Ambition was a dangerous word, it hung with a sense of pride that could swallow one whole in its grasp and never let go. To be lost in one’s ambition meant to live the rest of their life in agony as they never succeeded and struggled to maintain a sense of self. In the end the goal became them and they were lost to the sands of time. Many had fallen into this curse and many more would continue to climb into its depths never to surface again. For a young one filled with passion and ambition, such a trap was a welcoming site and threatened to consume them from the inside out like no enemy ever could. To conquer one’s own thoughts was to ascend into a realm of clarity that few ever enjoyed. Many could argue that such clarity is what made a person a genius, but the conquering of their own hubris is what made them a genius, as it showed a level of self-awareness that few could ever realize. For the young girl who was being swallowed in her own ambition, this was a feat that she would have to pull off if she ever wished to be freed from the threat of her own mind.
Ever determined however, the girl faced the real possibility of losing to her own ego in a battle of self-inflicted torture, to become the idealistic version of what she perceived to be perfection, it was driving her insane. To become the ultimate life form in the entire universe, to overcome any god that tried to rule over her, to become the author of the next chapter of human history, she desired these things, and none of them seemed to come true no matter how many strings she pulled in the background. Day after day the girl who have people from all occupations bend to her whim whether they knew it or not, she moved nations funds, took villages over from the inside, made countries move to war with one another, but all of it wasn’t enough. To control so much but still have so little power, to feel so empty, it was unbearable. While she had another in her life to let the emptiness be relieved, at the same time even he wasn’t enough. It wasn’t good enough to just be average, to be behind the shadows, she had a lust for power that only a madman would understand. Perhaps it was her instincts that compelled her to become stronger and grow in power, or maybe it was just her own machinations that drove her towards the unending goal of ruling all that is and all that would be. She tried to claim it was her birthright within her mind, she tried to claim that it was her own lusts that were driving her, but she knew not why she desired such a level of perfection. She had made the comments about her being perfect and always right, and while she had a level of foresight that many would dream of possessing she wasn’t right all the time, clarity wasn’t there at times. There were too many strands to observe, too many imperfections that could accompany her, she just wasn’t… whole.
Whole was a good word for what she was missing. It wasn’t good enough to be stronger if one lacked a foundation from which to build, a foundation that many would never find. She was determined to be the exception to the normal, to break all the boundaries that one could expect to hold, but how? She would have to do some searching, she would need to find what was missing without becoming a slave to herself. She didn’t know where to look at first, she viewed all the strands of time that she could, looked for the signs, locked her true self away until the answer could become clear, but all she found was dead ends of what the future could hold, and all she could see was herself losing the battle. Many a path lead to nothing but as she searched she found one which lead to the past, to her origins, to something that might have been taken. She was reduced to nothing at this point, relying on the past to try and tell the future, and it was muddled and unclear. For days, she pondered over it within her (read Faeral’s) home, and as she started to drive herself mad from the constant banter in her head, it dawned on her the only source of real clarity that she had anymore was that of the one she viewed as a sibling. Yes, that was the solution, but how would she approach it…
Setting out, Erika made sure that she would be prepared to possibly never return, and for the first time in her life she held a form of regret if she didn’t. She would miss the man that she had come to know if she ended up failing, and while she didn’t know if he would miss her in the same way, as she didn’t bother to peer too much into his future to avoid ruining future experiences for herself, she held a small hope that he would. Perhaps it was her deepest insecurities that spoke to her telling her that he wouldn’t care, but it was a real worry within her mind. Was this what all that friendship stuff was about? What a horribly wonderful bother.
Her destination was where she foresaw her “sibling” going, to the edge of the earth to complete her powers. Sadly, for her Erika had foreseen something horrific if she didn’t stop it in time, and that meant that for the first-time Erika would feel both regret for another’s feelings towards her, and for potentially hurting one so innocent. It was strange, was she growing a heart after all this time and becoming kind? No, she still enjoyed the thoughts of ruining one’s life through manipulation, perhaps it was just towards those who held some value for. Regardless the trip would take her some time, but would be mostly uneventful, and while she could have gone their instantly, she wished to travel and see some sights before she committed herself to her small plan of action, it might be the last time she ever got to.
