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Coil

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A strange pulse in my chest knocks me forward, causing me to stumble out of my chair. 

Before I hit the floor, a pair of muscular arms wraps around me, stopping my fall. I glance up to see my personal knight’s dispassionate face looking down at me, his eyes full of worry. 

Whatever that pain was, thank you!

I fail to suppress an evil smile as I look up at Porter. The muscle under his one eye twitches. 

Satisfied with his reaction, I pull myself up and quickly brush myself off. My focus returns to what I was doing, which was dealing with our new resident otherworlder. Amy sits in one of the chairs in my room, looking at me with a slight blush. Her eyes flit between Porter and myself excitedly. I may have found an ally in tormenting my poor knight.

That’s not what’s important right now, as much as I want it to be. I called Amy for information about Earth. Just before this meeting with the redheaded girl, I spoke to Father. Embarrassingly I needed to ask him what the name of our world is, somehow all six of us have lived here over a year without ever finding that out. He told me, with a disappointed look, that the world’s name was Einmar. 

“So Amy… Can I call you Amy?” I smile at the woman pleadingly. Her face is inexpressive, her eyes bored now that Porter is no longer being messed with. 

“I guess, can I call you Coil?” Her tone is brusque, totally ignorant of my position as a noble. Not that I really care, but I can feel Porter behind me begin to bristle in anger.

“Sure, Amy, but you do need to understand that under normal circumstances you should be a bit more respectful to a noble.” My tone is passive but stern. Porter’s hidden anger behind me slowly dims.

Amy looks at me, her eyes completely devoid of any understanding. “A noble? What’s that?” 

I resist the urge to smack my forehead. “A noble is someone put in charge of a piece of land, they work for a king or emperor.” Well, that’s vaguely true, hopefully that’ll be enough to understand. And thankfully her eyes brighten in familiarity.

“A king? So you guys are medieval.” I have no idea what she’s talking about. “Is the monarchy hereditary? Are only men allowed to rule?” Her questions suddenly tumble out of her, making me slowly blink in surprise. This meeting was for me to extract information from her.

“Yes to the first, no to the second.” She nods, mulling over what I said as I begin my questions. “So, Amy, I know what you told Scarlet about Earth. I have a few questions of my own that I need to have clarified.” She tilts her head, now curious. 

“I have three main questions. The first being, how many people exist on Earth? The second is what their magic is like there. The third is if the people of Earth are aware of Einmar.” I look at her, waiting for the answers.

The woman bounces in her seat as she thinks. Actually, she hasn’t stopped moving since she came into the room. Always some kind of tapping or shaking. “Well, the first is easy! There’s almost ten billion people.” I feel my eyes widen, that’s much, much higher than I expected. Several magnitudes higher. “The second is kinda easy. As far as I know, no one has any magic on Earth. The closest I saw was in the laboratory, and they were just messing with souls. If they weren’t using magic, I doubt it exists.” This answer also shocks me. I expected the magic to be totally different than on Einmar, but not to just… not exist. “The last one I can’t answer, because I have no idea! The public certainly doesn’t know, but that doesn’t mean much with how secretive Earth can be.” Her bouncing has stopped, but now she’s spinning her hair with her finger. 

My posture collapses and I fall backward into my seat. “I honestly didn’t expect those answers. The third once I did, I suppose, but the other two are insane. Ten billion people? Are you sure?” My voice squeaks as I say the number, but she just nods enthusiastically. 

“Yep, yep! It’s a big problem back home. Running out of space to keep people in a lot of places. Air is getting gross, too.” She follows the grains of the wood on my desk with her eyes. “Breathing in this world is much easier.” 

I nod slowly. “The more I hear of Earth, the more I’m glad that we can’t remember it.” Crag crawls out of my shadow suddenly, spooking my guest. The shadow person waves at Amy with a gentle smile, who waves back once she figures out who Crag is. The two of them have met before, and the shades in general have taken a liking to Amy. I hope she doesn’t influence them too much. 

Crag leans over to me and whispers into my ear, “Father, we need your assistance.” My eyes open in surprise. My ‘children’ have never asked for my help. Curiosity bubbles up inside me at what they could possibly need.

“Show me.” My words come out as a command, but for me they’re a request. I’m excited. Crag’s eyes flit between my knight and Amy. 

“What about those two, Father?” Crag seems nervous.

I touch my chin with a finger. “Should they not come?” 

Crag’s eyes widen. “If you trust them, Father, then of course they are welcome.” Their tone is nervous, seemingly afraid they’ve angered me. Silly child. 

