Chapter 293: Not too Stereotypical

Chapter 293: Not too Stereotypical

Tala blinked a few times as her eyes opened.

She was in the merging room as expected, and the scripts were gone, burned away to activate the magical integration.

In the center of the space rested Flow, alone.

Not alone. The dasgannach is in there too.

-The remnants of it. It was never really alive.-

That was an interesting thing that she hadnt considered. Flow was a concept weapon now, at least partially.

Then, she felt like an idiot, because shed seen that exact thing in the visions. Flow had laid claim to so, so much on her behalf. Well have to be more careful than ever, in the future.

-And get a new sheath that can specifically block that aspect as well. We dont want to tear iron out of sparring partners.-

Agreed.

She lifted her hand and Flow crossed the distance to slap into her palm faster than it had ever moved before.

As it impacted, the massive amount of iron that had been carried along with it rolled into her hand and down her arm, spreading throughout her body, just beneath the surface of the physical world.

By the nature of soul-bond manipulation, there was no transfer of momentum from the weapon coming to her hand. That was an incredibly good thing because Tala felt like it would have thrown her across the room.

She shuddered as the ripple of increased weight rolled throughout her body before settling in and fading as her will began to manipulate it to remove the feel of extra mass.

Mistress Tala? Mistress Aurius had stood and was walking her way. I didnt receive permission to interfere. Did everything go well?

I think so? There were a couple of complications. She began to explain the mistake of the biological iron still being bound to the dasgannach. Does that mean I changed my body?

Tala couldnt help but brace for bad news.

Mistress Holly would probably flay her if shed messed herself up even more fully.

No, it does not appear so. The iron within you is shared between two of your soul-bonds which is unusual, but not unheard of. I do not detect any discernible alteration to your physical body.

Tala let out a huge, relieved breath. Oh, thank the stars.

Mistress Aurius grinned. Well, I will claim a bit of credit. I couldnt have stopped the bond from leaking through but, because of your general circumstances, I added extra spiritual filtration, so that you could protect your body.

You knew this would happen?

She tilted her head to the side. Would? No. Could? Absolutely. All bonds are bound. It would have been foolish to assume that you would magically avoid alteration to your body withoutshe huffed a laughwithout magical precautions.

Tala felt herself smile, too. Well then, thank you, Mistress Aurius.

It was my pleasure, Mistress Tala. I do apologize: it is so standard a feature to add in more advanced mergings that I didnt think to highlight it. I am glad that you noticed the error and acted appropriately. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any need of my expertise in the future.

I appreciate the offer, and Ill remember it.

Tala thanked Master Queue on the way out, and in less than twenty minutes of fast walking, Tala arrived at Mistress Hollys shop.

She stepped inside and felt the expected magics brush her.

Tala didnt hesitate, heading straight back to Mistress Hollys work room, where the Inscriptionist awaited her.

So, the merging was a success? I dont detect any expanded splintering of your body.

She nodded, then briefly explained how it had gone.

Well that is an obvious hangup, isnt it. Mistress Holly shook her head, then rubbed her temples. That should have been taken more fully into account.

Tala sat down on the chair off to one side, and Mistress Holly pulled over her customary stool.

We will go back over the proposed Refining process with a fine-toothed comb and ensure that we have everything aligned as it should be. Mistress Holly grimaced, shaking her head. We are not used to considering iron or dasgannach, as neither have ever been factors before.

We have time. It will take a month for this merging to settle in, right?

Thats right. Blessedly, like most things, the Refining process is simple to execute, once you know what to do.

Tala frowned. Like most things?

Of course. Once you know how exactly something can be done, it is usually trivial to make it happen.

I dont know if that is the case.

Then you probably dont know exactly how the thing is done and have to rely on secondary processes.

Tala opened her mouth to argue, but finally just shook her head. Not worth it.

-Im excited to try out Flow.-

Yeah, me too. Its hard to remember that what we saw was one branch of the potential that is now open before us, not what we can do immediately.

Unfortunately, like many things, experimentation would have to wait until after she Refined.

Mistress Holly folded her hands in her lap and smiled. Ill see you in a month, then. Please keep yourself intact until then?

I will do my best. Thank you, Mistress Holly.

Take care.

* * *

Tala was exhausted. While her body wasnt really worse off than it had been, the flaws and contamination was starting to make her feel noticeably less capable than she was used to.

Even so, the month had passed in a blur.

Lyn and Rane had done their best to help fill Talas time until her Refinement.

Rane had more free time, though he still went off to train daily. Towards that end, they explored the offerings of the playhouses of Bandfast, Lyn and even Kannis joining them for the afternoon or evening plays.

Mistress Aproa came along as well on occasion, and Mistress Odera even came with them once or twice.

They tried out every restaurant they could find in the city, and Alat helped supply a supplemental set of foods for Tala to eat afterwards to keep her consumption balanced.

Aside from a truly dizzying number of plays from the more than two dozen playhouses in the city, Tala and Rane practiced with the magical nest from the arcanes, as well as with the iron spheres that Master Jevin had given her so long ago.

They made it a bit of a game between them, testing themselves against each other, striving for mastery.

Finally, they filled their time with tafl.

Tala and Rane played an immense amount of tafl.

They began with a simple nine-by-nine board, altering who was the attacker and who defended.

