On the top of Moonspoke hill stood the Moon Daughter’s Palace. It was the night of the twin new moon, yet the throne room was lit up with the pale bluish light of a magic circle.

A sequence of red and blue runic symbols appeared and disappeared on the borders of complex geometries that made up the circle. A black-haired woman was gazing upon it intently, the lights of the runes glittering in her eyes. She scanned the stone canvas, mentally double and triple-checking every formula, rune, and inscription of the circle until finally closing her eyes and letting out a deep breath.

She stood and nodded to herself in satisfaction.

“It’s done, Everlyse. It’s ready.” She said confidently while placing her tattooed left hand on her chin.

Everything was perfect, but due to inherent randomness on a magical level, Yan Ailing could only be 99% sure that the spell would work. Unfortunately, if it didn’t work…

She banished the thought.

It was her finest work. It will succeed.

“Place her in the middle of the circle.” Ailing said to Everlyse.

The other woman, Everlyse, stood a full head taller than her counterpart. Her hair was glowing ethereally in the pale white color of a full moon. She was beautiful to a supernatural degree; she was the moon’s daughter herself.

She nodded and approached the center of the circle carrying the target of the spell, a sapphire crystal containing her newborn baby. After placing the crystal on the stone floor, she returned to her partner’s side, grasping her hand nervously.

“Are you ready?” Ailing asked Everlyse, squeezing her hand tightly.

“Mmhh.” She replied in the affirmative.

“The trigger is a snap. Should I…?” said Ailing.

“Let’s do it together.” Everlyse responded.

They looked into each other’s eyes, sharing a mutual smile, lending reassurance.

Ailing switched to an arrogant grin and chuckled at her partner, noticing the puffiness in her eyes.

“Are you crying already?” Ailing teased.

“No, I’m just… Hmph!” Everlyse pouted and pursed her lip in irritation, looking away in exaggerated disagreement.

They shared a laugh and snapped their fingers.

A pillar of white light formed around the circle, and the air in the room began blowing in a violent pattern. Blinded and unbalanced, they grasped each other, awaiting the spell to stabilize. After a few seconds of chaos, a circle of lightning snapped around the pillar of light, seemingly squeezing it tightly. The light disappeared with a crack of thunder, and the wind calmed down, leaving only the levitating crystal within.

Several beams of red light shot out of the borders of the magic circle, focusing on the crystal within. The crystal shook violently, and cracks appeared on its surface. Finally, the crystal snapped into pieces with the sound of shattering glass, leaving the baby in a cloud of glowing ashes.

“Honey…” Ailing said accusingly while looking at Everlyse. “The seal was four percent stronger than you said it was.” She batted an eye and gave a snarky grin.

That crystal was no joke.

“Oops. Tehe. I’m stronger than I look. Is that going to be a problem?” She replied with a sickeningly sweet smile on her face.

Ailing’s eyes jittered around as she completed a series of calculations.

“It won’t affect the transmutation spell or anima transfer, but… Hmmm. I see.” Her eyes continued sweeping around.

“Don’t worry, Evee-love.” Ailing replied, trying to assuage her partner’s concerns. “It’s just a minor hiccup.”

In all honesty, she was worried, just not because of the seal. The 1% chance of failure would occur during the anima transfer phase of the spell. Splitting one soul into two bodies was the craziest magic she had ever attempted. It was too dangerous. The College of Alchemy would call it an affront to natural, supernatural, and divine law… And also try to kill her and themselves to prevent any knowledge of such magic from spreading to anyone else. That’s if they could get past Everlyse.

The pair looked back at the magic circle. The cloud of ashes had floated away from the baby and formed itself into a ball.

“Our daughter is free!” Everlyse asked giddily while looking at the baby. “Can she hear us?”

“No.” Ailing replied curtly. “She’s completely unconscious…”

With the crystallin seal gone, the magic circle would have to provide a powerful stasis effect to keep the baby from waking. There was a reason they had sealed her in the first place!

Ailing reviewed each element of her master spell.

Dissolve the moon daughter’s seal – Complete, but mana reserves are lower than anticipated.

Suppress her daughter from awakening and causing the apocalypse – In progress

Transmute the ashes into a living vessel. – Initiating soon

Transfer her daughter’s anima into the vessel. – Not yet initiated

Even though she had created a spell that could actively suppress her daughter’s awakening and would mark Ailing as the greatest mage who ever lived, Ailing knew she couldn’t have done it alone. Despite her knowledge and resourcefulness, she lacked raw power, so Everlyse’s mana had powered the spell. The woman standing beside her was the living daughter of the moon and queen of all that bleeds, the vampire god, and her one and only wife.

Returning her thoughts to the task at hand, Ailing pointed at the brightly blinking dust cloud.

“See there? That’s the signal that the ashes will soon begin transmutation.”

The glowing dust blinked brighter until it began shifting into a solid shape. The center of the dust condensed into a lump of rapidly growing mass. The mass took the shape of an embryo, growing limbs and eyes, till it reached the form of a human baby.

