Chapter 393: Divided into Two

Chapter 393: Divided into Two

Tala hopped in place, trying to settle her nerves.

Its fine. Im fine.

-Tala. Youre not in a good way about this. They can extract the core another way.-

Yeah, but then they wont let me drain the dimensionality with Kit. They need the whole thing as a lever to get the cell-core out.

-...so, youre doing this for Kit?- Alats tone made it clear that she knew the answer already.

Not at all. Im doing this for me. I want Kit to be bigger.

Alat chuckled within her head. -Fine.-

Flow was waiting off to the side. The weapon wouldnt help in the Doman-Imithe, and she didnt want to risk it.

A bit more than two days had passed since her unit had opened the cell and itemized the contents.

The powers that be had gotten back to them through Mistress Sigyn, and it was agreed that they should recover the cell-core.

Perfect.

Shed informed them about the murder-eye, and the response was simple.

She was not to engage with it. If that made retrieving the core impossible for her, she was to leave it for an extraction team.

Because challenging my capability is going to get me to leave it be.

-They were probably serious, Tala.-

Oh, I know they were. That makes it worse. She gilded herself. She could do this.

First, though, she needed to empty the cell.

The door was open beside her.

Tala formed Kit as a pouch in her hand before she tossed Kit through the open door, against the wall of the short tunnel.

-You know, you could have just made her appear there with your aura.-

Yeah, but it feels more natural this way. Ill adjust eventually.

-Alright.-

Tala smiled toward her newest bond. Thats ours, now. Have fun, Kit.

There was a flare of power as Kit drew even more deeply upon her gate, exceeding even her entire throughput and forcing her to use voidchannels to make up the needed flow. When the needed inflow was satisfied, the dimensional storage grew across the opening, and Tala lost sight of the cell.

To be utterly clear, all her perspectives and threefold sight lost view of the cell.

Previously, she had been able to see a tunnel leading away from the superficial into the void, and then shed been able to see the entirety of the cell wedged in there.

It had looked odd, but once the door was open, she had been able to see it.

Now, it wasobscured?

As Kits inherent magic tore the space apart, eating the dimensionality along with everything inside it, she had a hard time seeing it clearly.

With each metaphorical bite, Tala felt a resonance with her soul.

I am the ravenous, jealous devourer.

The cell was hers, and she was devouring it through Kit, who was just an extension of her soul, now.

It felt good.

Each bit of dimensionality added to Kit felt like Talas own body, mind, will, and magic were loosening, getting more room to move somehow.

This had been the right choice.

This was the only real path forward.

Classically, when a cell-core was recovered, the sequestered space had reentered Zeme to interesting results.

This waywith Tala taking what was hersthe cell-core could be taken, and the sheer forces exerted on reality would be minimized.

Apparently, at the time of a cells creation or destruction, dimensionality of the whole region could be thrown off, as it was usually a circle that was removed or added.

In the case of cell creation, the area was left such that walking along the right path could allow a traveler to move vastly more than expected.

But that was the positive side.

On the negative, as Zeme normalized with the new reality, physical integrity of basically everything in the area could be compromised as it was compressed or expanded in vain attempts to fix the disjointment.

Things usually calmed down in a couple of days, but they were apparently always chaotic days.

Kit solved the problem quite nicely, and Tala got to expand her sanctum.

In less than ten minutes, all that was left was a one-foot deep passage to nowhere, and a satisfied seeming pouch sitting on the ground, waiting.

Talas soul felt somehow raw, even as she knew that her aura was a bit more green than before.

Well, alright then. Leaning into who I am can help.

-Not a lot, but yeah. At least a tenth of a percent.-

More than that, Tala felt like Kit had been resonating with her gate in an odd way.

Shed need to check with Master Simon.

Even so, the last barrier to her unpleasant task had been removed.

It was time.

She hopped up and down again, shaking her arms unnecessarily.

Mistress Cerna stepped up next to her. We can find another way, Mistress Tala.

Tala shook her head. No, no. Ill Ill make it work. She chuckled wryly. Ive just made the regular way impossible, so

The woman gave her a long look before nodding. Is there anything that I can do?

Thank you, but no. Tala smiled. With a small flexing of will, Kit vanished, losing all physical manifestation.

There, I remembered this time.

-Still feels weird though?-

Oh, so much so.

Tala refocused on the task at hand then reached forward, coating herself in void and pulling open the door directly beside the entrance to the cell.

Before anchoring it with ironlet alone stepping throughTala focused on the view through the doorway.

Thats the Doman-Imithe alright.

-...its happening again.-

yeah. That did not bode well.

She needed to verify before actually putting herself at that things mercy once again.

Tala and Alat worked together to focus closer, adding power to their perception and enhancement scripts.

Finally, the actual view through the door snapped into focus.

She couldnt draw breath. That was largely due to the fact that she didnt have intact lungs.

The odd, resonant silence was clarified by its absence.

She had no heartbeat.

She had no heart.

She was gone below the middle of her chest, the scooping cut swept downward from about halfway through her torso to end at her low back.

Everything below that was simply gone.

