ones…”

"Yes. I'll need it to make the knife, and not to brag," Vlad began to brag. "But I'm the best weaponsmith I've ever known, and that's across multiple worlds. I can make any kind of weapon. Even guns!"

“Aoife.” Yuki made a sly grin. “Perhaps you can request Sharena to show off her gunsmithing off to Vlad. That being said.” She looked at Vlad. “Hmm, I hope you’re ready to show off your skills soon.”

"As soon as I have a forge. Don't believe me? I made Foresight myself, you know," Vlad patted the hilt of the sword. "But I can make something for someone else first, if you need proof."

“A scythe if you’re willing.” Yuki said.

“Oooh, how about a new rapier?” Glacia asked. “I mean, I’m not sure what’ll happen with Skathi’s old one once this is all done…”

“I suppose I could use a new rapier, provided you don’t mind.” Aoife remarked.

"... right. Well, if that's what it takes, I can make those thing for you, too a quality you won't believe. After my forge is set up," Vlad said, slamming the book closed. "For now… we have no reason to stay here, right?"

“Right, we can help set it up, right Yuki?” Glacia said.

“Yes, we can.” Yuki said.

"Good! Well, come on, let's leave my forbidden artifacts alone now, shall we?" Vlad asked rhetorically as he ushered the group out of his library. "And you better not try and sneak in here, anyone, I'll know. A dragon always knows."

[Glaristant]

Collab with Dyste and Rohane Alista

It had taken a few days, but Vlad finally was standing at a proper smithy for the first time in quite a while. It was open to the rest of the Divine Springs, but otherwise had everything he needed or wanted for any kind of smithy work he might feel inclined to. It had almost entitling been provided by his hosts here in the realm, most notably Glacia, but there were still a few things he had refused to let them provide. Chief among these were his tools, specially collected across his long life to better allow him to manipulate anything he worked with, the actual forge he would work with, specifically enchanted to withstand the hottest fires, though if he was honest, Vlad wasn't sure just how hot it could actually handle, and the anvil, a sentimental piece from Izumi that had always served him well.

All together, it formed into a formidable place to create weapons, armor, jewelry, or anything else one might need made of metal. Of course, Vlad would say he would never make simple things like door hinges or nails due to pride, but the truth was that as experienced as he might be at creating baubles and implements of war, he had never learned to create simple household necessities. Thankfully, he had no need to make any now; his first project would be three special weapons, two rapiers and a scythe, and then he would move on to his real project, a knife that could cut even a soul.

Before any of that could begin, though, he needed to address the small crowd collected around, most especially those who would be evaluating his skill. With a grunt, he picked up three different metallic ingots, setting each in turn on a counter built across from the forge. One was shiny and silvery, but a little too much to be actual silver. Vlad tapped that one first. “Mithril. I plan to use this one for Glacia’s requested rapier. It’s lighty and flexible, which fits her style, obviously. Glacia, if you have any special requests, now is the time to make them.”

Glacia was of course familiar with Mithril (though places like Dyste tended to spell it as ‘Mythril’, both were considered valid), and knew it would be a good choice. “Oh, well,” she summoned a rapier; this wasn’t the one that caused the whole incident this was centered around, but rather her original sword; there was a small engraving of a snowflake on the hilt, alongside a bit of text in a language Vlad had recently begun to learn with Alvis’s help, “Can I have a little engraving like this on it? Doesn’t need to be exactly this, just a lil’personal touch.”

“I meant in terms of enchantments, but yes, inscriptions are easily done,” Vlad said, looking at the engraving on the rapier. “... I can’t read that. I’ll just do something in Izumin, if you don’t mind?”

“That’s fine with me!” Glacia was a little excited by the prospect, “Oh, enchantments? Well, my powers let me put on a bunch of elemental effects, holy power or abilities meant to target certain creatures, but one could be fun to try out. I’ll leave that to you.”

“Right, no need to brag,” Vlad muttered, standing back up and moving away to grab another ore. This time he had a lump of pale gold, or something that looked very similar to it, which he set next to the mithril for Glacia. “This one is more exotic, which I felt would be of interest to Aoife. It’s electrum, an alloy of gold and silver. By the time I’m done with it, it will shine like gold, but should have all the combat properties of silver. You know, werewolf bane, all that kinda stuff.”

Aoife closely inspected the metal, seemingly rather impressed by it as her lips formed into a small smile, “Hrm….it’s definitely unorthodox, but I think it should make for a fine blade. Though I am curious, how well will it handle enchantments or the channeling of mana through it?”

“Just as well as anything else,” Vlad replied, handing the ore to Glacia. “It’s not exactly a weapon, but why don’t you try setting it on fire via magic, Glacia? To demonstrate.”

“Okiedokies!” Glacia held it up, and she channeled fire through it, as it blazed like her weapon did when under that enchantment. “See, it works just fine, Aoife!”

“It would seem so…..” Aoife said, chuckling as she keenly observed the display, “In that case, I think the alloy you chose should be more than sufficient for my needs.”

“Good,” Vlad said, taking it back and setting it on the counter again. He once again returned to his store of minerals, rummaging about until he pulled out a dull grey metal, lifting it with a grunt and setting it down on the counter, where it made a solid thunk. “Finally, for Yuki, I considered mithril again, but I think for a scythe, it really comes down to breaking things without being broken… so adamantine is the way to go.”

“Adamantine?” Yuki looked a little conflicted. “Isn’t that excessive? Surely you can save it for another item.”

"What?" Vlad blinked. "You're a goddess, why wouldn't you want the best?"

“C’mon, cuddlefox,” Glacia nudged the kitsune, “Don’t you want him to give you a weapon worthy of you?”

“It’s that I’m too efficient with the scythe to require such an weapon.” Yuki blushed. “But if you insist, feel free to forget it.”

"I mean, be as efficient as you want, if your weapon breaks, it breaks. That won't happen with adamantine," Vlad said, taking it inside his forge again. "Right, with that… well, I think if no one has any objections, I can start?"

“I think we can,” Glacia said, interested in seeing Vlad’s work.

"Right… Glacia first," Vlad said, grabbing the mithril again. He set it on a counter inside his smithy, then took a deep breath. The three would be able to watch as he spat a tongue of black flame into the forge, setting it alight.

“Oooh, I think that might even be stronger than Alvis’s flames… erm, don’t tell him I said that!” Glacia said.

Oh your secret will stay with us.” Yuki winked.

“Neither of us will tell a soul, except maybe Ky….” Aoife joked, chuckling all the while.

"I have no reason to anger one of my only friends," Vlad said from inside the smithy. He grabbed the mithril, setting it inside a smelter, which he also lit with his breath. "That will take… hours."

“I don’t think any of us will mind watching for that long, particularly not when you make it such a show.” Aoife chuckled, a slight smile on her lips as she watched the flames consume the ore.

“Well, because of that, I’m going to skip ahead,” Vlad muttered, moving around the smelter, checking small, incomprehensible things on it, when it started glowing, runes on it lighting up one by one. “I mean, you didn’t think I actually sit here for hours usually, did you?”

“I’d imagine not,” Glacia said, “You’d probably get bored if you waited around that long.”

“... rude, but true,” Vlad sighed.

“So how long does this process even last?” Yuki inquired about the process of smithing.

“Depends what you mean exactly,” Vlad replied, holding up several fingers. He ticked them off one by one. “First, you need to smelt the ores, of course. You actually usually don’t want to take it all the way to liquid unless you’re using a mold, which I’m not; it’s quite difficult to work with liquid and turn it into a permanent shape, after all. Instead, you wait for it to turn malleable, soft and bendy… and then you hit it with a hammer. A lot,” he ticked off his second finger.

The man moved over to his tools, showing them a wide array of hammers, but also several other tools ranging from what seemed to be an oversized pair of pliers to strange hooked rods. “But hammering isn’t the only thing you do, or can do, at least. You can use the tongs to draw the metal, that’s how I’m going to stretch it out into sword shape, but you can also do something called upsetting, where you make a piece of metal smaller and larger. I mean, not like it has more material, but more compact… uh, there’s a few other things, but I’ll skip those.”

“After that’s all done,” Vlad ticked off another finger. “You need to finish it. This can mean a lot of stuff, so I’m not going into details, you’re all smart enough to figure out what it means. After that, it needs to cool and harden into shape, at which point you can finish the fittings, things like handles and decorations. And then I always test the weapon before I send it out into the world, of course, but not everyone does that.”

“... right, but how long does it take in total?” Glacia led him on.

"... uh. It varies," Vlad blushed, just a little bit. "For a mithril rapier with enchantments… hrm… depends on the level of enchantment, of course, more takes longer… for me… a week? If I did it the normal way."

“I see….So I assume this revised forging process will take half the time or less, correct?” Aoife inquired.

"For you, at least," Vlad nodded. "I still have to do a lot of work, but Timestop is a really handy little spell for this kind of work. Saves you, the clients, a lot of time. Which usually I would charge for…"

“Well, that’s good to hear,” Glacia remarked, “And I am giving you a place to live and forge stuff, so I think it’s only fair I can request something every once in a while?”

"You'll still need to provide materials, or funds for them," Vlad negotiated. "This stuff isn't always cheap or easy to find, and that's before we get to the scrolls I need for most enchantments. But if you do that… yeah, I can make stuff. Mostly weapons, sometimes jewelry."

“More competition for our cute Sage of Creation Aoife here.” Yuki remarked. “But perhaps that I’ll come to you for such items. Granted: it’s likely my avatars need them more than myself.”

“Sage of creation?” Vlad asked. “What is that?”

“It’s a title that I earned by completing a series of trials designed to show my mastery of multiple schools of magic, be it divination, evocation, alteration, or more. You see, the title of sage is awarded to skilled mages who complete the aforementioned trials by the Dystan Council of Mages. As for the Creation bit, each Sage is awarded a title based upon their particular skillset, personality or other defining trait. In my case….” Aoife said, summoning a pair of platinum knight shaped constructs to her side, “It was awarded on account of my mastery of the creation of magical artifacts, be they constructs or lesser items.”

Vlad clicked his tongue. “I would’ve been a good choice for that one…” he mumbled, leaning on the counter. Behind him, the metal in the smelter continued to slowly but surely soften. “So that’s what a sage is in this world, huh? That’s one of those concepts that shows up everywhere I go, and it’s never the same thing twice.”

“All sorts of places have different names for things, it seems,” Glacia considered. “All four of us are pretty powerful mages, but we’d all have different titles for it… well, not so much Yuki and I, we’d share the same one,” she giggled. “But who knows, you could probably impress them with spells nobody in this world knows!”

“I don’t think they want me doing full scale rituals in their lobby,” Vlad replied drolly. “Though there are a few that might be fun. Still, most of my magic actually isn’t as advanced as this world’s, I think. Excepting the rituals. Obviously.”

“If you’d like…..perhaps I could teach you a few of my spells to you in exchange for the weapon.” Aoife said, giggling as she smiled gently, “Well it depends on the ritual you’d wish to perform, but….I don’t think they would take kindly to something like that dragon ritual of your’s….”

“Not really how dragon magic works, Aoife, but I expect you know that,” Vlad replied, flicking his wrist as a small ball of fire lifted off his hand and then disappeared. “I used to use spellbooks, actually. Doesn’t really work anymore, though. Frustrating, because it makes it hard to learn new magic. And hey, what would you even know about that? It’s my most secret- you haven’t been snooping, have- but how, you weren’t even in the ritual room-”

“This may sound strange, but your former wife actually showed it to me during a trial. It was a vision of you finishing the final elements of the ritual, as well as its….conclusion.” Aoife said, a slight scowl on her lips as she crossed her arms, “I’ll admit it was intriguing, but it seemed excessively dangerous….even for magicks like that.”

“... gods damnit,” Vlad muttered. “That is a secret ritual. Tell no one of what you saw.”

“It’s not like I could copy it or repeat it, even if I wished to….but fine.” Aoife said, pouting.

“Yeah, just let it go, Aoife,” Glacia shook her head, “It’s probably too dangerous to use anyways. But maybe at some point you can show something more fitting to the mages there. It’s a nice place, Dyste.”

“Don’t think I’ve ever- wait… yeah, I have been. A single cave, but still,” Vlad replied, standing back up and poking at the metal. “... alright, I’m bored. Gonna go ahead and…” He muttered something, and for just a moment, he flickered in place. A moment later, though, a red hot mass of mithril was on the forge, where he was poking it with a set of tongs. “Welcome back. Or maybe it’s me who should be welcomed back?”

“Huh? Oh…” Glacia giggled, “You used Time Stop to speed it up, right…”

“To make you feel like it was sped up, at least!” Vlad poked the metal again. “I still had to sit there for a solid fifteen hours or something. I should get a watch. Do watches work in Time Stop?...”