Seeing this second baby, Ailing and Everlyse exploded with excitement. They danced around the circle with tears in their eyes, clapping and cheering with joy.

“You did it, Ailing!” Everlyse shouted while picking Ailing up and swinging her around in a circle before pulling her in for a kiss.

“I’ve been thinking...” Ailing said, her face close to Everlyse. “How does the name Evelynn sound? We can call her original body Eve and the vessel Lyn. Evelynn!”

Everlyse furrowed her eyebrows.

“Ailing, I like the names, but what did I say about calling our daughter’s body a vessel?” Everlyse said, admonishing Ailing.

“You said that…” Ailing’s eyes danced around for a moment. “It objectifies and dehumanizes our precious little girl.” She quoted.

“And so?” Everlyse said, pouting.

“So…Uh… Don’t call her that?”

Everlyse stroked her forehead. Her wife could be lacking in delicacy when it came to language. A more proper term would be “homunculus,” or just call her Lyn.

“What now, darling? Is the spell complete?” Everlyse asked.

“Not quite. The vess- homunculus, err… Lyn’s body is being prepped for the final step. Anima transfer.” She explained. “Her mind is being conditioned with instincts, autosomatics, and as a bonus, a repository of my techniques. The first two normally happen during fetal development, and the last one is just for good measure.” She said while pressing her glasses to the bridge of her nose, obviously proud of the last part of her explanation.

Everlyse shook her head in resignment. Inserting memories of techniques into her child was just too inelegant. Although it was yet another example of her lover’s lack of delicacy, she could understand where Ailing was coming from.

Ailing wasn’t shy about enhancing her body. As a child, she was enslaved and experimented on by a clan of human magi. They spent years placing runes on her skin till they died, and she escaped. By the time she was free, the upper left torso and arm and left half of her face were completely tattooed. But she embraced her magical augmentation and extended upon it. From the sigils on her bones that made them nearly unbreakable to the runes written on her eyes that granted her night vision, Ailing pursued every edge she could.

Everlyse looked to her partner. Ailing was fidgeting around nervously.

“What’s wrong, darling.” Everlyse said calmly.

“Any moment now, and the anima transfer will begin. If anything goes wrong.”

“Nothing is going to happen Ailing.” She reassured her. “You checked everything.”

Ailing didn’t make mistakes. To her, it didn’t matter how dire the consequences of failure were because she wouldn’t make a mistake. This time was different. The consequences of failure just too dire. The spell threatened apocalypse and anima transfer was inherently unpredictable. Even the gods dared not to mess around with the spirit, but she needed to spread her soul in two bodies for her daughter to live.

The pair looked up to see new activity in the magic circle. The cage of lightning fizzled away, and four glowing red embers levitated from the ground just above the height of the babies. The embers zipped around at incredible speeds, forming a persistent image of a twelve-sided star.

She glanced at the tattoos on her left arm again and said, “This is it,” as she braced herself.

Spirits existed in a place orthogonal to the plane of space and time. After extensive research, Ailing found a way to connect this place between two spaces using a magical singularity, so she named it “the fold” and the connection “anima transfer.”

With the sound of a drop of water reverberating through the air, a vine of moonlight spewed out of Eve and grew till it connected with Lyn, linking their hearts.

*Thump*

*Thump*

The vine started pulsing and throbbing with a sound reminiscent of a heartbeat as anima was pumped from Eve to Lyn.

“Thirty more seconds till the process is complete.” She said, beginning a countdown.

…

“Twenty…”

…

*Crack!*

(19.00 Seconds remaining)

A black object breaks through the roof of the throne room with a trajectory toward the magic circle.

(18.98 seconds remaining)

Everlyse’s superhuman reaction speed allows her to react in time. She recognizes the threat. Is it an attack? Her entire body glows with power.

(18.85 seconds remaining)

Everlyse grabs the object. It’s too delicate and shatters on impact with her hand. An unknown liquid spatters on the magic circle. Ailing realizes there’s an attack.

(18.00 seconds remaining)

A portion of the magic circle dissolves. Everlyse screams. Ailing scans the circle with her eyes to assess the damage.

(13.00 seconds remaining)

Ailing realizes the stasis formula that keeps the two babies asleep is corrupted.

[Shit! They’ll wake up. I need to use it.]

(12.00 seconds remaining)

The babies are waking up. The vine between them is inflating in size, and red fractures appear along its length. Ailing holds up her left arm and braces herself.

(10.001 seconds remaining)

The vine shatters, releasing anima into the world. Ailing activates the runes on her body. Everlyse runs to her wife in an attempt to stop her.

(10.00 seconds remaining)

The vine is wrapped in a violet light. The anima is contained, and the process continues.

(5.00 seconds remaining)

Ailing collapses into Everlyse’s arms. Blood spews out of her eyes and ears.

“Ailing!” Everlyse shouts.

(0.00 seconds remaining)

Eve and Lyn take their first breaths.