Bent, strained, and anxious threads formed an uncomfortable sight as Cter blinked her eyes back into the real world. She inhaled to prepare for the loss of breath that always followed her dives into someone else's soul. Deep enough that her body started forgetting how to breathe as her soul took in all that was the recipient of her changing magic.
Such was not the case with the small, sleeping child however. With her, Cter felt barely anything as she returned from within the small soul. In fact, she had barely felt distant from her soul at all. It was...as if she had barely done anything. Barely strained her own soul even in the slightest.
Her gasped inhale was unnecessary, and instead she exhaled it out her nose slowly while replacing her sleeve over the reforming White Flesh on her left hand. There was only a brief tingle as the thick fabric flattened the colorful plumage that had grown on the White Flesh. The feathers were flattened into the White Flesh, disappearing into it as Cter exhaled the blue monster's aura from hers.
The small child was sleeping unsoundly because of her. Cter did not even have to feel at her confused aura to notice that. Tossing and turning, with meek and frightened sobs, the child pulled the cover around her closer. "M-Mom..." spilled out of the quivering stitches. "D-Dad..." It did not occur to Cter that she could have eased the nightmare quite easily until far later.
Standing over the bed, she observed the child, listening intently to each movement and each worry that spilled out of it. The cries, the sobs, they were all so different from the ones that Cter and the blue monster had felled together. Not a fear that was known, but a fear of not knowing. Of being so lost and so confused as to what was happening. Something different.
Something so, so wrong.
Yet to Cter it did not look wrong. It looked correct. It was what she had set out to do, and which she had done well. The child had no idea what her name was, and the void that left behind had her soul trying to fit puzzled memories to emotions that did not fit. Trying all the keys to the door that housed warmth and light inside a dark and deadly blizzard.
But with lock having been changed without her knowledge.
"H...Help..." spilled from the stitched mouth without any hope to the dreams that plagued the once-soundly-sleeping monster child. She wouldn't be able to wake up from the dreams either as the discrepancy between her soul and her mind were akin to two monarchs shouting conflicting orders about something neither had any clue about.
Not only any clue, but no idea what the topic was about either. They only knew that something was terribly, terribly wrong, but were powerless to stop it or even begin to figure out how they should begin solving the issue.
And Cter was the one that did that to the child.
Cter was the one that had gone into her soul and done something unspeakable to her to then stand above her, silently observing and not helping one bit the scared monster child who could not escape the nightmares that the Monster Mage had created for her.
And Cter felt...nothing.
There was not any remorse in her. There was not any fear of what she was capable of. There was not a hint of regret and her retreating into her thoughts to try and both argue and to cope about what it was she had wrought upon this small, innocent child.
She had crossed a line.
A line of inexcusable wrong and disgust. A heinous act that should never be forgiven and should never be understood. Utter evil of the highest order against another. Taking away what they thought of as themselves and leaving them confused and frightened beyond sanity. The scars of what Cter did would live on with the small child her entire life.
There would always be a small part in her aura that would linger from when her name was that of the Fourth Monster Mage's. Cter's magic would be forever embedded in the child's soul and aura, and the child would never know fully what it was and what it had done to her. Cter had done it, without any hesitation.
And it was the last line that she needed to cross.
"It's done," informed Cter with a small turn of her head over her shoulder to where the blue monster stood with her hand clutching at her chest. "Tell her of her new name while reassuring her with your aura." The Monster Mage looked back at the monster child for a bit longer to make sure that the line was well behind her and that there would be no way for her to return back over it. She did not want to do more to the child as that would just be excessive, but she did have to make sure. "How long did I spend within her soul?"
Long seconds passed before a choked, barely audible voice spoke from behind Cter. "You..." Even just the one word told of the wrought within the blue monster. It was the most difficult word she had ever spoken, and it could just as well have been her last had she not the upcoming task of giving her daughter a new name. "You have been standing up for longer now than you were in her soul."
