((Author's Note: The muns of all directly-involved characters have given their consent to be portrayed in any and all forms. If this is found to be untrue at any time, the post will be amended. That said, please enjoy. ^^))
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Rap. Tap. Tap. Tap...
The subtle, measured footfalls of one Eternal Overseer would all but echo throughout the lonely infrastructure of his frost-battered fortress as he proceeded down a spiral stairway utterly abyssal in scale. For quite a while, the scholarly magus had delved into the recesses of countless tomes, each depicting tales of the gallant weaponry wielded in various ages across time and space. One series in particular caught his eye: the Legacy Weapons forged by the sect of heretic mages known to history as the Inevi, "Esouterya" and "Byblion". The two were conceptualized as a gleaming, golden spear and a fabled tome virtually drained of its color. Ultimately, little remained of the information surrounding the twin weapons' existence, but a common thread of data pervaded all realms of insight and weathered the proverbial test of time to eventually wind up in Scionius's repertoire of actionable resources: a. When brought together, the two held the ability to nullify the effects of phenomena both magical or otherwise. b. Their abilities were properly manifested upon resonance with one or more of the Three Powers: Chaos, Order, and Judgment. Presumably, even a facsimile would serve to activate a satisfactory scope of the implements' conjoined potency, and such was something he planned to exploit.
"Pardon, Lord Scionius," piped up the source of another pair of nearly-muted footsteps. Merely aft of him trailed a young man draped in a somewhat modified suit, complete with requisite hat, mind you. Just when had Hidou arrived, huh' "...but, where might we be headed?"
"I wasn't aware I had ordered your presence to be compulsory, serpent. That being said, we're journeying to the nethermost chamber of my stronghold. Within houses a surprise I think you might be amused by," the elder fabrication of a man would go on to tease, assuredly sparking the dark suit's interest regardless of his former enthusiasm whilst in pursuit.
Beyond the darkness of the stygian step-well, they approached a door whose edges illuminated rhythmically with a transient blue luster. Without a word, the masked man would wave a palm and coax open the barrier to the threshold, pressing on to observe the ultimate culmination of his own ministrations over the past few weeks. The discarded remains of countless beings, human and less so, littered the dimly-lit expanse, and a series of holo-screen projectors would beset them on all sides. The icing on the figurative cake, however, was the cylindrical chasm leading down into the crux of a spacial anomaly: there was one body down there, curled into the fetal position and shrouded in the tumultuous haze of a seemingly magicked darkness. Both would peer into the murky void, the development unfolding before the lanky youth's lustrous hues prompting an admittedly segmented comment from the sly creature accompanying the Mad Magus.
"My, my....This is....a fragment of that, isn't it' You've been rather busy. I daresay it's more impressive than I expected. So, this is the only body that managed to be worth a damn, huh?"
"Quite so. I compiled the living tissue I extracted from my near-union with that vile being with the collective data of continued encounters with her. Given the addition of a modified shell from one of those corpses, I managed to cultivate....this. It's rather humorous, I think. This abomination isn't even supposed to be the final result. I predict this one to be a failure, just like the real one; however, once I stabilize its malfunctions, this....thing should serve as a proper stepping stone to attaining not only a means of accessing those, but also providing the both of us with a sufficient sense of permanence in this reality." Snapping his fingers, the alchemic lines of azure that offered a comforting luminescence to the unfathomable shadow of the room would shine brighter, imbuing the veritable cauldron of malevolent energies below with a similar light.
"Do you think it wise to reshape it in her image, though' I mean, you HATE her, don't you? By all rights, she ought to have left your mind, your grudge with her and her minions aside," the snake was swift to remind him. Truth be told, he didn't like the fact that he'd have to observe that particular face for any length of time, but as long as it served his purposes, it wouldn't matter in the end.
"Enough of that. We'll discuss her appearance after we ascertain whether or not she's capable of taking a shard of my power for herself. That is the first boundary we'll end up brushing against." With reprimanding done, all he would need to do now was rouse the aberration from is induced slumber.
"System, begin the awakening procedure for the subject, if you would."
"Acknowledged. Beginning awakening process for Subject: 001, Beta-13. Now removing from tempering and containment field..." Upon receiving and interpreting Scionius's request, the disembodied 'system' would set to work, whirring sounds abound as the light streams dove into the misty necrohol below.
"Beta-13" You've attempted to access that place with the second subject thirteen times and haven't given this one up" It must have a durable body for you to take such a militant interest in it. As a construct, it measures up, but clearly it's had its share of shortcomings. Hnn..." Hidou would chide, slipping his hands into his pockets out of habit. He was certainly eager to see for himself just what kind of monstrosity he had been concocting down here, but he didn't want to accept that his partner had been wasting time on account of his pride.
