Dimia continued to wait for Cinder just outside the guild, sitting beneath a tree and keeping a keen eye out for the Torchic. It was nearly dusk now and according to the Braixen's visions, Cinder would be coming home any minute now. She'd be in the company of her teammates, a Jolteon and Zorua, and they'd be bickering over how poorly the mission had gone. Though it would be easy to simply pluck the Torchic from the group the second she appeared, Dimia knew she couldn't do that. Though the team would be arguing when Dimia struck, they'd quickly snap out of it and defend the Torchic. Even with her vast array of spells at her fingertips, Dimia knew not to take them all at once. They'd probably cause a scene and send the entire guild after her.
So, it was best to wait until Cinder fell asleep and then steal her out of her bedroom. From there, Dimia could assimilate the Torchic somewhere quiet and isolated.
The Braixen took in a deep breath. She could feel the pounding in her head again, the three fragments she had assimilated were clawing their way into her consciousness. She could hear the faintest of whispers in her ears, though she couldn't parse their meaning.
She pointed her wand to her head and muttered the silencing spell again. The pounding stopped and the whispers settled into silence. Dimia grumpily stuffed her wand back into her bushy tail, hoping the spell would last longer than an hour this time.
A few minutes passed, and Dimia heard voices nearby. She got to her feet and watched as the prickly-feathered Torchic from her visions appeared, flanked by a Jolteon and Zorua. Just like in her visions, the three were arguing amongst each other. The Jolteon blamed Cinder for not blasting a Vileplume while she had the chance, resulting in all three of them getting poisoned by its toxic spores. Since none of them had pecha berries, heal seeds, or reviver seeds, the three of them inevitably fainted before they could even reach the next floor of the dungeon. The Zorua was trying to defend Cinder, but the Jolteon wasn't having it.
It was a petty and childish argument, one Dimia quickly stopped listening to. She watched the group walk past her and return to their guild, squabbling the entire time. She imagined if she actually let her other selves talk, they'd be exactly the same as Cinder's team. She didn't need that. She had never needed other people's input to get anything done. As the All-Seer of her dimension who witnessed hundreds of futures every day, she knew far more than anyone else in her entire kingdom combined.
Dimia focused on the future where she kidnapped Cinder while she was asleep, verifying that nothing problematic would happen if she did so. She peered down that one timeline as far as she could, all the way up to her assimilating the Torchic and leaving behind this world shortly after. She didn't see anyone interfering with her. Good.
The Braixen waited until nightfall when all had fallen asleep, save for the few nocturnal Pokémon within the guild. After each one had selected a mission for the night and went on their way, she made her way into the guild.
On quiet feet, she crept through the halls, moving so delicately that not even her jewelry made a sound. She used her visions to guide her to the correct room. She knew she could always individually check each room, as no one would notice her while they slumbered peacefully. However, she was on a schedule. She had a time limit until her home was devoured by the dimensional rift and reduced to oblivion. Using her visions was essential if she didn't want to waste time.
It wasn't even that difficult to use her visions, as some would suspect from a seer. Her mind was always filled with hundreds of thousands of futures, timelines branching from even the most seemingly insignificant events. All Dimia had to do was start at the very beginning of a main branch that represented an event (in this case, walking through the guild), and then gaze into the secondary branches that split off from the main branch (which represented different choices, such as looking into the door on the right or setting the entire guild on fire). It all might have sounded rather time consuming to anyone else, but Dimia had been an All-Seer for seventeen years now. To her, finding the futures she desired was as effortless as breathing.
Dimia gazed through all of these branches in time as she slinked through the halls, searching for the one room she needed. Eventually, she found it, all the way in the back of the guild where all of the newest recruits' rooms rested. The Braixen quietly pushed the door open to find Cinder and her teammates fast asleep in their straw beds. Dimia crept into the room and shut the door. She retrieved her wand and approached the three, eyes flickering softly in the moonlight streaming into the room through the window.
She verified in her visions that she could kidnap Cinder right now and have no consequences. Her visions showed that so long as she used the window and shut it behind her, the other two teammates wouldn't stir from their sleep. If she left the window even a little open, a chill would sweep into the room and rouse the teammates from their slumber.