The air was dark despite being filled with a glorious magical light show. Atop a mountain within the far reaches of the world was a spot where time tore itself asunder. It was neither in the physical nor the spiritual, it was separate from all levels of continuity, which is why Erika had such clarity of the spot, it didn’t follow normal rules and thus allowed her to see through it without her normal restrictions or limitations. It was as if she peered into logic itself and came out with an understanding of madness. It wasn’t even her having a greater mind than others, but rather compatibility with it, though she worried if she had kept looking she would have been stricken with blindness. Regardless atop the snowy mountain Erika had seen her “sibling” Sharp conducting a ritual to attain her sense of true self, which in the end would destroy her if the premonitions were correct. Unknowing, yet knowing at the same time Erika arrived at the summit and peered at the small opening which held the center of the light. As if she was praying, Sharp was floating in the center of the light and her body was slowly shattering apart into the light. While the air felt incredibly peaceful to the point of wanting to just let all cares fly away, Erika’s heart burned with a rage that couldn’t be quenched. The energy felt so familiar and peaceful that she couldn’t help but begin to curse within her mind towards it. This energy, it felt like her father’s handy work. No doubt he had filled Sharp’s mind with visions of glory and now she was becoming that which he desired, either a perfect puppet or the conduit for him to obtain his desires. Erika hadn’t seen that far, yet she had and she knew it was bad, even if she didn’t know the exact answer.
“SHARP!”
No response.
It was probably no use, she couldn’t hear anything so that meant that Erika would have to get a bit violent. She hoped that Sharp could forgive her, even though Erika knew in her heart that Sharp would if she was made to understand. Perhaps that is why Sharp hadn’t listened to Erika before when she tried to warn her of their father, because Erika was just as overbearing. Realizing that her normal magic wouldn’t be strong enough to penetrate the vast power emanating from Sharp right now, Erika did that which she swore she would avoid. As her body twisted and turned from its small frame, Erika took on the form that she never wished to use, her true body, the body that she held as her closest secret, her true self, that of the dragon. Her majestic blue scales were made dull by her desires for power, her natural aura of power was made corrupt by her horrendous attitude, she knew that she was shameful to look upon as a dragon, a creature of legend, she was nothing more than a torn being which didn’t know it’s real purpose. While she could use the power to further her goals, what was the point when she didn’t know what it meant to truly be such a wondrous creature. She could blame her circumstances all she wanted, but it was her lack of drive to find out what it really meant to be a part of the most legendary of beasts that was the real cause of her shame. Fear of her own true abilities were what made her far weaker than she should have been, but all of that would have to stop now, if she didn’t conquer this small part of herself now then what hope did she have of winning the war against ambition?
Snow flew upwards from below her as wings struck the air and Erika began to hover. The addition of the pure white nearly blinded the area in an exotic mixture. Summoning up her courage Erika looked down upon Sharp and gathering a massive amount of power behind her talons, Erika slashed with reckless abandon at the energy, disposing it into the various dimensions that were torn from her claws contact. The disruption made the atmosphere turn from peaceful into a dark light that chilled the air with an unearthly power, which seemed to tear at the soul and leave nothing but dread in its wake. Eyes snapping wide awake, Sharp tilted her head to look at what was happening to her attempts to grow to completion. What Sharp saw wasn’t the warmth that she had hoped to feel but rather a dark presence that nearly crushed her underneath it’s weight. To Sharp’s surprise it wasn’t the dragon attacking her, but rather another, distant source, the light which was helping her seemed to encircle and try to swallow her entire being, she was being taken over and used as a portal for something, something….
With a loud crash the energy that penetrated the area was shattered in an instant, and the world began to distort, till the place on top of that mountain collapsed in on itself, the rush of emotions and power swirled into oblivion and the entire air in a second was overwhelmed and then calmed. Knocked away to the edge of the summit Erika in her true body lay weakened from the blast in a way that could only be described as to the core. That wasn’t just ordinary magic, it was designed to change from the inside, and the rupture of it caused her to experience all doubts, fears, passions, and loves at once. If Erika hadn’t managed to foresee potential tragedy, she might have died to herself right there and become nothing but a monster, but thankfully, just this once, she had gotten something right. Regressing into that of her more human body, Erika limped through the snow and attempted to sense Sharp. While it initially seemed hopeless like a heartbeat she felt a pulse of energy. As fast as her wounded body could carry her, Erika rushed towards the location and through the snowstorm that had erupted she saw it, Sharp;’s body pulsing in and out of reality. It was weak but there, she had managed to hang on but at what cost. With such a small amount of energy she would be dead in no time, Erika had been to late… at least that is what it seemed like. Erika wasn’t one to quit even if it meant she had to take measures that could be considered unforgivable…
The sterile steel and white atmosphere mixed with pulsing lights as Erika sat in her laboratory and attempted to stabilize Sharp’s shifting and weakened body. The blasted man had almost used her to tear open reality to another realm, a realm which held the final piece of the puzzle for him, a place which even Erika dared not enter. Filled with energy that even the gods could get drunk off, she shuttered to think what would have happened if he had managed to drink from it, would he have re written existence to fit his own means, or would he have merely left to form his own worlds, Erika didn’t wish to find out. Still, if Sharp ceased to function she feared that the man would get the final piece to the puzzle, he would get the last part needed, so she was racing against the clock and herself to find the solution. She wrestled with the idea of taking the power for herself, but she knew at the end of the day that despite her desire to protect Sharp, the two of them would never be compatible, Sharp was far too innocent and pure for Erika to properly host, but perhaps another would do just as well? Another that was out there in the world, someone that would never be found by the man who desired the forbidden power. For the first since she had made them, Erika called all the clones she had roaming around the world to return to the lab and using all their minds she would attempt to search for one in the world who would be the perfect fit for her struggling “sibling”.