With or without the cloak-adorned mage's response, the process continued until connection with her neural network was made. At the insistence of the machine attempting to reach her, her form would rise from the closed space, enveloped in a secure, spherical prison of energy. Ere long, she would come to hover above the both of them, inert and ripe for the next phase to be enacted.
"Subject's parameters are nominal. Subject has retained consciousness after continued exposure to the void between dimensions. Tempering process has completed in accordance with intended schedule. Awakening process has completed as per the Overseer's directives. Subject is capable of speech and desires input." Naught was out of the ordinary as of yet. Once again, she had proven she could not be bested by the Void's influence. This improvised vessel was virtually incorruptible: a trait he would need in order to enter the place he sought.
"Subject: 001, Beta-13....Your true name. Speak it."
His command was confirmed to be registered once her abhorrent eyelids parted from one another and revealed her own hues. A dull duo of still-glowing onyx irises met with his obscured pair. So, she'd garnered an affinity for the Byblion this time, had she" Once she had conceived of and became aware of him, she would open her mouth to speak. In that moment, something he'd not previously Perceived with his eyes came to pass.
"This....This One's name is....R-Renna's name is....I-I am....I....am....me....My name is....Elysium."
The revelation would evoke a range of emotion in the masked mage-scholar, spanning from initial disgust at being forced to hear those words again to that of base astonishment at the mere mention of another option. In every test prior, she had requested that he offer unto her a moniker by which she would be called or would simply adopt one of her genetic progenitor's pseudonyms, such as 'One'; however, in this scenario, she decided one for herself. In spite of all this, Hidou's less-than-subtle chuckling would permit him reprieve from the shock.
"So, this one is Elysium. Gehehehe....Seems the lass went and developed her own identity. In other words, she's given up on her existence as that witch. Hn, truly fascinating what the Void'll do to ya if ya let it..."
The advent of this shift in his perception of Fate perplexed the masked man enough that he would beckon his "Living Shadow" puppet from one of the walls of the enclosure to join him at his side. There was something he meant to ascertain from this crux-birth he'd fashioned. This would prove most....unusual indeed. Time and space had shifted her and molded her into another being entirely. What merit would her introduction to this Realm allot him' He just had to know. Once the imposing marionette he called Silhouette lowered to a suitable position aft of Scionius, he would adopt a stance befitting his encroaching, martial intent.
"Let us proceed with the next phase....I intend to test you, Elysium....Prepare yourself."
To be Continued...
Rap. Tap. Tap. Tap...
The subtle, measured footfalls of one Eternal Overseer would all but echo throughout the lonely infrastructure of his frost-battered fortress as he proceeded down a spiral stairway utterly abyssal in scale. For quite a while, the scholarly magus had delved into the recesses of countless tomes, each depicting tales of the gallant weaponry wielded in various ages across time and space. One series in particular caught his eye: the Legacy Weapons forged by the sect of heretic mages known to history as the Inevi, "Esouterya" and "Byblion". The two were conceptualized as a gleaming, golden spear and a fabled tome virtually drained of its color. Ultimately, little remained of the information surrounding the twin weapons' existence, but a common thread of data pervaded all realms of insight and weathered the proverbial test of time to eventually wind up in Scionius's repertoire of actionable resources: a. When brought together, the two held the ability to nullify the effects of phenomena both magical or otherwise. b. Their abilities were properly manifested upon resonance with one or more of the Three Powers: Chaos, Order, and Judgment. Presumably, even a facsimile would serve to activate a satisfactory scope of the implements' conjoined potency, and such was something he planned to exploit.
"Pardon, Lord Scionius," piped up the source of another pair of nearly-muted footsteps. Merely aft of him trailed a young man draped in a somewhat modified suit, complete with requisite hat, mind you. Just when had Hidou arrived, huh' "...but, where might we be headed?"
"I wasn't aware I had ordered your presence to be compulsory, serpent. That being said, we're journeying to the nethermost chamber of my stronghold. Within houses a surprise I think you might be amused by," the elder fabrication of a man would go on to tease, assuredly sparking the dark suit's interest regardless of his former enthusiasm whilst in pursuit.
Beyond the darkness of the stygian step-well, they approached a door whose edges illuminated rhythmically with a transient blue luster. Without a word, the masked man would wave a palm and coax open the barrier to the threshold, pressing on to observe the ultimate culmination of his own ministrations over the past few weeks. The discarded remains of countless beings, human and less so, littered the dimly-lit expanse, and a series of holo-screen projectors would beset them on all sides. The icing on the figurative cake, however, was the cylindrical chasm leading down into the crux of a spacial anomaly: there was one body down there, curled into the fetal position and shrouded in the tumultuous haze of a seemingly magicked darkness. Both would peer into the murky void, the development unfolding before the lanky youth's lustrous hues prompting an admittedly segmented comment from the sly creature accompanying the Mad Magus.