That was a curious way these visions worked; though Dimia would always have a vague idea of how a path would go regardless of how far away it was, it was only when she was moments away from the future she witnessed that little details began to emerge. She didn't even remember seeing herself crawling out of a window when she had seen this all play out in her mind hours ago.
The Braixen glanced at the Jolteon and Zorua still sleeping and then back at Cinder. She reached down and gingerly picked up the little bird, careful not to wrap her fingers around the prickly feathers and instead grasp the soft downy ones.
The Torchic groaned and made a quiet squeaking sound, but didn't wake up. Dimia made sure the teammates were still asleep, then headed for the window. She undid the latch and silently opened the window. She hopped out and landed outside before shutting the window back up just before a cold breeze could enter the room.
Dimia sighed in relief. She had done it. She had Cinder in her clutches and all she needed to do was find somewhere quiet to assimilate her. Dimia sought out her visions once again as she got moving, searching for an isolated place. Her visions led her to a forest not far from the guild, a glade in the midst of the oak trees. She brought the Torchic there and after making sure not a single soul was around, assimilated the Torchic into herself.
Cinder, of course, stirred when Dimia placed her hand on the Torchic's forehead and absorbed her essence. She screeched and thrashed, flapping her useless wings as she spewed fire at the Braixen. However, though a fireball hit Dimia directly in the face and singed her muzzle, she didn't flinch. She only continued to take in all of the Torchic, feeling Cinder's thoughts and memories leak into her mind. They blotted out all of the futures that could be and could never be in Dimia's mind, replacing them with images of Cinder's former teammates and her parents.
Within seconds, Cinder had been completely assimilated into the Braixen. There wasn't but a trace of the Torchic, not even a lone feather along the blades of grass. Dimia panted as she fell to her knees. A beak pecked against her skull, threatening to break through like a chick hatching from an egg.
And then came the memories like a mighty tsunami over a seaside city, drowning her mind in a cacophony of voices and faces that she had never seen, and yet felt so familiar.
She saw herself joining the guild, nervous as could be, but also so excited to begin a new chapter in her life. She saw the two new Pokémon that would be her teammates, a Zorua named Arcane and a Jolteon named Mallow. They had joined the guild a few months ago and were looking for a third member, and Dimia had just happened to fit all the criteria they wanted in this newest member.
She saw herself going on missions, learning the ropes and finding her teammates to be very nice Pokémon, if a little odd at times. Especially Arcane. She always liked to pretend to be other Pokémon and played pranks that way. Mallow always told her she'd get on someone's nerves one day by doing that and they'd be kicked out of the guild, but Arcane never listened.
No… no that's not right.
She also saw herself just before she left home and getting teary goodbyes from her parents. They were both Infernape who had adopted Cinder from a daycare her egg had been left at. Though they had never been able to truly understand how she felt about things since they weren't the same species, they had been wonderful parents and she had missed them after she left home. She had been looking forward to visiting them in just a few weeks so she could tell them all about what a great team she had.
No… no my parents aren't-
Maybe she'd even bring Mallow and Arcane with her so that they could meet her parents. After all, Mallow had done that by bringing the whole team to her family's place, where Cinder met all five of Mallow's siblings. It'd be nice to do the same for her own family. The two Infernape would-
THEY ARE NOT MY FAMILY.
Dimia reached for her wand. The migraine threatened to rip open her head as she felt through her bushy tail, unable to see the world around her. Her memories were all she could see, relentless images and moments in short guild life.
No, not my memories. Cinder's memories. Not mine.
She felt the wand brush against her fingers and quickly grasped it. She shoved the branch to her temple as she hurriedly muttered the silencing spell. The alien words left her tongue in whispers and within seconds, the storm of memories began to settle. The night sky came back into view and she could feel the hundreds of grass blades beneath her fur.
Dimia panted as she dropped her wand and collapsed onto the grass, trying to settle her fluttering heart. The migraine had calmed down, leaving her mind with only a dull ache.
My name is Dimia. I am the All-Seer of Mgn'ghft Kingdom. I do not know who my blood Mother and Father were. I was adopted into the royal family because of my gift. Mother is Queen Dione, Charizard of the Syha'hnah Kingdom. She was brought into the family to be wed to my Father, King Brutus, Aggron of the Mgn'ghft Kingdom. They have one child. His name is Milo. We do not speak much to each other.
