Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

"I'll get that in line soon. All due respect, giving you and the other gods gifts is relatively low on my list of priorities right now. Even if you didn't mean to, the way the gift was given to her and other events leading up to that day resulted in her being back in the Hive Master's grip. Undoing that is my priority." Emerald says. "I'm sorry I tried to hide the extent of the mess, I knew you and your friends worry about your own safety. I didn't want to tip you off that despite the massive amount of aid you and your friends have given us that you all have also stretched us thin. I thought maybe if I could handle it and keep it on the down-low, you wouldn't need to worry about the other rifts." She sighs.

 

"Well, if you're ever tired and need a break from it all, my gift will be waiting." Praecantatia says positively.

 

"Just... do me a favor, and never let Lady Gaia know she killed Xlentia. Please?" Emerald asks. "I don't think I have the luxury of ducking off for a private study or break anymore."

 

"She did?" Praecantatia asks.

 

“Based off what my reality’s Gaia said after panicking and asking her about it, she doesn’t know she bashed Xlentia’s skull in.”

 

"Well...I'll keep it quiet." Praecantatia says.

 

“I’m not saying I’m thrilled about what happened, to be clear. I just... emotions ran high, and look where it got us. I don’t want stress to spill over any more than it has.”

 

"I understand. Stephanie says one of her friends might be more appropriate for the mission I sent her on to free one of your gods, so hopefully we can start fixing things in your reality soon." Praecantatia explains.


Apocalypse notices Abigail leaving the cave leading out onto Katie's beach, a pair of gauntlets on her hands and a stern expression on her face as she strides confidently across the sand toward Aquira's ship.

 

“I’ll slip Xlentia’s armor in the archives and see if I can fix the runic breaks later. Don’t try to surprise anyone else please?”


Apocalypse watches from afar, curious.

 

"I'll be staying home, don't worry." Praecantatia says positively.


Aquira seems to conveniently step out onto her ship in time to see Abigail, who looks her in the eyes as she approaches. Aquira stands tall, arms folded, at the top of the ramp up to her ship.

"So, you've finally come to apologise for what you've done?" Aquira asks, looking down at Abigail.

"No, actually," Abigail says, before raising her voice for others to hear, "You should be the one apologising. You should be apologising to all of these people for what you've done. You mistreated and disrespected their actual captain. Their captain before, and the child she entrusted to you to look after. You never cared for Kiin, and yet you just want to find an easy way out and someone to pass the blame onto. I bet you were happy when you found out she was dead!"

Aquira's eyes flare up with rage, and she brings back her fist to strike Abigail hard in the face. Abigail responds by forming a fist herself, her claws shooting out from her gauntlets ready to strike Aquira in the gut. As soon as Aquira throws her fist toward Abigail, however, it stops. A hand on Aquira's arm preventing her from punching Abigail, and a shackle of ice leaping from the water to grab Abiagil's clawed hand so she can't attack either.

"Enough, Aquira. You know she's telling the truth. It's time we came forward." Sidus says with a serious tone, holding Aquira's arm back.

Aquira sighs, dropping her fist. Abigail looks rather smug, though the shackle stays on her arm until she retracts her claws.

"You are right, Abigail. We didn't care for Kiin as we should have done, and we both felt a guilty relief once we had found out about her death. The truth is, we simply weren't prepared to have another child, and certainly not one like Kiin. It was unexpected, and our lifestyle couldn't provide the care she needed," Sidus explains, speaking loudly enough for the whole crew to hear as Aquira starts to look guilty, "When we had Katie, she was born out of passion and love. We both wanted a child of our own, and while we found that we weren't able to take her on our voyages rather early on, we always felt a desire - a need - to return to her whenever we were away. When Kiin appeared, we had moved on from that. Katie is independent enough to live on her own now, and we weren't ready to change our lifestyles back to that earlier stage. We only agreed to take care of her as we felt like we owed it to her predecessor to do so. When we left her here as we did with Katie, we did it to get away from her. We didn't feel a desire to return or take care of her, because she wasn't out own. She felt like a burden, rather than something more precious to us than all of our riches."

"I must also apologise for how we've treated you in the past, Abigail. While we may not always agree with your actions, and you're not the best influence for Katie, we always knew that she would be safe whenever you were around." Sidus adds, Aquira looking guilty and ashamed.

Abigail seems rather stunned. Lost for words, she extends her hand for a handshake, which Sidus accepts happily; giving a Abigail strong handshake.

 

Apocalypse approaches the trio, dragging her guillotine blade behind her.
"In that case, hand over the scepter. You are far from the leader we've been looking for, and if this is how you truly felt about the admiral then you have no business holding the future of our people in your hands." She orders. "The three of you have left us leaderless, and we have no interest in permitting you to fill that role."

 

Aquira heads back into her quarters, before returning with the scepter. She hands it back without a word, or hassle.

 

Apocalypse takes it, looking it over.
“Shame you never got to meet that human. They may as well be omnipotent...” She mumbles before heading back to the shoreline.

 

Abigail, satisfied, follows. Katie comes out of the water to see Abigail after hearing the commotion. As Abigail turns to wave to Katie, Stephanie seems to appear on the beach in a flash of purple light. However, she leaves behind no footprints in the sand as she walks toward Abigail.

 

Apocalypse pays them no mind, but Mirror pokes his now uncloaked head out of the sand once Katie walks over him.

 

"Sorry!" Katie apologises, trying to be a little more mindful of where she steps.

