Shattered Moonstone

Neither of the two gods spoke as they took in the scene before them. Standing in the mirror stood two souls before what appeared to be a cracked sky, the sun on one side, the other a dark moon shaped orb pouring out black liquid. One soul was very clearly a human soul, it was a deep purple indicating a very strong space affinity. The other however, was very clearly not human, its small blackened frame was covered in very clear pulsing lines giving it a very interesting appearance as it held one of its long-clawed arms out towards the terminal as if waving. The lines flashed a rainbow of different affinities, neither could pinpoint a “single” color that would indicate the soul’s main affinity. 

It… it has all the affinities? Soter thought as he inspected the soul.  Normally a soul would be two colors, maybe three at most. But black indicated a void, or lack of any affinity, but that coupled with those glowing lines that seemed to shift through all the affinities would mean… whatever this thing is can use any type of magic. How does it not simply explode from all that magical force? Soter nearly gagged when he saw the golden circle in its chest covered in a black web clearly holding it in. And it just has that man’s soul rammed into its chest. To anyone else it would simply look like a discolored spot, but to the two gods, it marked the most heinous crime a soul could commit. 

“Wow.” the soul's voice sounded grating, yet it sounded somewhat childish at the same time. It made a sudden coughing noise before it asked. “Did I do this right? Can you hear me?” it tapped on the screen causing it to flicker. 

“Yes.” Siofra replied quickly, snapping out of her daze, her voice seemed to catch for a moment as she averted her eyes. “I can hear you just fine, I was just surprised to see two souls in the same soul space, is all.”

“Oh, yeah seeing souls is kind of jarring, it took me a while to get used to it. Soul sight can be scary.” It replied casually, its voice seeming to coalesce into the sound of a young woman.

 

---

When the spell finally connected, what Hecatolite did not expect to see was a gorgeous elven woman standing in a forest in what looked to be a very revealing nightgown. She stood perfectly still with her long flowing light blond hair cascading down her shoulders seeming to meld into her green negligée that hung very loosely off her ample chest. Her skin seemed to be tanned as if she had spent many days lounging in the sun, yet even with all her skin showing she had no traces of any tan lines. Her long legs were exposed all the way up to her wide hips leaving very little to her imagination as the ends of her clothes seemed to sway in a slight breeze, showing hints of a shapely behind as well. Hecatolite’s eyes wandered up and down her smooth legs, stunned by the sight.

Hecatolite could feel a sudden rush of heat as she looked at the elven woman as she looked into her stunning blue eyes locked on the screen. O wow. She is beautiful. Hecatolite did not even notice the man standing behind the woman as she activated her soul sight. Much to her surprise the woman just became more clear, a hazy silver circlet seemed to form on her head a strange green mist like fog seemed to radiate off it framing her stunning features even more as it outlined her whole body. That’s strange, does soul sight not work through scrying. She thought as she waved, she could feel an honesty from the elven woman deep inside her, right next to where that strange heat was radiating from. No, I have the same gut feeling that I can trust this woman… I feel like she is very smart, and beautiful, the whole package, I bet she’s funny too… Is it trust or is that… she is very very pretty…. 

“Wow” her voice betrayed her as she was thinking to herself. She quickly made a noise as if clearing her throat before continuing, “Did I do this right? Can you hear me?” She asked, tapping the terminal causing the screen to distort. She quickly stopped, not wanting to accidently end the spell.

“Yes.” The beautiful elven woman’s voice sounded musical as she spoke, she seemed to pause for a moment as her eyes seemed to gaze into the soul space. “I can hear you just fine, I was just surprised to see two souls in the same soul space, is all.”

Ok me, you’re not some hormonal kid get a hold of yourself. You are just going to talk to this overly attractive woman and not make a fool of yourself. Hecatolite mimicked taking a deep breath, “Oh, yeah seeing souls is kind of jarring, it took me a while to get used to it. Soul sight can be scary.” Nailed it.

Amethyst watched as her sister stood almost vibrating as she looked into the mirror, even her as a child could feel a strange atmosphere forming around Hecatolite as she spoke to the elven woman. She definitely saw the woman who was standing on the screen, but unlike her sister she opted to look around the other space. It looked to be a dense forest with sun shining through a dense canopy, standing slightly behind the elven woman who seemed to have captivated her sister was a human man.