“Eh? Watch as in a blink of an eye and the job is done? Or do we find ourselves with a road roller above our heads?” Yuki asked. “Or, you want us to be a part of the Time Stop?”

“... watch as in the thingy that you tell time with?” Vlad blinked. “The whole point of the Time Stop is so you don’t have to sit there and watch the metal heat up with me!”

“Silly fox,” Glacia booped Yuki’s nose, “I know a good watchmaker in Glacius if you want me to have one made for you. Could even get a custom appearance for it!”

“Eh-No! I didn’t say we’ll watch the clock of all things.” Yuki pouted. “Ugh. I’ll do something more productive with my time by reading.”

“... well, alright,” Vlad blinked at the strange conversation, then shook his head. “Now, however, I’ll be making Glacia’s rapier first. First is to stretch the metal,” he explained, pulling the lump of metal, lengthening and smoothing it out as he did. After a moment, he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, removing his shirt and throwing it in a corner near the counter, revealing his back, which was more scar than skin. “It’s always too damned hot working these things, even for me…”

“Oh!” Glacia blushed slightly; obviously Vlad was quite different to Alvis in this regard, but she could see a bit of charm out of this, “Must be really hot if a dragon like you needs to do that…”

“Ahem, now I must be off.” Yuki said. As to find a way to return to her library and read her latest novel.

“I have a few experiments I need to check on back in my library, so I will be off for a bit. Just send a message once you two are ready.” Aoife said, giving a slight chuckle as she departed behind Yuki.

"Well, then, I guess they didn't want to learn," Vlad sighed. No one ever wanted to learn this. "Anyways, it does get quite hot, and most people would need protective equipment…"

---

Several hours passed, and the metal began to resemble a blade. Several more passed, and it looked like a sword. A day passed, and it was a rapier, though without the handle, which joined it near the end of that second day. By midday on the third, Glacia was presented with a new rapier, silvery-blue, with a handle of pale leather and a hand guard with a silver sheen, stamped with a curled dragon on one side of the blade, and a snowflake on the other. The snowflake had an inscription in it, in a language Glacia couldn't read but knew to be Izumin, and gave off a small aura of magic.

"Here you are," Vlad said, handing it over. "Your new rapier."

“Aw, thanks, Vlad!” Glacia did a few practice stabs in the air, including some of her warp strikes against it. “Yup, perfectly fits my hands, probably even better than Skathi’s blade does. I do like the designs, too.”

"That's good," Vlad watched her test the sword, nodding. Of course, he'd done some tests himself, he always put a weapon he created through its paces, but he could never use it quite the way its true owner would. "The dragon is my personal stamp, a proof of work. The snowflake and inscription is because you asked for that. It reads 'A sword for those who need a guide; a sword for those who reject my mercy.'"

“Oooh, nice!” Glacia admired it, “Does the sword have a specific name, or should I come up with that myself?”

"You should do that yourself," Vlad replied. "It's your sword; you're the one who should name it. Plus I don't want to."

“Hm, well…” Glacia considered this for a while, “How about ‘Joyeuse’? A sword I will use to protect those who need it, and fight against those who stand against me.”

"Sure, that sounds good to me," Vlad replied. "And with that, the first weapon is done. Let me know if you have any issues, Glacia, it may need more work on the enchantments."

“Gotcha, I’ll test it out and see for sure!” Glacia smiled, “Thanks for this, I’m looking forward to trying it out!”

"Good! We can practice with it later. I have three more things to create, after all… maybe four, actually, but definitely at least three," Vlad grabbed a chunk of adamantium. "Grumpy the Fox can be next…"

---

Once again, hours ran into days. The occasional visitor might come along to see what he was doing, but Vlad focused all his attention on his craft, and hardly responded. A second day became a third, and a third a fourth, and a full week after he had told Yuki his plans for her weapon, Vlad sent the kitsune a message, telling her to come to his forge.

Yuki occupied her time with divine duties, her role to raise a family, and reading as she received the message. A mix of feelings came as she was both impressed that Vlad took the effort to do so, and a bit of shame. Since her ascension and that incident with Ivrea, Yuki found that many challenges weren’t at all difficult anymore to require a stronger weapon. Perhaps one to raise the Divine Reaper itself. Although for this artifact, did he excel or not? The kitsune decided to visit his workshop to see for herself.

When she arrived, she would find the man leaning back against the counter, a tall, thin scythe on his right side. He seemed occupied by a book, giving her a good chance to look over the new weapon. The scythe itself was a dully shining grey, the haft of the weapon made of the same metal as the bladed head. It had the same stamp of a dragon on it as Glacia's new sword, and once again gave off a magical aura.

“Not bad.” Yuki then took a closer look at the blade and its magical aura. “Any special abilities you imbue on this scythe?”

"Well," Vlad snapped the book shut, and Yuki could see from the cover that it was something about forging in Izumin. "A few. First, for non-magical things, you should be able to defend yourself from attacks, too. The shaft is also made of adamantium, free of charge… I mean, it all is, but… you get the point."

“Thanks captain obvious.” Yuki rolled her eyes. She then picked up the blade and let out a small swing. “Hmm, does it provide any imbue abilities? Naturally I can provide such banes to my foes, and the elements on it at will.”

"I avoided bane enchantments and elemental ones, for that very reason," Vlad replied. "But I didn't give it nothing. A Countering spell, for one thing, and a Spell Thief... is that what it's called in Mystria? One that lets you take protective magic away from those you fight."

“You can refer to that. Naturally us magus do provide enchantments such as those I mention to enhance our combat prowess.” Yuki then tried to test out the protective magic.

"Here," Vlad cast a simple Shield spell on himself. "Try and chop my head off."

“Eh? W-Why?” Yuki said.

"... so you can get a feel for how stealing a spell works?" Vlad blinked.

“Um… Seriously?” Yuki then draws her scythe to try and steal Vlad’s protection shield. “Ha!”

The new scythe flew for his neck, and as it did, Yuki could feel his magic activating. Even more, she could tell the spell, and something from within the weapon gave her a light tug, urging her to just mentally reach out and take it for herself.

Yuki quickly activated the command to snatch the spell from Vlad!

The spell flowed off of him and to Yuki, the energy of the transfer causing it to drop and slam into his shoulder instead of his neck. Either way, though, she was protected by his own spell now, and he wasn't. "Well, pretty intuitive right? Thank Naga you did take the spell though, that thing would've chopped my head right off if you didn't!"

Yuki gave a small nodded before she made a snap decision. One to use her magical enchantment power of her magus training to make the scythe dance and move on its own. “It has a unique use. Although from experience, a dispel magic spells is something I am keen to aim for.”

"Hey, I'm pretty proud of this one," Vlad watched the scythe dance. "I mean, it'll smash through most things, magical or physical. And your foes won't be ready for what's coming, let me tell you that!... still, you like it, I hope."

“I see a use for it… Although I know Rosario can rival you with a similar blade.” Yuki teased. “So that’s everything about this scythe I must know about?”

"Well, I mean, yeah, basically. Just know that if that hits someone in the neck… they're dead," Vlad explained.

“Dead? As in… A vorpal blade?” Yuki asked.

"Yep," Vlad replied with a nod. "Was difficult to pull off with the rest of it, but I needed to practice it anyways. I think the ritual dagger will use a similar concept."

“Ooh… Now that is interesting…” Yuki nodded. “For the moment it concerns this to be a not bad weapon from your skills. But a vorpal… How this is one I can avoid the thought of such enchantment for a practical one, and become a true reaper. Now we can test our skills and face monstrous fey dragons like the mythical jabberwock. “

"Fucking jabberwocks exist here?" Vlad groaned. He lifted his shirt, showing Yuki a thin scar on his right side that, on closer observation, was slightly green. "I've fought one of those before, and I lost, the damned thing. If you go jabberwock hunting, bring me along!"

“In the Feywild where they are most commonly found. Although Medelina is known to command a few, and others are sighted in a dormant state in the small fairy island.” Yuki then smiled. “Now enough explanation! Once we finish our work here, we can bring a whole hunting party to bring one down.”

"Yes, but I have a little more to do yet," Vlad cracked his knuckles. "I'm getting back to it. Rapier number two, here we go…"

---

Days passed, again. The forge rang with the sound of hammers and tongs, again. This time it was electrum, that strange alloy, being carefully wrought into a new shape, a use not many would take for it, but one the dragon was certain would work. And after nearly a week of toil, a shining golden blade sat on his counter, with a handle of white leather and a gem of purple in the hilt. Finally, Aoife was called.

Aoife arrived not too long after the call, appearing in the forge from a mist of snow and frost that billowed out before her. She dusted the snow from her sleeves, all the while looking around for the one who had summoned her. “Ah….Vladimir…Pardon my late arrival, but my students needed some extra help with a lesson.” the aasimar said, a slight smile on her lips as she looked towards the dragon.

"Oi, no snow in my forge," Vlad complained with a shiver. "Well, whatever, you're here. I finished your sword. Made it of electrum, as promised."

“Ah right….My apologies. At any rate, let’s see it, shall we?” Aoife said, patting Vlad on the shoulder as she channeled a bit of warmth from a small fire spell into him.

"Oh, warm," he mumbled, pushing the sword to her. "Here you are, Aoife. Test it out, won't you?"

“Thanks…” Aoife said, gently picking up the sword before giving a few practice thrusts. She closed her eyes as the blade began to hum, its exterior becoming coated in a faint white aura as frost dripped from its blade, “Mhmm….light, well balanced….almost perfectly conducts my mana…..Well done, Vladimir….”

"Effective against fey, undead, and cursed beings, too. Beautiful, as well," Vlad replied. "Be careful with electrical spells. There was a minor hiccup during production, nothing significant, but I think the sword might amplify those as a result."

“It certainly is a beautiful blade….perhaps almost as much as Durendal was several centuries ago…” Aoife muttered absentmindedly as a swirl of frost danced around her. Her eyes snapped towards Vlad, “Oh? What sort of hiccup occurred?”

"The alloy decided to start separating, I let it get too hot. Fixed it, obviously, or else I would have started over. But it means there's a small current of electrical magic in there all the time, just to ensure they stay bound," Vlad shrugged. "Hey, might make it shock people too."

“I see…..It actually sounds like it might be quite the asset if I fine tune it somewhat. Perhaps I could work on applying a few runes to it….” Aoife mused as small arcs of electricity danced along the blade, all the while the air crackled around them, “Is there anything further I should know about the blade, Vladimir?”

"Nope. Other than it's designed to kill, obviously," Vlad shrugged. "Are you satisfied?"

“This will do nicely…..I suppose it does need a name though. Question is what…” Aoife pondered, her fingers feeling over the blade.

"You should decide. I told Glacia, too, I prefer to let the actual wielder name them," Vlad said.

“Hrm…..Curtana would be a fitting name for it….” Aoife said, a pleased smile on her lips as a bronze and gold scabbard made of polished metal and leather began to form around the blade. A silver snowflake formed on either side of the scabbard, its polished surface shining with the light of the forge.

"Great, there you are," Vlad said. "So, all three are satisfied, which means I can get to work on my real project. I'm going to make the ritual dagger next..."

---

Ting. Ting. Ting.

Vlad was forging. He had been forging. He felt that, in the next week, he would still be forging. He actually wasn't sure how long he'd been at this; at least a week, again, already?

Of course, the time was deserved, considering the importance of what he was making. This wasn't just a knife; it was a knife to cut apart a soul. And not the horrific way some demons would shred a soul, no, but carefully, precisely. No damage could be allowed, the thinnest and most perfect of cuts was the only acceptable measure.

There was a small collection of daggers and knives discarded on his counter; each was a more excellent piece of work than the last, but each disgusted him. He was giving them away free, even, since he would simply like not to look at them. How hard could it possibly be, to create a knife with a cut so precise it could safely separate something that didn't physically exist?

Very hard, Vlad was learning.

---

Tink. Tonk. Crash.

The sun was falling, or whatever the Divine Springs equivalent was meant to be. It had been another two weeks, and Vlad's eyes were bloodshot. He hadn't slept; he'd barely even eaten or drank. This knife would be complete, he swore it, even if it killed him.

He had tossed his latest attempt; the pile of discarded blades was growing a little extreme at this point. At least he was mostly being allowed to work, probably because most of his responses had devolved to grunts and nods by now.

Still, he wasn't alone in this realm, by a long shot, and there were some who did come by. A pink haired azata came by often, though only when Aoife was gone, and had just done so again, leaning against the counter.

"Heya, Vlad," Rosa said softly, resting her chin in her hands. "How many you up to?"

"Dunno," the dragon replied curtly.

