Aphanisis

The electricity flowing overhead flashed a spectrum of colors through strobelights onto the cabaret stage. From their booths and dining seats, the crowd watched as scantily clad women dressed in clownish makeup started to walk onstage and shake their rumps in dizzying, indecent motions. The crowd of young businessmen in suits and ties began to whistle and shout “Whoooo!” while the ladies in colorful dresses and frilly costumes took their positions on stage, arranged in marching lines. One by one they placed their palms forward, a flickering singularity of distortion ebbing and flowing into an orb of energy - Kalediomancy. From there the orbs sent overpowering waves and turned the cabaret stage into a full on theater of manbulls, teal swine, carnivorous plants and floating trumpets. Fireworks and confetti would douse the air in every direction as the cabaret became one with a giant infernal dance. After the final performance at the end of the hall, everyone would stagger at their table and dine until midnight, the only way to know you truly got much of your hard earned money's worth spent on the Blightstone funded event.
When the razzle and dazzle and jazzy ensemble performing died down, the air was suitably more calm. Sitting across from each other, Mannerly and Odalia sipped their cabernet, gourmet plates cleaned since, their eyes lit up by the performers still.
"Kalediomancy. If any soul asks I don't even know what it means, but it sure sounds like fun," said Odalia teasingly, in her best lime-green rubber evening split-dress dress. "And surely you wouldn't either? A White Warden in your position, oh my.."
"You want me to go? My duty is strictly business here, to you as a representative of the people. I am no different than you," Mannerly replied, looking into her silver eyes.
"Oh don't give me that shit, like you are different, you are so special!" Odalia snorted, the white pearls around her wrists rattling. "You took no precautions, coming to my newly opened circle here. What would the press or Sistory council think if they found out?"
"My duty comes first, and nothing will distract me from that," Mannerly said.
"You can't tell me that you can't be distracted, I don't believe that," Odalia told him, a knowing grin on her full lips. "I am quite sure you can't, unless you have been hiding it all this time."
Mannerly gulped down the last of her wine before answering, making sure to wipe the rim of her goblet off with her napkin. "So what are you getting at? This cabaret show, it has been the talk of the news for two days. What are the other circles up to? Do they know what is going on here? Is what's underneath this place t-"
"Sshshssssh, hush now. I know of none. Only you and I and the Circle of Vipers know what we are doing here tonight." Odalia winked, rubbing Mannerly's shoulder affectionately. The slightest touch in their relationship everybit more comforting than any decade with her pathetic husband.
"Are you sure?" Miss Mannerly was suspect.
Odalia put her hand on her hip and dangled the cellar keys. "Would I have spent this much pocket change building the place and making it loud if I wasn't?" She got up, her eyes wandering around the room. Mannerly did the same and straightened her neatest blouse, she was dressed abit too formal for the occasion, but liked to send the message that she was never unprofessional.
"Follow me now. Don't dawdle Mannerly."
Odalia led Mannerly past the cabaret stage, through the dimly lit corridor to the dressing rooms. The dressing rooms were a large open space in the corner of the backstage. From the looks of the place, every changing booth was occupied. A quick glimpse around revealed the ladies of cabaret were dressed for anything. The place was covered with teddy-bears, a huge lion, a snake and even a werewolf, the fur a multitude of colors and sparkles and performers known to use Kaleidomancy to liven up their spectacle. "It helps them to 'get into character.'" Odalia spoke with no shame.
"Are we doing this or not? Please Brightstone, I'm a busy woman whose time is precious."
Odalia smiled, her gaze was slightly slant, but the eyes were as piercing as they could get, in a perfectly pale face. She pulled her partner's long white hair in back to frame the head, fixing her hairpins and tying it up slightly.
She licked two fingers, put them to her hips and went 'Sssszzz' with a whistle. The sweet noise caused the cellar door to click behind them, and Odalia opened it up. "The stairs go deep. Watch your step."
Mannerly listened as the lock clicked behind them, Odalia pulling out the key. She heard a whoosh of the cellar air, the sound of the pump, the faint scuttle of mice in the walls. The squeak of footsteps would echo while the two made pace across a spiral staircase, until they came across a series of wine cabinets. Odalia pulled down a bottle from a shelf, yanked the small lever hidden in back, watched the wall turn to reveal a secret descent. The smell of iodine was sharp and bitter from the caverns that lay beyond. The two walked another set of stairs, this one shorter than the last but colder and deeper into the chasm.
In the far wall were a set of double doors with velvet curtains and a gold light fixture, casting a soft light of red and green. There was some figure encased in a large crystal behind the curtains of red and gold, spotlights illuminating the cavern with shoddy cables and wiring.
"Come Mannerly, let's dance!" Odalia was in her element, she took Mannerly's hand and pulled her into the cave as if it were a dancefloor.
The two danced in a circle of twinkling lights, until their hands met, then they pulled their hearts close. Odalia pulled her partner into a spin and caught her by surprise, Mannerly's palm was pushed out, her fingertips pressed against the smooth, cool stone walls of the cave. Her other hand held Mannerly's, her grip like a vice. "Surely you didn't bring me down here for such frivolity."
"You're not allowed to be bored." Mannerly pouted. "I must entertain you. I order you now, dance with me!"
