Genesis 10: Valence

Harmony stumbled back in surprise as the strange purple-haired girl shuddered violently out of her sleep, and she ended up tripping over the loose ends of her robe. Crashing to the ground harshly, she winced with one eye closed.

"Ouch…"

The woman suddenly sprung to her feet, and Harmony gazed up in terror, not unlike a child when she first opens a jack-in-the-box. Whimpering faintly, her eyes widened as a finger was pointed at her, a glow emanating from its tip as it was supported from below by another hand. As she heard a foreign chant cross her ears, she shrieked and raised her hands to cover her face. Her fear began to take physical form, and a tingling sensation flushed through her rapidly. The feeling was only momentary, however, and as it subsided, she parted her fingers, peeking through the gaps in her digits to see if the danger had passed.

And indeed, it did. The woman simply stared at her with an expression of disbelief, apparently wondering how her attack had been rendered completely and utterly ineffectual. Whatever the violet-haired assailant may have been thinking, it must have been far from making another attempt. Backing off, she turned tail and fled from Harmony, much to her disappointment. As she watched the woman's figure fading into the woods, two figures approached her, and she turned her head towards them reflexively. After affirming their identities, she simply looked upon them from her seat on the grass, pouting.

"Hey, Harmony, why don'cha go follow her? You wanted to play with someone, right?"

"I don't think she likes me," the homunculus muttered, now gazing down at the grass and picking at the blades nervously. To any outsider she would have appeared to be in her early twenties, but the tone of voice she spoke in demanded otherwise.

"No, no, don't say that. I'm sure she's just shy. Go ahead," the brown-haired man mumbled through chunks of apple, his words barely incoherent as he spoke mid-chew.

She blinked at the man curiously, pointing at herself to make sure she wasn't mistaken.

"Can I really?"

The magus smirked and nodded patronizingly, and, oblivious to the man's intentions, the woman leapt to her feet, scurrying off after the purple-haired girl. She ran with her hands awkwardly close to her chest, almost as if to clutch some invisible treasure.

"Hehe. I love it when she gets like this," the man noted, giddy at his masterful manipulation of the woman's innocence. He swallowed, taking another hefty bite of his bright red snack.

"You really want her to confront the girl? It's a little too dangerous, especially when she's in this state," the other responded robustly from beneath a stark white mask of plaster, his voice barely audible through the thick barrier. "The Association won't be happy if they find out about this."

"C'mon, old man. Lighten up. You saw the girl. I doubt she'd pose a physical threat. If we get lucky, Harmony might even accidentally kill her."

The younger magus laughed at his own words; the mere thought seemed to bring chills of pleasure down his spine.

"She's no executioner, Hazard. Let Eris handle it. There's no need to be sadistic."

"Well, she does wear the clothes," he scoffed. "And I'm not sadistic. I'm just…"

Hazard placed a finger to his chin and looked to the sky as he chewed, pretending to look for the best word to describe his mood. After his exaggerated and flamboyant pause, he continued.

"…bored."

"We don't need another outburst. It's dangerous to everyone, especially with how strong she's become, and with the precarious state she's in… you know that."

"Come now, Risk," Hazard replied, extending his palm in consolation. "Just because you had a bad experience with these things doesn't mean you have to ruin the fun for the rest of us."

The masked man was silent. He snapped his head towards his partner, his rage glowering through two miniscule eyeholes.

"I mean, I know you lost your partner back then, which is sad and depressing and tragic and whatnot, but at least you've got me now, right? Think of it that way," Hazard said plainly as he sent a volley of nudges to Risk's arm. "Eh? Eh?"

The man shrugged off Hazard's elbow sharply and turned away abruptly in the direction in which Harmony had run off.

"How lucky of me."

"Thank you for arriving on such short notice, Risk."

It must have been a year ago. As I sat in the briefing office, I leaned back in my chair, locking my fingers behind my head and sighing.

"Eh, I suppose I can put off my vacationing for another time. It doesn't really matter to me," I responded nonchalantly, lying through my teeth. I would have much rather been back in the Eastern Caribbean. I'd desperately needed this vacation, and it was cut short by some "emergency," as they said. I wondered to myself what could have possibly gone amiss this time.

"So," I continued. "What seems to be the problem?"

"Well…It seems that she's developed dissociative identity disorder."

"What? How?" The shock tingled as it ran through my system, adrenaline beginning to pump as I sat up in my chair. "And where was Hazard when this happened?"

"That, we're unsure of. Most people require significant traumatic stress for this to happen, but we've no record of such a thing," the informant responded calmly. "The problem appeared overnight. Regardless, she periodically reverts from her original identity."

This shocked me. Multiple personalities? Harmony was more than a handful as she was.

"Reverts… to what?"

"Well, at the moment we've only been able to define two distinct identities. Her normal self and, well…"

His pause irritated me. I was supposed to be briefed here. What use was there in hesitating? It belied the notion of the word.

"Well?"

His answer made it feel like a weight had just been dropped on me. My eyes widened in horror, and I was speechless.

"Risk? Did you get that?" His words were barely able to shake me out of the daze.

"So, that means…"

"Yes. You're already well-versed on the topic. When she assumes this identity, any negative valence she experiences triggers an unconscious mana release. The amount of mana released is directly proportionate to the potency of the negative valence. Of course, in her normal state, this has always been possible, but thanks to you, she has a better grip on her emotions and can consciously inhibit the release. As you well know, however, this other identity has much less reservation. So, if she ever regresses to that state, remember-"

"Keep her happy, or she explodes. Yeah," I interrupted nervously, frantically trying to compose myself before bad memories flooded into my mind.

"Exactly. However, it should be well worth noting: the nature of her outbursts has changed, somewhat."

"Oh," I asked, now intrigued. I'd been slowly coming to terms with the situation. After all, what use was there if I didn't do something about it? "How so?"

"Well," the informant continued. "Her magic circuits have developed in a peculiar way; they've become more complex, if you will. We've found that the form of the mana release now varies for specific emotions. For example, you know very well that rage and anguish cause her to release destructive waves of mana. However, in certain cases – most notably in fear – the mana released can actually be defensive in nature. We've observed that when this certain identity becomes noticeably afraid, she simply creates a mana barrier around herself. If the fear is ample enough, the barrier will even bear an outward kinetic force, but it won't have much destructive potential, if at all. It can be a nuisance at times, but you may find that it makes your job easier."

"Amazing…"

"Indeed. It seems we know little else at the moment, however."

I took a moment to collect myself and my thoughts, pondering about this new situation that fell before me.

"Well… let me ask: what causes her to switch personalities?"

"That," the informant said reluctantly. "We don't know."

The pair of magi strolled through the forest in casual pursuit of Harmony; they were seemingly confident that Harmony could handle herself, even in this childlike state.

"You know that if it were up to me, I would have told her to stay."

"Oh, don't be jealous because her cuter half likes me better."

Risk paused in his steps for a moment, staring at his partner with a sigh.

"She only trusts you because you feed her apples."

"So what?" the brown-haired magus shrugged as he sauntered forth. "Kids are simple. You've got to understand that. All this nonsense about discipline. You know how annoying that can be?"

Risk stared at him for another moment before beginning to walk.

"And this is why her other half likes me better."