Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
May 5, 2008 - Serena Pov.
I was sitting cross-legged on the floor of my lab. I had some pure atium beads in one hand. Each one weighed 1 gram, as usual for all my metal beads. Luckily, I was still far from completely finished with the remaining atium—at least 400 grams in total. But compared to the weight of the original bracelets, it wasn't very impressive.
In my other hand, I held the two Lerasium beads. The Lerasium wasn't really necessary; yes, being able to give it to others so they could become Mistborns would be nice. But as long as the medallions existed to share the metal arts, that really wasn't a problem. Still, I needed it.
I needed to create Harmonium. A 'combination' of the Preservation and Ruin shards, but certainly not an alloy of both metals. It was rare, almost unnatural, but that was how the shards and their divine metals worked. But it was necessary if I wanted to create Allomantic grenades.
Ettmetal grenades or cubes, harmonium cubes. They were capable of reproducing nearby investiture. Capable of copying and reproducing metal arts on their own once charged. And not just metal arts; in theory, any nearby investiture could be replicated. So I was counting on being able to do it with all my skills. That would open up numerous options.
So I needed to get serious about replicating it. So here I was now, poring over the Atium and Lerasium in front of me.
Take a deep breath.
"Trace on, " the words came out once more as I let the projection magecraft flow. They weren't weapons, but I could still track any object I wanted. They wouldn't go to UBW, but it worked.
I immersed myself in the metals and saw everything they were throwing at me, everything they represented, and more. The concepts of their creation, their relationships to the fragments—everything I needed, but it wasn't enough. The fragments were too close to the concept of gods for my projection sorcery to fully track.
I could understand its history, its concept, all its experiences, but I couldn't replicate them, I couldn't copy them, I couldn't understand the materials or what it was made of, simply because it was the 'solid manifestation' of a fragment. It was ridiculous.
So… I'd have to do it another way. I'd forgotten, while I was looking for ways to obtain metal gods, specifically Lerasium and Atium, that I'd explicitly focused on Scadrial, back in the Mistborn series of novels, back when the Cosmere universe was much larger.
As I mentally navigated through the other worlds, the other magic systems, the other fragments, and all I came across was 'Soulcasting', a form of ' Surgebinding'. 'Surgebinding' is a form of magic system used primarily in the The Stormlight Archive series of novels, and much like the metal arts, it is extensive and complicated to understand.
Besides, the only one I cared about was ' Soulcasting,' which was essentially the magic that allows you to transform any material into any other. Almost too close to alchemy, only inherently different.
Where alchemy changed its chemical composition. 'Soulcasting ' is done by 'asking' the object to change its spiritual nature to a new one. From what I remembered, you had to send your mind into the cognitive realm, connect with the cognitive aspect of the object, and convince the object to change.
The cognitive realm is the realm of thoughts and the mind. It contains the cognitive aspects of living and nonliving beings; it is where minds exist and project their impressions. Most importantly, the cognitive realm is strongly influenced by the perception of beings.
The Cosmere's cognitive realm overlaps with the physical realm and mirrors it. Bodies of water fill land, and vice versa; land mirrors oceans, rivers, and lakes. However, it can vary slightly from planet to planet, thanks to the perception of the people who live there. The cognitive realm was once a single one, but you could tell which part of the cognitive realm belonged to each planet depending on the appearance of the terrain you were on.
It's also easily noticeable by the size of the cognitive realm. All Cosmere stories span multiple planes, meaning vast distances of space between the two planets, separated by light-years. But due to humanity's inability to truly grasp the scale of space, the distances would never fully equalize. This meant there were areas where they shrank to minimal or no distance at all.
For this reason, the cognitive realm could serve as a means of transportation between planets. Since everything existed at the same time, you could enter the cognitive realm from one planet, travel to another point in the cognitive realm, and exit on another planet as if nothing had happened.
Getting back to the point, convincing an object to become another worked for precisely that reason. Perception. Self-perception and sense of self-identity were truly powerful. To such an extent that, if self-perception in the cognitive world were changed at a deep enough level, it would be capable of influencing the physical and spiritual worlds.