In the end, they were battling across nineteen-by-nineteen boards, trading victories back and forth in uneven spurts.

They really hadnt been keeping track, but with her memoryeven without specifically countingTala knew that they were pretty evenly split.

Terry spent most of his time in Talas sanctum, or riding on her shoulders to the plays. He only tried to cheat at tafl a few timesflickering in and out quickly to move a piecebut Tala and Rane both sternly told him not to help them.

Tala tried not to think too deeply on the fact that Terry somehow seemed to have a better head for the game than either of them.

Alat brought it up fairly often though, so Tala wasnt likely to forget.

The only real things of note that had happened during the month were: First, the first version of the teleportation array out of Kit was completed; it eviscerated a test rabbit.

-And I am infinitely grateful for that. Thank you.-

Tala checked once again to ensure that she had moved all her non-biological iron into Flow before setting it on the shelf.

The metal of the shelf creaked under the load, so Tala pushed Flow to the back of the flat surface before adding Kit beside it.

After that, she pulled off her through spike and stuck it into Kit.

Finally, she forced her Archive link to manifest as the ring and took it off, placing it on the shelf as well.

She was still connected to the Archive while it remained in the room with her, but she couldnt take it into the box without risking the process.

Next, she retracted her elk-leathers into a bracelet, which she removed and set beside the ring, pouch, and knife.

And that was it.

That was all she owned in the world.

-Dont be melodramatic, Tala. Theres an entire estate within that pouch.-

Tala huffed a laugh. True enough.

With an easy hop, Tala jumped up and landed inside the box. Despite Mistress Hollys reassurances, Tala was careful to land where the box was held up and supported by the pillar, beneath.

After another deep breath, Tala stretched out within the wooden construction before reaching and closing the lid over herself.

It sealed with a resounding click.

She easily sensed where her hands should go, and she rested them down on the contact points.

-Ready?-

As Ill ever be.

She forged a pair of void-channels as large as she could createcapturing virtually her entire power flowand directed one out through each hand, into the waiting inscriptions.

Power slowly filled the spellforms around her, and the wooden box began to glow to her magesight. A moment later, it began to emit light visible to mundane sight as well.

Finally, there was enough power within for the first scripts to activate.

A pulse of power slammed into her uniformly from all sides at once.

Her hair was reduced to dust across her entire body, and she felt like every dead skin-cell was vaporized at the same time.

It rendered her instantly raw and oversensitive, and she tried not to shift.

The next pulse slammed into her, and several layers of skin vanished.

The pain was incredible, and she grunted and grimaced, trying to bear it.

Her regenerative scripts tried to activate to restore her, but they were suddenly, utterly suppressed, the magic of the Refining box superceding everything else.

Blessedly, the next pulse caused fresh skin to blossom across her body, replacing what had been removed.

That didnt last, however.

The next wave obliterated the new skin and all that was underneath.

Tala shrieked at the shock of it.

There was actually very little pain, however, since her nerve endings were simply gone.

She knew that blood was flowing freely from her, though she couldnt feel it.

The lack of pain was incredibly disconcerting.

Then, the magics radiating from the box changed, and she felt her left hand be gripped with incredible pressure.

It wasnt like being locked in a vice, as she could still move her fingers freely, at least based on the kinesthetic feedback she was getting.

Instead, it was a grip on a deeper level.

Her left hand was the test case.

Alright, Tala. You can do this. Just breathe.

As that pressure increased, she felt the bones in her hand splinter, even while they were held in shape.

That hurt, and she screamed again, jerking her hand away from the contact point.

It didnt matter; the magic still flowed. The scripts were such that once the connection was made, it could not be stopped by her, and so the pressure increased.

Her bones ground together, turning to powder, all the while staying in the exact form that they needed to be in.

Her soft tissue was next, being emulsified in place even as the pressure increased.

Tala didnt really have time to consider the oddity of her bones breaking down first, as the pain continued to build.

Then, when it reached almost unbearable levels, she heard a new, heavier dripping and strained to see her hand.

Something darker than blood, thick and rancid was being squeezed out of her hand.

She barely held in a scream, as she tried not to gag at the stench.

Hold it together, Tala. This is just the test section. The rest of you has to be done in one go.

They had set it up this way, so that, worst case scenario, they only ruined her left hand, and she was trying to distract herself by going over the same information again and again.

Unless this is wrong?

It felt wrong.

What if this is wrong?

-Tala. Calm down.-

Tala ignored Alat and pounded on the lid with her right hand, suddenly frantic. Hello? This isnt right!

Shed known there would be a stripping away. Shed known there would be the pressure and expulsion of impurities. Shed even known that this was but the first of quite a few steps.

Even so, she had not known it would be like this.

LET ME OUT! She pounded harder, but to no avail.

Finally, desperately, she punched the lid as hard as she could with her right hand, but Master Jevin did good work, and Mistress Holly had been correct.

The wood didnt mar in the slightest beneath her blow.

Suddenly, the pressure gripped her entire body, and Talas panic grew.

No, no, no! She couldnt take this. She needed it to stop.

But it wouldnt stop.

The pressure built, and her body was slowly eviscerated in place.

Tala was no longer screaming as she no longer had the intact parts to scream.

Blood and the putrid black sludge flowed from the coffin in equal measure as silence fell in the room, and the unalterable scripts continued to enact their magics without end.