"Oh, alright," the woman stretched slightly. "You know, I thought of a way to help. There's this thing, called spiresteel, that might be good for making the knife out of…"

"Don't have any," Vlad replied with a grunt, grabbing this time a piece of mithril. "Don't know where to get any."

"Right, that's why I said I'd help. Uh, I'll go hunt some down, alright? Why don't you take a break for a lil' until I get back?" Rosa said.

"No," was the only reply.

Rosa sighed. "I tried… still gonna go get that metal though, maybe it'll help! And I'll take Alvis with me so I'm safe!" The azata waved as she flew off, a wordless grunt her reply. She would do as she said; recruit Alvis, and go find some spiresteel… wherever that was.

[Dyste]

Collab with RA and Glari

Rosa had already equipped herself for adventuring before she ever went to recruit Alvis. Her getup didn’t really change much; she still wore the pink dresses she was usually seen in, but she’d added a white breastplate to it, as well as greaves, gauntlets, and vambraces. Each of these was trimmed in gold, and the armor was brilliantly polished, indicating that despite her usual capriciousness, Rosa did care for the important things. Of course, it would likely all be moot if Alvis didn’t agree to go on this search with her, seeing as he would likely then keep her right here… but she was going to try, and so she walked out into the foyer of his home. “Alvis? You here?”

The home opened up as a dragon elf maid opened it; Rosa would know them as Valentia, the celestial herald of Alvis, “Oh, Miss Rosa? What brings you here?”

"I need to speak to Alvis, please, Valentia," Rosa said. "I need to ask… I guess another favor…"

“Very well, I shall make sure my master is ready to see you,” Valentia bowed, as she raised her arms and caused a symbol of a flaming dragon in a heart shape, before disappearing. In the foyer, Alvis walked out of a second-story room, his red hair a mess, in much the same state of dress as Rosa saw him last. Rubbing his eyes, he looked down, “Oh, Rosa… I didn’t expect you to be over today.”

"Well, you should expect to, uh, not expect things when I'm involved!" Rosa stuck her tongue out at Alvis. "Now, I'm not saying that's not a good look, but you might want to put a shirt on. Or not, I dunno. I have a quest, though, and I need your help! It'll be in your benefit too, you know!"

“.. huh, a quest?” Alvis looked a little confused, but Valentia appeared with a cup of coffee for him, “Oh, thanks,” he took a sip. “I’m taking it that it’ll be somewhere I’ll need to be fighting, right? That armor looks good on you, by the way.”

"Thanks!" Rosa giggled. "It'll be… somewhere! I know what we're looking for, not exactly where to find it?"

“Really, now?” Alvis finished his coffee as Valentia kept arriving with pieces of his armor; the plate mail seemed to shine in a rainbow pattern, the colours changing every few seconds. However, it seemed he had gained a few extra parts to his getup, as he had added a dark red coat to it. When he placed on the armor, it seemed to be able to keep a consistent colour, going for a reddish hue, his dragonstone attached by his waist. Finally, he had a red and black greatsword, different from the curved blade he used to use in the past, which he slung across his back. “Ah, there we go… sorry for the wait, Rosa.”

"That was like, five minutes, Alvis, not even as long as- ngh," Rosa gripped her head for a moment, shaking it. "Ugh, hate those… feels like I almost remembered something and then forgot it again," she sighed. "Anyways, you know how Vlad is working on some spooky knife, right?"

Alvis moved with surprising speed to Rosa’s side, “Are you alright, Rosa!? … another one, huh…” he had seen her struggles recently and was still annoyed at not being able to help more. “... oh, right, Glacia told me about him doing that, and that he would have to put a halt to our lessons until this was done. Must be really important, then…”

"Oh, you didn't know, huh?... they're looking to separate Skathi from her, and he needs a very special knife!" Rosa leaned into Alvis gratefully. "Don't ask how I know, just be satisfied that Aoife isn't as secure as she thinks… but I've been checking on him, and he's been there for like a month, and keeps tossing them. So I thought, what he needs is Spiresteel! And we can get it for him!"

“Spiresteel?” Alvis patted her head, “... geez, if he’s been there for a month, it must be a big deal… but it’s to help Glacia, of course I’ll help as much as I can. I’m not useful for all that much, but I can still turn into a dragon and use a sword pretty good, at least.”

"You're gonna make all your lovers sad, Alvis," Rosa teased. "You're a big hero! You'll be super useful!... especially if you know where to find Spiresteel?"

“Um… I don’t know where to find it,” Alvis sighed, “Sorry… geez, I’m not giving a good impression on this, am I? I mean, if it’s Spiresteel it’s got to be involved with spires, right?”

"I mean, I dunno, it's some magic thing, Aoife…" Rosa went quiet, sighing. "Aoife would know where to find it… but I don't want to ask her…"

“Hey,” Alvis gave Rosa a hug, “If that’s the issue, there’s loads of people we can ask besides them. There’s Glacia or Yuki… but they might get upset at us too, um… well, lots of other mages that would know, too, right?”

"Yeah, you'd think, right?" Rosa frowned. "Could ask Connie or Ivy, but they'd report me to Aoife, probably. Or, um… hm… I dunno, maybe there's some mortal mage we could ask? Do you know any, Alvis?"

“Well, um, there’s quite a few in Silverdale we could ask,” Alvis considered his options, “Like one of my followers, Corrinym Wyrmheart, or Lady Aqua Loveheart. Or one of the Dystan Sages like Melux Whitewing or the like… not exactly lacking in options there.”

"No sages," Rosa shook her head. "Aoife is one of 'em, so… yeah. Well, Aqua would be good, I bet, buuuuuuut… a follower of yours, huh?" Rosa grinned. "Is he cute like you?"

“Um, I dunno if I’m the best judge of that,” Alvis turned even redder than he already was. “But we could meet him, yeah. He works as a knight of the queen currently.”

"Ooh, another knight! Just like you and me and- wait, since when was I a knight?" Rosa mumbled to herself, then shrugged. "Worry about it later. Take me away, dragon boy!"

“Got it!” Alvis took Rosa’s hand and to the nearest gate, allowing them easy access to the Seasonal Palace; as the Warrior Trinity was some of the deities with shrines, they had a natural route to manifest in. “Right, here we are… um, ever been here before, Rosa?”

"I don't… think so?" Rosa didn't sound entirely certain, squeezing Alvis' hand. "Either way, you'll keep me safe, right, Alvis?"

“Of course,” Alvis held her hand gently, “I may be a demigod, but I am still a knight, after all. Now come, we’ll see if Cori’s around.” Given his own connection to his followers, he would be able to sense Cori’s presence.

Cori would indeed be easy to find for Alvis. He seemed to be a few halls away, and one floor up, but he was mostly stationary at the moment, meaning it would be easy to reach him. When they did, they would find the man himself in a gym, lifting weights on his own. At the same time, Alvis could feel Rosa's grip on his hand tightening the further they traveled inside the palace.

Alvis chuckled to himself, as he took Rosa’s hand, guiding her slowly through the palace; he himself was quite used to it, having served as a knight for around a century before the civil war. When they reached the gym, Alvis called out, “I hope you’re making up for all the treats the queen gives you, there.”

One moment, and another grunt later, Cori racked his weights, sitting up and grabbing a bottle of some kind of drink, his t-shirt clinging to him. "Hello, Alvis. That, and making sure I'm ready to protect anyone in the palace at a moment's notice. There are a lot of treats to work off, though. Who's your guest?"

Alvis for his part rearranged a few weights in the gym, seemingly needing no effort in moving even heavy weights around in full plate armor, “That’s good of you; both Talva and Snow mean a lot to me, and knowing I have you to protect them makes my mind at ease. This is my friend Rosa; she is an azata. And she has an issue she’s hoping you could help us with.”

"Hi," Rosa waved. She sounded a little less cheery than usual, but still chipper enough it would be hard to notice. "Alvis is right! And he said you're a big smart mage, too!... Mm, and you're cute…"

"... right. Alvis, you know I'm going to do my best, my family lives here too. Why don't you tell me what you need?" Cori decided to ask the demigod instead of the azata who was clearly busy checking him out.

Alvis realized what Rosa was doing, but decided to just let her be, “Oh, well, we are looking for something called Spiresteel for use in forging a weapon. I am wondering if you had any idea on where to find it? This sort of thing isn’t in my expertise, and I can’t ask Glacia at the moment about it…”

"You can't?" Cori raised an eyebrow. "Well, let's see, Spiresteel, right?... I've heard of it, at least. Why do you need that, though?"

“A friend of mine wishes to forge something out of it,” Alvis explained, “For what he needs, we think it might be the ideal material for it.”

"It's pretty weird stuff," Cori said, leaning against a wall. "Like, 'concentrated life energy' stuff. You're not going to find it on the material plane, that's for sure… have you considered asking Kyara? It's just rumors, but they say the realms of the dead are made of spiresteel. Personally, I would rather not find out myself…"

“That is… troubling,” Alvis winced a little, “... but at least we have a bit of an idea for finding it now. Rosa, what do you think?”

"I think it's time to go break a building or something in the realm of the dead!" Rosa declared. "I mean, we're not just quitting now, right? Not just because it's a little spooky!"

“Maybe not… that way, but we at least have an idea better than checking spires at least,” Alvis sighed, “But thanks, Cori. Sorry for the drop-in on your workout and all…”

"Eh, it's fine," Cori shrugged. "You'd better leave if you don't want to spend the next couple hours eating cookies while Koza bugs you, though. But you should come back around for dinner, Alvis, I think the queens would enjoy that, especially if you bring Glacia."

“Oh, I shall,” Alvis smirked, “I bet Talva will make a full course of treats for all of us. Maybe then we’ll all need to do some workouts… but for now, I’ll leave that task to you. Come on, Rosa, we should get going, if you’ve enjoyed the view enough!”

"Oh, I enjoyed it a lot…" Rosa said, blowing a kiss to Cori with a giggle. "Let's go, Alvis! To the land beyond!"

“That’s the plan,” Alvis taking Rosa back to the royal chapel before the azata got any more ideas, “Right, we should go to the realm of the dead, then… I suppose the easiest would be Dal Riata, Kyara’s domain, right?”

"I never got to know any realms of the dead," Rosa replied, sounding slightly bitter about it. She leaned in and whispered to Alvis, though, afraid of being overheard. "Please, let's go. This place makes me feel anxious, and I don't know why."

“Hey…” Alvis took her in close as he opened a way forward, “It’s okay, Rosa. I’m here with you if you need anything, okay? You’re safe with me.”

"I know," Rosa took a deep breath, leading him forward. "But I'm not quitting! Just another mystery for Rosa the amnesiac," she giggled weakly.

Alvis knew she was still hurting as they entered Kyara’s realm, but he didn’t want to push the subject any further at the moment. Instead, they had a job to do, find some of this spiresteel. “Now then, let’s figure out where this stuff is, shall we?”

"Sure!" Rosa smiled, a show of strength for his benefit as much as her own. "You know, I got all geared up to fight, but there's not been any indication we're going to need to! It's a little disappointing, I was going to tell Vlad all about how brave we were!"

“Well, don’t get too lax yet,” Alvis said, “Anything can happen when you’re traveling across the planes, y’know. Plus… either way you do look cute in your armor, so I was glad to see it.”

Rosa's smile got bigger and brighter. "You're so sweet, you know? Better be careful, or every angel and dragon and elf will fall for you… oh wait, they already did!" Rosa snickered, leading Alvis further into the plane.

“H-hey, not all of them! Not yet anyways…” Alvis got flustered but followed along, “Besides, even if they do they aren’t the ones I’m here to help now, are they?”

"After we get this metal, remind me to reward you," Rosa said. "You deserve it. First, though, if it's spiresteel… maybe it is in a big spire, like you said earlier?"

“Um… maybe?” Alvis winced, “... I should’ve asked how to find it, shouldn’t I… um, do you think we should ask someone about it?”

"Sure, but who? I can't imagine most people will take too kindly to us wanting to smash their house or whatever!... but it would be fun…" Rosa contemplated.

“Welllllll, we could see if Kyara herself is willing to talk to us… but then I’m a little worried about her talking to Glacia, too,” Alvis had to admit, “Or one of her servants here or the like.”

"Or," Rosa got a certain sparkle in her eyes that Alvis had never seen before, but might still alarm him. "We can go break off a piece of that," she said, pointing to a wrought gate and fence that stretched seemingly infinitely. "I bet that's the good stuff!"

“U-um,” Alvis got a bit flustered, “Are you sure? Kyara will totally get upset at us, won’t she… but is that the metal we need?”

"I mean, it looks fancy, and not like anything I've seen before," Rosa justified. "We should totally hurry, though. I've just remembered Aoife saying that Ivrea comes around here a lot…"

“Geez, if she’s around a lot, no doubt she’s snatched stuff a lot here too,” Alvis sighed, “Well, c’mon, then, let’s finish this up before we get accosted by someone!”