Even with all her combined mental abilities, searching took days, and even then, it only came close never perfect. The situation was getting dire, if she didn’t do something soon the man that she despised would win and she would lose one of the few that she had ever shown kindness to, and the only one who understood what it was to grow up in the same environment. Never one to give up, Erika felt the creeping desires of her hubris in the back of head, yearning for her to never give up, to never stop fighting. To many this would be the motivation to keep working, but this was a fear for Erika, it was as if her powers of reality manipulation were being twisted and turned against her will, manifesting itself within the growing strength of her own subconscious. It was entirely possible, Erika still even with her powers didn’t know what all her “father” had done to her, she could very well be a vessel for him to control and this was the method which he had chosen. Wait… vessel, that was it! She knew that she wanted her to have a host, but what if she just simply took one of the close enough and made them into a vessel. She didn’t know if it was possible, but at the same time it was worth a shot. She would have to work around the clock to try and engineer this process, thankfully she could run multiple night shifts at once, a blessing that she had come to know courtesy of her father leaving a part of his lab vulnerable.
While Erika had found many different persons that seemed to almost fit the bill the problem was most of them were either long dead or alive. While Erika didn’t have a problem effectively killing someone and having the duplicate take their place (as she has so quite a bit in the past), Erika did have a problem in that eventually Sharp would recover and the one who she had rested within would be destroyed, that and if she picked just anyone it might be easy for their “father” to discover her, so it became far greater a problem then just sticking her into a body. It wasn’t until Erika discovered what would have previously been a dead end that she grew hopeful. The person that she had found was dead, in fact had been dead for a little while, but not dead long enough for her to lack the ability to extract some good old DNA and begin to act like a mad scientist. Of course, she could have just gone back in time to recover it, but let’s just ignore that plot point because her logic right now is obviously flawless. While, she would leave the clones to handle the preparation of the machines, Erika would travel off to the ancient tomb within the desert in search of the body.
The tomb was an easy affair, there were basic traps but nothing that Erika hadn’t seen coming, what gave her some trouble where the stupid skeletons that were incredibly annoying. She didn’t even want to kill them, because she knew that eventually they would kill someone, and then Erika would get to laugh at people dying to skeletons that were clearly a bit too fabulous. Regardless, as she arrived in the tomb, all the entombed were dead, which wasn’t surprising if one didn’t know the history of this place, as it was apparently a vampire clan of sorts that fought the dragons. Erika found it distasteful and cliché but she needed one of the bodies so she would swallow her desire to destroy everything in sight and instead picked open the second highest coffin. Unlike the others, this person was different, they weren’t the cliché blood suckers, but rather a special snowflake kind that seemed to devour time, clearly, they hadn’t taken enough before they went to sleep and so had passed away recently, but they were still fresh compared to the others, and the whole-time aspect made the body compatible with Erika’s own magic and abilities, and let her make it more convincing as to why she had lived. Dragging the body back with her, Erika made sure to start right away on the new form.
It took weeks, but the creation of the new body, and the addition of memories provided her with almost all the materials she needed, and not a moment too soon. While Erika had been pumping Sharp full of magical power taken from kids that worked in some of her textile factories, it wasn’t enough. If only Erika had a golden throne for Sharp to sit on, maybe she could have taken longer, but for now it would have to do. While the body that she had prepared for Sharp wasn’t as strong as it had originally been, at least it was functional and worked with Sharp’s current power level. The process was fast, but not easy. Moving all of Sharp’s magical power into the subconscious of another being which had just been artificially made destroyed quite a bit of Erika’s various machines around her lab, and pressed her reality straining powers to the brink, but the result was a new being, with a former paintjob. If all went well Sharp would slowly take over and have the power to resist their father, and now all Erika had to do was make sure that Sharp would be safe while she recovered, and that meant nowhere near Erika’s grasp. While it pained her to do it, she knew of a safe location, if not one that was run by an idealistic fool which valued preserving human life over winning or achieving personal goals. This meant that no matter what Sharp would be safe, but still Erika cringed at how goodie goodie she was, though at least her girlfriend was a bit more understandable, she had a hunger in her which grew to consume both her and her mate, and Erika could get behind that.
