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Edge of Croatoa

Silindria entered the clearing, not much more than a crude stone circle in the middle of nowhere, and smiled at the two figures that greeted her; the
willowy figure of Sera and the shorter armoured form of her daughter Alicia. "I'm here. Miss me?" she asked folding her wings neatly against her
back.

Alicia ran up, her armor letting out a hollow clanking as she went, and hugged Sil. "Thank you for coming mutti Sil." Purple light flickered in from
her helm as she spoke.

Sil returned the hug and looked to Sera. "So, I have to do anything or is it good to go?"

"Just have one or two things left to do, it will probably take a minute or so." she replied picking up a sack and carrying it into the centre of the
circle.

Sil found a place to sit down on a nearby log and motioned Alicia to sit next to her. "So, you excited about this?" she asked.

Alicia sat and leaned back, looking up at the sky. "Well, I'm not sure what to think… Mutti Sera said that this a very big spell, so she can't
accurately predict what will happen." Alicia swung her legs back and forward. "But...well… if it does work, then mutti Sera will be happy… really
happy."

Sil hugged her again. It was odd to think that only a few months ago she had helped Sera make Alicia. But back then she hadn't been much more than a simple
"smart spell". However, since then, Sera had added to her and tweaked her until Alicia became a soul; something Sera had still been celebrating weeks
later.

After a while, Sera decided to give something to Alicia that would allow her to interact better with the world around her. And after somehow convincing her
brother to help, Sera had made a suit of armor for her to use.

Sil looked up as Sera used an ornate dagger to carve runes into the ground. Now she was going all out. Sera planned to recreate the same incident that created
her own body. The way she had described it was simple enough, but it was the execution that was going to be a problem. The magic Sera used to create her body
came from the resulting explosion of arcane energy after a spell to separate Croatoa from the invading spirit realm had been stopped by Cabal.

Lacking such a source of power, Sera planned to tap a ley line instead, hoping it would have the same result. Walking over to them, Sera sheathed the dagger at
her belt. "You ready Alicia?"

Nodding Alicia hoped off the log and walked to the centre of the circle. She then looked left and right before turning to Sera. "Um… what do I do?"
she called out.

Sera called back. "Just sit there. I take care of the hard part."

Sil lent over and whispered in Sera's ear. "What hard part?"

"The part that involves funnelling a metric scheiße-last of magic." She replied. "Step back please hun. There might be some bleed off and I
don't want you getting fried."

When Sil had moved back to what she thought was a safe distance, Sera started. At first there was nothing but the sound of Sera's voice as she chanted in
German. Then she could feel it, a slow and steady build up of magic energy. She could practically see it building up in the stone circle, slow at first but
building in speed.

Sera's voice grew louder and louder as the elements started to respond to the power. Snow started to whip up in flurries as the sky darkened, rumbling with
the sound of thunder. And at the centre off this all was Alicia.

Sil let out a surprised gasp as she saw that Alicia's armour was now crawling with glowing runes. She watched as they moved in complicated patterns before
finally settling.

There was flash of lightning as Sera reached the end of the ritual. In each hand she held a vial of blood, one of hers and the other Sil's. Popping the
corks on both of them, she tilted them forward and let the blood flow out. Instead of pouring onto the ground, the blood moved through the air like some sort
of snake before entering Alicia's armour. As the last of it trickled in, Sera shouted the last lines of the spell and there was a deafening crack as a bolt
of lightning struck Alicia.

Sil blinked as her eyes recovered from the flash, the after image dancing in the edges of her sight for a bit. Looking around, she saw Sera slowly walking to
the centre of the circle. She turned and waved Sil over, a massive grin on her face.

She could feel the residual magic crackling through the air, as she walked up to Sera. As Sil cautiously entered the circle, a slight gasp escaped her lips.
Lying in the middle of a small crater was a young girl, possibly in her mid teen, curled up naked in a fetal position. Sil watched as she slowly uncurled and
sat up, half formed wings jutted from her back and flapped weakly.

Sera knelt down and brush some hair away from the girl's face. Grinning she turned to Sil, a look of triumph and joy on her face. "It worked! I made a
body!" Sera stood up and held out her hand. "You okay to stand Alicia?"

Sil walked around her, looking her over, as Alicia climbed to her feet, a little unsteady at first. "Well, I see she inherited some of our traits."
She pointed out. "Not sure who she got her "talent" from though."

Sera looked her handiwork over, just like when she made her own body, she had been able to give it some basic form before the magic took over and did the rest,
Alicia's body seamed to have what she would consider the best traits of both of them, a bit of Silindria's figure, her legs, so on and so forth. She
could see where the magic had added its own twists to it, greyish white hair struck through whit streaks of deep crimson, vestigial horns poked from her brow
while a small tail twitched slightly in the cold air.

Alicia looked down at her own body in amazement, almost unable to believe what see was seeing before wrapping her arms around herself, shivering. "Um… why
do I feel cold?" She trailed off and taped her face. "I... can talk. This feels so… odd."

Sera giggled and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Welcome to the human race... sort of. Now there's a whole bunch of things we need to do before I
can let you loose on the streets."

Sil and Alicia spoke at once. "Like what?"

"Well, first a trip to the doctors would be a good idea, to make sure that I got it all right. Then maybe some clothes. And we'll need to see about
getting you a room. I think Seraph still has a few spare ones."

Sil gave Sera a questioning look. "We have to do all that now?" she asked.

"Better to play it safe. This is only the second time I've done this."

Sil chuckled. "I was more referring to the fact that your daughter is freezing her butt off and looks like she's about to fall asleep."

Sera slowly became aware that Alicia was leaning rather heavily on her. "Oooh, didn't think of that." She gave Alicia a gentle shake. "So,
sleep first and then take care of all that other stuff, okay sweetie?"

Alicia let out a large yawn. "Okay…. And then something else."

"What?"

Alicia's stomach let out an audible growl. "Um… whatever that means."

Sil couldn't help but laugh as she pulled out a base porter. "I say food, sleep, then all that other junk. Sound like a plan?"

Alicia gave a sheepish smile and nodded happily.

"Then it's settled. Let's go back to the base and get this all sorted out." The device beeped in Sil's hand as a small portal opened. As
they lead Alicia to it, Sil lean over and whispers in Sera's ear. "And I think you and me should have a little celebration. Got a new four poster bed
that needs breaking in. Care to help?"

"Like you have to ask?" Sera replied, sticking her tongue out. "Today is a good day. I got to play god." She slid her free arm around
Sil's waist. "And now I get to have some holiday fun a bit early. Ho ho ho."

___

for readers connivance

Sil = Silindria (duh )

Sera = Gehirngeist

Alicia = Gehirnrustung

enjoy