Pandora POV

I Laugh at him, “Don’t leave this won’t take long! My dad taught me a spell that can transfer the knowledge within a book” I picked up the book labeled Dictionary of Norse rune patterns and terms, “directly into my mind just-” I snap my fingers, expect a flash that signaled the spell going off and knowledge to be flying by within my head… but nothing happened. I tried again, nothing. I kept trying but nothing is happening! It's like I don’t even have magic, WHAT'S GOING ON!!!

I hear a snap that was not my own. I look over at Dust and see him holding up his pointer fing… he touched my forehead with that finger… and now my magic doesn’t work… “Get to work Pandora.” he says in a monotone voice.

He took my magic, HE took my magic, HE TOOK MY MAGIC “You Asshole!” I Scream at him as he goes through the door and shuts it.

Ohohoho, I’m pissed! He has the bucking audacity to take MY magic without asking! WHY!? How am I supposed to do anything without my- “Why is there a piece of paper falling in front of me?” I watch the piece of paper fall until it landed on the ground. I look at it, wondering how it got their, judging if it is safe or not. I drop the book I was holding on it and jumped back, expecting it to explode (like one of my dad's pranks) but nothing happened. I deemed it safe and picked up the book and the paper. I placed the book back on the table and looked at the paper to find that it is a note.

Hello Pandora,

Welcome to the start of lesson one. This is most likely the one you will hate the most, and the one you will learn to hate me during the process. You will be spending one week here studying the books within the room. You must learn everything within them. After that you will use the final book and piece together everything you need for this process. After you make what you need you must then use the chalk you made to make the runes you need to make the bigger rune where you will put the pillow you made in the center, where you will sit when we start the process of awakening your stigma.

By the way you have limited supplies as well to last you one week. Underneath the table is a mini fridge with two days worth of food. Also underneath is a small foldable cot for you to sleep in. As a second part of this lesson is to put some of the extra knowledge you learn within these books to work. You will use the extra chalk and ingredients to make transmutation circles and change the extra ingredients into copies of the food in the fridge. Inside the fridge is notes on the composition of the food, and written on the bottles are that ingredients composition. The soap will be easy to make as well since I gave ingredients for it as well. All the water you need can be found in the large pool at the base of the tree you see. If you are wondering how you are going to get up there, just stand on the illuminated platforms to get across the mercury trench and to get you up to the raised platform for the tree. DO NOT touch anything except what I gave you and what I said you can touch, for example the water and the tree. Everything else is dangerous.

Now get to work, and learn all you can, I will see you in a week's time.

-Your teacher, Dust.

My eye twitched a little in anger, he is right, I’m already starting to dislike him. I go and check under the table and found what he was talking about. I dragged out a folded bunch of metal that was very heavy and a tied up mattress that felt like it was filled with feathers.

It took me a while but I finally found out how to unfold it. The fold part of it was held in place with this metal pin of sorts. I unfolded it and put the mattress on it and sat down… and it didn’t hold. It bent down and touch the tiles. Why is this making me feel so stupid! I got up and took the mattress off and put it back into position to try and figure out what’s wrong.. I then noticed the hole I took the pin out of was still open. I replaced the pin and put the mattress on top and tried it again, and it held! Ok, with that out of the way I opened the fridge and found some… I’m not sure? I recognized some plants like carrots, lettuce, tomatoes (gross), and some broccoli. ALso bread, some small jar of this cream colored stuff, and a packet of some kind of meat that say’s Jerky on it. There are some empty glass bottles as well with corks.

I felt a little thirsty and decided to get some water. I took the bottles and made my way over to the tree. When I got close to this ‘trench’ he was talking about, one of the tiles lit up. I slowly walked towards it. When I finally walked on it a bridge went across the wide trench to another lit up tile. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t shock me. I stepped on the metal bridge and discovered it was safe. I made my way to the other lit tile. This one surprised me though, it took me straight up when I stepped on it! I almost dropped the bottles! Once the platform reached the top I regained my balance and looked out over the water… wow. This… it’s so beautiful. The water is crystal clear and sparkled with the light of the fire above. Underneath the water clean river stones and gems. Even some of the tree’s roots could be seen under the shallow water, but it wasn't to shallow, if I wanted to I could be sitting in the water and have it come up to my shoulders. Also in the distance I think i can hear a waterfall and I definitely see mist coming from behind the tree. “Well that’s good to know.” I start filling the bottles with the clear liquid and I cap the bottles when I’m done. I make my way back down to the center area, grab a book, and start my ‘Homework’.