"More worried about her telling her mom she saw me," Rosa said, wings appearing behind her as she attempted to lift Alvis. "O… k… come on, hunk, let me… gods, Alvis, how much muscle do you have?!?"

“I think you’ve seen how much I have,” Alvis chuckled, before using his dragonstone to sprout red dragon wings, “Good thing I can handle myself with that part, huh?”

"Aww," Rosa whined, giving up and simply flying alongside Alvis. "I was going to carry you like a princess! It was going to be hilarious!"

“You can do plenty of that when we’re not on a bit of a time crunch,” Alvis winked, “I might’ve weighed you down enough to slow us to a crawl if I kept that up!”

"Hmph, at least I'm still prettier than you," Rosa stuck her tongue out, suddenly rushing ahead. She headed right for the fence, but even as fast as she was moving she was only slowly getting closer. "This place is so much bigger than it looks!"

“Well, it is a realm of the dead, right?” Alvis remarked; he hadn’t been here too often outside of that one heist, usually it was Glacia who visited by herself. “I’d imagine it has to be big for all those souls…”

Rosa shivered. "Yeah, probably," she agreed. A while of silent flying later, they arrived at the gate, which Rosa immediately set to investigating. "Well, lucky us, no little miss fake fox around to tell mommy on us. At least so far."

“Lucky us indeed,” Alvis seemed not at all enthused to stick around any longer than they needed to, “So, um, how can we tell if this is this ‘spiresteel’ or not?”

"... we should have asked, huh?" Rosa stared at the gate. "Cause I actually don't know…"

“Ooh now what do we have here…..A dragon and a lost little azata, hrm? No, not lost…I think the term for you is a run away…” cackled the voice of Ivrea from the behind pair, all the while they could feel the air around them growing heavier.

"... fake fox," Rosa muttered to Alvis. She stood, turning and frowning. "Go back, Ivrea. And tell your mother nothing."

“Mhmm, just because of that little insult, I don’t think I will…..Particularly not when you are trespassing in my home realm….” Ivrea spat, scowling at Rosa.

“Hey, that’s enough, both of you,” Alvis flew between both of them, “Look, Ivrea, we’re trying to get some special metal for Vlad’s work. Based on what we’ve learned, it should be somewhere in this realm…”

“Let me guess, you’re here for Spiresteel, right?” Ivrea inquired, her scowl fading while she still looked to Rosa.

"... yes," Rosa's frown remained, though it softened as well. "Your… mother… has spoken about it before, and told me some of what it does. It sounds like exactly what Vlad would need for his project…"

“If you want some samples of spire steel, you need only ask and I can provide them for you. It would save me the trouble of having to punish you for stealing from Ky and I’s realm. Though with that being said, there is one condition you would need to agree to before I give it to you.” Ivrea said, her tails waving gently behind her as she eyed Rosa.

"Firstly, you know you can't punish me, Ivrea," Rosa replied, her eyes narrowing. "Secondly… what is your condition?"

“I can when you’re trespassing in my realm, Rosa….You know as well I do even mom can’t stop me in here.” Ivrea snorted indignantly as she crossed her arms, “I want you to quit running and face mom, be it in the Springs, here, or in her realm. I think you know full well that neither of you will know peace until you’ve settled accounts and come to an understanding, even if it is painful.”

"Oh, I've come to an understanding, Ivrea. I've come to the understanding that I was nothing more than another of her experiments! I want to see her about as much as I want a sword in the gut!" Rosa retorted angrily.

“Have you actually taken the time to talk with her before assuming that, let alone actually inquired about what she’s been up to since you disappeared?” Ivrea snorted, as she summoned a crystal orb to her hand.

"Don't," Rosa said. "You don't know what goes on behind closed doors, Ivrea. This might hurt for you, but… don't. I won't forgive you."

“I am not going to say mom didn’t make colossal mistakes with you or didn’t push the envelope with you. That is certainly not true.” Ivrea said, giving a heavy sigh as she began to channel divine energy into the orb as she closed her eyes. For a moment, the orb glowed a brilliant blue as a small aurora danced over its surface. Yet it soon began to fade, after which Ivrea offered the orb to Alvis, “That being said, you are wrong if you think she viewed you as merely an experiment, Rosa. For all of her faults, she did truly love and treasure you….perhaps even moreso than she did before you left her.“

Alvis took the orb, and with a heavy sigh, spoke up, “Listen… Rosa, when you’re ready, we’ll go see her; I’ll stay with you as long as you need, so please, no running off without me. Ivrea, I promise that I’ll keep Rosa near and we’ll see Aoife when she is ready to go, but please don’t rush it; it’s still a lot for her to take in, you know?”

"... fine," Rosa said, moving closer to Alvis again. "But I don't believe you, Ivrea. I know your mother better than you do. And… nnnhhg," the azata's sentence was interrupted by her gripping her head. "Alvis, please…"

The demigod held Rosa close, “Argh… okay, we need to get you back home… wait, we still don’t have the spiresteel. Damn it…”

“Just hold on one moment….” Ivrea said, as two large ingots of spire steel formed before her. She placed the two ingots in a pack and tossed it to Alvis, a slight smile on her lips, “If you say so, Rosa…..just don’t be surprised if you end up being wrong. At any rate, you best get her out of here before she gets any worse, Alvis.”

“Right…” Alvis took the ingots and held Rosa closer, “It’s okay, Rosa, I’m here. Just pay attention to my voice and stay with me, okay?”

"Yes," Rosa said softly. "Head hurts so bad… what's happening to me?"

“I don’t know, but… we gotta get outta here,” Alvis looked over to Ivrea with a nod, before flying them down towards the gate they had used to arrive. This wasn’t his field of expertise, but of the two people who might be able to tell, one was the one they didn’t want to talk to and the other was the one they were trying to save…

As the two passed through the gate, they would be able to return to the Divine Springs with little issue. More alarming, though, it didn't seem like Rosa's condition was improving much, if at all, even when Alvis brought them home. She clung to the man like a person holding onto a life preserver, but still, somehow, managed to point in the general direction of the forge. "We have to… deliver it… Alvis."

“R-right,” Alvis took her side as he flew them towards the forge, “... geez, you might need some help… Glacia will know what to do, I hope…”

"Later," Rosa said, her eyes closed tight.

“No, you need to be examined now, Rosa. Preferably by someone who is familiar with the inner workings of your form and soul.” said a soft, yet icy voice. As they looked to the forge, they could see the dainty form of Aoife leaning against one of the walls. Her white cloak gently billowed in the wind as her red eyes regarded the pair, a hint of concern apparent within them as she looked on. Her smile rapidly shifted to a frown as she saw Rosa, “This….this is even worse than I had feared…..”

"Remember, Aoife, no fighting in my forge. I'd say something to them, but up really fucked her up, didn't you?" Vlad leaned on the counter, looking over Alvis and Rosa. His eyes swam red, the bags under them even worse than earlier. "Naga's holy tits, lady, did you put a bomb in her head or something?"

“No, I did not…..” Aoife hissed, shaking her head at Vlad’s remark, “No, this…it can’t be….It’s either her body is beginning to break down or…my…my husband is reawakening. Chione’s tits that shouldn’t be possible….”

“In that case… is there anything you can do?” before Alvis forgot, he tossed the pack with the spiresteel Vlad’s way, “... that’s for your project, by the way. Rosa… I’m sorry, I wanted to wait until you were ready before you met her, but…”

Vlad caught the sack, setting it aside. "Thanks, Alvis. Whatever you plan to do, Aoife, I suggest you do-"

"Don't touch me," Rosa hissed at Aoife, interrupting the conversation. "This is your fault!"

“If I don’t get to work on you, you are going to be in for quite a bit of pain, Rosa. “ Aoife retorted as she approached the azata, closing her eyes as she took her hand. The aasimar grimaced, soon releasing Rosa from her grip, “Damn it, we need to get her to my lab…or your’s asap.”

"Is she that bad?" Vlad raised an eyebrow. "I mean… if it's that bad…" He swept his counter free of objects, a quick spell cleaning it off. "Here. Just get to work. Alvis, set her down, please."

Alvis set down Rosa, “Okay, Rosa, listen… we’re all here to help, okay? I’m here with you…”

"Hurts," Rosa mumbled. "Don't let… don't let her erase me again…"

“Rosa, I’m sorry…..but this is going to hurt….” Aoife said, pressing her hands on either side of her head as they began to glow with a lilac aura. She began to chant as the glow began to brighten, “I unlock thy gates, freeing that which has been bound in chains of ice and death. Remember that which has been scoured by the sands of time. Recollect the lost dreams and memories of times past that have been buried and discarded.”

"That seems rather dramatic, doesn't it? Can you even actually do that?" Vlad asked curiously, watching Aoife's magic. "I don't know much about this kinda stuff, but I should remember this."

“Well, I can’t do it myself,” Alvis said awkwardly, “But Aoife is technically the one who created Rosa as she is, so she likely has some power to do such a thing.”

“Yes……to some extent, I am able to manipulate and unlock her memories, particularly given I created her. That being said, there is only so much I can do when she is fighting against me…..” Aoife said, leaning as she whispered to Rosa, “Rosa….please, stop fighting me….You’re making this far more difficult and dangerous than it needs to be…..I…promise you love, I will not erase your memories, on that you have my word.”

If Rosa tried to respond, it was erased by a groan of pain as her back arched. Reflexively, her wings appeared, though they just flapped pointlessly in place as the celestial started to spasm on the counter. Vlad moved in, holding her down and looking to Alvis, nodding down to her. "Aoife, you'd better just do it, I don't think she's even aware," he hissed as her struggling increased.

“Alright, I hate to do this but…..we’ve got no choice at this rate.” Aoife said, her fingers glowing with a brilliant light white as she channeled her divine power into Rosa. She hissed, “Come on….work damn it….”

Rosa's eyes snapped open, glowing the same white as Aoife's divine energy for just a few short moments, the azata lifting slightly, and then she collapsed back to the counter. The shaking had ceased now, the spasms gone. Rosa's breathing was still slowing as her eyes opened again, back to their usual pink hue.

"I… remember…" she whispered, as flashes of a life long over tore through her head. Mounting his very first horse. Riding out to meet his knight, the legendary Ser Skathi. So exciting! Walking the halls of the Seasonal Palace, nervous and exuberant at the chance to even be here. Riding out, in some small town, fighting the forces of evil! Charge more, think less, and win! A man… a man she still couldn't recall, but he was stern, regal, recruiting the young, brave, foolhardy man. Becoming a knight of… a queen, some queen, who? Rosa shuddered softly.

There was just a little more, though, and she pushed to recover it. Riding out alongside the love of his life. She was so slight, but so clever, and brave in her way. He… would die for her, he knew it. Because she would never betray him… The memories stopped, and Rosa laid on the counter, still and silent.

“... is she… okay?” Alvis asked, looking worried.

“I…I don’t know, Alvis….” Aoife choked out, clutching Rosa’s hands as Vlad and Alvis could hear a slight whimper escape her lips. A single tear rolled down her face as she mumbled, “Roland….I failed you….Truly, I am sorry for what I’ve done to you, my…love.”

"She's alive," Vlad confirmed quietly, holding a finger to Rosa's neck. "I'm not sure what exactly just happened, but my gut says this isn't over, Aoife. And my gut is pretty good."

“The question is not whether she’s alive, Vladimir….It’s whether Rosa as you know her is intact or if she’s been lost.” Aoife responded, shaking her head as she cradled Rosa’s own, “There….there is a not insignificant chance she suffered a loss of identity with her recalling my husband’s memories.”

"Then you had better stick around to find out, huh?" Vlad replied. "Either way, there's no fixing an issue like that overnight. But if she wakes up, and you're gone… there might not be any fixing it ever. Alvis, why don't you give them a place to stay for now? I don't think it's a good idea to have them too far. Who knows what might happen."

“O-okay…” Alvis picked up Rosa, “I’ll help out however I can… I think Yuki’s herald had something like this happen, actually, so perhaps you can talk to her later about it, but for now, I think you both need time to rest.”

“I…I suppose so….Haven’t rested in days now that I think about….” Aoife muttered as she eyed Rosa’s limp form wearily.

"Yeah, it's going around," Vlad muttered, showing the three away. "Now if you'll excuse me… back to work."

[Legokiller]

OOC: Collab with Dyste

Somewhere in the Divine Springs

After some time had passed, Blanca's heart raced as the moment of dread of the most important operation to Glacia and Skathi would occur. A lot of magic preparation by Aoife, and the strange dragon called Vladmir, there is something uneasy about this whole ordeal. Will this work? Would necromancy be the solution? Will Glacia and Skathi be the same, or be changed forever. Can this dragon really be trusted? Not the sinister type, but there is something strange about him. Hence, Blanca called Glacia-Skathi to meet in private.

