Swept

Ambruce Realm was just as beautiful and vibrant at night as it was during its long days.

The stars twinkled in a myriad of vibrant colors and seemed close enough to touch. They hovered above casting ethereal light upon the surface of the ground as if that surface was reflective.

Then there were the three moons. One a beautiful shade of light blue that seemed to twinkle like a gem. One a soft shade of yellow that softly radiated gentl pulses of magic. The last one was of the slightest shade of pink with rippling waves of silver moving across its surface. They each hung high in the sky reflecting off one another. The yellow the highest while the blue and pink flanked its right lower right and left sides respectively.

Rachel, Rebecca, Cramnal, Struns, and Smral sat together on ornate stones carved with intricate patterns of swirls, knots, and runes. They were placed precisely to enact a specific ritual. An intricate ritual that would change the realm forever.

The stones sat in a circle with one sitting directly in the center.

The ritual they would enact would need to be different for Ambruce. All Antrunie were acknowledged by the realm once the Milana acknowledged them. An issue arose if the realm deemed them insufficient. In Cramnal's case the realm had already fully acknowledged him but both the realm and Rachel knew he wasn't ready.

Rachel forced the issue and, as usual, Cramnal accepted his new role without complaint, as she knew he would. She also knew what he would do once they returned to Trannisa and he had time to think.

In Smral's case; he was drawn to the realm for the purpose of becoming an Antrunie. It was within his fate path for this.

Of course Rachel did not know this. It was incredibly dangerous to "know" your fate because your own fate could never truly be known. Merely reading through the fate of others caused new lines of fate to be created. And fighting to stabilize the truth of someone else's fate was harrowing enough. Fighting to stabilize one aspect of one's own fate could be worse than death, it could be erasure from fate itself, meaning that you never existed.

Without existence there is no certainty of reincarnation and thus a possibility the line of the Milana could be erased as well – in Rachel's case.

Rachel had five spells circulating at all times to prevent her from ever seeing a fate line concerning her. One of those ensured she was never even aware of anything being omitted.

Besides all that she had not even delved too deeply when looking at Smral's fate, but she still understood that it was the truth. She knew he was fated to walk with her.

Be it due to clues given or her connection to the realm she was unsure but she was sure it was a truth.

Ambruce was different because it was a realm itself and because it had strong fate lines that Rachel could not even read. Rachel knew a few others with such lines, such as Anis, it was her instincts that told her Ambruce's fate lines were on a different level from anything she, or any other Milana had seen before.

This meant that Ambruce was a greater being than Rachel was. Meaning he had a greater fate than she did. This did not mean it was better or of higher elation but it did mean it would have a more complicated connection to the Milana.

The connection between Milana and Antrunie was a soul well/sea connection, but it wasn't a simple connection to begin with. But connecting to an origin well was different. This connection involved realm magics not magics wielded by a person and realm magic was complex and beyond the reach of most individualistic mentality.

Realms were things beyond most mental rationality. They were sentient, had the capacity to create life, whether inadvertently or on purpose, from mere thought, and were able to allow that life to thrive and evolve beyond its original purpose or definition.

There were not many other entities that could do anything similar.

The actual ritual of the Antrunie was more an official introduction to the Trannisa realm and causing the tethers to the Milana to strengthen even more. It also allowed the Antrunie to begin building their personal understanding of Trannisa.

For Ambruce the ritual would essentially be forming a new entity. Allowing Ambruce to divide itself and both walk with Rachel and her cohort and strengthen its whole being, which was a realm. This ritual would redefine Ambruce fundamentally.

This ritual was to help the connection between Ambruce, the Milana, and the other Antrunie solidify and adhere as well. Rachel had to create a ritual to connect beings that were essentially incompatible.

She had decided to run the connections to Ambruce from the others, and vice-versa, through herself. This would help cushion or amplify the connections as needed. Usually she allowed Antrunie to connect with Antrunie but she did not think her cohorts soul wells or soul sea could withstand the power within an origin soul well.

Rachel tilted her head upwards, partly in admiration of the realm and partly in anticipation. She knew that Ambruce was approaching. The others followed her line of sight when a translucent, vertical, funnel of spinning light appeared.

Ambruce was tall and very feminine. She, emphasis on she, was a little more than eight feet tall, her breast were so voluminous that they seemed to want to burst forth and be separate entities of their own. Her waist was very tiny and her hips just as ample as her breasts. Her hair hung to her ankles and was soft and very wavy. It was a beautiful golden amber color with rainbow streaked strands dispersed evenly throughout. Her eyes were a clear amber shade that seemed to be entrances to an alternate dimension. Her face was small yet full and she had deep dimples on both of her cheeks.