“They can come, then, will you lead the way Crag?” They nod at my request and walk towards Amy. The inky person offers their lumpy hand to the redhead, who takes it with a confused look. I meanwhile grab Porter’s hand, which makes the tips of his ears go red. 

Crag melts into the shadow of my desk, and I soon feel a gentle tug at my consciousness. They’re trying to lead the way. I follow into my own shadow, pulling Porter with me. The process is comforting to me but, if I’m to go off Porter’s groans, unpleasant for humans. Luckily the trip lasts less than ten seconds. 

Our group of four pops out into a pitch black room, a similar size to our own dining hall. Shades rush everywhere, tables are piled with paper and strange tools. I even see a shade with his child in the corner, a smile stretching his face. A warm feeling fills my chest at that.

Then I realize our human companions are probably seeing nothing. I wave my hand, willing some of the shadows that fill the space to create blindfolds over their eyes. The two suddenly start blinking, able to see again.

“Wow!” Amy bursts out with a shout. “There’s so many shades here! Is that a baby?” Her voice squeals at the end, the excitement over the child palpable. 

Crag nods. “Yes, but that is not why we’re here, my Lady.” The shade leads us to a far wall. As we walk I look around, taking in the sights of my ‘children’s’ work. It’s impressive, they’ve started making tools out of shadow on their own, and I’m pretty sure I saw two shades making out in the corner. 

The approach to the wall is less quiet than the rest of the walk. Two shades, one a taller guy and one a shorter girl, are loudly arguing. 

“We need Father’s assistance, Creek. It’s too dangerous to try it on our own!” The man’s tone is dismissive and final, but the girl is having none of that.

“Oh, come ooooon, Quarry. You’re just a big scaredy cat. It’ll be fine! I’m telling you that it won’t invert!” The woman speaks in a drawn out singsong. 

Quarry, if the girl is to be believed, sighs. “We’ve been over this, Creek, we aren’t risking the entire material realm on a ‘probably’.” 

“Yes, let’s not do that, shall we?” My voice is friendly, but the two freeze like hell just spoke. 

“Father!” they yell in unison. 

I sigh. “Yes, that’s me, I’ve been told you need help.” I look between the two. Their faces fall, seemingly sure they’ve disappointed me. Silence continues as the two struggle to speak. “If one of you doesn’t explain, Crag will.” My right hand shade nods in agreement.

“No!” Creek shrieks. “I mean, I will, Father!” Her energy level bounces up and down rapidly, not sure if it’s excited or depressed. “This is what we made!” She hits a random section of the wall with her fist. 

One by one small symbols wink into existence on the stone wall. The glowing, are they glowing? The glowing runes form a circle, and in the center the shadow of the room thickens and gets darker. Shadow pours out from the middle like a fluid and covers the entire inside of the ring.

“Wow! It’s a stargate!” Amy sounds thrilled. I look back at her, but she just shrugs at me. “Too much to explain.”

I turn back to see the three other shades of our group step into the shadow portal. Porter walks up to it and experimentally touches the liquid darkness. His hand sinks into it, like he’s dipping his limb in a lake. After that he jumps through. Amy’s eyes sparkle with excitement and she does a running jump into the void. Left alone, I let out a sigh, before entering it as well.

After a short, uncomfortable trip I find my breath taken away. We’re in a pitch black space, but it feels like it’s filled with light. Colors show up on my companions’ clothes, unlike in the previous space. What really blows me away is the size of this new place. The four of us basically appeared in a massive, grassless plain. The black soil stretches into every direction, past where I can see. A light breeze blows over my skin. Darkness swirls into an approximation of a sun high in the sky.

I grab Crag’s shoulder. “So, what is this, Crag?” The shade smiles at me sheepishly, but doesn’t get to answer before Quarry speaks up.

“It’s a realm made of shadows, Father. We’ve been making it for the shades to live in.” His tone shifts from excited to nervous as he continues, “The problem is that it’s expanding too fast, and Blackheart’s membrane is being stretched too thin.” His eyes fill with worry.

“Blackheart?” I look at Crag.

Creek takes a turn answering for the eldest shade. “Blackheart is the name of the realm. Well, its heart, at least. We made it the same way as we make children, so it’s also alive.” Her expression becomes protective. “Please, Father, they need your help. If their membrane ruptures the entire plane will collapse.” 

Porter speaks up. “It’s a realm, like a realm realm? As in ‘Realm of the Angels’ and the ‘Demon Realm’?” His tone has the barest hint of surprise. 

