Eryl groaned as she felt the distinct feeling of mana being pushed into her, the sharp pain in her abdomen slowly passing as she felt her skin knit back together though, the healing did little for the throbbing in her head.

What… A wave of nausea hit her, disjointed images of her forced servitude flooding her mind, a side effect of being under an illusion for so long. She could, if she wished, piece them together eventually though there was a much more pressing matter. How long was I enslaved?

Her memories became clear as she came to the point before the collar had been placed on her, remembering the unmistakable feeling of aether being forced into her before it stripped her will away. That bastard. Holding her eyes tightly shut, she ground her teeth as she began the slow process of pushing her own mana through her body, the feeling of pushing mana into her long-dried mana channels was not painful, but it was far from pleasant as it pulled another long groan from her. She made a mental checklist.

Two arms, legs, organs, everything seems to be intact, I even have food in my stomach. She thought as she circulated mana inside of her feeling her muscles that, much to her surprise, seemed to be in perfect condition…

Something’s not adding up, I was definitely enslaved but it seems my body is fine. There are no signs of malnutrition, or abuse of any kind… Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted as someone dumped what felt like a bucket of warm water on her.

She gagged as she shot up, coughing as the liquid caused her skin to tingle. Someone began roughly patting her back as she coughed up a mouthful of the foul liquid that burnt her throat. Finally opening her eyes just in time to see the neon green liquid splash into her lap, the strange liquid causing her skin to sizzle. She could clearly see it causing her skin to smoke as it ate away her robe, yet it did not burn, in fact it was kind of soothing, a lot like… is that… mana?

She heard someone coughing behind her pulling her attention from the pool of mana dripping down her shoulders, looking back to see two women behind her. one kneeling beside her patting her back, black hair, emerald green eyes, full robes of valor… “Himari?” She finally spoke, the words feeling like marbles in her mouth as she spoke her first free words in only the gods know how long. 

“Eryl,” Tears formed in the corners of Himari’s eyes as she smiled, “it's good to see you ag…” Himari was violently pushed aside as the other woman slapped her away… quite literally, Himari’s hand flashing green as she rubbed her now red cheek. “What was that for!?”

“Had to be sure she was actually free; you know the whole “protect the heroes” thing.” The other woman shrugged, giving Eryl a full view of her as she stood… 

A child? Eryl thought as she looked at the woman who stood just a little taller than her while sitting. Though the thought was quickly dismissed as she looked the strange woman over.

Eryl was no stranger to seeing people who had been wounded in battle, but even  to see someone not only standing but… smiling.

The small woman was caked in blood. Her short dark hair slicked back with a crimson sheen that ran down her face meeting with the neon green mana that dripped freely from the corners of her mouth as it trailed down her chin dripping onto her exposed chest. Eryl eyes lingering on the woman’s chest, not because of her nudity but the gaping hole that sizzled every time the green mana fell onto it, black liquid pulsing from the hole in waves as it coated her in the vial concoction.

“Are you ok? Do you know who I am?” The woman asked cheerfully, bouncing on her heels, the motion drawing Eryl’s eyes to the faint glimmer of gold behind her, only then noticing several gold arrows sticking into the woman’s back that seemed to do nothing to hinder her excitement as she stepped closer to her. “Hey, earth to Eryl… hey you said you healed her right?” The woman asked, glaring at Himari quickly nodded.

“I definitely healed her; she should be in perfect health now.” Himari interjected as the woman turned her inky black eyes back to Eryl.

“Do you need more healing mana? I can get more if you need it…”

“X47.” There was only one creature Eryl could think of that could not only survive that much damage but be happy after it. Her words seemed to break a dam in Hecatolite who lunged at her.

“Eryl!” She yelled, throwing her one good arm around Eryl’s neck, “I was worried they broke you with that collar!” 

Eryl was stunned for a moment as the Hecatolite hugged her tightly, her mind instantly alight as the black blood splashed onto her skin. Her first thought was how the blood seemed to sting slightly, instantly realizing it was acidic though only slightly. The second thing she realized however was much more alarming.

“Aether…” She swallowed hard as she felt the cool power washing over her, quickly pushing Hecatolite away as she inspected the hole in her body. “You are bleeding aether… how?”

“I don’t know, it does that every time I drive the body.”

“A terminal, give me a terminal.” Eryl growled as she looked at Hecatolite.