"You are mistaken, I am not bored, your presence does that for me. And you know how hard it is to not think about you and you being so close to me," Mannerly said in her deep voice. "I would go mad if I didn't hear your whispers, or touch your face and lips."
"Then we are mad. By that Hex you love so much, let's dance for days."
Mannerly finally pushed her off. "By the Hex, let's not do this here." And she recomposed herself, sashaying to go face the curtains. "What's behind here? It reeks of ammonia." Mannerly bent over in the center of the carpet, then reached out to open the curtains.
The crystal was displayed, still encased partially in the wall behind it. Made of some translucent amber-shaded substance, there lay a figure of a woman inside of it with bronzed, gilded skin. Mannerly almost leapt back in shock.
Her eyes closed and fingers pressed to her lips, her mouth hanging open in a silent caterwaul. The girl inside the crystal, she was wearing a gilded golden and silver dress with straps that were half-undressed across her chest, with a white sash and bandages around her half-naked thigh, both a hint at half-mast. Her eyes were like black pools of onyx, and her lashes were thick and black. Her hair, pinned in a small bun at the back of her head and half-down over one of her eyes, her lips a deep icy-blue, and her face had a beautiful porcelain look to it. One of her eyes were closed, and it was her profile Mannerly was viewing.
Most noticeable of all, were a series of petrified angelic feathery wings along her back, additional bumps in the crystal hardened around them. Mannerly slid around on her knees, pulling the curtain away to view the girl from other angles. "Odalia.. what in Hex name have you done?"
"What do you mean? I didn't do anything. I'm only entertaining you with a discovery of mine. Isn't that right Mannerly? Aren't you going to say 'It's okay, don't worry, I trust you, I like it here'?" Odalia put her hands up, palms against her chest, her fingers bent at the knuckles, like a prayer. Her nails cut the palms of her hands, but the blood trickled down in thin runs, slowly.
She took out a white mask with runes on the inside and slid her bleeding fingers against it, the blood sinking in until the runes lit up gold. Then she handed it to Mannerly and offered it.
"You need this to be able to see, hear, to know what festivities you're missing. Might as well accept it."
They had a long cold silence, meeting eyes, Mannerly's worries not quite disappearing.
"No tricks, Odalia. Promise you'll be good."
"Pardon you. Never."
Mannerly would hold and glare at the odd mask, a purple gem on the forehead matching the color of it's lips, the shape perfectly sculpted into a smooth woman's visage. She slowly placed it against her skin, the pins and needles immediately tugging the stretchy material close to her pale flesh.
She was able to hear a soft hissing noise, as if someone had turned the dial to zero on a radio, and she was able to see her skin, it glistened, the skin on her cheeks was a pale, almost tinted gold color. The runes were glowing in purple, the blood glistened on the mask. Odalia was still dancing slightly, but her rolling her arms around each other was growing spasmodic.
Mannerly sat down in a soft, large chair to the side of the crystal. Her legs crossed and the mask still pressed tightly against her face. Slowly, she could see a strange trail of smoky light began to appear in front of her vision, motes falling from the ceiling. The place appeared not as a cave but a furnished pad, duplicated several times over with identical rounded cushions, crates of food,  and a couple of crystal tables, made of stone that shone an eerie, amber-gold color.
The air began to smell of incense and spice, a sweet and sharp smell, the same as you might smell of an apple rubbed against pine sap, smelling of the forest. She'd only smelt such a combination in the halls of the Hex Church's council chambers. The room's lighting was an almost sickly green, but it wasn't the same for all the rooms, one a bit of a purple, others red or blue, white, the last gold.
He saw the girl sitting on the large golden cushion, she looked just like the one encased in crystal but much younger. In the almost phantasmic imagery, the flickering and translucent light formed shapes that Mannerly could make out. A man, with a white ponytail, his face full of scars.
The man had some kind of crème tinted glow to him, as if the light of chalk and butter rubbed against the skin of a a desiccated, saggy wild peach. His skin, though, had a slightly sickly tone to it and was only offset from it's sourcreme look by long dark robes the tone of cedar.
Mannerly knew this man, or knew of him. She'd learned of him from a dark time long past, where this cruel man had once taken the Hex church over. A period of such terrible shame, it was stricken from the records.
"Promethean one. Do you not rest?" His image said in a deep, husky voice as he handed her some licorice sticks.
The girl, her mocca skin and short brown hair were blemished with dirt, she looked somewhat undernourished. Even through her grey shirt, some sort of golden stone embedded where her heart should be could be seen.
She picked up a pebble and threw it at him.
"Come now, you know you have been moving for a while. I know deep down you want my touch."
Mannerly stood and watched as he got closer to her. What in Hex was happening?
"I know what you're thinking." He said to her. He pulled her head down by her jaw and held it back, his other hand on her forehead. "I don't bite." He said with a smirk. "That power of yours, for some I believe in you. I believe you can master it, you can negate the deadlocks those thoughtless elders put on the Augurium."
That word leapt out in Mannerly's imagination. "Odalia-"
The airy flickering image of the man then pulled her face away and began kissing her neck, and nibbling and licking her lips. Her face was pushed up to him, the rest of her pressed up against his lips.
She looked around at the other rooms- there were identical girls, often in different clothes and hairstyles, but clearly variants of the same girl.
