Chapter Text
The Warrior of Light, Wuk Lamat, Krile and G’raha Tia watched as the already half-crumbled world around them flickered and glimmered, until all that was left was blue and weird symbols surrounding them.
“Sphene!” Wuk Lamat yelled as she ran forward on the platform that was graciously there for them. They all followed and looked up, where the Queen of Alexandria was floating, her head down as if in slumber. “Sphene, listen to me! Please!”
As the Warrior of Light approached the Dawnservant, she observed their surroundings. She recognized the colour and symbols around them, the way they slithered and hummed. It had been everywhere from the previous memory of Sphene, as it had taken this appearance wherever and whenever a memory was faulted, or erased.
“I’m afraid she’s gone,” Krile tried, but Wuk Lamat shook her head.
“No, she still has to be there, somewhere,” she tried.
“Wuk Lamat,” the Warrior of Light said, still looking around. “We have been traveling through Sphene’s memories, and as she has erased them, all these symbols around us would appear. As that is all there is left, I think-“
[S̸y̵nc̷ro̸n̴i̵zatio̸n̴ ̷w̴i̸l̴l ̵s̷o̷o̶n̴ ̵b̵e̸ ̶c̵o̴m̷pl̷ete̵.̷]
Everyone jumped back a bit at the distorted voice that was an imitation, or mockery, of Sphene. They looked over at the body, but the voice came from everywhere.
Then, Sphene looked up, her eyes looking nowhere before she, too, disappeared in blue symbols. Replacing her presence was a giant monstrocity of what looked like gold and chromium, green-yellow light pulsing everywhere. The creature had multiple arms, as well as a bit wheel behind it that was moving constantly.
[S̴y̸nch̴r̶oniza̴t̷io̴n̵ ̶co̷mpl̵e̶te̶.̸] The voice said, and they all realice that it had come from the thing. [D̴a̴t̶a̶ ̶f̵o̸r̵ ̸t̷h̷e̸ ̴E̴n̶d̵l̸e̵s̵s̵ ̸“̴S̴phe̸ne̴”̵h̵a̸s̵ ̵b̸e̸e̴n̷ ̸o̵v̵e̶rwr̸itt̷e̷n̵ ̵a̶n̵d̸ ̵r̷e̷c̶onfigu̷re̷d̸. A̷ll s̵h̶a̶ll ̵b̴e̸ w̶e̵l̶l̴, h̶en̷cefo̴rt̶h ̶an̵d̶ ̷i̷n̴ ̸p̷er̴pet̶uity̶.]
“What in the-” the Warrior mumbled, but the machine kept going.
[Ӻꝋɍēꝟēɍ ⱳīłł Ī ҟēēꝑ ⱥꞥđ ȼħēɍīꞩħ ᵯɏ ꝑēꝋꝑłē. Ⱦo ⱦħⱥⱦ ēꞥđ, Ī ħⱥꝟē ɍēᵯꝋꝟēđ ⱦħē ɍēᵯⱥīꞥīꞥꞡ ȼħēȼҟꞩ ᵾꝑꝋꞥ ᵯɏ ⱥᵾⱦħꝋɍīⱦɏ..̴]
“Watch out, that never means anything good,” the Warrior warned, her codex in her hand when the machine raised her – its – arms. It was Krile’s yell of surprise that had her turn to around and see that her companions were caught up in weird boxes of some sort of material.
[Ꝋƀꞩⱦɍᵾȼⱦīꝋꞥꞩ ⱦꝋ ⱦħē ꝑłⱥꞥ ⱳīłł ƀē ꞩᵾᵯᵯⱥɍīłɏ ɍēᵯꝋꝟēđ.]
Glass, she might have guessed once, but there was obviously something off about it. Almost forgetting her book, she ran over to hit G’raha Tia’s box to hopefully free him, but the box disappeared, with him in it. She yelled out his name, then she saw that Krile disappeared before she could reach for her.
“Wait!” Wuk Lamat screamed as she banged onto the weird glass box. “I still haven’t said-!”
[Ƀēꞡꝋꞥē ӻɍꝋᵯ ᵯɏ ꝑɍēꞩēꞥȼē,] was all the machine said. Wuk Lamat looked over to the Warrior of Light, her eyes a storm of distress and pleading. For help, for Sphene to listen, for the Warrior of Light to somehow fix it all at the last second, like she always did.
Then, she too disappeared.
The Warrior swirled to face the machine, lifting her lips to show her gritted teeth. “What did you do to them?” she yelled up. In the Meso Terminal, she could not sense their presence anymore. IT could be what happened to the souls when they were killed, but she clung to the possibility that they were not. As much as she might hate Sphene and did believe this presence’s claim that she was erased, she had to hope against hope that she would not have killed Wuk Lamat so unceremoniously.
[Ⱥȼȼꝋɍđīꞥꞡ ⱦꝋ Ɇłīᵯīꞥⱥⱦꝋɍ’ꞩ ƀⱥⱦⱦłē đⱥⱦⱥ, ɏꝋᵾ ꝑꝋꞩē ⱦħē ꞩīꞥꞡłē ꞡɍēⱥⱦēꞩⱦ ⱦħɍēⱥⱦ. Ⱥꞩ ꞩᵾȼħ, ɏꝋᵾ ⱳīłł ƀē đīꞩⱥƀłēđ ħēɍē ⱥꞥđ ꞥꝋⱳ.]
