328 Cradle
While she was justifiably horrified at the ordeal of the vampire Arkmis, but this only made her more sure in her decision. The Daedric Prince clearly had power, and she knew the rules he played by. He functioned similarly to the myths of genies in her original world. Meaning they would take your wishes and realise them in the darkest ways possible.
If you wished for gold, you might find yourself suffocating while buried in it. Or the gold would be from a dangerous lord's treasury, causing you to be hunted down.
If you wished for immortality, you'd be turned into a rock, or a lich, or have your soul sealed until the universe came to an end.
To Charlotte, the trick was to specify what you wanted so that it was impossible for it to be misconstrued. This was the method she'd use to have Vile heal her mother.
She steps forwards, just before the vampire's mangled corpse and kneels on one leg with Maria standing next to her, still blindfolded.
"I already know what you want, my dear. But how's about you tell me, so we are on the same page?" Clavicus asks, the statue's eyes looking as if they were glaring a hole into her soul.
Taking a deep breath, Charlotte looks up at the statue with cold determination, "I wish for my mother to be healed. To have her body, mind, and soul returned to how it was an hour before she'd been poisoned and cursed." she states, sure that the Daedric Prince wouldn't be able to alter such a request too much. Plus, if he did as she wished exactly to the letter, her mother would regain the years she lost, becoming both physically and mentally healthy again.
"Hmmmph! Now that's a tough one!... I may be able to grant your request, despite that mutt walking off with some of my power." Clavicus Vile grumbles something about a mutt that Charlotte wasn't able to easily pick up. "But first, I want to know what you can do for me?... What do you offer in return?"
...
"My soul." Charlotte answers simply, having already decided on this long before she set out on this journey.
"A soul for a soul... Girl, you have yourself a deal." he states, his tone darkening as boh Charlotte and Maria begin glowing.
Charlotte feels something odd extracted from her chest, its absence felt odd, and she felt a bit weak. But still 'normal' despite it all.
Maria on the other hand had a remarkably different response. The woman lets out a loud gasp as the light enters through her ears, nose, mouth, and other orifices. She was in terrible pain, but that was only due to having all of her cells die and rebuild themselves, younger and healthier than before.
Her glazed look regained focus, her dull blue hair regained its colour and lusciousness, she regained her womanly curves that she'd lost from her lengthened period of chronic starvation.
The glow around Charlotte ended far faster than Maria's. So the girl just watched her with a critical eye, not wanting to miss anything important. As far as she was concerned, this was her mother's rebirth. She wanted to memorize it, internalize it... Her mother would return to her.
*Thud.*
Not long after, Maria drops to her knees while breathing heavily, her eyes still scrunched up as she relived the recent pain over and over. But, she stilled as a small hand dropped onto her shoulder.
"M-mother?"
...
Maria turns her head, her eyes locking onto Charlotte. She didn't remember anything past the ball that her brother-in-law, Joseph de Gallia had hosted. Her daughter, Charlotte, had been with her... But now, she was on her knees inside an ominous-feeling cave with someone who looked almost identical to her daughter in front of her.
No, she'd been called 'mother'... This IS Charlotte... But, she looked older... Her height was slightly taller than it had been, she was wearing glasses and her eyes held both experience and tragedy... Most importantly, Charlotte was on the brink of tears as they looked at one another.
"C-Charlotte?"
"Mother!" Charlotte exclaims, the dams breaking as she jumps into her arms and cries. Letting all the hardships she'd experienced out as her mother hugged her tightly...
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Elsewhere, Michael, Tiffania, and Megumin were gathered in front of the Atronach Forge that was located under the College in the Middens. The small dais was already illuminated by hundreds of candles that'd been lit around it, and the preparations to make it operate properly had been gathered.
Most importantly, Michael hadn't even needed to borrow a Sigil Stone from one of the College's Masters, as he had found one while organizing the loot he'd acquired from Malyn Varen, the crazed former teacher.
The Sigil Stone had been placed, along with a pile of filled Black Soul gem, one Deathbell, one Hagraven Claw, a healthy pile of Void Dust, and some blood from both Tiffania and Michael.
To be frank, no one had any clue what'll happen if they used all of this. But Michael was sure it would, at the very least, be a cool explosion.
The list of ingredients wasn't finished yet however... Michael begins the ceremony, using a similar invocation to what Tiffania had used to summon Megumin. He circles around to the Atronach Forge and retrieves the last ingredient from his inventory...
The arm of the Void creature that attempted to pull them into Tiffania's faulty Teleportation Gate so long ago. It hadn't decayed at all, the arm looking like a large, misty black clawed shadow, one that'd been cut from the shoulder of a giant shadow creature.
Michael lays it atop the pile of ingredients and continues the chant, inwardly grinning as a steady glow encapsulates everything within the Atronach Forge. And before he'd even finished his chant, darkness appears and obscures everything within the ritual circle.