3 Days Later

I slam the last book shut and scream as loud as possible. Sparky roared as well and Clockwork, I’m not sure why, I must have set them off. This is annoying as Tartarus! I just now finished reading these damn books, I’m hungry and only have a few things left to eat, I haven’t showered with soap for three days, and this room is starting to piss me off! Nothing is even, there is no balance, THE FEELING WON’T GO AWAY! Even though my mind is pounding from knowledge intake, my body shaking from this room, my stomach growling, skin crawling, all I can think about is him… Dust. He left me here. Just left me. I don’t even know if he is coming back. I’m scared… dad why, *sniff*, “W-w-why did you send me with t-thi-i-is being.” I curl up into a ball and cry myself to sleep.

I wake up… I think? I’m not sure. It’s cold, yet it’s hot. I can hear myself move, yet I can not see it. I can taste… I’m not sure. Just everything from dirt to flowers. From blood to rocks. I can also feel everything at once, all my emotions. Anger, love, happiness, sadness, joy, everything but one emotion dominated me the most, hate. Hate ravaged my mind. But all this, everything I feel it’s not mine! But it’s so overwhelming! I get on my knees and put my hands on my face and groan loudly from the load of senses.

After it died down I looked up and saw, knowledge. Thoughts, actions, symbols, magic, everythings. It was all going by so fast! I tried to shut my eyes but couldn’t, so I then try to cover them, but my arms wouldn’t move. “AAAAAAAHHHHHH!” I scream, with my head starting to feel like it was going to burst at any moment. I started to cry. “Make it stop! Please someone, MAKE IT STOOOOOP!” but it only got worse.

Dust… I saw little squares, almost like windows that showed him talking to many others, all around my age, some younger, but none seemed to be over twenty five. One showed him talking to a young boy, hair silver like his, who was clad in a blue and red leather coat with a black and blue under shirt. Dust was smiling while on one knee with his hand on top of the boy's head messing up his hair by shaking his hand back and forth, the boy was smiling with eyes that kept changing color and the symbol in their center kept changing shape. Next window showed him in a different, older looking jacket with a being encased in red and blue lightning while gold chains shot out of the ground and wrapped around it. The next window showed Dust with his back turned to the window wearing a different pair of boots standing next to another being, but this one wore a deep black robe with birds sewn into them. This one was on his knees while they both gazed at a battlefield torn apart. Dust then puts a hand on the beings shoulder.

There's so many. Why is this happening!

Then everything turned black, I was alone again in the darkness around me… but then a figure appeared made of lightning, then another that kept changing shape, so many appeared, all of different colors sizes and shapes. It was like a never ending sea of colors.

Then one appeared in front of me made of black flames with blue ones for eyes. It held out it’s hand. I look at it for a while and grab it, expecting to be burnt, but all I felt was some warmth. It then spoke, '' I know that it is hard young one, I know what's it like falling into despair but never let such things stop you......the road before you will be long and all so very hard.....you choose this fate because deep down inside you know you can survive this trial, it will be your will that will see you through the end. Remember the books there contain the answers, the book's, Dust said that everything you need is in the books.”

He stepped back, I think it’s a he judging by the voice, And then the constantly shifting one stepped forward. “Hey there! You must be the new pup to be added to the pack! Ha!” why does this one remind me of Dust so much, “Well I guess it’s nice to have a new sibling to add to this nuclear, spontaneous, messed up magical family! You see Dad-” dad? Is he talking about Dust? ”- has a weird way of doing things, they are actually really fucked up, and you will hate him for them, even I hate him for the way he taught us, but deep down I still love him as my dad, and even though only one befriended him, hopefully you will befriend him two, after all he has been through, he deserves it. But if you are a female… well to put it simply, try to get to know him, deep down he is a lover, and if you can touch his heart, you won’t regret it when he returns the feelings.”

After that the others told me similar things, some words of encouragement, other tips on doing the things for this lesson, they all sounded helpful and kind, even the ones with the rough voices. But they all had something in common, all except the first to either hated or just did not care for Dust, some even wanted him dead. It was… disturbing to say the least. After they were all done, everything flashed white.