Rachel wanted to laugh, the others just looked on in unabashed awe.

Smral looked at Rebecca with a smirk. "Guess there is no question in what gender was chosen here."

Rebecca shook her head silently, her mouth slightly agape.

Rachel actually laughed at this, she had never seen Rebecca stunned to silence.

"Please Sit Ambruce. I assume you have chosen to become an Antrunie since you have taken on a human form."

Ambruce nodded in respect. "I have."

Rachel sat forward and became serious. "You are okay with splitting your soul, connecting with us, and walking outside your realm?"

"Yes, I am." She smiled as he replied.

Rachel shook her head, a bit exasperated, as she sat back and repositioned herself on her seat. "You answer too quickly Ambruce." Her eyes reflexively flicked to Ambruce's obscenely large breast and back to those beautiful bewitching eyes. She shook her head again.

Ambruce's smile did not change. Rachel had to shake her head again. "I see you have made up your mind and will not change it." She looked at Cramnal knowingly. "You can change your mind later and break the connection, but once your soul is split into two it will take some time to merge them back together. To be honest the ritual I prepared may make it impossible for you to go back to your current state"

She saw the subtle change in Cramnal as he thought he may have a way out and she smirked. She knew her brother too well.

"I will not change my mind Milana and I would like to speak with my parent. I have not been able to hear them clearly since I left them and I know I will learn and grow a lot if I follow you. I do not fully understand the consequences but I do understand that there are many and that I will be irrevocably changed"

Rachel nodded in acceptance.

The carved stones lit up in brilliant light. Ambruce walked to the center and sat on the central stone. Rachel raised an eyebrow 'All confidence... I hope she has no regrets from this'.

Rachel spoke words of power. They seemed to manifest and solidify in the air. A runic circle flared to life and the stones within them began to warm. Lines of runes threaded from the circle and into all six stones.

Ambruce's seat flared brighter than the others and formed a thick rainbow connection between it and Rachel's seat. Yellow and grey strands of light brightened and flowed faster between all the seats.

Ambruce felt her soul stir. It divided into two uneven parts. One eighth of her soul separated and moved toward the realm's origin well. The realm shimmered and coalesced.

Two strong connections formed between the realm and Rachel and between Ambruce and Rachel.

Then thick strands of soul tether formed and flowed from Ambruce to Rachel. As they flowed from Rachel they thinned and separated into four equal parts with one flowing to one of the other Antrunie.

These thinner strands formed connections between the others and Ambruce through Rachel.

Ambruce felt the flow of power that moved between them and she was a bit startled. She had known that Rachel and Smral were both very powerful but the other three had a great deal of power as well. She also felt the magic of her parent, Trannisa, and it seemed to feel every atom of her being. She felt the realm, her true "body", swell with power and a new sense of awareness.

She began understanding things she never realized needed understanding. Knowledge that was always just beyond her ability to grasp or even be aware of. This knowledge filled in minute gaps that helped to solidify her understanding and awareness.

Awareness of self and of the existence of others.

She looked to Rachel. A broad smile on her lips. Her voice was ethereal when she spoke. "I did not understand Milana. I had things confused and thought it was all clear. Because of you I have already grown more than I was previously capable of. I thank you for helping me as you have."

With the final sentence she bowed deeply. When Ambruce straightened her clothing changed. She wore gold and purple sorcerer robes that fell in feathery layers. They pooled slightly at her feet. The layers moved faintly in a wind that did not exist.

Rachel nodded. Her eyes had been opened during the ritual as well. She stood, signaled the others to leave the circle, and proceeded to seal it.

"This will be a good place to perform rituals." She sent them all the runes they would need to reactivate the circle to their soul wells/sea.

She sighed. "Let's return to Trannisa. We need ensure the abyss is stable, see to the punishment for Shain, Sublyme, and Althius, finally the Trannisa corporation may need to be dissolved.

Rebecca sighed. "We have a lot of work to do." She smiled at Smral. "Maybe we need to rest a bit before we begin this."

Ambruce tilted her head in curiosity as she looked between Rebecca and Smral. "Rest? You seem well rested Rebecca. Maybe I do not understand." She looked to Rachel. "Are there different types of rest."

Rachel wanted to face-palm. She simply opened a door several feet from them and began walking towards it.