When is something truly alive? Is it different for plants and animals? On non magic worlds this may be a topic for dispute, even on magical worlds it is, but on Fracture the question is a bit different. The question is not when is something alive, but why does everything have a soul, and what constitutes murder? Everything on Fracture has the same quality soul, from the smallest insects to the largest dragon, because everything on Fracture is made up of souls from a simulated earth. Having an inner original soul and an outer new soul. The inner soul is the base of the personality and it also locks away the memories of earth. The outer soul is the soul created in their new life in Fracture. This does not mean they are not two different people, just different parts of the same soul.

Of course no system is flawless and sometimes oddities pop up created by accident, like the Lost Woods, or the first members of a new species. Regardless of the rarities it still begs the question is it murder to pick a flower? If it has a soul the same as yours is it murder? Almost every pixie would say it depends on the flower.

Things living and dying, well thats a part of the cycle life and they don't really care about the average flower, but there are some flowers they do care about. Mostly because their young start out as flowers.

"Yoou were floower?" Asked an incredulous Stygian.

"Yes now don't interrupt it's a long story and I want to tell it right." Vae took a deep breath before continuing. "Pixies have developed such a strong tie with nature that we no longer give physical birth like humans do. We still have sex, and I said no interruptions Stygian. I can tell that you have a question, and I know you've read about sex before. I'm not going to sit here again and listen to you giggle about it, just because you find the concept absurd."

Vae took a moment to compose herself.

"Now I am unsure if we can't give birth anymore or just don't like to. I assume the latter, but could be the former. Whatever the case might be, we have sex purely for pleasure. We give birth by infusing a parts of ourselves, both physical and magical, with parts of our partner and form it into a seed. We then plant this seed and which can grow into any number of things. I was a pink tulip, I grew and understood nature from a fundamental level, and after fifteen or so years I became more than a flower. I burst into the world still resembling my tulip, but I was a pixie alive and well. Side note I am nearly one hundred percent sure that Gwyn was born a weed refusing to die"

Stygian didn't doubt that assumption for a moment, the roughed gruff one armed pixie definitely seemed like a weed. Which I can also assure you dear friends, Gwyn was indeed a weed.

"I spent the next ten years learning from my parents about pixie culture and tradition, as well as noble pixies. I got so bored listening to it all that I would frequently sneak out. I never went too wild, that is until I met him. His name was Lox, and he was most charming and stunning pixie I had ever seen in my life and not only that, but he was a noble pixie too. Other nobles can sense the higher qualities of other nobles, and so I just had to talk with him. Unfortunately, that was his lust at work, normally I wouldn't have spoken with him, someone that good looking I wasn't anywhere near that confident. His lust convinced me to talk with him, at that's all it takes. Lust isn't some constant magical charm effect, it just nudges you to talk with the owner of the sin. I slept with him and contracted the sin. Surprisingly he wasn't a scumbag, well not completely, it was so long ago that I forget what he said, but I was convinced that we should stay together. We left my home town and spent a few years together, and they were some fun years. Unfortunately good times must come to an end at some point and Lox feel into his sin become an animal. The pixie settlement we were in put him down and that was the last time I saw Lox."

Despite all of it happening many, many years ago it still made Vaelin sad to think of Lox. Not any appreciable amount, but she still felt his loss. He may not have been the best man, but he was good to her.

"After that I lost myself in drink, and refused to indulge my sin in the slightest. Sadness blocked out the sins influence and as long as I never let go of Lox's memory I would be okay. That is what I told myself at least, I don't think it was true. I still felt the sin flare up, but I would attribute it to my imagination. I don't know how long I spent in that state, but it was a long time. I remember one night lying in the gutter of a human city just wanting to fade into nothingness. When a human wizard asked me if I wanted a place to stay to which I probably told him to fuck off, my memory is a bit hazy around there. I remember the wizard coming back every day to ask me if I was doing alright or needed a place to stay. Finally I gave in when he told me that hitting bottom isn't so bad it just means things can only get better. At first I was just staying there to keep out of the gutter, but the more I learned about the Wizard named Al, or Alphonse the more I started to move forward with my life. He apparently had lost his whole family and fell into a really dark place. He'd do anything for a bit of coin, and ended up killing just to stay alive. He managed to turn his life around become a respected wizard and swearing off violence. I learned much from him about everything and spent nearly an entire human lifetime with him."

Vaelin sounded a little choked up while talking about Al, but she pressed on.