She repeated this in her mind again and again as Cinder's memories faded away into the black nothingness of the deepest depths of her mind. When only silence echoed in her eyes, Dimia sat up. She massaged her temples before placing her wand back into her long tail.
That had gone well. She had assimilated Cinder without any issues, besides the flood of memories. However, that was to be expected. Dimia already had three fragments in her before Cinder, and the assimilation of souls would only have more taxing effects on her from here on out. She didn't even need to gaze into the future to know she'd be renewing her silencing spell very frequently after she found her next fragment. She could already feel the four fragments swirling within her mind and her soul, searching for a way out and calling to Dimia with muted voices.
Dimia took a deep breath as an unpleasant chill came over her. She needed to stop thinking about this. She needed to find the next fragment already. She only had so much time before her kingdom collided with another world thanks to the dimensional rift tearing apart the multiverse.
She peered into the many futures that lay ahead of her now that she had assimilated Cinder. She knew that it was best she seek after Caran now, a Kirlia that lived amongst a tribe of Gardevoir and Gallade built upon Ethereal Mountain, but she made sure that was her best option. She glanced at futures where she hunted Nexus, Peony, Jera, or Abel instead. In each and every future, she was able to assimilate each of them, some with more difficulty than others. However, no matter who she chose, her efforts ended with her kingdom destroyed.
After seeing these bleak futures, Dimia gazed into the future where she sought out Ker. She was met with a strange sight. Instead of seeing a future where she confronted the Sableye, Dimia saw nothing. There was only darkness in the visions regarding Ker, vast and consuming darkness. Only two pinpricks of golden light dwelled within this endless darkness that replaced her visions. Dimia peered deeper into this darkness, searching for meaning. This had never happened before in any of her visions. What was this overwhelming emptiness?
The golden lights suddenly shifted toward Dimia. They blinked.
Dimia's heart stopped. She realized what this darkness was: it was the blackness within The Faceless God's hood.
Something kicked her out of the darkness and thrust her back into reality.
The Braixen tried peering into Ker's future again, but that same force shoved her away, this time before she could even see her god's eyes.
"Cahf's llllw'nafh. Mgah fahf. Ymg' kadishtu ahf' ymg' need l' ah."
She heard that strange whispering in her ears, that guttural, alien voice which proved strangely tantalizing. She instantly recognized the voice to be that of The Faceless God's.
He told her to stop seeking out other narratives. He told her that she already knew to find Caran and it was a waste of time to think about the other fragments.
Then just as quickly as his voice came, he left her. Silence filled her ears with only her god's words echoing softly in her mind. Dimia's heart sank at being reprimanded by her god. It had been so long since she had been graced by his otherworldly presence. The last time she had glimpsed upon his gracious being was so many years ago, when Dimia had just evolved and struggled to stand upon her hind legs. To think that their first encounter in many years would be so shameful.
Dimia adjusted the circlet upon her head before opening up a portal to Caran's world. There was no time to dwell in her guilt; she would repent by fulfilling her mission. That would atone for her slothfulness.
She took a deep breath, whispered a silent prayer of forgiveness to her god, then leapt into the rift.
Dimia's feet touched a smooth boulder when she landed on the other side of the portal. This world was in the midst of day, something that her eyes struggled to adapt to.
When she adjusted to the light, she found herself standing in what she knew to be Caran's village. It was a village built high in the mountains far away from most other civilizations. Small buildings made of stone and wood were scattered along the mountain and arranged in such a way that they worked with the mountain's landscape rather than against it. Not a single tree or rock seemed to be cut down or pushed aside to make room for settlements, as though the villagers respected the original nature of the mountain and wished to preserve it as much as possible.
Dimia stood towards the summit of the village and could see a few Pokémon wandering out and about. As she had seen in her visions, this place was almost exclusively home to Pokémon of the Ralts line. There were a few outliers, such as some bird Pokémon delivering packages or some dragon-type merchants, but the actual residents of this peaceful mountain town were Ralts, Kirlia, Gardevoir, and Gallade.
