After moving interstate to the Gold Coast 14 year old genius Amelia (Amy) Woods was more isolated than normal, tire, plagued by nightmares of water monsters, very bored and very frustrated. After getting into an argument with her mother over Amy's desire to go to university stating that a woman's place is in the house not trying to eclipse men in the world and that her intelligence is not a gift from god but a temptation from the devil as can be seen with her obsession with using her computer too look at anything that caught her internet regardless of how blasphemous , incensed Amy snarled at her mum insulting her saying that just because she can't do simple maths doesn't mean that the fact that she want to know the world and nature of creation doesn't make her intelligence a curse and she isn't following the Lords word merely being a narrow minded fool, Ignoring her fathers and mothers calls and reprimands Amy storms out of the house one autumn night taking her bike for a ride too cool her head.
The night was eerily still with faint lights flickering at the edges of her perception, slowly getting the sense she should go inside get away Amy pushes the feeling away thinking they are irrational, her mind spinning with thoughts and frustrations about being denied a chance to learn and go further. 1 and a bit hours later hearing a noise behind her that was quickly approaching, looking back seeing what looked like pack of aquatic monsters, 1.3 m tall webbed hand like feet, partially webbed fingers, imperfectly formed gills, longish tails, razor teeth and disturbingly human like, running on all fours, chasing her.
Managing to flee Amy was pursued before crashing and resorting to running trying to push past her exhaustion and lack of fitness briefly wondering why the things haven't killed her yet but seem to be playing before going for the kill; getting forever closer. Soon after encountering a ghostly light that engulfs her dulling the exhaustion and speeding up her perception of time, whispering in her ear that it was a Sidhe; a member of the Fae, one of the Fair folk by the named Tobias Uroboros and it will give her the power to save herself as part of a contact; to eliminate a cult, whose presence was responsible for the monsters attacking her, and destroy all the relics and reverse what damage the cult has done and clean up the rest. with payment at the contracts fulfilment of a set amount of magic available per day, healing to all close family members, money and a collection of magical information.
Mind flashing though the various things she knows about Fae, contradicting legends about nature spirits, demons, angels, they don't lie, hate iron and time doesn't flow the same, blue-orange morality, inhuman. Demanding that the Sidhe clarify what it wants and offers, what are the relics? What does this cult want? And what would clean up and reversing the damage entail? The fairy explains that the cult is kidnapping, torturing people and mutating them into aquatic forms and then sacrificing them for power but the details and reasons he doesn't know, the relics are remnants of a powerful creature the cult is using to draw power from and give shape to the transformations.
stating that by accepting the contract Amy will have to obligated to serve/obey him until such time that cult and its remains are destroyed, though she will be able to follow her own will in the vast majority of cases, find those affected and reverse the transformations in possible if not then dispose of them as their minds will be too far gone to salvage at that point and Amy will need to destroy all traces of the cult she can while hiding its existence to maintain the masquerade, then elaborating that upon accepting the contract Amy would don a set of magical armour laced with disguise magic and a set of temporary spells to allow her to defend herself, a innate level of knowledge so that she can quickly learn Sidhe magic/fight, that he would help teacher her to use magic properly and to keep her up-to-date with what he finds out, protect her from repercussions as much as possible while she acts in his service and will not harm her or anyone she cares about without due cause. Mentally torn between the fear of the monsters, fear of the Sidhe and a dark seductive curiosity tempting her into accepting the contract so as to learn/see more of what makes up the world for better of worst Amy trips, falling down and allowing the monster to jump at her.
Amy calls out to see the contract in desperation, a piece of paper written in sliver thread appears Amy reads over it finding it being written clearly with the terms mentioned though no real loop holes. Out of options Amy agrees finding her curiosity and fear of death more powerful than anything else, grabbing the contract allowing her blood to seep into it sating she accepts feeling a surge of power igniting something within herself, as Amy couldn't help briefly thinking to some of the similarities to TV shows about magic girls before it became irrelevant as all her senses and perceptions sharpened and gained depth/clarity and a pain/pleasure beyond anything Amy had ever felt drove all thoughts from her mind. Armour forming around her body restricting and regulating the power allowing Amy to think again as knowledge/spells unfolds though her mind allowing Amy to destroy the monsters with a few imbued one shot spells seeing them dissolve into a pile of rotten flesh and water rapidly decaying until there was nothing recognisable left.
Latter when Amy is back home in her room, after coming home and being yelled at and then grounded by her parents, she found out that she could talk to her new 'patron' through an enchanted coin who explained though when she was more used to her new power the coin eventually would not be needed, the coin also acting as a trigger for her armour. Mind going into over drive, warring between fear, curiosity, and adhesion, she questions what those monsters were, what are you? How does magic work? Why don't people know before he cuts her off? Tobias explaining that the monsters were semi-living mindless constructs created to fulfil various roles and able to be made to take particular forms and that similar constructs have been used throughout magical history. Explain that they decay to hide evidence of who use them, hide evidence and prevent anything from being reverse engineered from the remains and that similar things will most likely be used by Amy as they can be very useful for cannon fodder, spying and in cases of advanced one hide that a person is dead by imitating them.
Quickly explaining that magic is hidden from the population via what is known as the shroud and masquerade in part due to various treaties between various groups using the human world a neutral ground to limit wars from breaking out by preventing them using magic in public there without massive repercussions and that there are massive amounts of dangerous magical super weapons lying unsecured that haven't been sealed of found yet and that the last thing anyone needs is people going around trying to locate them something humans would do. stating that magic is a scientific discipline that is innate to the world which makes it very hard to hide that works by manipulations of energy/exotic matter in other dimensions that interact with influencing and being influenced by normal matter in specific situations and that she will learn more when she starts to learn magic.
Her Patron leaving telling to try to get some sleep as she will start training at 5 am tomorrow, Amy lay on her bed, mind swirling though the events of the night her pondering the consequences, a sense of fear forming in her gut, wondering whether she had made the right decision, constantly flashing back to the monsters pursing her, whether this is acceptable by God and if she will still be able to go to heaven, in-between an almost tangible sense of curiosity and the contract constantly at the edge of perceptions like a solid weight on her mind.
One of the first things Amy was instructed to do was the next morning to start working out, as being it would enable her to fight more effectively and deal with injuries better, cursing mentally Amy began following the instructions for a work out wanting to get on with learning magic, her Patron stating he will get her a number of devises and elixirs that will accelerate her fitness development, increase her overall heath and help teach her how to run/free run/fall/and basic fighting but it will only be basics and she must practice and train to make use of it. When he started instructing her on what foods to eat, without thinking Amy makes to protest stopping when she feels the weight of the contract intensify, the Fae simple stating that as her combat effectiveness depends on her health then what she eats is his business and as of the contract being signed he is her master/lord until the terms are accomplished.
After a work out that had Amy feeling horrible she was instructed to go to an isolated place and don her armour by focusing on the coin saying it should be relatively instinctive. Upon accomplishing this Amy is once more overwhelmed by power/pleasure that burned deeper and hurt more than anything else she had known knowledge unfolding though her mind as her perceptions sharpened, almost seeing things at the edge of her perceptions she was sure weren't there before. After coming down from the power induced high Tobias instructs Amy to sit down and go through all the information she now has access to, looking for whatever she can find and to categorise it, to try to tie it to any science she can find connections to, see if she can find any similarities/differences and anything else of note and tell him when she had done that.
Amy finds that the knowledge seems very basic and fragmented, methods to sense internal magic, simple spell matrixes, warnings of what happens when a spell fails, how to avoid it, what magic is on a basic energy, mental exercises and similar. She finds that she can link together various concepts resulting in them making more sense, tying how magic reacts to elements to her knowledge of the periodic table, how the certain spells are based of similar matrix bases, other forces linking to other imperceptible types of matter, and how they affect normal elements and vice versa. Eventually Amy comes back to awareness having been lost in thought for several hours, her mind/body and deeper aching worse than she had thought possible, Tobias then asks her to cast a basic light spell using what understanding she has. after 10 attempts causing a her headache to worsen Amy pauses and stops starting to carefully go through all the information she has trying to rebuild the spell structure, cutting her hand with a blade linked to the amour to create a circle on the ground trying to link various concepts together. The next attempt blew up in her face sending pain surging though her body like her blood had been electrified, Tobias merely instructed her to try again 3 hours later Amy succeeded in creating t small point of light for a few seconds when Tobias tells her to stop stating he expects her to be able to do that without external props and hold it for 1 minute by the end of the week but noting he thought it would take her more times to stop trying to simply using the spell as is.
Amy collapsed to the ground feeling miserable and groans asking why it hut so much, what hurts and why she needs this armour to use magic? Tobias lectured that all humans have the technical ability to use magic, though much more limited that even the weakest fae, by drawing power from the environment through their 'core' which is a located at within the body and soul/ghost not truly possessing a defined location and from there the power is flittered through the ghost/soul/body via a multitude of connections that in the average human is undeveloped, when Amy signed the contract she gained limited access to his infinity core with a set amount of power always available to unless he Is forced to withdraw it for some reason or decides to increase it, this allows for magic use far beyond what a human can naturally use, this level of power combined with her atrophied infinity nexus and complete lack of knowledge on magic use means that should she have complete access to the power it will kill her so the armour acts as a regulatory mechanism to prevent this on top of guiding her magical development to be more effective and the pain she is feeling is the infinity nexus and core being strained and they need to adapt slowly. Here Tobias paused for a moment before elaborating that eventually as she adapts and learns more she will be able to use more power when using the armour as at the moment it is heavily restricted and wield magic without it eventually getting to the point where the armour is no longer needed. As almost an afterthought Tobias then added that wearing armour in combat is always a good thing.
Amy barely suppresses the urge to make a sarcastic comment in response to that before asking whether she can remove the amour then, her mind turning over the implications of what she had just been told. Tobias refuses and starts quizzing her on what she knows after a few hours he instructs her to remove the armour and not to use it again without his permission. Stating he will ensure that books of magic will be delivered to her house by tomorrow morning and that she is to study them when she gets the time and after going her she is to wight down all she know about magic explaining that the information is contained within and so she needs to internalise it before announcing that they will go over combat information after she has completed her work out, adding as an afterthought that she needs to get used to also asking questions and acting on her own intuitive as he has no use for a drone and so to start looking at everything from as many angles as possible.
After getting a basic level of control over her power Amy starts investigation in to the cult, primarily looking at night for suspicious disappearances, oddities in high magic areas and the like while it sinks in that the fact the world is vastly different than previously believed. Slowly Amy started to see glimpses of creatures out of the corner of her eyes that she had never noticed before, skin peeling away to revel other things hidden beneath human flesh or in some cases just nothing as thought the people were simply walking corpses with no mind like they were just following a script, this resulted in Amy slowly growing more paranoid over the course of 3 weeks wondering if she is going insane, a spur of the moment decision leads her to track a rancid smelling and looking family whose flesh seemed to peel away to reveal a hideous monster and a group that's flesh pulled away to reveal a water adapted form with large frog like eyes and slimy pale skin. After tracking them Amy gets what she considered confirmation that they are monsters that are an affront to god if nothing else and are almost certainly in the case of the water dwellers to be part of the cult, and need to be destroyed. Just before Amy spring her planned ambush Tobias asks what she is doing Amy replies that she is going to kill the demons and the cultists, the later of witch he had instructed her to do.
Tobias prohibits her from attacking, without his permission and asks why she is so certain that the deepest ones are the enemy and what does she have against the family of Ghouls? Shocked Amy snarls at him with the retort of isn't it obvious? And how does he know what they are called and what else he knows about them flinching fear bubbling up at the thought of how she will be punished for rudeness mind swimming with thoughts based on internet research on fae behaviour and the snippets of information he had mentioned about various punishments in Sidhe society.