Convincing an object to be another was only easy with inert objects. Objects that couldn't maintain a strong sense of self under pressure. It was challenging to change humans or magical objects.
The problem was that I couldn't see or mentally or physically enter the cognitive realm as it was. Rashek had never been able to do so mentally, or had never been interested enough in the cognitive realm to try, and I didn't have access to a perpendicularity, a portal where all the realms met, that would allow physical travel to the cognitive world. But there was something I could do.
The cognitive realm sounded ridiculously similar to Adolla's realm. Small differences here and there; But that could simply be dismissed as differences in world perception. And Ravel could enter Adolla however she wanted. And she was my key.
The realm of Adolla, Fire Force. It was a dimension that existed outside the normal world but was intrinsically connected to it. Adolla is directly linked to humanity's collective subconscious. Everything people see and believe as a whole is reflected there, even if the truth is entirely opposite to what they believe.
The Adolla Realm wasn't just accessible to the Evangelist or those "born" there; anyone with the Adolla Burst could reach it. And it was even easier if one could bond with someone already influenced by the Adolla Realm.
Just as the woman in black on the Chinese peninsula demonstrated. She was a normal human, a pillar of the First Cataclysm, a third-generation Adolla Burst. And yet, she was able to enter Adolla's realm and bring Shinra with her to create an Adolla Link, and she was even able to give him Adolla Grace. And I was sure that Shinra's staff would be able to do the same.
But first, there was something I needed to do. I grabbed a piece of pure Atium and swallowed it without hesitation. Then I placed some duralumin in my mouth from my inventory and swallowed that as well. I immediately began burning both metals.
I shuddered violently as, almost immediately, I felt my mind expand, and I began to see the spiritual realm. A split second later, it began to slow down enormously. I immediately focused on the god metals. The objects had as much connection, identity, and spirit as any object, if not more.
"Trace On," I said quickly again. This time, the inspection was much deeper, much more intimate. Typically, weapons analysis is limited to the direct use of the human senses, and this is simply because humans are incapable of fully conceptualizing an object's existence through their senses. Especially divine constructs.
But now that I was looking at the spiritual realm? Now that I could fully observe everything that was, is, and will be the metal of god? The entire essence and soul of metals, their truest form, was on display. And my projection analysis swallowed it whole. It analyzed every inch of everything that made up Lerasium and Atium.
And by the time the effects of the Atium and Duralumin wore off, I had burned into my mind everything I needed to know and more about the divine metals. I knew everything I needed to know, and I definitely couldn't replicate it with normal alchemy. Still, I allowed myself to smile slightly. There was only one more step.
I carefully set aside the divine metals and took out a 10g iron sphere in my left hand, while conjuring a Philosopher's Stone in my right. I opened a portal, and Ravel stepped through.
"Are you ready?" Ravel asked with a light smile, I nodded.
"Thanks for helping me." I said with a smile, and she just shook her head.
Added Potential [You as Serena Prince has Adolla Burst (Fire Force)] -5 [35]
Ravel stood behind me, lying on my back while hugging my neck, her head resting on mine. She breathed deeply, and I quickly felt… shudder was a good word. In one blink, I was in my lab, the next, I was in a sea of black flames, though the flames flickered for a second before disappearing and beginning to replace and reshape the world, as if the world itself were changing.
Which I suppose made sense. The cognitive world had to change to adapt to this world's perception. But it didn't matter; Ravel had managed to create an Adolla Link between us and bring me to the Adolla Realm. Ignoring the shift in the cognitive world, it was time to get to work.
I looked at my hands and observed the god metals. Both shone brightly, so resplendent while at the same time appearing like nebulous figures. I focused on the iron in my hand; it still shone, but much less so than the divine metals. The Philosopher's Stone, to my surprise, also did so. I shouldn't have been surprised; it was composed of souls, and in the cognitive realm, they should shine just as brightly.
Taking a deep breath to focus, I quickly established a strong connection with feruchemical duralumin by allomantically burning it, thereby greatly multiplying the connection.
