Cold... That was one way to describe how she felt in a very simplistic manner. The Demon could barely muster the energy to resist as the magical contraption in the form of a collar kept leeching away her strength and energy. From passing conversation she had heard what her 'punishment' would be for scavenging within Ground Zero: They would be using her as a test subject for some sort of experiment within the area the people of Talaz Lagaar called the Fractured Sky. Even now Esperia didn't entirely understand the meaning behind these words. She had heard that it was some sort of creation from the Age of Forget that people barely dared to even approach but now it seemed they were throwing caution to the wind.

How hilarious to see they were able to take risks when it wasn't their own safety involved. The young demon queen opened her eyes, gazing around her as she observed several scientists and engineers preparing what appeared to be some sort of device that was almost reminiscent of a sacrificial altar.

Was this the end the world had planned for her? To be sacrificed to some unknown entity? She could barely contain her annoyance at such an irony. Why was it always others who tried to decide her fate? Lording over her like some wannabe god that could decide the fate of others? She wouldn't accept or acknowledge such a foolish notion! Her fate was her own to decide!

WC: 250

Even as she was attached to the sacrificial altar she felt her mind screaming out in protest. Even as the sky crackled with unnatural sparks of obsidian lightning, Esperia felt anger rather than fear. To think this all happened because she had failed to defeat Kishin. All of a sudden the Fractured Sky tore open, the scientists dashing to safety while she saw from amidst the gaping hole in the sky several large tendrils uncoil from within, slowly lowering down to the surface. Her body still tried to resist in anger, a burst of her demonic energy causing the chains that attached her to the altar to break free but by then it was too late.

One of the tendrils wrapped around her waist, pulling her up into the sky while she heard the sound of galloping hooves. "Bucaphelas!" Esperia shouted in surprise as the horse dashed in a mad frenzy toward her, attempting to bite down onto the tendril as the poor creature tried defiantly to save his master, but to no avail.

Several tendrils wrapped around the horse and pulled him upwards alongside her, as if whatever had been lurking behind the Fractured Sky intended to claim both of them as tribute. It was in a matter of moments that the fractured sky had pulled the two of them in, and then it closed itself once more.

The scientists stared in bewilderment at the sky, the hushed murmuring among them making it clear they had not anticipated this.

WC: 250

Darkness... Darkness as far as the eye could see. Even as she tried to open her eyes, there was nothing to behold. Only the emptiness of the void. Even now she felt odd... As if she had no longer a physical body to call her own. Was this about to be the end of her tale? An ending she had not even decided herself?

A foreign presence called out to her but it did not speak, rather it was a collection of emotions and vivid images that forced itself into her mind. Curiosity, images which showed her own being, observed from afar. It reminded her of how she thought the gods might have observed Earthland, uncaring in their mindset. Yet this being seemed intrigued by what it saw.

More emotions and images filled her mind. Anticipation, it asked if she was angry as if it sensed her own emotion. Yes, she was angry, angry at the man who had bested her and the fools who sacrificed her to something they didn't even understand.

It felt like an eternity passed as she engaged in this mental back and forth of communication with the otherwordly entity when at last it filled her being with a single emotion: desire... It showed her images of Earthland, images taken from her memories and when one, in particular, showed a young half elf smiling innocently at her she understood what it tried to ask her: Did she want to return?

But how could she? The void had consumed her physical body and if anything, the only reason her mind had not faded away was due to the mysterious entity that kept communicating with her. Sensing her hesitation it filled her mind with another emotion: Pride

Her mind suddenly felt different, as if it gained a proper vessel once more to inhabit. Yet this vessel was far from 'human'. If anything, while part of it might had resembled a humanoid, the rest was clearly ethereal. She might had called it a voidling.

She opened her mouth, attempting to communicate but instead she heard no words come, rather in the same manner the being communicated she felt images and emotions fill her mind: Excitement, gratitude, curiosity: Did he cause this change to her?

The emotions which filled her mind were clear: Anticipation, pride, confidence, mental images of her former disguised appearance filled her mind, making it clear the being had tried to recreate her in a similar manner to how she had looked, even if the corruption of the void had changed her.

And then the darkness faded, the void taking form around her as she saw 'it', the entity she had communicated with and for a moment she felt her entire being freeze at the sight of it. Was it awe? Awe at its power? Its mindset was so different from the otherwordly beings she had met before, but Esperia could say with utmost confidence that if something like a 'God' existed, then this being might had earned that title...

WC: 500

The being projected yet another collection of images and feelings into her mind: Concern, confusion, and gratefulness. Images of Bucaphelas filled her mind as Esperia replied to the being in kind: She wanted to learn how to do what the being had done, so she could bring back her loyal companion.

Still, if there was one thing she came to comprehend, then it was the fact that she was no longer human, if anything she had become something most would consider monstrous. With a slight raise of her hand, she felt several tendrils uncoil around her, reaching into the darkness as a cocoon of void magic formed. She tried to focus her mind, tried to think of her loyal familiar. Bucaphelas did not deserve to disappear into the void for trying to save her.

A soft neighing sound came from within the cocoon, yet what emerged from within was not a majestic horse befitting for a queen. No, it was a creature of the void, yet as she extended a hand to its face and caressed it tenderly the look of joy in its eyes betrayed its identity: She had remade Bucaphelas.

The moment she did that she felt the being project more emotions to her: Pride, joy, it was happy to see her succeed. Yet soon followed feelings of concern, and loneliness: It was worried about her departure. It knew that if she would return to Earthland, she would return as a being from the void, not exactly the most hospitable of kinds.

She projected images of a particular half elf into the mind of the being, telling she still wanted to return to Earthland, followed by emotions of gratitude and kindness. She was going to return to Earthland no matter what.

It felt like days had passed since the scientists of Talaz Lagaar had sacrificed their prisoner to the Fractured Sky, and even now a cloaked figure still remained to look in anticipation at the sky when the unthinkable happened.

The sky cracked open as a collection of tendrils descended toward the surface, holding something in it like a cocoon till it reached the surface. The cloaked figure rushed toward the tendrils as it shouted. "Amelia! is that you?! Please tell me you returned from the void-"

But as the cocoon opened and a pair of tendrils coiled out to grab the cloaked figure by his throat he let out a pained gasp as the cocoon revealed the voidling emerge from within.

She glared at him, projecting feelings of anger as it read their mind and then a voice called in his own mind.

"I am not Amelia... I am the one you fools forsaken to the void..."

And with that she let go off her grip. "Yet I am back, for there was someone waiting for me..."

The being hovered lightly in the air, turning her attention skyward as she raised a hand at the sky. Soon she would find a way to help her new friend return from the void as well...

WC: 500