Remember Me.

[Hika]

Chapter 0: Open Hearts.

"Loneliness is a terrible thing, isn't it?"

"You can have all the friends and allies in the world, all of the love on the isle, and still it is never enough."

"I don't know why I am so selfish. Maybe it's because I am a Felinae, or maybe because I desire more. I want to take something from the world, knowing that it has taken away something from me. Despite...all it has given me."

"I don't even know why I am speaking into this. What's the point? Emme told me to keep a journal to track my thoughts and emotions, that it will help with my Arcane studies, but I don't see the use in any of that nonsense."

"But I suppose I can start writing down my experiments and rituals. I have some sigils to map out as well, and no sense in putting to waste some good Magitech.. This damn journal was expensive! Mostly because the parts too...modify my transciever were expensive. But hey, at least I don't have to write anything!"

"Anyway, this is Belle Espero. I will be recording some of my rituals and experiments from here on out. Order magic has been...static, as of late in regards of progress. No pun intended. Okay, maybe one. Haha! But yeah, it's about time I start practicing Chaos. Maybe in harnessing it, I can get a better grasp on order too, who knows?"

"Till then. Belle Espero, signing off."

2176.

The pages of the woman's journal would be a complicated array of schematics and runic sigils. All would have to do with the complex art that was the Arcane, her research plastered upon the pages, as well as her various thoughts regarding the concepts of the Arcane and it's applications.

Combined with her journal entries and scrawling's, she'd also speak in a transceiver, monitoring the progress of her experiments.

"Subject: 47a. Arcane sigil that allows one to harness Chaos magic without the potential side effects of insanity and madness. Chaos magic can be drawn through one's mana much like Order, and it's applications include but are not limited too decomposition, alteration, and madness magic. Combined, Chaos magic can twist the very fabric of reality into something much more undefined. Unlike it's twin, Chaos magic pulls upon the chaos and sporadic nature of one's heart. It is dangerous, yet easier to control in some ways compared to Order."

"This sigil pulls upon some designs from Helheim. For our purposes, this experiment will be made in a controlled environment, without outside influences."
 

[i][/i]

The transceiver whirs, capturing the voice of the Arcane apprentice. Her tail wags in anticipation, a room filled with various Arcane artifacts and materials. A runic symbol carved against the ground. Her hands flick, twisting reality to her will, as she attempts to harness methods of Chaos for her own whim

"Subject 47a. Experiment One. Today is...X/X/2176. The current season...Summer."

"I've primed the rune and the ritual. Today will be my first jump into siphoning chaos magic. The transceiver will take note of the ritual's readings, as well as my observations. This experiment is done in a controlled environment, inside a protective ward inside a room in Arcanum's tower."

"Commencing experiment." 

The transceiver continues to whir, various sounds recorded upon it's speaker. From the swishing hands of a apprentice Arcanist setting up her ritual, to various artifacts clanking and clinging, to the shining whir of the rune as it is activated. The experiment goes well, and the researcher finds herself harnessing the concept of Chaos. 

"Readings stable. Current mana output...spiking slightly, with some fluctuation differing from the calculations." she echoes, watching her experiment. Her tail continues to swish...amping up the runic sequence with an influx of mana.

"Rune stable with some fluctuation. Now adding a foreign item into the environment." And so she does, tossing a rock into the middle of the sigil before flicking her hand, allowing it to float atop the sigil.

It decomposes, it's very nature eradicated through her will. She smiles, almost maniacally. Logical cause and effect is ripped away, and her mind would become mush at a mere touch. "Decomposition stable. N-now..."

"Now...."

"..."

The transceiver whirs, capturing the pain of her screams. As if a million daggers have stabbed her body, she'd thrust her body backward as her mind begins to waver. The transceiver captures a scuffle, various items and artifacts tosses about. Screams of bloody murder, echoing through the tower and against the speakers of the transceiver.

"AAAAAGGGHHH!"

"M-mild...fluctuation...in...mana levels!" She tries her best to regain control, clawing at her face. Reality begins to break and decompose. The very room in which she stood, torn apart at the seams. 

The transceiver captures her scuffle. Her pain and sorrow, echoing from her lips. The room begins to rumble, the brick that had held it together, torn apart. Atom by atom.

The same begins to happen to her.

"sshht* Experiment...s-st-...shht*. Stab-....le."

"Need ssht* -gain...trol...ssht*

In a desperate attempt at stability, the woman would thrust her arms forth. Casting stasis upon the room, and allowing herself to fully reset her world back to pure, utter order.

She would fail.

"Aa...AAAGGHHHH!!!!"