Seeming to ignore the rudeness to Amy's relief Tobias states that it is not relevant at the moment but he will explain latter but to right now answered the question. Coming to the conclusion that Tobias has chosen the worst possible time to test her reasoning skills something Amy thinks is a reasonable assumption given his obsession mental exercises, something she has had to do a lot off while learning magic. Amy answers that she can see the creatures through their stolen flesh and no innocent creature would walk around in the skin of another person to hide themselves, that the ghouls were abominations in the face of god and monsters that should be destroyed. At this point her planned opportunity of attack had vanished and she was furious and not making any effort in minding her words.
Amy feels the flow of power from Tobias surge and it seems to freeze her body, like being dumped into just above freezing water, before cutting out completely as her armour ceases to work, freezing in place trapping her. Amy feels a feeling of absolute fear descend over her as Tobias doesn't speak for a while the silence and cold persisting with no repose regardless of how much she cried out, the weight of the contract always there in the corner of her mind seeming almost painful as thought it had been violated. Frozen, powerless, and no help in an environment full of unseen beasts and monsters that hid as humans, at the mercy of one of the fair folk Amy couldn't help her mind spinning though many scenarios that started out bad and only got worse as all she could do and await judgment from her patron.
After a long time Tobias spoke, the tone removed of all but a faint trace of something undeterminable, explaining that the deepest one were a well-known group of beings/sapients that primarily lived in hidden communities in the deepest parts of the oceans often out of phase with normal reality or in pocket reality/realms linked to the deepest areas, they were generally relatively peaceful and didn't have much interest in the surface but would occasionally come up for trade with other realms or more often for tourism utilising special magic's to craft false human flesh masks, using fragments of tissue that was cultivated then changed, to blend in/ keep them from dying at the surface. going on to mention that similar techniques are used by many races to avoid detection and to stop hostility breaking out over territory/blood feuds/politics etcetera when in the human realm as it prevents them from being identified by others and courtesy if you see a person using a mask in the human world you ignore it unless they are breaking the law/threating the masquerade or the like so otherworld conflicts don't spill out and escalate.
Tobias was silent for a brief time still not responding to Amy, though the almost pain of the contract had subsided slightly and the cold had receded somewhat, before continuing stating that should her ambush had succeeded then all she would have managed was to kill helpless tourists and a few business people who had done nothing wrong, something that would have been obvious should Amy had bother to actually research her targets first instead of letting her prejudice clouding her judgment. Explaining that there are many other types of sapient being living on earth or in the otherrealms who just want to get on with life and blend in/live with humans just fine, the vast majority living as more or less law abiding citizens with the crimes often being more a necessity resulting from different biology's/cultures/enforcing contracts before mentioning as an afterthought that ghouls are a type of vampire known for a unpleasant appearance/smell and nauseating feeding methods and also for being very peaceful and empathetic forming close nit families and friendships but whose behaviour is just off enough to often accidentally discourage the Oriundis (arising) from interacting with them.
Amy slowly feels her fear partially drain away as it looked like she wasn't going to be destroyed/turned in to a ferret/made to dace until she dies, but couldn't stop herself from denying Tobias's words that the things she had seen were just people with as much right to live as her as it went against everything she had ever been brought up to believe; that humans were special being the rightful inheritors of existence as ordained by God as long as they were willing to follow His word and fight against the monsters made by the damned to steal what was man's. Asking what he means by "Oriundis" and that If that was the case there would be fossil records, and that those things were abominations that have to be got rid of and it was not just them but walking corpses, creatures that looked human but are dead, not to mention that the world was made for humans not beasts something that he should know as an exiled angle and if this was his attitude then it was most likely the reason the Fae don't reside in paradise having come to the conclusion that they were most likely angels that got locked out of heaven during the rebellion .
Pain surges though Amy's body the cold returning even deeper, freezing her lungs and eyes, with the contracts weight increasing as Tobias's voice whispering that he will make an exception for the horrific insult as it was cause by ignorance and a result of her upbringing with the poison of Yahweh but he will not tolerate another reference whether or not something is acceptable to the will of the treasonous Dead Old One commonly called God/Allah/Yahweh and among many others. And for Amy to remember 2 things first is that she has only had the ability to use magic for a short time so has no idea how the world works and what is true and what is not, second is that by the contract she represents him and to follow his will in this and using such reasoning as an excuse to kill is a violation of the contract.
Amy utter that she doesn't understand, soon after the bonds release and Amy can move again, the pain having stopped and the cold dissipating somewhat, with Tobias simply telling her to go home and warm up. Stating he will explain latter but has things to do now, shaking Amy goes home and gets in to a hot bath staying there for over an hour, fear slowly subsiding wondering what was going on having being brought up to believe that everyone... every human is born Christian knowing the truth and are brainwashed/chose to turn away from the lord but also having long since come to the conclusion that the bible was not 100% truth as it was still written by humans and change at time for politics but the core was still the truth. a thought that led to Amy wondering if then god really had and accepted other creatures… and was it really true, remembering the comment of treasonous Dead Old One, the Sidhes response and the fact that she knew so little… how much was true?
Unable to accept that god might not really be an all-powerful creator and might actually be dead but unable to argue the point with something than the bible/my parents/preaches say so Amy tries to turn her attention to what else had occurred looking over the behaviour of the deepest ones and the ghouls she had observed, not remembering anything that really stuck out apart from using disguises that seemed to be made out of skin. Deciding to look over her recorded notes to check as Amy came to the conclusion that her memory might be suspect before turning her attention to the feel of the contract, something that until that night had been mostly unnoticed and that it seemed to only respond to declaring gods will something proven by getting a reaction to a pointless random statement invoking his name that faded soon after, proving that for some reason the contract considered that to be approaching betraying her patron as was forbidden in the contract.
Latter Tobias spoke asking if she was okay, Amy simply stating she was tired, sore and confused, before stating the he will explains now, not really caring about curtsy after what had happened and the fact that it might not have happened if Tobias had bothered to explain things more clearly just after the contract was made. Tobias asked/stated that recently Amy had started to see things that should not be there, seeing through lies/veils correct? Explaining that oriundis means arising and is short for oriundis chaos or 'arising from chaos' the term used for humans, fae and a few other minor related offshoots the term originating from the infinity core all humans and fae have; that creates energy from nothing with fae simply having a more powerful core that has no upper limit in output and humans only producing very little but both technically being the same species, A result of transhuman experiments in the past that became inheritable. Oriundis also have an innate second sight that was engineered into the population a long time ago and has been selectively breed for as power is not a limiter for fae and that combined with the type of training tools Amy has meant that she is getting glimpses of what is hidden and all magic uses can see more than normal humans.
Tobias also stated that almost all sapient beings on earth are a result of Oriundis interference and can be considered their children and as such have just as much right to Earth and Sol as them. Amy stated she wasn't sure if she believed anything he said and that if it was true then wouldn't their be evidence of society capable of that sort of technology to which the reply was that it was hidden very well and agents preventing such things entering the scientific community and that it existed almost 80 thousand years ago and this was not the point at the moment. Amy conceded the point, making a note to see about testing his claims as it should be possible to test if fae and humans both violated conservation of energy and not merely drawing it form elsewhere. Amy then asked about what was wrong with god? The reply was that the being she refer to as God was a creature known as a great old one that regularity tampered with Oriundis civilisations making its self out to be the creator of all gaining a large following. The Old One instructed its followers to cause havoc resulting in many thousands of newblood Fae being killed by humans among other atrocities to encourage the hasty implementation of the final stage of the masquerade, something that still has repercussions today as things fall through the cracks causing havoc , eventually being discovered to be destroying the archives; historical, technical and cultural repositories of past civilisations something that is one of the highest crimes leading to a war against its and its Fae followers.
It came to light that it was planning it was planning on destroying all that did not follow it and were not pure-fae. The end result was that many other Old Ones joined in killing it but its remnants/will that remain connected to the/imbedded in the pillars that maintain the veil that hides magic from view, and that by calling out to it is the equivalent of entering a URL and trying to connect to the remnants and that it is not powerless the remanets still mindlessly trying to spared its poison thought heavily weakened never to be revived. Noting that swearing the name or will of the Dead Old One is betraying him as its will/word would require Amy to kill him and as such constitutes a breach of contract.
Here Tobias mentions that she can test this herself via praying and using magic to listen, though not pledging allegiance but rather to ask what you should and shouldn't do, swearing that he would not interfere should she test his claims swearing to it by the contact. Tobias mentions that there are a number of religions that worship a supreme being from which all arise that is in some respects similar but it is not the being you call god generally and is often referred to as Chaos or similar.
Amy then asks him what those walking corpses were, explaining what she could see, Tobias said that they were 'blanks' mindless flesh golems often made into the image of people who have died due to otherrealm actions or were terminated due to being involved in massive masquerade breaches that can't be covered up or dealt with in any other manner quickly and easily, Tobias noting that massive mutation, curses, severe mental damage either can't be treated or require immense amount of time and resources that aren't available due to how stretched the Sentinels, the ones who work to maintain the masquerade, are and so are killed and replaced with the blanks if the people can't vanish in ways that don't arouse suspicion and that they often 'die' early by 'accident' or 'disease' and in some cases are edited out of people's memories and that there are entire organisation charged with editing paper and electronic files to ensure no attention is drawn to what happens to the blanks but the harm cause by the masquerade failing far out ways the cost of this though no one is happy but there have been no better solutions found.
A feeling of sheer horror overcomes Amy as she whispered that there was almost an entire school filled with those. Asking Tobias to leave Amy lay on her bed waiting for morning as no sleep would come that night, her thoughts in turmoil.
2 days later, after getting into an argument with her mother over the fact that Amy mentioned some doubts about religion and then storming out after her mother began on her duties as a women and her place, Amy gathers up the courage to test Tobias claims being unable to focus on anything her thoughts unable to leave it alone, heading to a church and praying to God to tell her His will. It took multiple attempts at first hearing something at the edge of her perceptions but finally Amy could hear it and sense the structure that clouded peoples mind and perceptions; meant to maintain the masquerade but also making people susceptible to its will. It was mad and vile more in support of Islam then Christianity of Judaism, going on that what was must be discarded and follow the new path while at the same time encouraging all 3 fractions to an extent. Not alive or aware just like a program repeating the same thing again and again tailored to each person with the end goal the death of everything that did not serve it/support its mad view of the world that was never constant and self-contradicting. Mad but weak with holes in the web of malice were parts have been ripped out and new sections of the network of great veil being replaced, shielded from the corruption, weakling it and subverting aspects with more rational aspects trying to undermine the remnants. Amy notices that the connections to most people was weak and only making a slight impact of making people believe but for those who were Islamic the words were louder and having a greater affect but still weak not capable of truly having an effect unless people repeatedly strengthens the connection with repeated submissions and total acceptance to the madness.
Amy wakes up having been passed out for hours, seeing that it was night and wonders the streets aimlessly mind in turmoil hatred, fury and disgust waring for dominance this accumulates is Amy seeing a mosque and having a brain snap and without her amour uses a jury rigged spell to cause an electrical flair with the intent of causing a fire. The spell backlash/strain of using so much power results in Amy collapsing as the building explodes, the electrical failure and backlash having caused a gas main to ignite, the blast and pain from using the spell causing her to stumble and fall over passing out.
Amy is picked up by people who rush to the scene to help, upon waking Amy is asked what happened and why she was out at this time of night by an older man who was performing basic first aid, having trouble speaking, heads spinning and feeling an icy/electrical burn somewhere though her body that Amy recognised as being a much more extra feeling that resulted from magic practice, Amy manages to slur out that she had had a religious crisis recently and had been out-walking having stopped upon seeing the mosque as it brought everything back up and that then everything exploded, the older man asks if the mosque brought things up then was she Muslim? Amy replied Christian but it is the same God who she's having trouble with. The man looks at her for a moment then sighs stating that he hopes he finds her way soon and that it doesn't matter at the moment asking if there was anyone else seen around here, to which Amy replies in the negative, she asks why and why he seems so upset at what happened before realising that it was probably rude and apologises before being waved off and given the expectation that there has being rowing anti-Islamic sentiment growing and was wondering if it was a deliberate act or an accident and that he is a imam for the mosque and was the surprised when Amy slurs out why is he being nice to her when she wasn't Muslim replying that she is an innocent and a child and that while he hopes that she will see the truth in time there is no reason to be anything else and in the end it is Allah who will judge those who pass on.