Her blood was seeping out slowly, no heart to pump it free, no inscriptions to hold it back.

In a moment of utter clarity as she balanced on her two hands, one on either side of her prizethe cell-coreshe knew she was in a very bad way.

I havent healed. Im not going to be healing.

That had to be why.

It made no sense, but her body was both connected to her, and irreconcilably severed.

The separate existence was still trying to connect to her, somehow.

The dust was still billowing upward from her hands slamming down.

Her existence defense was gone, and her unit-mates were taking in collective gasps of horror, even while some of them were already moving.

Even so, Tala pushed backward, called Flow to her, and cut herself through the chest, just above the line where she could no longer feel.

This cut was clean through, taking a much shorter path through her body.

Something fell away, and Talas magic suddenly snapped back into existence, but her inscriptions were gone along with most of her reserves.

Even so, her natural magics and those remaining on her upper body were enough that she began to regrow.

Her blood no longer leaked free as it was now properly contained, and so that helped as well.

Talas bones grew back first, then her circulatory and nervous systems grew over top.

Finally, her organs, muscles, and all the rest came into being, slowly forming like molasses on a cold morning.

Her elk leathers followed at the pace of her skin, slowly creeping downward to cover her nakedness.

Tala felt Mistress Sigyns magic manifest on the part of Talas body that shed cut off and whatever else was attached to it.

The magic felt like hearing about a citys funeral pyre.

It was an unquestionably powerful and cleansing power, but she didnt feel even a wisp of heat herself.

-Can you hear me? Tala!-

I hear you. Tala pulled in a shuddering gasp as her diaphragm spasmed, causing her to cough.

-Oh by the stars, I thought Id somehow lost you.-

How are you here? How were you here?

-Your magic was entirely interconnected. It couldnt be divided, so itwasI wasin a sort of half-state. Only your severing allowed your magic to snap back to your gate. I I saw everything, Tala.- Alat shuddered within Talas head. -Please dont go back to the Doman-Imithe? Not until we understand it better and are better prepared?-

Tala nodded sluggishly, continuing to breathe in the sweet air around her, keeping herself from truly thinking about what had just happened. Keeping herself from thinking about her current state.

Mistress Vanga was beside her, talking to her, but Tala was still not properly processing the sound.

Tala saw concerned faces, and felt waves of magic from the healer and the Paragon pass through her before everyone seemed to relax a bit.

-Youre clear of outside influences.-

Yeah, I understood that. Whats going on? Why did I not start to recover until I cut off more?

-Theres a dissonance in our magic. It is passing. We lost a chunk of iron, and it was voided. That added stress.-

Great.

-We should recover quickly enough I think. We wont be convalescing beside Rane. -

That made Tala let out a coughing laugh.

Mistress Vanga leaned in. Mistress Tala?

Oh, hey. Tala responded weakly. I can hear you now.

The healer smiled. Welcome back.

Happy to be here, Tala forced out.

Mistress Vanga looked incredibly concerned. Im doing my best to feed your own magics. I think your greatest issue is lack of reserves, and Im filling the role of those as well as adding in my own healing as appropriate. Keep in mind, I cant refill them, our magics work too differently for that. Youll have to refill on your own.

Thank you regardless. Tala gave a small smile, all that she could manage. She just felt so tired.

Youve lost all your lower inscriptions, Mistress Tala. The upper portions are sparking against the lack. Your natural magics are bearing the load for the moment, but we need to get you reinscribed as quickly as possible. The healer glanced down. Well, as soon as you have a lower body to reinscribe.

Tala groaned but nodded. Ill be up for it in another minute or two maybe ten.

Mistress Vanga nodded as well. She knew about Talas reinscriber within Kit. If youre up for it, while youre taking that time, youll want to see this.

Tala nodded, and Mistress Vanga lifted her up so she that could see.

Talas gaze immediately fell on the cells door.

What is going on?

Her desire to see more clearly kickstarted her will, and her threefold sight reignited.

The superficial was weird.

It reminded her uncomfortably of the Doman-Imithe, even if only barely.

The small tunnelwhich was all that Kit had left of the cellwas now a true feature of the cliff, the stone around it having been shoved aside dimensionally.

Even so, there was nothing maintaining that dimensional alteration, and so the stone was trying to move back into the space it should have occupied.

It obviously couldnt.

Thankfully, most of the inserted space had been air, and that moved away easily, but what happens when three feet of space was shoved in between two sections of stone that are covalently bound?

Is that even the right term?

-Does it matter?-

It didnt.

Regardless, Tala was able to watch reality force order back into place.

Alat Archived the whole process.

Throughout, her body was slowly rebuilt with a combination of her own natural magics, and Mistress Vangas healing, as well as her ability to add to Talas stores.

Finally, Tala was fully grown, ready to get up.

Thank you, Mistress Vanga. I think Im feeling better.

The healer smiled her way before helping her stand. Lets get you into your sanctum for reinscription, then. In case it wasnt obvious, well be taking you off of active duty when we get back to Alefast.

Tala grunted. Yeah thats fair.