Arriving at the tomb once more Erika placed Sharp’s new host back within the casket and made sure to reset the traps once again, seriously the skeletons were annoying. Regardless she made sure to find an ancient enemy to attack the tomb and made sure to get the Pharaohs Call guild to respond to help them out, which ensured that Sharp would be safe, though she felt the others on the expedition would all die, but that only brought her a bit of amusement.
Returning to her lab, Erika began to feel some regret. She had sent the clones back to their respective positions around the world, and had succeeded in saving one of the few she cared about, and she had a pile of dead children in her basement, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy her. Erika began to feel that she could have used Sharp instead of just protecting her. It was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind, she could have manipulated her magical power to directly strike back at her father and very well kill him, she could have used it to power massive magical constructs with which to threaten the world, she could have done nearly anything with that power, but instead she didn’t do anything but save it. Her ego was hurt that she had chosen to save rather than use, and Erika felt it gnawing at the back of her mind till it nearly drove her mad. It was like a part of her had taken shape over the past few weeks and had been trying to take control over her body. Erika didn’t know why this was the case, but now she wished she hadn’t made fun of every deity in existence so she could pray to one of them to free her from this newfound pain. Sadly, all she could do was endure and try to figure out a cure for herself, as she didn’t dare to ask Faeral in case she showed weakness, and she had just put the only other one she liked talking too in a metaphysical state.
As the days progressed and Erika tried to focus on a solution, she began to lose daylight and found that her equipment was being destroyed when she was away in bed, which meant that someone was tormenting her, or this was a larger problem than she realized. Ever one to throw caution to the wind in place of her perfection, it was then that Erika realized something, all the pain, it wasn’t just induced from nothing, it had been foreshadowed in the beginning of this exam, she was being taken over by her own ego as the only thing that was perfect enough to harm her, was her own ego. She didn’t want to believe it was true, her Ego had been like the friend she could never make, perfect, but now, for some reason it was striking out towards her, to try and seize control of her body, and that couldn’t be allowed. Erika had to do something, but what could she do, this was a battle against herself, if it had become increasingly more of a person within her, then it probably shared her powers, she would have to kick it out of her somehow. To figure out how to reject it, she had to first figure out what had triggered it in the first place. While normally this would be described in detail, it needed only a simple explanation, Erika had been around Sharp for weeks, and Sharp’s main purpose was to bring out true emotions within those she was around, making her the ultimate empathizer, and that meant that Erika was having a schism of her desire to do good and her desire to do evil. Don’t misunderstand, Erika’s good side would still drown a puppy, but at least it wouldn’t also burn it afterwards, and that is what made it less than perfect and why it had to be eliminated, to be perfect one had to do things correctly, not just too far for shock value; wait shock value that was it.
Erika couldn’t beat herself but she could shock herself out of herself. Confused yet? Well you aren’t perfect enough to understand her logic then. Her reality powers would come in handy here, all she had to do was focus on all possible future that involved her and her not being her and grab them into this continuity making it true to this timeline which was all that mattered now. Thankfully as the personality was currently submissive compared to Erika proper, the process was simple to grab, but the rest of it well…
Let’s just say Erika needs a new lab.
The shattering of timelines and the meshing of reality created a rift within the space below the ground and crushed all of it into a crater, and thrust her and her to the location where time had been destroyed, where Sharp had been recovered, the top of the snowy mountain. It wasn’t an easy landing, even on the soft snow, and Erika felt an extreme feeling of emptiness as she looked around to try and find herself. Nearby she found another figure also standing up from within the snow and looking around confused, till the two of them made eye contact with each other and knew nothing but animosity. Getting up, both moved with the same swagger, they both had the same purposed look in their eye and they both spoke at the same time.
“So, you are the me that isn’t me? How dare you try and take over what rightfully belonged to me in the first place, get out of my sight before I eliminate you from this and all other Earth lands in the known Multiverse!”