"What do you say? Are you going to help me?" He said. His hands began working on her clothing, unbuttoning her. "I'll give you the power you need to change the game. I know Hex. I know how it works. And you can be beyond the Hex my Promethean one." He watched, hypnotized by her beauty, her youth. "The Augurium can simulate all sets of possibilities enabled by the Hex.. an infinite source of connection. The overcoming of all contradictions.. Luz. My avatar of light.. come now. Take it all. You can get anything you want, you just have to open your mouth. You can't get the perfect answer for a question you can't answer."
"Please." She mumbled.
Mannerly found herself watching Odalia as she stared up at the man, she smiled and her eyes were wide. "Sistory Councilmen Belos."
Brightstone walked around him, running her hands through his intangible projection. "He kidnapped her. Held her here against her will, obliterated her mind and took her over. Cannot deny the ambition of the man I must say."
Belos moved over to a table and opened a small bottle of red wine. He poured some into a glass and carried it over to the girl. He leaned over, resting his head on the girls shoulder, letting his hands go loose. "You want to escape me? You just need to master that stone inside you." He held the glass to her lips and sipped it.
Odalia put her hands in back of her as she leaned over to Belos taking a staff and tapping her forehead, watching him submerge her with pleasure and pain. Her expression softened. "The Augurium, the stone.. There were 6 of them right? The so-called Avatars of the Hex, previously sentient entities that embodied every single element."
Mannerly was horrified as Belos trained her in the visions.
"They were used, so the forbidden archives of the church say, in a game. To see which of the Avatars they were meant to represent was the aim of this game." Belos held the glass to her lips again as he massaged the teenage girl, her duress fading into gentle comfortable moans.
Odalia continued to explain. "The Hex, they said, has been corrupted, has been weakened, and is at a time of flux, not only in the physical world, but in the Lattice aswell. The Avatars were meant to bring it back to purity and become sentient embodiments of the elements. But my my my.." She shook her head. "The Elders didn't vibe with that. These elementals were petrified into the form of sealed discs and tucked away from the world, never to see what horrors their power might unearth."
The two watched as Belos pulled off her shirt, the girl's body somewhat dazed and submissive in the haze of pleasure and confusion. "Atleast, until this brave stunning fellow found where they were located, and merged them with the 6 Augurium."
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Luz Nostradamus - Child of Orchid. Made by Councilmen Belos into the Augurium of Water. Belo's personal notes: Showed promise and potential, but defiance persistant. Would pray, but not to me. Complained. Stockholm syndrome. Later shellshocked from experiments and augurium conversion.
Luz Galatea - Child of Xi. Augurium of Thunder. Notes: Sarcastic, bitter and quite clever, if bold. Conditioning failed. Shows talent with Xi-related ability ("Cascade"). Needs meteorite-metal shackles, funnily not immune to shock therapy.
Luz Saint de Clair - Child of Abyss. Augurium of Void. Notes: A talented writer, artist and orator. Possessed an odd book full of Recipes; confiscated. Directed her unhappiness into journaling. After surgery on her throat became permanently obedient, but silent.
Luz Narrischkeit - Child of AU. Augurium of Fire. Notes: Quite clever, fond of jokes and riddles, knows forms of circus performance. Insisted I allow her to paint her face. Humored me, morally dubious, but not invested in religions enrichment. Flirtacious.
Luz Zulemen - Child of Bedlam. Augurium of Earth. Notes: Nothing much can be described. Child was a streetrat, sold their body to an industrial factory. When taken from there, found in a latex suit and mask. Mindless. Little too teach, experimentation never came through. Docile, but soulless and devoid of any real spiritual potential.
Luz Noceda - Child of Solar Society. Augurium of Light. Notes: Insists they were not native to this world, told an amusing story about a door they came through. Brilliant, and surprising and blessed in the most fundamental of ways. The Hex shines through my Promethean one and inscribes them with its ephemeral warmth. Will break and remove her less respectful elements and bring out her light.
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Odalia was silent for a moment, listening to the rhythmic sounds of the man as he massaged the girl's soft flesh, grinding his body against her own.
"Who is she?" Mannerly was shaking with anger. "Who were they?" Odalia looked at Mannerly with hatred.
"A girl, someone he found, or took rather from another world. Many worlds in fact. Seeds with potential, that he snuck away to become the unearthed blossoming of his prized rhapsody of the Hex."
"She's too young to handle an Augurium. She's too young for the Hex."
"Belos knew she was young. But he believed with the stone inside her, he could absorb the power it held which he could not do otherwise. He believed that she will have the capacity for knowledge and awareness beyond her years."
"How does he know this?" Mannerly was incredulous, she stepped forward and grasped the woman by the shoulders.
"Because he's done it before, in his long long life. 6 times in fact, he's tries with this girl six times. Each fusing them with another element, to make her the new avatar." She folded her arms and grinned wide, finger sliding as if scrolling up on a remote. "Let's look at the magnificent progress Belos made with this one.."  She paused to watch as Belos removed her pants, the girl winced and her face grew darker. Odalia explained. "She doesn't even need to drink from this glass anymore, as the Hex has been flooded into her blood. The whole place is a shrine of his past glory. If she can master the stone, the power of the Augurium she needs will flow through her own veins. The stone will give her strength, knowledge.. immortality." She slid back through time, each wave of her arm taking them earlier and earlier.
