"Whether or not it was from you giving him it or it being a reaction from the First Fusion cursing his soul mixed with the magic you had given him, Dr. Fech does not know for certain. All he knows is that it was from that moment that he was capable of doing magic."

Kry's explanation had been brief and to the point. Sarbor had talked with Priestess Frioke during the time he stayed at Jarasevo Castle after the night at Clinic Hill when the First Fusion was created and, in his words, confessed to the fact that he was capable of producing the same magic that Cter had given him.

It was something he wanted to keep a secret from Cter, same as he wanted to keep quiet about him having a soul to Idyll. If Cter had learned about it she would not have been able to help him. If she felt responsible for what had happened to him then there would have been pity from her to him, and not any help. He had respect for her, and knew that it was possible for her to help him. He did not tell her for her sake, but for his.

And the Royal Councilors agreed with that. It wasn't something that Cter needed to know. Even if it was the First Fusion that actually gave him his magic she would have still blamed herself for it. She knew that he had good reasons, for it was the same with Cter keeping quiet about Sarbor having a soul to his younger sister. She did it to others, so she shouldn't be surprised if others did it to her.

Still though, it did not mean that she appreciated it.

However that much meant…

"And for what it is worth I would not have done it without good reasons," continued Kry after his explanation. "Trust that I found no happiness in keeping you in the dark about that." He nodded sideways out over the landscape. "We are in need of it right now though. We are in need of us two being given barrier magic in such a deep manner that had we been but an ordinary human doctor we would still be able to call upon it as if we were born with it."

A small cough and protest came from Kurant as she was knelt with her magic surrounding her left knee. "No need to put such fine a point on it," she said with a small spit. "Give her some time to process it." The flat of her palm raised against Kry. "I know we don't have time but you wouldn't want her to do something as invasive like you're asking her to do without at least some thought to it."

A flat palm that was almost immediately curved into a timid fist.

"I know I sure need some of it..." Cter joined Kry in looking over the landscape of hurrying monsters and methodical humans busying the roads that had been heavy with commerce just the day before. "Even though I know I don't have time for it."

At any moment the first evacuees from the nearby village would reach the Jarasevo main gate with the few possessions they managed to bring with them by either arms or magic. Those of the Royal Guards that had not been ordered away by Kry had positioned themselves at the large, wide gate, ready to close it as soon as the last evacuee reached within the safety of the walls.

Unfortunately that safety was not guaranteed. The sieges that the humans were preparing to build would easily reach over the gates even with magic to protect. There was only one way for Jarasevo to be protected properly. There was only one way for the Monster Mages to live up to their sworn duty.

"Cter..."

But how could she?

"We have to utilize what made the First Fusion so powerful. It is to protect monsterkind. It will not be like the Fusion, for we are asking you to. We are willingly allowing you to give us your magic, even if you have to force it onto our souls."

The calm before the growing storm passed between the three Monster Mages, seeping through between the spaces between the raised wall.

"You're not helping by continuing to talk to her like that, Kry," said Kurant while testing if her leg felt good enough to stand on. "Look at her." She didn't have to gesture for Kry to avert his eyes away from Cter's hollow and distance appearance where the only sign of life on her pale expression and dilapidated aura was her hair blowing into her face.

Even so it was akin to the branches of a nearby tree slapping against the face of a statue. She was thinking. She was thinking the hardest she had ever been. "Bringing her out of this would necessitate her friend being kidnapped, and I hesitate to say that even in passing after how quick things happened in the carriage that had us rushing here." Aajja's informative screech was audible in the distance. "Hell, I barely want to say that Cter should snap out of it lest a giant pair of fingers materialize."

Kry offered his arm to Kurant to help her stand up on her bad leg which she managed to, slowly. "I think it's best if I lean on the…" She pointed to the… "The..."

"Parapets, they're called," explained Kry as he eased Kurant up against one of them sticking up from the low, defensive wall on top of the rampart. There she made an effort to position herself so that it did not look like she was leaning on it to be lazy. "The spaces between the parapets are called crenels."