The two researcher shades nod. “Yes, as far as we know it’s the same type of realm, we based it off those legends,” Quarry explains. “Father, I need you to use your blessing to reinforce Blackheart’s membrane, and to disallow any entrance or exit from the realm besides the way we came in.” 

“Why disallow entrance?” I ask.

Creek peeps out an answer. “Because we think that the membrane won’t handle other holes being poked in it until it’s fully grown!” Her tone is still that almost motherly one. “Please, Father?” 

I sigh. “Alright then, where is Blackheart? The ground?” As soon as my words leave my mouth the soil between the five of us ripples like water, and a huge orb appears. “That’s it, I assume?” The duo nods.

I place a hand on the sphere and push my blessing inside.

 

】〓〓〓〓【

Crag

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Purple lightning flashes around Blackheart, accompanying a massive buildup of power. The shadow energy building inside of the sphere is so dense that the air inside the realm tastes like it. Yet Father pushes more and more into the orb. His apparently inexhaustible levels of shadow surpass the combined efforts of two shades and a day of an entire world of the stuff growing exponentially. The energy he just dumped into Blackheart is nearly thrice that amount. 

Blackheart pulses violently, sending a wave of force through the air. Then the pent up shadow magic is released. Black lightning spills from the orb in every direction, weaving around the five of us. The tendrils of power hit the ground randomly, creating a crackling sound each time they do. Shaking starts to shift the earth beneath our feet, the soil vibrating over its surface. 

It all stops - the shaking, the lightning, the energy, all of it. A light purple film slowly crawls over the sky, starting from the horizon. The membrane grows together over the course of a few minutes, sealing itself shut with a massive crack. 

I look over to Father to make sure he’s okay. The man isn’t even winded, he looks like he just took care of an annoying chore. He could’ve made hundreds if not thousands of shades with the power he just released, and he doesn’t seem to even miss it. He really is the Fathershade.

Quarry and Creek swarm Blackheart, completely forgetting that the rest of us are here. I give Father a smile and it seems he understands, at least I think that’s what the smirk meant. 

“Alright, Crag, do you need anything else from me?” I shake my head, he just fed a world for us and he asks if he can do more? I’d never allow it. He smiles. “In that case, could you help me bring our two companions back to my room?” I give Father a nod.

“Of course, Father.”

 

】〓〓〓〓【

Amy

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I’ve been shafted. Totally and completely shafted. Not only do I wake up in this world in the middle of the slums, but I get some shitty blessing. Coil the Dark One over here just fed a baby world and all I can do is mess with dreams? So fucking lame. I’m gonna call a manager.

“Hey, Coil, I fucking hate you.” My tone is matter-of-fact, and takes Coil completely by surprise. Hahaha, that face is so worth it. Mr. Knight behind him looks like he’s about ready to pop and frown for once.

At some point in my brooding we ended up back in Coil’s room. I’m even in the chair by his desk. When’d that happen? 

“Amy, what did I do?” Coil sounds taken aback. 

I smile at the dapper looking man. “You got a cool blessing and all I can do is futz with people's nightmares, how lame is that? I at least want a new dad, too.” I pout, angry at the stupid world I’m in. Coil looks like he’s trying not to laugh, that or he has to poop. 

“I suppose. Couldn’t you put people to sleep during battle, though? And just walk up and chop off their heads?” Coil does have a point. 

“I dunno, let's try it.” Coil’s eyes go wide and before he can get his words out I try and activate my blessing. 

Everything goes black for a split second… but then nothing else happens. Coil looks around, confused. 

“Huh, I really thought you activated your blessing.” His eyes scan the room for some kind of dream creature, but everything is normal. 

“Lame, I was hoping I could at least make some sort of nightmare monster.” As the words leave my mouth the bed at the far end of the room shimmers like heat above a road. When it stops doing the wobblies in its place is a mass of black tar, with two huge eyes. I point at the thing. “Yeah! Like that!” 

“I guess it works, but you fall asleep too, then, unless this you is a dream as well.” Coil scratches his chin.

“Nope, this is the real me. But a dream me would also say that. So you’ll just have to guess.” 

Coil sighs at my logic.

He looks back at dream Porter, who is even more unmoving than the real one. “We should go back before my knight kills you to wake me up.” 

My heat goes cold at the thought, he totally would, too. “Yeah, good idea, before your boyfriend kills me.” 

The last thing that happens before everything flickers again is Coil going red and saying “He’s not —” 

I sit up in my sleep with a huge gasp, like I had been holding my breath. Coil is mimicking me in his seat across the desk. Porter stands next to my chair, reaching for his sword. “Wow, we really guessed that timing, huh?” I smile at Porter, and then Coil. 

They both just sigh.