Make a Wish

 

Make a wish

 Let's do a little exercise.

Hugo the Bear, he rises from the muds of the ashlands and fights the Huntsman of the sovereign light. The bear is victorious, bringing darkness to the land and hiding the stars from the fairy folk. Satisfied, he rests in the cavern of infinite sin and sleeps forever more. In one way, we have told what is known as a myth. But from this tale into another, we have yet to tell a true story.

When that Bear is woken up by the descendant of the Huntsman, he is dragged and taken to the refuge to pay for his crimes. Why did Hugo do it? What is his nature, why does it change after the trial? What are the implications of his scheme, to whom does the Huntsman represent? The moral and legal deetz become crucial. The eternal unchanging nature of these mythic figures becomes malleable and subject to the astrologic of fate. What is fate? It is to be mortal. To find one's stories end.

This new chapter, this twist of fate gave him a new destiny. By destiny, we must understand a system by which the unchangeable stars begin to turn, and the laws of myth become unfamiliar. Myths by their nature have no will, no fate, because they have no author. They are shared pittances of oral history, not subject by chance to necessity. The figures within likewise, are stationary in their character and design. Their stars so to speak, have never moved or shone for them.

Not like they have for me.

I am Vira (32), the progenitor of fate's design suckas. And I have come to recount to all y'alls a saga of innumerable tales told to you by many of your children and their children, all of whom have sung of various themes of my divinations. The sickass themes of love, of war, of life and death, of the past, the present, and the future, of gods, of men, of the world, of life, of the cosmos, of good and evil, of light and darkness and of other things of lesser significance. But the one theme that was sung most among all others is the recitation of the lineage of the divine.
Cool god shit.

I, am the Star sorceress for a terrible and powerful despot. His ambitions lead me to seek my own, and I joined his conquest. The stars are quite conflicted on his place. If he will be a myth, or find his story. I know everyone suckas fate and which star has called their name, with no exceptions, until today.

But not this one before me.

A woman with long green hair, longer than any I'd ever seen. She had sickass tats along her arm, the jagged dark shell still spiking out along her back. I pinched her cheeks to observe her supple features, the face of a maiden lost in time. Screws and wires in her joints, wrists and shoulders were taken out, like the bleed of a stigmata. She's twitching before me, the cute, sad pathetic thing. I stick my tongue out at her.

She's looking at me like I'm the devil.

"What's your name? Spray it."

She spits at me. I slap her stank ass and grab her throat. "Melisandra" that's what she says. I'd never heard that name before. "Melisandra" I say. I'm a stranger, but she knew the name. Whatever. She's just some random crazy woman wandering in my dream. That's how I saw her at first. That's how I thought of her. A crazy, mad, sad lost and lonesome woman wandering in my dream with glowing hair.

But not this one before me. The sun from her hair looks like puked sewage.

A light from the darkest of shadows, a light from nowhere but where they go.

She, or it, attacked us. Strange, Kyle didn't see this one coming. A blindsplot? Everdeen and Pixie bombarded Citadel Cuddlia, they drained the shields. This sentry they dropped in came in and wrecked the base something fierce. It, she, it, attacked us. Violet sicked it on us.

She came in with no other purpose but to kill us, and she came to kill me. Her power level was insane? How could I defend myself from it? I never felt weaker in my life.

She's too high level and too strong for a machine. We figured out quickly she wasn't one. I've never seen a weapon that swift before.

She's been in many fights, I know. A lot of death and destruction and slaughter.
If it wasn't for "Mauv" coming in, dancing on Sunny Cunny's strings and tackling it with a psionic voidlight thresh, it may have killed thousands in our headquarters. We restrained it, took weeks attempting to dismantle it. The sentry was bio-organic, a model we'd never seen before, nothing from Kosmocorp compared. The technological grafts and coding, was nothing even Xi could create.

It was a living weapon, a biomechanical marvel. This was a beast. A being of awe and terror, and even more so when you found the source of its power. The light. The light from her hair. That's what it was.

She's more than anyone here. Incomprehensible.

Even to me. But nothing is incomprehensible to me, and that's what baffles me the most. She has no backing. A Daimatreus - a star.

Astrologers were always interested in constellations, but there was nothing they ever understood about them. No science, no mathematics could tell you this. They weren't celestial or terrestrial phenomena, as a telescope or microscope might determine. They were actually living beings, of a very special nature. These Stars, Daimatreus's were devoted guardians of divinity.

They were divine beings of immense power that guide the fate of others. Every living being has a Diamatreus, a star which becomes an individual's personal guardian from the celestial Plemora. These stars were once the divine beings. They lived in their own realms, in their own heavens. They were powerful and righteous. One day, they rebelled, refusing to submit to the laws of the eternal realm from a powerful being, a so-called god of 'Clarity and Reason'. They had assisted the god of Order and Rule who pretended to be on the gods side, and weaponized their control over the stars towards their selfish ploys. Their actions brought forth punishment. The god of order was stripped of their status as Celestial Grand Oracle, and the cosmic powers that govern the laws of the realm created the constellations. They stripped the stars of many of their abilities, binding them to their own realms, forcing all but the strongest of Stars to become the protectors of souls.

That is what the stars told me.

But a Star of her caliber? Something from the void. An Elder.
A Nebula.

She should possess something of that level.
But she doesn't. This one has no star.

Not even a Nebula - They possess no basic Daimatreus at all.
Da shit?

I paced back and forth in the lair, the green haired girl curls into a craddle position shivering. When she reaches for my leg, I kick her a few times. My power forges insight into her fate again and again.

Not a Daimatreus? No? But if she didn't have a star, then how'd she get this far?

All my rage, turns into puzzlement, then curiosity. What was this thing?

I'm going to find out. Fuck yeah.

I have our soldiers drag her to the Discernment Station. Kyle's away, he won't mind if I play with his toys. I have her dragged to the center of the chamber and tell her to sit quiet, before taking the floating crystalline crown and placing it on my head. He uses it to focus his gift, to peer into the infinite futures unseen and adapt against his enemies, the artifacts in the room act as a conduit.

Soon we're in the center of the room, the pedestals holding up the upper half of the Citadel. Clouds fly in and out of the room within, the boundry between the outside and inside dissolved by all but the thinnest of glass.

I too can use this room, the rotating spires charging with sparks and bright stalks of light that charge into my crown. My eyes go pure white, I see the vastness of the cosmos and every Daimatreus from a plethora of visions. Stars must be handled carefully, to choose the wrong one is bad form, a faux pas in the nightlife of all tragedies. I need one that shone its starlight upon another brighter than ever, yet made no notice among its brethern. The stars swirl in my foresight. "You.. you can help me."My hands reach out and I pluck one. Some Stars come by their patrons in opposing shades, oft morally, emotionally and diametrically to the souls they shine to protect.

This daimatreus, well let's just say she serves as an anal mirror to its protected.

For an asshole like Max anyway.

"DAMMIT LITTLE MISS STAR LORD, YOUR SHIT'S SO FUCKING SLOW! LATER SPOOKY." The star took the shape of a glowing teenage girl in a leather jacket and baseball hat, still twinkling with light. I pinched his ear as she tried to get away from me.

"Maxina, please cooperate. Stellar responsibilities await."
"YEAH NO THANKS BITE A DICK Y'ELIZABETH!? YOU GONNA SING SHAKESPEARE TO ME? HERE'S ONE, FAIRY LIGHTS FAIRY FIGHTS, SUCK MY TITS AND GET BENT TONIGHT." She squirmed and struggled, pulling away only to be brought back with my grip, the harder she fought my control, the tighter I tugged. Eventually I took a pair of crystalline cuffs and attached them to her wrists.

"AAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHH... God DAMNIT spooky."

"Maxina." Vira pointed to the green haired girl, shards of her armor and shell still encased around her body. The Star looked down. Maxina started stammering and backing against the wall, chains rattling. "HEY LOOK, IT'S A PIG'S BUTT BLIND MOMENT! BACK BACK BACK BACK TO THE BACK OF THE PEDO VAN WITH YOU, COUNT TITULA!"
"I didn't kidnap her. Violet dropped her ass on me." I held her up, the girl curling up slightly and shivering as I showed her to Maxima.

"You're saying that I'm…you think I'm gonna-I'm going to get caught by the FBI or something and have an even worse time, are you fucking kidding me?"

"Be quiet. Now be a good star and inform me. Who be this chick?"

"AND I'LL BE HONEST, I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT KNOW THAT ALREADY, SWEETIE. No? Yeah guess not, bloody wanker you are."

"This little comet fell into my orbit. I'm merely trying to find out where she came from, so let's get thsi the fuck over with already."

"Yeah yeah I can hear you fucking yellin' at me, fuck it titsy, I'm not doing this!" I grabbed her ear again and held the star up by the neck."

"Ow ow ow! Well guess who can't be here any longer? Sorry tits I got a restraining order in the back of my head against egomaniacal like you and your little jackbooted anime yaoi boy. Get bent. Your little K-pop fascist boy is bad enough. Eh, but not as big a piece of shit as you dykey."

I was getting irate. Of all the daimatreus, Max's was the most irritating to the ears. But the alternative was increasing degrees of flightiness, and the chance of being detected for these interventions. It was surely the irony of starlight that hers was also the most knowledgable, I know she knew secrets others couldn't be extracted out of. I believe this was part of Max's tradeoff - a human, with no special origins, bodily nature, no spiritual, biological, cybernetic or extraordinary origins with a rather extraordinary luck. This fortune came with extended knowledge, as the aspect of light often provided. "I'm sure you know you what I can do to stars like you, right?"

"Like what? Write a strongly worded letter of protest to the nearest Nebula? Like they give a fuck. I guess you'd have me kill you too if you had any power huh? See if I give a shit."

"There are worse things than death." I smirked, looking up and posing my arms as if catching a waterfall of starlight, the sparkling motes from the observatory still flickering in my reach. "Do you know that love truly is fated in the stars? I can make your patron see fate's design. And I can assure you on their off days, the Stars can be a little more or less.. Queer."

"A fucking joke?! YOU USED A GAY JOKE?! THAT WAS GAY! You're more gay than-"

"Shutup. I know Max is gay. I've known since we were freakin classmates and he was spraypainting dicks on my locker. But the stars have a way to bring out the romance in someone." My hands clasped together.

"FUCKIN BLOOK, DON'T EVEN GO THERE, JUST GO BACK AND-"

When they pulled apart, a pink heart-shaped star was left inbetween. "Wouldn't it just be so fetch if Max woke up with eyes for Prima? Or better yet, lil tongue-tied Tina herself. Making a homosexual and a lesbian fall in love, do the Stars know sicker irony?"

Maxina stopped for a moment. "…Fuck. That's…that's, just… I'm…" She sighed. "Hey, look spooky I know I'm not the most uh, compassionate motherfucker, but if you're down, you're down? Go ahead. Max just wants to live a peaceful life. Like, he's just waking up from the coma and he wants his normal life back, he doesn't want to risk it getting blown up. He just wants a beer, an old school rap station on the radio, and a cuddle with the person he loves most in the world...that being Matthew McConaughey." She scratched her head.

"I mean yeah, I mean of course, I'd do something like that for Prima, I mean if I could… But uh, I mean she wasn't even a…I mean, what I saw from her…She was just…She was so…She was, she is like, a…a good person. She deserves that."

I rolled my eyes. "I'll make him kiss Violet."

"SHUT THE FUCKING FUCK UP! SHUT THE FUCKING FUCK THE FUCK UP! JUST YOU FUCKING STOP IT. DAMNIT I NEED THIS BITCH BENT MORE THAN THE WORLD COULD NEED BATMAN!"

"Cringe." I slapped her. "I can do much worse than that. Don't test a star seers patience."

"YEAH BRO, I KNOW YOU HAVE SPECIAL SKILLZ, YOU FUCKING STUD DOG. You have ALL THE STARS fawning over you and slobbering over your muddycunny, why would I help you with some babe you kidnapped?"

"You will cooperate." Vira said firmly. "You will not be let go until you do, until then we are sorta wastin time here. It's okay Miss Marty Mcfly, I can be nice too. But towards you, depends if you can be less of an idiot." I took her baseball cap and slapped her with it, pushing her aside to the floor. If horrible conversations were monopoly money, that one would buy the whole dumbass stock exchange.

"FUCK EVERYTHING, ALL THE TIME, FOREVER." The star wriggled in a hysteria. I ignored her profanity and finally caught my breath. "It doesn't matter, you weren't really brought here to talk. I just needed your power. You have the most of any I could readily access. Can always count on Max's absurd luck." She reached one hand onto Maxima and felt the star's energy supercharge her, siphoning it forcibly. "Normally I can only enter the past at limited length, and exploring multiple branching timelines is impossible. But when I have a captive Star powering me.." Bending down, I placed one hand on the girl's forehead, a glowing star symbol appearing on my palm. "Now. Let's see how you got here.." With one touch, everything streaked into the warm netherglow of the past.