"We will need to fill them out with barrier magic, don't we?" Kurant asked with a small chuckle. She looked at Cter to see if she had managed to think through what she needed to, but Cter hadn't. Her aura was still retracted within her, deep in contemplation.

"I know that we just have to wait for her aura to come back outside of her," commented Kry after directing some of the Royal Guards that were approaching from the barracks to join those down at the main gate. "And I understand and know fully that it is how she processes things, but still..." Another of Aajja's informative screeches reached the Monster Capital, his later one being more hurried than the one he shouted before.

"I had to pile it on her so that she would come out of it in agreement that it had to be done." The First Monster Mage looked at his sleeve, turning it side to side, inspecting the magical lines that still glowed with a quicker-than-normal pulse to them. "Before that happens though." He turned to Kurant with a serious and genuine look. "Do you want a primer on what to expect when you lose your connection to Queen Toriel?"

Another reminder of the growing storm passed between the Monster Mages carried by the encroaching footsteps of the evacuees from the nearby village. The first and faster of the villagers were reaching the outer guard towers in increasing hurry, with a few flying ones leading ahead by a few lengths.

"In case it happens when Cter gives us her barrier magic, that is," Kry added after another worried crease formed on his already-furrowed forehead.

"It will go over smoother if you know what to expect, is my thinking. We won't have time for any rest and will have to go straight into using it to fortify the entire city. Failing that, at least fortify the angles which the humans can attack with their siege engines. If we can stall their initial advance then we can settle in for a siege. Since it is autumn the humans must believe that they will be able to take the city swiftly. They won't be able to do much during winter, so if we can show that we can hold out against their advances then that should be enough to at least force them to open up negotiation with us. We can meet them on our terms then, and perhaps force out something advantageous for us."

Kurant noticed how Kry easily slipped off what he had initially asked her about. "That is true." She was not in a hurry to bring him back onto the topic though. "It will be a hellish first strike followed by a shaken army that was most likely promised that this would be an easy path to glory. If we can break their spirits early it will increase our chances to have the Monster Army return to a Monster Capital that was just the same as when they left it." Her hand dragged on the top of the rampart fortification. "Not even a single scratch on these...um..."

"Parapets."

"Thank you."

"Anytime."

The third screech from Aajja was back to being hurried, ushering the monsters who had lagged behind to keep going. He already had his talons and back full of those that would not be able to flee in time, so there was not much more he could do.

"And you think that Cter's barrier magic wielded by us will be able to stand against siege attacks?"

"If we combine them together," corrected Kry. "Cter has never used her magic in full force ever since she fought against the First Fusion, so I am trusting a lot on her end. It has been even longer since I used my magic fully too." His eyes grew distance. "Much, much longer."

A quiet nod had Kurant's eyes growing distant as well. "Same here." They refocused back on her sleeve which she had resting on the parapet. Its glow was beginning to pulsate quicker the same as Kry's, and Kurant's fist balled at the sight, her rings scraping against the stone of the parapet. "I hope we remember how to, be it both due to the time since the last time we did go full out, and if we will still remember after Cter gives us the magic."

Kry had to blink and shake his head for him to return back from the distant horizon of his own making. "You say..." He adjusted his glasses. "You say that as if you have something more than just fear towards it." When he was unable to meet Kurant directly in her eyes, he found some guesses. "Something about the Soul Rainbow, you think?" Only one was necessary though.

Kurant waited for Kry to finish directing over some of the joining Royal Guards to the other side of the town to help with the effort there. Until new orders arrived they were to keep reinforcing where the Monster Mages weren't. The number of Royal Guards still in the city was unknown, so the decision was the only one Kry could make with what he had. Once he had gotten more from Cter that would change though.