He was… average. He stood clearly shorter than the elf, with short messily cut blond hair and sky-blue eyes. He looked as if he had not shaved in a few days leaving him just shy of a full beard. He seemed to be of average build, but it was hard to tell through the thick steel gray cloak he was wearing, only giving away his somewhat wide shoulders. Amethyst couldn’t pinpoint why but the man standing hidden behind the woman with his arms crossed reminded her of their family’s knight, Hans, as he stood at attention behind the woman.

“But yea, I am Hecatolite, this is my sister Amethyst.” Hecatolite introduced them in a rushed fashion as she looped an arm around Amethyst and pulled her in close, the motion was awkward given the slight height difference in their souls. “We are two souls right now, but we do have a physical body… but just one. That’s our current problem.” Hecatolite seemed to rush her words as she spoke.

“Yes, I am Siofra, and tall dark and broody back there is Soter.” Siofra spoke as she motioned behind her with a small smirk on her face. Amethyst's whole soul tensed as Siofra casually introduced them.

Its them! She really did call the gods! What do we do? Amethyst's mind reeled as she froze.

Hecatolite finally peeled her gaze off Siofra and noticed Soter standing behind her. Well, he looks a bit scraggly, he’s… I mean he could be handsome maybe if he cleaned up a bit. Hecatolite activated her soul sight as she scrutinized Soter.

What seemed to be a hazy black mask appeared on his face, emanating a silvery blue smoke that outlined his body. That’s weird. Doesn’t help him at all, honestly he had a decent face if he would shave. Hecatolite thought as she looked over him with the clearly defective soul sight, she did notice that the fog seemed to outline their forms perfectly, well for Siofra it did at least. Soter however, his fog left a gap around his body, as if the hole was cut for someone slightly taller… and with elven ears. The smoke around him feels a lot like Hans. But slightly different. He feels trustworthy but also feels kind of shady… I'll be careful with him. He doesn’t seem bad.

“Does soul sight not work through scrying?” she asked casually causing both of them to pause for a moment.

Soter cleared his throat, “most likely not. Most information skills like identify and soul sight won’t work because you’re not looking at…”

“Are you casting a spell?” Hecatolite interrupted as she waved a hand in front of her and Amethyst as if batting something away. When the man spoke, she could see the mist coalesce around the front of the mask and seem to stick to his voice, it branched out of the mirror and around both her and Amethyst heads as he spoke.

“I… well…” Soter seemed to stammer.

Siofra laughed as turned to Soter. “You shouldn’t cast spells on people naughty naughty.” She mockingly chastised the man with a large smile on her face. 

With her back to them Hecatolite was at a loss for words as the heat from before rocked her body. She watched the shapely hips of Siofra sway ever so slightly as she spoke, causing her clothes to sway revealing her tanned behind.

Her daze was broken as Amethyst tugged on her arm. “Hecatolite, we really should not mess with them!” she spoke in a frantic whisper. “They are…”

“We are what?” Siofra’s ear twitched as she looked over her shoulder to them, freezing the young woman’s soul as their eyes met. Her voice was the same musical tone she had earlier yet Amethyst could not bring herself to believe the question was anything less than a threat.

We need to leave… we never should have contacted them. She thought as she looked into the goddess’s eyes. I can’t let Hecatolite talk to them, they will curse our whole family.

“I get what you’re saying Amethyst, but we already cast the spell. It would be a waste not to use it now.” Hecatolite said as she activated her calming aura allowing her soul to vibrate as she rubbed her sister back trying to calm her. “We are sorry for interrupting your date, but we are in a bit of a time crunch, hopefully you guys can reschedule.” Needless to say, she did not understand Amethyst's concerns at all.

“A date!” Soter screamed, causing the area around him to distort.

“Clearly, and I must say great choice. A lovely stroll through the forest, personally I like sunsets a little more, but hey you got to be doing something right.” Hecatolite nodded towards Siofra, “but honestly you could have at least shaved, and maybe a better suit… a nice orange to bring out your eyes. I mean look at her, put some work into it.”

Soter was all but frothing as his whole body shook, Siofra however was shaking as she clenched her jaw so as not to laugh. “I keep telling him to shave, and some color other than gray would do him good. But… he insists… on being broody all the… time.” She barely managed to say, she was just happy her back was to them as she spoke so they couldn’t see her grin. Unlike her brother she was not a great liar.

Amethyst at this point had all but fainted, the only thing keeping her on her feet was her sister’s calming area and the arm she had around her waist.

“She… is my sister!” Soter yelled.