Blanca was soon met by a celestial of Glacia’s, an elven woman with blond hair, “Sailor Chione, you wish to meet with our lady? She is resting in one of the private hot springs after dealing with some migraines. If you please, I can take you to her, but I ask that you make sure to not overexert her.”

“Oh no worries cutie.” Blanca winked at the celestial elf. “A quick word with her, and I’ll give her a plentiful amount of cuddles.”

“Very well, Lady Chione,” the celestial elf guided her to a more secluded area of the realm, where there was a snowy mountainside; of course, given Blanca’s nature it didn’t affect her at all. Flying to a side of the mountain, they entered a cave, and under a small path there was a spring, Glacia resting with her eyes closed within. “I will leave you be, so just do not stress her out too much.”

“Oh no worries. I won't stress her out.” Blanca said. She began to approach Glacia, and went over to dip into the hot water and surprise hug her. “What's sup my noble knight?”

“Oh…” Glacia’s eyes slowly opened, currently the grey ones of the elven goddess, “I didn’t know you were here, Blanca… I would’ve welcomed you if I knew…” she hugged Blanca back.

Blanca patted Glacia as she gave a soft smile. “Oh, well your special snowflake will come over in time of need.” She let out a soft breath. “Besides, I believe both of us need some time together.”

“Yeah, I think I need a moment’s rest after everything,” Glacia held her head, “Gah… the headaches are getting worse… between me and Skathi, I can’t even tell sometimes who’s really speaking anymore…”

“The headaches? Pardon but when did this happen?” Blanca asked.

“It has been… happening recently, a few months ago,” Glacia - or was it Skathi, they couldn’t tell anymore - said, “Because this form, it’s not meant to have both our minds, our souls in it… it’s causing problems for our abilities, and affecting us mentally…”

“That’s absolutely terrible…” Blanca gasped. “And with this, it might end up with your souls becoming merged for a new identity or a breakdown of the ego?”

“I… I don’t know…” Glacia held her head, “I just don’t… but I know I can’t go on like this. I haven’t been able to really do much of anything for the past while… I’m as useless as when I was in that sword…”

“Please my darling and cuddlebug, it won’t be long until this horrifying state is over.” Blanca patted Glacia’s head.

“I… I know…” Glacia sighed, “I have faith in Vlad’s ability to help me here… but I know that everyone’s worried about me, and I feel like I’m letting everyone down. I just… make everyone worry. All the time about me…” she hugged Blanca tighter, her eyes turning golden “And that includes you too.”

“A high stake operation here my darling.” Blanca then patted the elf. “You shouldn’t blame yourself. Part of this responsibility, even if it is indirect, is my fault for not bringing you back with me to Chione centuries ago.”

Skathi’s voice was lightly heard from Glacia, “... but why didn’t you come back to see me when things were settled there? I know why you had to leave, to fight a great evil, but couldn’t you have returned afterwards?”

“It’s… complicated.” Blanca muttered. “I wish I had done so earlier… It’s one of my biggest regrets…” She sighed. “It’s a very long story.””

“... when this is done and I have a body again, I want to hear this story,” Skathi frowned, “It’s likely I’ll need some time to recover after all this, and I want to spend all that time with you… no, I want to be with you from then on. I think after all that’s happened I have earned that much, don’t you think?”

“You’re right darling. Once this unbound of the souls are complete, I’ll make sure both Skathi and Glacia, alongside the rest of our blood born family from our survivor kids, have a place in the Dragon Paradise and Chione. Alongside a power to our homes here. I’ll say that there are a few planetary portals between the Hestian Worlds that allow us to do so with ease.” Blanca said.

“That would be good…” Skathi sighed, resting against his wife, “You know, I think I’ll take a break from all the fighting after this. All of this is making me feel like there’s more ways to help people. Seeing the likes of Glacia, Vlad, Rosa… it’s making me understand, perhaps what people might need is some help with mental health.”

“For me: there are good friends to help you out. Granted, I haven’t seen many therapists outside of a few folks.” Blanca nodded. “Although, it is hard to express my thoughts to strangers… You know being a goddess and hero vs villains. Although not to worry too much… perhaps.”

“Well, perhaps that’s something that someone like me can fulfill, darling,” Skathi gave a pained smile, still reeling from the headaches, “I’ve had enough experiences with it, so I think I can help… and that includes for you, too. All you’ve had to deal with… I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for that, my love.”

“I am trying to make amends. Alongside handling a whole family, and get a couple of my daughters around. The only pain from running a massive family is that I worry Ivrea and Constance won’t get along well with Milky Way, and enjoy another ice ball. Thankfully Chione isn’t one of those cheesy movies of a single biome world.” Blanca teased. “Sometimes earthlings don’t get enough love from the muses.”

“Well, the only way is to try, right?” Skathi chuckled, “But we’ll have a big family get-together once I’m well enough, alright? I don’t want to miss out myself, my snowflake.”

“That’s fair. Once we get to Chione after this affair: much of this can rest up.” Blanca said.

“I just ask you be a little more patient, Blanca: everyone’s doing the best they can. Even Aoife… oh, I’ll have to talk to her after all of this. I think she might’ve missed me as much as you did, love.” Skathi sighed.

“I wish to speak with Aoife as well… Look, the whole family misses you my dearie, and it’s hard to hold everything over this one operation. I honestly wasn’t sure there is an expert in Chione who handles soul manipulation. Not a field to… never mind.” Blanca said. “I do worry Aoife found herself in a sticky matter… Although what I can base on is part of Marron’s words and memories from Brasa.”

“I think… perhaps it would be best if we talk to her together…” Skathi winced as he held his head, “... right now it’s just… too much. Blanca, can you just… stay a little longer? I… missed this…”

“I’ll be here.” Blanca hugged.

Skathi hugged his wife tightly; it still annoyed him that he couldn’t do this in his real body, but soon, as long as they were able to succeed, he would be able to finally be with his wife, and be able to help others…

[Rohane Alista]

Written with Dyste and Glaristant

Two Weeks After The Spiresteel Delivery

Clang. Ting. Clang.

The sound of hammering, of bellows and fire and even, sometimes, cursing, had all become standard to the Divine Springs over the last few weeks, at least in the little section of it where Vlad had his forge. Perhaps more concerning, though, at least to the older and more powerful people in the realm, was that the dragon had entirely stopped his regular activities. He hadn't trained with any of Alvis, Glacia, or Narris since the project had started, and he hadn't taken any time to spend with his family or even simply sleep in about three weeks, since he had finished the last of the test weapons.

Glacia for her part was trying to take it easy, the headaches from the twin souls having gotten a bit worse over time, but at this point, she was more concerned about Vlad than she was about herself. Floating over to the forge, she sat by watching, “... any luck, Vlad?”

The most immediate answer to her question was a crashing sound, then a hiss, as the man appeared at the counter. He appeared to be growing a beard, slowly but surely, scraggly hair starting to appear on his chin. "Just great! Can't get the fucking thing right, but it's fine. Just fine. Give me another week, or two, I'll get there. I promise."

“Vlad…” Glacia looked at him, “Perhaps you should take a break? This can’t be good for you… besides, it might help to have a fresh look at it afterwards.”

"No, this is important," Vlad frowned. "We need to get you separated as soon as possible. I'll work on this for months, if needed. Gods, I hope it isn't needed."

“Look… I’ve been like this for about two years at this point,” Glacia folded her arms, “I think I’ll be okay with waiting just a bit longer. But what about your wife and children? They have barely been with you since you started this…”

"Narris came and visited!" Vlad protested. "Once, at least. Isn't your head killing you?" The man changed topics. "I recall Yuki mentioning something about you having more headaches as she walked by the other day."

“I… I know, but…” Glacia rubbed her head, “I… can manage for a bit. I’m sure… it’s nothing I can’t handle…”

"Oh, is that so?" Vlad replied. "Hey, Skathi, get out here, why don't you? I need to talk to you anyways, so…"

Glacia sighed, “Alright…” she lowered her head, and when she raised it, her normally gray eyes flashed gold. “... I am here. What is it that you need?”

"Tell your… uh… body partner… that I can tell when she's lying about her condition. Also… have you heard yet?" Vlad frowned. "About Rosa."

“Glacia can be like that,” Skathi sighed, “She is too hard on herself; everyone always views her as some ideal to live up to, and she tried to hold herself to that, but she needs to give herself a break there…” the spirit groaned about hearing about Rosa, “I did. In fact I think I’m in part to blame for her leaving like that; I think I might’ve made them realize something about themselves they didn’t remember.”

"Well, to me she seems like a struggling young woman who took on too much, but I might just be old," Vlad sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. "Yeah. Well… I don't really know how it usually goes. Isn't your sister an angel or something? Did she crack it like that?"

“Hm, you might be right on Glacia there,” Skathi had to admit, “But as for Tailtiu… yeah, specifically she’s an archon. From what I recall, it was her wife who ended up making her realize it; she happened to be the mortal herald of the god they served, so it was easy for her to access, so I think Solis let them see each other not too long after she was remade as one.”

"And Rosa was… Aoife's husband, right?" Vlad said. "I guess Aoife was actively suppressing her memories until you did whatever you did. But you didn't actually answer my question… she really almost died, apparently. That's not normal, is it?"

“Rosa used to be known as ‘Roland’, and he was my squire at one point,” Skathi said, “He later became a knight for Aoife’s older sister, who had become the Queen of Rohane. But… no, Tai never really became quite like that.”

"... all the more reason to do this as swiftly as I can," Vlad said. "If it's going to be that destructive on her, and it's already happening… we should get it done sooner than later. Plus I think your daughter needs both a scolding and some comfort of her own, Skathi. Naga's tits, this entire situation is some kind of twisted…"

“I know all about that, but… Glacia was right about something too,” Skathi said, “You do indeed need a moment to rest before continuing on. If you just keep at it, you won’t make any progress, you’re wearing down your mind, making it more prone to making mistakes. If you truly wish to help us, just… trying listening to Glacia sometimes, too. She does care about you, too. Leave my daughter and Rosa to me when this is all done, you just focus on making sure Glacia ends up okay after all of this.”

"That's the plan. Except the resting part," Vlad grumbled. "I'm close. Probably. This metal Rosa and Alvis brought is genuinely useful, I've got to give them credit. Don't worry. Soon, you'll be yourself again."

“... you really care about them, don’t you?” Skathi smiled slightly, “I can see why Glacia let you stay here… but fine, I won’t force you to. But… please, take care of yourself,” he stood up, and with a bow, turned control back to Glacia, who held her head, “Ugh… sorry if he said anything weird, Vlad… I can’t entirely keep focus when he’s in control.”

"Care about? Huh?" Vlad frowned, then sighed. "I'm just a grumpy old dragon who hates people and wants to do the right thing anyways. Don't forget… oh, you're back, Glacia. Why don't you go get Narris and take a break in a hot spring? I'm sure you'll like it, and she'd appreciate getting to keep an eye on you, I'm sure."

“Huh? Oh… fine…” Glacia said, floating upward, “... see you later, I guess…” was all she could say before she left the dragon to himself.

"... yeah, I need to hurry this up," Vlad said to himself, his eyes flashing for just a moment as he returned inside. "Hopefully I'm not just full of hot air."

------

Four Weeks After The Spiresteel Delivery

Clang. Ting. Clang.

Just as much as before, Vlad was still in his forge. He still had not left. He still did not have the dagger he needed. And now, even he knew he was starting to grow exhausted.

Vlad could hear the sound of light tip toeing behind him, soon feeling a pair of familiar arms wrapping themselves around him. He could feel a warm breath on his neck, soon followed by a kiss as Narris’s voice whispered, “Hrm….so this is where you have been hiding all this time….Don’t you think you need a break, love?”

"Ah!" Vlad jumped, dropping his hammer. His movement was arrested by his wife's arms, though, surprisingly strong despite being gentle. Almost instinctively he reached back, wrapping his arms around her neck. "Narris, you surprised me… I don't know that I've been hiding, exactly, and I can take a break later, you know? I need… I have a time limit…"

Vladimir, I think you can spare one night away from the forge. After all, you’ve practically been living by it for weeks now….” Narris complained, nuzzling against him, “That’s saying nothing of the toll it must be taking on your sanity….”

"Oh gods, not the full name," Vlad complained, nuzzling back. He turned himself in her arms, letting Narris get a look at his face. He had finally grown a true beard, though it was still short, and his good eye had a bag almost as dark as the time she had finally dragged him home when he had fled, terrified of himself. His eyes, at least, weren't entirely red, but the fact was that there was a hint of red that was refusing to go. And yet he seemed to focus on her, instead of his own state. "It's always startling how beautiful you are, Narris… how long has it been? A couple weeks, right?"