Dimia searched her visions once again, grasping for the main branch that was finding Caran amongst potentially dozens of Kirlia. It took a few moments, but eventually she found the right Kirlia and the correct path needed to reach him.
The Braixen made her way down the peak and walked across a courtyard in the middle of the village. She ignored the curious gazes and hushed whispers of the Ralts children that played here. Though they could undoubtedly sense her emotions through their horns, they wouldn't notice the intent she had with one of their brethren. They wouldn't mistake her steadfast conviction for hostility and scurry toward their elders in a panic. After all, Dimia had no intent to hurt Caran; she planned to make this as quick and painless as possible.
When she reached the end of the courtyard, she found herself looking down upon more of the village. From this viewpoint, she could see the small treehouse-like building that was Caran's home. Her visions pointed to him being out and about at the moment, but he'd still be nearby, meditating under a tree.
"Why hello there. I don't think I've ever seen you around these parts before."
Dimia looked back to see a Gardevoir sitting on a smooth stone nearby, surrounded by a few Ralts. In his lap was a children's storybook, something he had undoubtedly been reading to the Ralts before Dimia had appeared. Some of the children were watching Dimia curiously, wondering why their guardian had stopped reading to address the strange fox, while the others distracted themselves with shared idle chatter.
Dimia didn't remember conversing with a Gardevoir in her visions, but then considered maybe it was a small detail her vision overlooked. It didn't matter, though. This Gardevoir had asked her a question. He probably wanted to know why an outsider was in his village. If she walked away, she'd look incredibly suspicious and probably set the entire village on high alert.
She needed to put him at ease that she was not a stranger to be wary of.
It certainly helped that in this dimension, psychics weren't mind readers. That saved Dimia quite a lot of trouble. She only needed to keep emotionally sound of mind.
"Yes, I'm a new face here," Dimia said as she turned to face the Gardevoir completely. "My name is Dimia, pleased to meet you."
She pulled at the fur along her hips and gave a small curtsy. She knew the Gardevoir had no concept of her action, but it was a force of habit.
"Pleased to meet you as well, Dimia," the Gardevoir said warmly. "I am Gardevoir Orchid. These are my day's younglings. Please little ones, introduce yourselves to Braixen Dimia."
None of the Ralts spoke, all of them instead shirking behind the Gardevoir the moment she stared at them. Orchid tried coaxing them into speaking, but all of them were too shy to say a word.
"Apologies, they're very wary around strangers," he said. "They're not used to other species."
"It's fine," Dimia assured. "I understand their distress. I was the same way as a Fennekin. I do need to go though."
"Oh? What business do you have here? You don't look like a merchant and we don't have many outsiders visiting."
Dimia frowned. He was testing her, she knew that. He was seeing if she'd fret, seeing if she'd prove that she was someone to be cautious of. Though he kept smiling just as warmly as he had before, Dimia could see the suspicion in his face. She saw the way he shifted ever so slightly in his seat and how the Ralts children snuggled a little closer to him.
Thankfully, Dimia's parents had trained her well when it came to dealing with empaths. They told her to fill her mind with happy thoughts, so that they might overshadow inevitable anxiety. Positive emotions were always stronger to empaths than negative ones.
And that was exactly what Dimia did. As she grasped for an excuse regarding her presence, she flooded her thoughts with memories of home. She thought about her parents, the beautiful gardens she always strolled through, and the magic lessons she received from Master Gawain.
But she didn't think about these things deeply. No, that would only bring about heartbreak, and she couldn't have that.
After a few seconds, Dimia finally found an acceptable explanation for her visit to this village.
"I may not look like it, but I'm actually an artist here to capture the beauty of your village," she said. "I'd heard many stories of a faraway place where only Gardevoir and Gallade live, a village amongst the tall mountains. I'm currently searching for the perfect scene to paint, so to speak."
"Oh, is that so?" Orchid asked. "Did you have any particular emotion you wanted to convey?"
She could tell he was still suspicious, but his shoulders had fallen and his pose didn't seem so stiff anymore. The Ralts also seemed to cling to the Gardevoir less.
