Essentia Animus

28-Internal Adjustments

The meeting of disclosure held by the seven started to settle down quickly after the important details were presented. Being left with an avenue of freedom opened up the room to closer ties, forged by trusting bonds.

Ayzherie still could hardly believe just how deep this discovery actually went, she thought her own condition was a big deal. Dramatically shifting styles of life, switching from a village life to suddenly the big city, and even being so convincing in appearing local. The matter of the Astral Flame seemed to play a role in that, if she was following the flood of details correctly, but even that was remarkable. To have burned away who a person was, and to leave behind someone else that would continue the life that already was, all three girls were going through something massive. Riyxia though personally had even more than that, not even being an organic person anymore, she was instead a creation produced artificially, living completely unlike anyone else. At that time, there was some exploration of just how much of a change that could be, as Riyxia was demonstrating her spectral form. It was requiring the instruments on the Astral Flame to track her movements, but it was clear she was stepping free of her body by her own will. Ayzherie couldn't even imagine personally what it might be like, to never again actually sleep, only to instead have a body that slept while the specter, the essence in fact, wandered freely like a ghost.

Such wasn't even an inaccurate comparison, she basically was a ghost in this state, as fearsome as that idea really was. This was her essence set free from her body, though their most established expert on the Astral Flame seemed convinced that this would only be possible by segmenting the essence and leaving a portion behind, like a remote control. Even in that situation, there was talk that she really should avoid putting too much distance between the two, even if it remained uncertain what consequences would occur if she did so. Having herself suffered in her own wonder, using herself as a focus for her gift regardless of the risks, she fully agreed that Riyxia should not perpetuate her own mistakes, especially since the potential costs seemed far greater.

Sryine and Vwyx meanwhile were still left to ponder the state of their own identity. Sryine had the most insight in this regard, especially after hearing that the essence they then probably obtained would have originated from Earth, at least this was the most likely case. The hardest part was realizing that she was any different than she thought she was, but simply considering her past compared to her present, it sorta did make sense. She used to be just a bookworm, accepting her exclusion from the path in life the rest of her family took. They were leaders, she had no such inspiration, she just liked keeping quietly to herself, no real responsibility except her books. None of those thoughts made sense anymore, she couldn't understand how she might have been so willing to have life just drift past without making the most of it, to search for her own path of improvement and discovery, especially if there were profits to be had. Being sensible of the situation, that's probably what bothered her the most, she hadn't even lived with the idea of Qeld until she had left the village, and now it was suddenly such a big deal to her. That's probably where her new essence steps in, living a life on Earth much like that, a business lady devoted to professional and financial success, probably under the weight of high expectations. The Terran Mythos spoke of earth having its own path of development, discovering things like automation long before teleportation. Her essence there had probably then strove to found a company that brought Earth into a new prosperity in some chosen area of development, something she had discovered somewhere and pursued to the end of her life. It was that same ambition that looked upon her own knowledge of the Terran Mythos and craved to find a way to bring some kind of new inspiration to Celese, using knowledge she had accumulated. She felt like she was being used, yet only aware that her perspective might be better aligned in saying that she was the one doing the using.

Sryine expected Vwyx had something fairly similar going on. A crafter who wondered what it might be like to make instruments, suddenly being someone talented in making instruments and managing complex systems. Even in a world full of automation, it was probably safe to assume that there would be people required to make sure things kept going, people trained in the physical dexterity to piece together things as more than just the ideas she considered, much like how the projection instrument they had produced had worked out. It was her idea, and Vwyx had figured out how it physically could be made to happen. She wondered what the chances were that their two essences had known each other in their lives on Earth, though with all consideration there might still be hardly any chances of that. What did make sense was that they were probably both city women, and that's how they've just managed to fit in so well in Windvale, how things had just been so natural.