Once the connection formed between the iron and me, so intimate that I could almost say it was a part of me, I gave it an order. An order with such intensity, such will, and such firmness to subjugate the iron's consciousness that it almost seemed as if I were using the Empire on the piece of metal.
"I need you to change."
I ordered him as I pushed everything I knew about Atium.
Normally, Soulcasting shouldn't be able to create natural magical items, like god metals, and it had definitely never been attempted in any of the novels. But… it was possible, as long as you knew how to do it.
The iron took the command almost anxiously, clung to it, and immediately began to change. The change was nearly instantaneous, but it required abysmal energies to occur, even more so when it was trying to create divine metals.
I flexed the Philosopher's Stone and began using it as a power source for matter shifting while simultaneously pushing my connection to the Ruin fragment within my body. It was an instant, but it felt like it lasted several minutes. The Philosopher's Stone, one that contained several souls, was quickly being consumed at an alarming rate, as were my own reserves, before stopping. I took a deep breath and let out a careful sigh.
"Ravel," I said plainly. Adolla's realm instantly disappeared, and I blinked a few times. I looked at my hand where the iron had been before; now there was a 10-gram bead of pure Atium. I began to inspect it in every possible way.
The more I investigated, the wider my smile grew. It was the final trial by fire. I dropped the Philosopher's Stone and the Atium, clapped lightly, and touched the 10-gram bead. It immediately separated into 10 smaller 1-gram beads. I grabbed one of them and swallowed it without hesitation.
I could immediately sense the Atium available for burning and began burning it. The spiritual realm welcomed me like an old friend, and I immediately stopped burning the metal.
"YES! YES, YES, YES, YES!!!! I DID IT!! " I squealed happily while laughing out loud. I stood up with Ravel in tow, picked her up, and started spinning her around happily. Ravel squealed, but I didn't care. I continued to party happily with everything I had. I took out The Company's phone and, without hesitation, bought exactly what I was missing.
Harmonium 5gr. [-20] [15]
I couldn't create harmonium with Lerasium and Atium. Yes, harmonium was the god metal of Harmony, the fragment of the fusion between Preservation and Ruin. But it was a completely different fragment, so melting and alloying them wasn't possible. So I needed a sample of harmonium to be able to create more.
I pulled out a bottle of fairly neutral, nondescript natural oil, waved my hand, and held a bubble of oil in the air. I pulled the harmonium from my inventory and placed it inside the oil before it could begin to degrade.
I dipped my hand into the oil and gently touched the Harmonium nugget. I swallowed another bit of Atium and Duralumin, and I took a deep breath. Trace On. Just as before, everything that was, is, and will be, everything that made up and formed the harmonium, was before my eyes.
Once I snapped out of that trance, I looked at Ravel, who just nodded. In just the blink of an eye, I was back in the cognitive realm. I reconnected with the iron I'd pulled out and gave it the order.
"I need you to change."
The same instant, the same magic drain. My smile was huge as I placed the entire harmonium back into my inventory without hesitation to prevent degradation. I sent a message to Ravel so I could continue.
It took me a short time, but a lot of small philosopher's stones of a couple of souls each, but I finally had at least 100 grams of harmonium in my inventory ready to be used.
After profusely thanking Ravel, she left me to go wild. Which is precisely what I did. I set up a time bubble and began experimenting. Thanks to my total insight into metal in the cognitive realm and my Trace On, I knew how to manipulate and create exactly what I wanted, and I just went with the flow.
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"How long have you been inside this bubble?" I flinched at Bella's sudden question and looked up. I blinked and looked around. There were dozens of cubes, metals everywhere, oils, elements, papers, and ink everywhere.
"Bella?" I asked, confused, and grabbed my pocket watch, which I had placed on one of the desks. My eyes widened slightly. "A little over three days." I said, somewhat surprised. Had it been that long?!
"Okay, time to take a break," Bella said forcefully.
"But-" Bella just glared at me, and I pouted. "Fine," I finally said before grabbing one of the cubes and showing it to her with a smile. "But before that, look at this!" I chirped.