Being taken to the Robina Hospital and diagnosed with a concussion, she is told she is very lucky she only got a minor concussion from falling over and interview by the police about what happed end. Her parents having come in and apart from remanding her for again running off don't bring up anything to do with the reasons why. Tobias speaks asking what had happened after the explanation he simply calls her a fool and that she was lucky she didn't kill or give herself brain damage to which she merely replies that it wouldn't make much different being fooled by 'God' for so long and that even then she made a contract for power with a being that she thought was the sort of thing that might have eaten children. Amy asks why Islam is affected more, why a person would be kind to her when they were under influence of the madness and what happens now.
Tobias replies that the influence as she should have been able to tell is weak and does not mean their can't be people who are effected and still be good and that there are many as the 3 major religions are connected to it and that Islam is affected worst because that was the latest form that the Dead Old One used and the constant prayer has a affect as dose that more of the remanets associated with the others were purge over time. He notes that from what he remembers reading the effects are minor enough that if the minds of everyone was wiped then the religions would not reform, there might be a prevalence of monotheistic like religions forming with a few similarities but that's it. the Madness does not control people merely inspires and whispers to those who call out to it and that Oriundis have always had religions and similar things have been done though out history and that the Dead One simply had a greater level of success but it will be dismantled eventually when there are the resources available. As for what happens next she is to pull herself together, get better at magic, investigate the cult and destroy them.
Amy doesn't respond immediately then starts to laugh bitterly noting that in the end this whole crisis/revelation she is going though is irrelevant as only one person among the billions who still believe, and that her own turmoil changes nothing apart from her dedication to the contract and task. Amy's laugh dies off as she states that she needs some way to convince her family that she is still at home long term noting that the current situation is untenable as she is unable to do much investigation when having to work around being discovered and the lack of sleep is having negative effects.
Tobias shows a flicker of surprise at the reaction but mentioned he can get something relatively soon and questions her sudden change in enthusiasm. Amy laughed a bitter smirk playing on her mouth, eyes following the small flickering balls of iridescence she had been seeing recently as they danced though the air weaving in and out of normal space into something Amy was only just starting to perceive, replying that she had always determined to go through with the contract to the best of her abilities as she swore she would but now it was clear trying to stick to a mundane life and view of the world was fucking stupid.
Saying that the veil has been shredded for her and that she no longer knows what to believe in but that she can't/won't and does not want to go back noting that she always prefers the truth to a lie regardless of how comfortable but from here on out the only way is forwards. And that its best for both of them to get the cult issue resolved as quickly as possible and best for her to truly get a better idea about how the world functions so she can make an informed decision on what to believe in. Amy paused before adding that also after this she doesn't think she will be able to deal with church or her parent's lectures on duty to god and the like for a while. Tobias accepts this noting he will get something temporary sorted out within 2-3 days and something more permeant in about 8-9 days.
Tensions between Amy and her family increase as her relationship with them deteriorates driven by the fact that she can no longer stand the religious iconography and comments but also based on the change in Amy's personality. The recent events having resulted in her becoming more critical, less accepting of things 'because that is the way things are', more paranoid as she stated to more clearly perceive things that here hidden as her temper got worse finding a twisted amusement in how completely deceived humans were as a whole.
Amy still had problems wrapping her mind around the fact that what she thought of as God was a lie and that the fey were merely a different branch of humans, after spending your life believing in something it is not easily forgotten. Spending sometime contemplating what really created the universe still thinking there might be a single great god but doubting that in the end it cares and if that's the case why should she worship it? Spending more time away from home practising magic and throwing herself into looking for the cults, utilising a crudely enchanted dummy to make people temporally look the other way while Tobias gets a personalised blank crafted to take her place long term.
Slowly Amy pinpoints a pattern in people going missing, all the people had a particular set of magical traits in common with each other, after they were kidnapped the individuals where normally replaced by crude flesh golems, that Tobias said were poor quality blanks, or otherwise reported as having gone on and not reported as missing. After tracking down 5 more at risk individuals in the same area as the others who had been taken Amy sets up another stake out, after embedding recording, transmitting and locating devises/spells to each other them to try to get a greater understanding of the situation.
Monsters similar to what first attacked her turn up at 2 of the locations kidnapping them, replacing them with crude blanks before leaving, with Amy tracking them using a tracking spell she placed in the victims following them back to a shielded warehouse that Amy is unable to get into and is forced to leave after setting up a few pieces of measuring equipment to get more information of the location.
Staking out more potential victims Amy locates over a 3 week period 14 basses were people are taken to and learnt that the victims were being bound to some power source and being physically and mentally warped, this was learnt by tracking devises/spells placed on the victims. This also allowed Amy to track down a number of actual cultists as they had a similar magical pattern/signature that was easily too identified.
An attack was planned with Amy eager to do something productive against the cult, Tobias seeming to have some minor reservations but only bringing up that she has to prioritise the collection of information over anything else and that she has to be equipped with as much weaponry/tools, due to her lack of magic skill, as possible for every possible situation either of them can think of and ways to collect and transmit with that being the priority. Leading to Amy brainstorming for every way to take out the cultists as possible and get around what magical protections they might have, Tobias supplying a number of tools and Amy using what skills she has to create things over her own, rushing to get this set up as quickly as possible but stymied by how to bypass the magical protections 2 weeks later a method through crude being come up with.
After making a number of stashes of supply containing reagents, medical supplies and transport equipment in the vicinity of the various bases and a few blocks away from each after mapping the area, Amy begins preparations for the assault on one of the basses, setting up spells to be triggered at will to keep out/remove everyone from the area, simply waiting for an opportunity. The opportunity came just after a victim was dragged in and some of the protections had been removed so the monsters could access the building with the victims. Using a sample of blood and an analysis of the magic structure used by the cult; a key was made that gave Amy access to one of the buildings, while the key helped it still required brute force that tripped a number of alarms and the backlash hurting Amy.
Managing to kill the monsters and capture a cultist in a hall way just inside the building whose inside was covered in images of oceans and a titanic mermaid-likes creature, a female upper body with covered in scales, a fish like tail, spines going all the way down the spine, fins on the shoulder blades, arms and sides of the torso, flowing hair, a face that seemed human-like but subtly off to giving a disturbing appearance and gills coming going down her body starting at just below the arms. The cultist was found to have gills reminiscent of the drawings and a mouth full of almost knife like teeth in it, Amy preceded to integrated him only receiving a reply stating that the will revive "Octavia the Abyssal Queen" who will wipe the world clean and rule over the world with her servants made in her image, before the cultist commits suicide magic rotting his body alive. Tobias orders her to use a spell to slow down the decomposition so the transformation can be analysed, Amy is frozen by the scene but the contract compels her to act but her lack of focus is detrimental to the spell and only a fragment of information is obtained as the cultists rots completely leading Tobias to reprimand Amy for her lack of focus as they had now lost a valuable source of information. Amy shaken and sick at the site retorts that she known she messed up but being confronted with something like that is enough to make most people stop if horror and that he didn't need to be in the same room feeling that sickening magic.
Tobias ignores her just telling her to focus and that there are still hostages and other information to collect and they don't know if the place will be cleared out/destroyed or what now that the place has been compromised, Amy resists the urge to insult him and takes out a group of foci she had managed to make, multi-faceted balls that could float and transmit images back to her. Using a spell to connect to the eyes Amy made the go thought all the doors to quickly see what is happening
As she was mapping out as much of the complex as she could Amy sees that rushing around alerted to the alarm were monsters and cultists, who setting up a barricade towards the doors to the room Amy was in before one of them destroyed an eye causing Amy to cancel the other ones due to the disorientation caused by the eyes. Looking over everything Amy couldn't think of anything to do to get past the when Tobias interjected that she is fully capable of killing them with a number of pieces of equipment she has but she needs to move now! As the cultists will be destroying what information they can in this place, evacuating members and continuing to harm the captives. Amy involuntary recoils snapping that she can't kill, it is a crime those who kill go to hell regardless of the reasons, after no reply Amy thinks back over what she said wincing realising she was referencing the Dead Ones words, Tobias sighs stating that the don't kill bit was a mistranslation anyway and it would don't kill… he think as her only looked it up the infinity circlet/magical internet and that Amy has to kill them or… Amy cuts him off saying that she knows that they will just keep going and that it's in the contract anyway.
Setting up what amounts to a crude magical slingshot matrix on the ground directed to towards the doors Amy loaded it with 5 explosives encased in a iron/copper shell enchanted to protect the explosives and create a cone of magic around it, linking this to a minor spell placed on each door to try to disrupt the protections there and setting up a number of flying blades to activate when someone enters. Amy retreated as far away from the doors as possible, creating a shield blocking her ears and closing her eyes before detonating them. The room was filled with bright light as the doors were damaged by the first stage and the balls then ripping through the damaged doors with a discharge of plasma before hitting the cultists' barricades and shields exploding sending cursed/poisoned shrapnel everywhere.
Recovering from the discharge, her shield and armour protecting her from harm Amy takes advantage of the situation to send a discharge of lighting towards the cultists, but failing as it hit metal and was grounded, cursing Amy was hit with a barrage of enchanted bullets, damaging her amour and breaking the shield, exploding with a magical discharge on impact. Disorientated Amy used a prepared spell to turn the oxygen/carbon dioxide in the hall ways to methane/oxygen that was then detonated. The resulting explosion resulted in approximately a third of the cultists being killed or removed form combat and forcing Amy to the ground; her armour weakening due to the constant damage but succeeding in keeping her alive. As injured/burned cultists ran in to the room firing enchanted bullets, many showing signs of mutations, the dagger traps activated killing a number before being blasted out of the air by more heavily alters individual using magic. Amy retaliated with a, spell that shrouded the area in darkness causing a buzzing in the people's ears, cursing herself for not using that to begin with, as she prepared a more complicated area based spell absorbing multiple hits before detonating it. Shredding spell arched from one cultist to another spreading quickly across the floor like lightning attacking the protective spells and ripping flesh.
Amy followed this up with a large scale blast of 'magical fire' that fed on magic to further destroy their enchantments, the fire consuming a number of spells/spell fragments , its form altering from the spells absorbed, setting the room on fire. The out of control blaze destroying the shroud spell turning towards Amy burning and damaging her amour, expecting this Amy was already moving 'weaving' a lose cloak of magic 'fragments' around herself for the blaze to feed on instead of her minimising actual damage taken, charging towards the magic user drawing her own gun and firing bullets similar to the cultists that pieced the already damaged protections as the cultist was focused on the fire.
Another wave of blades ripped through more of the cultists/monsters as the cultists started to panic and causing more harm to themselves then Amy had, being demoralised by the death of the advanced magic user as most only having minor spells. In the end Amy was able to kill the opposition but was injured in the processes, her armour having noticeable damage. At Tobias command Amy looked over the corpses magical recording the magical spells/imprint to try to get a better idea of what was happening ], Tobias stating he would look over the recordings and see what he could work out noting though that the magic's were damaged due to what Amy did. She ignored that as she couldn't think of what else to do, mentally turning over the spells in her head, noting that from what little she knowns it seemed like the transformations were made of a butchered healing spell and something else and that the cultists were drawing power from somewhere like she was from Tobias and not merely using ambient power.
