Karlos beheld the dazzling orbs of blue light as they drifted across the pale void.
Anubis? Isn't that a god worshipped in the Ma'atan Continent? If I remember correctly, 'He' should have the body of man and the head of a dog… I never would have expected anything like this...
"Please, excuse me. Are you... A deity?" Karlos nervously inquired, his voice laced with uncertainty. He offered a slight bow, curtsying of the enigmatic being before him. Nobody had ever appeared within the white void besides Asclepius and Karlos himself, his only thought was to be as polite as possible in fear of antagonizing the entity.
"No. In my current state, I am merely a wayward Constellation. For that matter... There is no need for such formal conversation, Karlos Lippe.
For that would disturb the Balance of this void."
Karlos was puzzled. "What does that mean? Why do you keep mentioning balance? I don't understand..."
"Your mental state has lost stability, Karlos Lippe. I have appeared before you to assist in your recovery." Anubis vaguely explained.
"...Recovery? What exactly happened to me?"
The constellation emitted a deep green light. "You have been infused with a large amount of Psyche via a catalyst. In most cases, this much should be fine for human intake, however..."
The lights shone brighter than before.
"It has clashed with the lingering presence within your body"
"Lingering presence?" Karlos quickly glanced behind his shoulder. "Do you mean the mark on my back?"
"That is unrelated. The external brand you have been forced to harbour is not the cause to your internal Imbalance."
What?
'KRACK'
Suddenly, he witnessed several shards of mirrors separating from his head. Although painless, Karlos felt an odd sense of dissociation as each shard dispersed.
"W-What is..." He stammered.
The shards floated around him, reflecting different images—moments from his childhood, his fondest memories, his worst experiences, and various people he recognized. They all varied in size, with some being as small as snowflakes, while others were as large as his head.
Are these... My memories?
"My kindest regards, Karlos."
He quickly turned behind him, his expression one of shock. The one who spoke definitely wasn't Anubis, nor was it a stranger.
Although the shards were of varying sizes, one fragment was noticeably larger than the others, with the entire body of a person reflected upon it.
It was someone oddly familiar, yet completely alien.
Karlos covered his mouth. "Y-You..."
"I am your other half."
She looked just like him. The girl had luxurious blonde hair that flowed beautifully down her back, slightly curled and accentuating her mesmerising blue eyes, rosy cheeks, and delicate face. She was much younger than him, but her clothes were elegant, and clearly made of high-quality materials. In terms of appearance, they could practically be twin siblings, but her demeanor made her appear as if she was a princess from a famous kingdom.
However, Karlos recognized her very well.
"...Why are you here? No, I mean... How are you here?"
The girl smiled. "Ever since his passing, I've always been buried in your mind, haven't I?"
Karlos took a step back. "You can't be real. I... I abandoned everything from my past... Why are you here?"
She frowned. "I already told you, haven't I?" The girl brushed back her beautiful blonde hair, leisurely taking in the formless air of the void through the mirror shard.
"No matter how you struggle, your efforts, your attempts to move on... You could have never properly atoned, could you? You want to remember me."
"No, I don't. I..." Karlos felt pressure building inside his head, as if his brain was expanding.
"These are the fragments of your mind." Anubis interjected stoically, disrupting the baffling exchange.
"I have temporarily separated your personality, Karlos Lippe. She is the source of your irregularities, a projection created from your excess Psyche."
The large shard reflecting the blonde-haired girl turned opaque, shifting and floating among the other shards.
The strange pressure inside his head made Karlos feel sick, but he was still coherent enough to understand Anubis's emotionless words.
He looked up at the exquisite constellation, his expression detached. "...She wasn't real?"
"That is not an accurate description. Your mind has been fractured... Disorganized." Several shards swirled as the being spoke.
"Perhaps it is a form of self-preservation, perhaps it was spawned from stress... I am not sure.
What is clear, however, is that your mind is currently split into multiple personalities. Some of which are pessimistic in nature, some of which reflect positivity. Although they are not apparent, such forces sublty influenced your actions."