"I was actually looking for a Kirlia. Kirlia are liminal entities, having evolved from frail Ralts and now stand at a crossroad of dual evolution, one of the graceful Gardevoir, and the other of the honorable Gallade. I wanted to paint a picture representing this stage of life amidst the serene beauty of this quiet village. I know I could have gone anywhere if I needed any Kirlia for this painting, but I needed one from here, from a world where a Kirlia is surrounded by dozens of his kin, somewhere where he truly feels he is at home and is the true epitome of his kind."
Dimia didn't know if any of that made sense, but it was the best she had. She had never quite understood exactly how artists saw their craft despite having many of them come and go in her life, painting her portrait for the family castle.
Gardevoir Orchid nodded his head quietly a few times, taking in all of the information.
"I understand," he said simply. "Well, you came to the right place if your artistic vision seeks what you described. We have many Kirlia that feel conflicted regarding their transition. If you desire to see all of the raw emotion a Kirlia feels when unable to choose between two forms, I might direct you to Caran. He has struggled with the choice for many months now."
Dimia couldn't resist wagging her tail. This was perfect.
"Yes, I think I'd like to meet this Caran. Where can I find him?"
The Gardevoir closed his eyes. Though Dimia couldn't see anything, she could feel a strange energy emitting from Orchid, one that didn't feel too different from her own magical energy.
After a few moments, the Gardevoir opened his eyes and looked back at the Braixen.
"I told him that you wanted to draw a painting with him as the subject," Orchid stated. "He said he'd meet you up here in a few minutes, he was just busy talking to a couple of others. Though, he can't promise he can stand still for very long. His muscles grow stiff quite easily."
"Oh, well that was unexpected," Dimia said. "I didn't realize you could communicate with him telepathically from so far away."
"Everyone in the village can speak to one another from miles away. However, only the Gardevoir and Gallade are the most proficient at it. The younglings only know how to transmit emotions to one another."
This could prove problematic with assimilating Caran. He could easily send out a distress signal to everyone in the entire village and Dimia would undoubtedly have to fend off dozens of Gallade and Gardevoir. Even with her magic and All-Seer sight, that was too much for her to handle.
She would need to be very careful on how she dealt with Caran. Maybe she could trick him into entering another dimension, far away from his watchful guardians. Dimia peered into her many futures, searching for potential solutions to her problem.
She nearly backpedaled. She found herself staring at the darkness that was within The Faceless God's hood. She was here again, back in this endless abyss where no answers awaited her. All of the futures that always filled her mind were gone, stripped away and thrown into oblivion.
She pushed against the blackness, searching for her futures anyway. However, the darkness pushed back, preventing her from leaving the void. She scowled as she tried looking into events further down the timeline, ones where she had assimilated Caran already and sought after Peony or Nexus. However, she saw nothing.
Dimia's heart beat so quickly and forcefully that she was sure it would break out of her chest. She didn't understand what was happening. What had happened to her future sight? Why couldn't she see anything anymore? This had never happened before, not even once. Even when she was sick with fever and bedridden for weeks, she could always see the futures.
Something was destroying her All-Seer sight. Something or someone was tampering with it, that had to be it. There was no other explanation. But what? What could possibly be doing this? Her visions were a gift from The Faceless God and would always be with her until she died, that was how it went. The All-Seer gift was a personification of The Faceless God's power. This avatar of his lived inside the All-Seer until they died, then this spirit would go onto the next Pokémon it deemed worthy of the All-Seer sight.
The avatar within her wasn't dead, she knew it wasn't. She could see The Faceless God staring back at her, golden eyes glimmering sharply in the eternal black.
She felt a presence in the real world. Dimia's ears perked up as she turned toward the source to find a Kirlia teleporting into the courtyard. She only had to see his deep red eyes for a second before the sense of familiarity started to kick in.
Yes, that was Caran. She had the right Kirlia. She didn't know what was happening with her visions right now, but she at least had Caran. Now she needed to figure out what to do with him. Maybe she could no longer see all of the potential futures that awaited her, but she could figure out something. She wasn't that hopeless.
That was when Dimia noticed that Caran was not actually alone. He had teleported two other Pokémon with him, two very out of place Pokémon that were also strangely familiar to the Braixen. Pokémon that Dimia recognized instantly from visions past.
It was Jera and Abel.