After looking over the corpses and burning with magical fire them to remove all traces of the magic's used Amy used her enchanted eyes to look over the complex finding that is composed of 3 floors containing labs, a library, utilitarian sleeping quarters, a temple, kitchen, bathroom/toilet locating, a number of computers and related accessories and a stair case going down. And that the lace was filled with cultists fleeing down the stairs and trying to gather/destroy as many documents/files as they could.
Sweeping thought the complex Amy took out as many cultist as she could while stealing the computer hard drives/USBs and copying all the files off the computer she could prioritising the information retrieval, trying to keep her thought s off of what the captives were going through. Amy proceeded to destroy the computers and setting up a teleporting devise in what was left in the library along with a number of paper files and USBs placed in a shielded container for protection (jury rigged from iron and copper) and sending them to a location set up before the attack as a place to send valuables, the one use spell only just succeeding and only because there was no protections form teleportation.
After collecting what was in the rooms Amy heads down the stairs after cancelling the eyes as the stairway had more protections on them preventing the eyes from functioning and the poor quality of the eyes and the multiple images resulted in a bad headache. Following the stairs down and coming to a number of doors, one sealed and 2 open with trails of blood going through them leading her to suspect that was where the fleeing cultists had gone. Torn between following or going into the sealed door Amy came to the conclusion that the sealed door was more important to deal with right now but the other 2 had to be dealt with if only to stop them coming back. Using a transformation spell/matrix embedded in a group of linked enchanted balls, a crude barrier that fed on the ambient magic to seal the entrances (only expected to last for 10 minutes or so) and a magical enchantment to flood the passages with a expanding cloud of Sarin, carbon monoxide and other reactive gases and intertwined with magic designed to rip apart any other magic/flesh it encountered (would decay in 20 minutes quicker the more it spread out. The enchanted balls provided power/structure to chemically alter the makeup of the air using previously prepared reagents linked to them to provide missing elements, the linked spells resulted in the constant production of gas and ensured it would be contained safely before it started to run out of power.
Turning her attention to the sealed door Amy remarked with black humour that by international law she had just committed a war crime as she analysed its protections and is taken by surprise when Tobias spoke stating that the cultist were sloppy as this was based on a common format that is used a lot for protections amongst young Sidhe and was only really able to stop someone who had never really studied interfacing and matrix subversion, Tobias then paused asking what she meant by committing a war crime as he instructed Amy on how to get through the door. Amy replied that the gas was primarily Sarin, a gas that was banned on human use and considered a war crime, laughing in a slightly unstable/hysterical manner for a moment before she got herself under control, at Tobias's slightly shocked exclamation she asked why he cared as from what he had said the Fae using similar in combat all the time with things far worse, with Tobias replying that yes they did but it was not against the law and while he didn't care he was surprised she would be willing to do such a thing and remarked that he was impressed she thought to tie in a enchantment destroying aspect as there were many simple ways of protecting from gas, Amy didn't reply choosing to ignore that last bit and focus on the door.
With Tobias's help Amy gets through the door finding an elaborate room that was far larger than the area should allow. Circular with a network of engraving contained in a circle in the centre was an altar with a scale on top, blood filling the engravings. The kidnapped victims writhing in the floor in pain as their bodies warped, alternating between screaming and cursing to blabbing praises to the Octavia the Abyssal Queen. 7 relatively inhuman cultists stand at the points of a 7 pointed star contained in the circles chanting praises to Octavia and requests for her shard of divinity to grant these lowly heretics truth and form so that she may be revived. Having known about the security breach the cultists were not taken by surprise when Amy breached the door one of them acting quickly by lashing out with a concussive spell dazing Amy preventing he from retaliating properly, as the others cultists opened fire, the statues around the edge of the room began animating and attacking Amy.
The magic in the room was sickening and made Amy feel like nails were being driven into her head, this combined with the screaming and the injuries suffered from breaking in to the base to begin resulted in her with finding it difficult to fight back something not helped by lack of experience.
Managing to redirect the sloppy spells and use some of those to break 3 of the statues and make most of the others back fire with the backlash knocking out one of the cultists. The cultists are protected from outside harm due to the ritual so Amy comes to the conclusion that she has to disrupt the ritual structure even through it could kill the victims that were bound to it, as if she didn't do anything they were doomed anyway. Opening her senses and using an analysis spell Amy starts to try to work out the structure of the ritual, struggling to ignore the sickening aspect of the magic and the constant whispering and the edge of her perceptions while the cultist and statues maintained their barrage of attacks.
Previously prepared explosives allow Amy to take out 2 statues but an attack manages to hit her in the end resulting in her being hurled against the wall, the spell that should have eviscerated her if being mostly being blocked by her armour, the power being converted into kinetic energy not for her armour. Amy falls to the floor creating a crude shield to protect against the attacks and mentally demands that Tobias explain how to create a barrier powerful enough to hold on for a few minutes and to hell with the consequences, Tobias warns that at her skill and time available it would severely harm her, like getting electrocuted by a poorly made/insulates piece of electronics, and telling her to evacuate and that enough information had been gathered and her death was unacceptable. Amy retorts that she can't get out and will not abandon the victims as she started trying to create a stable barrier integrated into the ritual matrix powered in part by the spells hitting it while lashing out with an improvised attack derived from the remanets of the cultists spells to damage a statue.
Tobias's magic surged through Amy, disrupting what she was trying before she managed to adjust but not before in her right arm was reduced to a pile of flayed meat just attached to the bone the; the armour falling but still halting blood loss and dulling the pain. Snarling at her he stated she had no choice as she must obey him in this situation as per the contract as he snapped that she is a much too valuable asset to die. Amy in pain flatly asks how? As the room is sealed, she can't avoid the spells and if he wants her to survive to help not hinder and that without her arm it's going to be much harder to get out.
Tobias doesn't respond for a moment before schematics of spells swum in her mind's eye, Tobias explaining what to change and taking some of the magic's control away fixing a few of the worst errors. The result was Amy with only slight help managing to create a crude but powerful shield that would hold for a short time; however a result of its improvised and crude construct the feedback was tearing into her flesh as surges were grounded into her already damaged armour. Amy turned what attention she could spare to the ritual matrix determining how to integrate the shield spell into it. Upon bypassing its limited protection Amy integrated the shield to key sections then catastrophically collapsed the shield while channelling as much power she could into it and short circuiting aspects of the ritual matrix; the result was causing a cascading explosive reaction killing all but 3 of the cultist, 4 of the victims lay dead their bodies having mutated rapidly and in uncontrolled manner 2 more had been turned inside out, the remaining cultists were mortally wounded and would die soon and that the room was cracked, the floor destroyed and the rooms dimensions warping. Amy almost passes out from pain and wounds caused by the backlash but the armour keeps her alive, awake and stable though it is a close thing for all of it.
Heavily injured Amy manages to drags herself over to the nearest living cultist, who spit at and curses her, ignoring her Amy pulls up what magic she can trying to ignore the horrible pain that accompanied it and reaches into its body to map the changes, following Tobias's whispered instructions and what to do. After she had slit its throat with its own blade Amy manages to stand up and stumble to the altar where the burnt and damaged grey/silver scale was, picking it up Amy managed to get over to one of the still living victims and placed the scale over his chest drawing a circle around the victim with her blood and placing her hand on the scale magically tapping into the power of the scale to try to revert the spell.
She couldn't lacking enough understanding of the spell work, and the boost given by using the scale was minor given the damage it had suffered and Amy lacked the power to try to use brute force, the pain of using what magic she could almost too much for her to withstand and still cast. Amy demands Tobias give her more power, when he refused Amy desperately said if they could keep them alive then they would have more chance of learning more about the magic used. Tobias's reply was simple and for the first time Amy noticed his voice seemed ragged and pained even using the telepresence spell; they lack the knowledge to fix the transformation, even if they did the injuries and destructive magic forced into the bodies by the destroyed ritual meant that they would die anyway and that Amy was not used to using magic which combined with the damage she had suffered and damage to her amour meant that should he do that she would simply die, stating that she would have if he had not absorbed some of the backlash himself by using the conduct between them. Amy felt tears started to fall down her face quietly acknowledging what she already suspected, being aware from her training the feeling of overload and the consequences, fact she had failed leading to the death of all the people she had come to save.
Grabbing the cultist's knife she pushed it though the back of victim's skull ending his screams and rants, doing the same to the last 2 after checking to see if they were any different. Afterwards Tobias said she needed to get out and get medical treatment and that the warped space was collapsing and she didn't want to be anywhere near when that happened. Nodding Amy asks about the other 2 passage ways Tobias states he will deal with them if there is anything left after the collapse.
Managing to get out of the building Amy runs/stumbles, using what magic she can to move faster, to the nearest car she finds, threading some of the magic though it Amy jump starts the car, and drives as fast as she can away from the location hoping the place would not collapse before she was far enough away and that if it did it wouldn't destroy her medical supplies. 11-14 minutes after getting out the place collapsed with an explosion destroying anything within 500m approx. sending arcs of incandescent shifting multi-coloured magic through the air, the ground ripping apart and swirling though the air as fragments of what was contained was spewed out all over the place, the spectacle lasting for over 3 minutes before it died down. By the time this had happened Amy was far enough away not to be affected, managing to reach the medical supplies and performing first aid and getting out of their as quickly as possible to a hidden location to rest. Getting their 3 and a quarter hours latter treating herself the best she could and washing, Amy collapsed into a bed setting an alarm for 3 hours' time before falling into an exhausted, nightmare ridden sleep.
Waking up to a the alarm 3 hours latter Amy painfully changed her bandages, tested her blood/body taking another round of treatments before resetting the alarm for 1 and a half hours and falling back to sleep this being repeated for the course of 5 days interspersed with various exercises physical, mental and magical, her body/soul/core and magic slowly repairing themselves to a point where she could operate with at least some degree of functionality. Finally getting up and preparing to go home hoping the dummy will have prevented her family form realising she had been missing Amy calls out to Tobias asking what had happened when she was out of commission. it took 90 minutes approx. for him to reply explaining he was in the middle of a meeting, making Amy realise she knowns very little about Tobias or Sidhe in general, Tobias asks she wanted to know what had happened right? Also querying as to how she is doing.
Amy confirmed that's what she wanted and is currently hurting all over, it hurts to use magic; she still had a number of broken bones and is only not dying from internal injuries due to some of the elixirs. As she started to make something light to eat before going home as Amy had had very little to eat since the disastrous raid, Tobias explained that the collapse of the warped space, along with the discharge of the stored energy resulted in a large area being destroyed in a spectacle that was seen by a large number people and was seen a long way away. He explained the he managed to get to the site before anyone else and erect a barrier to prevent people from getting in by seeing a false image, allowing him to see what happened first hand and clean up the area.
Images swam through Amy's minds eyes as Tobias accessed a feature of the armour to show Amy what he had seen/recorded explaining that he recorded as much as he could both for analysis and so she could see what her actions did for better or worse describing what each seen was as they came in focus, noting that everything that was inside warped area was flung outwards showing very poor construction and safety standards.
aquatically altered children dead their skin blistering, faces twisted in agony and fear as their lungs, liquefied by the corrosive aspect to the gas used, and dripped out of their gills, the corpses of cultist dancing as cracking magic swirled around/between them; animated by the wild power hijacking the nervous systems/brain/ghost and running on autopilot, twitching still alive piles of flesh looking vaguely like the depiction of Octavia made out of multiple individuals, creatures of iridescent magical flames/lightning/rock/ other things capering around born of and feasting on the rampant unstable magic that spawned them and each other, books, photos, videos and other personal items just scattered, burnt and cracked, derbies just floating and swirling though the air to name a few.
Amy dropped her plate she had been about to eat from and vomited on the floor as Tobias continued to explain what he found, and that he gathered up whatever he could that might have value before dispersing what he could partially fixed the place, rerouting the gas, blew up the place again, hiding the second explosion from view, before setting it all alight with magical flames to consume any dangerous remains so as to leave the place safe. The explanation the police used was that a gas main exploded along with volatile chemicals stored in the warehouse, having used a variety of thralls (magically created beings, not necessarily smart, that existed solely to serve similar to drones) to change the paperwork and computer files to show that the gas had always been there and that that was what the warehouse had been used for.