They were watching a child, lying on a bed. She was tied up, squirming and screaming. "Let me go you monster! I swear the cops will find me, you're going to pay!"
The next scene was the same. The same face, the same body. But the girl was a little older, her demeanor different. Less spirited. Her eyes were closed, her hair was out and hanging over her face. She was crying. "D-don't you touch me." The screaming girl said. Belos flooded her with his handheld staff, and started grappling her. "I'll never let you w-win..."
The following scene had her moan and murmur in pain while he had her stand, telling her to meditate, to concentrate on the stone in her body. The scene then faded to a young woman in her 10's, her eyes closed. As she meditated, she opened her eyes and looked at Belos, who smiled back at her. "Mom.." She took a step towards him. "Help me.." She said in a pleading voice. Belos took her hand, placing it on the girl in the scene and her eyes were closed.
"Yes, my Promethan?"
"Help me.." she repeated, a twisted smile growing on her face. "H-help me s-serve you.."
The scene then faded to the girl, now slightly older standing in front of Belos. Her eyes were glowing with power, she had no emotion as she looked into his face. She was wearing rubbery white robes and a hood, her stance was still as the night. "How may I serve you divine one?" She said with no hint of resistance.
He put his hands on her chin and tipped her upwards, meeting her eyes. "Sir?"
"My Promethean... My light." He kissed her on the lips, the look of loyalty and obedience perfectly installed on her face, need for submission having long overwritten her.
He pulled away. "My child of light... My Luz. What a fitting name. The stone is inside of you. It is you.. emissary of Light." He took her hand, placing it on the girl in the scene. He removed his hand, the girl's eyes immediately opened, her fingers slipping from his. "You can never leave. You've given yourself to me."
His image faded as he was replaced by another girl. One who shared the previous one's face but ultimately lacked her pluck and spirit, there was no talking anymore, barely a complaint. The girl's music was being peeled back, as if her will had begun to freeze. "You're a powerful host, but you'll grow old and die." He smiled back, it was a cruel smile. "It doesn't have to be that way... it isn't a fate you're doomed to. You can escape. The sages of Orchid have discovered it, from the blessing known as Hymn. If I give you my soul.. if we merge, you can be reborn. You can find power and wisdom beyond your wildest dreams."
He took her hand and placed it on the girl's. "My Promethean light.. I command you to defend yourself." With a tap of his staff, the tip turned into a blade. He ran towards her aggressive, and she instantly moved her hands, creating sigils in the light at her fingertips. Shots rapidly bulleted out, shields forming around her. A dance of spells and magic would serenade the air as they fought.
Mannerly and Odalia watched the two engage, and after a rapid exchange of violence and death, Luz was victorious.
"My light, come to me..." He said. She smiled back at him, tears coming to her eyes. She kissed him on the lips, warped and addicted beyond compare, while her hand shoved through his chest and tickled his insides with a flash of light. With his body slain, the aura around his body was beginning to transfer to her.
"Can you feel it? Embrace the power..."
She gasped.
"Do you know what you want?"
She started to shiver. "I need more.."
Belo's memories, his knowledge and power.
She hugged him, and her body grew and grew into a woman of his stature.
A new power flowed through her veins, making her body stronger, her power stronger. The stone inside of her started to change her body, transforming her flesh, her face. It grew, stretching and filling out, becoming a full head of thick white hair. Her clothing grew, church cloak and robe, similar to his. She was a perfect match.
He coughed out blood, each last breath feeling more satisfying than any in his entire life. "My Promethean... My Luz... I command you... to fly."
She stood, looking at him, a look of adoration in her eyes while his closed.
He died.
She... He... looked down at themselves.
Luz felt like she'd fused with her captor, no, her master.
She raised her hand, and her body turned to darkness, while her clothes transformed into a black shroud. The dark shroud began to form into the silhouette of her head, a helmet with a visor. Her wings began to grow out her back and flap, sending her soaring towards the surface and into the sky. She would be free, she'd complete his dreams. This world was ripe for the taking.
That was, until another figure flew, jetting behind her.
"Hiya~" Mercy said.
Luz looked at her emotionlessly.
"Not much for talking eh? That's alright, me neither."
She punched one hand into the other.
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The fight shattered the landscape, replayed in a fantastic image before Mannerly. When they charged and clashed, Mannerly watched the Prophet overcome her, and Luz's fate ending when she was crystallized.
Mannerly stood, furious. Odalia's eyes were closed and a strange expression was on her face. "Can you believe that? Apparently your so called-prophet of the Hex hunted down 6 others like her."
Mannerly looked at Odalia, and the two were staring at each other for a moment. Mannerly shook her head and said. "I have never seen the Hex in this way.." She put one hand on the crystallized Luz. "But no one ever will again." Odalia looked back at her with a pout. "And I thought you were different than those church nannies. Can I not depend on you for anything, Mannerly? Be with me on this."
Mannerly scowled. "Why did you show me this Odalia? You said there was a sacred shrine down here with Tower secrets to Kaleidomancy, not.. this."
Odalia moved towards the crystal, rubbing it as if it were a golden statue.  "I lied. When hasn't the Hex church been hypocrites and liars? Not everything on these grounds is as it seems. You have your own secrets you hide from everyone, Mannerly. But this one.. should not be kept a secret." She moved her palms to remove some of the condensation and get a good look at Luz. "I couldn't locate the other 6, but once we let this bird out of her cage, I suspect we can change that. And the gifts she offers, will be invaluable for Blightstone business. and all the good that will come of that.."