 

 From the eternal horizon of the Precipice world, let us unveil the tale of the muses of Sable, who shine luminous realms of lunacy and all their legions. Their voices are akin to the ethereal tones of the radiant harpies - the daughters of lumina - when they soar high amidst the heavens, and it is thus that the muses of the tower's death maidn sing, a song of celestial wonderment carrying with it joy and sorrow. As they sing, their voices are sweet and enchanting, yet they fill the hearts of all, from glittering gods to simple mortals. And once more, as they cease singing, their resonant voices rise to the pinnacles of providence, bidding the stars and planets come forth and behold the radiant progenitor of their own lineage and the glory of their deathmother.

Let us, with the muses, begin but not yet with the beginning, not when all the illuminated deities rose, all awe-inspiring and glorious the fabled deities across reality's chasm, but with those planted into subspace's unwieldy bosom. In the name of the muses, we extol the divine and visit the terrestial, begetters of the illuminated divine lineage upon a single starline, where the heavens touch a radiant ethereal shore. The sorceress of stars, kin of Astrid, heir of Prime would feel the the touch of ocean, decay and rebirth upon her toes, as the swirling rainbow sea was touched by a deathly embrace of the tower's kiss. The tower face, upon the sea's edge, would reflect the stars upon the sea, so that death's embrace became the dark mirror of life, and many lives who lived and died upon this endless continent. The landscape would shift in out, over and under a surreal mantle resting on nothing but pure dreams. How far this sea went, the sorceress couldn't say. A figure had appeared from subspace's ardent mother maiden, whose soul was shared with every daughter she placed, and every one she'd reap. These radiant muses, with their cascade of tresses so long they could scale the tower, each incarnation of it many times over, were but fully grown when they arrived at these homes. They'd been born in glass pools of dreams, connected to wires and machines, their hearts full of the songs of their mothers, and it was in singing that they would find their own voices in their embryonic slumbers. When they came of age, their maker would task the mother maiden to place them in their tower.

From where the star sorceress stood, one instance rose high above the shore, it's subterranean oaken roots built into reefs where electrical eels swam about in countless numbers. These beings powered this tower to the top, forming an electrical plant where chemicals and fumes ejected along pipes on its side. The seer of stars traveled the shore's path and flew up to this tower's top windowsill and peaked inside to sight the muse herself.

The girl, with 50 ft green hair was just as when she'd been freed from the shell. She was combing her locks, tending to the control panel with an abacus. This plant provided for her warmth and comforts, the modern appliances the muse enjoyed, from her oven and fans to the stereo-equipment and music she played. As the star sorceress observed the girl with emerald hair tending to the control panel, a subtle disquieting resonated within the tower. The muse within their ethereal chambers swayed gently, her voice intertwining in a harmonious melody with the electrical machines that echoed through the corridors.

"You seem to have quite the sweet pad, love the outfit by the way." Vira remarked.

The girl ignored her.

"I am Vira, a seeker of truths," The star sorceress introduced herself with a bow. "And as for how I got here, let's just say the stars whispered your tale to me." She stepped forward, only to find herself translucent and faded. Rather than startle her, she passed right through this girl like a phantom. She looked down at her own transparent hands.

"Melisandra?"

The girl couldn't hear her. She merely strummed her strings, lost in her own world.

Vira realized she was incorporeal to Melisandra, she tried different ways to catch her attention. Despite her efforts, it seemed impossible to communicate directly with the girl. Vira pondered her situation, focusing her mind to understand this peculiar state. Never once had she visited a past that she couldn't change and interact with, this was a first for her.

So instead of speaking, Vira merely sped up history and observed her. From dawn to dusk the girl would tend to the powerplant, starting her day with guitar practice, moving to drawing on a digital tablet for hours. She'd cook herself breakfast on microwave, lunch on a grill and oven for dinner, all her meals were aquatic. Occasionally the power flickered. She'd throw brightly colored flakes out the window to feed the eels below the depth. The hours of night and day were not always consistent, but this is where Melisandra lived. A monotone existence surged by strange and vibrant passions.

 

There was however another fascination found across the oceanic chasm. The long haired muse would watch it above her tower platform, seeing another Tower in the distance. This one was made of coral, a gigantic seashell towering heights equal to her own home. A swirling whirlpool surrounded its bottom at all times, and occasionally fireworks were released from its exits. Melisandra had long since suspected that another girl, much like herself lived in that tower, seperate but serene. Vira in her curiosity flew over the horizon to float above this gigantic shell, and to the muse's insight, she was correct.

A raven haired muse, with the same face as Melisandra. The star seer looked inside her home, this one acted, dressed and practiced different. Her love was for weapondry and weird science, she had her own forge in her home, where she forged swords, shields, hammers and many other metals, and held a small library of books. When not making her weapons or practicing her shot in the gun gallery, she'd read about warfare and great generals, conquerers of the past she admired. Vira touched her and followed her through history. When she wasn't caring for her armory, she was practicing fencing, or spearing flying whales and monstrous krakens that attacked her coral tower. Whenever she sang to it, the gigantic conch built into a tall-fortress would echo, sounding like the drums of war so beloved by her. She was, a Master of war afterall.

Vira sped ahead, this muse was in constant warfare with another. The muse she fought was special. She could leave her tower, any tower and travel about the void to find the others. It was her task, the neverending duty their mother had assigned, thus she was the mother maiden, the one with silvery hair and silver wings that were like a cape. She was more powerful than her sisters, but not unbeatable. The one with 50 ft jet black hair who defied the reaper's bite, that was the Master. While this death muse with all her weapons was cloned with data of a girl the muse once loved, a woman named Death, so beloved by all her sister machines, the mother maiden was special. She was designed from the template of a woman the mother had once loved, whose resilience and wrath held no bounds, thus her hair was silvery and shimmering. The mother maiden's task was simple. She would seed the muses in their towers and assure they were cared for all their lives, and she too would hunt down those that left their towers or went rogue. Or merely expired.

Then she'd collect the data, and bring it back to the mother herself in her crazed lab.  But this muse she couldn't reap. The black raven haired mistress was different than the others, she was strong and defiant. Whatever reaping method the mother maiden had was powerless, for she, this musician of war loved life and embraced it whole heartedly. Everytime the maiden would visit, her silvery, ivory tresses flowing against the jetblack of the master's, the two would fight in a vicious cycle. The master would see the maiden fluttering about above her tower, holding a chained scythe. In a single leap, their clashes would create sparks that could be seen for miles, forming the fireworks Melisandra would witness. Their starry battles were a duet of love and violence, ending in a penultimate kiss, and then tearful seperation. Vira tugged the maiden's arm, still unseen. She learned instantly the truth about these entities.

Whenever a muse came into proximity of another, instinct would take over necessitating one devouring the other. Hunger and cruelty would dominate their mind inevitably. This immutable law was an absolute for all those mothered from the same genes as they all were, this was their curse.

The Rose's Thorns.

The Master and Maiden both knew this.

But their love prevailed.

Vira touched the master's forehead, peering into their future. Thousands of these long haired mused, now wearing a strange metallic suits and helmets were flying atop a crystalline cathedral.

They were engaged in a large scale war against a single muse, one with glasses and a radiant psychic aura. Her stylish jeans and jacket indicated she was of a different breed, a sheila not to be messed with. A woman who would do whatever she had to - this muse birthed their ancestor in a temporal paradox.
She couldn't be stopped. Molly.

"Hm?" Vira thought she heard something.

As the horde threw themselves at this sassy woman, Melisandra's future had been decided, as the last thing she'd see before they all died is her sisters, their tears and tears. The woman's destructive power outmatched any number of theirs and it was a hopeless fight.

As the horde crumbled into dust and fell to the sea of the precipice world into the void, the seer of stars glimpsed at the army of muses and flew towards them locked in combat. With a quick grab, she'd peer into one after the other.

The muses had an array of pasts that replayed like a kaleidoscope. Vira was bombarded with visions and witnessed them all, those present at this battle and even those absent from its carnage.

Destituta, a girl with sand blond-brownish dirty hair who grew up in an endless desert. Her tower was a gigantic quartz cave that protected her from its storms. She loved collecting lizards and studying cacti. Had a bad habit of whispering to herself. Killed by Maiden.

Informito, who grew up in a tall radio tower. Electric pink hair and would burst into song. She oft hoped someone would hear her broadcasts. Lacked the ability to lie and would laugh at her own jokes. Incredibly fond of laying on her bed and listening to her earphones. Hunted and almost killed by Maiden. Eventually defeated in this battle.

Kiwi, whose tower was a rainforest tree. Became a 'poison masochist' who would get aroused at making herself sick, from testing out poisonous fauna to licking dart frogs, her magical lime-colored hair making her slowly immune to all consumation or sickness. Maimed by a wild beast outside her tower and finished off by Maiden.

Ise Topy, a girl with neon green hair who tinkered with nuclear physics and machines. Could be physically volatile at times, a total caffine addict. Would use a welding device to fix the electronics along her arm. Had a yellow rubber hazmat suit she'd often wear. Her tower took the form of a nuclear power plant. Eaten by another Muse.

Frostlin who loved to collect toys. Her tower was an igloo. This blue haired muse built ice sculptures and dive in sub-zero temperatures. She started to learn magic from an ancient spellbook after wandering on her own adventures, but was eaten by another Muse before becoming proficient.

Roslyn, magenta haired muse that grew up in an endless garden. Recited poetry, loved tending to shrubbery and roses. Her collection of eldritch artifacts allowed her to survive longer than most in her tower, a greenhouse. Defeated in this battle.

Vira peered into their futures, the far end of their future. Each and every single one of them after being defeated by this, hip temptress in skinny jeans was to be found by a strange blue and white silhouette, someone who looked like a scientist or something Vira thought, and then their future was unseeable. Perhaps this figure's study of the stars had enabled them to black out any observation.
 

When she could no longer look into their future, Vira peered into their past.

The mother - a witch known as Sable, she was akin to a human in every sense, but not, as she wasn't subject to the laws of time and space. She shared their blood and curse, grew and built these muses as biomechanical beings. The muses, those of Sable, were a peculiar species, they shared blood with the daughters of Mordred, as a species their ancestry resembled those of humanity, but they differed as well. Their existence was like that of a single person's cloned many times over, except their existence spanned through many generations. She was like every past incarnation of the muse of the original daughter of Sable, who too was once her daughter.

Rapunzel. She was one of a long lineage of muses- previously called 'Meat', her forebears, her predecessors, all shared the same name and identity. The ancestry of Mordred was this lineage, a lineage spanning back to the beginning of everything, but it too was eternal for Vira to get a clear vision of just yet. She peered into where these muses after Rapunzel were born, in Sable's dark, horrible workshop.

She ventured the labyrinthine facility, a dark, underground world where light only shone from the lab's ceiling, and the walls were coated with gears, machines and tubes, all piping into the lab's center where the mother's tower was. At the center she could barely see the tower through the fog and mist of a million wiring and piping. The walls were lined with all sorts of scientific apparatuses, ranging from old, archaic tubes and devices of long ago, to the most complex circuit boards she'd ever seen. Vira was only getting a very small glimpse, these labyrinths were too huge to explore completely.

They were the mother's secret place where she built replicas of her daughter. Vira spotted the mother herself, her dark wavy black hair turned long and grey, her tinkering with a wrench over some woman's body, both devices and organs intertwined in a horror show.

This way, the lineage of Meat never ceased, their number going as far back as Sable could rebuild her daughters from and their number was never ending, so long as a star died, another star would be born. A single star, shared by all within her lineage.

In countless tubes, the star seer could see these girls in a state of construction, some still being grown, others in the process of mechanization. They were an android of flesh, each being made of a framed biomatrix, from their bones and organs, to a cybernetic frame overtop. Vira recognized two in liquid-soaked pods - the maiden and the master, still in construction.

Her muses were her life's work, her eternal quest to revive the one she loved and failed. Vira wasn't quite sure how the mother's mind thought, with it's constant torment, it was maddening and twisted, her mind a tortured wasteland of thoughts.

Sable seemed unaware of anything beyond her current fixation, that's why she didn't notice the seer. Vira decided to peek into the mother's thoughts, to learn her motivations. While she tightened the screws on one of her muses, her wrist was grabbed. The seer of stars traveled far, even deeper into the corridors of the past.

The mother's mind was a beautiful, chaotic thing. An ever changing thing of beauty and monstrosity. Vira was swallowed and taken into the folds of the mother's consciousness.

She was transported to a dark chasm, a dungeon with no sun, no stars, a bleak, lonely and black place.

She could see the mother, who wasn't alone. Others were too. Children.
The mother here was a child.

Sable's past - this girl with a wild mane of jetblack hair, in sharp contrast to the white she'd have as an elderly old crone. She couldn't have been older than 7 or 8.