“You took your sister on a date through the woods?” Amethyst lost consciousness at this point; her soul rooted in place. 

Siofra could not contain herself any longer and exploded into a full-blown belly laugh as Soter just stood shocked at the audacity of this small creature. He glared at his sister as he clenched his fist, “I don’t see what you find so funny sister.”

His glare was dripping with power as he poured all his anger into it, Hectorite only saw an intense gaze which furthered her misunderstanding. “I mean I can’t say I blame you but still. Are you one of those guys who has the hots for his sister? You can admit it if you are, I won’t judge, I swear.”

“I don’t know who exactly you think…”

His words were cut short as Siofra appeared next to him, her hand on his shoulder. “Come now brother, you can finally admit it after all these years, tell her how amazing and beautiful I am.”

Soter was stunned. If I say it that creature will think I’m some kind of pervert… but if I don’t Siofra is going to break my arm. He could feel his sister's grip tighten on his shoulder as he thought, the full weight of her power seemed to flood into him.

Soter was a powerful god, one of the most powerful in this world in fact. But he also knew he was no match for Siofra, even when they were mortals, she had always been stronger. He was unmatched in defense, but he desperately lacked offense, whereas Siofra was a much more balanced fighter. Sure, he could hold her off for a while, but eventually she would overwhelm him. For the first time in thousands of years he could feel the power disparity between him and his sister as he attempted to reinforce his body, knowing that his power would run out way before hers did. 

“She… she is very… beautiful.” He stammered, the gods’ cheeks turning bright red as he looked away from both of them. Hecatolite couldn’t see from her point of view, but his feet had sunk into the dirt.

“See was that so hard, you don’t have to be so bottled up all the time.” Siofra wrapped him in a tight hug. 

“Lucky.” Hecatolite hissed. “I guess I would be broody too if someone cut my ears off.” Muttered as she averted her gaze looking at the remints of her egg floating in the sky

The entire world seemed to stop as the two gods froze.

“How…. How did you…. know that?” Soter stammered as he stared wide eyed at the little creature that seemed to no longer be interested in them.

“Well, it's obvious, your brother and sister. She’s an elf, I mean you could be adopted, that wouldn’t be too strange actually… step sister huh.” Hecatolite trailed off for a moment before returning. “oh yea, the faulty soul sight, it's like soul sight but inverted. I can see a… mist… fog…. Fog yea, around you. It's got long ears. You don’t… so I guessed and given your reaction I’m guessing I am right. I mean I am always right… wait you’re not sensitive about that are you? sorry if it’s a sore spot. I mean you're handsome without them, so it's not all bad…” Hecatolite again trailed, tripping over her words as she spoke.

How in all the hells did it know that? from soul sight? That outdated skill shouldn’t even work on a god, we are souls! What does it mean a mist around us?

“Just what are you?” Soter asked, causing Siofra to slam a hand over his mouth, she motioned for him to be quiet as he noticed Hecatolite did not hear him and was still rambling.

“Let’s not poke the proverbial bear here. I don’t think it even knows who we are.” She whispered as she pointed to Amethyst. “that one does but it seems to have… fainted? How does a soul faint… What an amazing meeting.” She grinned as she waited for Hecatolite to finish.

“Oh yea, you're elves! All the soul books in Babylon are from elves, are elves good with soul magic?” she finally asked, causing Siofra to grin wide, the sight tugged at Hecatolite.

“Babylon? I can’t say I have ever heard of that… city?” Siofra said in a questioning tone as she walked back to the screen.

“oh, it's not a city, it's a skill that summons a box with a library on it. It's our bloodline ability. Inutil.” Hecatolite summoned a terminal to the side, not even thinking it might disrupt the other spell, luckily it did not. The resulting thunderclap stirred Amethyst but she found she still could not speak as Siofra eyed her, she very casually raised one finger to her slightly smirking lips. “Stupid box thinks it’s smart because its got a library in it.” She casually scratched a 28 into the screen much to the amazement of the two watching.

With one finger! Just like that! Soter gave up, he just sat down at the table beside himself and began sipping the tea. It sees through the lies backed by my domain, casually calls out my soul shaping, and then just carves a terminal as if it were butter. Whatever that thing is, I should not get involved with it.

“Should you be sharing that so openly? Most people would hide such a skill.” Siofra did not fail to notice that Hecatolite had yet again been distracted from its goal.

