Shattered Moonstone

Isirtila lay unmoving on the cold floor, now that she finally had a moment to think, she found herself simply more confused. She was thankful the Hero had covered her though she was confused as to why one would bother unless he believed her to already be dead, no why would you lay a corpse down so gently if you thought it dead? Not to mention the amount of mana I pulled out of him, there is no way he doesn’t know I am still alive and what happened to the other one that was with him? She could feel for distinct mana signatures but even if she could understand the language of this world, she wouldn't be able to make out what they were saying from this distance. Whatever that other one was, it clearly wasn't one of my sisters, but what was it then? It spoke our language? But why would a demon be traveling with a hero?

               Everything she knew about heroes were stories from her sisters or her mistress, and none of them were good at that. They were always described as overly violent, powerful, and unpredictable individuals that more often than not had been brainwashed by the gods of a world. She was always warned to avoid them at all cost given that demons of any kind were typically unwelcome on any world, yet if that were true why was she not dead already.

               “Hello?” A small voice pulled her back from her thoughts as her body jerked.

               It's the young one again! How did it get so close to me without me noticing? Isirtila thought focusing on her mana sense but still unable to feel anything from the voice beside her.

               “Are you ignoring me?” The voice called as it seemed to circle her.

               Just what is it? she could feel everyone else in the room. The hero with flame magic, an ice mage, an illusionist, the very rare barrier mana, yet she could not feel anything from this voice that was clearly right beside her.

               “Did they break your ears too?” She could feel a small hand on her head as if someone was inspecting her. Much to Isirtila surprise she couldn't feel any mana from the hand at all.

               It simply doesn't have any mana at all! But is that even possible? She racked her brain for an answer, as far as she knew every living thing had at least some mana. Even non-living things had traces of mana in them. Yet this small hand that was currently pulling on her ear she could feel nothing from. “I can hear fine.” She finally replied, “what do you want, creature?” She asked as she attempted to pull away from the small hand.

               “I am not a creature. I am Hecatolite Lapidary.” It replied as it released her ear. “But I forgive you, having no eyes and all.”

               “I don't need your forgiveness.” Isirtila replied, she had little patience for games at this point. weeks of torture, followed by the emotional stress of a possible release now to be stuck here with a strange creature and a hero. “If you're going to kill me, I ask that you get on with it.”

“Kill you? Why would I do that?” It asked as it started to rub her head, a very strange calming sensation washed over her as her body relaxed.

“You kill me? you couldn’t, I'm a demon.” Isirtila replied, “He’s a hero however, he could. Why would you keep me alive?” She couldn't help but lean into the gentle hand that was running through her hair, even though she knew there was no way a hero would allow a demon to live the small act still warmed her heart. “heros… heros kill demons, they always kill demons.”

Hecatolite paused for a moment, thinking of how to reply as she petted the succubus's hair. Wow her hair is so soft. And silky… wait no, i need to tell her there are no heroes here. but if i use everyone's names in Solarsol it will sound confusing. “There are no heroes here. Just us, me, mom, dad, sister, and….” There was a pause as the voice changed to another language followed by a boisterous laugh, before it continued. “Hans, and he says he isn't a hero either so… He may be lying… Nyaa Hans is a good guy. He wouldn't lie.”

“That… that large man… with the fire magic.” Her mind nearly stopped as she tried to think, it used titles for 3 of them, that one that’s not related to it must be the hero then. “That Hans, must be a hero then. I felt his mana when he carried me.”

“Hans didn't carry you…Alastair did… Could Hans be our dad… That would explain why we are so small compared to everyone else…” The voice trailed off for what felt like minutes before it finally spoke up. “No, wait, if the one with fire magic carried you that has to be Alastair, if that's the case then he is our dad, so dad carried you, his name is Alastair.'' The voice finally finished, though Isirtila found herself even more confused on who was who and how it had concluded that this Alastar was its father through all of that.

“Wait, that doesn't make sense.” Isirtila shook her head, if what this creature just said than her father is a hero. How then is it possible she has no mana itself? “That man, with the fire mana, is your father?”

“Yes, he's a big guy but he's really nice. Wait… I feel as if I’m getting off track… mom’s glaring at me… oh yes, we can do introductions later, before that I need to ask you some stuff ok?” Hecatolite realized everyone seemed to be getting restless, Taaffeite even unable to understand what was being said could tell that she had gotten distracted from the goal.