Hm…
"Good."
That settled it then.
The Monster Mage turned away from the shivering child who's stitching looked to come undone as it screamed in a silent cry that would have been deafening had it any strength or control to its scream. Her cape brushed against the frame of the bed as she turned, and with her long, dark, stretching shadow laying as a black carpet before her, Cter walked away from the line that she had crossed.
Deeper, yet deeper.
The blue monster did nothing to stop Cter from walking past her, yet still she stopped. Not for her to say something, but for the blue monster to if she wanted.
"I'm...I'm sorry."
Cter wasn't.
In fact, she was thankful to the blue monster for giving her a reason to cross that last line before the Barrier. Had Cter been forced to cross that line on her own at Mt. Ebott she might not have had the strength and determination to do so.
To do it to countless for her first time would have been a mountain bigger than Mt. Ebott for Cter to climb over. Having done it to the nameless child first though and not feeling any remorse over it meant that Cter felt comfortable with it. She was comfortable with the last steps to ensure that her legacy lived on.
And that monsterkind would as well.
She could not thank the blue monster though. It would already take her entire life for the blue monster to forget what she had asked Cter to do to her own daughter, and should Cter have thanked her for it, that would have become two, probably even three lifetimes. Only factual words, like instructing the blue monster on how to give her daughter a new name, could Cter say without making it all a thousand times worse.
So she did not say anything.
Her glance towards the blue monster was only met with a vacant stare of the yellow eyes towards the sleeping child almost wrapped up in her cover taken from Jarasevo Castle. There was nothing for Cter to say, and nothing for her to say to.
"The quicker you give her a new name the less she will suffer."
Besides more instructions.
Instructions that had the golden hair of the blue monster spread out in the setting sun diffused through the slightly dirty window as the first of a set of beyond-hurried steps were taken towards the sobbing monster child.
The long shadow cast by the Fourth Monster Mage was for a moment filled with shimmering dots bouncing off the bright hair. The dots looked like hundreds of the sun cat that King Asgore had given Cter once a long, long time ago. She had forgotten that completely, and made a mental note to make sure to give one back to him to take with him into the Underground.
"Child! Oh...child! I'm so sorry! I… I want you to… Your name is–"
A hazy dark-blue simmered down from Cter's left hand as the burst of air from the violently slammed-shut door formed her cape around her. She caught it before it fell back behind her again, holding it tight as she descended the spiraling staircase.
Once down it and out of risk of tripping, she let go of the cape. It followed behind her until she reached the entrance to the kitchen where it buffed against her slowed-down steps. The gentle push was what she needed to speed up again against the nostalgic smell of warm, home-cooked stew.
Outside the small garden was cold. It was in shadow of the setting sun, however there was still enough lingering heat from the day's exposure for a warm breeze to pass into the hallway to fill the void Cter left behind her in the human-made house. She closed the door carefully before turning to the cold sitting on a wooden chair with an anxious, worried hunch. The warm breeze had his green jacket sway slightly, exposing unraveled threads of darkness underneath.
Still though he smiled at the Monster Mage, albeit only out of courtesy. "Hi." The cold pain in his aura was enough for his stitched mouth to look like it was cracking like ice.
"Hi," replied Cter.
"Is it done?"
"Yes."
"...I see."
The following breeze that passed between the two wasn't as warm as the previous was.
"Her brother came to visit a while back," said Donial with a furrowed look into the recently landscaped grass which the legs of his chair were sunk deep into. "Her human brother." There was no other reason for him to specify besides spite. "He wasn't supposed to see Cte–" The cold in his aura spiked, almost freezing his fabric to stone. "He wasn't supposed to see our daughter, but he did. Idyll did not mention her during the rather...dry conversation the two had."