"We don't get to be gods," she answered. Mannerly looked at her, a woman in need of discipline. "This one is too dangerous to simply be left free."
"Oh bless your tongue, we can surely try." Odalia flattered herself. "Are we to be the only guardians on this place, then?" She turned to her.
"No. We're taking this to church to confront them, but before that it will be destroyed."
"Is that what you'll sentence the child to? An blinding, endless, all encompassing void? How heartless of you." Odalia laughed. "What a waste of energy, to question the very nature of existence. You're a slave to words, Mannerly, your mind is as shackled to the old and stale philosophies as the rest of your life. It'll break, I swear it, because you believe in the answer, and yet it isn't there. It is all the same. All the words.. everything is just so much smoke and mirrors. And like most things in life, the only thing of substance is the one thing you've avoided, and it is the closest to the heart. This place you want to protect, the church of yours, that school, what does it really mean? It's just another place to hide from yourself, and we've all seen that it has nothing to it." She folded her arms over her cheeks, clownish makeup and distortions printing onto her flesh. "Not a bit."
"What good do you think will come of unearthing this, devil?" Mannerly's brow furrowed, her temperament grew irate.
"We can end this petty feud uphill, the fundamental dualism, the tension between the Hex and Kaleidomancy, the fighting, this one can act as a mediating force. Imagine if I had her power, if I could raise her as my own. The potential! I'd see to it that-"
"ENOUGH. Odalia, you don't have a say in this. My own beliefs are exactly the same." She looked at her, wondering what was going through her mind. She snapped her fingers and created a single feather between them. "You've become so accustomed to your delusions and your lies that you're now blinded by them. You're still the same greedy coward you've always been. I thought you'd changed.." This was the woman she spent so many beautiful star-struck nights with, the woman she loved. The one who she'd have to hurt. She'd have to hurt her, or Odalia would expose the avatar and Belos and the Church would never recover from such a scandal.
Mannerly closed her eyes, torn between her love and and her love of the Hex. And she chose the Hex.
Odalia sighed. "Then that's what you must believe in. So weak." She placed both hands out, rainbow lightening spewing forth and branching like a pinwheel of color spiraling ahead.
"Kaleidomancy. We were so proud of it once.." She raised her hand and the rainbow bolts of lightning stopped, transforming into two pillars of fire in her hand. "But that won't stop me."
he struck with both outstretched hands, but the beams missed their mark and struck against the floor, causing the ground to shatter.
"You should feel shame, Mannerly. Even knowing how decrepit and repulsive that church is, you refuse to uproot it, you cling to that, icky Hex.."
"No, not me.." Mannerly said, the shattering ground growing rapid sticky, cement-like pillars of earth that rose up and shot at Odalia all around. "It's clinging to you." The earth was merging with Odalia, her own body rapidly turning to stone. The technique was much more basic and less effective a seal than whatever Belos had used- but even so..
She lowered her hands, breathing heavily, and in a calm voice she said, "You know, I thought you'd be different. I was wrong.."
Mannerly watched her arms and chest merged with the stony ground, the grey beginning to taint her flawless face with granite. "Fine. Be like that." She turned back to Luz. "Come, little bird.. let's be a part of this dark cold world." And with one last breath, she was completely petrified, sent into the deep darkness.
Mannerly looked at the Odalia statue attached to the earth, and the crystallized girl. She went over, kicked it a few times until it grew less sturdy, and with a fingerblast of fire and light, freed it from the wall. "Now to dispose of you.."
She bent over to look at the face of the girl within. Mannerly couldn't explain it, but she felt an undeniable affection or her, a kinship, a closeness. Had they met before? That was impossible, Council member Belos was a figure of the history books, she must've been imprisoned ages ago. This girl had suffered. And in that moment, Mannerly realized why her life was filled with such heartache and loss. Because it was something the Hex did to her, that left a part of her behind. A thought popped into her head and it stung worse than anything she could have imagined.
"Who... who is Eda?"
She shook her head and composed herself.
She would not allow herself to indulge her thoughts, no, she was a fighter. She turned to Luz, to the girl that would've been her other half in another life.
The Prophet of the Hex, she'd sealed this Luz. Seen her as dangerous enough to hide far far away on the moon. And whoever the girl had been before Belos brainwashed her, Mannerly had to remind herself that she was half-Belos now, his soul merged within her.
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The sun shone down on the ancient cathedral, only a very brief ray inbetween an endless volatile storm. Once it passed through the stormclouds, shade choked the landscape once more. Mannerly could see the cathedral from afar. Roaring on the surface, a great beast stalked the plains, the one known as the Sightless. The Santri's ancient forgotten doomsday weapon whose rampage had rendered the hemisphere uninhabitable, all around him towers and clockwork architecture floated in an endless disarray.
The Hex Church had not approached this cursed sight since the very beginning, even the Prophet forbade it's claim. Mannerly held up chains around a floating crystal, as if it were a balloon. She took them, stepping high in the sky atop a ruined castle and made her way towards the Cathedral of the Nightdawn.
She creaked her way inside. A tall muscular broad figure with curved horns and bulky arms sat drinking a bottle of sake, even sitting she was atleast 16 ft.