My eyes flashed open. I noticed I was lying on the cot with a book in my arms. I was sweating and my breathing was heavy. I look down at the book in my arms… it was the one I was reading before I fell asleep. I sit up and look at the cover of the book, “Student Journal… I remember one of the voices in my dream telling me a spell involving this.” It told me to get a pinch of mage salts and put one grain in each of my eyes. I look around the room and rested my eyes on the ingredients that were left in the room. I get up and walk over to them and I started to look at the different bottles that had salt like substances in them. “Bone salt, sea salt, dragons salt, shadow salt… ah! Mage salts!” I pick up a small glass bottle filled small blue grains of crystal. It had a cork on top of the five by five jar and two tweezers hanging on the sides by magnets crudely glued to the jar. “Well this is going to hurt… here goes nothing.”

I remove the cork and set it down on the table. I take one of the tweezers and get one tiny grain of salt. I do the same with the other one. I look closely at the grains I will be putting in my eye. They were small, about the size of sand, but unlike sand they look smooth. They are blue, but it looks like something is moving inside them. My ears droop. “Well here goes nothing…” I lean my head back and put both tweezers above my eyes. “Ok, three, two, one-” I released the pressure on the tweezers. I flinch as the salt drops in my eyes. I hiss while throwing the tweezers to the ground and quickly rub my eyes. “Damn it, this stings!” I rub my eyes for a minute and then open them slowly.

“Wow…” Symbols, spells, text, it’s everywhere! I smile slightly at the beauty. Unlike in the dream they were all still and artfully colored. I keep looking around the room looking at it all, until my eyes landed on the book I was holding earlier. I walk up to it and pick it up and I see a little blue X hovering above it. I squint at it and touch it. Text appeared detailing what was in this book… and what was apparently casted on it. One spell made sure it would be the last to be read, others were all recordings that only appear while dreaming and while in distress, and what do you know another spell puts the reader into distress. I chuckle at it and take another scan of the room with my new ‘sight’. “Well, time to see what I can find to help, haha.” I chuckle (cutely) and went about the day.

Seven days later

I stand up and wipe the sweat off my forehead, “Ah that’s the last one!” I look around at my work, all written in Titanas chalk all on top of freshly polished Merlin tablets while the symbols are outlined in magic infused gold dust chalk. Just like the book instructs. I walk over to the recently cleared ingredients table and pick up the piece of vanilla and strawberry cake and take a bite savoring the flavor.

It’s been a few days since I had that dream, well it was not really a dream, more like a collection of messages sent to me telepathically through the spell encoded on that book. Anyway, since said dream I went all around this room looking at the different messages and tips. Some I could not get to, since they were in the more dangerous parts of the room, and I had to use the mage salts a few more times since they had a varied time span.

Through the notes I have learned so many things. In truth they were nothing more than instructions that were already in the books, but the difference was the memories attached to the notes! Having both a written version and a step by step visual tutorial really helps things go by quick. I’ve learned to make cake and other foods out of ingredients simply containing similar elements. I’ve also improved my runes, and even though I have yet to test it, my normal magic through these notes as well. One of them showed me a way to transfer the normal, hand written runes into spells that can be memorized and casted, I've memorized a few already, I’m just waiting to test them later.

I grab a bar of soap I made and start to walk to the waterfall so I can wash off. I carefully walk around the carefully drawn runes as to not disturb them. After a ride up the rising platform I make my way behind the tree and find the waterfall. Staying on the pathway on the edge I undress. I then go into the surprisingly warm water and sit down and relax. This weeks been hard. Sparky hasn’t been a real problem, but trying to keep clockwork from eating the fridge has been tough. Also my first few attempts at making food was… not the best, but after a while I made something edible. I mean I’m learning a lot here, and even though I was upset at first I’m happy now. Though I have many questions.

Who am I learning from? I haven’t seen Dust in a week and it has me worried, but what has me more worried is when he returns. Can I trust him? For some reason my dad does, but he knows things that I don’t… have they met before? It would explain a lot why my father would let some strange creature for seemingly no where with immense power just take his daughter away for so long.

What do I think of Dust? I’m not sure. From that story he told he sounds cruel… but he he killed those elves because they were doing the same to everyone else. He also seems different in here, he just seems more serious, which is the complete opposite back at the cabin and my father's castle. There… I think I like, no I do like that side of him. For some reason I’m drawn to him. It’s like I just can’t stop thinking about him, yet I’ve only known him for a short while. I felt like this from the moment I saw him… it all just feels like I’m not in control. I just want him all to myself! When he flirted with Eve I wanted to incinerate her! I mean when it happened with Nava I could stand it because she is always like that but Eve, EVE!

