Aperio tilted her head at the mess of golden and silver rings that lazily spun around in a pulsing orange light. The metal constructs passed through one another whenever they should have collided; each of the intersections was marked by a beat of the light in the centre of the contraption.
The steady rhythm of the machine was also in tune with the ebb and flow of mana that made its way through this realm on its way to Earth. One positive note Aperio had about the construct was that looking at it did not immediately make her angry and want to rip it apart. As far as she could tell, it was actually doing a decent job directing the mana that flowed through it; a feat she wished more mortals would be able to reproduce.
A gentle touch stopped one of the rings. It fought against the finger that held it in place but did not manage to move it an inch. Aperio tilted her head as she looked at that part of the construct in a little more detail. The first thing that stood out was that that particular part was very much not made from metal like she had at first assumed; at least not in a way she knew mortals could produce. In fact, its structure looked quite a lot like the armour that adorned her dress. A little too similar…
An errant thought blocked Oberon's attempt to teleport back to their castle. They would not be able to stop her, but Aperio could do without having annoying Fae-Royalty rambling directly into her ears. She could still hear the Fae as it was, but filtering out those distant sounds was much easier. Aperio's ears twitched in annoyance. Perfect hearing had its downsides sometimes, however she still would not give it up. Her hope was that once the average strength of mortals had risen a bit, they would figure out that not everything had to be obnoxiously loud. For now, however, that was not important.
The All-Mother tilted her head as a pulse of mana flowed out from the device, trying to move her entire person a few steps away. Of course, that also did not work, but the contraption itself seemed to have noticed that she was not quite a mortal as it abruptly stopped; the light at its centre dimming and the mana that had flowed through it allowed to run free.
Aperio corrected that mistake with a thought and an unneeded wave of her hand. While the realm of the Fae might be able to handle the mana, it was much more needed on Earth itself. Cutting the freshly connected world back off was not a good idea, especially since the mortals that called it their home needed it to defend themselves against the monsters that were currently striving to rearrange the order of the food chain. Evolving a new Class cost quite a bit of mana, and the All-Mother wanted the mortals of Earth to become more than the frail beings they currently were.
She stepped closer as the light at the heart of the machine winked out, revealing a small dark blue stone that was framed by blue-edged, black feathered wings. Just like her own.
"They didn't make this," Aperio mumbled to herself, dropping her usual formality in face of what had to be something of her own design. "But why?"
Had she intended to create a multiverse like she was planning on now? It was certainly possible, but if that was the case then why did she effectively kill herself before the task was done? Aperio's brows knitted themselves together as a wave of her hand caused the winged stone to appear in her grasp.
It became quickly apparent that the small trinket was empty, utterly devoid of mana despite the fact that it had been the central point of a contraption channelling vast oceans of it into the myriad versions of Earth. A focus, then? Perhaps a key?
She turned the stone in her hand, letting a few drops of her mana flow into it. Nothing she made should be this devoid of the very energy that gave all of creation life. This piece of her creation should very much not be this empty; she knew that.
Her mana flowed inside even more easily than it did with most anything, the small stone almost greedily taking it in. Of course, that was not really what was happening as the thing was not alive, but Aperio could still feel a little something hiding within. One that reminded her a little too much of the countless memories she had retrieved from the crystal shards that had been strewn all over Verenier.
She had gotten the knowledge from those — not fully understood or incorporated, but retrieved nonetheless — but her memory had still been incomplete afterwards. Distant would be a better term…
The memories were there and Aperio had no doubt that if she sat down for a few decades, they would all be hers, but she did not really want that. A single memory, Aperio might retrieve this way, but not all. She had no desire to become what she had once been. Before, she had been cruel. She still was, perhaps, but she at least understood the suffering some mortals went through. How they treated their kin.
With a mental 'click', a new memory fell into place in the ever-expanding tapestry of her life. Just like her power, it was continuously growing, uncovering old knowledge for her. Most of that which came back was immediately pushed down again, but some bits and pieces were quite handy. This newly acquired bit seemed to be as well.
"So I did try before," Aperio mumbled, turning the small stone around once more. "Another creation erased because I could not be bothered to try and fix it…"
How was I ever like that? Aperio thought, letting the stone float in the air in front of her as she touched the armlet that adorned her bicep. Unlike the winged stone, it was still brimming with magic that wanted to be used by her. Desired to be part of her creation again. For now, however, it would remain separate.
The mana that had been in the stone before had undoubtedly served in the initial creation of this place. Probably why Oberon doesn't want me to be here. Of course, there was the part where she wanted to be in control over the creation of the multiverses and not the Fae, but considering that they had failed to even make a single stable one in thousands of years — and probably bled Earth of yet more mana in the process — she did not feel all that bad about any of it. Besides, the Fae would still have their little realm nestled between all the reflections of Earth; free to go to any single one of them as they pleased. If they did not break the few rules she had in place.
Aperio let the stone vanish into her Void. It served no purpose outside and unlike her armlet, she could not wear it in its current form. Nor did she really want to. Whatever the stone actually was, it was most certainly not intended to be an accessory. If anything, it was meant to be a catalyst for something like the device it had been in. Just much grander, and actually working.