“Aren’t you the admin, can’t you summon your own?” Hecatolite asked not realizing that for the first time the system did not stop her.

Eryl however, did not miss it, looking to Himari who also caught the slip of the tongue. Himari looked away sheepishly. “I can’t.” Eryl sighed, her ears drooping as she did. “As a safety precaution; if I am stripped of my free will the system locks me out until I can return to my realm and reinstate myself as administrator of this world. I could bypass it with the system key, but I have the feeling that won’t be a viable option, will it?” She asked looking at Himari who coughed.

“There are two keys.” Himari answered in nearly a whisper causing Hecatolite to jump, looking back as if she had forgotten she was there.

“Wait, why did the box not stop me when I said who you were?” She asked, scratching her head.

“Because Himari is the current acting admin…”

“You took Eryl’s job!” Hecatolite hissed, turning to Himari, “was her freedom not enough for you? I should just…”

“Temporary,” Himari quickly scooted back from Hecatolite, “only temporary! The system needs an admin to run properly!” Himari cried out, Hecatolite stepped toward her.

“X47 leave her alone, I doubt she had much say in it.” Eryl rubbed her temple, a downside of a mortal body. Headaches. “But why you? It should have defaulted to a god, wait… two keys?”

“Yea two keys?” Hecatolite mimicked Eryl as she glared at Himari, the act would have been cute if she didn’t currently look like a walking corpse.

“Yes, the one for Babylon that I have, and the one for Overseer that Hecatolite has.”

“Wait, my terminal is called Babylon?” Hecatolite asked, looking back to Eryl for confirmation.

Just what in the hells did they do to my system? Eryl thought as she took another deep breath, “your skill is called Babylon, that doesn't mean that is the name of the system.” She answered offhandedly, though it was mostly a guess it was the only conclusion she could come up with. “It doesn’t matter, one of you give me a…” again, she was interrupted as a thunderclap rang out followed quickly by another.

“Mother Eryl.” Two voices called out in unison as the two terminals floated before her, a light blue world terminal and a crimson red terminal she could only assume was Hecatolite’s, given the large 102 caved into the bottom.

“Hey, the one that guy stabbed doesn’t count!” Hecatolite slapped the red terminal with her palm. “Change it back!”  

Eryl watched as the claw marks changed to a 101 before shaking her head, “you destroyed over a hundred terminals in my absence.” She couldn’t help but glare at the small woman who casually whistled. 

“No.” Hecatolite quickly looked away from Eryl who did not break her gaze. “… they were faulty! And mean!” Hecatolite caved a moment later causing Eryl to shake her head.

“I will deal with that later, right now…” in truth Eryl had no end of questions, how long had she been enslaved, why are both Hecatolite and Himari here when she awoke, why are her terminals talking now, how are their suddenly two system keys… one thing at a time. She thought watching Hecatolite stand there, leaking aether into her world. 

She grabbed the world terminal that flashed a lighter blue as the red one made a huffing noise, not used to the “talking” function she quickly began tapping away on the terminal only to stop… “why is X47 not…”

“Hecatolite was removed from the system along with the Lapidary family for their safety.” The red terminal answered, its robotic voice sounding nearly boastful as the blue terminal flashed.

“Mother Eryl, I wish to speak with you about the Overseer's disregard for protocol as well as its constant tampering with the system to protect “Hecatolite”.” The blue terminal flashed in her hand as a young woman’s voice emanated from it.

“Need I remind you that Mother Hecatolite is the one that freed Mother Eryl,” the red terminal scoffed, “I feel my actions are justified by the results.” 

“You…”

“Enough.” Eryl finally managed to speak, cutting the two arguing terminals off, “Hecatolite is currently leaking aether into the mortal world, explain.” She said bluntly looking between the two terminals that began flashing different colors.

“Hecatolite is currently using her self-reinforcement skill to ignore the damage to her body.” The red terminal replied before the other cut in.

“It would appear that the aether being introduced into the world is diluted and will not affect the ecosystem. Note; it would be sufficient to create a seed if one were to come into prolonged contact with it.”

“Oh, the black blood is my skill,” Hecatolite chimed, “is it a problem? I can just cut…” Before anyone could reply Hecatolite fell limp to the floor like a puppet whose strings were cut.

“Note, Hecatolite Lapidary, X47 the mad devour, has died.” The blue terminal… sang.