I went under the water and screamed.

I came back up and gasped for air. Why am I getting so worked up about this! I mean I don’t even know if he likes me the same way back… does he? He is really nice to me, and I catch him looking me over often. He also stares too… plus when I’m in distress he comforts me. He also didn’t seem to uncomfortable when I walk close to him, or even when I wrapped my tail around him, that’s practically asking him out and he didn’t deny it, he actually seemed to give into, and enjoyed it. Of course he could have not known the meaning behind it… but what if he did? We also slept on the couch together practically naked… did that mean more to him? What about his culture and courting rituals? Has he been try to get with me this entire time as well? Maybe aunt Lust would know… I need to call her at some point.

I stand up, deciding that i soaked for long enough and went back over to the path way to pick up the bar of soap. Once I had it in my grasp I lathered my body with it, making sure it got deep into my fur, scales, feathers, and pretty much any other form of hide on me. After that I started to scrub my hair.

After I was done with that I walked back in under the waterfall and rinse off. I get back out of the water and went to the pathway to… then I heard a door open… the only door in the room.

And I felt instantly PISSED!

I walk into the lesson one room and close the door behind me, I didn’t need to lock it, when the lesson starts she can’t get past me, and no one else is here. I look at the center room, and saw everything she had to do done. The runes were made, food as well (huh cake), but what was weird were the mage salts, they were almost gone… they always need to be replaced after each student, I wonder why?

“YOU ASSHOLE!!!”

I look up and see Pandora on the raised platform all wet… and completely naked. I smile and quickly cover up my eyes while chuckling. I hear her get on the hydraulic elevator and then make her way over to me… and she slaps me. “WHY THE HELL DID YOU- *omph*!” I thought the Robes of Eris at her.

I peek through my fingers while still smiling, “Cover yourself up,” I clicked my fingers and her fur and hair was now dry, “and we will go over your progress.” she quickly puts on the robe, and when she covered herself with them, strapped and belts attached themselves around her so they wouldn't fall off. While this happen I walk over to the center platform and look at the runes that were all drawn out.

I feel a tap on my shoulder, I turn around and look at Pandora with her arms crossed, and glaring at me like it would kill me. “Why did you leave me here?!” she asks through gritted teeth. I can also see her fur standing up on her neck.

Actually with that look and those robes she looks even more attractive than befo- STOP! Why are my thoughts like this! For me to even remotely tolerate someone I need to spend weeks getting to know them, not fucking two days! Ok, I just need to forget about it until I can talk to Lust. “Are you angry at me?”

Her glare hardens, “YES!”

I turn around and walk over to the exact center of the platform. “Do you hate me?”

“Yes! No… maybe? I don’t know!”

I reach the center and turned on my heel, ruining the center rune marks.

I see her face Is now one of complete shock, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!”

“They're wrong. All of them are wrong. They are sloppily drawn, too big and in the wrong orientation. Also the center rune is transmutation, not arcane.” I blink and all the runes disappear.

She ran over to me and tried to tackle me, but I made myself ethereal and she ran right through me. I then teleported her and I to the main path way and turned her head to the platform with one hand. Everything previously in it was now gone, and now the proper runes circle is all laid out. “All of my students get it wrong, even one’s with prior training, only one came close to it, and that was my own son. So don’t feel bad, this was a beyond master tier runic formula. Now go to the center and we will continue the lesson.” I give her a little push on her back towards the center.

She stumbles slightly then stops, she turns around while rubbing her temples, “So you mean all that work I did, all the blood, sweat, tears, headaches, chalk dust, everything… it was all useless and for not?”

“Yes.”

“...” she turns back around and walks to the center.

I clap my hands, “Alright! Time to explain this part of the lesson!” I snap my fingers on both hand spawning a gold and green tinted aura on my left hand, and a jagged looking quickly flashing multicolored aura on my right “I’m going to put you through physical, mental, and spiritual hell! You’re going to be casting this spell.” In front of me a runic array pops up, “This spell is simply made to be a painful waste of mana. It will give you the effects of magic backlash, without killing you, maybe… probably… anyway! I’m constantly going to be feeding you mana, that is what this aura is. This mana is chaos mana and harmonic mana, the reason why I’m feeding you this mana is because regular mana could have negative effects on you while we do this. Reason why is because your going to be drained quicker that you could even possibly replace and convert at the same time. I’m also going to be in your mind causing havoc. Nightmare's, repressed memories, jumbling of thoughts, you name it, I’m going to be doing it. All in all, this is going to hurt a fuck ton and awaken your dormant Stigma in its primal state, and when that happens it will be bound so you don't end up completely destroying everything around you and yourself. Any questions before we continue?”