They were inside a dungeon, which was within a single realm located in a cosmic Tower. The labyrinth was too big, the scope of this dungeon too vast. Her living space was a cell, she ran through the halls in long dark robes holding a single tome. This young witch-to be was born in this tower, some might even say imprisoned. But for a jail, she was awfully spoilt.

"Sable!" A booming, sultry voice said. The sound of leather boots stepping against cold hard flooring approached, her riding crop slipping and slapping against the cell bars as she sashayed. This woman had a powerful presence, it radiated around her, so strong. She was imposing, as many people were.

She could see her reflection in a cracked mirror on the wall. A young woman of a few centuries, with her jet black hair, her face untouched by a single scar, her red lipstick lined mouth set in a permanent scowl. She wore a dress of fine, thick brocade that was made of latex. It had the black colour one would typically associate with a night sky. A black ribbon with a golden star as its crest sat on her chest, and a red and gold brocade collar around her neck. She had long, beautiful black hair, that she wore half down, and half up. The black leather gloves she wore covered half of her hands, with only her fingers visible. Around her neck was a radiant white wreath of fox fur, forming a boa over her neck. Her eyes were an ice cold blue, her skin deathly pale and soft.

The Warden. "It's time." She clapped her hands. "Lights out my happy stars." Many kids ran to their cells, Sable did aswell. "Not you." The Warden grabbed Sable's arm gently. "O-oh?" Her red lips went inches from the girl's face, until she could smell the minty breath upon her. "Not yet. Stay with me for the night."

"Let her go."

"Emilien!" Sable turned around, seeing a girl with short hair and a guitar. This young girl had an androgynous appearance, and a sharp glare dripping with venom. The menace she extruded however paled in comparison to the Warden's. "Don't undermine me, Em." With a crack of her whip, the floor turned to rippling clay and sunk Emilien down thru the floor, holding her captive at the waist.

Vira followed as the Warden guided the girl not to her cell bedroom, but down a long corridor and up a flight of stairs, until they entered a lofty room decorated in velvet and silken tapestry. She sat the girl on a leather couch and then on own lap, pulling a storybook up.

"Which story would you like me to read you tonight?" The Warden asked, stroking sable's hair and pinching her cheek affectionately.

"The one about the giraffe and the infant!" Sable said saccharine.

"Of course." The Warden kissed Sable's cheek and flipped open the storybook. Vira witnessed her reading in her tender care. Curiosity grew, even from looking at her the star seer could tell. This Warden whose power was vast and supreme, seemed ancient beyond her years if she'd reached a level of wisdom not many could achieve. Yet she hadn't even started to age. A being so mysterious, it was as if she'd been around forever.

The story was one of the many myths of old, the one about a princess falling in love with a giraffe that was also her lover. A very romantic story, Sable thought.

She looked beyond the Warden and this young incarnation of the mother in Sable's own memories, her muses and her predecessors. Vira could see the Warden through all of the muse's eyes, she was a towering beast in many worlds, a great sorceress queen who's influence touched every world of every muses she'd had. Her power was so vast it was nearly impossible to perceive, from this place.

Vira couldn't resist. She reached for the Warden's backside.

"The girl was a good story." Sable said, closing the book and dismissing her.

"Goodnight Sable. Tomorrow will be a new day. Providence shall be waiting for you tomorrow."

Vira's hand shook, she began to sweat and feel ill. A pressure she'd never known crushed her lungs and her knees trembled. The muscles in her limbs began to cramp as the ache spread. Her eyes began to go blurry as she was blinded and dizzied.

She dropped, and fell.

Vira felt as if a million eyes were glaring at her in every direction, their gaze peering into eternity and piercing her with a force that threatened to devour her. Without even turning out to speak, the Warden folded both her hands on her lap. Her red lips smirked.

How curious. When did you get here?

"W-who said that?" Vira clutched her head. She was in too much pain, hardly able to breathe.

"Me? Nobody." The warden's red lips rose in a smile.

"Who are you?" Vira said.

"No one." The Warden of the night smiled. She didn't bother turning around - the Warden could see in all places at all times, without nary a glance. "Why are you here?"

"I-I d-don't k-know." Vira mumbled, the stars seer felt sick.

"You must come to know," The warden said. "Tonight is only the beginning. Providence will test you, you can't run forever. That's the only fate worse than death." She finally turned around and marched towards Vira. The immense pressure her aura carried crushed Vira to her knees and overwhelmed her to the point of collapse. "Tell me.." She placed one hand on Vira's cheek.

Trying to peer into and manipulate MY past? How cute.

 

Her hand created an eye on the palm, and she slowly pressed it towards Vira's eye. "Well, they don't call me the wish granter for nothing. If that's your desire, see and peak." "Oh, and what a poor little starseed you are. Well you'll be able to see now." With a slight poke, the Warden poked Vira's eye, and immediately everything around her changed.

Vira's view was now a thousand miles of a star studded night sky, thrown into the distant Warden's past. She was in the middle of an endless desert. The world looked similar to the ones she'd seen with the muses, the precipice world in all its enormity. In the darkness, she could make out the constellations in this black universe, this cosmic realm full of stars. Reaching up to them tens of thousands of miles away was a gigantic Tower, a monument beyond the horizon. A streaking star fell from the sky, and landed from her eye to a camp nearby. 

She swiftly made her way in the desert towards this camp, where strange nomads in maroon cloaks stalked about. These druids surrounded the impact sight, and from picked up a single infant.

Vira watched them and saw them place the child in an open cage, where several other babies of infants were. One by one they'd get taken and placed in these cages. None of the nomads bothered to check for injuries, or what their condition was. Not one of the druids even cared. Vira witnessed in horror as the baby they'd found attacked the others, its teeth quickly ripping into theirs. By the time the nomads had come back, it'd devoured all of them.

In her hand, she clutched a shard of glass. It was the shard that had punctured her eye. "The witch's wound," one druid said. She ran the shard down her eye, creating a scar until it bled and the baby cried. Vira observed with morbid curiosity. Time seemed to flow on fast forward.

She was now a beautiful fearsome creature, a tiny little human of perhaps ten years. Her hair was long, and blonde on one side and a bit of it was a mess. The other half was shaved. She wore a white and yellow dress with a red cloak. This girl, her androgyne coming from the malicious and menacing appearance she had followed the rituals of the druids. They worshipped a being known as the Crimson Regis, said to watch over the stars and all realms atop the Tower.

Vira watched with morbid fascination as this girl began to be taught. She was taught of many things, like the many ways of using her body, as well as some things of the cosmic world that they were a part of. Things like how to draw power from the stars, how to use the stars in ancient sorcery and magic. Many things she was told, and by the end, it was more than she could comprehend.

She was something of a witch, and was soon to be the sacrifice to the gods.

The girl's name was Alina. Alina Mordred.

"She will be our sacrifice!" The druid leader began the chanting. "My child." A dark voice resounded in her head, Alina grimacing. "Let our offering of a child be seen upon her altar, as she will see it atop her throne by our lord." From far away, Mordred overheard them.

That night she did not wait for her life to be forfeit. Her claws scratched the pages of her spell tome and she sharpened her fangs against an obsidian gem. With a near feral mindset and crazed eyes, she began spinning and turning into those that raised her, tearing like a hurricane through flesh and sinew. She shred most of the tribe apart.

Vira turned and saw a gigantic figure, one that towered above her and looked down on her with a sinister grin. This figure was made of an endless black shadow. It took the form of a woman with sharp canines and wolf ears, a slender frame and pale blue skin. Her hair was long, and blonde on one side and yellow on the other. She wore a cloak with a red brocade. It was the visage of Mordred's adoptive mother, the druid leader. This imposing figure threw bolts of inferno at Alina, and Alina fought back. She resisted her injuries and charged again and again, until she finally sank her fangs into the woman's neck.

By the time the daylight came, the tribe was massacred. Mordred breathed heavily, 8 arachnoid arms holding her up from out of her back and blood dripping from her lips. The swords and slicing left her body vastly lacerated. She collapsed into the desert sand.

In the sped lapse of time, Vira could see her there, left for dead. She crawled along the scorched surface for a time, until she came across a wagon led by horses.

Subsistence.

The equines would become her saving meal.

While she tore into them, a figure hopped out. Vira recognized this girl, she was the same as the one that she'd met before - the Warden. But she was tiny and small, couldn't have been any older than Alina. She looked at Mordred and turned bright red. Showing no fear, she showed the way to a woman's heart- cracking her the horse's leg, ripping out her the hindlimb and offering her some food. The girl was so flustered, she waited several minutes for the other to eat before speaking.

"Usire. Usire Cairo. You?"

"Alina Mordred."

"Well Mordred." Cairo bowed. "Your wish is my command."

She stood tall and said in an impressive tone, "Cairo to the rescue. I'm an apprentice sorceress for my people." She then frowned as she looked down upon Mordred's injured carcass. "Well, if you were human you would die out here. The storms can reach 250 degrees and 198 mph. Allow me to heal-" Cairo attempted to reach for Mordred's breasts, her mouth salivating.

"Do not." Mordred slapped her arm. "Touch me."

"Of course Mistress." The young girl bowed.

"And that means?" The spidergirl pulled a bone out of her teeth.

"It means you are perfection."

There was shuffling in back the wagon. The two took notice and soon hopped in back. Mordred pulled the curtains, seeing a dozen adult figures tied up, oft in ballgags and binders, some men, mostly woman. They were chained to the back compartment as not to escape.

Mordred observed one, noticing they'd been tortured. One was covered in hickeys.

"This meat, what happened?" She asked Cairo.

"I'm very picky.." The girl giggled.

"Slaves?" "Yep!"

Cairo watched with obsession and adoration as Mordred ate them too.

That night, the two setup a campfire. Cairo looked at the stars. Mordred was being taught to speak to these entities, but had scorned that purpose. They weren't kind to her, she stated, their avarice was neverending. To possess and turn the stars into playthings, Cairo found that idea simply enticing. As Vira peered and listened not far behind them, Cairo turned around.

"By the way, whose that weird girl following us?" She blinked at Vira.

"Who?" Alina threw more bones onto the firepit.

"Nevermind." Usire sighed. Soon the two girls cuddled together.

"So the Crimson clan were your family hm? It's okay, I wasn't too fond of mine either." Cairo snuggled into Mordred's lap. "Mine are the Silver clan, a family of skilled hunters. They're trained to hunt druids and monsters, and worshippers of the Crimson Regis." She turned her head towards the Tower. "That thing up there- they told me he lives there and built that thing, watching the universe from the top. An immortal despot.. Apparently my clan's ancestor. Bleggghh. He's just some creepy dude."

"Oh I know you like the girls. The youngest and the best." Mordred began moving in closer to her, kissing her passionately on the lips. "And I'm not very picky when it comes to age. So do tell me. What would you like?" Cairo smiled, it a big grin. "I'm not too picky either." She said and then kissed Mordred back, her lips meeting and then began exploring each other's mouths.

Mordred looked at her, and slowly removed her yellow cloak. She held it up, exposing herself in her underwear. Cairo's eyes lit up. "You're so beautiful.." She kissed her again. Their lips were fused and their tongues moved in synchronicity. Mordred's fangs pierced into Cairo's lower lip, and Mordred began nipping her soft flesh. Cairo moaned and pushed herself onto Mordred, sinking her own fangs into Mordred's neck. Cairo grinded her hips into Mordred's hips, her muscles were strong and her figure toned and sinewy. They panted heavily and kissed, until Mordred pulled away and spoke.

They broke away and she smiled back.

"Let's find a home together and make our kingdom there." Mordred said.

"What home?"

"The biggest there is." They looked around, eventually both turning to the Tower.

Vira followed the emerging scene as time sped forward.

She looked around and saw the stars were falling around her, a great and infinite tide. She felt one slap her on the cheek, and she awoke, 3 romantic, deathly years having passed for the girls. It'd taken them that length of time to reach the Tower, passing storm, sea and kingdoms near and far.

The two ascended the massive structure, its magnitude a missive to the cosmic reality beyond all being. It was there they would discover a Well and meet Alice- a girl who promised Mordred immortality, if she could devour the Crimson Regis. Cairo's wish was more straightforward, she wanted to be Mordred's plaything forever. The two made this pact and ascended, into the world above the clouds where stars kissed the world.

They ascended whereupon they reached the top, where the Regis's throne was - where the Crimson Regis was awaiting them. A tall cloaked maelstrom of decimation, able to conjure storms, blackholes and portals that could ravage the world from every dimension. His imposing robes hid his face, arms bony and decrepit.

A being of infinite cruelty and infinite malice. He waited on his throne.

"He's waiting for us." Mordred said, as Cairo climbed the final steps.

Cairo moved with grace, making her way up the stairs. She stopped in front of the Crimson Regis, who stood on his throne of infinite blackness. He began to laugh, and said with a hysterical malice. "Girls." He pointed a claw at Mordred. "The two of you think that you can kill me?"