Shaking Amy asked how he knew where to find that information and change the records, laughing hollowly at the reply of hijacking people's minds but not to worry they weren't hurt and have had their health improved in payment, stating that she really shouldn't be surprised to which Tobias replied he didn't understand with Amy waving him off before asking if what they recovered was of use and is there a point in in him throwing her crimes in her face?
Given Tobias's desire for her to leave before she catastrophically destroyed the ritual Amy was very suspired when he bluntly stated that she should not blame herself for what happened and she committed no crime, they all made some stupid decisions but those are too be learnt from. Amy snorted replying that she killed multiple people, children even, using illegal chemicals classified as WMD's lacing them with magic that dissolved their flesh and lungs before blowing up a building not to mention the other people she had been forced to kill and that by international law would be a war criminal. Tobias expresses surprise that the human governments have such laws not really seeing the point in rules that stop you from being able to defend you ideals and people the best you can, expressing doubt that she would be really considered that under their laws but that It was a moot point as this was done under Sidhe laws and was perfectly legal if somewhat disapproved of due to the potential of a masquerade break and that given how easy it is for gas and asphyxiation to be counted it made perfect rational sense to sue that enchantment as she knows full well. finally noting that the children had to be killed regardless of what had happed as they were bound to Octavia and their transformation were outside of their skill to heal and even if a specialist had be obtained the bond to her was too deep and would have caused irreversible mental and magical damage even if the child did not die during the separation ritual.
Amy laughs and replies in a rather cold manner that all this goes completely against the beliefs and customs she was brought up with and Tobias is lucky as he doesn't even real consider humans to be real people from what she can tell and she doesn't really care about what Fae law says apart from not getting on the wrong side of it as the first thing she thinks of is it something illegal in human law…. and it's like something has been influencing her mind to think more violently ever since the contract.
Tobias replies that she has better start getting used to breaking human laws as with magic she can't really help it due to how out of context it is and the amount of creatures the lurk behind the veil that will notice her and can't be dealt with by the human system not to mention that she as a magical user is obligated to maintain the masquerade at all costs. Here he hesitated and told Amy to finish eating and get home as the dummy will not fool people forever and that he will explain more about what her learnt latter and to only perform low level exercises magical or physical until she did not feel any more pain. Going on to instruct her spend time looking over what could have been done better and studying some magic but to also spend time socialising and relaxing as the he did not need her suffering a break down.
Amy froze her mind going into overdrive, her deductive reasoning having only increase as she learnt magic, Tobias never out right refused to explain or defend himself when something concerned the cult situation or her power so his refusal to mention that her power was affecting her mind was alarming. She didn't mention it in case he altered her mind to forget but started planning instead.
2 days latter Amy got Tobias to go over what had happened in the warehouse, after not being able to deal with her family feeling very disconnected from everything noticing that she was starting to analyse everyplace she went planning escapes and the like even without thinking about it. Tobias confirmed what she had already determined that the transformation spell was a hybrid of a healing spell and a shadowflesh changing spell (altered the body into something new conjuring a pseudo flesh for extra bulk) the healing spell derivative drawing on genes that make foetus have gills and regulating them artificially with 'pseudo genes' that are a part of the shadowflesh changing spell that was derived from the scale; the body/genetics and ghost/core changing to match the form provided and bond their core with Octavia's in a 2 way bond channel Octavia's power and let her here their prayers, this process also providing knowledge and mental traits.
Amy while staring into the distance listening to Tobias as he speaks while contemplating whether to go through with her plan or not starts idly manipulating the ambient magic in the environment being startled back to full awareness as the sky lights up with lighting that simultaneously struck 6 power lines right next each other blowing all the power out. Amy couldn't help blushing as she realised she had caused that as Tobias breaking out in laughter, to her humiliation and anger which only grew when he mentioned the she was learning how to innately sense/perceive magic and other dimensions and apply her knowledge and reason to change the world like a fae child would, saying he thought it would take her longer to get to this stage if she ever did as few humans did even when learning magic.
Eyes narrowing Amy decided to challenge Tobias to get the information she wanted, questioning Tobias on how the cultists gained the ability constantly draw power though the bond with Octavia and how that would provide them with the knowledge of those spells? Tobias elaborated that the scale Is linked to Octavia's infinity core and when the pre-cultists found it they would have sensed the power and started obsessing over it slowly starting to hear whisperings coming from it as Octavia's thoughts were transmitted down it subconsciously allowing a person to gain a faint inkling of how to use magic. As they gained insight of how to use magic they then would then use their vague knowledge of magic unconsciously on the scale to tap into it gaining more knowledge and causing a self-reinforcing cycle. Here Tobias went off on a tangent saying similar things are well known as many first time magic using humans first learn how to use magic be getting into direct contact with magic sources that then slowly start triggering the reinforcement and widening of their infinity nexus and that it is one of the reasons so many precautions are taken to contain magic as this also influences a person's minds and talent for magic in the direction of the magic present in what they are connected to.
Amy was honestly surprised that Tobias seemed so blasé about explaining this having suspected that he would be trying to trick her or hide the extent of his knowledge due to the fact that he had been hiding things from the beginning, how he knows about the cult? Why does he care? Why was he so willing to offer magic to someone strange? And why didn't he deal with this himself instead of recruiting a random girl it? Amy couldn't work out why he was breaking or seeming to break the pattern now.
Tobias restarted on the topic saying that this would have gone on for several months, with the cultists influencing Octavia just as they were influenced due to there not being any protections to stop it with the scale providing direct access to her infinity core and from there the 'foundation' so to speak of her mind and all her knowledge. Going on to explain that the only symptoms that Octavia suffered would have been nightmares at first as her mind subverted and sanity destroyed by feedback loop, as the cultists taking the information they got to construct a crude variation of the familiar ritual using it to warp their forms into a form similar too Octavia, reinforcing the spell/form in Octavia's mind in the process.
Tobias paused before retaliating to Amy's demands for him to continue by caustically saying she doesn't have any righty to demand anything from him, Amy drawing a matrix on the ground retorts that by how the contract was written if it is related to the cult situation then she does. Tobias to Amy's shock once more conceded her point explaining he was simply thinking on how to phrase it in a way that makes sense and that Amy isn't the only one stressed out over the whole situation then mentioning that Amy should keep practicing environmental magic manipulation instead of defined spell matrixes, referring to what Amy was doing, as it would be an excellent tool that the cultists don't seem to have and that it has less chance of a backlash causing her harm as any power will simply manifest as an environmental effect.
Ignoring Amy's growing agitation Tobias started again saying that this bond to Octavia can be considered a mantle of madness; the term referring to the fact that the cultists were able to gaining direct access to her power, stealing fragments/creating an imprint of her knowledge that warps their mind/spirit/cores based upon Octavia's will/power with what knowledge and aspects they gain being a hybrid of Octavia and the will/beliefs of others connected to Octavia due.
Amy very bluntly states that sounds in many ways similar to their bond similar challenging him as to explain how he knows so much about the magic used and the circumstances as there should not be anyway for her to know what this Octavia was and that he seems to be basing thins on personal knowledge. And if the 'mantle' affects the cultist dose her bond with him have any affect?
Amy's grows more hostile to Tobias as he explains that the bonds between cultists/Octavia and Amy/him are all based on a modification of the familiar process though the cultist/Octavia bond being ill defined, having no restrictions in place meaning both sides are being warped by the crude bond refusing to touch on what this had been done to her mind and what connection he has to Octavia and why he cares about any of this? When he refused once more to provide an answer to the questions Amy brings up the contract and that by it he must share all information relevant to the situation with the cult so as to allow his agent (her) to respond appropriately. Tobias refuses stating that she is obsessed with a situation that is of no consequence and will only distract her from doing her job Amy retaliating by stating that it is relevant so she knows what to predict in the future with regards to her own development, what type of magic the cultists will use as it is derived from Octavia and he seems to know who she is and as such can find out what her response will be and that if the bond goes both ways integrating who/what Octavia is might provide information and that what Tobias's personal investments is important as the majority of her power is derived from him and as such her effectiveness is at risk should something happen on purpose or by accident to make him withdraw his power she needs to be able to anticipate it. Finishing with that she refuses to continue her service if Tobias doesn't answer now and she will deal with the consequences of a contract violation before dealing with someone who gives her the mushroom treatment.
Losing her temper and lashing out without realising it when Tobias replied with equal hostility that she would not dare risk a contract violation and to just do as she is told, causing it to start raining silver fire that burnt cold a result of twisting the worlds environmental magic's into a self-propagating spell matrix on impulse, ripping apart the spell letting it dissipate before it lasted long or spread very far Amy snarls at him that he had told her in the beginning to use her initiative and that he had no need for a slave resulting in an icy cold flooding her body, restricting her access to Tobias's power the weight of the contract pressing into her mind, different to before as it seemed to be against both of them.
Laughing mockingly Amy looks inwards sensing her own intact power, that while paling in comparison to Tobias's it could not be taken from her, focusing on the aspect of the Contract against Tobias (who she could tell was in pain to) she used her power to trigger the spells she had been setting up laughing as pain surged through the bond into Tobias even as her body burnt cold, the spell quickly failing as she lapsed into unconscious.
Waking up painfully the setting sun blinding her, body burning from magical strain, her lips curling in a twisted smirk whispering that he should have paid attention to his contractual obligation and the she warned him that she would endure a contractual failure before doing what he said if he didn't tell her everything. Hearing a pained reluctant agreement that also said she had become far more ruthless since the contract was signed, far more than he had expected, Tobias with immense reluctance stating this had been a fuckup on both part Amy having been overly hostile that put him on the defensive and he had been far to secretive and stressed out not wanting to confide into others which is part of what caused this mess in the first place.
Amy stood up shakily asking once more what was going on receiving the tried reply that they are both fucked up, her recovery had been pushed back noticeably, neither have had anything to eat since the morning nor are they in the condition to do anything now so that they should both go home and get some rest and he will explain everything properly tomorrow. Any wanted to protest but could barely think, having a pounding headache so agreed reluctantly, heading home a smile rising unbidden to her face by the fact she had knocked him out too so she was not completely helpless against him.
The next day waking up from nightmare riddled sleep, tired and in more pain than the previous day Amy didn't bother trying to contact Tobias and started going over the data collected on the other cult out posts and known locations the devices still having recorded everything. noting that many identified cultists did not interact with each other, spent time trying to find other bases and got in to multiple fights with each other, Amy coming to the conclusion there were multiple fractions not all originating from a splitting of the same group given notable differences in magic patterns, physical changes and behaviour.
Tobias contacting her around midday, asking what she questions she wants answered first, Amy listing the questions she wanted answered in order; what is the familiar ritual, what differences are there to what was done to her, what affects there are to her mind, what changes can she expect, what is his relation to Octavia, what to the best of his knowledge is Octavia, what is his stake in the situation, why don't the Sidhe authorities get involved and are their anything else he hasn't told her that is relevant? Both being very formal in their manner to conceal their feelings and prevent another disaster like the day before.
Tobias very politely explains that the familiar ritual is used to give magical ability/Oriundis level intellect and form to a non-sapient creature as well as the ability to draw on the fae's infinity core their very existence as anything more than an animal being linked to a 'contract' that laid out their duties/limits something they are incapable of thinking about/doing as it is fundamentally against their existence. The bond uses the nature/knowledge of their fae to alter the animal using it original nature as a template to build around with the resulting being having the ability to use magic like a Fae of whatever culture/style did the ritual, the process also results in the familiar developing a true ghost/soul, its form being similar to a Oriundis with varying levels of animalistic traits/behaviours depending on how it was done.