She looked a bit nervous, “What will I learn from this?”

“You will be learning all of your weaknesses, and increasing your overall mana pool, while learning something that will help you when you have magic backlash. To put it simply, it sucks, and the best way of toughing out the pain is with something that sucks worst. putting yourself through it. But the two most important things here is to unlock your full potential, and make sure it is NEVER seen again.” I take off my glasses and carefully place them down next to me. Once I’m back to full height, I start my side of the ritual. and the entire room starts to glow, almost as if light has started to shine from everywhere, even the air. Sparky retreats back into the tree, and Clockwork follows. My hands start to be engulfed in a black abyss, and all the light starts going into it, almost as if entering a black hole. hundreds of light streams start going into them, and from within you could see both rings radiating beautifully. Avoiding looking into her eyes, I tell her “Cast the spell when you're ready.” I could tell she was unsure, then she looked directly at me, and her entire posture and demeanor changed. She went from a very defensive stance, like she was scarred, to this now very confident and offensive stance. Clever girl must has steeled her resolve. She held out her right hand, and use her own magic, copied the template I made for her, she took a deep breath, blew it out, and activated the magic. Last thing either of us heard was as I quickly looked into her eyes, was her first cry, a harmonious melody, a loud crack, and the sounds of chains.

(???)(Pandora’s POV)

My eyes shot open immediately, and I found myself… in my old bed? What? Why am I here. I look around at my old room, when I lived with my mother. It was very dark, but the cracked door let in enough light for me to make out the details of the room. It was all white with gold and platinum edgings wherever they were needed. I sat up on the bed parallel to the door. I look at both sides of the door and see two toy boxes with the same stuffed animals on them, sacked the same way. Just how i liked it. The floor was a white carpet that had a very plush feel to it, that was mom's idea…

I hear the door open, letting in more light. I look over and see her… “Mother.” I say on the verge of tears. She was beautiful, just how I remember her. Her hair is long, going down to her lower back in its glistening golden glory, as dad would say. The wings on her back used to be a bright white, but now they are an abyssal black with gold trimmings. Her face was soft and gentle looking, with silver eyes that held love and calmness within them. I was so happy to see her, until I look at her clothes. No longer did they hug her body's form, but now they were ripped, tattered, and stained with blood, her own. I can’t even make out their original colors. Her skin was cut, burned, damaged in some way, or just gone. “Mommy…” I say in both joy and fright.

(Pandora’s Mind)(Dust POV)

“Wow, I honestly didn’t expect this, I had no idea she was in the castle that night.” I say to myself and Alpha.

“The bitch Harmony probably masked her presence from us and the hounds. Since it was not our main objective to search and destroy everything we didn’t even think of scanning the castle for any types of concealment magic.” Alpha says with a snarl, directed at the memory of Harmony.

“True… also watch your tongue Alpha, or do I need to send you back with the true me again?” when I said that I could feel his uneasiness, trying desperately not to show fear.

“I don’t know why you defend her so much, after all she was a-”

“Traitor.” I shake my head, looking on as the figment of Harmony went over and hugged her daughter, Pandora weeping, uncaring of the light alteration spell casted in a bubble around her, to make her unseen, the only reason why we are seeing it is because she noticed it but didn’t give it any mind back then . “ But she couldn’t help it, something went wrong. I have a theory now that I think about it…” Harmony now casted a sleep spell on Pandora, but it didn’t have an immediate effect. Growling was heard and Harmony quickly turned around to sense two hellhounds. She got into a battle stance, only for one to appear to her left and bite into her side. The other two latched onto her arms, and started dragging her away. Pandora tried to move, tried to reach her mother, even call out to her, but the spell placed by said mother was too strong. She was too tired to move, too tired to hold her eyes open, and too tired to speak.

“Haha, so persistent, even at such a young age… I guess some never grow out of some things!” shrugged Jester.

“Indeed, now let's insert some of our memories into the mix, shall we?” Suggested Alpha.

“Yes, let’s give her a first person view…” said Wrath.

“*sigh*”

(Pandora’s POV)(Dust’s memories)

What was that! What happened! Mommy, are you ok mommy! It’s so dark…

…

…

…

Wait what’s that light?