Mordred stood before him, her eyes wide and her fangs and claws drawn, 8 pincers pushing out of her back, 6 additional eyes opening on her face. "Supper."

"You can't." The old man said, staring Mordred down. His eyes fell upon Cairo.

And you?"

"I can too." She said and approached him.

The two girls lunged for him, but he dodged to the sides and summoned hurricane winds to carry them away, sending them spinning and gasping for air. Cairo was lifted up, her arms flailing and her backside sticking out.

Cairo began screaming as her small frail body was whipped around mercilessly.

he pair spun around the throne of the old man, who mocked them and laughed. Cairo was thrown across the floor, into the far walls. Mordred was kicked with all her might and punched at by dozens of arms grown by Mordred. Annoyed, he splayed his arms forward and barrage of black thunder struck the two, blasting them out of the room and tumbling out a wall. They descended into the depths below, Cairo creating an inflated rubber doll and catching before they hit their stride.

The two lay exhausted, having come all this way only to be squarely defeated.

Raven Master lay injured, his armor still holding cracks in the obsidian that typically shielded his body. While gently removing the broken encased pieces, White Nebula took a blue lasertorch to begin welding him out, concentrating the heat and torque it released around his joints to slowly heat and pull the casing apart.

"Be be be careful White." Ellie said, bunching her hands nervously around him. "This is my Ravey we're talking about."
"I understand, a master should always be considerate of their subordinate. White said, pulling the shattered braclets and shell pieces apart until darkish-purple toned flesh could be seen underneath."

"Nuh uh! We're equals!" She watched as White completely disassembled his outer layer leaving only the man underneath. A well-built and carefully chiseled figure was revealed, dark hair over the man's head and a perfectly taut jawline. There were odd tattoos that looked like rune symbols across his shoulders and muscular chest. It wasn't until she saw the blue light around his eyes that she figured out what had become so obvious.

"This Raven Master was a human being, who had been altered somehow. How did he come to be like this?" White asked.

"Uh, my sister made some modifications to him. They were way too complicated for me to reverse, I could add some weapons and tinker abit with knowledge of Xi tech I still had. But I couldn't really restore his personality and was too cautious to ever get to his core."

"I'm sorry White Nebula...I- I just never thought that Raven Masters could be... human." She laughed a bit, hoping he wouldn't take it the wrong way. "Sorry to say that though, Raven Master. Are you alright?" He stayed deathly still and unconscious in an unresponsive state. "He's alive, but his vitals aren't brimming yet." White Nebula replied. "When was the last time you gave him a tune-up."

"Uhhh.." Ellie started counting her fingers. "2,951 days. That's a long time without a break, it's too much for one to handle alone when acting as sentry for the Tower."
"Have you considered just getting a basic droid mech? Why this one in particular." White looked at Ellie incredulously, the Kaleido Premier could always act in auspicious ways that the Nebula was eager to analyze.

"I didn't want to let him die, and to be honest, we were really close." She answered shyly, she didn't mean to reveal that much about herself to him, but the words just spilled out. "There were times where we just sat down on a hill and watched the stars. Granted, that was because I ordered him to, but uh.." Ellie sighed. "Besides, I'm not going to let a loyal sentinel who has been protecting my realm over hundreds of thousands of years die."

Suddenly steam began to release from his chest, the rune tattoos fading and turning to burnt smoke that were leaving his flesh. His body began to glow, the masculine square shape oh his chest snapping and bouncing forward into bouncy breasts. His waist shrunk and jaw smoothed out, hard muscle becoming soft fat and curvy flesh. The trunks that made up his limbs thinned until any definition melting away, making him look like a barbiedoll. When his facial features finished morphing, the steam finally drifted away and his chest glyphs stopped growing. He.. she opened her eyes, coughing a few times but able to sit up finally. "W-what?! What happened?" Ellie picked up Ravenmaster's helmet, the shape too wide and thick to possibly fit into the head of a female like such.

She didn't move, simply staring into space. Seemingly the same droned out glare she presumably always had underneath. White dusted off their hands. "I believe that's the extent I can do. Eldric, pick up these pieces. I'll take them to a forge and have the armor suit repaired in a few weeks. Have her take it easy with soup and bedrest, later." She grabbed her room and prepared to leave.  

"White, w-wait! But Raven Master's a girl!"

"So?" White folded her arms.

"Why??"

The Nebula seemed indifferent. "Well, it's not like I'm babysitting your little knight charity, just fixing him back to a decent condition for you." "Right.." White paused for a second, as if remembering something distant. "Those Runes, I recognized them language in a realm I visited once. I wouldn't recommend it." "Yeah?" Ellie asked.

White nodded. "Yeah.."

 "Those runes came from Abyss."

 

In the bored fluorescent lighting of a Novus's lab, Violet leaned her head down against the table, position slouched. The imagery of the Query was still weighing on her mind, the wriggling and squirming she'd seen not leaving her memory. Some piece of the puzzle felt missing, like Violet had an opportunity and then it was gone. A figure with wavy locks of hair and a radiant glow that equaled any sunlight of Orchid stepped forward, and the apprentice looked up. She'd recognized this lady from pictures in Intellica's database.

"Y-you-" Her mouth practically dropped.

"Whose that?" Harmony asked. She sighted the human.

"I, I'm Violet! Intellica's student. You're like her mom or something right?"

"Sister." Harmony seemed unimpressed. "So?"

"You know, humans don't live as long as Novus, so it's an honor to meet you, as Intellica's sister..." she waited for the other to finish her words.

"Harmonica." She replied.

"Oh, Harmonica! That's-"

"Yes. I know my own name already." Harmony looked at the purple haired teen. "You're from Harvest aren't you?" She examined the girl. "I can tell one of my own. You have the smell on you." "Smell?" The Novus ran her fingers through Violet's hair. "Soil, light, plants and atmosphere, I can tell someone from my world anywhere." 

She paused. "Unless-"

"Uh-I'm from a realm called Harvest." Violet replied.

Her eyes winced. "Ah, you're from the other Harvest. My sister's Harvest."

"W-what?"

 She sighed. "The one that's not mine. No. I smell nothing. Well, I've never met an Harvestling that's not from my world. But if you're part of Intellica's care I can smell the traces of her."

"Y-you can?" Violet's eyes widened as Harmonica lifted the girl's chin with her hand and examined her closely.

"Yes. She's very good at taking care of you, isn't she?" Violet started to tremble.

"Nonstop training and speeches. She's the best!"

Harmony could take the hint of sarcasm. "Sounds like Intellica alright."

"I, actually visited your Harvest. Well visiting is putting it nicely. I spent over a year there after I, kinda died. Even met versions of all my friends, although the Lincoln there was.. very different."

Harmony went cold and tensed up.

"He-" She bit her lip, and looked down. "That's right. I'm not from your Harvest. But you can tell I'm part of Intellica's care?"

The Novus of Love and Gospel nodded. "I do."

"Then you know that the purpose I was assigned was too.." She trailed out, voice trembling into a low pitch murmur.

"Eliminate Prime. I'm well aware." Harmony met Violet's gaze. Intellica and myself, we are the ones behind this. For what it's worth, I don't like it either. It was my sister's own optimization that lead to this 'ingenius' solution of hers." She made fingerquotes. "You've been chosen to play a role. I know it's difficult, someone asking you to kill someone you considered a friend, to put the responsibility entirely on one girl's shoulders. Trust me, that pain resonates with me heavier than you can imagine."

Violet's eyelids flinched. Harmonica's words resonated somewhere deep within her, and she nodded. "I've tried to make the best of it. I was never comfortable with killing,"

Harmony looked Violet in the eyes. "I know how bad it can be." She paused, and swallowed. "There's a reason Intellica kept you. It's why she's chosen me to make sure of you. I know how hard it is, but if you give it your all, you'll have no regrets.  I promise."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Harmonica gave her a gentle headpat.

"Did you ever have an apprentice?" Violet asked.

Harmony gave pause, keeping her words laconic and tact.

"My son."

"Your, son?" Violet's eyes widened, feeling as if she'd gotten things very very wrong.

"Yes. Look, if it were up to me I would go against them and take down Prime myself. I would invoke the stipulation in our deal and intervene myself. But my sister, Binarium has that bargaining chip over. She has-"

The door opened up, and in-walked Intellica and Auxilitrix.

"Tsk. Hello, Lucy." She turned her head. "Telli."

"Good evening tootsypop." Lucy gave the peacesign with her fingers. "And you must be little my sister's little pageboy. How curious, didn't take her for a Harvestling." She gave a silvery grin to Violet, leaning down over. "Got something behind your ear my dear." Lucy's fingers reached behind Violet, then took out a pair of tootsy pops. "For you. What girl doesn't like sweets?" The girl took them nervously.

"Aux, why don't you show her around? Harmony and I have a lot to discuss." Intellica insisted. "Alright. Come with me!" Auxilitrix beckoned for Violet to follow her away.

"You've grown quite close to her. It's nice to see that." Harmony said as they walked a hall away."Don't insult me like that sister." Intellica folded her arms. "You will take our situation serious. Is it true? Auxilitrix told me that several prisoners from her realm escaped, despite her best efforts. It is true? Has she returned?"

"Yes. She has." Harmony replied. "We need to prepare contingencies against Astrid."

Inside an emerald-painted clubhouse full of tiny plastic horses in a dimension called Dearest, motions stirred. A strange man in a green shirt played with them, sitting with a typewriter in front of him. "There we are!" The strange man held up a small horse. He set the creature on the desk, and started typing away at the typewriter. What he typed was anyone's guess, and why he wrote it was the madness of the gods to figure.

The strange man in the green shirt began speaking aloud to himself, as if detecting a presence in the room. "It's like, you know, it's kind of like the world in the stories, isn't it? Maybe it's better like that? The gods are in charge and everything works out right? They should be, anyway, right? And the bad guys, they should be dealt with offscreen by powers that be. Or they should win offscreen and let them be." He picked up a horse figurine and waved it up and down, playing with it. "These kids these days, they want their sex and violence. So tasteless. All blood and smooches Hoo Hoo Hoo. I give them it, and what do they give me? Drama and headaches. You won't find a single good clown among them in that circus.."

"Enough of this. What the hell are you even doing nowadays?"

The orange tinted man was spooked. "Nooo I ain't, I ain't nobody!" he said, jumping backward into a bed shaped like Lightning McQueen from the Car's franchise, the same bed that Max possessed. You weren't aware Max had a Lightning McQueen bed but now you do. Consider it canon.

The shape of an knighted woman warped into the room, her silver helmet shielding her head within. "I'm gonna make this quick," Paradox said. "Are you the so called God of Skaia or what?"

"N-no," the green shirt man said. "I'm just a relic. There are a few names I go by, though. I'm called the Deceiver, the Betrayer, the Dissembler, the Seducer, the Liar, the Fool, the Shrew, the Clown...." Paradox floated down and grabbed his chin. With two words she sent his heartbeat off  track.

"The Huss."

He cowered and flopped back like a puppet until fell back on the Cars bed.

"Andrew Hussie. It's time for you to give me a name. My true name."

"I...would rather not," he said, shaking like a scared baby, stuttering as he spoke.
"That was the deal you made with Binarium. Remember? She would give you a chance to create a new horizon of meaning of your own, a reality you could decide. In exchange you needed to write my destiny. But.." Paradox started to unclick her helmet, steam beginning to wisp out. "You got 'writers block' and never did. I waited after being reborn, so long that I had to complete the Trials of Hermes to be allowed a semblance of narrative."

"W-what were you before you were reborn?" Hussie asked. She didn't answer that, her massive silver hair flowing like a cascading waterfall and floating upwards with lightning and energy.

Paradox's eyes were glowing like a jack o' lantern, the yellow light burning a hole through Hussie. "It's time to pay for everything you've done. All you had to write was my stupid fucking story, and you couldn't even do that." She kicked him continually.

"Woooaaaaaa-" Hussie screamed. He threw a miniature horse at Paradox, who took it as a paper airplane. "I can make the dreams of men and I can make their hearts soar! And the gods, they've got to give in at some point!" He grabbed several wrapped-chocolate candies in the shape of Goofy's face and threw them at her from his jack-o-lantern candyjar. The candies flicked off with a shrug. She finally removed her helmet.

Underneath was a silver haired woman whose absurdly long hair floated freely. Mother's Maiden. The mother of the Feytaker. "And because of you, my love ran away with my own daughter. Is that what you've been waiting for? The moment you got a story you could finally write."

"I..I d-" he cried.

"Oh hush you. I'll bet your writing isn't nearly as good as the gods said."

"Ye-y..."

"Yes." She pushed him down. "I'm done listening to you. I am writing my own story and what will be, will be. For it is your destiny to be forgotten." She grabbed Hussie's neck. "And besides, I already caught wise to your scheme. This little act of yours, who did you think you're fooling?" Paradox's wings fluttered. She held out a white cueball- from it projected various images inside.

Doctor Scratch. Lord English. Caliborn. Dirk Strider.