Only the legendary Oni who could control the world's most destructive elements could help her, the ancient guardian blessed by the Earth aspect of Hex. When it came to grey areas and the severity of the situation, she needed someone down to earth and that she trusted perfectly.
Even if that turst was one sided.
"Mother Orion." Mannerly cleared her throat. "It's me."
"Ah.. Mamsy Pamsy, how nice of your slacking ass to stop by. What's the matter, run into a foul turdstain you needed cleaned? Cuz I ain't licking your boots." The giant woman said, her metallic bumpy pitchfork brandished like a club behind her. She sat in the ruins of the ancient cathedral, a massive golden pheasant with the head of a bull sat in a fountain, from which the alcohol was everflowing. "How long has it been, ya betttch? Feels like it's been fuckin years."
"It's been a while, Bonbon."
"No formality? You must be desperate." The Oni said. "Don't beat around the mush ya maggot. Bring me what ya've got."
Mother Orion stabbed the giant pitchfork like a prong, raking in the Crystal-trapped Luz. An additional two eyes on the top right and left sides of her head opened up, and she exampled "Oh.. this one has been a long time coming." She went solemn.
The giant Oni took a drink.
Mannerly looked away, seeing out the black skies where floating debris flung slowly like an ocean wave of civilization in the sky. "I was going to take her to the church and come clean, she'd likely be eliminated.." There was a look of distress on her face. "But I couldn't do it. Something in me.. just stirred.."
"URRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPCH." The loud belch shook the cathedral. "Bullshit. YOU, gain a conscience? You wouldn't wipe your own ass if the majestic Hex didn't tell you to, or if it upset the church." She wiped the drink from her lips and gave a refreshing gasp. "Fuck that, you and your idiot church. I'm not playing along with this shit."
The Giant's eyes got bigger. "You've been on the Hex's good side, kid.."
"I have a countermeasure in case I'm found out.. but you have to help me. I want you to get rid of her."
"You got a countermeasure to what? What kind of plan is that? Why you even wasting your breath on a fuckin plan? Just throw her into a badgerwolve's asshole and stop wasting my time with this one. You're just like the Prophet, always conscience this and confusion that.."
"Mother Orion, with all do respect, please..."
"Grow a thick fuckin skull, girl. No way in hell am I helping you. Take your respect and shove it up your ass."
"If you won't.. If this is our end, if I'm going to fall, you have to destroy that girl inside for me. Councilmen Belos was, one of the most terrifying users of the Hex in Celestial Society history. The church was so frightened by his reign, they blackmarked it from the history books. A tyrant, a fiend beyond measure. And that girl, she'll never find peace after he merged with her. She can only be erased. You have to destroy her."
Bonbon's eyebrow went up. "Did you say.. Belos?" She snorted and shot snot from her nose. "I remember that brat.. even when he was a kid, I advised him to take wind.. He used to pull my hair when he rode me. Funny how fast a millennia go by.." She looked across the room, sighing. "UPRRCCH. Hand me my Baboon staff."
Mannerly picked up a long crook twice her size and tossed it to the Oni. The giant woman dipped the end of it into her sake bottle, pushing it all the way to the handle and her grip- when she started pulling it back out, it was obsidian black, covered in ebony thorns and dripping with sake.
She held it up. "Mother Orion, there's still one last way. You can take her there and send her to abyss.."
The Oni picked up the staff. "Aaaaaah, hell no. No need for fancy bullshit, I'm no baby. You're wasting your breath." She smashed the crook down and snapped the crystal with a swipe, attacking it like a switchblade. "Let's finish this."
The staff's curved tip transformed into a gigantic, almost-man sized, red diamond and her horned woman started to swell to twice her size, muscles strengthening. With each smash, with every swipe the crystal would crack further and further.
"Do you know what'll happen when you crush the crystal?"
The red diamond became bigger. Redder. Redder. Redder.
After a moment, she kissed her knuckles and gave it a deafening punch which shattered glass for miles. The cracks were everywhere except the stone in Luz's chest, where her heart would be.
"Last chance. If I hit her with my left fist, the Stars of the east, she'll be dust. If I hit her the Stars of the west.."
Mannerly's eyes widened. "What? If you hit her with that other hand, what happens?"
"If I hit her with the west, she'll be cursed with the kiss of reincarnation. She'll be sent to la-la-loopyland, and sent whereever from the trials of the Underworld."
"The Underworld. What is that?" Mannerly asked incredulous.
"That's where the damned go. I don't know what it is or anything about it. Just that she'll have a chance to find herself somewhere."
Mannerly thought of Belos and the girl. "I can't- I don't want her to- it'll ruin everything! I can't allow that!"
"And you think I give a fuck? I've seen you do plenty of crazy shit in this old assed church of yours. What do you want? Now, shut the fuck up and let me do what I do best."
"Please, no. Don't send her there, and don't destroy her."
Mannerly's eyes widened and she clenched her fists, her hand shaking in fear. "No. Don't do it. Mother Orion."
Bonbon raised her fists to smash the Crystal in Luz's chest. "Left or right Mamsy. Time to die or fly. What will it be? Let's lock it in."
"You want her alive? Or do you want her dead?"
"I'm asking you not to destroy her."
"She flies." With her left hand, Bonbon struck down.