The cube was small, 5cm x 5cm, so it fit easily in the palm of my hand. It had a small button—well, not a button, but an ancient magic symbol—on one of its faces. It didn't necessarily need ancient magic to work, but the symbol seemed appropriate to place there at that moment.
Anyone could use the cubes. Well, they'd need a minimum of magic to activate the cube. But beyond that, anyone.
"Create an earthquake next to the cube!" I said anxiously to Bella. She rolled her eyes, but nodded. I reached out and rapped my knuckle in the air. Cracks began to form as the cube began to glow. The cracks stopped and retracted, preventing the earthquake from occurring.
"What the hell-" Bella's eyes widened as she pulled her hand back. "I could feel like something was draining my Devil Fruit." Bella said, and I wanted to cheer. It was working!
Instead of answering, I touched the symbol with my thumb and threw it away from us. After three seconds, cracks in the Gura Gura no Mi began to emerge from the cube before the entire laboratory shook violently.
"That-" Bella said, impressed.
"I know! The harmonium is capable of absorbing and replicating any display of magic or supernatural activity performed in its vicinity, not just metal arts! For example-" I grabbed another cube, touched the symbol, and threw it.
The cube hovered in the air before a burst of fire shot out and formed the head of a basilisk. The fire serpent turned around and tried to consume the cube.
"Fiendfyre?" Bella asked with a huge, sadistic grin. I waved my hand and cast the counter-curse to extinguish the Fiendfyre; luckily, it hadn't consumed any magic yet to start growing.
"Fiendfyre grenade! I remembered a character from a series called Worm, who called herself Bakuda. She makes grenades with esoteric effects to throw. Ice bombs, fire, fog, pain, holograms, transmutation. She could do quite a few things. And at some point, I started replicating them and more."
"I was able to make it absorb Crucio and cast it in an area of effect. Additionally, several transmutations are effective, transforming all material within their area of effect into glass. Some other curses, like the bone breaker, I was able to make work in an area of effect again. I think it's too much, though; it's capable of breaking all of a person's bones, like... all 206 at the same time." I said with a grimace.
"I want them. All of them." Bella said with a sadistic smile. I rolled my eyes.
"Then I still have more to show you!" I said with a smile.
"And you're holding a... stopwatch?" Bella asked, lifting one of the cubes.
"Ah! These have time bubbles," I said, grabbing the cube. "You simply place the amount of time you want inside, add some bendalloy because it still needs to burn metals for Allomancy to work, and then press the symbol to activate it." I explained excitedly.
"Awesome," Bella said, whistling lightly. I smiled widely.
"I know! This solves a lot of my problems! Since it is enchanted to finish the bubbles exactly when the time set on the stopwatch passes, it can be used for many things! "Mainly potions, plant, and animal growth! " I said excitedly.
"Goodness gracious, for long waits! It's also set to be pretty fast, so even a few days' worth of waiting should finish within a few seconds." I said excitedly.
"Can't someone be locked inside?" Bella asked carefully.
"Not really, the bubble doesn't have any boundaries like mine do. As long as the cube stays inside the bubble, it will remain stable. Anyone can enter and exit without any problem, and you can even turn the bubble off manually."
"Well, at least the bubbles that speed up time. I made just one for the ones that slow it down and destroyed it. With that cube, someone could get trapped, not physically, but because until they manage to undo it or get out of the bubble, it could take days, or even months." I said with a grimace.
"Yeah, better," Bella said tersely. "Although to use against enemies, it might be worth having a few supplies. Like, locking someone up," Bella said with a grimace. I hummed. It made sense. I'd figure out how to make them and attach a safety trigger that was harder than just pressing the side of the cube.
"I'll think about it now, where was I, oh yeah-"
"We were just getting you out of this lab for a few hours," Bella interrupted, and I pouted. She rolled her eyes and didn't even hesitate to pick me up and place me over her shoulder.
"How unromantic of you," I said dryly as I let Bella throw me over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She smacked my butt. "Hey!" I exclaimed indignantly. She just laughed and kept walking. I rolled my eyes but smiled slightly. I had no idea where this was leading me, but I guess I can take a break after one big success.
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