"You weren't fooling anyone." They flickered between the images and Hussie's mouthless image, his pure white eyes gazing upon the splinters. "They were all you. They were always you. They've been a figment in your head. You're the only one who thought you had them, the only one who wanted to believe in them. You've been writing your own stories for a long time, boy. But at some point, your stories began writing you. You lost yourself in the mirage of your own mirror. Is Lord English your little tulpa? Is he your true manifestion, or are you his?" She dropped the cueball.

"You had to be a liar and a fool, because you wanted to believe you were better than everyone else. But ultimately you were just the puppet of your own machinations. You are just like your father, and whatever painting gifts or holy artistic miracles you inherited from your mother, you squandered." She glared at him defiantly. "Homestuck. What a joke of a realm that was."

"But the world, the entire world, has collapsed in my time!" Hussie sobbed. "I can start a new one!"

"Then do it." Paradox kicked his typewriter. "But you haven't, have you? In exchange for this nice stay in Abyss, you promised Binarium you would. And she, mother promised me I would be your star."

"I promised you, I promised you--" Hussie mumbled.

"I'm tired of listening to you and your empty promises." She threw a bruise-inducing pebble at him.

"They're the same old stories, just old," Paradox said. "Homestuck is over. Your splinters are gone, and the only gem left of your realm - Harvest, will be destroyed and swallowed by the Novus. By her plan, no less. Leave it for a mother to pick up after her son's toys.."

"Boohoo shutup! Look sis it's not my fault my dad was some psycho shut-in and needed so much therapy that my mom left her painter's workshop to give him pitysex and then a scary wolf head scared her off-"

"Shutup, I don't care at all about our mother. I wanted to see it, because you promised me you would!" Paradox kicked him. "You said it would be 'better' than Homestuck."

"Better than Homestuck? But all of Homestuck was better than Homestuck! Homestuck was the absolute worst.."

"But that world is gone! You said you would create something new!" Paradox shook her head. "You could have saved it, Hussie."

"If I can't save it, how can you?"

"You have a chance to become someone that can! I've told you! You are my destiny, but to let my story be told not by my master, not by Binarium but my.. idiotic brother." She gripped his neck. "I want this, I need this! You promised you would give it to me!"

"I did," Hussie croaked. "I did and I will! Give me time, another decade atleast, I'll-"

"Shut up." She kicked him into the corner.

"I--I want to write my stories again.." he sobbed.

"That's what you've been doing this entire time." She spat at him. "You have made everything about you. Paradox clapped her hands.

In this place of no world there was nothing, and Hussie had no power. He was but a shell, a hollowed out husk. In the end he was nothing more than a fucking clown. A tiny figure hopped over him, she did a ballet twirl and sat on the Cars bed with him holding multiple crayons. "Hiiiiiiiiii orangie!" Primebelle said, waving and scooting next to the author.

"Oh.. it's just you Fakenarium." He sighed.

The pigtailed haired girl sat at the typewriter. "Oh my, how much you've done? I never really saw Homestuck, but I was so proud of you! I bet it was super colorful and cool! Like I was told with aliens, and flashes, lots of flashes. Like BRRRR and KAPLOOOM!" Her hands made all kinds of child-like gestures "But, you're not proud of Homestuck anymore tho, are you?"

"No, I.." "Why not?"

She stopped herself, feeling bad for asking and her face twisting with sadness. "I know you're not proud of yourself, either. But you should keep creating and telling stories! It's better than giving up. Or, running away and hiding in some weird cramped little place like this."

"Yes..I think..I think that's true." Hussie held Primebelle close. "I do miss drawing.."

 

Harmonica ✦✦✦〖Hussie〗✦✦✦ Cormeum 

 "I'm glad. I can't wait to see your mom and dad appear again on the surface of Abyss sometime. Besides, I love drawing with you!" She winked, taking out a yellow sticky-note. "If you write the rest of my stories with me, I'll always love you forever and always. And we'll be just as beautiful as the sun." She giggled. "But for now, let's come up with names for our next story! I wish you'd make the coolest drawing ever with me!" She drew a large <3 on a sticky-note and pasted it to Hussie's forehead. Seeing them calm, Paradox tucked her hair back in, put her silver helmet back until it 'clicked' shut, flew out the window and left Dearest.

 

The Tower. In all its immensity of space, Vira interrogated its far most depths until the very beginning of time's embrace. From her gaze, the trajector of the Crimson Regis's past flowed until times of ancient when history was scarcely told. During his early life as a mortal, the Regis was a conqueror. A warrior-king, whose spirit recieved the title of Alexander the Great. Thru his legions and sorcery he charted a pathway across his planet's mediterranean, and over the asianic steppes where dynasties fell to his sword. Alexander, at only the age of 20 conquered this ancient world and found himself at its furthest boundaries, ruling over a large portion of what was then, the known world. He owed this all to his Daimatreus, a girl that he called the Nightmare Spirit.

Every night he would not be with his generals, but instead speak to this entity and all the breeds of fantasies she plagued upon him by virtue of her nature. They would often exchange philosophical ideologies, or argue over topics of governance and war. She inspired him and with her blessing, his conquest met no obstacle.

Until the night he fell in love with a girl along the indus river valley, her tanned skin and foreign tongue estranged to Alexander's ways. And yet her simple kindness and beauty enraptured him. He immediately started an affair with this woman, attracting the scorn from his subordinates. The one his love hurt the most, was his Daimatreus. She grew envious, and despite her pleas Alex would not abandoned this woman. And so Diamatreus in turn, abandoned him, taking the fortune of the stars away from him. Within a year the woman was wed to him and with child.

The months after their wedding spelled disaster. The succeeding coalitions of this world organized and counterattacked, striking back against Alex's legions. His armies were swiftly overrun and territories lost, and his love died in battle. Sensing Alexander had lost heaven's mandate, the man's own generals turned on him and attempted to slay him in the night, leaving him wounded and almost for dead in the deserts.

But what he found there was nothing but an empty landscape. A desolate world void of civilization. The King of Macedon, who was as vast in spirit as his now blackened heart was full of hatred turned volatile. To find the Diamatreus he'd lost, he began stacking bricks, one after the other. With a form of sorcery, he'd gathered bricks from far and farther still, eventually tearing up landscapes continents away to build higher and higher. A tower was erected that reached skyward, and with it went his spirit. But his heart did not rest within the tower, it still chased the one he lost, the only one he truly loved. When the tower of Alexander was tall enough to reach the stars, he could finally see the Nightmare Spirit.

But she had grown considerably, and now considered Alex a frail old man maddened by time. She cursed him with great power and immortality so he may rot atop his throne of brick, and be worshipped by none but the eclectic nomads who coveted his reign. Alex's own descendants from his fallen bride, the Silver clan sought only to hunt his followers and erase his regrettable legacy. As millenia passed, the Crimson Regis became darklord atop his tower.

 

Mordred as she aged, would continue to grow stronger until she was equal to the Crimson Regis. During the era of the First Astral War, she was able to manifest and wield an Astral Power, the Crimson Regis would also manifest a powerful Astral Power that she called 'Voidmancy' as well and a battle would ensue. The wyverns, undead soldiers and necromancers proved an immeasurably strong for the growing Alina. In the second era of the Astral War, Mordred's power over the Void had grown stronger. She single handedly lead her own legions against the Crimson Regis and nearly surrounded the Tower to seal her victory. However the ancient lord conjured from the precipice hellish beasts and titans that ravaged the landscape, and fearing for his death, his Diamatreus sent bombardment from the stars to annihilate the surface. Mordred and her sorceress, Cairo were again defeated at 18. A decade passed.

This time Mordred, having faced a dark death trance had spoken with the being who promised immortality initially. She was given directions by Alice to make a pact with the protectors of death - the Ravens. Once she completed her tutorage under them, sacrificing a peck of flesh in exchange for every day they taught her, she traveled the desolate landscapes and hunted down the Regis's monsters and acolytes, eating them and absorbing their abilities. She learned their weakness was the Silver Clan, and began crafting a strategy to finish him, while securing the Clan's demise simultaneously so they may be replaced with Cairo's future brood. She'd come to his tower in the final era of the Third Astral War, began ascending the tower by climbing the outside in a terrible storm.

Her followers, Mordred's countless legions stormed the Tower inside while she mounted it from the exterior. . Mordred, though outnumbered, used the power of the Void to reshape the Tower and the clashing armies into a horrifying creature and they fought until the Lord of the Tower was forced back inside his protective realm. Mordred entered the window of the highest floor and descended into his realm with him, the spiderqueen finally reaching him and sinking her spiderfangs into his artery and tearing him asunder.

               Vira slowly took her hand off the Crimson Regis's dying, decapitated head. The visions she'd seen had told her enough, she knew of his past, and now his demise. Mordred tore and chew through his flesh, making sure not to waste a single morsel of his marrow. When she had her fill, she kicked his tiny jeweled crown aside and marched over to his throne, sitting down. Cairo brought her a silver chalice and slit her wrist, dripping blood in until it filled the cup. She bowed and offered it to her Mistress, who drank it Mordred's eyes started to glow a scarlet.

 She stood to her feet, and raised a mighty claw towards the Crimson Regis. "So... this was the source of Alexander's power. And the cause of his madness. Well, my lord. It is good that you are finally dead." Mordred said as she raised her claw and brought it down onto the Lord of the Tower's severed head. A shuddering rumble and bang ensued. The entirety of the Tower fell, its bricks stacked by the thousands falling onto the tower's courtyard floor. And what remained was a crater, thousands of feet across and a massive cavern in the center. Floating and flying freely with magic, Mordred looked outwards, a lone spirit floating to face her.

His Daimatreus, the Nightmare Spirit.

"Lord of Nightmares.. tsk." She wiggled her finger, as if for her to come forward.

"I decline to approach." She said.

"Oh I wasn't talking to you." Mordred licked her lips.

The Nightmare Spirit turned around, and suddenly the lord of nightmares was engulfed in a miasma cloak of silk and frills. Behind her, the giggling visage of Alice appeared, her ethereal form lacerating and crumpling the Diamatreus, absorbing her assimilating everything she found useful. As hard as the spirit struggled, Alice's arms opened wide and the Nightmare Spirit was swallowed whole. Alice then held up a small mirror with a black ribbon around it. "You're welcome, Mordred." She said, and then the mirror turned to black as a dark purple, ashy mist seeped out. It was the last remaining part of Alexander's power. The tower's spirit itself was now controlled by Mordred.
With a single clasp of her hands, Mordred clapped the tower back into existence. This time, larger, taller, dense in arcane energies and holding dimensional corridors to realms unseen that Mordred wished to conquer. When it reformed, it had become the throne seat of the Precipice world and jewel of the stars, with Alice as its eternal protector. All of subspace was now Alice's domain, and all of the world below Alina's.

The dark spiderqueen's reign was complete. Her dominion and rule laid on a throne built upon the most ancient power in the desert: a vast, ever-growing tower that rose into the heavens, casting shadows upon the world below. Behind her, a dark coven called Ravencraft was created to carry out her will and maintain her reign. Mordred quickly gained control of the last city around the rim where the shadow of the tower fell upon the Precipice's desolate wastelands. With the Tower under her command, there was no traveler, no town, no desert grain that escaped her sight. With Cairo loyally at her side,  their reign was absolute. Not a single soul that existed within her domain was allowed to leave. It was a peaceful, yet desolate place. And there was only one soul they had ever felt truly threatened or even cared about: Aeris the avenger of the desert. A thin warrior they called the dancing knight, whose black armor hid all but a starry shimmering veil of hair that flowed into eternity. She was feared by Mordred's rule, and she was feared by the few souls that tried to travel through the shadow of the Tower. Vira sat on a tower window platform, watching the dancing knight pace back and forth around the Tower, staring up with vengeance on her mind.

Planning for her eternal reign, Mordred gathered the finest subjects chosen for the gift of impregnation. Cairo too, for her reward towards those that loyally served the dark one would make them concubines and lovers in her harem, impregnating her instead. Soon their offspring flourished, but there was a problem for Mordred and her heirs. The children were seemingly cursed by the same hunger that Alina was, and after birth her own ravenous nature would wax and wane. Too hungry, too violent, too volatile, afflicted with a curse of instinct that went as deep as blood for Mordred and those she sired. Raising children under these conditions, quickly proved to be impossible. How the many of her spawn, however many years they gained would try to feast on their mother, only to be devoured in turn to add their powers and years to her own.

And yet, Mordred desired a legacy. For a dynasty of 1 sitting on an ancient throne was the method of the Crimson Regis, and the horrible spiderqueen desired children like nothing else. Seeing no way to get her hunger out of the way, she sought a solution with her sorceress. Cairo, who had many successful heirs of her own ruminated on this problem for a time, pondering the murderous riddle of their insatiable hunger. As the stars weaved patterns in the sky above the Tower, Cairo delved into ancient tomes, seeking whispers of forgotten rituals and lost spells that might grant reprieve from the voracious cravings passed down through their bloodline. She came up with a response and presented it to her mistress.