“Flattery isn’t going to spare you, love….Not that I do not appreciate it…” Narris teased, her head resting against Vlad’s neck as she purred. Looking down, he could see her deep purple eyes had manifested a ring of red around their irises, “It’s been over a month, love….Almost five weeks to be exact.”

"A-ah, that long?" Vlad gulped slightly. He knew exactly what that little ring of red meant, and even as he was, he recognized he was playing with fire. But anyone who had ever called him especially wise was likely mistaken. "W-well I'm nearly done! And then we can have a nice long rest together, you and me and even Ivy, Keiko, Diana and Araya, alright?"

“Mhmm…..not only that, but you are going treat me to a nice night at the casino….” Narris purred, all the while giving him a mischievous smile, “Oh yes…..you were down here for far too long…..”

"Oh, I'm sure I can take you to every casino in the country, if you want. And anything else!" Vlad laughed nervously. "Uh, darling, are you planning something? You've got that… smile… listen, just a few more weeks at most..." His voice trailed, until he was mumbling the last few words.

“No Vladimir, we are not doing that….Neither our children or I can stand to go another day without you back home…..” Narris growled, her eyes narrowing as they began to turn a vibrant crimson.

Vlad swallowed again, sighing. "Alright! Alright, you're right… you're right and I know it. I just… I'm not likely to get this done anyways, and I do miss you…" He sighed again, squeezing Narris. "I'm sorry, my bondmate…"

“You….you can apologize by keeping this up….Vlad…” Narris purred, kissing the nape of Vlad’s neck. She took him in her strong arms, holding him above her gravid stomach as she began to carry him out of the forge, “Now come, bondmate…..You have two little wyrmlings waiting on you…..”

"Wa- Narris, you shouldn't lift me like this when you're… well, like that!" Vlad protested, wiggling in her arms. "... have they been upset?"

“Yes….Diana especially.” Narris said, almost growling as her crimson orbs stared at him, “Oi, if I can track you down across multiple worlds while I am like this, then carrying ye be no problem.”

"... sorry," Vlad apologized, looking ashamed, as he always did when that incident came up. He stopped fighting, just holding Narris from within her arms. "I keep trying to do the right thing, but I always do mess it up, huh?"

“Not necessarily, love…..I think the problem isn't that, so much as it is that you often neglect your own needs in the process.” Narris replied, holding Vlad more tightly.

"Maybe," Vlad replied, his eyes starting to slowly close. "Maybe I just… need a nap… with someone warm and lovely…"

“Not maybe, definitely.” Narris mused, as she stifled a chuckle, “For now….just rest easy, cute dragon. Gods know you need it….”

[Legokiller]

OOC: Collab with Rohane Alista

Vlad yawned, slowly extracting himself from Narris’ grasp. She was, as usual, entirely right that he had needed to rest, but he had slept enough to feel refreshed, and now it was time to finish his work. His first stop was his library; he was missing something, something important about how to make this knife work, and if he was going to have any hope of figuring out what, it would be in there.

Yuki began to make her entrance within the library as she held a few borrowed books from a few curious tales of various kitsune and fox people. Her eyes then became fixated on Vlad and studied him for a moment. “Oh, Vlad… Are you looking for something?”

"Ah, Yuki," Vlad nodded. "Are those some of my Izumin books? None of them are the ones on forbidden magics, right?"

“In a sense, yes. As forbidden, no. Only tales of the kitsune and foxkin across the multiverse. I must say, many magi knew of the ethereal plane and other worlds that simply blink in and mist within time. Outsiders and nations soon became a part of it, to other treasures.” Yuki said. “That being said: I was curious about the folkfox of Izumin. How did Keiko grew up, and what abilities she earn. Alongside if there is any trouble with humans.”

"Well, best to ask her directly," Vlad said. "At the very least, though, in my time, the kitsune and the humans got along well. Aiko's father was human, actually, and of course I myself am half-human. Indeed, one of my daughter's with Aiko turned out to be a human instead of a kitsune! That was a big shock!"

“It’d make sense. Of course, Keiko is still young and might’ve not experienced the people as a whole. Hence a fragment of literature, even if their society passed ahead, is required.” Yuki said. “It’s something I do to remember and read about past times, and how history remembers it.”

"Well, we brought her over at twelve," Vlad agreed, but then frowned. "There's something about her past she won't tell me, actually. She's never told me why it was she walked up that entire mountain all alone… but you're right, of course, history is important. If I knew of a history book that could help me figure out how to make this knife, I'd read it in a second!"

“This knife? As in the ritual one?” Yuki asked.

"Yeah, the one for Glacia's and Skathi's separation," Vlad confirmed with a sigh. "I just don't quite trust what I've come up with so far to cut cleanly and do no harm. I almost feel like I need something that can get as small as the little gaps I use to Voidwalk…"

“Small, as in making the knife tinier?” Yuki asked.

"Well, the cutting edge, at least?" Vlad shrugged. "For all my experience, I just can't… quite… figure out what I'm doing wrong. Even if it's just a book, I need something to give my mind a shake up, you know?"

“No worries Vlad. I doubt any medical officials in Silverdale know how to separate literal souls.” Yuki patted Vlad’s shoulder. “There might be something simple to it…”

"Or something super complicated," he laughed, one that didn't seem well humored. "Damn… I can tell I'm close, but there's just something missing. I bet it's some kinda magic…"

“It’s magical.” Yuki said. “The mundane surgical tools can affect the body, but the soul is not reachable.”

"Yeah," Vlad sighed. "I don't think a vorpal enchantment would help, it would just kill them both…" the dragon considered. "Maybe something more esoteric… hrm. Yuki, you're a goddess of magic, right?"

“Yes, and you’re requesting a form of an enchantment?” Yuki asked.

"More… support," Vlad shook his head. "I'm going to try something a little crazy, a little unknown, and I'm hoping you can use your mastery over magic to help me make sure it all goes well."

“Why yes, and you want me to perform the correct enchantment to be surgical on the soul itself, and unbind the amalgamation of my dearie elf. Is that correct?” Yuki asked.

“Uh, actually… I’d like you to stop me killing myself on accident,” Vlad chuckled nervously. “I don’t intend to, but I’ve had an idea. I’m going to use a little blood magic in the forging, but I’m not very experienced, so… I mean, that’s a thing you can do, right? Shut down my magic for a moment?”

“You’re asking a goddess of magic to stop magic….” Yuki crossed her arms. “Look that’s possible, but what do you have in mind with blood magic? Perhaps something a bit clear enough since while it is possible for me to do, not sure how this relates to my cuddleelf.”

“Right. So, Yuki, you know about my ability, right? I call it the Voidstep, the way I can walk between two locations or even two totally different worlds in a single step?” Vlad began to explain. “I did it back on Mount… well, after that big fight.”

“Yes, and you going to use Voidstep to walk into a spiritual sense?” Yuki asked.

“I was thinking, it’s tied to my blood,” Vlad said. “Narris could do it for a little bit after getting my blood in her, right? The whole ‘step out of this plane into The Void and then back out’ thing that I do for it. Well, that means, if I incorporate my blood magically into the knife… it might be able to cut the tiniest seams in reality, the same ones I travel through, and then it should be precise enough to separate even souls, if used carefully. Does that… make sense?”

“You have to cut reality to do a separation of the soul….” Yuki gave a blank look. As if to try to figure out how that works!

“Hey, if you have a better idea I’m listening!” Vlad groaned, smacking his own face. “I’ve been working on this damn thing for like, a month already, and I’m barely making progress! I don’t know if you’ve seen them, Yuki, but Glacia and Skathi are in terrible condition. I don’t think they can last long enough for me to get this right unless I take a gamble, you know? Just… do my best and hope I got it right…”

“If it is a gamble, then accuracy enchantment is preferable for this task. Plus to cut through different sides of reality itself. This is useful for this part…” Yuki then shrugged. “Granted, from my studies, ancient Silverdaleans and other civilizations in the past aren’t soul manipulation masters. Even those liches aren’t too keen to be fickle with their souls. Not to mention I have no intention for poor Glacia to be an experiment.”

“Me neither, alright?” Vlad replied, gritting his teeth. “I’m doing my best! And I’m asking you to help me do my best, Yuki, so that we can save your friends life. I realize you may not trust me, but isn’t that all the more reason to be involved? You can ensure I don’t have any malicious ideas, and put whatever little touches you think are needed for it to work best.”

“Look, I have experienced enough of your behavior and been through annoyance of the others gods on our conduct. You don’t intend to harm Glacia, yes. I just want to save my friend, and prevent anything from losing her.” Yuki said.

Vlad took a deep breath, holding it for a moment before letting it go. “Are you going to help, Yuki, or am I doing this alone?”

“Why yes, I am going to help.” Yuki answered.

Vlad visibly relaxed. “Good. I don’t need a lecture, Yuki, I just need help. Any kind of help you can provide. Anything to make this more likely to work.”

“No lecture. Now, care to show me the blade?” Yuki asked.

“Sure, come with me,” Vlad said. He would lead the kitsune out of the library, down through the Springs and to the forge, where he showed her a small block of strange looking metal. “So, this is the spiresteel. I was dissatisfied with the status of the knife, so I used magic to unforge it… I can redo it much faster than usual after so much time working with this material, though. Do you want to do anything before I start?”

“Right, let me see…” Yuki took a close eye to examine the metal. “Spiresteel hmm? Any properties and metallic qualities that may relate to our task at hand?”

“Uh, something to do with souls and stuff,” Vlad shrugged. “Honestly, it was Rosa’s idea, and her and Alvis went and got it for me. As for forging, it’s a weird thing, I swear it feels like it’s to absorb me when I work on it.”

“Did Rosa provide a clear explanation?” Yuki asked. Yet as he looked, there was something amused to ‘oh great what did Rosa and Alvis brewed up without a clear understanding of the metal itself.’

“This is still Rosa, so not much,” Vlad sighed. “I’m pretty experienced though, so from what I was told, I can guess. This stuff is a metal from the land of the dead, and I’m pretty sure it’s made of nearly pure quintessence. That’s why it’s effective on souls or spirits. And it does mean it’s likely the best thing for what we’re doing.”

“Very well then. I do recall to reframe an admittedly poor emotional state of Rosa, but let’s begin.” Yuki picked up the metal and began to channel her magic within. “By the passage of the auroras. One that pierce through the ethereal realm, shadows, light, and dances across the world tree, grants the blessings into this blade to cut soul and spirits.” The fox’s tails shined colorful and flow like the auroras as brilliant energy followed within. “As for myself, allow the precision and accuracy to burn within.” Her hand burned as magic was infused with the blade. As if it reads both the hand, user, and one’s desire to strike down. “And by the gentle cut, may the soul feel numb and avoid the hollowness of pain.” Yuki winced a little as she added a more minor nullification of pain to the metal itself. Vlad himself can see the flashes of the southern lights, and a few fox marks of the other two enchantments. “There… Here’s my enchantments and blessings. Anything else you want?”

"You alright?" Vlad asked her instead of directly answering. "I saw you wince there a bit. Did you hurt yourself?"

“Eh nothing too much.” Yuki then frowned. “Had to do something I wasn’t used to to make these permanent and beyond what was needed for magecraft as a mortal. Something a bit beyond…” She then flexed her hand as she felt a bit numb. “Hmm, spell fatigue a bit much… Overdid that…”

"... why don't you just sit down, Yuki," Vlad sighed, pulling around a stool for her. He then approached the knife, examining it. "Nearly there… one final touch. I can nearly call this complete."

“Thanks… But you shouldn’t trouble yourself like that. I’m not squire with magic you know.” Yuki blushed.

"Yes, yes, you're a goddess," Vlad rolled his eyes. "One who just exhausted herself inventing a whole new way to do magic on the spot with no practice. And they say I can be impulsive!"

“Relax. Nothing to be concerned about.” Yuki pouted. “Regardless, you need to complete your part.”

"That I do," Vlad replied, picking up the knife. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he cut his palm with one side of the blade. Yuki could feel his magic pouring out through the wound, seeping into the knife, and she could watch as the edge he had cut his hand with seemed to absorb the ichor, changing color subtly compared to the other side, reflecting light that seemed to come from a different place altogether.

With a hiss, he set the knife down, letting it rest as he healed his hand. "Damn. That hurt more than expected. I swear that knife could cut anything… even adamantium, with no effort. But I think now it's done."

“We might as well make a surgical tool instead…” Yuki muttered. “Anyway, is that everything?”

"Hey, daggers and knives have a long relationship with ritual magics," Vlad pouted. "And that long relationship itself is a kind of ritual that reinforces their power during use in other rituals!... yeah, I'm ready if Aoife is, and Glacia and Skathi too. I can get it set up whenever they want."