Karlos didn't understand. He had noticed his thoughts becoming more cynical, but the concepts Anubis had explained were incomprehensible to him.
"Normally, the balance of negativity and positivity within a human's reason is healthy. However... That symbol on your back has amplified your emotions to an unstable state."
Karlos flinched. "The mark? Do you mean that this symbol I have on my body... It's harmful?"
"Correct. Now that I have separated your Imbalance...
I will begin assimilating your Earth Star."
Karlos wasn't given a chance to object. In the next moment, each mirror shard shattered. Whether it was the miniscule fragments, or the large panes of what seemed to be glass, every one of the shards slowly began melting.
From several shards, a dark gas escaped the fragments and dissipated into the air, absorbed by the constellation above.
Several smells clouded the void, some of which Karlos vaguely recognized. The most familiar was salt, but the two others were harder to distinguish. Swirling around Karlos, the melted fragments gradually shifted to small white cubes, a silver liquid, and yellow dust.
The three materials were perfectly arranged around him in a triangle, with him being in the center. Observing the strange formation, Karlos could sense a distinct, heavy feeling on his skin. It wasn't easy to describe, but it was as if he was covered by an invisible blanket.
Anubis suddenly spoke.
"...'Salt, Sulfur, Mercury. Foundation compounds comprising existence. Transmute thyself for this vessel.' "
The silver liquid, likely mercury, began floating towards Karlos. Throughout the whole ordeal, Karlos had been silently watching anxiously.
" 'I implore Tria Prima. Under the authority of Libra: Assimilate.' "
The mercury floated directly above Karlos's forehead, before distentegrating upon contact with his skin.
'SIZZLE'
Karlos looked down. In between his collarbone, a traditional scale symbol appeared, one no bigger than a fingernail and light blue in colour.
"What is..."
'FWOOSH'
Karlos couldn't speak. Just as the symbol had appeared, his body internally shifted and changed, emitting what seemed to be blue steam from every pore. On his back, the mark from Asclepius began fading as well.
The pressure he had felt earlier rapidly escaped him, like a source of contamination being overwhelmed with a different poison.
The salt cubes suddenly flew into his right arm, melting and embedding themselves into his skin. The sulfur did the same, except it chose his left arm instead.
At his feet, Karlos could almost see his soles 'branching' out into the invisible floor, stretching across the formless void. His body felt no discomfort throughout the entire process, rather, it felt like he was gradually transforming into something… Different.
Finally, his brain was invaded by a cold miasma, offsetting the hot sensation he felt on his back. His entire body was shifting all at once, yet he remained perfectly calm, as if none of the anomalies were worth his attention. He simply stared at the monochromatic horizon.
After an unknown period of time, he blinked. Every sensation had stopped, and Karlos found his body perfectly normal, as if it were all a hallucination.
Anubis's voice rang out. "You are now a Neuromancer of the Fisher Pathway."
Karlos blinked. "…Fisher?"
"That is the name of the first assimilation under the Libra constellation." The stars resounded once more, but this time, Karlos could clearly see the orbs dimming.
"By the way..." Anubis spoke much more casually compared to before, almost uncharacteristic of his image. "...Now that I've seperated your past, your fragmented mind has been pieced back together, and you aren't likely to return to this void anytime soon. Well, as long as you stay away from trouble, that is.
Oh and... Do not interact with the one known as Asclepius. I may have removed that blight from your body, but 'He' is sure to want more stirrings in balance.
After all, the conflict of authority is not easy to quell, right?"
By the time those words were spoken, the constellation had become completely dark. Only a faint star shone in the distance, before fading as well.
"Farewell."
"W-Wait!" Karlos broken out of his daze, but it was too late.
'SNAP'
He had no time to think. In the next moment, Karlos was back inside the stuffy room next to the green box.
Looking down at his hand, Karlos blankly stared at his empty palm as his thoughts flooded back to him, regaining the luster in his eyes.
...What just happened?