A world is torn apart from her. Another failure, yet this one? A colossal mishap.

One that would tear her from the world, and take her away from her life.

Reality breaks away upon her eye. Madness, caught in her view. Her eyes grow a bright red. Tears run from her eyes, as the very ground and brick at her feet decomposes beyond her eye. Madness in her view, black streaks fall from her eyes, staring into nothingness.

A void.

"H-have...I failed?"

She attempts to cast Stasis again, to no avail. She rattles upon the floor. On her knees, watching as the world dissipates. As her mind is thrown into an endless void.

"...Emme..."

She closes her eyes, accepting her fate. Perhaps even her death. Death, at the hands of madness and ego.

A familiar sight for many magi.

"..."

The world turns black.

And yet voices would tell her to carry on.

[Hika]

Chapter 1: Baptized in Fear.

"...."

"...."

"...."

"...Wh-..."

Eyes open. A void of black is caught in her view. So dark, that she could not see a few inches in front of her hand. The world before her was naught but black. A baptism in a void, filled with naught but voices, her deepest fears in her heart. "Where...where am I?"

"Did the experiment fail?"

The transceiver was still caught in her palms. Recording her voice, even amidst this void of nothing.

"Am I in the Void? Is that possible?"

"I c-can't...move..." Try as she might, every movement would cause excruciating pain. As if the blackness itself was forcing her down, tied by the very decomposition of her body. "Angh....ah..."

It felt as if every atom in her body was decomposing as she moved. All she can do was lay there. In this dark and in this void, crying tears of black. "C...come on..."

"Come on..."

"I have to go home...I have to go home!"

"I HAVE TO GO HOME!!!"

She continues to struggle. Through excruciating pain and darkness. She couldn't here her own voice, screaming into the void would emit no sound. No physical sensations upon her body. She was stuck here forever, it seemed. A limbo of nothing. Feeling nothing, nor hearing anything besides the cold darkness that surrounded her. 

"I have...I have too..."

"I have too..."

"..."

The voices begin to reign.

Echoing upon her ear, whispers. They were in the same tone and language as her own. In this baptism of black, those whispers were her only solace. Voices from beyond.

"Altharim will be ours, Emmeline. The world, will be ours! As I promised..."

"Hahaha! You really think a pathetic thing like you deserves my mercy!? You're nothing but a scuff upon my boot. Shut up and die, you pitiful thing."

"You promised that i'd wear a crown someday. What did you mean by that? Why would you leave me, Emmeline?"

Timelines converging? Other pieces and variants of herself? She pondered, hearing these voices echo in her ear.

"This crown is mine. And everything I had ever wished for. Today...Meranthe will be mine. And it will be a paradise. One free of Magi. Free of pain and suffering!"

"I am a Witch, Emmeline. I don't deserve anything but pain. For all of the pain i've caused others. For the acts i've done, people i've killed. I do not deserve redemption. I do not deserve love. I was destined to be a witch. It's in my blood to cause pain and suffering. Even to those that I love."

The voices continue. Would they ever stop? The woman wonders, closing her eyes and finding solace in the very least, in these memories and feelings of other worlds. She resigns to her fate, hoping that her body would decompose, and the pain will stop.

Opening her eyes, she finds...

"???"

A figure standing above her. It looked feminine, a vague outline of an hourglass figure. A shadow against the black, barely formed, as if an apparition in the dark. 

"..."

"Are you here to punish me?"

The figure looms. Silence permeates her. The shadow does not speak, simply staring with non existent eyes.

Eventually, however?

It lingers forward, offering a hand too the Felinae. If...she could even be called that now.

"No." it says. In a gentle, almost soft voice. As if the figure itself, were an avatar of death...perhaps even this void itself.

"You've done that to yourself." it would speak. It's voice rattling, a hand lifting the woman up. While once unable to move, the hand allows her to float gently upward, unshackled by her decomposing atoms, although they trail behind her.

"I am here to guide." the figure says simply, holding the woman's hand. It guides her across, teaching her in a silent manner, how to float in this realm. "What are you?" Belle asks, and the figure would refuse to answer. Perhaps it already has.

"..."

It gestures for Belle to follow. She floats idly, unshackled by the darkness that surrounded her. "Th-...thank you." she speaks softly, floating about the figure as she followed. "...What can I call you?"

The figure pauses, if one could decipher any facial features at all, they'd find almost a smile on this figure's countenance. "Monarch." she says simply. Gesturing forth. "Follow me, Mockingbird."

"You are not destined to die just yet."

Into the void they would go.

Into a world beyond her own.

Secrets to be unraveled.