“I’ll see if the others are ready. Just remember to clear your mind, do a little meditation, and focus on the more difficult task ahead.” Yuki said.

"Thanks, Yuki. I promise, I'll do everything I can to make this as safe as I can," Vlad said, picking up the knife. "Oh, and ask Glacia where she wants this done? I can set up almost anywhere she wants."

“I shall do. That being said, I’ll advise her against being in a hot spring for this.” Yuki said.

"... you know, I didn't think I had to mention it, but yeah, you're right. Somewhere dry and open enough for at least several people at minimum. Thanks, Yuki," Vlad nodded. "Good luck."

[Dyste]

Co-written with RA, LK and Glaristant

After her recovery, Glacia has to determine a place to perform the ritual. She recalled a large cabin within a grassy field, normally used as a camping ground for visiting deities and other guests; the area was comfortable, large and spacious, a fine place for a ritual if there ever was one. When everyone was ready, she gave the summons to meet her there. Today was the day…

The first to arrive came on a beating of large wings, a short man setting down in front of Glacia with a nod. He folded away his wings and reached into the coat he wore, pulling out an enchanted leather sheath from which emerged a black handle. “I finally finished it, and just in time.”

Following close behind Vlad was Alvis, who seemed to be quite nervous, understandably so; between the situation with Rosa and this, he had been fretting a lot recently, but this at least would hopefully soon be done. “Glacia… don’t worry, I’m here for you. Please, let’s take care of this…”

Yuki stepped over as well. This time a bit more nervous on Blanca and Vlad as well. As to express it, a small gesture of ‘stay focus.’ Blanca let a small frown as she patted Glacia. “Alright darling, this will be all over soon. No more being in a sword or girl’s body.”

“Do not worry, dad….This whole nightmare will soon be over and you will be back to your normal self.” Aoife said, giving Glacia a small smile as she hefted a large purple cylinder over her shoulder. Looking towards Vlad, she patted the cylinder as she spoke, “Everything is ready on my end, so we can begin as soon as you are prepared, Vladimir.”

“If Glacia is ready, we can finish the set up,” Vlad replied. “And don’t call me Vladimir.”

“I…” Glacia took in a deep breath, “... I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” Her eyes flashed golden, “I, on the other hand, have never been more ready in my entire life.”

“Then let’s go,” Vlad said, tucking the dagger away again. “Aoife, you can help me set up the array for this. I don’t want to damage, uh… the body…”

“Of course. Just give me one moment. Mama, can you hold this please? Oh and do be careful with it…” Aoife said, handing the cylinder to Blanca before a set of ten gems of varying color appeared within her hands. The aasimar set 8 of the gems at equidistant points, creating an octagon before setting two in the center. She muttered an incantation as the gems began to glow, causing silver lines to spread from the gems that began to carve a glyph like array into the floor. The lines weaved intricate geometric patterns surrounding the center gems before at last terminating as they reached the center, all the while Aoife gestured for Blanca to step forward, “Alright, there we go, Vlad. We just need to get the body in place and we should be ready to start.”
“... alright, well, I was planning on setting up an array,” Vlad replied, repressing the irritation in his tone with significant effort. “I don’t even know what half of these are for,” he sighed, poking one line in particular with his toe. “What does this do?”

“It’s a little modification I made to the design based upon the notes Yuki and I recovered from your library. Each of the eight outer gems is designed to create an anchor upon my father’s soul which the ritual is undertaken, lessening the chance of it being lost or stolen. The two inner gems by contrast will draw it towards the body, all the while creating two anchor points within the body itself. In theory, it should work in tandem with your array to draw then bind my father’s soul to his new body.” Aoife explained sheepishly.

“Can’t risk overlapping arrays. We’re using yours, but you’d better be damn sure,” Vlad said, shaking his head. He then turned to Glacia. “Please, lay down on the left hand side. And Aoife, set the body on the right hand side of the array.”

“Ahem…” Blanca put down the Skathi body, and felt its skin. All to see how ‘real’ the body was like. “There we go…”

Glacia lied down on the left side, looking over the body, “Huh… y’know, Skathi, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a good look at what you actually look like… how does it look to you?” Her eyes turned golden again, and with a sigh, “... as well as I can remember, at least. It’s not like I’ve seen it myself for a long time…”

“Yet moisturized and refreshed. Hm… it does look so.. New and born. Then again, my darling needs to flex out this body…” Blanca commented.

“You can do that later, very far away from where I’m about to perform what is essentially soul surgery,” Vlad rolled his eyes, pulling out the knife again. “Just… I imagine it will take him time to adjust back. I’ve never been displaced out of my body, but I’ve heard some stories from those who were, and it sounds pretty disorienting. I suggest you take it easy for awhile. Plus, you know. Surgery.”

“Mom….please step back as you do not want to be caught within several meters of the ritual.” Aoife cautioned as she adjusted the body per Vlad’s instructions, “Alright, it’s ready when you are, Vlad.”

“Glacia, are you ready?” Vlad asked, preparing a spell. “It’ll be over before you know it.”

“I hope so,” Glacia sighed, trying to ignore the headaches as much as she could.

“Alright, time to take a nap. You too, Skathi,” Vlad said, casting the spell on Glacia, hopefully causing her drift off into sleep for the length of the procedure. “Everyone but Aoife, please step away from the array. I’d make you leave the room, but… well, no point, hopefully. Aoife, is the body ready?”

“Yes, it is ready, Vlad. Just give the word and I will fire up the array.” Aoife said.

“Alright, everyone,” Alvis said to Blanca and Yuki, “We should probably let them get to work. Let’s trust in them to get this done, okay?”

Yuki nodded. “Right. Come on, it might take some time.”

Blanca gave a somewhat hesitant look at this whole contraption of the array but nodded. “Fine… Aoife, please focus on this matter well…” She said as she left the room.

“Alright. Aoife, hit it,” Vlad said, handing her a band for her wrist. “And wear this. Should make sure Skathi’s soul doesn’t somehow end up in one of us. Uh, if anti-ghost possession stuff works on that…”

Aoife took the band, carefully placing it around her wrist as the array began to glow. One by one the gems lit up, electricity crackling over them as a low humming began to emanate from them. “Alright…..it’s on you now, Vlad…” Aoife said, giving Vlad a nod.

“Sure hope that sleeping spell holds,” Vlad mumbled, drawing the knife out of its sheathe. It was with great care he wielded it, casting a small spell to let himself identify the best place to begin his work. “Alright… Sorry, Glacia, need a little blood for this…” He mumbled, pricking the inside of her elbow, letting a few drops of blood fall before healing the wound again. “And… Skathi’s body has flowing blood, right, Aoife?”

“Yep….I made sure of it before I left the workshop this morning….” Aoife said.

“Good,” Vlad replied, repeating the process with Skathi’s elbow. He was careful not to let the blood mix, using Glacia’s first to form a small seal on her forehead, and then Skathi’s for a small seal on her navel. “Alright, that should anchor Glacia’s uh… essence, to her mind for a bit, and draw Skathi’s away. Naga’s tits, this had better work. Don’t tell Blanca, but this is all super experimental.”

“Trust me, I have no intention of telling mom…..especially not given all I had to do with Dad’s body to get this to work…” Aoife said, shaking her head.

“I don’t plan to ask,” Vlad replied, very carefully holding the knife over Glacia’s stomach. Aoife could tell each side of the blade looked different, one side matte, a flat grey, the other side an almost shimmering metal, and it was the shimmering side he set against her navel gently. The dragon took a deep breath, cutting so lightly he didn’t even fully break the skin, a strange material, almost liquid, translucent and yet also white and swirling coming away with the blade as he gently pulled it off of Glacia. “Aoife! You built this array, make it help me extract this! Pure, concentrated… Skathi, I think.”

“Vlad, place a small bit of the essence on the gem beneath Glacia’s hand, as that will begin the extraction process. Just be careful not to touch his spiritual essence, as that will…contaminate it…” Aoife cautioned.

Vlad did as Aoife instructed, being extremely careful indeed not to touch it. “I don’t want any of it on me anyways, who knows what might happen?” He asked rhetorically, watching as the gem began to pull more and more of the essence out of Glacia. After a few minutes, he squinted, the color seeming to change just slightly to a light blue, and he used the same edge of the knife to cut right through it where it changed colors. “Well, I think that’s all of Skathi out…”

“Now comes the fun part….” Aoife said as the gem began to pulse rapidly, all the while the center gem turned a similar blue as electricity arced over it. The array began to glow ever more brilliantly as the gems on the perimeter lit up, all the while those next to Skathi’s body turned a light purple as they pulsed in turn. “Looks like it is working…..” Aoife said, watching as the body of her father shook, before becoming motionless once more.

“I never want to do this again,” Vlad mumbled, attempting to take the still external bit of Glacia’s own essence and put it back inside her. He did manage it after a moment of careful operation with the knife, thankfully, and turned to look at Skathi. “How long?”

“It should be a matter of moments, assuming we didn’t make any mistakes.” Aoife said, watching as the gems near Glacia began to darken while the bright light of the glyph slowly faded. The two watched as the red faded from the gems near Skathi’s body, being replaced by pale white. Soon the light of the glyph had faded entirely as the room fell silent, with both Aoife and Vlad watching for any sign of movement from the body. “Come on…work damn it…” Aoife muttered, all the while her eyes occasionally darted back to Vlad.

The first one of the two to wake up was Glacia, rubbing her head, “Ow… geez, it feels like I just recovered from the worst headache of my life… oh! Um, did it work?”

“You tell us,” Vlad replied. “Try to talk to Skathi. Or even better, try to put him in control.”

Glacia concentrated for a bit, before shaking her head, “I… don’t hear him…”

“Good sign, for your side. Aoife, how’s it looking?” Vlad turned and approached Skathi. “Did your totally untested modifications to a book in my library’s methods work?”

“Hrmph…..do not think me so reckless that at wouldn’t at least conduct some testing on it, Vlad. At any rate, yes….it should have worked….if the simulation was any indicator.” Aoife retorted.

“Well, now we wait. Hopefully not too long,” Vlad sighed, watching the man’s body. “Maybe I should learn some basic medicine…”

After what was actually only about a few minutes but felt like much longer, finally Skathi’s body began to stir, as he opened his eyes, and spoke with a voice that sounded like his real one, not the version he had to use when speaking through Glacia, “Ngh… having a new body… I guess… takes getting used to…”

“Dad….is that really you…” Aoife said softly, a tear rolling down her cheek as she moved to his side. Her lips formed into a small smile as she offered him her hand, “Thank the heavens it worked. Tell me….how do you feel….do you know where you are, Dad?”

“In a cabin… in Glacia’s divine realm…” Skathi held his head, “Come on, Aoife, I may have been a disembodied spirit, but my memory of things that just happened hasn’t been affected…”

Vlad quietly retreated out of the room, giving Aoife a moment with Skathi, and also heading to retrieve those who had been waiting.

“I…I just wanted to be sure you were alright, particularly given the…..rather new nature of the method we used to bring you back. Still…I…I couldn’t be happier it actually worked….” Aoife said, tears rolling down her face as she embraced her father, all the while he could hear her choke, “After all this time…I can’t believe we’ve finally got you back…”

“Hey, careful now, still getting used to this-” Skathi nevertheless hugged Aoife back, “... if anyone could figure it out, it was you, Aoife… c’mon, let’s get your mom over here…”

Blanca made her way inside the room to look upon the state of Skathi. Her eyes widened as the once body duplicate arose and the expression made by the man began to melt away the icy core of the goddess. “Skathi…” She then rushed over to embrace him and Aoife. She wasn’t able to hold back the tears as she gave him a big kiss. “You’re finally back!”

“Oof, careful now-” Skathi flailed a bit from his wife’s strength, “Hey, snowflake… guess you really did miss me, huh?”

“Oh yes darling. It's been so long… And finally you’re freed from the grip of the blade.” Blanca said.

“Been free from that for at least a year, granted, but I’ll be happy if I never see that again,” Skathi said, “And yeah, keep it, Glacia; I can get a new one.”

“You… sure?” Glacia said as Alvis came in to hug her, “I mean, I guess if it’s okay with you…”

“Just don’t expect me to stop lecturing you if you start slacking off your sword training!” Skathi frowned, “And you, Blanca, I hope you haven’t gotten too soft since we last sparred; when I’m back up to full strength we’ll have a match and see…”

Blanca stuck out her tongue. “I haven’t become a couch potato. That said: a little work, and yes some work, and your nimble arms will be much better.”

“That’s good… because I think I’m gonna need some time to get used to this… Aoife, let’s see how well this body you made works out, huh?”