Donial looked through the kitchen window which had gotten a slightly opaque haze to it from the simmering stew close by. "Like all kids in the world she wandered in when she wasn't supposed to." A chuckled exhale brought a nostalgic squint to the buttoned eyes. "Same as she did to surprise me when I was busy with sawing up the planks for her bed a month or so ago." The held smile was not for long though. "Although I guess it was a bit different when she walked into the siblings Fech's conversation."
Cter conjured up a chair for her to sit on and listen which Donial took as cue to continue.
"I couldn't hear what they were saying as I shuffled...her...away from the kitchen table, but there was no doubt that the tone of it changed. It had not been a conversation between siblings before, and it certainly was not one afterwards either. Something changed with her brother as...she...walked into the conversation. He was not the same human that I had let into our house hesitantly as I let out of our house willingly." The jester monster gestured with his palm over his felt face. "His eyes were different. Like someone had pull a lever in his heart."
Cter had her guesses as to what it was. "He wants to join monsterkind down in the Underground," she let know with a slight lean forward onto her folded hands. "Wants to follow down and live the rest of his life as the legacy of Dr. Sallus, was how he hinted it at with his words. There was more to it though."
And finally Cter understood what it was.
Same for Donial, who only could respond by shaking his head weakly.
Cter mirrored it, and a relieved nod had the tension in the jester monster's aura loosening up.
It must have been quite the shock for Sarbor to find out that he had a niece for him to consider giving up the sun and the sky for. As to why exactly Cter could only guess to. Maybe he wanted to finally protect his sister closely rather than at distance which he had argued that he had done all of his adult life? Whatever his reasoning was it was for naught for Cter to guess at.
And also for naught for Sarbor to consider, as well.
"Also, to answer your question that you posed me earlier, Cter," was said with a few tough blinks and a restless shift in the garden chair. "No." His shake of his head was less fearful as his previous one was. "No, I don't consider you human." It was difficult for him to say for reasons Cter were all-too familiar with. "I just...couldn't tell you what I thought before Idyll did. I hope..."
A deep furrow interrupted him.
"No, I'm sorry that you understand." His sympathy was genuine, but there was also a sense of betrayal in his aura as he did not agree with the one he loved enough to have a child with on something that was so deep and fundamental about their mutual acquaintance. "There is no way for me to say this with sincerity, but please trust me when I say that I mean it." He inhaled deeply, strengthening himself. "Thank you, Cter."
The Monster Mage nodded, but only out of courtesy. "Don't thank me." She knew that it was purely for him that he thanked her. He understood that she did not want to be thanked, but how else would he be able to get a semblance of closure about what she had done? "But what you can do for me, is to please make sure that I never see or feel your auras again."
"Of course," nodded the jester monster. "I understand."
"I'm sorry that you do."
A small chuckle managed to escape the tightened stitching, loosening it enough for Donial to straighten his back enough for his deep bow to be sincere. "Thank you for having protected monsterkind, Cter."
"No," she dismissed with a curled wave of her hand. "Don't thank me."
"Right, yeah." Donial instead then placed his hand over the breast pocket of his jacket. "Then please make sure to live your life as well as you can." Then he let it fall into a shrug. "As a selfish favor for me?"
Cter's agreeing nod was distant and without any heart to it, half or less. "Same to you," she did wish back with all of her heart and soul though. "All three of you." With an added caveat to it. "And make sure that it will always be the three of you."
A scratch had the soft fabric around Donial's curved horns stretch and fold like water. "Well, depends if we want to go through with another. Or two more?" His forced chuckle fell flat.
"Yeah." Cter stood up from her chair, fading its magic into nothing before she was fully on her legs. "Keep close to her, Donial." Her left was raised, and a coalesce of magic shot up from it into the air, invisible to both eye and aura as it shattered like fireworks high above. She had managed to hold onto it throughout all those four years she had been on the road with Aajja, and finally she had use for it.
"I never plan to leave her side, Monster Mage."
It had been Aajja's idea after their visit to the village where the dust of his friends laid cold on the ground. He had given Cter some of his magic for her to take in and to form as an emergency flare of magic. He had not been able to reach his childhood friend in time, so if he could make sure that he would make it to Cter if needed, then he wanted her to be able to know that she could call for him and he would be there before she knew it.
