ALL NOVEL Chapter 4
Amethyst smiled warily as she watched Hazel fill a basket to a comical degree filled with only slightly lopsided blueberry muffins.
“Miss Hazel, I can't possibly eat all of these.” Amethyst said, looking at the overflowing basket.
“I can't in good conscience sell these things the boy made, he only insisted on making them after you said how much you liked them” the large bunny-kin woman said with a wink, causing her son to burn red all the way to the tips of his long ears
“Mother!” He called out, stomping his foot causing a fine cloud of flour to break free from his apron.
The large bunny-kin let out a motherly laugh as she pulled a second basket filled with fresh bread and an assortment of baked goods, and placed it next to the first, “and this is for your family. A little show of appreciation for all the hard work they do keeping this town running.”
She paused and put her hand on her cheek feigning surprise. “O dear silly me, you can't possibly be able to carry all this yourself. Applejack be a dear and escort Miss Lapidary home would you.”
“Mom!” He cried as she looked back at him with a mischievous grin.
“Come now boy,” she said, swatting his ears, “it's rude to keep a noble girl waiting.”
Amethyst could feel her own face burning with embarrassment as she stood staring at the floor. “It can't be helped,” she managed to choke out, “it would be rude to say no.” She finished turning quickly towards the door to hide her embarrassment.
After another minute of testing from Hazel, Applejack escorted Amethyst out of the shop, a large basket hanging from each of his arms.
Dora eyed the two blushing youths with a wide grin of her own, choosing not to comment as Amethyst began walking in a slightly hurried pace towards her home, the flustered bunny-kin boy in toe. The older guard’s woman gave the two a wide berth staying just far enough to keep Amethyst safely in her reach.
They walked in silence, neither of the two daring to say anything before Dora finally decided to take matters into her own hands, “So Apple, how's your apprenticeship going?” Dora asked in hopes to break the tension the two had built.
“It's going great,” he replied eagerly, “Mom says if I keep up at this pace, she will have to get a second oven built, not that we would ever need that much space.”
Amethyst couldn't help but grin as the young man began speaking in earnest about his work, he spoke about cakes the same way her sister talked about magic much to her amazement. She listened happily, paying little attention to their surroundings, as they walked through the busy streets towards the mansion that sat at the southern edge of town..
“A Demon Lord” Alexa spoke with disbelief, “they can't be serious. There hasn’t been a demon lord for what a thousand years?”
Taaffeite casually flipped the pages of the book as she spoke, “I can’t be sure, as you know the churches are very… secretive. However, there are an increasing number of reports from the north about tainted beasts coming out of Ecrein and this has apparently scared the zealots.” She said tossing the book aside, “they think the tainted beasts are caused by a Demon Lord appearing, and they are gearing up for a full-scale crusade. There are even rumors of them summoning heroes.”
“That's insane! I have seen these “tainted beast” as they call them,” Alexa exclaimed, slapping her palm on the arm rest, “They are nothing more than run of the mill mana beast, no more no less.”
“There is more,” Taaffeite said calming her daughter, “the skills Amethyst has… the Aether ones. Apparently, Aether is just what the voice of the world calls tainted mana. That with the black soul screen… it is likely that the church will attack her if they learn about it.”
The two women sat in silence, both trying to process the information shared in the book her mother acquired. Alexa clenched her fist as she looked down at the ragged book reading the title once more, “god-king’s story”.
It was a telling of the last hero’s trials against the last Demon Lord that walked this world, it went into grisly detail of the evils of the Demon’s and ended with a simple waning on the final page, “Beware the black page, dripping with aether that will taint the very land…” Alexa couldn't read the rest due to the age of the book, but its warning was clear.
“Mother do you” Alexa started, pausing to bite her lip. She knew her next words, and what they implied, could change the foundation of the world itself. “Do you, Taaffeite, think Amethyst is a Demon Lord?” She hated herself for saying it, for even thinking her younger sister could ever be something so vile as a demon.
Taaffeite was quiet for a long time, her face frozen in thought as she held her very breath. “I believe that she is my daughter, make of that what you will.” she finally spoke, waving her hand causing the book to ignite on the floor.
Both women sat neither speaking as the ancient book, that some would call a holy relic, became nothing but dust on the floor. Only to have their silence broken by a loud thunderclap as a world screen crashed through the desk in front of Alexa.
The two were shocked by the unexpected appearance of something so rare as a screen that holds the voice of the world, even more so by the fact it crashed into the desk. The words “Intuil Nine” scratched into it in childish elven lettering.