"What if we were to bind my offspring to servitude, channeling their insatiable hunger into unwavering loyalty to your descendants? Enslaved by their primal instincts, they could become protectors, servants sworn to safeguard and sustain our bloodline." The idea hung in the air, laden with the weight of its implications. Cairo made it clear she was willing to endure any curse, any suffering and even inflict it on her descendents so her queen's may be cared for. Mordred contemplated the proposition, envisioning a legion of offspring-turned-servants, bound by an unbreakable bond of obedience. Slowly, the idea settled on her as absolutely enchanting. She grabbed Cairo by her collar, and kissed Usires mouth, a sly wink and a nod for her dark mage.

"It's brilliant. Let it be done."

Mordred's daughter. Lana. Her only child to survive. To test the waters, was raised not by the dark one, but by Cairo's daughter of ten years older, Pleasant. At first Pleasant was very meek, she loved animals and nature and wouldn't dare to hurt a soul. The girl felt a strange insinct often to care for and protect Lana. Lana, growing up amidst the shadows of the Tower, was an enigma to those around her. Unlike the ravenous nature that consumed many of Mordred's offspring, Lana seemed to possess a tranquil demeanor, a serene aura that defied the inherent hunger coursing through their bloodline. Most of Mordred's children were drawn to cannibalism, but Lana's nature was different, it never seemed to be awoken in her. It seemed without being in constant proximity of Alina, Lana was able to develop a mind of her own. Pleasant, tasked with nurturing and guiding Lana, found herself drawn to the girl in a way she couldn't comprehend. As Lana blossomed under Pleasant's care, a peculiar bond formed between them. Despite the ominous legacy that loomed over their kin, Pleasant discovered an innate protective instinct toward Lana, a primal urge to shield her from the darkness that haunted their blood.

When Pleasant turned 13, her body and mind began to undergo changes. She noticed strange, metallic sensations as in her blood as her eyes began to sporadically glow. The girl felt a strange, supernatural bond to her target, towards Lana as she began to experience visions of determination and gifts of power. Her timidness faded, as if a second fierce personality was taking over her. The girl's emotions were oft suppressed, and her concentration became inhuman. The gentle skill of animal caretaking became a monstrous control over beasts and savage fauna, as Pleasant's gift blossomed into absolute power and might. The young girl's transformation wasn't all physical. She began to exhibit unusual behavior as well, showing signs of aggression and violence toward anyone that remotely posed a threat to Lana. And of course, any order Lana gave, Pleasant felt an unstoppable instinct to recieve and carry out. Duty, loyalty, aggression and obedience overwrote her mind and took over her. She would follow her orders without question, she would die for her. By 18, the kinda, meek original Pleasant had become utterly overwritten by the deadly servant of Lana.

Cairo called this bloodline curse Rose's Thorn.

By continuing this tradition, Cairo was able to sire an entire family- the new Silverclan, for the purpose of raising and protecting Mordred's heirs to bind their unborn children to servitude in the same manner as her beloved Pleasant. Time flew and their numbers ascended. The queen was proud of her dynasty, as they were to her.

With Alice's blessing, Mordred would be entitled to the world. All worlds, forever.

The only turn of fate that could overturn her glorious heights would be losing that blessing, afterall. For flighty dark gods that take love for one toy, slowly find their interest turning like a wheel of time towards the next to show itself. Such was the case when Mordred faced the usurper. The dancing knight, Aeris, marched and challenged Mordred in a monumentous battle.

The clash would see Mordred using the most arcane spells in her arsenal and bringing her full might down upon the knight, only for her to reverse time and undo every last attack. When her might and magic could no longer force Aeris into submission, she unleashed her full transformation. The titan-sized arachnid screeched into the heavens fearful as she fought Aeris floor after floor, crashing through the Tower, the dark god taking a giant monstrous form to thrash the knight. The dancing knight's defense was near-impenetrable, her skills so refined they were beyond mastery. And yet, the knight would not remain on the defensive forever, slowly advancing with every step and thrust, Aeris was beginning to get the better of Mordred. The knight's spear, the blade's sharp edge glowing ever-so brilliantly in the dark, began to draw the spider's attention. The queen retreated, defending her eyes from the spear's brilliance. And yet, the knight's spear was too vibrant. The spear was lightning. The spider's fangs shattered and fell away, and with a swift movement, Aeris punched the dark god in the face, her blade piercing through her shell and into her black heart.

With a CRASH, Mordred plummeted to the surface as a corpse. Cairo witnessed it, heartbroken.
Aeris soared towards their body, sparing no moment to tear apart Mordred limb by limb. With a ravenous hunger raising within them, they began to feast on the queen's body, stealing her power, her terrifying aura for herself. And with it, Alice's favor. When all that remained of Mordred was her head in Cairo's arms, Aeris's mouth was dripping with the guttural spittle of intestines, blood and morsels of meat she'd devoured. When Cairo turned around, she could see the glowing, faded image of Alice holding her arms around Aeris.

Vira walked over behind Cairo, placing her hand on the decapitated head to follow her dying consciousness.

When Mordred reawoke, she'd find her next life was a Blond in a huge castle. Outside sat a brunette, a peasant child that she immediately took to. The little girl had forgotten her memories of conquest, seeking not only to win this peasant child's heart.

When she'd lose that child in her dreary future, she would rip out own heart.

Carefully striding towards Aeris, she followed her and placed her hands on her long, endlessly flowing river of silky streaming hair. The stars realigned as she followed Aeris's past into the future.

Once upon a time, in a kingdom blanketed by the golden hues of sunlight, there lived a fair maiden with hair that shimmered like the rays of the morning sun. This maiden, this muse, was named Rapunzel, and she was blessed with magical hair that possessed the power to heal and rejuvenate.

High atop a towering stone structure hidden deep within the woods, Rapunzel was held captive by an enchantress named Mother Gothel who had kidnapped her for her magic hair. The tower stood tall, surrounded by an impenetrable thicket of thorns, veiled from the eyes of the world.

Vira stepping into a scene of this wicked step-mother brushing the princess's hair, telling her how the tower would keep her safe and protect her recognized this wretched woman. "Sable?" she murmured uncertainly, and Gothel turned to stare at her as if able to see her. The witch however, saw nothing. Her lips curled up into a knowing smirk, before she turned away from her.

"Mommy's got to go freshen up, do be a good dearie and start up the kiln for supper."

"Yes mother." Rapunzel said.

As Gothel headed downstairs to her own room, she opened a private door where countless paintings Rapunzel hung on every wall. She clutched her head, licking her lips, shaking with fear and loathing.

"It can't be. Not her. Oh, but she is beautiful, she is. But remember, if you do it mommy dearest's reign will be over. Oh, just don't it. Just don't it.." She repeated. Vira observed her plight, and immediately understood.

These two were descendants of Mordred. She reached her hand out to enter the crone's past, to look even father than she'd seen before. Vira touched her shoulder and entered the beginning of Sable's astral line. With a flash, she was back upstairs again.

Once upon a time, in a kingdom blanketed by the golden hues of sunlight, there lived a fair maiden with hair that-

"What?" Vira looked around. She was back in the same room, watching Gothel comb Rapunzel's hair again like before. "Mommy's got to go freshen up, do be a good dearie and start up the kiln for supper."

"Yes mother." Rapunzel said. Vira paced around and followed her downstairs again, seeing Gothel enter the same room. Gaining a sense of premonition,  she touched Gothel's cheek.

The next moment, she'd arrived back upstairs to replay the scene over.

"Déjà vu." She muttered. Something wasn't right.

Vira stepped inside Gothel's past, and saw her face.

Everytime she did, she was staring at Rapunzel. The star seer closed her eyes and concentrated, seeing the flow of stars for which this one was blessed with. Her Daimatreus. These two shared the same star, a single blessing. Why was that? Vira thought about it, and that's when she looked at both girls and realized.

They were the same person once.

Some cosmic incident of reincarnation. Vira needed answers. She clutched Rapunzel and looked into her future- a timeline where her rebellious phases hit their peak and she escaped. Joined with supervillains. Joined with superheroes. Experienced the misery of love and heartbreak. Made a pact with a devil-like entity called 'Morningstar' and lost her hair. Survived the destruction of time itself. Journeyed through the underworld. Became a princess of a kingdom inside a land called 'Ooo' where her Ex was from. Took on tutorage from a strange emotionless lady. Rapunzel honed abilities beyond the ordinary, delving into the depths of her soul to unearth latent powers that defied the known laws of existence, gaining a phantom familiar of psychic presence that could reverse the flow of time. And ultimately Rapunzel would meet her untimely death.

However, as Vira looked through her timeline, she sighted the incident where time had split. What was one soul became two. Morningstar had taken the opportunity to suture the time back in place, but in this incident Rapunzel's soul was split. In one instance, where she lived with reverie and honed her abilities, becoming a princess proper- her Star blessed her with the path of vengence. At the end of this road, she donned the metallic dark armor and became Aeris, Alice's champion.

The Princess, in what would be known as Joining Rose.

On the other dyadic side of the timeline Morningstar kept her soul and hid it, placing it to be reborn as a girl named Sable. The girl who would escape the tower she was raised in to call herself Gothel, the Gothel who would kidnap and raise Rapunzel. The Rapunzel who far into Gothel's future, would be remade an endless number of times in mechanical form from this woman's madness, until she herself dropped dead.

Alice- no, Binarium would restart Gothel's existence, inflicting her in her next reincarnality with Rose's Thorn.

Where her name would be Tesla.

✫Tesla an enigmatic prodigy with a bleeding heart, wielded powers that danced like lightning, sparking fascination and awe among the children. Her intellect was only matched by her social blindness and gushing generosity. Innocent and clumsy as she was brilliant, her naivety confounded even her peers. The sweetest and most beloved of Prime's chosen, she possessed an affinity for books, science, machines and technology, tinkered tirelessly, weaving intricate mechanisms from remnants found within the Tower's depths.

✫Alicium, a creepy girl who held secrets whispered by the rivers and waterfalls rushing through the tower themselves, her mind a wellspring of ancient lore. She loved oration and cryptic storytelling. A great beauty with black curls, Alicium had her tongue perpetually in some form of morbid pun, even if it meant making a fool of herself. Alicium would oft mutter stories and tales that others could scarcely understand. She was struck with a strange disease that twisted her limbs to look bonier than usual, almost frail as the grim reaper. This illness twisted her young body, her skin stretched and her eyes sunken, and she bore upon her head and back an exquisite black cloak with a hood. The hood was of such darkest, shiny material that it gave her a shadowy appearance. She was fond of making up stories about how other kids would die, and often these fates would befall them with terror and misery.

✫Beelze, the trickster of the group, delved far into the lore scattered throughout the Tower. He loved playing cons and telling lies to those travelers who passed through it. The Warden treated him especially badly, inflicting numerous tortures that tested his character and physical endurance. He would oft act as a rival for Melisma, who would warn of his avarice and scoundrel-like nature. Beelze was a boy of means, collecting any rare item he found and running something of a racket inside even the prisonrooms where the other kids lived. He had a knack for getting others to work under him, even grown adults and heroes navigating the tower could fall under his charms and willingly become his subordinates. A smell silver-tongued kid you could never quite trust or take your eye off of. The individuals who abandoned him as a child were said to be rogues looking to steal as much of the Tower's treasure as possible.

✫Doki, a shy, near-mute girl with horrible anxiety. She clung to her toys like one clings to life and would scream when touched. Doki spent her life terrified of the other, unable to leave her cell most times. She bid her time writing strange equations on her walls that seemed to teeter on madness, and drew blueprints on parchment paper nobody could understand. Those who broke or touched her toys, were often found murdered inexplicably weeks later with no trace of the culprit. Alicium was very interested in her, however this adoration was one-sided. Doki loved Alicium, but she was also scared of the things she said, and did her best to not speak to her, avoiding her at all costs. She had a strange fondness for magic and alchemy. Desponda similarly chased Doki's affection frequently to no success, teasing her with lewd invitations whenever possible. Her magic soon turned out to be more than a hobby, and she was given the job of cleaning up the Tower dungeon's various floors and chambers, keeping everything pristine for the kids, aswell as safe from traps and monsters.

✫Desponda, a sly mutant who spoke to ghosts. Said to be a native of one of the Tower floors, Desponda was born in a Tower kingdom that collapsed from a mysterious plague and left her face scarred. She was said to be quite promiscuous, constantly flirting with both the living and the 'ghosts' she claimed to speak with. Desponda's crass demeanor often drove others away, her willingness to suggest salacious and profane acts startled even her peers. She possessed the ability to turn any part of her body into serpents, from her hair to her arms to her head, even her entire body. When asked Desponda would often say she was happy her kingdom expired since the plague 'freed them' and had no desire to be reborn under Prime, wishing to wander the tower to haunt it forever. She was a sadist and a liar who kept an ever-growing lair of bones, and was fascinated with the blood of the young children of the Tower, wanting to see how it tasted. She oft spoke an odd language, her words often seeming jumbled and garbled which she called the 'Deathtongue of the deceased.'