"Memories are fundamental to magic," Kurant then began with after Kry had ordered enough for the time being. "From what I understand, when Cter gives or borrows magic from others she does so by creating temporary Cooperative Connections. She isn't changing anything about them, only adding to them another layer for them to draw upon for the gifted and or borrowed magic. It's harmless as it is a temporary thing and only affects the recipient's soul the same as another Cooperative Connection."

She inhaled slowly through her nose. "The times she has changed a monster's magic things have...happened. Idyll Fech, Dr. Sallus, both have undergone a transformation of sorts. Their souls were changed, so the expression of their souls changed as well."

A quick glance at the Monster Mage in question eased Kurant as Cter's aura was still deep within her while leaning over a parapet with folded arms and hair swaying behind her. She had begun looking at her hand, with the swirls in her White Flesh shaping differently than before. It was soon time, but not yet.

"Since we need us two to be more than adept with her barrier magic the only way for us to achieve that is for Cter to change our souls. Even if she does the same as the First Fusion and force her barrier magic on us it will still be as if our souls have changed. My worry from that, beyond losing my connection to Queen Toriel, is that it will change me as well."

A strong hand pushed against the gold-rimmed glasses so that Kurant would not see Kry's eyes looking down on her knee brace glowing with stasis magic. "It sounds similar to how the Xoff King told about how he felt after the encounter with the Second Fusion." He sighed tiredly. "If only they would not have decided to go to war over it we could have cooperated together a solution for it." It turned into a small, angry grunt.

"And that you feel that same fear shows that it is not bound to just the humans." A grunt that grew strong. "Us monsters can feel it as well." A grunt that became too much for him. "Us monsters can feel it as well!" the First Monster Mage repeated loudly in a guttural shout over the fleeing monsters towards the humans. "Please just stop this!"

Kurant heard how much it tore at Kry's throat, and she offered a green-glowing hand as he gripped at it with strained coughs. "I'm fine," he lied with a wave away. "Just..." He swallowed hard, catching his interrupted breath. "Dammit, I need to calm myself. I need to focus." There was a flair of embarrassed disappointment in his aura which only reinforced the cold he had gotten from Cter. "We won't change," he then said to regain confidence in himself.

"We are doing this in protection of monsterkind, and that this procedure will not change. It will only reinforce that. It will only make us more as Monster Mages. It is not a sacrifice, but a next step in our service towards monsterkind." With some of his confidence regained he straightened his back tall and proud as it should have been.

"Be afraid of it, Kurant. You are allowed to be afraid of it. However, do not let that fear cloud your mission. Do no let it intimidate you. Let it scare you, but not intimidate you. You are the Second Monster Mage, Kurant. Let Cter give you her magic, but do not let her give you her fear of her title and power. We need to be aware of why we are the Monster Mages. Only we can do this. Only we can use the Fusion for something good."

A spit that was a long time coming was harked out of Kry's mouth with an ungraceful clearing of his throat. Whether or not it had blood in it Kurant could not see from her averted view, but it did sure sound like it had as it hit the stone floor of the rampart with a viscous splat. "It's a good thing you're the First Monster Mage, Kry," she said after waiting an additional second to listen if another spit was necessary. "I know I could never be."

"Can barely be the First Monster Mage myself," he answered while cleaning his mouth with his right robe sleeve. "So I don't blame you for not wanting to." He dragged a pained smile. "I'd rather be it so that you others don't have to though. I pave the way so that you can walk on it easier than I and do things I could not. Has worked for all three of you." The smile warmed up as he turned to Cter. "Better and better with your help paving it for the latter two as well, so thank you for that, Kurant."

While she understood the sentiment, she found it hard to find much joy in it. Her somber visage moved over towards the inner of the Monster Capital which laid in anticipating quiet about the threat which was closing in on it. It had yet to fill with the evacuees from the nearby villages, but would soon. Through the anxious fog Kurant looked towards the still-visible clock tower of Time's Square.