"As with all things in life, they must come to an end, and my friendship with Al end when a bunch of beast tamers tried to steal me. They wanted to empower their monster by returning them to their prime, but Al wouldn't give me up, he locked me in a safe room. I watched as the tortured him, trying to make him give up my location. He used his own magic to bind his tongue and block the pain. When he began to laugh at them they slit his throat. When he healed it they just kept cutting open arteries, he could heal the wound, but only a potions or specialized magic could replenish blood. When he finally ran out of blood the now murders left. The safe room unlocked when there were no longer intruders, and I rushed to Al trying to pump the now useless blood back into his body. I poured mana into him and watched it roll off he was already quite dead, but I wouldn't give up. That's when I saw the basic mana boiling off of him. There was so much, he must have been incredibly powerful, and he still chose to let his life end instead of causing more violence. It's something that to this day I don't understand, but it is what he believed was right. As the energy boiled away I could touch it, so I grabbed it as much as I could."

She was talking in a detached manner as though this was someone else's life that she was describing.

"Using this energy to break the stranglehold that the nature thread had on me. I then establishing a connection to basic magic by force. The more magic I grabbed up, the stronger my connection got, but my capacity plummeted. When I felt like I had enough I began to pour the basic magic back into Al trying to heal him. I don't know how long I tried for, but he remained dead. Forcing the connection like I did severely damaged my nature magic, and it would follow commands like it used too. If I could have completely severed it I would have, but it was integral to my being. Afterwards I fell into my bad habits again, namely drinking and partying, but this time I indulged Lust getting it all the way to level seven. Al had given me a dying gift and I wouldn't let it go to waste, I'd become a higher fae and avenge him, after I wallowed for a bit. One night during my wallowing, two noble pixies were fighting over who had the right of sleeping with me. I wasn't going to sleep with either, but they weren't listening to me. When they started dueling with magic I got pissed. I don't remember exactly how I did it, but I tied a barrier spell to their life forces and magical bases so I could take a nap. When I woke up my buzz was gone and two noble pixies were stabbed in the gut, while there mana flooding into me repairing my connection and strengthening my tie to basic magic. It was amazing, of course I was killing them accidentally, but oh well. This is when I met Gwyn. He rode in on a terrible demon and asked me if I wanted to die. He said if I did he would leave be, and let the guards come kill me. If I didn't he could take me away to far away clan where we could become great. It seemed like his ambition was as powerful as mine. It was only latter that I realized his far exceeded mine."

Pausing to catch her breath and get some water Vaelin told Stygian about how they joined the clan. How the clan made both Gwyn and Vae members of the council, but not elder's. A grave insult in pixie culture, but Vae didn't really care. She told the story all the up until she met Stygian.

"Why did yoou naame me Stygian Half-light?"

"Well Stygian means dark and or cold which is what my first impression of you was, but that isn't all you are. You maybe dark, but you are also half light, you also saved us at the battle of Half-light. So I thought it fitting."

After that the two just enjoyed each other's company while waiting for morning to come. Neither feeling tired like they should be, to nervous about tomorrow's battle.

To take a step back from our intrepid duo I'd like to tell you dear friends about monsters on Fracture. I've said before that monster are not technically monsters until they hit combat level ten, but that is not all. Monster also have a connection to a thread that shapes them into a monster, otherwise they would just be experienced animals. The axolotl Stygian saw is a prime example of this, she used to be just an axolotl, but she unknowingly developed a connection to threads of water and earth. These threads prolonged her life and helped her become a better Hunter. She lived so long that she became not only a monster, but also an Awoken. An Awoken is someone who remembers their life on Earth, and they are generally more dangerous. The also have the ability to make more connections with threads before they become maxed out.

This axolotl has been on Fracture since before Vaelin was born, and became the first of a new species called a mud-tyrant. She tried to reproduce asexual, to make more mud-tyrants. Unfortunately she gave birth to the mudkings, and those mudkings diluted the bloodline further and in turn gave birth to mudling. So you see that monsters do not always produce offspring as powerful as themselves, no I'd say they almost always give birth to weaker creatures until stability is reached. This stability is creatures that resemble their monstrous ancestors, but do not share their strong connection to any thread. However, they do still possess a connection to the thread, it is just so minute that it passively affects their physical forms.

Leon has ties to the spectral thread as well as a plant thread, and the connection that Tekanis established. A stronger magic level will case these threads to manifest stronger, making their physical form stronger. This is true or all things though, anything that possess a connection to a thread. Including people, and including Stygian. Although the bug doesn't know it its nature as a psyling gives it a very weak connection to a psychic thread, and being a deväk gives it another connection. Both connection, can't be pulled on for magic or mana, but they do both feed into Stygian's natural abilities. Psychic Aptitude being the best example.

However this does not mean that Stygian has to forge a deeper connection with either thread. It is up to the little bug to determine what it believes magic to be and to find a thread that resonates with it. This could be the psychic thread Stygian is bonded to or some other thread that resonates with the bugs soul. Plus developing a weak connection could lead to disaster. If you cap out a weak connection at a low level then that is part of your magical base you could never get back. Only time will tell, and the time is creeping ever closer.