The entire crystal erupted in a purple light, consumed by black threads and tendrils. The impact caused the entire church to shake and rattle. When the radiant violet unleashed in a paroxysm of spasms, the spectrum of light would suck into the ground and fade into nothingness.
The crystal was gone.
Mannerly stood in a crater by the wall, a large injury along her head. Bonbon regained balance. "Geez Mamsy, gotta take cover.." She picked her up and started to drag her to the back where a futon was.
"You know there's still 5 more of those ones right.." The Oni took a long swig of her bottle, carried away into the cathedral and grew obscured in the storm of ancient mania.
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"Gassssp." Amity scratched her head, she felt like she'd lived the past 7 months in a haze of cooking, cleaning and babysitting. The restored Byte had finalized her stint as a cookish nanny, her hair again the shining tone of emeralds and skin back to its fair shade. Her memories of the experience were anecdotal, a real imagined by another mindset.
She looked around the kitchen, hearing the television still left on her favorite telenova, no, the babysitter's favorite. Ameila, having taken so much time from her life had been written like a fading illustration of ink across her psyche. The feelings and impulses still bounced around like a faded echo, influencing wherever they reflected inside. She turned towards the door and with a nervous sprint, snuck over the fence and fled.
Emira walked in, seeing a spilt bowl of cookie dough. "Huh? Was someone in here?" Deep in her psyche, the memory of Ameila Goodbite was already faded to an afterthought.
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Luz.. atleast, that was the name she remembered woke up in a giant raft, surrounded by grape-scented ichor. The neverending lake was swimming with skeletons and piles of skulls, the air smelt like a burnt sewer and the sky was covered in a haze of dark murky dust. The first thing she saw was a huge, three-armed of the goddess.
She looked all around, her mind trying to take it all in at once, so many different things to see, but all she felt was pain. It was so bad, everything seemed scary and horrible. Suddenly from the lake were giant cephalopod hundreds of feet tall, stretching their bodies up to the skies, the skulls filling the sky in giant clusters and swarming into the sky, like a hundred million black gnats.
"A single speck of Light, in our dark realm.." Grahim's arms reached out for Luz, affectionally brushing against her with black fingernails. "We should return it to the surface. Wouldn't you like that, Noceda?" She began to pull her body away and glide farther into the distance, leaving Luz stranded. With a wave of her palm, a giant flaming gate appeared overhead hundreds of meters from Luz.
"If you can escape by trial... by all means, little light."
"If I escape? What will happen?" They asked.
"Another chance." Grahim told her.
Noceda felt a mix of emotions. Innocent and determination, kindness and hatred, freedom and dogmatism intermixing and interlocking. The stone still stood in her chest, when she brought out its power, wings sprouted. Luz stepped off the platform and took a leap.
A cephalopod grabbed her mid-flight. She was dragged down. Luz went screaming- but cyan-green ooze began to drip from her orifices as her eyes turned black with green pupils. She placed both hands out, and a blazing beam of white flared out from her palms. She splashed into the ick, and came out crawling on the corpse of the giant monster, skin melting to the bone, burnt and yet regenerating. She wiped off the ichor. Gigantic sea monsters too numerous to count stood in her way, wings too soggy to flutter.
She cracked her neck. "I'm learning to live with a lot of things.. anything to live, the Promethean promises." The countless tentacles went flailing towards her like a sea of crashing suckers. She swooped forward, clapped her hands together and finally, the dreary underworld night was lit.
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Luz woke up in a golden street corner, the bricks gilded and every tower, skyscraper, church and building were made of solid yellow material. Orchid. She was in some sort of central park, one with a large lake where many of the most beautiful flowers of the world were. The grass was emerald green, with patches of blue and yellow. Trees were covered in yellow flowers that twinkled like stars. The air was crisp and sweet, and the atmosphere was full of fresh life, with the faint smell of honey and lavender. A warm wind blew and it was the first time she'd experienced it. The street was surrounded by tall, glass buildings, and she felt the need to check out the view. She sat down, put her back to the wall, and sat with her head between her knees.
How long had she been in that hellish place? The infuriating climb, the eternity of getting her shit kicked in.. all gone now. Pitiful experience. Luz put it out of mind. She'd come for a new lease on life, and that's what she'd get.
In the middle of the place, one of the greatest buildings, the White Tower. Its golden surface shone bright, and a statue of a woman, dressed in white, was situated in the center. The woman had an angel's wing and her head was tipped slightly, the face looking in the direction Luz was facing. There was a large door in the center, its top being a series of tiny mirrors. She walked towards the door and pushed.
A series of figures sat behind a booth filled with pamphlets.
They were incredibly smiley, welcoming anyone that came near. "Come in, please join us! Flora bless. We represent the recruitment for the Church of the Heavenly Harlequin, our parish will soon be well underway." They handed the avatar of light a paper and she picked it up, holding it like a golden ticket to a new life.
"What's your name?" The recruiting lady asked.
"Luz. Luz Noceda."
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A figure in a silken crystal-blue dress, hood and robes stood like a wraith, her arms in a circular motion as she combed her spouse - High Priestess Noceda's hair. Two months had passed with the newly married duo traveling, spending quality time together, exploring new horizons. Vignetta, her beautiful wife whistled while she powdered and painted her hair a pale-blue uptop, and infused the tips of Luz's hair in luscious golden dye. A powerful, yet unseen storm had come through Gaia, her temper tantrums were as unsightly as ever it seemed.