And with that the two left on terrible terms, but what did you expect from two strong personalities and ego’s which were stuck up on a mountain in the middle of nowhere. While abrupt this brought about the change that Erika had desired, and would allow her to concentrate on her plans fully, allowing for no misstep on the road to her inevitable conquest of… well at this point it was probably herself. Even though she had done a sort of split already she knew that this would just be the beginning of it all, she’d have to finally confront that which was looming over her, she would have to confront her father proper next time. Picking up a couple of rocks and tossing them off of the mountain, Erika sighed, this was not going to be easy…
Ever determined however, the girl faced the real possibility of losing to her own ego in a battle of self-inflicted torture, to become the idealistic version of what she perceived to be perfection, it was driving her insane. To become the ultimate life form in the entire universe, to overcome any god that tried to rule over her, to become the author of the next chapter of human history, she desired these things, and none of them seemed to come true no matter how many strings she pulled in the background. Day after day the girl who have people from all occupations bend to her whim whether they knew it or not, she moved nations funds, took villages over from the inside, made countries move to war with one another, but all of it wasn’t enough. To control so much but still have so little power, to feel so empty, it was unbearable. While she had another in her life to let the emptiness be relieved, at the same time even he wasn’t enough. It wasn’t good enough to just be average, to be behind the shadows, she had a lust for power that only a madman would understand. Perhaps it was her instincts that compelled her to become stronger and grow in power, or maybe it was just her own machinations that drove her towards the unending goal of ruling all that is and all that would be. She tried to claim it was her birthright within her mind, she tried to claim that it was her own lusts that were driving her, but she knew not why she desired such a level of perfection. She had made the comments about her being perfect and always right, and while she had a level of foresight that many would dream of possessing she wasn’t right all the time, clarity wasn’t there at times. There were too many strands to observe, too many imperfections that could accompany her, she just wasn’t… whole.
Whole was a good word for what she was missing. It wasn’t good enough to be stronger if one lacked a foundation from which to build, a foundation that many would never find. She was determined to be the exception to the normal, to break all the boundaries that one could expect to hold, but how? She would have to do some searching, she would need to find what was missing without becoming a slave to herself. She didn’t know where to look at first, she viewed all the strands of time that she could, looked for the signs, locked her true self away until the answer could become clear, but all she found was dead ends of what the future could hold, and all she could see was herself losing the battle. Many a path lead to nothing but as she searched she found one which lead to the past, to her origins, to something that might have been taken. She was reduced to nothing at this point, relying on the past to try and tell the future, and it was muddled and unclear. For days, she pondered over it within her (read Faeral’s) home, and as she started to drive herself mad from the constant banter in her head, it dawned on her the only source of real clarity that she had anymore was that of the one she viewed as a sibling. Yes, that was the solution, but how would she approach it…
Setting out, Erika made sure that she would be prepared to possibly never return, and for the first time in her life she held a form of regret if she didn’t. She would miss the man that she had come to know if she ended up failing, and while she didn’t know if he would miss her in the same way, as she didn’t bother to peer too much into his future to avoid ruining future experiences for herself, she held a small hope that he would. Perhaps it was her deepest insecurities that spoke to her telling her that he wouldn’t care, but it was a real worry within her mind. Was this what all that friendship stuff was about? What a horribly wonderful bother.
Her destination was where she foresaw her “sibling” going, to the edge of the earth to complete her powers. Sadly, for her Erika had foreseen something horrific if she didn’t stop it in time, and that meant that for the first-time Erika would feel both regret for another’s feelings towards her, and for potentially hurting one so innocent. It was strange, was she growing a heart after all this time and becoming kind? No, she still enjoyed the thoughts of ruining one’s life through manipulation, perhaps it was just towards those who held some value for. Regardless the trip would take her some time, but would be mostly uneventful, and while she could have gone their instantly, she wished to travel and see some sights before she committed herself to her small plan of action, it might be the last time she ever got to.
The air was dark despite being filled with a glorious magical light show. Atop a mountain within the far reaches of the world was a spot where time tore itself asunder. It was neither in the physical nor the spiritual, it was separate from all levels of continuity, which is why Erika had such clarity of the spot, it didn’t follow normal rules and thus allowed her to see through it without her normal restrictions or limitations. It was as if she peered into logic itself and came out with an understanding of madness. It wasn’t even her having a greater mind than others, but rather compatibility with it, though she worried if she had kept looking she would have been stricken with blindness. Regardless atop the snowy mountain Erika had seen her “sibling” Sharp conducting a ritual to attain her sense of true self, which in the end would destroy her if the premonitions were correct. Unknowing, yet knowing at the same time Erika arrived at the summit and peered at the small opening which held the center of the light. As if she was praying, Sharp was floating in the center of the light and her body was slowly shattering apart into the light. While the air felt incredibly peaceful to the point of wanting to just let all cares fly away, Erika’s heart burned with a rage that couldn’t be quenched. The energy felt so familiar and peaceful that she couldn’t help but begin to curse within her mind towards it. This energy, it felt like her father’s handy work. No doubt he had filled Sharp’s mind with visions of glory and now she was becoming that which he desired, either a perfect puppet or the conduit for him to obtain his desires. Erika hadn’t seen that far, yet she had and she knew it was bad, even if she didn’t know the exact answer.