The ground around them shook as black aether began pouring from Hecatolite, spraying across the golden sand dyeing it a erry black before sinking into the ground leaving behind a sheet of white crystal like glass that glowed with a smokey iridescent white color. her body convulsed before shooting to her feet. 

“Hecatolite has tethered her soul to the remains of her mortal body, Amethyst lapidary has also been stopped from passing as her soul is currently in Hecatolite’s soul space.” The red terminal flashed before turning to Eryl, “note, the physical body that currently houses the two souls will no longer contain their power, I advise corrective actions immediately to minimize contamination to the surrounding area.”

“What happened?” Hecatolite asked, looking around as aether poured from her eyes, “I feel funny...”

“Congratulations,” the red terminal flashed, “you successfully performed the ritual to become a lich. With your souls no longer anchored to the body you have completed the first step to…”

Hecatolite yelled as she quickly grabbed the screen, “it's too soon! Siofra said we would need a gnome to make the bodies!”

Eryl sent a silent prayer to the system as she pieced together what had been said. I will need to have a talk with Siofra when I get a chance. She sighed looking at Himari who sat slack jawed watching undead Hecatolite tear a terminal in half. “Let me guess, you planned on forming a homunculus for yourself.”

“Yea, well not just for me.” Hecatolite stopped destroying the terminal to look back, “one for Amethyst too… how did you know?” Narrowing her eyes as she scanned Eryl, “you didn’t read my mind again, did you?”

“Call it a guess.” Eryl sighed again as she finally stood, dwarfing Hecatolite as she looked down at her. she spared a glance at the now glass like sand around Hecatolite, i can't very well leave her like this, if her aether does that to sand i can't even imagine what it would do to a living thing. she thought pondering momentarily on how to quarantine the strange glass that radiated power. she shook her head looking back uip to Hecatoltie, I severely doubt Himari and I could force her to leave either. my only option is to help her, and quickly the longer she's like this the more she will twist the land around her, it won't be long until this island starts to look like her soul space. At least it's an easy fix, just make her a new body, with her leaking aether it should be easy to create one that should contain her, once that is taken care of i can move on to other things… like why i suddenly have two systems calling me mother… maybe i shouldn’t have let X47 loose in the world… She sighed again before turning to Himari. “Let’s just get this over with, Himari I will require your help.”

Himari barely managed to stammer as she finally looked away from Hecatolite. “h…help with what?”

“Apparently we need to make a body before Hecatolite floods the world with aether.” Eryl shook her head, “that is of course unless you plan on just accepting your death and moving on?”

“I’m not dead!” Hecatolite stomped her foot causing the sand to warp as her aether splashed down onto it. the air around her bent as she yelled, the air around her becoming noticeably warmer as a dry wave of heat washed over the beach.

“But you are dead…” the blue terminal interjected only to be violently attacked as well.

“No, I’m not!” Hecatolite cried as she clawed the terminal, “see. Besides Amethyst is too young to die and… and… I just got married! What will people say about Saffron if she’s widowed a week after… and… I can’t die yet. I promised Amethyst, I would protect her, not kill her.” Hecatolite began to breathe heavily as black tears fell from her eyes. 

Eryl had watched more people than she cared to count die, their final moments in the world, the look of recognition as most people reveal their true selves. Eryl knew it all too well, having held the hands of the dead before, the dead have no need for lies or slander, a moment where someone could be their true selves with no need for a mask. She would be lying if she said she was not curious on what Hecatolite would say in this moment, would she continue to reject death? Would she accept it?

The next words out of Hecatolite’s mouth came as no surprise to Eryl, though it seemed to shock not only Himari but the terminals as well when Hecatolite spoke what could easily be considered her final words. “Can you save sparkle?” the question hung in the air causing Eryl to smirk.

Of course,  Eryl nodded as she replied, “as the administrator of this world I am forbidden from interfering in it, you know that Hecatolite. However, I can make an exception, just this once.” She made sure to emphasize that she would not do this again, she neglected saying that she was concerned about Hecatolite simply refusing to die and disrupting the world. Or what would happen if a non-native soul were to die with the key to the system, would she return to Sol 3 terra? Or be dumped in the holy court? If it’s the latter, given the state of the world I can’t risk sending her without going myself to escort her. and what of her sister’s soul… no there are simply too many variables, this way I can keep an eye on her while I sort this all out.