After Lilith and Kali had showed Levia to the guest room, they retreated back to their own room. “I wasn’t expecting her to be so receptive to the idea.” Lilith said. “She’s really not your average person.”
“If she was, she wouldn’t be able to suppress Levi’s personality so fully.” Kali replied, smiling slightly. “That sense of self and iron will was almost certainly the result of a hard life, and if we can give her a better one, then I’m all for it. That matter aside, I believe Jerry wanted you to check us for eldritch stuff?”
Lilith nodded. “You’re right.” She said. “I think I’d like to try on myself first, just to make sure the process works fine and doesn’t hurt anyone. I don’t know if I’ll be able to see any of my stuff, since my enhancements are different from everyone else’s, but I don’t think that’s a particularly large concern.”
“I’m not sure we’ll get a full grasp on what they’ve done to you before the war is over.” Kali agreed. “If you truly were made to be like one of them…then, well, you’ll be beyond what any of us are used to, and it’ll require a lot of study to truly figure out.”
I’ll go fetch Judy. Eve volunteered. Meet me in one of the living rooms.
“Eve says she’ll get Judy.” Lilith relayed. “And that we’ll meet in one of the living rooms. I figure we’ll deal with the kids once we’re sure this actually works.”
Kali linked an arm with one of Lilith’s. “Please, lead the way then, Ms. Administrator”
Lilith rolled her eyes. “I’m not one yet.” She said. “I’m just in training.”
“Eh, you’re close enough.” Kali said, leaning up and giving Lilith a peck on the cheek. “Just give it a couple thousand years and we’ll have you there.”
Lilith shook her head in amusement as the two began to walk towards the nearest teleporter. “You know, I still get amazed by your sense of time. To say something like that so casually is…well, I’m just not used to it.”
“It’s pretty normal.” Kali giggled. “You’re the weird one for being not used to it. You’ll find people who don’t age just about everywhere, and most of us are like that. After a few while you sorta lose track of what mortal people think is a long time. You’ll be like that too someday, just give it…we’ll say two thousand years.”
“So…what you’re saying is that you’ve gotten old and out of touch?” Lilith teased.
“Could an old person have done the things to you that I did last night?” Kali teased back.
Lilith blushed slightly, but maintained an otherwise straight face. “Apparently yes.”
“Well, if we count the before times, you would be plenty old too.”
“Maybe I am.” Lilith replied. “I never said it was a bad thing.”
“You’re incorrigible.” Kali said, letting out a theatrical sigh, though her smile betrayed her true feelings. “You’re lucky I love you.”
“Funny you say that, because I was just thinking that myself.” Lilith replied, leaning down and giving Kali a quick kiss. “Great minds think alike, I suppose.”
“I’m so incredibly, unbelievably happy that I can be with you like this.” Kali said quietly, leaning into Lilith slightly. “I know I’ve said it before, but I really can’t say it enough. It’s like a dream come true.”
“And you’ll never wake up.” Lilith said firmly. They reached the teleporter, and Lilith quickly sent them off to one of the living rooms, where Eve was waiting. “I rather like being alive, and I can’t imagine being without you.”
“Alright, stop flirting you two.” Eve said, rolling her eyes. “Judy will be here any second, and it’s embarrassing.”
“Fine, if that’s the case, I’ll never flirt with you again.” Kali sniffed.
“Y-you don’t have to go that far!” Eve protested. “Just…not in public!”
“But what’s the point if we can’t show off to everyone?” Kali asked, a teasing smile on her face.
Eve rolled her eyes. “For our own enjoyment? We don’t need to care what anyone else thinks.”
“Then it shouldn’t embarrass you, right?” Lilith teased. “Since we don’t need to care what they think.”
“You two are impossible sometimes, you know that?” Eve said. “Can’t you let me have this?”
“No.” Kali said, moving over to Eve and giving her a kiss on the forehead. “I’m gonna love you and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”
“I thought I was supposed to be the villainous one.” Eve groaned. “I suppose I have no choice but to accept your advances for the time being, then.”
One of the other doors opened, and Judy stepped in. “I’m not interrupting, am I?” She asked.
“Not at all!” Eve said hurriedly. “Do come in!”
“So, we’re doing that thing where Lilith was going to try and read our eldritch stuff, right?” Judy asked, walking in and taking a seat next to Eve. “Have we had any success?”
“Jerry says that she should be even better at this than he is.” Kali said. “But we’ve yet to start, because she wants to read herself first to make sure she isn’t doing any harm to anyone.”