Suddenly everything got really bright, and felt really, really hot, and the pain, it is indescribable. My eyes adjusted and all I see is my old home in flames, the most crimson flames I have ever saw consuming the surrounding buildings that belonged to my mother's Angels. How, they are all made of marble! My head turns to the left without me moving it on my own and I see… oh no… please stop...

So many… so many dead. From keepers to arch, they are all gone, all either burnt, hanged, or impaled on their own spears. WHY!? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?! My eyes closed and my head started to shake from side to side. A growl was heard and against my own accord, my body turned around, and I look down to see my mother kneeling. She was cut up with bite marks, and blood coming from her mouth. The feathers on her wings were gone, burnt away. My mouth started to move, but I couldn’t hear anything coming out of it.

My mother looked up with deadpanned look, “Look I don’t need one of you lectures right now, I was cocky, I thought I could win, and OF COURSE they sent YOU to deal with me. They will regret this… I was trying to save them…” she said looking down with her eyes half closed, defeated and sad.

My mouth moved some more.

My mother growled and looked at me with a snarl, “From what? From what?! I was saving them from YOU!”

Lips moved again.

“Giving them a quick, easy passing was the best option! If only they seen what I saw in my vision! You are…” she started to cry, hiccuping in the process, “You’re a monster.... we see the multiverse as a masterpiece of our own making, but you…. you see it as a playground, just one big sandbox with hidden treasures, secrets, you don't care what you disrupt, and even if we ask you to stop, you ignore us to feed your own seven sins! I just wanted to save them, save them from the pain of have their entire existences work torn apart before their eyes…” her head dropped again, hair cover up her weeping face.

I felt a wetness run down my face, but even though I was crying, these didn’t feel like my tears. It was a while before I sucked in air, and said another unheard sentence.

“*sniff* We were… we were close, almost as close as I would be with my brothers…”

My body knelt down, any limb in my line of sight is blurred out by a black cloud of some sort. what happens next is unexpected. My two forelimbs wrapped around her in a tight embrace. She is shaking, and so am I. I leave go and rose back up. and took a few steps back while wiping my eyes. My right forelimb then shoots out, and the pain I feel only escalated, I feel so hot, yet freezing at the same time, and I also feel like I was about to shatter like glass at any moment, and I felt as heavy as a mountain, yet I still stood. A silver, dull grey, and black cloud starts to appear around my mother in a circle floating around her. The cloud looks to be constantly shifting, shining in some places when the light hits it just right. It’s actually a captivating thing, seeing it shift, and shimmer…

“I have one last thing to say, before you end this.” My eyes close in expectancy. “Thank you for freeing me...” After That my fist closes, and my eyes open.

My mother screams a scream that can only come from true pain. One so horrible that I can feel them. They pierce my ears, my skin, all the way down to my bone. I see her body disappearing starting at the arms and legs, and working inwards, being destroyed by the storm of grays and blacks. Her face was one of terror. I want to go and help her, i'm struggling to do so, but my body won't move. I try to avert my eyes, but they stay fixated on the see before me, and when she is gone, everything is consumed by darkness.

(Dust’s Mindscape)(Dust’s POV)

“And now she is wallowing in her own depression,” Wrath turns to me with his arms crossed, “ you're slacking.”

“For once the brute is right, what the hell! You held back most of the pain, actually almost every emotion from her! That one little scene could have set her off like a Zippo to powder keg!” Alpha complains, like always.

“Or, you know, could have just let her hear your voice, or name. “ continues Wrath.

I shake my head and look at her curled up into a ball in the back of my mind. “It’s not time for her to know.”

“Or you just haven’t boned her yet and you want to wait until then to tell the truth.” comments Jester leaning on my back.

I stumble forward, actually a little shocked. “WHAT!” I exclaim, “Who the hell do you think I am!”

“A lair.”

“A player!”

“A fool.”

I start clapping. “Thanks for the support.” I say in a deadpanned tone. “Anyway, her father asked me not to tell her yet. You already know this!”

“Ya, ya, so what do we do now?” replies Jester with a wave of his hand.

I scratch the back of my head, “Now we just connect her mind a body again while mixing the two memories together until she breaks. It may take a while but-” One of my Hellhounds walks out of the darkness. It stands on all fours around five or so feet from the ground to the top of it’s head. It’s not the Alpha, which is much bigger, but it’s the third biggest, which are the guardians of my H.O.M.E.