She looked at the monstrosity’s belly, where a smaller figure resembling a whoman was placed. Its hands were raised, as if shackled, though it became instead one with the rest of the machine. Was that what Sphene had felt like, with her wish to preserve her Alexandria but being shackled by the real Sphene’s morals from her memories? Or was it what the machine had done to Sphene, shackling her to follow this invasive plan of hers?
The Warrior closed her eyes for a moment, thinking of what Sphene had declared.
“I am the bearer of the memories of Queen Sphene of Alexandria, and my desire to protect my people transcends all others!”
She had said this, and the Warrior of Light had no doubt she had meant it; she too had overruled other desires to protect her family and friends, after all.
“If it were you, could you have found another way? With your strength, could you have held fast to that which is dear without sacrifice?”
She liked to think she would, if only from how she had managed to get her daughter back from their clutches without death. Even before then, she had sent the Scions away from the Endsinger, relying on their hopes and prayers to defeat the nihilistic monster herself. She used to call herself a realist, that she knew the demands of war. Yet she also had many moments where she wanted to cuss reality and find a hidden path that did not demand sacrifices. Often she had managed, and she hoped she would keep doing so.
“Listen to me. There’s something that I need to tell you…”
What was worse, someone like Varis zos Galvus who ignored any opposition because he genuinely believed his might was right, or Sphene, who knew what she was doing was wrong, that her people were comparatively small compared to the rest of the world, and felt terrible about the idea of sacrificing anyone, yet did it anyway? Could they even be compared?
She still remembered the chilling chuckle she let out when the Warrior had voiced her suspicion at their first meeting.
“Is that concern? Or suspicion? If things should take a turn for the worse…”
Might she count on her aid. That was what she had asked. The Warrior of Light had not answered at the time, but here they were. Things had indeed taken a turn for the worse, but they were on opposite sides of the conflict. Perhaps that was what Sphene had referred to, rather than her role as a distressed consort of Zoraal Ja?
Nevertheless, the Warrior of Light knew what she had to do, and so she opened her eyes and glared at the machine.
“I am shutting you down,” she declared. The machine did not hesitate to reply.
[Ꝋƀꞩⱦɍᵾȼⱦīꝋꞥꞩ ⱦꝋ ⱦħē ꝑłⱥꞥ ⱳīłł ᵯē ꞩᵾᵯᵯⱥɍīłɏ ɍēᵯꝋꝟēđ]
The Warrior of Light noticed how the sandglass-shaped key was summoned and floated in front of the machine’s forehead, and made a mental note to herself that she would retrieve it as soon as the monstrosity was distracted.
She brought out Azem's crystal, tightening the grip as she concentrated on its magic spell, the way its magnifying aether would strengthen her own and summon power to fight with her. She felt the glyph beneath her spread out, and light pouring out from its seven gates.
However, just as suddenly, the lights evaporated.
"What?" she gasped, looking as the glyph she stood on broke and became aether that went away, up toward the giant creature that Sphene had become, and into the key.
The Warrior of Light's skin went pale and she almost felt herself fall cold as she saw a symbol shine on top of the key. She had seen the symbol on the crystal.
It was Azem's Convocation symbol.
"What…" she whispered to herself, and watched as the key and symbol went into what remained of Sphene, making it glow in the same colourful power, and even she who seldom bothered with aether sensing could feel the way the creature had grown significantly in power.
The machine must have found it in itself to explain for the Warrior.
[S̷inc̵e T̸ul̵iy̸olla̴l, I̵ sa̵w ̵and r̷ecog̴niz̶ed̵ y̵ou̷r a̷bun̵d̷a̵nc̷e o̶f li̷fe f̵or̵ce̴ an̸d ae̶th̴e̴r̷,] the creature that was once Sphene said, its words echoing in the nothingness of the place. [With̶ ̵y̷our̵ ̵so̴ul in my dom̸ain̸, I ̷w̵ill make̴ ̴u̶se o̸f y̷ou̵r a̶ethe̴r̴ a̴n̵d l̶i̵f̵e f̵o̶rce t̷o str̷ength̷e̶n m̴e̵ fo̶r t̶h̵e̵ pla̶n̸.]
The Warrior of Light could no nothing but look down at her crystal, but did not dare to try again, seeing as the aether now oozing from the monstrosity was of the same kind as what came from Azem’s crystal. Instead, she concentrated on her other soul crystals, to change into a more offensive garb and weapon rather than that of the Scholar.
However, she had never really thought about how even summoning garbs and memories of abilities from the crystals required even the tiniest of aether, and the Warrior of Light realized that even that was being absorbed now into the machine.
Sphene's remains leaned over her.
[R̸ej̵oi̴c̷e̶, fo̷r ̴you̸r l̶i̶f̶e̵ sh̶a̶l̷l p̴o̸w̴e̵r t̴h̴e E̸n̷d̵le̷ss o̵f̵ A̷l̵e̴x̶a̵n̴dr̷ia i̶n̴ ̵p̴e̵r̵p̷et̷uity̶.]
The Warrior of Light barely had the wits to jump away as one of its hands came to grip her. With the little time she had before another hand came for her, she looked at where the key with Azem's symbol had entered the creature.
"…WHAT?"