"Abigail, we need your help," Stephanie says as Katie reaches Abigail, Stephanie having reached Abigail first.

"What's up?" Abigail asks, acknowledging Katie's presence with a smile.

"We were going to free Atavul by destroying his place of rebirth in his palace. However, his domain is filled with fire and guards, and we weren't able to make much progress. What's worse is that he has Xlentia now, and I thought a destructive force like you - equipped with some explosives - could be the force to free Atavul and Xlentia." Stephanie explains.

"Fire? Explosives?" Abigail says excitedly, "I'm in. On the condition you provide me some armour, and a helmet like my last one."

"But, you just got here Abigail!" Katie says, sounding a little disappointed, "We even have those presents to deliver to Stephanie and Artemis."

"Well, you could always come with us!" Abigail says, smiling reassuringly.

"It's too dangerous for Katie, though I suppose she could wait on Praecantatia's islands." Stephanie offers.

"No...I think I need to spend some time with mum and dad..." Katie says, glancing up at the ship, "We can hang out afterward though, right Abigail?"

Abigail nods confidently.

"We'll need to grab yours and Artemis' presents at my place though." Abigail says, turning back to Stephanie.

"I'll teleport them after you. Are you ready to go?" Stephanie asks.

Abigail almost says yes, though turns to Katie and gives her a hug before nodding.

Stephanie and Abigail disappear in a flash of purple, leaving Katie alone, who heads up the ramp to her parent's ship.


A short while later, Praecantatia teleports Stephanie's and Artemis' presents to her islands from Abigail's home, reading Abigail's mind as to where they are. Stephanie and Artemis carefully unwrap them, Artemis curious as to what she's been given.

 

Artemis unwraps a bracelet with some sort of latch, along with a note.
"Artemis,
I know a gift from a human sounds halfhearted, but consider us in this together at this point. You lot are just braver than I am.
First off, DO NOT LOCK THE LATCH WITHOUT THE BRACELET ON. It's intended for you, but technically one of your friends could use it. Assuming they don't mind spikes digging into their wrist.
This is technically a gift from my uncle, who's pretty invested in death magic. I hope it'll enhance that half of you, maybe make it more than just a backup to your forest guardian form.

PS: Duality is absurdly powerful if you learn how to use it. From imbalance comes anomalous energy, and through that energy you can immediately restore the local balance. Become used to doing so enough, and you'll never need to tip the scales off center in the first place."
There's another little bit of writing scribbled on the back.
"This lets you harness displacements in life and death energy. Efficiency is everything when you're outgunned at full capacity - hopefully this makes a difference.
- Eric"

Stephanie opens a box with two of apparently the same pin, one larger than the other. Both depict a vortex of some sort that's ejecting energy from its core.
"Stephanie,
Your mastery over mana is a spectacle, though you seem terribly reliant on the presence of mana and fairly vulnerable to nullmagic. I had a larger version of this pin made for your mother, since as far as I'm aware she's effectively mana incarnate.
This requires a bit of a tradeoff - expose it to mana for as long as you'd like, but its draw will increase over time. It's not a mana reserve, and it also comes with the burden of lowering the maximum amount of mana you can control at once. In exchange; the pin will both keep you conscious and numb you for a time equal to its draw should you find yourself in a total mana void, and it will attempt to apply any duality principles ignored during a spellcasting to increase strength and efficiency.

If you don't mind showing this to your mother;
Praecantatia, for a reality based on a focus on balance, I find it somewhat surprising you often ignore the benefits and synergistic effects of duality. If for whatever reason the concept is relatively new to you, there are a few members of the Crystal Armada that have chosen to remain on Earth. Apocalypse is a brutal executioner who can summon both cosmic frost and solar fire, I think Mirror is a tutor with powerful light and dark abilities - I know he can hide in or separate twilight if that's of interest to you, and Fissure is a smith who works metal with air.

-Eric"
Praecantatia can see an additional part of the note, though it's completely nonexistent to Stephanie's perspective.
"As a lowly human, I humbly ask you start some mode of communication between you, the other gods, and the other reality. Even so much as calling Rineth would have tipped you off about the other Emerald. Misunderstandings have spawned timelines where one or both realities are annihilated over miscommunication. Everyone's saving any praise and worship for after this war's over - don't get hasty. Debts are seldom paid peacefully once the debtor pursues their dues. Last time I got impatient with trying to speed up the Hive Master's demise? Let's just say this isn't exactly my native timeline."

 

Artemis, curious, tries the bracelet on after changing to her death guardian form. She makes sure to lock the latch after it's firmly on her wrist.

Concerned about the drain, Stephanie keeps the pin on her, though tries to avoid exposing it to too much magic at a time; before handing the letter to her mother. Praecantatia reads her separate part of the note slowly and closely, before saving it for a later discussion with Temporus. She takes the pin into her research room, for further observation.

 

Artemis notices a massive surge in power after the spikes dig in to her bone as - exactly as the note said - the difference between nearby life energy and her resonant death energy becomes more strength she can harness... albeit to a point her localized aura of death is of comparable strength to an angry Myria.

The pin doesn't seem to be active. Unfortunately, it also seems that I forgot to provide activation instructions.

 

Artemis quickly unlatches the bracelet and takes it off, not letting the power overtake her. She changes back to her forest guardian form, healing the holes in her arm. She regards the bracelet with fondness, however.

Praecantatia tries to figure out a way to activate the pin, shoving some partially-built explosives out of the way in the process. She tries funneling magic into it, before pricking her finger if it doesn't work.