“SHARP!”
No response.
It was probably no use, she couldn’t hear anything so that meant that Erika would have to get a bit violent. She hoped that Sharp could forgive her, even though Erika knew in her heart that Sharp would if she was made to understand. Perhaps that is why Sharp hadn’t listened to Erika before when she tried to warn her of their father, because Erika was just as overbearing. Realizing that her normal magic wouldn’t be strong enough to penetrate the vast power emanating from Sharp right now, Erika did that which she swore she would avoid. As her body twisted and turned from its small frame, Erika took on the form that she never wished to use, her true body, the body that she held as her closest secret, her true self, that of the dragon. Her majestic blue scales were made dull by her desires for power, her natural aura of power was made corrupt by her horrendous attitude, she knew that she was shameful to look upon as a dragon, a creature of legend, she was nothing more than a torn being which didn’t know it’s real purpose. While she could use the power to further her goals, what was the point when she didn’t know what it meant to truly be such a wondrous creature. She could blame her circumstances all she wanted, but it was her lack of drive to find out what it really meant to be a part of the most legendary of beasts that was the real cause of her shame. Fear of her own true abilities were what made her far weaker than she should have been, but all of that would have to stop now, if she didn’t conquer this small part of herself now then what hope did she have of winning the war against ambition?
Snow flew upwards from below her as wings struck the air and Erika began to hover. The addition of the pure white nearly blinded the area in an exotic mixture. Summoning up her courage Erika looked down upon Sharp and gathering a massive amount of power behind her talons, Erika slashed with reckless abandon at the energy, disposing it into the various dimensions that were torn from her claws contact. The disruption made the atmosphere turn from peaceful into a dark light that chilled the air with an unearthly power, which seemed to tear at the soul and leave nothing but dread in its wake. Eyes snapping wide awake, Sharp tilted her head to look at what was happening to her attempts to grow to completion. What Sharp saw wasn’t the warmth that she had hoped to feel but rather a dark presence that nearly crushed her underneath it’s weight. To Sharp’s surprise it wasn’t the dragon attacking her, but rather another, distant source, the light which was helping her seemed to encircle and try to swallow her entire being, she was being taken over and used as a portal for something, something….
With a loud crash the energy that penetrated the area was shattered in an instant, and the world began to distort, till the place on top of that mountain collapsed in on itself, the rush of emotions and power swirled into oblivion and the entire air in a second was overwhelmed and then calmed. Knocked away to the edge of the summit Erika in her true body lay weakened from the blast in a way that could only be described as to the core. That wasn’t just ordinary magic, it was designed to change from the inside, and the rupture of it caused her to experience all doubts, fears, passions, and loves at once. If Erika hadn’t managed to foresee potential tragedy, she might have died to herself right there and become nothing but a monster, but thankfully, just this once, she had gotten something right. Regressing into that of her more human body, Erika limped through the snow and attempted to sense Sharp. While it initially seemed hopeless like a heartbeat she felt a pulse of energy. As fast as her wounded body could carry her, Erika rushed towards the location and through the snowstorm that had erupted she saw it, Sharp;’s body pulsing in and out of reality. It was weak but there, she had managed to hang on but at what cost. With such a small amount of energy she would be dead in no time, Erika had been to late… at least that is what it seemed like. Erika wasn’t one to quit even if it meant she had to take measures that could be considered unforgivable…
The sterile steel and white atmosphere mixed with pulsing lights as Erika sat in her laboratory and attempted to stabilize Sharp’s shifting and weakened body. The blasted man had almost used her to tear open reality to another realm, a realm which held the final piece of the puzzle for him, a place which even Erika dared not enter. Filled with energy that even the gods could get drunk off, she shuttered to think what would have happened if he had managed to drink from it, would he have re written existence to fit his own means, or would he have merely left to form his own worlds, Erika didn’t wish to find out. Still, if Sharp ceased to function she feared that the man would get the final piece to the puzzle, he would get the last part needed, so she was racing against the clock and herself to find the solution. She wrestled with the idea of taking the power for herself, but she knew at the end of the day that despite her desire to protect Sharp, the two of them would never be compatible, Sharp was far too innocent and pure for Erika to properly host, but perhaps another would do just as well? Another that was out there in the world, someone that would never be found by the man who desired the forbidden power. For the first since she had made them, Erika called all the clones she had roaming around the world to return to the lab and using all their minds she would attempt to search for one in the world who would be the perfect fit for her struggling “sibling”.