And that the process takes a while to stabilise with the personality of the creature developing based on the knowledge it was imprinted with. the magic that he used on Amy was similar in that it bound their cores together to allow Amy access to more power then she would normally be able to use as a human and changing her ghost/soul to allow the flow of magic to be more reminiscent of a Sidhe, an individual who has been born with power flowing through them since birth and trained in methods to use it rather than a person who stumbles on to it wielding power crudely burning out aspects of themselves; likening it to the difference of being born into a culture has its own language, rituals, customs, and full fighting style and learning that fighting is possible and learning a few crude punches, kicks, blocks and that you should not just randomly kill your opponent because then who would you fight.
after a pause of a few minutes to Tobias saying that a good metaphor would be that Amy received a download of enough of the language, rituals, customs, and fighting style to interact somewhat in such a culture, with it being reinforced as the bond settled the constant use/practice/experimentation of her power and his lessons to reinforce it. Though obviously not being any ware near a true Sidhe in knowledge or power thought that could change as she could eventually become a true Fae; as even now her infinity core is slowly changing/maturing as a result of the bond to a mature/true infinity core.
the information Amy received was by necessity focused on fighting/reconnaissance/curse breaking/tactics and the like including some basic information on customs/politics of things she had a chance to run into, but he also made the point of making the 'mantle' as complete as possible as he with a broad basis of magical knowledge available having no desire to make a cripple. The thing was each mind is different and so what information is absorbed is difficult to predict changing based on multiple factors.
Amy interrupted with Annoyance creeping into her voice saying that he is obscuring the situation and what was done to change her behaviour, the results was her collapsing as her body burnt, the world losing colour/taste and feeling, Tobias voice was soft and dangerous staying that it should explain it and he was going to elaborate and that he is sick of her attitude stating he is not the enemy and that she can deal with living in a flat world for the next 3 days or until she breaks the spell. Amy bit out that while she should have been patient and that she apologise for the interruption sit was uncalled for, as galling as that was for her to admit, but while he might not be enemy he is not necessarily a friend either as he had been hiding far too much and that he is sick of his attitude of her being a tool openly noting that he shows brief instances of recognising her as a person, seems to realise and goes back to treating her as a tool.
Silence persists for a while before Amy says in an exhausted fashion that she will try her best to put her own concerns about him to the side and do her best to collaborate properly if he at least acknowledges that she is a person just as real as he, is if not as powerful/smart, and is willing to explain everything relevant to the situation. As recently they have been doing more harm to each other and their mutual goals then than everything else having barely done anything about the cults and if things don't change won't instead they will end up having more disasters of the same magnitude as the Raid unless they get their shit sorted out. Amy pauses and states but she is still going to call him out if she thinks it's appropriate but would expect him to do the same.
Reluctantly Amy also introduces herself, like she would to someone she has never met adding that for better or worst they would be working together, best attempts aside traces of hostility still creep into her voice
Tobias reluctantly returns the offer, saying his name, that he is 13, studying at the Blackstone University of higher learning located in the Great Sea, a pocket realty where he lives, his only remaining close family is his 19 year old sister Cordelia better known as Octavia the Abyssal Queen and he will do anything he can to save her.
Shocked Amy's only real reaction is to question him with simply what, Tobias explains that the Abyssal Queen is how she looks when using an experimental transformation spell and that she is not fully aware of what is happening as he explained before. When she was trying out the spell she was hurt and her body contaminated from the attack resulting in broken, left over scales and bones lingering instead of dissolving, still drawing on Cordelia's infinity core,
The cultists as Amy already knowns are tapping into the connection the 'relics' have to Cordelia their power resulting in the situation he mentioned earlier, resulting in the current situation with his sisters mind being tamped with, the cultists tapping into her power and warping their bodies in imitation of Cordelia's transformed appearances using the remains of the spell and relics to do so. Amy bewildered asks why they would worship her as a god-like being when shouldn't it be oblivious that she isnt?
Tobias reply was that how would they know different? They found the scales, learn basic magic from them getting glimpses of her transformed appearance and most likely that she was hurt and 'dissolved' as that would be the most likely memories embedded in the relics and that it matched what he has read in the notes they stole. Tobias notes that Amy is being affected by her heightened perception but even then there is no guarantee even with her magical knowledge she would think that 'Octavia' was anything but the aquatic monster that she looks like and that many creatures have been worshiped as gods that do not match the Dead Ones follower's belief system
Amy paced frustrated, before demanding what affects this has had on his sisters infinity core as while Amy knows that there is apparently no upper limit in power there has to be some limitation or a Fae would rip the planet apart when they got angry, thinking about her own recent lapses in control and that Tobias could only give her a limited amount of power and given his apparent situation and commitment holding back would be counter-productive.
Tobais lets out a sigh of tiredness saying that he should give her some background her explaining that while all Fae can generate unlimited power it took time to learn how to increase power output via what amounts to a feedback system and that most Fae cultures focused on finesse and subtly over raw power. A person's s ability to use more power increases with experience but some will learn the trick naturally. Most forms of magic are designed to prevent a Fae being caught up in a positive feedback loop which results in a person constantly increasing power output uncontrollably, normally ripping apart their infinity nexus due to not being prepared for the power and lacking the knowledge to control it, but if a person knows enough then they can increase their minds ability to process/control information/magic and strengthen their infinity nexus instinctively which feeds back into the loop, a process known as Ascension but if a person fails to control the power feedback then they are ripped apart by the power sheading there infinity nexus/ghost/mind violently destroying the surrounding area.
Ascension twists a person's mind as it is a result of instinctively altering ones minds/ ghost/infinity nexus/self to handle the exponentially increasing power magic without regards to sanity or form; the body often resulting in a person growing becoming a shell of exotic matter and twisted physics, power warping/destroying surrounding area almost universally uncontrollably with a range only limited by power, normally this results in the ascended eventually failing which results in a horrific blast, their power/form/mind stabilising but are almost universally insane or broken mentally and have to be destroyed/sealed, in some cases (extremely rare) a person will manage to return to a somewhat normal from but even if stabilised they can never pass as a normal individual again physically/magically/mentally and often as before have to be destroyed, there have also been reports of the people just vanishing and no one knows where they went but that there is a suspicion among some but that is not provable that they collapsed creating a new universe. Her Tobias pauses adding with a form of warped amusement that that is what turned Venus from a thriving planet to the hell world it is now, changing the orbit and destroying its moons in the process
He continues explaining that the vast majority of fae live in specially created reinforced pocket realties with fail safes in place to protect earth/other Oriundis/spaiants from an ascension, if a ascension goes too far a single realm might be destroyed and millions would die but it's better than the continents cracking, the sky burning, the sealed weapons activating, the great seals that hold back the star eaters failing, the planet dying and taking out everything connected to it as no one can leave due to the celestial barrier created to protect earth being inverted trapping all magic users on earth.
The crude mantle cult uses works both ways slowly pushing Cordelia to produce more power, something she is already very good at, and as a result the cult is gaining more power to use and forcing their infinity cores to develop slightly, that power feeding into Cordelia slowly increasing the base line power she uses. it is slow enough due to the cults siphoning off most to prevent a immediate runaway reaction and for her to adapt rather than just get ripped apart, Tobias admits when Amy pressed that if given enough time she could start undergoing a true Ascension.
Amy challenges Tobias as to why he didn't tell her this from that start, what is he doing and why don't the Fae authorities get involved with the threat to the masquerade and of an Ascension?
Tobias' explanation was that he knew the cult was affecting his sister and stealing her power and would think of her a powerful being and used created aquatic monsters as agents as they don't leave evidence bar sea water and base organics. He knew nothing else and has been trying to work out from his end what was going on with Cordelia/trying to keep her sane and break the connection the cults have with her, on top of getting Amy the reagents and equipment she needs. And the authorities could deal with it easily but there are too many catastrophes and not enough resources so the authorities will take the quickest and most efficient rout to maintain the masquerade; simply killing everyone and using blanks to hide the disappearances something she is already aware of.
Amy challenges him on the fact he mentioned that not trusting people caused this to start with, to which Tobias retorted that's not what he said but rather it contributed to it and what he meant was he knew Cordelia had been hurt and that her power was being drained and causing her to have nightmares but was unwilling to go to the healers out of pride thinking that he could deal with it and that he was afraid that they would simply kill her out of hand and by the time he realised what was going on it had truly grown larger than he could handle by himself to the point where the sentinels who maintained the masquerade would be forced to kill her.
Adding that if he tried to deal with this personally his absence would draw attention among the fae, his sister would suspect something was up and even maddened Cordelia would investigate putting the cult on alert, who would then sense him as he tried to deal with them forcing them underground and to cut back on the attacks, Cordelia would realise that he was 'fighting against her' thought the bond to the cultists, the feedback would continue without anyone there to try to mitigate it and Cordelia would get worse to the point that her mind would be irreparably damaged no matter what he did. But Amy is separated from him to a degree, can hide her presence better and allows more things to be done at once.
Amy bluntly asked what is the chances of his sister coming out of this unscathed if all the cultist were remove right now, Tobias doesn't answer so she asks why shouldn't she go to the sentinels right now due to the danger Tobias says that he is ordering her not to and that when Amy mentions that this should get out of and replies that he knows but that he will do his best to deal with it anyway and not to speak of it again.
The tense conversation turning to what to do about the cults, discussing that the various factions have somewhat different opinions based on the documentation obtained but all follow the same idea of somehow resurrecting 'the abyssal queen' and mutating people to look like her. Amy likened it to the various denominations of Christianity, Judaism and Islam; all worshiping the same thing but with different beliefs on what it is, who speaks for it and then differences of opinion even in those factions resulting in her saying that then like the monotheists they could make them fight between themselves. It was decided that it would be foolish to try a strait up raid again without a lot more resources and a way to get in and out without notice so Amy would be tracking down and interrogating/killing cultists who were out in the open and try to pin the blame on accidents and other sects starting with using the base they raided to provide the template to the attacks.
tracking and identifying as many cultist's as possible while studying the protections on a number of bases, Amy sabotages a number of the cultist in day to day life killing them with car crashes/illness/and random assaults primarily using version of the monsters used by the previously raided cult base and targeting, from what could be Identified, antagonistic sects combing over the bodies for magical residual. Identifying how to tap into the connection the cultist had to Cordelia and mentally feeding them ideas/encouraging the hatred towards the other sects, causing issues between all the cultists as a result of being transmitted through Cordelia as faint twisted/distorted dreams and whisperers, and influencing them into providing information on the cultists actions and defences. The various sects getting more violent and aggressive towards each other eventually breaking out into open conflict, something Amy encouraged as Tobias assisted her in crafting a more precise 'key' and disguise to enter one of the cultists bases stealing as much information as possible and sabotaging sections. Breaking/controlling a cultists mind to 'defect' to one of the other sides and let them in the crude assault was used as a disguise for Amy to gain as in site on the magic use and frame the bases detonation on the warring factions. her nights are filled with nightmares about the people killed raising from the dead accusing her for failing to saving them or calling her a murder, the faces morphing into those she knows calling her a heretic with whispers of the Dead Old One slivering into her mind never ending, the deaths she had seen replaying constantly, having had to kill over 20 victims who had be twisted beyond her ability to fix, with the 2 she did manage to 'heal' had to be put down their minds twisted to the point where they simply went on killing sprees screaming praises to God/ yelling incoherently.
the attempts to manipulate the cults and invade their strong holds get harder and Amy is almost caught after the 3rd raid, suffering server injuries to her right leg, but managing to burn all evidence away to avoid being traced, investigations uncovered that there was a suspicion growing that there was a saboteur not loyal to the Abyssal Queen due to that the destruction of the first base was never found dead or alive nor did the individual match any cultist behaviour and that a growing number of people are receiving visions of such a thing and that reportedly someone was seen invading one of the bases. Amy quickly comes to the obvious conclusion that the actions that caused the fighting between the sects caused reflections in Cordelia that were transmitted to the other cultists but they were unclear.
