A Sinner’s Chance

My eyes were closed as I focused on condensing mana in front of me, a translucent and ethereal blade becoming more and more solid as I continued to concentrate. My eyes flashed open as the final part of the process began, the blade becoming weighty as I put my hands up to it, only to hear a sharp cracking sound as the blade suddenly began to crack apart like ice before exploding into shrapnel that was sent careening throughout the room I was in, a solid majority piercing into or through my body.

The tease that was having small objects rocketed through my body was not the first of its kind today. I had been holed up recently trying to get this blade to finish condensing, but whether it was that my knowledge was lacking or that the Creation Skill wasn't a high enough level I always failed at the last step.

I could only sigh as I stood up and made the rounds around the room, using my threads to collect the shards while I also repaired the damage to the walls. This past week I had practically been doing nothing but working with Creation and I had become extremely familiar with its operation, something evidenced by my ability to liquify and separate each different material from the shards I had collected and was working on earlier.

If it weren't for the fact that I had to have an incredible amount of focus to properly use, Creation would probably be a terrifying tool in combat as I would be able to modify essentially anything that wasn't directly part of a creature. It wasn't too difficult to simply summon up a basic weapon, but to modify something was an entirely different task.

I stretched and stored the various materials in a satchel just as I heard a rushed knock on the door while it began to creak open. Standing in the doorway was a heavy breathing Irellia. "Ashara is beginning to awake."

I didn't hesitate for a moment as I nodded and made my way to the other side of the manor and into a rather large room with an equally large bed, Ashara's form laying on it. Irellia had followed and I could hear her gasp as we both noticed the cracks beginning to form on what was left of the spider half, while the grisly sound of flesh tearing could be heard from the top.

With quick steps I made my way over to the bedside just as ten pale fingers finished pulling apart the fleshy remnants that were Ashara's old form, to reveal her as the chitin of the spider broke into pieces and fell away while she sat up from the fleshy bit of her old self, a light coating of a bloody goo on her body.

Probably the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that while I could tell the woman before me was Ashara, she seemed to have taken on a human form, though I should have assumed such would happen since Irellia took a human form as well. Ashara looked around, a somewhat dull look in her eyes, looking at me quizzically, before her head turned away and I saw her focus on Irelia.

"M-Mom?" she asked, incredulously. "Where? Wha-" Ashara's breath was shallow and panicked, but she soon calmed, her eyes closing. When she opened them the confusion was gone, replaced by a burning determination.

"Damian saved me right?" Ashara's voice had become almost a whisper. "He must know where the humans with the Phoenix Emblems live, where is he?"

I had refrained from saying anything as I hadn't wanted to overwhelm her, but the conviction and hatred in her voice startled me. The only memories I had of Ashara was her gentle and motherly side, and it occurred to me that I didn't actually know her all that well. Irellia must have been startled too as the only noise that left her mouth was a muffled "Why?".

Ashara's eyes narrowed. "They took my child." The words were sharp and seemed to cause the room's temperature to drop significantly.

It was only now that I realized she was missing the entirety of the time she had been in the magical ice. To her, it must seem as if barely any time at all had passed, yet the truth was far from that. Steeling my resolve, and quenching my anxiety the best I could, I sat on the edge of the bed. "You don't need to chase them. I'm here already. Mom." I said, my voice shaking slightly.

My words caused Ashara to whip her head in my direction, eyes fixated on me. It was clear that she wasn't convinced, not something I could blame her for, I was vastly different than when I had been a child, and in her mind, it likely hadn’t even been two months ago that I'd been with her, let alone nearly twenty years. My eyes closed briefly as I used Creation. I wasn't exactly good at art or sculpting, but I did at least know what the materials were so it wasn't too difficult to create small scenes with the Skill.

The scene I'd replicated was one that was deeply engraved in my mind, the day just before my fifth birthday. It was a rather plain day, but it was special in that Ashara had stayed in the cave the entirety of the day. The entire process only took me about a minute, the more the sculpted scene became solid and real, the harder it became for Ashara to maintain her expressionless face. "Vell?" she asked, her voice shaking, eyes uncertain as she looked upon me.

I nodded as Creation finished, placing the sculpture nearby. "This was the day before my fifth birthday, the day before everything in my life changed. Up until a month ago, I had thought you were dead." I was barely able to keep my voice even, a mix of emotions threatening to burst forth at any moment.

I could see Ashara's eyes probing me, likely trying to see if I was being truthful, and the longer she stared the softer and more like that of the expression she had in the cave her face became. Her hand reached out, pausing next to my face, before it retreated in front of her. "I think I should clean up." She said softly. "We can talk after."

I  nearly used magic to clean her off, but I refrained. She probably wanted to sort through her thoughts as well. Her situation was strange and I couldn't blame her for the choice so I nodded my head. "Okay, I'll be waiting."