Even with all her combined mental abilities, searching took days, and even then, it only came close never perfect. The situation was getting dire, if she didn’t do something soon the man that she despised would win and she would lose one of the few that she had ever shown kindness to, and the only one who understood what it was to grow up in the same environment. Never one to give up, Erika felt the creeping desires of her hubris in the back of head, yearning for her to never give up, to never stop fighting. To many this would be the motivation to keep working, but this was a fear for Erika, it was as if her powers of reality manipulation were being twisted and turned against her will, manifesting itself within the growing strength of her own subconscious. It was entirely possible, Erika still even with her powers didn’t know what all her “father” had done to her, she could very well be a vessel for him to control and this was the method which he had chosen. Wait… vessel, that was it! She knew that she wanted her to have a host, but what if she just simply took one of the close enough and made them into a vessel. She didn’t know if it was possible, but at the same time it was worth a shot. She would have to work around the clock to try and engineer this process, thankfully she could run multiple night shifts at once, a blessing that she had come to know courtesy of her father leaving a part of his lab vulnerable.
While Erika had found many different persons that seemed to almost fit the bill the problem was most of them were either long dead or alive. While Erika didn’t have a problem effectively killing someone and having the duplicate take their place (as she has so quite a bit in the past), Erika did have a problem in that eventually Sharp would recover and the one who she had rested within would be destroyed, that and if she picked just anyone it might be easy for their “father” to discover her, so it became far greater a problem then just sticking her into a body. It wasn’t until Erika discovered what would have previously been a dead end that she grew hopeful. The person that she had found was dead, in fact had been dead for a little while, but not dead long enough for her to lack the ability to extract some good old DNA and begin to act like a mad scientist. Of course, she could have just gone back in time to recover it, but let’s just ignore that plot point because her logic right now is obviously flawless. While, she would leave the clones to handle the preparation of the machines, Erika would travel off to the ancient tomb within the desert in search of the body.
The tomb was an easy affair, there were basic traps but nothing that Erika hadn’t seen coming, what gave her some trouble where the stupid skeletons that were incredibly annoying. She didn’t even want to kill them, because she knew that eventually they would kill someone, and then Erika would get to laugh at people dying to skeletons that were clearly a bit too fabulous. Regardless, as she arrived in the tomb, all the entombed were dead, which wasn’t surprising if one didn’t know the history of this place, as it was apparently a vampire clan of sorts that fought the dragons. Erika found it distasteful and cliché but she needed one of the bodies so she would swallow her desire to destroy everything in sight and instead picked open the second highest coffin. Unlike the others, this person was different, they weren’t the cliché blood suckers, but rather a special snowflake kind that seemed to devour time, clearly, they hadn’t taken enough before they went to sleep and so had passed away recently, but they were still fresh compared to the others, and the whole-time aspect made the body compatible with Erika’s own magic and abilities, and let her make it more convincing as to why she had lived. Dragging the body back with her, Erika made sure to start right away on the new form.
It took weeks, but the creation of the new body, and the addition of memories provided her with almost all the materials she needed, and not a moment too soon. While Erika had been pumping Sharp full of magical power taken from kids that worked in some of her textile factories, it wasn’t enough. If only Erika had a golden throne for Sharp to sit on, maybe she could have taken longer, but for now it would have to do. While the body that she had prepared for Sharp wasn’t as strong as it had originally been, at least it was functional and worked with Sharp’s current power level. The process was fast, but not easy. Moving all of Sharp’s magical power into the subconscious of another being which had just been artificially made destroyed quite a bit of Erika’s various machines around her lab, and pressed her reality straining powers to the brink, but the result was a new being, with a former paintjob. If all went well Sharp would slowly take over and have the power to resist their father, and now all Erika had to do was make sure that Sharp would be safe while she recovered, and that meant nowhere near Erika’s grasp. While it pained her to do it, she knew of a safe location, if not one that was run by an idealistic fool which valued preserving human life over winning or achieving personal goals. This meant that no matter what Sharp would be safe, but still Erika cringed at how goodie goodie she was, though at least her girlfriend was a bit more understandable, she had a hunger in her which grew to consume both her and her mate, and Erika could get behind that.