“I can't exactly say no, can I?” Isirtila replied realizing she was not going to get to the bottom of this mana problem any time soon.

“So first of all,” there was another pause while Hecatolite confirmed with the family what needed to be asked again. “Do you specifically need mana to eat? Or can you use any type of power, like aether.” Its voice sounded stiff as if it was reading.

“Aether… like the power of a god?” Isirtila asked, her mistress' words coming to her mind as she remembered what aether was. “Are you asking if I can eat a god?”

“Oh! Can you do that? What about goats?” The voice became excited as she heard what sounded like a stone hitting the floor.

               Isirtila sighed, “I can eat regular food if that's what you're asking. But I need mana to survive, I don't know if I can consume aether as gods don't normally just give it out you know. Even my mistress doesn't give us her power freely. I have been blessed with a small amount of aether in the past, and I don't see why I couldn't use it to survive.” Isirtila had been taught what aether was growing up, and known it is a scarce thing in the mortal worlds. “Are you a follower of some god who wishes to make a deal with me?”

               “No” the voice seemed to snap as the calming feeling suddenly vanished. “I need to burn off a lot of aether. Like a lot of it, and often. So, I'll just ask, how much power can you actually eat?”

               Isirtila couldn't help but laugh, “you want me to believe that you… you're a god!” It became clear why a hero would let this powerless child into its group. “You have to be insane. You know gods can’t be in a mortal world!”

There was an exasperated sigh as the voice seemed to wait for Isirtila to stop laughing before it continued. “If you're done,” it said as the calming feeling seemed to reassert itself causing Isirtila laughing fit to subside.        

Why do I feel calm all of a sudden? Are one of the others casting a spell… No, I don't feel any mana fluctuations… Maybe trauma has gone to my head?

“Ok this is getting us nowhere. I’m going to heal you now.” The voice seemed to grunt as she heard shuffling next to her. “Then we can talk about what you want to do.”

“Why would you heal me? How are you going to heal me?” Isirtila asked, another fit of laughter taking her. “Are you going to use your god magic?”

This world has… I should have just stayed by my mistress' side. first tortured, beaten and now mocked by a hero’s mascot. This is just too rich, too bad I don't think I will get to share this with my sisters. I bet they would…. her thoughts were cut short by a thunderclap above her head. What was that!

Another voice, clearly different than any of the others called out in demonic. “Hecatolite, I must inform you that this is one of those bad ideas.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that? Just show me the stupid spell again.” Hecatolite said as Isirtila heard the other four in the room rush around them.

“Because, at this moment you would not break this terminal,” The voice said as the influx of mana around Isirtila suddenly spiked to an almost suffocating amount. “You have yet to ascertain any of the data that Matriarch Taaffeite and Alexa requested aside from its ability to possibly “eat” aether.”

“Shows what you know.” There was a loud crashing sound followed by another thunderclap.

What… What are they doing? Isirtila’s mind was flooded with the mana information coming in from her skill, are they finally going to put an end to this charade? wait, that’s… that’s way too much energy! Are they going to kill the kid too? Even though she couldn't get an accurate reading on someone's power without contact, the amount of mana now filling the room was more than she had ever felt before.

               She could feel the stark differences in all of the mana. Densely packed ice mana erupted to one side of her, above her she could feel the barrier magic solidify into a solid form, to her other side, the illusionist was clearly making solid walls, and at her feet she could feel an inferno of fire magic. All of the mana in the room threatened to blind her only way to see as she deactivated her skill leaving her truly blind as she could hear soft muttering above her.

               After what felt like an eternity in darkness; just the soft curses of the insane child and the almost suffocating amount of magical pressure around her, Isirtila felt it for the first time.

               Isirtila's entire body convulsed as energy flooded into her, her body felt as if it was burning as the energy seemed to seep into her very core. Then as suddenly as the flame came, it stopped, the energy erupting into her body became… cool, soothing as it came. What started as a blood curdling scream quickly became rapturous moans as her entire being was now being flooded by an almost liquid-like power.

This was not the influx of mana she normally felt, nor was it the trickle of power her mistress had blessed her with. No, this was something more, a river of raw undiluted aether was pouring directly into her filling her entirety with its unyielding power. It was intoxicating, her entire body clenched as she attempted to stifle the power only for it to overwhelm her again and again.

She tried desperately to keep her faculties as the power coursed into her in waves. It… It was a god! She could feel herself being… changed as the world around her seemed to melt away.