“I think you’ll find it will be quite the improvement over your old one, dad. Just …try not to strain yourself too much, okay? At least not until you're fully settled in…” Aoife said, chuckling as she embraced her father.

“Alrighty, then…” Skathi, with some effort, got up on his own two legs, “... c’mon, my snowflake, let’s go home already, okay?”

Blanca helped support the man and looked outward. “You have a big surprise waiting back home. Alongside some interesting conversations with your grandchildren, and the rest of the family as well.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt it,” Skathi chuckled, “Knowing this family the family reunion’ll be a big one! Well, Glacia… thanks for listening for me as long as you have, but I’ll be glad to get out of your head for now!”

“Same goes for you,” Glacia giggled, being supported by Alvis as they walked out together, finally freed of this once and for all.

“Actually…..Dad if you do not mind, there is someone we need to check in before you and mom head home. It should not take that long….” Aoife said.

“Huh… well, okay then,” Skathi sighed, “But let’s make it quick, alright? I can still feel my balance failing me…”

“Aoife? Is there something wrong?” Blanca asked.

“I don’t know if I’d say something is wrong so much as it is I…want to try something with Rosa while Dad is present….” Aoife said somberly, nodding at her father’s comment, “Don’t worry….I doubt it will take long.”

“Aoife.” Blanca gave a stern look. “You’re aware that this would be quite overwhelming. We can handle this another time.”

“No, Blanca,” Skathi sighed, “I think I need to do this, too… c’mon, help me get to her. I think perhaps I’m the only one who can do this…”

“Mom….I know it may be overwhelming, but this is the best chance I have to help Rosa…and maybe…maybe even get Roland back.” Aoife pleaded as she helped to balance Skathi.

“Fine…” Blanca gave a small frown. “But please after this, give Rosa some space to breathe and collect her thoughts.”

“You have my word that I will, mom.” Aoife nodded, before helping Skathi towards the exit, “We’ll catch up with you soon….I promise.”

“Yes… one last thing to take care of,” Skathi sighed, one last wrong he needed to right for now…

[Glaristant]

Cowritten with Dyste and Rohane Alista

The transition between the realm of the Warrior Trinity and Aoife’s workshop was seamless, with it almost imperceptible until the sound of ticking clock work filled the air. As he looked around, Skathi could see endless rows of shelves containing ever shifting volumes with colors in all hues of the rainbow. As they quickly passed the shelves could see silver clad constructs, ranging from small insectoid ones to full knight sized golems weaving in and between them. They carried artifacts ranging from weapons to stacks of books that remained perfectly still despite their frenetic movements. Yet Aoife seemed to pay them little mind as she pulled her father down a side corridor, with the pair soon finding themselves at a polished golden door emblazoned with a silver set of angel wings. Skathi could see Aoife tense up for a moment, with her deeply inhaling as she gently opened it. The door opened to reveal a spacious bedroom, dominated by a massive four poster bed with fuschia sheets and white covers that ensconced the resting form of Rosa. Around the room, he could see pictures of Aoife and Rosa doing everything from dancing to simply embracing each other at a gala. “Here she is, dad…..I think I managed to mend the worst of the damage, but I…have not been able to bring her out of her coma no matter what I’ve tried.” Aoife said quietly as she rested on the edge of the bed, her hand brushing against the azata’s.

“I see…” Skathi looked over the pictures of the two; it was clear that Aoife cared for Rosa much like she did for Roland, he could even picture his former squire wearing dresses such as these! “I suppose then we’ll have to see what we can do for her…” he stumbled a bit before sitting next to the bed, “I’m sorry, Roland… I wish I could’ve been there to help you.”

“I don’t know what you could have done Dad, even had you been here. No…it’s my fault…had I not been so…gods damned arrogant in trying to keep his soul from passing on, none of this would have happened. And now….there’s no telling if they’ll wake. …” Aoife muttered, a few tears rolling down her cheek as she clasped Rosa’s hand.

“Dammit…” Skathi scowled, as he patted Rosa’s shoulder, “... did I give you permission to rest? I expect more from you than this!” his voice went from soft to commanding, as a feeling of nostalgia was flowing through him, “You’re not just gonna quit because things got hard, did you? Because I didn’t pick you as my squire just because you’re pretty! So stand up already, soldier!”

Rosa stirred slightly in the bed, more reaction than she'd given Aoife in the last few days at least. She didn't quite wake up, but she did groan something unintelligible as she shifted slightly, her head turning in the direction of Skathi's voice.

“C’mon, there,” Skathi had a small smile in spite of his harsh tone, “Is that the Roland I know, wanting to just lie down in bed and do nothing? Where’s the knight that loves chivalry and dresses in equal measure? The one that became a knight of Queen Marron, that charged into any battle they needed to? They would never go and quit on me!”

There was more stirring, Rosa's mouth cracking open as she spoke. Her voice was both rough and soft, but it was definitely hers. "I… remember… being a knight," she replied briefly.

Aoife fell silent for a moment, clutching Rosa’s hand in her own as she listened, “Tell us…what can you remember of that time, Rosa….”

"Horse… swords," the azata mumbled. She couldn't seem to find better words as she paused. "Blood… theirs, mine, others. Castle… training… Skathi… nghh… I don't… I don't know?"

“Your name,” Skathi said firmly, “Is Roland Griffonheart, knight of Silverdale and Rohane Alista. You have served Queen Aurora and Emperor Jacobi. You used a sword known as the Anduril. Does any of this sound familiar?”

"K-knight of… who?" Rosa's brow furrowed and she groaned. "Sword… I remember a sword… it was beautiful. Roland… of course that's m-" The woman gasped, doubling over on herself for a moment. "No! My name is… Rosa!"

“No…your name, well your original name was Roland….you were a knight of both Silverdale And Rohane for decades before…now.” Aoife added, her hand trembling as she spoke in a hesitant tone.

"No! I… am Rosaaaagh!" The azata's eyes snapped open, bloodshot as she gripped her head. She trembled in place, breathing heavily, staring at nothing. "I'm Roland… and Rosa?... I remember…man in white, woman in purple and blue… they have no faces, why don't they have faces?"

“That must be… Jacobi and Marron…” Skathi took Rosa’s shoulder, “Stay with me! Aoife, come on, we need to help! This is a critical phase; we might break through, but we don’t want to break Rosa by doing so!”

“Right! Let me get her stabilized….” Aoife said as she began to chant, all the while Skathi could hear slight humming coming from Rosa’s body as her body seemed to relax. Her breathing began to return to normal as Aoife looked to Skathi, “Hurry up and see if you can break through, dad….as I can’t hold this for too long…”

“Squire, you listen to me, and you listen well,” Skathi went back to his stern tone again, “Tell me now: Who are you and what do you wanna be? You chose this path because you wanted to do something, be someone. What is it?”

"R-ro… Roland Griffonheart," Rosa managed to stutter out. "I… I want to be a royal… a royal knight! A hero! I-I want to protect people, and… and be brave…"

“Damn right you do!” Skathi said, “And are you willing to do what it takes to make your dream come true, no matter the challenges ahead!?”

"Yes, sir!" Rosa replied, right as Aoife's magic began to fail. "W-wait, I don't… Skathi, it hurts…"

“Of course it does,” Skathi said with a frown, “Take it from me, memories can hurt. But you can’t abandon them, try as you might. But they shape us into who we are, what we have become. So are you gonna just give up once it starts hurting a little? I trained you better than that. You are better than that, aren’t you… and if you manage this, well…” he let out a deep sigh, “... I’ll go try out some dresses with you.”

"Really?" Rosa let go of her head, pure shock breaking the growing struggle for her mind. "You mean it?"

Skathi let out a grumble, “... please don’t make me say it again… I’m really trying my hardest here, but you gotta believe me… if it’ll help bring you back to us, I am willing to do this…”

"I… I'm trying, but I'm not just Roland anymore," the azata was sounding apologetic now. "I have so many memories of… being the mortal Roland and of being the celestial Rosa… and of being a bird? For some reason?"

“Well….I…may have housed Roland’s soul in the body of a familiar for a while after his death.” Aoife mumbled, shaking her head before looking back to Rosa. She took the celestial’s hand, holding against her chest as her eyes locked with the celestials, “In part yes, but there is more to you than just Rosa….”

“... really, Aoife,” Skathi groaned, of course Aoife would do something like that… “Look, Rosa, Roland, it doesn’t matter to me in the end. Both, neither, something in between, whatever, you can make what you want of it. But it’s all part of you, and trying to keep it apart will just tear you apart in the end. Take it from a guy who was in a sword for centuries: don’t throw who you are away.”

"I'm not," Rosa complained, focusing on Skathi. "I'm not throwing away what I remember! I just don't remember everything you want me to! At least, not yet… I want to know, too, alright? Those people whose faces and names just won't come to me, so much of my mortal life still lost… I want to know who I am, too…"

“Well, we can help with that, right?” Skathi looked to Aoife. “One step at a time, though; we don’t want to overwhelm her, after all, right?”

“Of course….We’ll be here to help you recover your memory every step of the way, Rosa.” Aoife said, her lips curving into a slight smile as she hugged the azata. As they embraced, she could hear Aoife whisper, “I promise….I won’t leave you to suffer through this alone, not again….”

Rosa didn't exactly push Aoife away, but as the embrace ended, she was frowning. "I… don't fully trust you, Aoife. I fled in the first place because of how long you had lied to me…"

“Even if you don’t,” Skathi folded his arms, “She does want the best for you, but… Aoife, I am sorry, but this might take some time to deal with. As long as you’re patient with her, though…” he groaned, “... no, I can’t even say that…”

“I…Alright….I don’t like it, but…if that’s what needs to be done….” Aoife said as she released Rosa from her grip, a slight hint of melancholy in her voice. The goddess refused to look her in the eye, instead mumbling, “I suppose it’s only natural given….everything.”

"Hey!" Rosa stood, practically leaping out of the bed, scowling at Skathi. "I didn't ask you to make decisions for me either! Haven't enough decisions been made about me, around me, for me, without considering what I wanted?"

“... fine then.” Skathi folded his arms, “In that case, you decide what you want. Because in the end, you’re really the only person who knows what it is you want, right?”

"Who said even I do," Rosa mumbled.

“Exactly my point,” Skathi said, “I don’t, you don’t, and Aoife here sure doesn’t. So how about instead of trying to decide right away, we actually, y’know, think on this and figure it out instead of rashly jumping to a conclusion?”

"... yes, sir," Rosa replied, sitting back down. "But don't yell at her… I have every reason to be upset, but that's for me and Aoife to work out. Right?"

“Right….yes, it’s something we will work out….or I guess try to….” Aoife said, still refusing to look at the azata, “For whatever good it will do now…”

"... so what was your plan, Skathi?" Rosa asked. "Whether I'm Rosa or Roland, I don't know, but… you have a plan, right?"

“Um,” Skathi looked a bit embarrassed, “I did just recently get a body of my own back, so I admit I might not be at my fullest yet, but… I was thinking of showing you things from your past as Roland, like people and places. To be clear, not all at once, but over time, at whatever pace you’re comfortable with. If there’s a person or place you have in your mind, we can try to find them. Maybe it’ll help, but either way, I really do just want to help you…”

"Well, there's the man in white, the woman in purple and blue…" Rosa muttered. "And… there was a village, somewhere cold and forested, and then another one that was so hot?"

“You mean my sister, Marron and that husband of her’s, Jacobi…..I believe that was on that mission where you, mom, and I joined with Jacobi’s army, right Dad?” Aoife piped up, her sorrowful expression gone as she scrutinized Rosa. Her reds seemed locked on the azata, all the while she remarked, “Well there’s not much we can do with Jacobi given he’s long dead, but….maybe seeing sis….either at the village or in Berabil will help jog his memory?”

“Hm, perhaps,” Skathi said, before feeling his legs give way, sitting on the floor, “Ugh, dammit… so pathetic…”

Rosa sighed, standing and lifting Skathi with surprising ease. She carried him princess style, her wings appearing. "Later… all of that later. I'm going to take him to Brasa's realm, and then we can talk, Aoife. About the new rules that I'm insisting on, if you still want to be in my life. Alright?"

“Hurry to the Paradise, Rosa…please make sure dad is taken care of. After that…we’ll settle accounts…on that you can rest assured.” Aoife said, watching carefully as Rosa prepared to set off.

"We will," Rosa promised, turning to Skathi. "Are you ready to fly? It won't take long, but I can tell you about Rosa the Azata, a little bit, if you don't mind…"

“Sure thing,” Skathi had a bit of a chuckle, “I think perhaps learning a bit myself for once might be nice…”

"Away we go, because if I know anything, it's how to rush into things!" Rosa smiled slightly, lifting up and flying out the door, and then out of the realm, Skathi in hand.