Tobias states he will try to steer her mind from thinking about such things, using magic if need but saying that it is a stop gap measure at best and that will mean he will have to stop trying to limit Cordelia's power growth to the same extent or risk her dying, and Amy is to step up her attacks/investigating stating that killing the cultists is a secondary priority, destroying the connections to 'Octavia' being the primary goal to prevent the cults expanding and harming his sister any further. Amy retorts that she knows that, as they don't need a fae ascending so destroying the connections is the best goal, purposely missing the reason he is doing that to get on his nerves, stating that it would be a very bad idea to let the person who is the catalyst for the death of hundreds and the future cause of many more to die trying to limit her harm after all resulting in Tobias snarling at Amy.
The various factions still fall into open war, the magic level they were using increasing, Amy managed to destroy 3 more bases without being caught and organise a number of disasters to take out the majority of one of the 5 factions with their bases being taken by another one. a total of 23 bases were located with the protections getting more elaborate, as Amy tried to infiltrate a 4th base while the cults were, as far as she could tell were fighting each other, but it was a trap with cultist from various sects all their, Amy escapes after causing significant harm but with serve injuries, one of the cultist having bragged explaining that their sect had suspected that something was amiss and approached the others sects who also had rising suspicions and a deal was worked out, a trap to see for sure who was responsible and kill them, calling her Traitor knight.
Amy, who has been isolated from everyone since working out what method to use against the cults, a blank having taken her place at home, suffers for nightmares, chronic sleep deprivation struggles, loss of appetite and a worsening temper. an poorly planned attack in response to the increased coordination between sects, on one of the bases results in Amy destroying one of the basses at the cost of a large number of victims who had not been warped by the cult yet, a number of civilians in the surrounding area, risking the masquerade and badly hurting herself. Tobias demands what she was thinking constricting her access to his power, resulting in Amy to start to hyperventilate and a panic; flashing back to the debacle with the trap when she was almost locked out of all her magic by the cults via a crude set of manacles. Tobias lets the power return and when Amy has calmed down asks what was going on, after listening to the explanation he asks how much she had been sleeping and eating, demands she deactivated her cognitive enhancements and complete a series of brain games. Amy starts to protest and stops thinking back to the latest disaster and reluctantly saying that she doesn't think her ability to reason is badly impaired but it's possible and she doesn't think she would be able to tell by herself. The score being very low and Tobias commanding her to take a break and go socialise, even if it's at the opposite end of the country where the cult isn't, eat, and sleep as she is no use to him or herself like this and is more of a liability.
Amy says she can't take the break as who will deal with the cults, Tobias cutting across her saying he can use drones and the like for now and that 10 days won't be an issue as she needs the to recover anyway, causing Amy to query why he would do that given that this could apparently cause his sister to take note the explanation was that Cordelia attacked him yelling about him betraying her, and while he got away she is nowhere to be found and that the cults already known of her reminding Amy of the Traitor Knight comment, not having a choice and not really caring about what the cults call her Amy doesn't protest but her limit is tested when she was commanded to get out and interact with people when she is in Melbourne, Tobias having arbitrarily decided where to send her, and offering her aging disguises and birth control with the comment it would probably be relaxing, not getting why Amy protested at that comment.
Tobias wonders if allowing all these people to die and be broken mentally is worth trying to save his sister who if he was honest with himself was most likely beyond saving, for the first time seeing humans as real individuals, and not annoying abstract objects/animals through Amy perceptions. Reluctantly feeling guilt for putting Amy through this; trying to tell himself that she was/would be adult by Sidhe laws having completed her mandatory education, struggling with the fact that even then humans aren't prepared for making major choices by their education system but she is a genius and so should be more mature. Tobias comes to the conclusion that he would do the same thing again if it gave even a slim chance to save his sister as he starts to get ready to track down Cordelia and hopefully restrain her.
Amy returns more or less healed to find out that Tobias had failed horribly in trying to keep the cultist in check having only paid a slight amount of attention to them by throwing drones and bombs at locations where they were known to be and neglecting to maintain/protect the recoding/measuring devises she used to work out how to bypass the protections, having been more focused on finding and containing Cordelia, his comments that most of the information can be obtained can be got more easily simply by looking it over in person to which Amy snapped saying she is not a trained sidhe and he can only get basic information from looking through her senses and that that does not make up for information on how the cultists get through and act. Leaving Tobias to apologise admitting that he messed up but in his defence finding Cordelia is more important as she is the linchpin in this whole situation though the most luck he had was spending 2 days in a magical hospital after getting into a fight with her, the argument continuing with Tobias commanding Amy to let it go, that it was messed up and they only have so many resources and she was useless as she was, leaving the scowling reply that her break was of no use as she kept jumping at shadows but when pressed acknowledging that she had at least eaten/slept better. This combined with the fact that the cult's factions had more or less united and had been methodically looking for her and killing to try to pull her out.
Furious at the whole situation Amy stops trying to be subtle and starts killing cultists as she could and interrupting as many of the kidnapping attempts, using getting Tobias to get a number of blanks with premade spells to act as decoys and sow havoc as she tore through 4 of bases having had a better idea of the type of magic they were using, better understanding of magic, equipment and the fact she didn't have to protect much lets Amy destroy several bases and destroy a significant amount of the relics though being badly hurt.
Amy also took the bait for one of the obvious traps with the cults killing and mutating 100 children, Amy knowing that the cultists will be expecting her and having planned accordingly to the fact she will know that and have planned around that with the winner being the one who out planned/powered the other. The End result was Amy killing the majority of the cultists, retrieving a significant amount of information on the protections/transformation spell the cult used and saving 2/3s of the children but being hurt in the process with the cults retrieving information/samples on the weapons she used, the disguise/cloaking and magical pattern based on what she would be like without the mantle.
the information obtained in these raids, combined with what had been obtained previously and from Tobias's knowledge of his sisters preferred magic, allowed for the revelation that it seems that the cults are turning the kidnapped victims into forms reminiscent of Octavia and binding them to the relics and then sacrificing them to "rebuild the Queen" fusing them together onto a skeletal frame creating a simncrum that draws on Cordelia's power being linked to and reinforcing Cordelia's growing madness and warping her suppressed desires as well as increasing the power feedback.
And that this is taking place in a situation known as the "fathomless depths of madness" where by necessity is the location containing most of the relics as it is where the cultists hope to "revive" the abyssal queen.
Amy stats searching for clues to the location of the "Depth of Madness" while Tobias finds another lead on Cordelia saying he will try to track her but not make himself known until they have more information. During this she is repeatedly attacked by monsters and cultists using both magic and guns as they managed to track her movements resulting in Amy having to try to improvise new methods of hiding while the cult's tries to magically keep track of her. During one of the running battles causes a gas pipe to detonate killing a large amount of civilian, injuring many more. These events results in Amy suffers an increased level of anxiety/paranoia, the deaths of so many civilians having very little affect as she had grown numb to it by now but the constant stress of trying to avoid detection and the graphic reminder of the consequences of failing (even if the death themselves don't bother her) contemplating just giving up and allowing the magical law enforcement to take over.
Tobias brings up the fact that everyone who has been affected will simply be executed, replaced by blanks and edited from memory, causing Amy to snap that she knows that but it doesn't stop her wishing. Tobias offers to suppress her emotions so she doesn't have to deal with it, In the end Amy rejects the offer stating that she will see it thought to the end and doesn't need drugs to do that.
Tobias reported that Cordelia's behaviour had worsened as she started to paraphrase some of what the cults has been saying and delving into studying how to break through disguise and track people: the feedback from the cult sending her completely insane resulting in Tobias trying to spring an attack to subdue her so he can try to break the connection by forces resulting in both of them being injured and Cordelia escaping. Tobias confirmed that however that she was being affected by the actions of Amy, the death of every cultist and emotion they experienced feeding back into her resulting in her behaviour worsening and resulting Cordelia sending an increasing amount of power to the cults as a defence mechanism to avoid the pain.
The situation with the cult escalates as Amy manages to take out 4 more bases but they were at best pyric victories, being injured in all of them, her wounds not healing properly and steadily getting worse, and the cultists destroying the bases themselves evacuating them to stop Amy getting any benefit. Most of the cultists having retreated to the depths and withdrawn from public, going further afield to kidnap mass amounts of people to sacrifice making it difficult to track and stop them, the attacks on Amy increases as the cults ability to trace her starts to out strip her ability to conceal herself.
Amy confronts Tobias about what is happening stating that the situation is become untenable and they must do something drastic soon to preventing the escalation going further. Tobias refuses stating that there is time and that he will not do anything to harm his sister, who he had managed to locate once more but was hesitant to do anymore. Resulting in Amy storming off stating that his sister is dead and that all there is left to do is putting down the corpse. The cults identify Amy's family after managing to bypass her disguise magic completely, killing her parents and dragging off her brother and sister to transform them setting half the block on fire. Her "blank copy" used to hide her absences is taken into foster care before being sent to live with her uncle. Enraged Amy storms an outpost of the cult without planning it properly resulting in Amy being severally hurt beyond what was normal for a base assault. Cumulating in Amy having to kill her siblings who had been twisted beyond help by the cults and destroying most of that sect though managing to retrieve valuable Intel on the location of the Depth of Madness thought less than if Amy had waited and planned the attack
Getting into an argument Tobias berates Amy for her recklessness before being silenced by her comment that Tobias would do the same for his sister who would not be in this situation had it not been for him trying to cover things up for to long for help to be viable that ended the meeting.
Locating and raiding another base Amy managed to use the information from her last disastrous raid and the new information to locating a way off accessing the Depth of Madness. Talking about what had happen and were to go from here the fact that Cordelia is still providing power to the cults at an accelerated rate and that sincrum is getting completed at a corresponding rate and what the consequences of it being completed would be. Amy challenges Tobias as to deny that something has to be done about his sister, falling silent for several minutes he to Amy's surprise he agrees and states that when Amy goes after the Depths he will deal with his sister.
Scouting out the location, Amy and Tobias come to an agreement as to what to do. Tobias will lure his sister to a prepared area after drugging/coursing her to cap the amount of power she could produce and engage here in combat to force her so expend as much power as possible with the intent of limiting what power the cult and sincum could use, and hopefully forcing Cordelia to draw power from the bound cultists and sincrum. Amy points out that this will also limit her power from as Tobias won't be able to channel as much to her Tobias reply's that she can draw power from outside sources and that his power won't be capped thought he will be limited by experience/knowledge.
While this is happening Amy will be attacking the central temple/base containing the Depths and taking out cultist's in hope that the pain will cause Cordelia to instinctively try to send more power from the cultist but will lack the ability resulting in power being drawn from the depths and the sincrum and given that this magic will be of a slightly different make-up/wavelength the cultist will not be as able to wield it as well wasting power and weakening the sincrum.
this means Amy will have to try to force the cultist to waste as much power as possible before killing them while conserving as much of her own as possible. Before getting to the Depths Amy should try to damage the "matrix" that protects the location, supports the transformative magic's the cults use and primarily the formation of the sincrum with the hope of "poisoning" the sincrum no longer properly protected by the cultists minds destroying or warping its aim and/or purpose. Amy questions how far Tobias is willing to go with regards to his sister but receives no response.
Luring Cordelia to a prepared area after drugging her with a illegal power limiter Tobias precedes to enrage until she stats using heavy as he leads her on a trapped laced chase/running battle making use of power draining devices and masses of expendable monster constructs.
Amy activates a trap she had set resulting in a number of cultists turning on the other via mental manipulation laid out over a week sneaking in during the chaos plaining several explosives and filling some of the halls with a gas that causes the loss of inhibition/concentration and heightens anger. Taking out a number of cultists by ambush Amy proceeds to mutilate them tying their power into a healing and harming spell to drain as much power as possible before the healing gives out and to causing as much feedback to Cordelia and the construct as possible.
