Remaining Embers~Jaune x Cinder

The Eyes of Fate

In her chambers, Salem took a moment to consider her course. Something about Cinder's recent actions continued to draw her curiosity. The emergence of Pyrrha Nikos' soul within her wasn't an unprecedented circumstance, but it presented a dangerous possibility Salem had to explore before Cinder found out for herself.

Salem opened her hand, summoning the fragment of Aura she had extracted from within Cinder, the part of Pyrrha Nikos that she had been able to remove. An incomplete soul floated in her hand, and Salem began to draw it apart, pulling at the threads of life within the amorphous energy, weaving an image in the tapestry of the soul.

It might've been wise to rid herself of the excess, but Salem was not one to waste assets. And something in the brief glimpses she'd seen, of the memories Cinder had also experienced, had caught Salem's eye.

The memories were muddled and vague -the half formed flashes akin to a dream state- and there were clear signs of eidetic decay; how could there not be after the host had passed and the thoughts had clashed with a new and different mind? But slowly, with her practiced weaving, Salem saw it, in memories from a day when she reached out to help the boy she had fallen in love with, and helped him defeat a dangerous Grimm by reaching out with a magnetic field and helping him hoist his shield.

Salem very nearly lost her concentration. It took something incredible to break her focus, but something incredible had just briefly passed through the tapestry drawn in her hand.

That power... Pyrrha Nikos had a control over magnetism? That was her Semblance?

Semblance was itself a part of the Aura of its owner; Aura its fuel and lifeblood and Semblance its projection of the soul's unique nature into the world. And Pyrrha Nikos too had been blessed by the hand of fate with a power that should've ensured she was destined for greatness.

And Salem had thought to extract it from Cinder... if Cinder ever found a way to guide that Aura that had invaded her, to mingle it with her own...

No one had ever wielded two Semblances. But in extracting the maiden's powers, Cinder had gained a connection to older, more potent abilities. And she had done so by mingling her soul with Amber's, but suppressing and controlling it, eventually breaking down the old mind and simply absorbing the second gift. But now... now this third source of Aura within her...

Cinder could cast more than fire. With time, with practice, she would be able to wield other elements, as Amber had in life. And with time and practice, if Pyrrha Nikos' soul still endured within Cinder... the same principle could apply. She could eventually, with concerted effort, gain a second Semblance that affected another force of nature.

For the first time in years, Salem felt -however briefly- a twinge of fear. She had to bury the thought quickly, lest the Grimm have any reason to doubt her, to stop fearing her in turn, but what she realized had dire repercussions.

Pyrrha Nikos was still young when she'd passed, and despite her talent, she'd never learned the full extent of the power fate had blessed her with. She might very well have thought moving a few pieces of metal was gift enough.

She could shatter the world. She could make North become South. She could alter the balance of this remnant in ways she could've scarcely imagined.

And now, Cinder had that power, and had no idea it lay dormant within her, along with control over several other forces of nature, and an already powerful Semblance.

If Salem could find a way to direct that power, she'd have no need for maidens or relics. That would be more than enough to break what little man had built. But if Cinder realized the extent of her powers beforehand, without Salem's guiding hand, she might think to challenge her mistress. And if Salem could not put down that rebellion quickly, and Cinder had time without Salem's watchful eye, she may well become powerful enough that even the darkness could not contain her.