“Why?” she asked casually, turning her head. “Should be fine, you two feel like good people. I mean he’s a bit shifty, but he reminds me of Hans. And Hans is a good guy.”

“oh you know a man like my brother? How interesting.”

“oh yea, Sir Hans…. Something something.”

“Sir Hans Pensworth.” Amethyst blurted. Soter perked up at the mention of the name.

Is that one of my followers? He thought discreetly, pulling up a world terminal and scrolling through it. He was praying a lot the other day about… a strangely powerful girl that appeared in his city. How did I not see that earlier? He normally had a habit of checking his prayers every day but had missed this one due to Valor being injured.

“Yea that, he’s a good guy, not shifty. Give him a good shield, strong.” She said, patting her sister on the back. “But if Soter feels like Hans, he must be a good guy too.”

Siofra looked back at her brother who gave her a slight nod and motioned to the screen out of sight. “And what about me? Do I remind you of anyone trustworthy as well? What if I’m not a good woman?”

Hecaolite hummed as she eyed the Elven woman again, forgetting the question for a moment before answering. “Our sister Alexa. You feel smart like her, and trustworthy.” She blurted the first thought that came to mind once she regained herself.

Siofra did not need to check her terminal to recognize that. Alexandrite Lapidary had been the human soul that had a strange blessing granted to it a few weeks ago.

“I see, she must be quite something.” Siofra said with a chuckle.

“She is a bit odd but she’s a good person right Amethyst?”

“ye… yes!” Amethyst spoke, her voice cracking as she did.

“You, ok?” Hecatolite asked inspecting her. “Are you sleepy? Hungry maybe? Do souls get hungry?” she patted her own stomach. “Can souls eat?”

“Souls of a certain power can, but it is not necessary. Some find the act of eating or drinking to be calming though.” Siofra said as she sipped a cup of tea from the table. “It requires the soul to be powerful enough to condense itself into a set form; however, I'm sure you noticed that neither of you have mouths.” She had already guessed that Hecatolite's soul sight was not faulty, the gods were just souls given a more defined form after leaving their mortal bodies, so there was nothing to reveal.

Hecatolite hummed as it tried to envision a mouth, her body began to crackle as she attempted to force it open. 

They all watched in horror as Hecatolite began to glow and crackle, the lines on her body seeming to pulse as they snapped shut. With a sickening crunching sound they watched as a line formed on her head, spanning from ear to ear, her soul emitting a loud popping sound as her mouth opened way wider than any humans could black liquid pouring out as a double set of sharp teeth were revealed, a long pink tongue seemed to wiggle as it rubbed against the teeth before the whole thing snapped shut, the colorful lines bursting open in a flash as the mouth resealed itself closed.

She emitted an annoyed hiss as she spoke. “Well, that didn’t work. Amethyst, you try.”

“It takes a long time for a soul to condense enough to form a feature like that.” Siofra quickly interjected, slightly praying she would never witness anything like that again. “It would be dangerous to attempt to force it.” She added hoping the younger clearly human soul would not attempt it.

She just ripped her soul open, how does one do that and not be in blinding pain! Siofra felt a chill as she watched Hecatolite soul shift slightly as its head reformed as if it had not just been ripped in half.

“More to the point, let's talk about how two souls can coexist in one body, shall we?” she tried to change the subject. “Clearly you two seem to be doing fine on your own, what seems to be the issue?”

“oh yea, well you see we have a… power disparity. Amethyst is only awake right now because I burned off a lot of aether. Once it reforms, she will get suppressed again and go to sleep.”

Both the gods went silent. 

“What does it mean to reform?” Soter whispered.

“I have no idea, aether doesn’t reform. You have to absorb it. If it were to reform, we wouldn’t need followers.” Siofra replied In a hushed tone as they turned their backs to the screen. “and of course its suppressing the poor girl, she just… ripped…”

“let's just forget that.” he cut her off. “Lets just imagine it's talking about mana, that should make it easier right?”

“Yea we will go with that.” she turned back to the screen to see both souls waiting expectantly. “Well for now your best bet would be to keep your… powers balanced by keeping yours lowered until hers can grow to match it. You can do this by”

Hecatolite raised a hand causing Siofra to pause. “We can't do that, the power gap is too big, I already had to burn 3/5th just to wake her up. And the other 1/5th I burned from this spell only got us another day.”

“ok, so keeping your power down is out of the question. How did you end up stuck together in the first place?” Siofra asked.