"Well, Master Carpenter..."
The chimes sang out wildly and the kitchen window rumbled as the Griffon Commander landed a mere breath after Cter had alerted him that she needed his help. His shadow barely landed on the ground before he did, catching himself from his rapid dive with a ruffle to his plumage and a few shakes of his legs to get loose the dirt from his sunk-down feet into the grassy ground which had caught him with great effort. The shear of the wind blew away the few specks of hesitation left for the Monster Mage.
As Cter climbed up on the leaned-down griffon she found Donial a few steps back from where Aajja had landed between him and her. The wings of his green jacket rested widely on his sides, and the dark void they usually concealed was naked with their twitching tendrils.
He blinked back his vision, squinting up at Cter up on the rising back of the Griffon Commander.
"I did not plan to leave her side either," she left with him before nodding that she was ready to Aajja. Less than a blink later she was above the many varied houses of Jarasevo. From up there it was easy to see which of the houses were of human make and of monster make, just as it was from the window in her castle tower where she had Aajja take her.
The draining sea of monsters below was but a smeared blur, however Cter still saw that there were those that still were gathered at Time's Square. It meant that the Monster Royals and the rest of the Royal Councilors were still down there. Cter would be alone to do the last she needed to leave behind her legacy at Jarasevo. The part of her legacy that was for the next cycle before she was to erase hers.
Before she brought it all back to zero.
As she climbed back through the window she knew the shape of from all the pleasant mornings sitting in it and watching the landscape close and beyond, the Griffon Commander took off with a jump from the castle tower wall. He let himself fall for a second to gain speed before spreading his wide wings.
The sound of him catching his fall with his wings echoed inside of Cter's room. The echo hid the sound of her conjuring up a key for her door, locking it shut. The lock she then filled with crystal magic to prevent anyone from entering without her hearing, and with an additional sheet of barrier magic for her window frame, she was ready to get to work with the final line behind her.
She approached the wall behind her desk, moving the wooden furniture aside with her arms to not leave any magical trace behind. The patch of wall behind it looked like the rest around it, and even felt the same too. With a gentle wipe of her left hand over it though the grainy texture of the stone faded into the functionally colored crystal magic that was behind it.
It had taken some time for Cter to replicate the stone texture on her crystal magic, but eventually it had become indistinguishable from the stone around the illusionary patch of wall. Lerjung's magic was easy enough to replicate, especially when Cter did it through the medium of her barrier magic.
Behind the veil of shimmering pieces falling down silently into dust was the same spiraling staircase that Cter had walked up just a few minutes prior, with the same creaking step five below the top. As she passed it she formed fiery sprites on each finger on her sleeve, throwing them above her seemingly haphazardly. Each one landed into a container each on the large chandelier hanging as wide as the staircase was.
Streaks of flickering light and slightly oscillating shadows filled the secret library who's exposed titles all told of something different, as did their contents. They were all from the libraries of Soul's School, but read as if they were from the libraries of Xoff or Hjearta.
Those books from said libraries would become legend and fairy tales too, even with their original content still unchanged. Many evenings Cter had spent changing the texts of the books she wanted to preserve for the next cycle of human magic, but had to make sure that it was truly different magic.
It had been practice for what she was to do at Mt. Ebott. Practice for her to be able to leave her legacy upon all. She only needed the courage to. The determination to make the choice for all.
And that line she had crossed just a few minutes prior.
As she approached the lone book sitting on a pedestal at the rim of the staircase railing she gathered the emotions she had felt during the day. From the green monster to the parade to the blue monster. Inside the book were colorful feathers which she poured those emotions into like magical ink. She then picked one up, the one with the curiosity she had felt during her talk with the green monster at the repurposed marketplace.
And began writing the last day she was to leave behind for the future.