Lilith nodded. “If we determine that I can, in fact, read our eldritch abilities, we’ll call in the kids. If it turns out that I can’t do it, I don’t want to get them all worked up over nothing. So…no point in wasting any more time, I suppose. I’m gonna get started.”
After waiting a moment to make sure no one had any objections, Lilith began to turn her attention inwards. She took it extremely slowly, making absolutely sure she was doing things properly and not messing with stuff she shouldn’t be messing with. And, in response, the landscape of her Mana began to open up before her.
It was strange, looking at it in this way; she was so used to seeing her abilities through the lens of the system that seeing them stripped of all the system’s syntax was almost disconcerting. And, though she could clearly read them, there was a distinctive lack of any of her eldritch-based abilities, not even a hint of the Mana within her.
That wasn’t right; as far as she had heard, those modifications were rather noticeable to those who could read them, presenting themselves and their effects much like how Lilith’s translation ability worked. No, it just wasn’t–
Lilith’s train of thought was cut off as she encountered something so entirely alien that she couldn’t help but freeze up for a moment when she saw it. The shape of it pressed against her mind, the scope and impossibility of it almost hurting to witness.
“Lilith, are you alright?!” Kali exclaimed, bringing Lilith’s attention back to the physical world. “Can you hear me?!”
Lilith withdrew from her mind, shaking her head to clear it. “I’m fine. I just…found my eldritch stuff, and I wasn’t prepared for it.”
“We’re fine mentally.” Eve added. “It was just so…overwhelming. Even I got a bit of it, and I wasn’t even looking.”
Kali frowned deeply. “Do you mind if I look for a second?”
“Go ahead.” Lilith said. “Just be prepared.”
Kali laid a hand on Lilith’s forehead, concentrated for a few moments, then withdrew it. “It…doesn’t feel that way to me.” She said. “I can clearly see it if I know where to look, but it feels small and self-contained, even if it’s incomprehensible. Basically everyone else’s stuff feels the same way, I wouldn’t even be able to tell you’re special if I just looked at the abilities I can see.”
“It definitely did not feel like that.” Lilith said. “It was like…like…um…” She floundered, seeking for a proper way to describe what she had just witnessed, but wasn’t able to find one.
Imagine that reading regular Mana is like reading a book. Mae said. If we normally write two-dimensionally, this was like writing using four dimensions, like letters and symbols that simply wouldn’t be possible to express using three dimensions. It is so different to everything we have ever seen that it stopped us cold.
Kali shook her head. “None of us ever felt anything like that when looking at eldritch stuff.” She said. “Whatever you’re seeing, it’s not what we see. Can you make any sense of it?”
Lilith took a deep breath. “Let me try.” She said, diving back into the recesses of her Mana where the eldritch stuff lived. She quickly found the impossible construct that had been etched into her soul, and this time she was able to withstand looking at it. Unfortunately, her translation ability didn’t seem to apply here; the construct was huge and daunting, but…not unfathomable.
The construct was clearly partitioned like normal Mana constructs, and upon looking at those individual partitions, she could make out bits and pieces that she knew what they did. Mae had made a point of studying Jerry’s notes carefully, and Lilith found small sections repeated within the construct, even if they were often built in ways that would accommodate the different landscape of the Mana.
And, with some effort, she was able to categorize each and every one of those partitions. She couldn’t tell exactly which abilities most were, not yet, but she could narrow the possibilities down. But, standing out amongst those abilities was an outlier that could only be Zoan’s Barrier, a skill that allowed her to absorb or reflect any attack or ability, provided she had enough Mana to match whatever she was absorbing or reflecting. It was the only one that held the Mana construct she knew was a reflector, and with that she had an in.
“I can sort of tell what things do.” Lilith said. “It’s not automatic, not like reading Mana, but I can see things I sort of recognize and work things out. I’m almost certain I’ve identified Zoan’s Barrier, and I think that, given enough time, I can reverse engineer what each part of it does and use that to help decipher the rest.”
“Check me.” Kali said. “Just to make sure it’s the same for anyone with an eldritch ability. If so…then we’ll need to spend a lot of time studying this, it could prove instrumental in the future.”
“If you insist.” Lilith said. “Here goes nothing…” She laid a hand on Kali’s head and slowly peeked in on her wife’s Mana. And, sure enough, after a bit of searching, she came across another eldritch construct. It was only a fraction of the size of the one Lilith had, but in terms of how it was built and its comprehensibility, it was the same.
