Alchemised

by SenLinYu

The woman was a vivimancer. Necromancy’s inverse twin, wielded on the living rather than the dead.

By its nature, lumithium bound the four elements of air, water, earth, and fire together, and in that binding, resonance was created.

Usually, resonance was channelled into the alchemy of metals and inorganic compounds, allowing for transmutation or alchemisation. However, in a defective soul which rebelled against Sol’s natural laws, the resonance could be corrupted, enabling vivimancy—like what the woman had used on Helena—and the necromancy used to create necrothralls.

All she knew was that as long as those manacles remained locked in place, she wasn’t an alchemist at all.

The Undying used the dead like puppets to perform any undesirable or menial tasks.

Necrothall term?

“The Eternal Flame found a way to make living subjects survive soul transference?

Is this what we are talking about?

Per his commands, you’re to perform the temporary transference method upon her as frequently as possible to achieve singularity without extinguishing her soul. Once that is accomplished and you’ve accustomed yourself to her mind, I believe that reversing the transmutations of her memory should be a small matter for you. You may examine what’s concealed, and when it’s done, I’ll come to retrieve her. The High Necromancer intends to extract the memories as well.”

Perhaps that ouroboros dragon was not merely a pretentious decoration but something the Ferrons prided themselves on. An omen of a destructive, insatiable hunger which left nothing but ruin in its wake.

She sounded irrational. She was irrational, but there was no help for it; there was a schism between her reason and her mind, a fault line shearing them forever apart. Her mind did not care whether the fear made sense; it just wanted to never go back.

“You know,” Ferron said, jolting her from her thoughts, “when I heard it was you I’d be getting, I was looking forward to breaking you.” He shook his head. “But I don’t think it’s possible to exceed what you’ve done to yourself.”

Hatred was a construct rather than an emotion.

Clearly a TTPD vibe

it was nice, feeling like a functioning person again. Helena had forgotten how easy it was to exist when her mind and body couldn’t betray her.

Good old pills

Unsolvable puzzles seemed fated to be her primary occupation.

“The Undying. You’re his source of power, and the Resistance—we figured that out, didn’t we? How to kill him. How to kill all of you.”

animancy. When we take Resistance fighters alive, it’s not unusual for us to examine their memories. So if you’re ever captured, there’s a chance it’ll happen to you. Which makes you a liability for me.”

Sometimes she wished she’d died in the hospital with her father, to be remembered and mourned for her possibilities, rather than live day by day growing ever lesser.

Women were always defined by the lowliest thing they could be called.

“If you wanted him dead, you should have told me. Crowther said to do what I could.”

Ohhhhh oh oh ohhhhhhhhhhhhh

The tension, the waiting. Months of expectations. After being told this was what she was sent for, why she was wanted. All a ruse. A feint to conceal his true motive. Demanding her had been the same trick of misdirection he taught her to use to protect her memories. A lie, until it wasn’t. Somehow she’d shifted in his estimation, manipulated her way into becoming the very obsession he’d pretended she was.

His lip curled, a flash of teeth. “Oh, and do you have a list of post-war plans that you’ve forgotten to mention?” She averted her eyes. “Do as I say, not as I do.” He laced their fingers together as they lapsed into a silence as empty as the future.

I love you. It was right at the tip of her tongue, but she hesitated, biting the words back.

Pg 758, this made me cry

He didn’t seem to remember that he was the one who couldn’t linger. He wouldn’t let go. She wished that all of this had begun sooner; there was so much time they’d missed.

her farther inside. Their every step hurried. They were always running out of time. Someday, she promised herself, someday I am going to love him in a moment that isn’t stolen.

find Kaine in her thoughts and memories. No amount of evasion could hide him; he was the fabric of her thoughts. Her every action tied to him.

“Every time you asked, I promised I was yours. Always. There aren’t any exemptions or expiration dates on always.”

Helena part 3 beginning

Kaine watched, clearly torn between his desire to keep her in a state and place that he could fully control and not wanting to be her captor any longer. He’d had to choose, and he’d set her free. She didn’t want him to regret that.

Her heart sank. She’d spent so much time worrying about this baby when it hardly existed, because it was all she’d had to care about. Kaine had been right when he’d called her desperate to love someone. It seemed to be her fatal flaw.

This hits me deep

She shook her head. “I don’t want to choose. I always have to choose, and I never get to choose you. I’m so tired of not getting to choose you.” He looked back at her. “You’re not choosing. You promised me anything I wanted. I want you to stop breaking yourself trying to save me. Go. Live. Tell our daughter I saved you both. That—is what I want.”

😭😭😭

She knew that to him, what she was doing was stealing time from them. If she found nothing, it was all wasted. Moments they could have had together, she had spent searching for a solution that did not exist.

Setting you up so good

“Because she’s a loose end. If you’ll let Amaris die, you won’t let Aurelia live.”

“I hate it when you kill people because of me,” she said.

Now she makes us laugh

I guess in the end, I am like Luc. I thought that we could suffer enough to earn each other.”

“I didn’t have anyone, Helena,” he said quietly. “After my mother died, I was alone. My life was blown apart when I went home at sixteen, and everything I did from that point on was to keep from losing the only thing I had left. When she died—it didn’t matter. Revenge was all I could do to make up for it, and dying for that didn’t matter to anyone—not until you came along.”

It was strange to stand inside a prison, and dread leaving it.

And Shiseo, if he had been planted, waiting in Central in case Helena ever reappeared—he couldn’t have any records tying him to her.

?????

Kaine killed Apollo trying to save her. And it was all your fault.”

WHO

I would rather die trying to save you than live knowing there was a chance and I didn’t take it.”

Before the Disaster, it was said people could travel by following the stars, but no one knew where they went anymore.

Time always ran out for them. They’d spent years surviving on stolen moments, and now she finally felt how starved it had left her.

“I think I always saw running away as the destination. I never actually thought about what would be left of me by the time I got here.” She stayed there, numb at the realisation.

God That sounds like me

“We said always, didn’t we?” she asked, her voice strained. “Always. Well, if you don’t want that promise in full any longer, I’ll give it to you in increments.” She clutched his hand tighter. “Every day. I’ll choose you. That way you’ll know it’s still what I want.”

Awwwwwww

how the city was being starved into compliance as demands of surrender were ignored.

Ewwwwwk

“Love isn’t as pretty or pure as people like to think. There’s a darkness in it sometimes. Kaine and I go hand in hand. I made him who he is. I knew what that array meant when I saved him. If he’s a monster, then I’m his creator.”