Amethyst stood at the end of a long street, Applejack nervously fidgeting beside her.
Applejack cleared his throat as he asked, “is it some Valor holiday?”
“We can go around,” Amethyst replied, turning down an ally to the side. Dora grunted in approval, nudging the bunny-kin boy to follow.
The street in question was packed with followers of Valor, easily recognized by the over-the-top white robes with gaudy golden flames decorating the hem, and though Valor did not have a large following in the Empire as it was the primary religion of the north most nation of Alamgir, but it was a tolerated religion of the people if it did not disrupt the public.
The following of Valor was exclusively human. It is believed that the last hero ascended to godhood after ridding the world of the last demon lord and his teachings live on through the religion he founded before becoming a god himself, teaching its followers that they are the true children of God, and they alone have a divine right to the world. The god-king himself claimed to be the embodiment of righteousness and virtue; his followers are quite zealous in their beliefs.
The religion itself is at the core of discrimination against the beast-kin, calling them demi-human and claiming they are the byproduct of the tainted mana left from the last demon lord spearheading the invasion of the beast-kin territories claiming to “cleanse” the lands they conquer.
Amethyst had studied many religions, of the 6 primary religions Valor was the one she found herself most at odds with. Even as a young girl she couldn’t wrap her head around the concept of “being better” than anyone inherently, her father always taught her that someone is only as good as they want to be, and anyone can be just as good at anything as someone else with enough hard work. such things would sound foolish to most nobles, but considering her father was a farm hand that really just didn’t know when to give up when a dragon ate his family's cows; it really struck home when he spoke such foolish words.
The trio weaved their way through the back alleys avoiding any path that would lead them to the church, only to be stopped when a large, decorated carriage stopped at the end of the narrow path they were on. They watched as a large, armored man stepped down from the carriage taking up a position at the back, his gleaming gold and platinum armor making no noise as he moved. Amethyst recognized the armor as enchanted immediately; Dora however recognized the stance the man took.
“What's a paladin of Valor doing here?” she whispered as the three of them stopped watching the carriage “whoever is in that cart is special, we should just wait till it passes.”
Amethyst, for the first time, in true noble childness exclaimed, “I am the daughter of the Marquess, why should I wait.” grabbing the arm of Applejack, “discrimination is banned in our city, if they do not abide by that than they can answer to my parents.” and striding confidently out of the ally.
Coincidentally unbeknownst to Amethyst, in the back of her own mind was a panicked soul not knowing why it suddenly felt an unbelievable sense of danger.
“Eryl! what the hell is going on!” it yelled, grabbing the Inutil box and shaking it. “Eryl answer me or ill break the stupid box again!”
It could feel the screen start to give in its grip before it finally flashed the words, “Skill; Divine Aura detected, unable to contact the main system administrator, Eryl.”
“Divine aura! What the hell is a divine aura?” It yelled, releasing the screen. “And why can’t you connect to Eryl, stupid box.”
Amethyst realized her mistake the second she crossed the divide into the street proper, the paladin's stern gaze snapping to them, freezing the young girl in her tracks as she felt mana wash over her.
“Vincent? Did you activate your aura?” A soft voice called from inside the carriage.
The large man scanned the three, lingering on Amethyst before looking over the Applejack and finally Dora before canceling his skill. “Sorry Bishop, a demi-human brat snuck up on us.” He said, his deep tone felt as if it would crush the two children.
“Now Vincent,” the voice began as the door to the carriage opened, “you know you can’t call them that here.” The voice reprimanded as a young man stepped out.
He was… odd, he stood no taller than Applejack if you counted his ears, but his skin was almost transparent white with long white hair cascading down his shoulder. His eyes were covered by what looked like a bandage that was decorated with a golden sun in the center, he wore a plain white robe and carried a long golden staff that he seemed to use as a walking stick.
“This is not the holy land of Alamgir we must abide by the local laws.” The bishop spoke as he stepped onto the street, “I apologize for my companion, he is not accustomed to travel outside of the holy lands.”
The bishop turned his head towards the trio despite the blindfold Amethyst couldn't help but feel the man could see right through her as he tilted his head.
“That's curious,” he began as a golden light flashed behind his blindfold. “Young girl, are you not baptized?”
The paladin seemed to tense as the bishop spoke, his hand drifting towards his sword before the bishop tapped his shin with his staff.
“I don't see how that's any concern of yours.” Dora was the one to reply, stepping around the young girl, “is your shiny friend going to keep that fancy poker to himself?” The older woman placed her hand on her sword hilt, her artificial leg whirring as she began filling it with mana in anticipation.