Several key words echoed in his head, such as "Do not interact with Asclepius," or "You are now a Neuromancer of the Fisher Pathway," yet Karlos struggled to remember who had made such cryptic statements.
He glanced around the room and found that the golden scale had disappeared, along with the mysterious note. He found nothing out of ordinary with his surroundings, but quickly felt something off with his body.
I... I feel like a completely different person.
He could immediately tell that most of his wounds had been miraculously healed. His arm, although still broken, no longer caused as much pain as it did moments ago and could be moved with relative ease. His ribs had also completely recovered, as if they were never injured to begin with. Not to mention, the soreness and bruises on his body had disappeared.
Most notably, however, his thoughts were no longer clouded with pessimism.
He quietly muttered to himself. "Last thing I remember... I opened the box and found a strange scale. After touching it... Uh..."
He paused, trying to recall the events that followed, but his memory failed him. Such feelings of strangeness and confusion were becoming familiar by now; after all, it had happened three times in a relatively short amount of time.
Though, this instance was drastically different.
"...Neuromancer…"
Karlos outstretched his hands, immediately sensing a difference beyond the mere healing of his wounds. It wasn't just physical, his very body seemed to be responding differently to the air around his hands.
His thoughts have also been strengthened. Before, he felt like his mind was fractured, disorganized, but now... His negative thoughts had all but completely disappeared.
Closing his eyes, Karlos delved into the deepest recesses of his mind. As if he were infused with knowledge, he suddenly grasped concepts and techniques he could have never figured out on his own.
This is... 'Reel' and 'Cast?
Directing his right hand towards a candle, he concentrated deeply.
'SHUFFLE'
As per command, Karlos opened his eyes and saw the candle noticably closer to him, although not by much. It only appeared around 3 centimeters closer.
However, 3 centimeters was only about the length of a grape. Although the effect was apparent, it wasn't very noticable.
"That was... Reel?" Karlos muttered, his tone tinged with a hint of disappointment at the seemingly minor effects of his newfound ability. Nonetheless, there was no denying his fascination with it.
These should be the powers of Psyche Lysandra was explaining, right? I can't believe I managed to use them myself... Although still in a state of perplexity, Karlos clung to the small feeling of joy of finally being able to do something in such a hopeless situation.
Wasting no time, he closed his eyes once more.
" 'Cast' "
This time, Karlos tried chanting the name of the ability. He had seen instances of other 'Neuromancers' doing the same, so perhaps it affected the results.
'CLUNK'
Karlos opened his eyes and saw the candle considerably further away, gently hitting the wooden drawer.
As I thought… It got stronger… But why? Karlos had no direction or guidance to follow. He barely understood his power to begin with, and the cryptic words that were embedded into his memory were of no help either.
He acutely focused on a different point.
I don't know much about angling, but these are fishing terms, right? Cast and Reel… They sound exactly like what the old fisherman back at the village taught me once…
Is this a joke? I thought Psyche would be a lot more mystical, like the wizards in fairy tales my mother used to read to me... What does a fisherman have to do with something so supernatural? Karlos silently complained in his head for a moment before regaining focus.
Still... These powers are interesting, but how could they help me in my current situation? I doubt if 'Alphonse' were to attack me again, this power would be of any meaningful use.
Maybe I could make him trip? Do these powers work on living things? I just don't know...
He put his powers aside for a moment and reviewed a different ability - If you could call it that.
'Hoo...'
A deep exhale escaped his throat as Karlos closed his eyes, entering a state of tranquility. His mind felt clearer, but also more 'sturdy,' as if he simply had more patience for any task at hand. Picking up a piece of loose string, Karlos felt his hands naturally move as he expertly worked the string into a small cloth.
He put the cloth aside and looked towards the maroon boxes.
"That being said... I suppose I'll keep looking through those."
…
It is unknown where the voice came from.
Nobody could hear its sound.
Nobody could see its visage.
Nobody could feel its presence.
Nobody could understand what it was.
Yet, its mocking tone rang true.
"Truly…
This the point of no return."