It sits down in front of me and leans its head forward to me. I rest my hand on the top of its head and hear, ''Hell Hounds!! Go forward and inform Dust that I have returned.....with company we have need of food and rest for our journey was long.''

“Visitors, Yay! Also Alke is back! Woohoo, he was always my favorite!” exclaims Jester, clapping madly at the news.

“What the FUCK does he mean by ‘company’ Dust…” growls Alpha.

“You know exactly what it means Alpha.” I say.

“I’M GOING TO BREAK THAT LITTLE SHIT!” bellowed wrath.

I laugh, “Well let’s get this over with so we can though him through the wringer, shall we?”

They all nod in agreement.

“And this marks the one hundred and thirty second time we made her go through killing her mother.” deadpanned Jester, obviously bored sitting on the ground.

Alpha hummed, “I will say, she is a resilient one.”

Jester flopped on the ground, “Ya, but the resilient ones usually have had a lot the exploit and go off of since they were hardened, but we actually had to INSERT one of our memories because of how boring her life was!”

Wrath just roared, “Can you just connect everything already!”

I just sigh, “Fine” and with a flick of my fingers, I connected every part of her mind. Including all the outside pain.

After that my view of her was gone, meaning her stigma is awakened.

“About goddamn time!”

(Binding Room)(Dust POV)

I come back to reality, slightly disoriented as always. After all , keeping track of me, Wrath, Alpha, Jester, Pandora, my memories, Pandora's memories, recreating said memories, sharing them, casting several spells all at once, and making sure she doesn't clock out is VERY stressful on the mind. My eyes come back into focus, and I see the rune still going off, but Pandora was not on it.

“Look up dimwit.” said Alpha.

I do so, and lo and behold, there she is, at least there IT is. Hovering in the air was the awakened form of the Order Stigma. I can say, without a doubt, that i'm stunned. The reason why I’m stunned is the simple fact that, even like this, she is still gorgeous. Where fur once was, was now a beautiful golden light that felt like it set everything it touched right. The tree behind her seemed to grow and become more symmetrical as time went on, along with the everything else the light touched seemed to give into the light, the light I know well, one that I know so well just feeling it made my mind actually relax. The light of Harmony.

But then there were all the other parts of her that were not fur, and in there place was a black void that has little bits of different colored streaks and dots within that are constantly shifting and moving, stopping for no less than a second or two before moving on. Coming off of those parts every now and then were similarly colored tendrils that continually lashed out at the objects in the room, distorting the walls and making them ripple like the surface of the ocean, making the elevator start flying around the room, summoning a water golem at the base of the tree, and even trying to distort the tree. This is what you would call the touch of Chaos, one of the most potent alteration abilities in existence. If it touches something, it will instantly change, and most of the time they can't be changed back, BUT this was a special case.

It seems like both the Light of Harmony, and the Touch of Chaos are fighting each other. Whatever the light touches, the tendrils lash out at, and vise versa. So interesting…

I would love to study this more, but by the sounds of all the bickering behind me, my student and the unwanted guests he brought with him are currently in this room. Gotta make this quick.

I get rid of the rings, transferring them back to their proper place. Since she is now sustaining herself and I do not need to anymore, and I need my own mana. I call to the chains on the sides of the path and hold them. I start to send specific pulses of primal mana through them, making them glow red from the sheer heat. Primal magic is the most unpredictable and volatile of all magic, and the most common form of mana. Runes form around the chains, not touching them, but orbiting them, some moving faster than others, all of them ready to activate when called. I summon a reaper to help with the next process, connecting the chains to my own soul.

What my students don’t know is that not only do the chains bind them, but they are all connected to my soul. The chains work by draining the raw power from a being, weakening them and keeping them from escaping if the chains are pulled. But these chains also drain mana, and if you can’t regen or absorb mana fast enough, being bound by these chains can easily kill you. So to bind my students, I must also bind myself, but that really isn’t a problem for me, not in the slightest. Does this make me weaker? Yes, but since I’m always gaining power, it’s hard for the difference to be noticeable. The only notable thing about it is it lowered the amount of spells I can cast in quick succession for a while. The chains, when connected to me, are treated like a spell constantly being cast, and I already have multiple spells being constantly casted already, so adding another on top of the list limits me until I can make up for the loss. Which takes a while, a long while.