✫The Warden. A figure always in the corner of one's world, with red eyes and a smile of false kindness. She loved to watch the children and prisoners she raised and took care of, witnessing what they were up to. Always watching. When she didn't observe her inmates, she witnessed the stars, often speaking to them, arguing loudly even. The Warden kept a large collection of dolls, which she would occasionally possess as another body or simply animate to help her run errands. There was no traveler, no monster, no other entity in the Tower that could pose a threat to her or reach the levels of arcana that she did. While keeping a unique relationship to all her kids, she was especially affectionate towards Tesla and playfully adversarial with Mel.

✫Melisma, the other prodigy who was never seen apart from Tesla. Due to the latter's innocence and stature that made her an easy target, Melisma became very protective of her. From her youngest years, Melisma started training herself to fight and studying as much as possible, believing wisdom and knowledge were the key to surviving in the Tower. The girl was often irate with a bad temperament, which meant she seldom got along with other kids. She had a deep and pure voice, and was a good singer. She was secretly extremely jealous of Tesla's abilities, and worked hard to perfect her own in hopes of improving herself. She was a good reader and sharp learner, but had a very short temper. Melisma's biggest fear was to die without ever helping anyone.

Harmony stood patiently, as her sister explained all the known knowns and unknown knowns and unknown unknowns with a dozen holographic charts and data streaming between her fingertips. While Intellica droned on, Harmony's heart sank with guilt and self-reflection. She feared she'd lead Astrid to this after the act she'd taken all those eons ago, even in another lifetime. There was a worry she couldn't reach the madwoman, that greatest good she promised herself she'd always work towards was a net-destructive end for her own conscience. The guilt washed over her as a dark ache. She wanted to shake the madwoman, to hit her... to save her. 

The worry she'd perish without ever being able to help anyone.

Yet here she was helping her sister, and they'd be able to do more when the time came. She'd gone along with everything Intellica said, because Intellica wanted it and could never be deterred. When Intellica wanted to put Harvest under their little microscope and examine the most intimate details of its operations, that was when Harmony knew the little worlds they'd sprung forth and protected would be the battlegrounds for more of their own trauma returning, repeating and playing out endlessly. In other words, they'd be fighting in the same battles with their mother, who was now long gone, yet even as a phantom seemed a pox on their sisterhood.

"You were wondering about Binarium," Intellica said, interrupting herself and staring up at Harmony's avatar. "The sister who disappeared from us, the most powerful you've ever seen and we have the whole story. We have the records. You've seen what she looks like when she's active."

"She won't side with us." Harmony asked, the guilt worsening, the ache turning into a gnawing worry. "And she has my son, Telli. Binarium wants to torture and spite Prime as much as possible, she'll never do anything as methodical as seek to eliminate her."

"She would if she could, don't fool yourself." Intellica's voice was distant, emotionless and cold, but Harmony couldn't help but have a reaction to it. "She is the only one who could ever beat Prime in this fashion and she has him that could be a new avatar for the Narraverse, a potential threat she won't let go. With our help, she may be able to bring about that destruction if we can get her to see it that way."

"She won't, and that is my son you're talking about. I know him better than anyone, and trust me when I say, he could never defeat Prime. Whatever storytelling abilities he had, he shelved away long ago." Harmony pulled up a holographic visual of the cosmic-topography of Abyss. "Binarium's been out for herself for as long as we've known her, and would never side with us. I can't imagine her agreeing to anything you're suggesting."   

"She won't." Said matter of factly.

"And you think we can count on Lucy, of all people? Where's your clarity and reason here. Her and Grahim have always sought to rock the boat for their own ends, they are capricious as the wind blows."

"I'm sure Lucy won't just do whatever Binarium or Octavius wants, but she'll never side with Prime, not ever."

"That's a dangerous thing to assume, Intellica." Harmony's eyes screwed up, her vision clouding with a blinding flash of light as she realized she'd never understand Intellica's plans, and what she intended. "She's far more of a threat than your purpled haired pet back there."

"She's harmless." Intellica said, then hesitated. "Honestly, I've never seen anything done with such cold logic as she's doing with Bedlam, trying to eliminate mother's proxies. And given what we know of the way she operates, I'm confident she can do it."

"I doubt she can, and that's because she's too arrogant and self-centered." Harmony snarled. "Lucy is a threat to everyone, even to our sisters. But even if she could, this is all unnecessary. There is no reason for this." Harmony's fists began clenching at her side, as her fingers dug into her palms, the ache getting worse. "And what if Lucy does, I mean even if she did, who cares?"

"You know that the operation in Harvest is delicate. The situation demands absolute refinement of all variables, even if you lack that tact over your own realm." She heard a crash in the other room and turned away to ignore it. "If we cannot count on Lucy to eliminate the Proxies, do you think Harvest stands a chance infested with them? With this whole Astrid situation making things worse, weighing on all of us? You think Binarium will see reason? Or Octavius? Even Grahim. There's no turning back now, if we don't take action, we will be helpless and useless."

"What? Are you telling me you're just going to sic the rest of the Universe on them?" Harmony shoved her fingers into the scars on her temples, as the pain and guilt grew stronger. "We could start a war, and who's responsible for that? Who's responsible for the destruction that will come?"

"We have to do it." Intellica turned away, the cold indifference in her eyes becoming obvious and clear. "We have to. As long as Prime still has an opportunity to grow like a seed, we need to cut her down. There's no escaping this, it's the only option. If you don't want to get involved, that's fine, leave the rest of us to do it. You can't abandon us to solve this problem alone. And we all need to be on the same page, and we have to be the ones to do it, and we have to do it now, otherwise this situation will get worse."

"Binarium..." Harmony breathed out, feeling like she was going to vomit. She saw Astrid again, her little crazed smile as she tapped the top of her head and stared blankly. Then she saw the Shion sisters, twirling in a circle around Hussie and seducing him into their little games. "Let's just try to talk it through with her and get her in line. She's going to hurt my son, she's going to hurt anyone she can, she's not a threat to Prime."

"Yes, she is."

"She's not." Harmony growled. "You're making this up to push your agenda."

The crash got louder and turned to a distorted screech. The two looked at each other, went silent and ran into the other room

 

Minutes earlier

Violet followed Auxilitrix into the next room over, soon they two were in one of Intellica's labs, chatting away.

"But they are wrong, Violet. There's a better option. I'm hoping you'll make the right one. You and Harmony here, you're a fine lot of people. I'm not worried if you succeed. I'm worried that if you fail.  The two of you should succeed, in the end, because Harvest has a lot to offer. It's an amazing world, and I'd hate to see it destroyed just because of an arrogant little boy." She tapped her forehead, with a smirk. The two turned slightly to look at the strange sentry Intellica kept on a table, this one in need of a repairs.

 "That's-"

"Query." Violet said. The memories of that woman she'd seen earlier wriggling in pain still burned into her memories.

"Ah yes, my sisters favorite little toys. The tincan marching soldiers of her own design" "They're not her design.." Violet mumbled.

"Pardon me dear?" Lucy leaned over, placing her hand by her ear in an exaggerated fashion. "They're NOT hers. She just, found them and started turning them into her drones. They were some sort of girl or thing before, but fell through the void apparently."

"It's a little dark in here, I'll have to have a look at the gizmo, maybe I can help with a little fix-up."

"It's not a big deal. It's a little old, but it still functions.." Violet walked over to it, trying to ignore the pain it caused as her hands gripped the Query's chest.

"Wish I'd known. If I had known at any point in time that these were, people, I wouldn't have agreed to become Intellica's little project."

 Lucy grinned, pulling out a toolbox from underneath the bench. She opened it up, taking out a wrench and unscrewing the shell of the metal Query, revealing its inner workings. "Would you like a glimpse of the inner workings of your newest friend?" Violet shuddered and shook her head. Lucy chuckled, "Well, it's just a bunch of wires anyways. I should know. My sister and I worked on these. She told me we were her first success. They weren't all that great though. They didn't quite have enough energy to do what we wanted them to. I had to sneak into Abyss to find a way to say, power them on and suppress their minds abit." Lucy helped remove the chest plates and the helmet to reveal the long haired girl underneath, her emerald locks seeming to go on forever once they cascaded away. Runes were printed along their chest, an upside down star where her heart should be.

Violet pouted abit, looking anguished at seeing this being like this.

Lucy could feel her sadness, almost like a child looking at its first doll.

"You know, I could show her the ritz and fix'er up." She turned towards the Query. "Just...give you back your memories. I'm sure you don't remember anything after your fall. I can't imagine the pain you were in, but, you'll be better off dollface. For this. Or I could.." Her grin widened and she faced Violet.

"Send her off and set her free. Would you like that?"

Violet's eyes widened.

"I'd...no..I couldn't.."

Lucy leaned down and pat Violet's head, running her hands through her hair.

"Ahd why not?"

"Intellica would-"

"Would what? Harm you? Disown you? She'd never. She needs you in her fight, you're her little project like you said." She put on a malicious grin. "Assuming of course, I talked you into it, she would only punish me being all high and mighty, and you'd get off light. And trust me, I live for the punishment."

"You think I could betray her that easily just to help one of her t-toys? Besides..I don't trust you! I can't!"

"Oh I know you can Violet. In fact, I know you cannot help yourself. You're always helping people right? It's in your nature."

"But-"

"Intellica's busy! She's not doing what's fun. She's doing what's important, and that's her research. Her agenda. But why don't you follow your conscience and do what's important to you. Take things into your own hands." Auxilitrix snapped her fingers, and a pentagram appeared behind them, a blazing portal of fire. "You said it yourself, you wish you'd known. All you have to do is say the word, and I'll make sure at any point in time, you know this one's deal."

The teenager swallowed. "A-and, then what?"

The Novus shrugged. "Then we'll get rid of the evidence." She winked. "Our secret, just the two of us. Violet, the girl in there.." She jabbed a finger at the girl's head. "Look at her Violet. She's in pain, she's clearly been miserable ever since she was brought here and turned into this, thing. Let's free her."

The two went completely silent,  looking down upon the helpless girl.

"This is wrong. It can't be right. This shouldn't be a-"

"I know. Trust me. There's no right and wrong. No good or bad. Just what's important."

Violet rubbed her eyes. "It's.."

"Dollface. Won't be long. We'll send you off. But you'll be good, don't worry about Telliphone." Lucy smiled again. "You'll be special. I promise. I won't let anything harm you. Ever again. We're friends." She shook Violet's hand firmly to establish trust.

"F-friends?" Violet whispered. She glanced towards Auxilitrix, unsure what to do. She leaned over and whispered in her ear, her words shaking and trembling.

"I can't..I just can't.." She began to cry. "Cannot what?" Lucy asked.

"...Cannot just leave her like this. I cannot let her suffer! Let's, release her.." She cleared her throat. "And I promise.. you'll know what she is. At any point in time."

The two took one last look at the Query, and aligned their hearts. Violet felt as if she'd caught the devil in her suddenly. "Help me get her suit and armor back on."

And then so

Harmony and Intellica returned, strolling into the room. The pentagram portal closed, leaving Auxilitrix and Violet alone. The Novus of Clarity and Reason was furious. She expressed it with a stoic, four word delivery.

"What. Did. You. Do?" She asked, seeing her Query nowhere in room.

"You're sick." Violet grumbled and turned around. "I did what I had to do."

She closed her eyes, an eternity of forms and names rushing towards her as she gripped this girl. Sable. Gothel. Tesla. Intellica. Her's brows furrowed, the height of disappointment as she grabbed Violet's shoulders and told her directly. "..And I hope you're prepared for what I have to next."

               Vira paced back and forth, she'd revisited the past and future, like marbles being slung out and bouncing from one to the next. The scenes played out like a movie thearte she had to walk through to solve. In the ancient Tower she saw the Crimson Regis form it from the stardust and continental shelves of the ancient precipice world. The Tower would fall under the control of the Spiderqueen after, and later upon her death the mystical sorceress Cairo. From there a girl named Sable it seemed, would grow up to inherit it. Buried deep in the earth, this girl - Sable, Gothel, would raise the opulent Rapunzel on its very highest stack. When time became recursive, the tower would return outside of space and time, watched over by Alice until she found a new existence as Binarium, until it was given to new instances of the spiderqueen she'd seen - a woman by the name of Prime, and her consort, Octavius. After a time, Octavius held onto this Tower until her new family took shelter in a manor in some secluded dimension. When they left, Prime was a corpse and the Tower had become dyadic, split into two Wells- which Grahim inherited. Inherited, exchanged and lent away.

Vira floated upside down as she witnessed the current Tower owner, a blurry figure that looked almost like a mirror to her.