“Yeah, it feels like mine but smaller.” She said. “We’re going to need to spend some serious time on this, I feel. Mae, what do you think?”
I do not believe I would be a good choice for this, but I can try. Mae said. I am afraid this is somewhat out of my area of expertise, and I do not know how much time I can spare for this.
“I think it’d be for the best if we made another Parallel dedicated just to understanding this.” Lilith said slowly. “I don’t think any of us currently have the temperament or time necessary to spend years studying this and this alone, and…well, having another set of hands can’t be too bad.”
“Are you sure?” Judy asked worriedly. “That’s a rather dramatic step, isn’t it?”
“It is.” Lilith agreed. “But we live in dramatic times. I can’t afford to approach this half-heartedly, and this is far and away the most efficient solution.”
There was a prolonged silence that was eventually broken by Kali. “I understand.” She said solemnly. “Let’s go hash out the specifics.”
Levia’s contemplation was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Y-yes?” She stammered, setting down the book she was reading.
“I’m sorry to interrupt you, but there’s been a bit of a development, and we’re going to make a new Parallel.” Kali said. “It’s not something that happens very often, so we thought we should give you the opportunity to watch if you want, but you don’t need to.”
Well…this new Parallel would be one of her mothers, so it would make sense for her to make herself acquainted with the new Parallel. And, admittedly, Levia was extremely curious as to what the process was like. “I will.” Levia said, swinging her feet off of the bed and heading over to the door. She unlocked it and opened it, revealing a rather nervous Kali.
“Oh, good.” Kali said. “Follow me.”
Levia debated asking Kali about what was making her so nervous, but in the end decided it wasn’t her place, and quietly followed Kali. They walked in silence for a while, long enough that Levia couldn’t help but jump when Kali spoke. “Do you have any questions about the process?”
“U-um, yeah.” Levia said. “How does this…work?”
“You know, I’m less sure than I used to be.” Kali said. “Initially, the Skill I designed worked one way, but it was folded into Lilith’s eldritch stuff, so I can no longer be confident that how I thought it works is how it actually works. Still, what I know is probably at least seventy five percent right, so it’s better than nothing.
“Basically, as far as I’m aware, when Lilith is under the effect of something that would completely change her personality or psyche, that effect is compartmentalized and Lilith can choose to try and make it into a Parallel. If all Parallels agree to make the new personality another Parallel, it gets made one into one, and Lilith gets the ability to manifest a new avatar, which the Parallel can use as a body.
“Theoretically all avatars should only share a portion of Lilith’s Mana, but as Lilith has grown that restriction has sort of evaporated. As things are now, all Parallels have just as much Mana as she does, and I’m guessing that this new one won’t be enough to put her over the edge. Give it two or three more, though, and then the avatars will start weakening as the Mana is shared between them.”
Levia frowned. “Why haven’t you pushed that limit yet?”
“Because there hasn’t been a need, and because we are of the opinion that Parallels are, in essence, their own people. Bringing another person into this world isn’t something we take lightly at all, so we shy away from it unless we feel it absolutely necessary.”
Kali paused for a moment, then continued. “I suppose there’s also the theoretical possibility of Parallels rebelling, but we very carefully craft their personalities so they’re content with their jobs, recognize Lilith as in charge, and have…well, some semblance of peace between them. Eve and Nuwa may fight, but it’s more of a playful thing, if they had an actual problem with each other, they’d say it.”
“So…why are you making one now?”
Kali sighed, guiding Levia through one of the teleporters. “Lilith can only kind of read eldritch stuff. Unlike everyone else, she seems to actually have the capability to potentially understand it herself, without the aid of whatever translation tool the eldritch gave Amy and Jerry, but she’s going to have to reverse-engineer it based on what she already knows.”
They exited the teleporter, and Kali led Levia through a hall as she continued to talk. “And that’s going to take a lot of time spent bashing her head against a wall of ignorance. Not only do we not have time to spend on that, none of the Parallels, save perhaps Mae, have the mindset that’s needed for something like that. And Mae…well, she’s doing other things, but my hunch is that she’s a little too…grounded for this sort of work.
“She’s much better with researching existing data and working with hard facts instead of figuring things out as she goes. And this kind of work will probably be unlike anything we’re familiar with, so some creative thinking is going to be needed. So, we decided that making a new Parallel was the best course of action.”
Kali opened a door, and motioned for Levia to enter. “Please, after you.”
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Another twin? or perhaps brand new look for this parallel?