"My, my....This is....a fragment of that, isn't it' You've been rather busy. I daresay it's more impressive than I expected. So, this is the only body that managed to be worth a damn, huh?"
"Quite so. I compiled the living tissue I extracted from my near-union with that vile being with the collective data of continued encounters with her. Given the addition of a modified shell from one of those corpses, I managed to cultivate....this. It's rather humorous, I think. This abomination isn't even supposed to be the final result. I predict this one to be a failure, just like the real one; however, once I stabilize its malfunctions, this....thing should serve as a proper stepping stone to attaining not only a means of accessing those, but also providing the both of us with a sufficient sense of permanence in this reality." Snapping his fingers, the alchemic lines of azure that offered a comforting luminescence to the unfathomable shadow of the room would shine brighter, imbuing the veritable cauldron of malevolent energies below with a similar light.
"Do you think it wise to reshape it in her image, though' I mean, you HATE her, don't you? By all rights, she ought to have left your mind, your grudge with her and her minions aside," the snake was swift to remind him. Truth be told, he didn't like the fact that he'd have to observe that particular face for any length of time, but as long as it served his purposes, it wouldn't matter in the end.
"Enough of that. We'll discuss her appearance after we ascertain whether or not she's capable of taking a shard of my power for herself. That is the first boundary we'll end up brushing against." With reprimanding done, all he would need to do now was rouse the aberration from is induced slumber.
"System, begin the awakening procedure for the subject, if you would."
"Acknowledged. Beginning awakening process for Subject: 001, Beta-13. Now removing from tempering and containment field..." Upon receiving and interpreting Scionius's request, the disembodied 'system' would set to work, whirring sounds abound as the light streams dove into the misty necrohol below.
"Beta-13" You've attempted to access that place with the second subject thirteen times and haven't given this one up" It must have a durable body for you to take such a militant interest in it. As a construct, it measures up, but clearly it's had its share of shortcomings. Hnn..." Hidou would chide, slipping his hands into his pockets out of habit. He was certainly eager to see for himself just what kind of monstrosity he had been concocting down here, but he didn't want to accept that his partner had been wasting time on account of his pride.
With or without the cloak-adorned mage's response, the process continued until connection with her neural network was made. At the insistence of the machine attempting to reach her, her form would rise from the closed space, enveloped in a secure, spherical prison of energy. Ere long, she would come to hover above the both of them, inert and ripe for the next phase to be enacted.
"Subject's parameters are nominal. Subject has retained consciousness after continued exposure to the void between dimensions. Tempering process has completed in accordance with intended schedule. Awakening process has completed as per the Overseer's directives. Subject is capable of speech and desires input." Naught was out of the ordinary as of yet. Once again, she had proven she could not be bested by the Void's influence. This improvised vessel was virtually incorruptible: a trait he would need in order to enter the place he sought.
"Subject: 001, Beta-13....Your true name. Speak it."
His command was confirmed to be registered once her abhorrent eyelids parted from one another and revealed her own hues. A dull duo of still-glowing onyx irises met with his obscured pair. So, she'd garnered an affinity for the Byblion this time, had she" Once she had conceived of and became aware of him, she would open her mouth to speak. In that moment, something he'd not previously Perceived with his eyes came to pass.
"This....This One's name is....R-Renna's name is....I-I am....I....am....me....My name is....Elysium."
The revelation would evoke a range of emotion in the masked mage-scholar, spanning from initial disgust at being forced to hear those words again to that of base astonishment at the mere mention of another option. In every test prior, she had requested that he offer unto her a moniker by which she would be called or would simply adopt one of her genetic progenitor's pseudonyms, such as 'One'; however, in this scenario, she decided one for herself. In spite of all this, Hidou's less-than-subtle chuckling would permit him reprieve from the shock.
"So, this one is Elysium. Gehehehe....Seems the lass went and developed her own identity. In other words, she's given up on her existence as that witch. Hn, truly fascinating what the Void'll do to ya if ya let it..."
The advent of this shift in his perception of Fate perplexed the masked man enough that he would beckon his "Living Shadow" puppet from one of the walls of the enclosure to join him at his side. There was something he meant to ascertain from this crux-birth he'd fashioned. This would prove most....unusual indeed. Time and space had shifted her and molded her into another being entirely. What merit would her introduction to this Realm allot him' He just had to know. Once the imposing marionette he called Silhouette lowered to a suitable position aft of Scionius, he would adopt a stance befitting his encroaching, martial intent.
"Let us proceed with the next phase....I intend to test you, Elysium....Prepare yourself."
To be Continued...