Amethyst Genesis: Bleeding Ruby

Celes.

Hilda led the group holding a lantern. The wilderness and thrush covered by the fog's violet presence. Its alien atmosphere only was made more apparent with the glowing amber specks and spores that were floating.
"The Celes Wilds." Jack says as his staff shrinks.
Aria paused as she notices a fire in the distance. She nudges Jeta. Jeta nudges Raioka.
The group walks towards the fire. It slowly became apparent that it wasn't just a camp. It was a settlement, a village with a bonfire.
Hilda and Jack led the group head on as they walked casually. They were stopped by a guard.
The woman's skin was tan and covered in glowing marks. Her head had horns of a beast and arms that were covered in scales. A long tail stretched across the ground. Her armor was made from shells of beasts and she possessed no weapons aside from her fists.
"State your purpose here fragment." The woman's eyes flashed a violent purple fury as her claws increased in length.
"We just needed to rest. Im sure you know what we can do give in return." Hilda said settling down the lantern and forming long silk sheets.
"Very well. We do appreciate travelers with goods. That being said.." the guard trails off as she notices the three lab-grown people.
"You three are chamber spawn. You are welcome here at any time." The woman says smiling widely.
"Wait. You have her smile..." Raioka said while noticing similar traits in their features of their fellow candidates. The woman smirked at his comment.
"We are somewhat relatives." The woman said calmly.
"What do you mean.?" Aria inquires.
"The first chamber-spawn were led their exodus here 70 years ago by a one armed man. Once a leader to a nation. He wandered in exile from Lyra to this land. We are descendants of your kind." The woman exclaims with an exuding expression of grandeur and pride.
Raioka went silent. Envy and anger surged in him.
"70 years of mindless solitude..." Raioka mumbles to himself.
Jeta pats him on the shoulder.
"We didn't know. We didn't know." Jeta says before his hand is slapped away by Raioka.
"I could've lived with our peers. BUT Et and Rose LOCKED ME AWAY." Raioka screamed.
"YOU WOULDVE DIED!" Aria said grabbing Raioka's arm.
"The objects made your cells unstable. If you strayed any further than me or Aria. You would've fallen apart!" Jeta said pointing to Raioka's arm as the cellular decay was put at a halt by the pulsating pressures the marks on Jeta and Aria's neck gave off.

"I would've died a person." Raioka said slapping Jeta's hand away.
The woman sighed looking at Raioka.
"Tell you what. Young labspawn. I'll teach you the ways of your gift. But. I'd like you three to listen to what happened to your littermates." The woman said as she motioned them to follow her into the settlement. The woman's anatomy wasnt of humans, nor was any of the settlement's inhabitants. All possessed reptilian features. Some eyes, some tails, some appendages, all had something that paid homage to their roots of the weapons.
"After the one armed guardian led his exodus from Lyra's blight. He founded a settlement in the Land under The Violet Sea. Due to the influence and leftover remnants of the objects, they changed gradually. Carved from the celestial sources and verses of this world we rose as the Celes."
The woman stopped as she pointed to the statue of 12 people. 11 labspawn donned in armor and blades led by the bald men with his arm hoisted over his shoulder.
"Our brothers and sisters had fulfilled lives didn't they?" Aria asked as the touched the engraved signs of their names.
"Attempted to fend off Lyra from slaying the king." The woman sighed. "When the king was slain; the inherent powers were amplified by the fervent wishes of many. We changed. We evolved. 50 years ago our people emerged as the true inheritors of this world." The woman said.
"The Celes. Dragons born under the Violet Sun.
The woman said before stopping in front of a chamber.
"You may enter. But you will not leave until the trial given is complete. Remember that." The woman said as she entered.
Hilda formed a picnic bench from her mist. Jack sat. Hilda followed.
"Good luck." Hilda chuckled as she rested.
Raioka rushed first. Jeta followed. Aria shrugged as she ran behind.
Raioka found himself in an arena with the floor covered in a sandlike substance. The woman sat in a throne watching intently as he approached the risen circle of concrete.
Raioka entered until he felt a pressue behind him. The black haired woman with green eyes was behind him. He jumped back. The woman remained silent before her legs started sprouting multiple. Her neck elongated as her skin shifted to solid black.
"Evia, the eternal remnant. Try to find her peace." The woman sighed as Evia's face shifted into a rotting dragon.
Raioka sighed as he drew his spear and charged.