“Now there's no need for such hostilities, follower of Soter,” the bishop raised his hands in surrender, another gold flash behind the bandage, “simple curiosity, forgive my rudeness.”
The paladin returned to his resting stance but did not avert his gaze from Amethyst.
She felt a familiar tingling sensation at the base of her skull, it was so subtle most people would miss it, but it's a feeling she knew very well from training with her sister. He was trying to investigate her soul page.
Me stood staring at the screen as it began to flash, “of all the times for another pervert to show up." it said as it walked to the screen tapping it with its finger. “I wonder if it's that pretty soul again.”
“Don't look!” Eryls voice boomed in its mind, it was not the familiar emotionless soothing voice it knew from before, for the first time Eryl sounded… concerned.
It froze, stunned by the sudden outburst. “Eryl… what the fuck is that!” it yelled as the screen began to emit a golden flame causing it to dive back.
The being stood now a safe way away from the now burning screen, the flames making it feel… sick.
“I am sorry,” Eryl spoke as the screen winked out of existence. “I doubt they know what you are any more than I do,” another screen appeared, this time it showed a large man in some gaudy armor locked in combat with a much smaller woman. “If they catch amethyst, I am certain you both will die. if they report to their god, they will hunt her to the ends of the planet and try to end her.”
“Slow down! die? Why? What did she do?” the being yelled, the void flexing around it as it grabbed the screen.
“Nothing, it's what she is.” Eryl said, “What you turned her into when you saved her.”
“What! Stop speaking in riddles Eryl and tell me what I can do to fix this!” Me bellowed as the void around it crackled with energy.
“She’s a God seed. And that terrifies Valor. Anything you do to try and help her will just cause her more pain. X47, you are a creature unlike any I have seen before, you are destruction incarnate, you should not exist, yet you nearly died to protect a soul.” Eryl said as the small woman kicked the large man, ejecting a metal spike into the man's chest launching the man back. “My job as system administrator is to protect the souls of this world, yet I could do nothing to save Amethyst, and I am powerless now to help her.”
Eryl did not fail to notice the being had stopped listening to her instead clawing at the back of the Inutil screen as if trying to pry it apart.
“X47 stop, you cannot…”
A malicious laugh cut Eryl off. “You're right, I am stuck here, in the void. If I use too much of my power with this hole in my chest, I risk killing myself, and if I use too much Aether in here it will kill little sparkle. Now Eryl I am not very bright, but I know a lot of things.” It started cackling as it dug taloned fingers into the screen, “like I know the Inutil boxes are revered as some voice of the world. And I know humans would drop everything to read one if it showed up. I also know countless spell circles, and that I have more magic than even your dumb boxes; I know that I will not let all my hard work of saving Amethyst go to waste. What I don't know is what is the least common language in this world.”
Eryl was momentarily stunned by X47, though it was frantic in the way it spoke, its movements were deliberate and well-practiced, almost as if it had been planning for this exact moment, its long arms pressed against the screen, its fingers bent at impossible angles.
“Screw it, I doubt anyone here knows binary.” It said as the screen vanished with a loud thunder crack, ripping the screen from Eryls system, she was left with no way to know what had happened.
“Eryl another screen!” It called out and Eryl compiled this time it didn't even bother looking at it before ripping it from the system and clawing words in elven on it. “I hope the pretty perverts as smart as she looks.” it said as another thunderclap filled the void, black smoke now rising from the being’s chest as the hole in its soul grew considerably.
“What… what did you do?” Eryl finally asked, her voice filled with apprehension.
“Your job, your welcome.” it said as aether poured out of the hole. “What Box am I on now? 9 or 10?” its question however was answered by what sounded like shattering glass as large cracks began to fill the void, allowing light to pour into the dark space. “that… that's very bad isn't it?”
Alexa and Taaffeite looked dumbfounded at the screen that lay before them, neither had ever seen a world screen before but they knew the large black slate that was embedded in the desk could not be anything else. They glanced at each other before Taaffeite finally reached out and tapped on the screen causing the world screen to emit the soft blue glow they were known for.
“Skill acquired, Babylon. Access to Babylon terminals with the lost library of Babylon saved into its database. As a matriarch you can turn this unique skill into a bloodline skill. Would you like to turn the skill Babylon into a bloodline skill?”
They however didn’t read the prompt, scratched into the screen itself was a sloppy childish handwritten message in elven illuminated by the soft blue light, that Alexa began to translate immediately.
“Pervert, S̶p̶a̶r̶k̶l̶e̶. Amethyst is attacked, send help.”