It had rung just before the Monster Mages had arrived, but if it was heralding their return to protect, or warning against the humans that were arriving at the mouth of the forest that they were widening into a painful scream, neither of the two Monster Mages could not tell. "We haven't done a good job in protecting the road the two after us have walked on, unfortunately."

She touched her cheek as a gust seemed to pass her closer than normal, but she felt nothing on the flush on her skin. "It should have been us two that should have been the ones that traveled to Clinic Hill. It should have been either you or I that had to live with the First Fusion's brand on our arm."

A tentative shrug shook Kry's shoulders. "Should have been many things we should have done instead of them, true. We two were the ones that brought to life that of the Monster Mages." He looked at Cter as warmly as he could for a few seconds before he had to avert away from her. "It was only with you that the concept of the Monster Mages came to be. I was only a Royal Mage when you came to the castle, remember?"

A nostalgic smile managed to assert itself among the weighted wrinkles, but it only held for a brief moment before it was swallowed up. "Sund and Cter have been like the children we never had, in a way." The weighted wrinkles smoothed out in a hurried, half-panicked flail. "T-The k-kids we w-would have in g-general, that is. Not between us two per se." Kry's attempt did neither help nor worsen. If anything it only made the tension in the air even more tensed.

Said tension was felt in full force when the evacuees reached close enough for their scared auras and murmur to be felt and heard respectively by both the Monster Mages on the rampart as well as the Royal Guards down at the gate.

No order was necessary for them to leave the gates to help those that were in need of. Monsters that were not meant to move in a hurry had taken the brunt of the abrupt evacuation, and had slowed down the rear of the evacuating group. Those of the monsters that were first ahead in the evacuation passed by the Royal Guards just after the closest guard towers.

"But they're not safe just yet."

The First Monster Mage collected himself with a deep inhale of the tension-filled air. It tasted bitter, but he was steeled against it. Before the evacuees could hear he ordered those of the Royal Guards still close to the gate to escort the evacuees to Time's Square and Fountain Square where there was space enough for them to be safe within the walls.

Those that lived near the city walls should also move further inwards as to lessen the risk of casualties. "Houses can be rebuilt, but lives can not. We will not let the souls of the civilians break! We will keep Jarasevo safe! Always!"

"And forever!"

The multitude of Royal Guard voices came together as one despite their different pitches as they cheered together with Kry before splitting up to execute his orders. It was not long until the main street feeding from the main gate became full of worried, anxious, and questioning monsters that were herded in a slow and confused manner.

Before any of them could look up and see the three Monster Mages stood on top of the rampart though, Kurant tapped at Kry's shoulder after taking a careful step towards him. "We should move somewhere more out of sight soon," she suggested with a nod towards Cter. "Cter should not give us her magic out here in plain view. There is a chance it will be something akin to when we were first alerted to her and Idyll Fech during that faithful night of theirs."

"No."

Kry and Kurant's head turned in unison to find Cter standing up from her lean over one of the parapets. Her breaths were languid and deep, and she only managed one before a shadow expanded over the parapets next to her. Then it covered five, and finally seven. Two large talons gripped against the middle ones in the shadow, and Aajja's body landed gracefully with his wide wings folding in with a deep bow. "Later," she told him with an apologetic voice. "Sorry for calling for you."

The Griffon Commander nodded understandingly. "Let me know when you are ready then. I will be when you need." His leap into the air was softer than before, yet it still had Cter's robes and hair reaching behind her from the gust. Her white-fleshed arm came into uncovered view. The whirls within it were calm.

"It won't hurt," she said, turning herself around to her two colleagues. "I promise it won't hurt." The forest-green in her eyes had become lighter. "But we will have to do it now rather than later."

The gust did more than just make it look like her brooch was the only thing holding her hair stuck to her head. "Cter, your arm..." Seeing her colleagues eyes narrow with questions, the Fourth Monster Mage rolled up her robe so that the entirety of her left arm was visible.

"It won't hurt you."

Shaking violently in pain.

"For I am taking all of the pain from this."