Jeta arrived next to notice a tall gray haired man. Gathara.
"#1, Fragment of Wrath. It's been a long while. Resentments. Disappointments. Id like to see what the product of my children is capable of." Gathara drew out a long naginata that dwarfed Jeta in size.
"I have no memory." Jeta said as he charged before noticing the woman smirking.
Aria ended up alone. She noticed a mirror in center of the arena. She approached. A pair of hands clawed its way out. A mirror image.
"This will be one experience i shall savor." The woman sighed swirling a flask of ice cold tea.
Raioka slid past the blazes Evia wrought. He was grabbed and pushed deeper into the sand.
He screamed in pain. Pain. He could've been a hero. A saint. A legend. He could've lived and died as a human. But he was never given the chance. Only as a weapon he was viewed. A failed one.
The dragon roared as her tail ripped Raioka's arm off with a firm strike before sending him into the wall.
"Evia... you weren't born of man were you?" Raioka says slowly standing up from the crater
The woman's eyes flickered in curiosity. And fear. Raioka's skin started to crack. The violet blazes seemed to have merged with him. He started to push through out of sheer spite. Made a human. Born a human. Never lived as one. Raioka's cells started pushing and pulling himself together. He screamed as his veins started bursting. His angelic white hair matched with scarred face. He began to shift and mutate as pure hatred sang in his heart. The world wanted him to die. No he didn't let it. No he didn't want it. No he wanted to live.
If the world rejected him. He'll tear eat and devour until his goals were reached. He clawed his way through flesh and scales indiscriminately. His features covered in a beastly adrenaline. His heart pounded as if his own soul pulled him back together.
He emerged as a fallen angel that never had wings. His vessels and veins relaxed as his rage subsided. He stood over the dragon with remorse. Raikos regained his breath.
"If this world rejects me from standing in this. If fate pushes me away from existence. I'll burn the rules to hell! Ill claw my way to the top. TO LIVE!" Raioka exclaimed shouting with fury burning hotter than flame. Despite the lack of blessings Raioka was carving his own way he pushed himself through the scales of Evia. If he could never experience humanity he'd make himself feel it. A violent surge of emotion broke through the barriers of the mind and enveloped the sand in a crimson blaze that radiated darkly. It burned the sand to the point of glass. Skin started to fall off of Evia while standing in awe as she faded into human form. She remained silent. She hugged him tightly as outer layer. She too was never given humanity. She too resented but from the sight of the child she once cared for following the same path. She let it go.
Her body slowly started falling apart revealing mechanisms and wires. Raioka's rage subsided as the calm expression despite the searing pains and maws of his heart. He bowed to the fallen and walked to the woman. He knew what path he'd have to follow.
"I see. Ambitious one." The woman said as she escorted him out to the door.
He saw Hilda and Jack drinking and laughing at some old joke.
Hilda handed him a mug as she hugged him tightly to her chest. Heavily intoxicated was she and Jack. Raioka remained quiet. He knew the crimes of his creators. Toying with the existence of one's own made him feel bitter. It was no different from the dictatorial decree from the woman who descended from the heavens.
Jeta was face to face with Gathara. The old man's  face sullen and empty eyed.
"It seems like she got you as well." Gathara said to the young Jeta looking down at him.
"She clipped the wings of the divine. She set the heavens to disarray. And yet here you are back once again for this dying cluster of reality." Gathara says as he sits on the ground. He crossed his legs and closed his eyes. The sand started to form glass. The warmth and heat of creation. The glass started to mold. Instead for molten orange. It was a bright burn azure blaze. A hand broke from the mold and humanoid shapes started to crawl from the cocoon. Several.
Jeta was taken aback as he was on the defensive due to the sudden strikes of the glass claws. They formed to be humanoids. They twitched as they detected the light within Jeta the lunged at him. Clawed at his blades. His eyes and his face. As soon as Jeta had a picosecond of breathing room he enveloped the arena in blaze
"Clever." Gathara says clapping his hands as he relaxes his grip on the weapon as he swings at an abnormal length as if it stretched itself or condensed space. Jeta was taken aback by the sheer oddity of the weapon and technique he barely noticed he was sent flying into the wall.
"Seems like you need to relearn some things." Gathara said slowly revealing the true nature of his blade. It was connected by the ethereal strings of the world. Every strand broke vision and the narratives to describe its shape. It contorted and condensed. Hissed and coiled. Stretched and smoothed.; The blade sang silently as it cut sound and logic.