Destroying several power conducts hidden by murals Amy is taken by surprise by the cultists and her arm is broken also receiving severe lacerations. While Amy manages to escape it results in a several hour long running battle, with Amy crudely healing her injuries in a stop gap measure.
Fighting the last few cultists, heading towards the depths Amy's magic fails as the power flow from Tobias ceases as he had to dedicate all then power he could uses to keeping up with his sister. in desperation Amy tackles one of the cultist trying to rip the magic from it, succeeding after following a different power source than to the sincrum. The temple/base is drawing power from the waves and the discontent/fear/paranoia of areas terrorised by the cults.
Horrified that the efforts to deplete the sincrum were having a far less effect that previously thought and shocked none of them thought of this as a possibility Amy freezes briefly before being shot in the head by a cultist. Protected by her shields/armour Amy is still dazed by the blow before being knocked out and dragged to the depths after being stripped of everything on her and having power limiter placed on her.
Dragged to the depths and bound to a cross in a parody of Christ, Amy slowly awoke seeing a vast underground lake being connected to dozen of tributaries flowing from passages lined with walk ways, the water pitch black full of ripples as though something was stirring it from below. 100+ cultists present their bodies warped for aquatic life and in the water 13 twisted into a form reminiscent of "Octavia" the area filled with churning wild mad magic/spell fragments and he cultists chanting; calling out to their master to rise up and devour the servant of the false religion of the cross and its servants.
the 13 in the depths shriek and glow melding together as skeletal portions grow out of them as the sincrum rises, fusing with it causing the sincrum to became more complete; a rotten twisted skeleton almost completely covered in flesh with the twisted still writhing remnants of prior sacrifices visible, clad in incomplete armour on its head a partial faces mask/helmet with a stylized tiara containing a glowing gem in its centre. Power surging though the chamber fusing 42 of the cultist most heavily mutated, with ritual tattoos together to form 14 new Octavia like forms.
Amy breaks free by passing the restriction on magic by drawing on the ambient power as the limiter only block power from an ingrained conduct similar to what the cultist use and what Amy has with Tobias. taking advantage of the sincrums partial completion and the cults diverted focus to and using the knowledge she gained from the cultist Amy taps into the temple for power emulating the conduct the cultist have as well as drawing on the ambient power. Erecting a crude filter/fire wall in her mind to drown out the whisper/voices as much as possible and tries to analyse the power being used, getting the impression of who was the most powerful magic uses Amy kills 9 cultists before she is brought down by a blast of water from the sincrum, cracking several ribs.
Looking at her it proclaims itself to be Octavia The Abyssal Queen Reborn and stating that Amy is the Knight of her traitorous brother and praises her ingenuity though question her intelligence noting that she was tricked into the contract with Tobias before hurling dozens of water spears at Amy.
The newly formed Octavia like creatures flee in to the depth while the cultists take the attack by their master a single to attack Amy who manages to deflect the spears and started to run. Fleeing into the passages surrounding the depths Amy tries to heal her injuries as best she can and analyse the magical makeup of the place to try to find a way to destroy Octavia.
Killing as many cultists as possible and analysing the warped remains while trying to doge the Octavia, who was chasing her through the twisted non-linear labyrinth of paths and canals that made up the framework for the places central nexus; channelling and directing the power, Amy manages to reconstruct the magic that transforms people into imitations of Octavia, and how to cast a similar spell onto herself taping the depths/temple for power.
Out of any better options Amy heads back to the depths Amy dives in, casting the modified transformation spell using the depths to provide most of the magic and structure twisting it to fit herself and keep her mind. Assuming a form reminiscent of what the Sincrum would look like when completed though significantly smaller, 30m as opposed to 50m, Amy manages to locate and kill 2 of the smaller copies before Octavia intercepts her wounding Amy.
The 2 fight physically and magically trying to overwhelm the other and subvert their minds and undo their spells. Amy losing even before Octavia absorbs the smaller copies becoming more complete, though less so than before as the ritual was performed incorrectly.
The Queen mentions that Tobias is overwhelmed by her other self and comments that the power output is increasing now that the limiter has worn off commenting on the fact that her brother's Knight had reconstructed the magic she had designed and done so in some respects better than she had and that it must be the outside perspective on magic.
As Octavia's power starts to rapidly increase, resulting in its form becoming complete at an accelerated rate healing its wounds. Before it falters and start thrashing around in agony, its form simultaneously glowing and breaking down before, movements becoming erratic, before its form and behaviour stabilising, though its completion slows to barely perceptible rate.it was at this point Amy managed top significantly damage the tiaras anchor stone resulting in the constructs form to start to degrade again as the power began to unravel eventually Octavia managed to tighten its magic and delay further degradation. this was soon followed soon after by her connection to Tobias becoming active again going from non-existent to stronger than Amy had experienced before but slow enough that the transformation spell could be adjusted for it, the power actually helping smooth out inconsistencies and weak points resulting in Amy almost equalling Octavia in size, this was accompanied by a whisper saying Cordelia had been dealt with and to let him help hold the spell.
at this point the two were more or less at parity with Octavia becoming more sane, less rambling and more coherent speech, magic becoming more sophisticated and its form stabling once more, actually acknowledging what the cult had been aiming for was insane but refusing to die and staring that she will take her rightful place as Abyssal Queen.
Octavia's increased skill was curtailed by lack of magic, an unstable form, and damage to a number of vital anchor points while Amy was still drawing on the depths for power as well as using Tobias's power and was mentally more stable. Ripping into the magic that supported Octavia's existence and damaging the bindings slowly it weakened with Amy finally being able to destroy the main anchor, the tiara's gem, resulting in the magic sustaining Octavia collapsing and the Amy's having using the same source for structure. Both struggling to repair and sure up their forms/existence Octavia reminisces that her human self-had created the transformation magic as a present for her brother and that at least he should be able to properly reconstruct and complete it, and forgiving her "human" brother for what happed understanding the reasons for what he did but stating she was still bitter for dying as human and in her new form and unable to truly experience the full power as the Abyssal Queen before finally dyeing Amy's magic falling soon after blacking out from the strain and injuries.
Waking up in a bed at her uncles house 24 day's latter healed with some faint scaring, a note on the bedside table and an amulet, the note being from Tobias saying all the loose ends have been dealt with, and that he would be along with in the next few days to finalise the end of the contract and wrap things up also going on to explain what had happed in the time she was absent being healed noting that the amulet contained recordings/memories of the blank that Amy can access mentally when wearing it to avoid suspicion for the sudden amnesia.
4 days latter Tobias turns up in person for the first time rather than using a telepresence method and explains what had happened on his end, after being over whelmed by Cordelia when she got into a positive infinity feedback loop resulting her power growing without end finally acknowledged that he couldn't save her activates a contingency he put in place a while ago a final last resort, a remote released poison that quickly killed her, preventing the power being released properly resulting in Cordelia being immolated as her body ignited, though he waited as long as possible possibly to long.
afterwards directing as much magic and concentration as possible to Amy while heading for a un-warded area teleporting to the located entrance to the Depths and managing to get there in time to pull Amy out of the water and stabilising her before getting them both treatment. The damage Amy had suffered was intense affecting her body, soul and core (a person is made of body/soul/core all equally important)and spent a month in a magical hospital, while Tobias s[pent 2 weeks or so their while being interviewed by members of the local magical government who while berating him for recklessness were more or less satisfied at the outcome as they didn't have to spend resources cleaning up a minor case leaving him to clean up the temple and dispose of the bodies left, all the cultist having been killed/devoured by Octavia for power, and to clear thing up with Amy in a manner to ensure the masquerade remains intact not caring beyond that after having seen that that neither had technically broken the law due to old laws.
Amy questions why the construct of Octavia called her a knight, what it meant by having made the spell as a present for him, what started this whole thing and what did it mean that she had been tricked into the contract.
Tobias admits the monster attack was his fault as was her move to the gold coast, having sent out a limited analysis spell to find people with a certain list of attribute (genius intellect: to learn magic and analyse situations quickly, female: as that's was easier to link his power to due to the ability to bond with children, and in puberty: as that is when their core is maturing so can adapt more easily) influencing their minds though limited dreams via a planted simple magic device, and altering their situations to result in moving to the area where the cults cells were before sending monsters based on the cults after them before offering them a deal, the first 2 rejected and escaped with minor injuries that healed quickly the rest were left alone, insisting that he never lied when the contact was made but was simply very careful with his wording.
the situation started when Cordelia tried to invent a new type of transformative magic that would turn the user into a monster drawn from their minds, linking its self to the core in a limited positive feedback to increase the power output beyond what an individual could normally achieve, as a present for Tobias due to his fascination with powerful unique magical creatures and transformative magic's. When testing it in the Pacific was attacked by a powerful magical creature that badly hurt her, while managing to kill the creature the incomplete spell + her injuries and the monsters remains/magic reacted meaning the damaged scales/flesh/bone etcetera did not degrade like they should have and maintained a connection to Cordelia; imbued with the imprint of the spell/form, fragmented memories and a unregulated 2 way connection to her power, those remanets then washed up and were found by people who gained a distorted sense of what had happened and could tap into their power thought the individuals still had to be willing to actually do anything. Cordelia could have dealt with it if she had realised the side effect of the spell+creature or had noticed her power being lessened but the remnants had resulted in her core being stuck in a minor positive feedback loop meaning that the actual loss of power was very small and she didn't generally push the limits of her power anyway so it went unnoticed until it was too late.
And the knight thing is one of the reasons Amy could get away with using magic without any legal repercussions is an old tradition that involves investing a permanent portion of power in someone, as such things are almost unheard of among most magic due to a number of cultural/religious and safety reasons even though they don't lose any power in the long run, depending on the situation the individual is given the tittle of prophet/high priest if trying to spread the patrons beliefs and knight/general if dealing with combat/retrieval, though in some cases the line between titles blurs. In all situations the person acts as the patrons agent and their behaviour reflects on each other. and while there are various laws/customs associated with them it is not relevant right now as the contract has been completed so Amy will not be beholden to Tobias anymore and can keep using the power promised with the restrictions that she can't introduce herself as his knight or attacks a fae with his power.
Tobias then states the payment promised in goods and services has been settled as best as possible so the deal is now closed, all close family members have been restored to the best possible health including reversing her grandfather's Alzheimer's, her family have won a large pay out from Powerball, and Amy has a large amount magical knowledge available to her though a number of enchanted texts and her families homes are all shielded by wards and them by personal barriers tried to jewellery, before handing Amy a crystal encased in a cage of gold saying this is a remnant of the construct Octavia and with work she can use it to transform into a form like what she used before without having to recreate the entire thing whole cloth.
Then Tobias offer Amy the official position that she legally got after being bound to him magically by the contract Amy signed, Amy rejects it out of hand just not wanting to deal with the Sidhe any longer after everything that had happened before asking him to leave. Tobias nods stating that he expected that response and that the position was open should she want it and to contact him if she would like to make another deal with him or for anything else but that he would not contact her first. Getting up to leave Tobias pauses for a moment before asking why Amy made her Amour have bows/high heels and a Minnie skirt stating that it has been driving him nuts as she hates wearing anything like that normally but had thought it was a tradition or something but hasn't seen anyone else wear anything like it. Amy stares at him in shock spluttering that she didn't make it look like that it's just what the thing looked like and she though it was either a custom of some sort or his idea of a joke stating that she would change it if she could. Tobias starts to laugh explaining that its design was based on the users mind and interpretation of what armour should be and that it can be changed simply by reactivating it from scratch with a new design in mind before asking what was going through mind at the time for this to happen. Causing Amy to groan as when being offered power to fight monsters her first thought was the one named Sailor Moon.