Arriving at the tomb once more Erika placed Sharp’s new host back within the casket and made sure to reset the traps once again, seriously the skeletons were annoying. Regardless she made sure to find an ancient enemy to attack the tomb and made sure to get the Pharaohs Call guild to respond to help them out, which ensured that Sharp would be safe, though she felt the others on the expedition would all die, but that only brought her a bit of amusement.
Returning to her lab, Erika began to feel some regret. She had sent the clones back to their respective positions around the world, and had succeeded in saving one of the few she cared about, and she had a pile of dead children in her basement, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy her. Erika began to feel that she could have used Sharp instead of just protecting her. It was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind, she could have manipulated her magical power to directly strike back at her father and very well kill him, she could have used it to power massive magical constructs with which to threaten the world, she could have done nearly anything with that power, but instead she didn’t do anything but save it. Her ego was hurt that she had chosen to save rather than use, and Erika felt it gnawing at the back of her mind till it nearly drove her mad. It was like a part of her had taken shape over the past few weeks and had been trying to take control over her body. Erika didn’t know why this was the case, but now she wished she hadn’t made fun of every deity in existence so she could pray to one of them to free her from this newfound pain. Sadly, all she could do was endure and try to figure out a cure for herself, as she didn’t dare to ask Faeral in case she showed weakness, and she had just put the only other one she liked talking too in a metaphysical state.
As the days progressed and Erika tried to focus on a solution, she began to lose daylight and found that her equipment was being destroyed when she was away in bed, which meant that someone was tormenting her, or this was a larger problem than she realized. Ever one to throw caution to the wind in place of her perfection, it was then that Erika realized something, all the pain, it wasn’t just induced from nothing, it had been foreshadowed in the beginning of this exam, she was being taken over by her own ego as the only thing that was perfect enough to harm her, was her own ego. She didn’t want to believe it was true, her Ego had been like the friend she could never make, perfect, but now, for some reason it was striking out towards her, to try and seize control of her body, and that couldn’t be allowed. Erika had to do something, but what could she do, this was a battle against herself, if it had become increasingly more of a person within her, then it probably shared her powers, she would have to kick it out of her somehow. To figure out how to reject it, she had to first figure out what had triggered it in the first place. While normally this would be described in detail, it needed only a simple explanation, Erika had been around Sharp for weeks, and Sharp’s main purpose was to bring out true emotions within those she was around, making her the ultimate empathizer, and that meant that Erika was having a schism of her desire to do good and her desire to do evil. Don’t misunderstand, Erika’s good side would still drown a puppy, but at least it wouldn’t also burn it afterwards, and that is what made it less than perfect and why it had to be eliminated, to be perfect one had to do things correctly, not just too far for shock value; wait shock value that was it.
Erika couldn’t beat herself but she could shock herself out of herself. Confused yet? Well you aren’t perfect enough to understand her logic then. Her reality powers would come in handy here, all she had to do was focus on all possible future that involved her and her not being her and grab them into this continuity making it true to this timeline which was all that mattered now. Thankfully as the personality was currently submissive compared to Erika proper, the process was simple to grab, but the rest of it well…
Let’s just say Erika needs a new lab.
The shattering of timelines and the meshing of reality created a rift within the space below the ground and crushed all of it into a crater, and thrust her and her to the location where time had been destroyed, where Sharp had been recovered, the top of the snowy mountain. It wasn’t an easy landing, even on the soft snow, and Erika felt an extreme feeling of emptiness as she looked around to try and find herself. Nearby she found another figure also standing up from within the snow and looking around confused, till the two of them made eye contact with each other and knew nothing but animosity. Getting up, both moved with the same swagger, they both had the same purposed look in their eye and they both spoke at the same time.
“So, you are the me that isn’t me? How dare you try and take over what rightfully belonged to me in the first place, get out of my sight before I eliminate you from this and all other Earth lands in the known Multiverse!”
And with that the two left on terrible terms, but what did you expect from two strong personalities and ego’s which were stuck up on a mountain in the middle of nowhere. While abrupt this brought about the change that Erika had desired, and would allow her to concentrate on her plans fully, allowing for no misstep on the road to her inevitable conquest of… well at this point it was probably herself. Even though she had done a sort of split already she knew that this would just be the beginning of it all, she’d have to finally confront that which was looming over her, she would have to confront her father proper next time. Picking up a couple of rocks and tossing them off of the mountain, Erika sighed, this was not going to be easy…