“Born this way, we are twins. We got the twin soul trait and everything.”

“Twin souls normally don’t result in two souls sharing a body… have you considered separation?” she replied recalling what the twin soul trait and title entailed.

“Yes but.” Hecatolite paused, “that would leave one of us without a body, we would dissipate.”

“Well that's simple, just get another body, pull the soul out and put yours in.” Soter said casually causing Amethyst to find her strength.

“no!” a very strange surge of power came off her causing the air to bend slightly. “We can't do that to someone else just because it would be easy for us!”

That explains it, she’s a seed. That’s how her power wasn’t just sucked up right away. She must have a strong will if she could resist that thing. Soter was proud to finally have at least one answer. But with what Valor did… it should be impossible for another seed to be in the world. And he was disappointed to now have even more questions.

“Ok, no need to get upset, we are just coming up with ideas.” Siofra attempted to calm the young seed girl, it was dangerous for a seed to exert itself in such a manner their souls can hold aether, but to utilize it requires one to evolve into a demon lord or godling. “You could make a body?”

“Like a baby? We’re a bit young for that.” Hecatolite answered bashfully, not noticing her sister's outburst. “Our body hasn’t even hit… puberty… that’s going to be a very strange time for us both.” She shuttered remembering puberty from her past lives.

Siofra laughed just now realizing a child had been taunting her brother to such a point earlier. “No, through alchemy, it’s a very advance alchemy skill called “form homunculus,” it makes a body out of materials gathered, normally you would program a personality into it when you form it however if you cut that part out of the spells creation you can substitute that with a soul. You would have to utilize a slightly… well a necromantic spell called “form phylactery” as well and use the formed body as a base. I would advise finding a master in Alchemy before attempting it. Since you clearly have some skill with soul magic yourself you should be able to do the second part, but to make a body is a very delicate thing, it would be best to have an expert do it.” She recalled Eryl using this peculiar spell combination to form her body on the mortal realm for the hero training, if she did not leave just a few weeks ago Siofra likely would not have thought of this.

“I have the alchemy skill but I’m not very good at it.” Amethyst replied, “Masters of alchemy are very rare, most become doctors so they stop advancing their alchemy skill once they can make potions and salves for healing.” her voice was barely a whisper as she averted her eyes.

“That is very true, it's almost a dying artform. However, there are a few masters left,” Siofra knew she couldn’t tell them directly where to find them, the system would not allow her to share information about a specific soul like that, “some gnomes I believe. If you go to their lands you may find one there.” That was the most she could do for them.

“That would be difficult but not impossible. We may have to wait a few years before Taaffeite, and Alastair will let us travel like that… I think we can become adventures at 13?” Hecatolite thought out loud, “but then we could leave on our own if we needed, I would hate to do that. but it would be best if we had separate bodies. Then we can do stuff together, like dates in the forest.”

“Even if we can't, I don't think it's too bad having two of us in one body. We can make it work.”

“That's because you're young, I met your fuzzy boyfriend. I’m not interested.”

“he… he's not a boyfriend! “Amethyst screamed, slapping at Hecatolite causing her to giggle.

“ok, ok. He’s not your boyfriend.” She conceded. “Yet.” She whispered, causing Amethyst to slap her again. Everyone knew Amethyst had no hopes of hurting Hecatolite, but she played along. “but it's not a bad idea, we should ask Taaffeite what she thinks.”

Amethyst crossed her arms and let out a huffing sound, refusing to reply to her sister.

“But that still leaves us 3 years until it’s an option,” she released a calming aura again humming in a low tone to attempt to sate her sister, Amethyst still calmly refused to speak as she turned her back to her. “I can’t exactly release a huge bursts of aether everywhere until then.”

“Well how did you burn it off last time?” Soter asked, instantly regretting it.

“Made two relics. Had to break one of Valor but his followers are kind of dicks so it should be ok.” 

Amethyst could feel her knees shaking. She is going to start a holy war. Or get us all killed… oh gods, please ignore her please. She begged in her mind.

After a short silence Soter replied. “Of course, you did. Why would you have done anything else? You do know how dangerous it is to make a single relic don’t you?”

“Well, I do now, it was an accident the first two times.” She pouted, crossing her arms. 

“How do you…. forget it.” He sighed, “ok so you need a different way to remove a…. wait… that’s perfect. Well little… whatever the hells you are, I have a short-term solution for you!” he smiled for the first time, “and you even get to mess with more of Valor’s followers.”