Marela entered the soul of the other alchemist and fell into chaos. She frowned as she stabilized herself.
True, or pure alchemists were naturally chaotic because their souls were not whole. They were all stitched together tapestries of magic, intent, and desire.
These tapestries were quickly tossed together when an Alchemist formed and they were usually, if not always, disordered.
But this alchemist's soul was beyond the norm of chaos, for an alchemist's soul. This alchemist should not have any cohesion. It should not be able to exist.
Marela calmed herself as her emotions began to want to rage within her. She shook her consciousness to trigger her dormant aspects to awaken.
The purple sphere flared angrily and grew in size. It entered deeper into the blue and swallowed its core.
Power flowed outward in dense, hot waves. The barrier was buffeted and Anabel watched, with a smile, as parts of it melted and she reinforced it back to its original state.
The core of the blue orb pulsed then shimmered. A purple film slowly covered it and it slowly calmed. The purple film seemed to squeeze and the blue orb stilled as its core fully quieted.
As Anabel watched her eyes became distant as she spoke to then helped Jolan and checked on Solnm inside the new illusion.
She understood no that their assumptions had been wrong concerning the purpose of the illusions and Solnm's need for them. She suddenly felt like her daughter's new had actually been cursed.
Her eyes flickered at nothing at all as she found checked on both of her children.
Solnm sat on a wide boat piled high with his fresh catch. As usual he caught many diverse delicacies and he was anticipating how Amethyst would cook each.
He suddenly frowned, his body going hotter than a blue star, slowly closed his eyes, and didn't know anything else for a long time.
Amethyst was ruthlessly haggling with a long standing customer. Even though it was a tradition for the participants of an illusion she soon realized that she was enjoying herself immensely.
A wide smile spread across her face as her opponent, as worthy as she was, frowned in realized defeat. He had accidently increased his offer higher than what Amethyst had actually just requested.
Just as she was thinking he had just made a rookie mistake the center of her being began to burn like white hot fire and then suddenly went numb.
It was so terrifying, came so quickly, and with no warning her reaction actually stalled and she stood blankly for a long moment. The customer placing money into her hands woke her seconds later.
She knew instantly that it was Solnm and her entire world froze. She heard people outside their shop, she heard the customers asking her questions, she smelled the seafood and herbs of her store but none of it truly registered. None of it made any sense at all to her immobilized brain.
All she could do was call for her mother.
Her entire being believed that a part of her was once again ripped from her and it was all she could do to not shutdown completely.
The only difference between this time and the last was that it felt like Solnm was completely gone.
It seemed like all was in a dense vacuum for a long time until she heard a distant voice. It took a long while for it to even register as a voice and when it did she grabbed hold to it with a fierceness that was frightening. She almost sagged mentally when she realized it was her mother but then she quickly bounced back psychological when she suddenly remembered she needed help. A smile stretched across her face and she explained everything to her mother as she ran from her store to the last place she had felt Solnm.
"Mom… Solnm… Solnm…. Something has happened… To Solnm…. Help him please… mom."
Her words were catching in her throat even before she was out of breath.
"I felt… A pain… In my soul… Like the hottest… fire… I've… Ever… Known. Now… He … Is gone."
She felt her mother's awareness leave her and speed ahead of her location. She calmed a bit after she felt her mother's worry and sense of urgency.
Her father's voice brushed comfortingly across her mind.
"Don't worry Am. We will be alright."
"Are… you… sure… daddy?"
She was now officially exhausted. She felt like she hadn't done a thing. She certainly hadn't run far.
Her mind stopped for a split second. One moment she wondered why she was physically running when she was a traveler and the next she was stepping from a portal next to Solnm.
The color drained from her face. He was pale and his body laid limp in a way that she didn't like. The breath caught in her throat as she stopped herself from moving to him. She could sense her mother and father's magics flowing over him and she did not want to disrupt their work.
Amethyst only knew rudimentary healing magics. She could easily save a life in simple or mundane matters but when it came to healing souls or repairing magic pathways she fell way short.
Her mother on the other hand could save anyone at the brink of death no matter the cause. She could repair soul enjoys like they were normal everyday fair and she could not only repair magical pathways she can enhance them and she even found a way to add to them.
Her father was like the greatest field nurse to ever exist. He could stop bleeding from blood vessels and magical pathways. He knew what her mother needed before she did and they worked perfectly together.
Their magics flowed over and through Solnm and then suddenly they were there at his side.
Amethyst's heart left and sank at the same time. Were they there because the situation was too dire for remote healing or were they there to be close to her.
She already knew the answer.
The purple orb, that was Marela pulsed slowly at first, then faster and faster and slowly again. At times it was patterned and at times it was chaotic.
To watch it was reminiscent of language but the blue orb was subdued and did almost nothing, only occasionally giving weak or random pulses.
Marela sensed both when Solnm seemed to vanish from her perception and both Anabel and Allistar both first poured magics into the illusion for Amethyst and Solnm and then both entered it.
It corresponded with Caremela retracting a small piece of the spell weave connecting her to the sacred illusions of the cave.
Fury rolled from Marela and swept through Caremela.
"If anything happens to that abomination I will destroy everything that you are."
"It is mine to do with as I please."
"Only I can call him "it" or "abomination". You will speak of your work with respect!"
Another tide of ferocious power rolled through the blue orb and its pulsing went quiet.
Caramela was a high order Alchemist close to Marela's rank. She was created during a ritual where the equivalent exchange was too high and the magic was too powerful for an alchemist.
The ritual swelled and backlashed onto the alchemist and her soil was stained by prior bad equivalent exchanges when it ripped apart and refused with magics, components of the ritual, intent and power sucked in by the attempted ritual and the phenomenon of equivalent exchange it was stitched together tainted and corrupted.
A soul in this state never knew peace and did not comprehend compassion.
Alchemist were not judged by their behavior or idiosyncrasies. They were judged or valued for their ability to endure their personal trials, and adhere to the laws of the true Alchemist.
Caramela often failed to do both.
Marela now understood that she was working to save a creation that her people would consider abominable and need deep deliberation to determine if it should exist or be destroyed.
She wanted to smother existence from Caramela's awareness. She wanted her to live but never remember what it felt like to exist.
Not to be semi comatose but exist as a being programed with its daily routine and understanding.
Again she calmed herself and released her hold on the blue orbs core.
She sensed the end of resistance and the purple orb began to move from the blue.
The blue orb stayed placid and didn't show any type of shimmer or pulse.
Before the orbs fully separated two forms began to coalesce.
Marela sat in her usual lotus position, upon her favorite cloud, and looked over at a thin sullen faced woman. The corners of her mouth drooped and her eyes lids sagged. She stood tall, her hands clasped and resting in front of her casually.
"Why would you create life just to subject it to never ending pain?"
"Who says it is in pain? And who says life does not need pain to exist? All of this is subjective Grand Mistress. I have not broken any rules."
Marela looked at her for a long moment.
"You did not break any rules but rules are the first then you bring up when asked why and you decided to hide all of this from the council."
She shook her head and looked to the stalagmite.
"I am taking this for Anabel. Why would you leave a part of yourself her for so long? You are already unstable are you trying to destroy yourself?"
Caramela simply shrugged.