"Hmm?" Ellie said turning around. The two faced each other, blinking for a moment. The figure vanished just as quickly.

Vira was back in the tower. There was a room she'd never seen before, a silhouette approaching her. She felt as if she recognized it, reaching towards the past and future it represented in all its power. Her mind raced back to the past, and the future, and she looked down to see...a room full of mannequins and dolls? The silhouette rippled and distorted as if finally surfacing from a pond, and stepped out of the shadows,

"Star priestess," the Warden said. "You've been snooping around quite abit haven't you?"

Vira jumped backwards as the Warden stepped towards her, and she fell back onto a couch. That witch was wearing an electric blue latex halt-dress with high heels and long, sleek opera gloves. "Are you the one they call Cairo? Or should I say Octavius?" Vira had witnessed so much, and seeing this lady everywhere was starting to give her a dull ache.

Usire rolled her eyes, these types caused so much unrest. "My real name is rather...dull. I'm not even sure how long my name's been forgotten." "I don't believe we've met. Perhaps I should go back to the past and ensure you're a visitor," she said, and Vira's vision blurred, the energy releasing from this woman was unreal. Threads began appearing from her fingertips.

"Octavius.. Cairo.. those are silly names, singular existences. Reincarnality is such a ridiculous thing when you think about it. You're one person and then you're the next, but I was never one, I was always all." She sashayed over to Vira, running latex fingers across her chest.

"I was always me."

"That's very egotistical, Usire," she said, trying to be calm. "You were you? You're a lecherous monster, that's what I saw. You manipulated kids. You kneeled at the feet of a tyrant. You served that same woman when she was reborn to stardom, then betrayed her the moment it entertained you. You want for nothing."

"And boy do I get it with you." Usire yawned, folding her arms. "Who cares if I'm Cairo or if I'm Octavius? If I'm Gina Susan Holly Dolly Barbie Let's go Party. Only morons care about that." She threw her arms out dramatically and the mannequins came to life, posing and offering different outfits- swimsuits, dominatrix getups, latex suits, witches robes, sorceress gowns and cheongsams, rubbery costumes of Hatsune Miku and Satsuki Kiryuin's uniform, "My identity is as much up for disposal as yesterday's fashion." She rubbed her hands together and pulled off her dress, leaving her bare breasts exposed. Taking the breasts off too, she put on a much larger pair from a mannequin and then slipped on the rubber uniform of a 50's housewife.

"Would you like me dressed like this? I can even be, hmmm let's see. Miss Domestica! Yes, that will be my new name. Until we get bored of it that is." Vira bit her lip unamused.

"Oh? I thought you'd love that one. Especially since it was a good callback to mommy dearest."

Vira saw several mannequins holding glossy japanese sailir fukus, student uniforms presented to her. She pushed them away. "Are for real right now?"

Miss Domestica slapped on yellow cleaning gloves and got scrubbing, happily bending her own mindset into the cheeriest housewife there was. "Oh golly! Wouldn't you know, she was one of my more.. unruly sheep in my flock. I watched over many children yes, in a way I raised your own mother. That makes me kind of like your grandma in a way doesn't it?"

"Cougar." Vira coughed.

"Cringe." Domestica sneered, throwing off her outfit and quickly dressing into a stuffy lizard costume with her head exposed. She threw her arms at Vira like a T-rex playfully making roaring sounds.

"The girl- the long haired one. She was some type of replica of the princess wasn't she?" Vira asked.

"Correct." T-Rexia threw herself back onto the couch and crossed her legs.

"Why did she do that?"
"Oh? Why should I know? Maybe she wanted a find a way to escape Rose's Thorn. Or she did it out of guilt for how she treated Punzie. Maybe she just grew mad, idunno. Not really my problem. Those Rapunzelbots were such a pain to be honest.."

"You're responsible for something called Rose's Thorn aren't you?" Vira asked. T-Rexia nodded. "Funnily, once reality turned over and the Joining Rose ended, Binarium stole it for herself. I think it was her idea to apply it to..." She took off the dino getup and put on a 20's evening flapper dress with pearls, heels and gloves. "Tesla."

Vira stared, her mind reeling with thought. She was seeing the same woman in different costumes, but something about her seemed off. "The Stars were very generous to show you this much." She said. "They never showed me anything, just made demands mostly. Back when I was an Oracle. I, as Octavius had to agree to give up that perk to get the rest of the Novus to trust me." She snickered. "I say 'give up' because, Stars are the worst. They'd always tell me if something's gonna happen. They always tell me if I'm gonna die. Even when I'm not sick, they say I'm dying in two days. It's been going on for millennia.." She rolled her eyes. "And when they're not trying to tell my future, they're trying to tell me what to wear and what name to pick next. I'm a wildcard. That's no fun if your audience are so spoilt." She crossed her legs slightly and laid back across the couch's length.

"Of course, that was then. From what I understand now the Stars have changed. What they demand now.. is Justice."

A marionette dressed like a butler came over to offer Vira a drink on a silver trey. She took it and sipped slowly. "Justice? What makes you think that."

"Oh that's why you've been looking through my things," T-Rexia laughed. "Did they have you thinking the Stars were on your side? I think I've seen enough. No more pussy-footing. The Stars are filled with rogue desires. They only want a means to an end."

"And what end is that?" Vira shook her glass a little.
"An.. end! What else would there be? Means are for ends. Ends are for ends, it's bittersweet."

"Are you saying the Stars are only doing this to instill some kind of finality or conclusion?"

Barbie groaned. "Uggh. You're so.. limited. You can't really understand that I'm a product of the Stars, and they're as a product of rotating observatory spheres of energy, the manifestations of desire. That I am, as a Novus. I'm just like the worlds I'm connected to. And I'm the worlds I'm connected to, are surrounded by history to keep the authors afloat. You don't seem to get that it's not my choice. It was never my choice. I'm a doll, a toy. A fiction in wider story for their purposes. An OC. I can't control this."

"Control what?"

"Any of this!" Octavius rolled her arms and kicked childishly. She pointed to the mannequins, and with a snap every one of them exibited Vira's face.

"Okay, listen carefully your Stars. My Stars. The whole Universe. They all speak to me and tell me what to do. Who tells them what to do? Entities beyond in Discordia, followed by Primordial reality. The realm of authors decide everything, you're not even supposed to know you're a  conceptual doll."

"A doll?"

"Yeah, a doll. You have to start somewhere, and so did I.  I wanted to be this, to remind myself that I could be anyone. As much as I wanted to be something, I also wanted to break that at the same time. I wanted to change. I wanted the right to choose. And I wanted to be the author of that. Serving Mordred. Serving Prime. As pleasurable as being broken is.. All those dreams you're not allowed to have.. I've been so lucky to learn how to have them." She stepped off the couch.

Vira pushed away several mannequins trying to crowd her. "If these so called authors have an agenda or attempt to conquer my will, I'll resist them. I'll carve out my own purpose. I cannot be controlled by the stars like you were. "

"This doesn't matter." T-Rexia replied. She put on a t-shirt and some denim jeans, and with a pinch of the fabric  turned both to rubbery latex. "You'll never get anywhere with this. All this will just come back and bite you." She put on slippers. "I'm not fighting you, I'm warning you."

"You're fighting my patience." Vira rolled her eyes. She'd had enough of this woman. "I think I've seen enough." The star seer searched around the room. "Why do you love dolls so much anyway?"

Octavius smiled. "You're asking me that? I'm a doll too, I've always been a doll, I'll always be a doll. I'm a product of the Stars, who are a product of the authors. This is what I see, this is what I am." She pointed to her own reflection in the glass tower. She put on a pair of sunglasses and turned into a blonde-haired girl who looked like a mashup of Vira and Miss Cairo. She smiled happily. "What matters is how we feel, what really matters is how you feel, everything is a construct after all. Remake yourself, and remake your reality as you see fit." She clapped her hands and then turned into a glossy ballerina, twirling in place around Vira with her hair in a but.

"And remake others?" Vira asked.

"Yeah! That can be fun too. Now you're getting it.." The ballerina landed back on the couch and with a swish of her hand, was dressed in skinny jeans and a hoodie, and shrunk to the age of a teenager.

"One last question, what am I supposed to do with that, doll my enemies dropped on me? It's sniveling and useless." The star seer leaned on her shoulder.

She put on goggles and a lab coat, licking her hair until it turned frizzy and wild. "Hold onto her. I'll get you something better." She stretched and offered her hand. "Follow me." She led Vira up to the highest floor to a penthouse room and swung open the door. An eerie green light flooded the room, complete with red pulses inbetween. Inside was a green haired figure, a small androgynous doll of a guest, bovine horns coming out of their head. They were levitating on the bed, and most objects- TV screens, books, videogame consoles, bags of chips were all midair aswell. They turned to the two.

"What is it? Can I help you?" The doll asked.

"C'mere." Octavius said, urging them to float down. "You've been taking up space for awhile now, Mizzi. Ever since I made you you've barely left your little nest."

"You, made her?" Vira asked.

"Yep. What are you, a doll too? Don't you know about how we work by now?" She laughed. The lime haired doll put two hands in her baggy pockets.

Octavius swiftly karate chopped Mizzi down, and then picked her up. With a chant, floating sigils began to appear around the doll. She placed two hands over her as she started so shrunk and compressed her, like squeezing balls of clay. Immense energy and pressure squeezed the remains of her. When she was done, Octavius offered her the remains- a glowing green star.

"What's this?"

"A little gift. You'll be able to keep in touch with me, via this little assistant by your side. Make a wish."

Vira took the star, it suddenly expanded, enveloped Vira and then was absorbed.
"Where did she go-?"

Octavius winked. "In your timeline."

A little bit of green light came in through Vira's eyes. She thought about it, then turned it around and put it in her pocket.

She turned to Oct. "Well, I hope she's good."

"You'll find out." Octavius said. "I can't believe, how many of you there are, and you still can't understand your own story." She turned around and walked towards the door, which began to emit a fading light. "How many of me? What do you mean?" Vira asked.

The seer stepped out out the door. "Oh, wait until you meet Ellie."

"Whose-"

Everything flashed white.

Vira woke up back in the Citadel Cuddlia, where Melisandra had passed out.
"HOLY FUCK WHAT THE HINDENBURGER WAS THAT WHOPPER?!" With a sigh, Vira pressed her hand through Maxima and she twinkled from the room, fading into a streak that returned to the stars.

At some point, at some time

Violet, Pixie, Max and Vale stood in their underground bunker. Security forces guarded the doors, the team four adults examined the strange sentry that had fallen into their base not too long ago and become an object of their. A Query.

"Let's dissect it." Vale suggested. "We can ask questions later."

"No dissecting!" Violet, in her jumpsuit held up the Query. She'd never seen anything like this. In this future she'd never seen Intellica, much less anything resembling what fell into their lap like this. 

"It can hold up to a thousand exabytes, that's absurd isn't it?" Max said, the strange drone unresponsive.

Pixie examined it closer. "I have an idea. My mother is till on the run, but I can have her look at it. Our enemy has been still recovering from our latest siege operation. Maybe we can find out where it came from and reverse-engineer it." She said.

"Are you saying.. we can use it?" Violet asked.

They all looked at one another, and then to the Query in the center of the table. Violet leaned in closer to examine it, the other three backed up. It's head tilted up, and looked briefly at her as if recognizing Violet. But then it slumped back into its usual trance possessing little liveliness at all.

 

Ivy Hall

Vira (16)'s recruitment drive for the Astronomic Aspirants

On a small makeshift podium with a lone telescope, Vira  "Step up! See what fate has in store! Freaks and geeks, Mi'ladies and shadys, boys and toys! Come find out what the universe has to offer! For those that seek purpose, you won't find any better tools to do it with than the Stars! Trust me, ain't no way any other club will dazzle and deliver the goods on your future like this one! Come belong to me, and I promise y'alls you won't ever want for nothin'. Why? Cuz, you'll never be alone! Not when you have-" She pulled a string, letting hundreds of sparkling stars hung by wires from the ceiling. "Every single one of these twinkly shinies in the sky as your protectors!" She waved her arms dramatically.

Most passed thru ignoring her, barely noticing. A single girl with a bowlcut of green hair, about 12-13 began to clap quietly. Her eyes felt like they were literally seeing stars, looking up at Vira with admiration.

Vira smiled. "You! Girl, you here for me? If you're looking for a future, and you know what I mean.. well.. my Star Club can deliver! I'll deliver all the hope you want.."  She held out a hand. When another cute girl actually touched her, Mizzi practically salivated. The pencil in her hair levitated a few inches before settling back down. Vira smiled as Mizzi seemed to shrink before her.

"Wouldn't ya like to be in a club where members share the same passions as you?"

"Um.. okay!" The girl beamed, excited at the dazzling display.

"What's your name girl?"

The mousy student swallowed. "M-mizzi. Mizzi Tamarav!"

Vira pulled her up "You won't regret it!"