She tilted her head as another memory crawled to the forefront of her mind, this one showing herself as a Fae inside these very chambers. She was… happy? There was no why in the memory, simply a vision of how she flew around the room, placing runes on the walls while feeling happy and content. At peace. Her aura told her that the runes were still there in the room around her, present but not active, the mana in the realm of the Fae seemingly not enough to actually supply them with sufficient power. That was something she could take care of easily enough.
But, before she would, Aperio wanted to figure out why she had been so happy about performing the task she had witnessed in the memory. It quite obviously served no real purpose and if she knew one thing about her past self, it was the fact that anything she did had to do something. There was the chance that she had done this in preparation for her return, but Aperio doubted that. Sure, a part of her had always known that she would never truly die and had put her own memories in the crystals, but why would she have put something here for herself to find? Why would she store a memory of happily placing random runes and not the information she needed to actually set her plan into motion?
Apparently the universe does work in mysterious ways, Aperio mused to herself. So mysterious that she can't even figure them out herself.
She stepped around the machine and fixed her eyes onto one of the mana runes that adorned its rings. Aperio did not really expect to learn all that much, but it was still worth a look. Anything that would aid in the realisation of her plans was most welcome, even if it was some cryptic nonsense she had left behind herself.
A few of the runes were immediately obvious. Things like reality, split, and guide made sense for the purpose of the machine, but others like destroy and subvert were a little less self-evident to the All-Mother. Was this meant to further remove the new version of Earth from its original or had she put them there to achieve something else?
The answer to those questions might be contained in the memories she had just retrieved, but like so many times before, Aperio was not sure if she should rely on them. Yes, they would help, but her desire to not become what she had been in the past was one of the biggest aspects defining her at the moment. And yet, despite all of that, the All-Mother sat herself down in front of the contraption and closed her eyes.
Unlike a mortal, she did not have to breathe slowly and find inner peace to access her memories. No, Aperio simply directed her attention inward, and went looking. Like anything else in her creation, she was an open book to herself if she truly wanted to be. The only issue was that even now, she did not actually wish to know all that she could know about herself, a fact that would make her endeavour of finding this newly-acquired memory a bit harder.
The mess of runes and mana that made up the System was ignored for the moment, Aperio more than content to let her subconsciousness deal with that for now. That way I don't have to think about how to fix it, at least. Just like a mortal did not have to breathe or blink on their own if they didn't think about it.
Sadly, the same was not true for her memories. Just being aware of them was not enough to truly remember them. Aperio could 'see' the memory she had gotten float along the edges of her conscious mind but whenever she tried to recall it, she could not. The only part available to her was the small sequence of her Faen self placing runes and being happy.
For a brief moment Aperio entertained the notion of turning herself into a Fae like in her memory, but the idea was quickly discarded. She was in no way a tiny, frail Fae, and moreover liked her current form too much to consider shifting to something else. Not to mention the fact that the last time she had been something else, it had been an unpleasant experience. She let out a sigh and directed her attention back towards the runes spread around the room and the now-still contraption. There had to be something that could help her here.
The All-Mother straightened her back as her gaze lingered on every single rune for a moment, trying to find a pattern. Unlike normal constructs she made, these ones were not connected; just single runes that adorned the walls. The ones on the machine were more normal, but their purpose was also obvious enough. They directed the mana so a new version of Earth could be made. And then removed, if the other runes are to be believed… It obviously worked, but why would she make a device that would only ever create temporary reflections of Earth?
Did I just want the Fae to have fun? Aperio thought to herself as the memory of her Faen self surfaced in her mind once more. Her past self, she knew, did not do anything that did not provide her with some form of value. Giving the Fae the option to make different realms did not seem to be providing her with anything worthwhile, so the actions in her memory continued to not make sense. The only answer Aperio could arrive at was that she had done it because it was fun. It might be an innocent realisation to most, but the All-Mother knew that her old self did nothing if it only benefitted someone else. And why would she? Aperio could quite clearly recall how she had felt about mortals in the past. They had been nothing more than vermin that provided her with fleeting bits of entertainment. Sometimes she had made them into Gods, but that turned out to be a bad move as Epemirial and her ilk had shown. But their vile ways were also the reason I changed…
Before, she had had no problem with slavery and genocide — though the latter still did not bother her all that much as she knew that every Soul would simply get another chance in their next life. Conflict was a good way to grow stronger, too, and Aperio valued strength more highly than most other things. The thing most mortals did not seem to realise was that the strength the All-Mother looked for did not always translate to fighting potential; it could also be of character.
Aperio shook her head, the winged stone appearing in her hand once more. She stared at it, giving the small piece of her creation her full attention. There had to be more inside of it, no matter how devoid of mana it might be, and she would be damned if she did not learn what that was.
She carefully placed it on the ground before her and let some of her mana flow into it. If her own mind did not want to supply the memory she sought, the trinket she had bound them to surely would.
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Mysterious stone, spill your secrets, we have ways of making you talk. If Aperio tries to get blood from a stone you had better believe she will make you bleed, silly rock.
Did someone order more weird talk about how reality functions? No?
Oh! Uh... *awkward* I did.
TFTC!
Thanks for the chapter!