The reaper I summoned reaches out to me and slowly pushes it’s hand into my chest, me grinding me teeth as it happens. Having your soul ripped out hurts, especially when the one doing the ripping needs to search for your soul because of how many are within you. Breath escapes me as it finally found my soul and grips it and starts removing it. Pandora shot a tendril our way, and it pasted right through the reaper, not even affecting it, and hit me. But thanks to the shirt I’m wearing, it did nothing. The reaper finally removes my soul.

My soul is… interesting to look at. The color is astral blue and abyssal black, kind of looking like a nebula in the far reaches of space back home. But that was not the interesting part. What most would find interesting is the numberless chains coming of of it, each connecting to one of my students. And now it’s time to connect another.

“It’s time. Wrath, Jester, Alpha, hold her down!”

The three of them appeared around her, all taking the form of a wraith. Alpha brings her down using the chains of Hades. After she reached the ground she easily broke the chains thanks to the Touch of Chaos, but Wrath quickly wrapped his arms around her and held her in place while Jester started wrapping the chains around her he ended it by wrapping it around her neck like a collar. They disappeared and the chains quickly tightened around her, her screaming in pain as they buried themselves in her flesh and soul. Her powers started to dissipate, but the stigma was still in it’s feral state, time for the last step. My grip tightens on the chains as I clash them together, fusing the two ends. The reaper then grabbed the chain and stuck the end into my soul, and linked it inside of it. I felt a great amount of power quickly leave me and there was a flash of golden light, which I quickly tried to block out by covering my eyes.

When the light faded I looked over at Pandora who was on her knees with her back straight staring at the ceiling, before she started to quickly fall. I teleported over to her and quickly caught her, resting her head on my lap. I look down at her and smile. I feel pride that she survived, and I have yet another student to teach, and improve, another stigma to study, and maybe something a little more…

I brush her hair back, out of her face and behind her head, so I could see her clearly. Once I did I noticed the chain around her neck. I touch it, and quickly retract my hand, feeling it drain a bit of my power. So this is what was left over for her. See, after the binding process, something is left over, weather that be scars, chain links, tattoos of chains on the wrists, something is always left over, but this is the first time I’ve seen a chain collar left behind. Well, there is a first time for everything. I just hope this whole thing didn’t scar my new student to badly. Speaking of students…

“So the Prodigy returns!” I exclaim as I lay eyes on one of my greatest students, and best friend, Alkeyore Blood-raven, the bearer of the the Hades Stigma. He normally has dark hair but I guess the spell we placed on him was dispelled (And I can guess who did it.) and it was now white as winter; his skin was covered by ash blue fur; draconian, bat like wings where upon his back; two long twisting horns gave him the look of a devil, and his normally ember eyes were replaced by his stigmas true form. He had on his black, raven clad robes, even though I will probably need to fix them later thanks to the spell being destroyed.

On his left was a shocked and stunned Alicorn and chimera, looks like a draconequus… actually it looks like ‘Discord’... but I know that’s not Chaos, because Chaos is trying to be stealthy in the corner with shadow magic right now. Hmm, and the Alicorn, along with the blue one on his left looks familiar as well. In his arms is a Kirin and underneath the blue Alicorn is a smaller, darker version of the big one… it’s a dark arts user as well, a natural in fact! Going to have to study it.

I floated my glasses over to me using telepathy and put them on. I stand up and the room shifts to something akin to a log cabin back home, fireplace and all. I walk over to the bed in the right hand corner and place Pandora down on it, and then covering her up while tucking her in. I snap my fingers and the Kirin in Alke’s arms was put into the bed in the left hand side of the room.

I turn around and smile at my friend Alke (nickname I gave him after I forgot his name for the twelfth time in a row.) and gave him a friendly hug, after all it’s been a few thousand years since I last saw him. I feel him return the embrace, also happy to see me, for he hasn't seen me in five years. I’m so happy he is back, I have so much to share with him, the knowledge I’ve collected, the sights I’ve seen, tell him about my son, my kingdom, my ups and downs, I finally have someone to talk to! (“But First…") I remembered the others in the room and my blood starts to boil, he KNOWS the one rule of this place, NO outsiders, and he brought with him multiple. The strength on my hug increases and I hear cracking and popping from within him, and he tenses up while grunting in pain, and I only have one thing to say to him,

“Explain.”

Author's Notes:

Only thing I got to say is, I'M BACK!!!

See the other side of this Colab with Alke

Small edit done by dawn seeker