Jeta stood up slowly.
"Back for another thrashing. Lets see if this resolve burns brightly." Gathara chuckles as he reforms the glass warriors. He yawns as he holds the pendant of the long forgotten woman with amber eye, over his spear's tip.
Hilda, Jack and Raioka were staying at an inn near some springs. They decided to walk amongst the halls to the springs.
"Geez Jack you need to relax on the alcohol. That isn't good for your body." Hilda says commenting on the wilted ends of his vines.
"Bah. This old man still has his human bits." Jack says as he slaps his waist smugly. Raioka shrugs as he follows the two down the illuminated hallway. Despite the isolation from the world the settlement still possessed electricity and quality of life from a time of old.
Just before they were to enter the lockers. A familiar voice called out the three.
"Hey." Aria said as she ran up to the two. She was more cheery less distant and seemed like she was someone else. But the mechanical bits proved otherwise. She was hoisting her bow proudly as it was given a new sheen.
"What happened in your trial." Raioka asked.
Aria stopped. Her smile stopped. She stopped her pace.
"Aria?" Hilda asks walking towards the girl.
Tears trickled down her face as she smiled.
"I got to say goodbye." Aria says grinning holding ornaments that both Rose and Et possessed, despite her tears. Raioka hugged Aria tightly.
"Despite my transgressions and my hatred for them. They meant a lot to you." Raioka said hugging Aria tightly.
"It seems like you went a 180." Aria said patting his shoulder, still rubbing her eyes.
"Where's Jeta." Aria asks turning to Hilda.
"Still in the trials." Hilda said as the group headed on into the springs.
Jeta lied on the floor sore from all the beatings.
His legs no longer could stand as Gathara stood over him.
Gathara sits down and with the glass structures form a table.
"You have a lot to learn. Barely emerged from the womb of man yet you attempt to reclaim your blade amongst the stars." Gathara sighs as he looks out to the village beyond the arena.
Gathara chuckles as he picks up Jeta over his shoulder.
Aria and Raioka were melting in the warmth until they saw Jeta limping to the water. They rushed at him faster than he could ever react. The two held him close as they helped him into the water.
Hilda went silent as she looked at Jeta. She waded through the steamy warmth and looked into his eyes.
Jeta was quiet. He looked down in dismay.
Hilda pat his head.
Jeta sat down and relaxed into the warmth.
He took time to notice the changes in his vat-mates. Raioka's constant strained gaze and dependency of being in either his or Aria's presence faded. His expression of rage softened in clarity.
Aria's cold curious look melted into warmths of a golden dawn. Her naive gaze and tendency to be at a distance faded.
The only two people he was close to in life were completely different in the span of an hour.
Aria noticed Jeta's uncomfortable body language and held his hand. Raioka chuckled as he laid back into the embrace of the waters.
Hilda looking at the gathered group mustered all her courage and stepped out of the water revealing her vulnerable side as marks on her bare back resembling gill slits glowed brightly.
Jack was quick to grab a towel to cover her only for her to stop his hand.
"I was born on the day the Empress first landed on the world. 70 years ago." Hilda said as her sweet demeanor faded to a somber one.
"That's impossible you're still young!" Raioka interjected before he went silent as he remembered how he was sustained for 70 years. He and Jeta were sealed by Lyra's guardians after Jeta's defeat. He remembered when Jeta fell broken and sliced. Sealed under various stones and shells of the divines, Corpses of fragments.
"I actually was kept in stasis by the crusades during childhood. Lyra wanted to cull humanity. She flew to the settlement which i was born and held the people captive until the Sloth fragment gave themselves up. I wasn't aware of the nature of whom i once was." Hilda motioned Jack to remove the towel.
"So in the period of 60 years the town faded into the wilds. Lyra wasn't patient so she moved on. Overtime the stasis broke, Lyra's grip on the flow of matter broke. The people, the only people i knew. Stasis would be fine on people as long as it was for several minutes. But 60 years.? Missed entropy. Missed heat. As soon as the stasis fell. I was spared the fragment within my being, saved me. The other's didn't stand a chance. Torn to pieces, to the smallest bits of matter. Just for not knowing of what i was. Each mark was for fallen souls that were in my life." Hilda turns to the group.
"Please. Please. Be strong. Don't become one of these marks." Hilda begged as she looks at Jeta's wounds.
Jeta knew he'd eventually have to come to terms with Lyra. But for now. Overcome Gathara.