Vignetta let out a gentle chuckle, "I'm just a little over the moon over how beautiful you look my love. A little over the moon."
Luz didn't say anything back, her demeanor was decidedly focused. The blurry, granular particles forming a phantom visage began to coalesce in the corner of her eye, forming a green haired woman with a bun and sleek silvery gown. "Odalia." She whispered, ignoring her wife and turning to the woman. The gem in her eye, the phantom who'd guided her so many years, as equally a mentor as she was a servant. The terror that only she could see had committed herself to servicing and indulging Luz at every precious moment up until this point and onward.
Vignetta let out a soft and sad wail. "Luz, must you be so silent? Oft I feel like there's another will or force in the room with you. Whose desires and demands controls your acumen?" Her voice was filled with a deep frustration and a tone of impatience, but as Luz remained in cold, stern silence.
"You have your trophy wife, I ask you now, what is the next step for you little brat? Are you going to return to the temple and resume your ascension? Are you planning on making a second pilgrimage?" The woman in front of her now asked. Odalia could be so demanding, but Luz had long learned not to argue with spirits. Why? Because they often were right and made the point they were making Luz better. "We are now at the age of the flower and the beginning of the child in your womb. You need to think about the children who have come after, and what you are passing down. Your legacy, won't you regret if it's soiled?"
Luz remained cold, her demeanor unbroken by an inhumane resolve. "The paucity of your moralistic concerns, Odalia." She thought, communicating with the figment in her mind through a gentle mental voice. "My reign will be delayed. There are too many people trying to fill your boots already, Odalia. I have enough advisors to tell me what I want already. Only you are shrewd enough to say otherwise." Luz muttered in response to the spirit in front of her. She seemed a little more calm and rational than the normal, and Vignetta seemed a little more patient and accommodating.
The High Priestess observed her new golden highlights over her pale snow-blue molded back hair. "People keep pushing at me for leadership and so forth. What is this I'm to do with this new world? I am too young to be a ruler. I refuse to do anything until I can see my dear little girl."
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Epilogue
In the golden wind of the sacred valley where the blessings of the heavens united with the riptide of the great terran. The exuberant crowd stood in the midst of a lavish, ornamented stadium, awash with reverence for the emerging white boots finally arriving onto the podium. Flora takes a fencing blade attached to a harp and leans it over across the woman's shoulder, the deity of Orchid placing the string into the strings at her sides and tuning it with all the precision of a master musician. Then she sets it down to her sides, still holding it by its blade, and with a flourish of the arm, throws it with all her might. A sound like a small thunder crashes through the arena and a golden bolt descends from the void, traveling from the core of the rotten Gaia and heading towards the pearly moon above. The girl is hit by it, a sound like a small thunder crashes through the arena.
She stands there, frozen in place, watching the sun rise over the moon valley. Her body is still from the force of the blast, but her eyes are wide, now an eerie electrified-silver, her body limp, and her face frozen in shock as she watches the golden bolt of the light form a halo above her head. In an instant the glow fades and she feels the blood flow into her once again. A golden light emanates around her and the crowd goes wild. Her wife, Vignetta Noceda lets out a cry of victory and joy and runs around the  arena, falling into her godmother's arms. A series of white curtains are finally closed, the ceremony complete, the singularity of choice siphoned away by a single figure, now harmonious and infused with the responsibilities of the creator's winsome order. She watches flowers thrown her way onto the platform as she ascends to lordship. The plethora of candidates go from many to a singular ascension, as everyone is awed at the sight.
"I sanction my bearer.." Flora said, embodying the blessing within 4 words.
Her moment finally at hand.
The new Domina Pontifica. All lay eyes on the Primarch of Gaia, Flora giving a ceremonial peck to scalp before stepping away and letting her bask in the moment.
"Noceda, rise.  Domina of Gaia, you stand before us, and now that the new world is made, you have a world to bring to life. Your people are here, waiting for you, your city is here, and you are here. And what you bring to life you must bring to those whom would be blessed in your world. Your people need you, your church needs you, and now, you must bring to fruition your new vision. Bring us light, my Domina." Flora tells her, the new Domina smiling in response.
"Would you like to give acknowledgements?" Flora folds her arms and asks.
"I would like to bring acknowledgement to my wife, to the woman who would give herself to me and in so doing, give herself to the whole world and the new world Gaia built together, and who is my new equal and companion in this new world, to show the world that her love is as strong as mine and in all things we stand together, even now, she is the one who made my resolve whole with her love and devotion. And I would also like to give my blessings to my beautiful daughter, the meister auteur, may her training in Chrysanthemum go splendidly. May Flora endow us with her eternal grace."
Her voice reverberates across the land as the words echo with the power and beauty of her speech.
Vignetta and many hear the trumpet, the crowd bows to the new ecclesial power.
Old memories float her mind, from another life time. Worship and authority granted to her on an isle of demons and witches, flashing in the back of her head, and passing like a mourning yawn. Memories of dark rituals, chants and blood, of grimwalkers and scheming fools, and now, her body and mind, reborn anew. The power of her former life in her hands as she steps forward and takes the power over all life and all light.
The people of Gaian theology await their new leader.
Fin