Yan Ailing dreaded this conversation more than anything else in her long life, but the time to hide her condition had long passed. The fact that her daughter had caught on to her symptoms was proof enough that she needed to come clean. Just as she contemplated what to say, she felt one, two, then three blood vessels burst within each of her eyes. In a few milliseconds, drops of blood would pool under her eyes and drip down like tears, which was another clear sign that her condition was progressing faster than she had anticipated.

I must look dreadful. She thought to herself before choosing her words.

“You’re a clever girl, Lyn. I haven’t been completely honest with you. I like to think that you get your wits from me, but it could be that I’m just a terrible liar.” She was rambling, and she knew it.

“I’m dying Lyn, but I won’t leave you alone. As early as tomorrow we are going to the place you were born, Hel. I’m leaving you with your second mother.”

In the next fraction of a second, Lyn’s face shifted from that of regular concern to downright panic. Ailing watched in excruciating slow motion; her cursed “godkin’s infinite gaze,” gave her extreme thought acceleration. In her eyes, that half second felt like twenty hours.

“Mama! What do you mean ––?”

Mama is dying? Lyn thought, as denial struggled against the plain truth right in front of her.

She doesn’t look a day over twenty years old!

“Lyn, please listen carefully. I’ll explain everything.”

Ailing wiped the blood from her eyes, her usual look of gentle focus and determination returning to her face.

“You have two biological mothers as a result of your second mother’s racial magic.” Ailing explained.

“When you say magic…”

“Oh yes, but I won’t go into any of the specifics of your conception. You can ask your mother when you’re older.”

Ailing let out a cough before continuing.

“You’re probably wondering why you’ve never seen your second mother or witnessed any magic throughout your life, so I will start at the very beginning. You were born in Hel, which is the home world of your second mother, Everlyse. Unfortunately, by the whim of Fate, your soul was given an incompatible dual nature. You would have died the moment you took your first breath, so Everlyse and I created a spell to split your soul between two bodies.”

“Two bodies?” Lyn asked.

“Yes Lyn, you inhabit a homunculus vessel that I designed and created myself. Your body is something of a magical living construct that is indistinguishable to a normal human. While your counterpart, who we call Eve, resides in Hel with Everlyse. Her body is the “original” body.”

Lyn looked at her mother in confusion.

“Homunculus? Am I some sort of monster, and if my soul was split, which one is the real me?”

Her mother shook her head and a smug grin pursed her lips.

“You’re no monster, in fact, you’re practically perfect. I should know, I designed your body myself. Your magicules come from Everlyse’s most powerful magic, and the spell formula I used to construct your body is my second greatest work! –– Second only to the spell that transferred your soul into your body, of course.”

Lyn chuckled. It wasn’t often that her mother would speak about something so passionately. Even if it was a bit embarrassing to hear her mother compliment her so much, Lyn took it in stride.

“You know mama, normally a girl would be sinking into existential dread if her own mother called her a homunculus.” Lyn chastised Ailing with a chuckle.

“Normal? Ha! You are my daughter. I raised you better than that.”

Ailing loosened her pride and let out a bittersweet sigh before continuing her explanation.

“The night you were born, an unknown enemy attacked your mother and me. You see honey, the two of us have made countless foes over the decades. Most of them would stop at nothing to get their revenge on us, and whoever attacked us on that night knew exactly what they were doing.”

The pattering of rain on the roof of the building grew louder as the storm outside intensified.

“Oh right.”

As if the rain had been a que, Ailing turned towards the fox kami’s idol. She placed a bowl beneath the idol’s mouth and returned to where she was sitting.

“The attack coincided with the worst possible moment, which was during the anima transfer between your two bodies. The spell was disrupted, and within moments, your anima was at risk of spilling out into the world.”

Ailing’s tone grew serious.

“Lyn, anima magic is the ultimate taboo in my world. Anyone who even attempts it, is ruthlessly hunted down and executed by either the magical colleges or the many churches. Knowing that it was our only hope for you to be able to live, I developed a method in secret. In my research, I found the underlying truth behind why anima magic.”

A glowing blue liquid began pouring out the mouth of the idol of the nine-tailed fox kami and into the bowl placed in front of it. Ailing paid it no heed as she continued.

“Anima is the substance that makes up the soul but resides in a separate dimension from you and me. It forms a bond through a tiny fold in space, and the shape of this bond forms the spirit. If even the smallest amount of anima were to ever leak into our world, it would shatter those tiny bonds and obliterate every living spirit in the universe. That night, as my spell had anima ever so delicately transferring between your two bodies, our attackers disrupted the spell, and we were seconds from anima spewing into our world.”

“What are you talking about mama? There’s no way that ––“

Ailing held up a hand to let Lyn know that there was more.

“I stopped that from happening Lyn, but it cost me dearly. My spell threatened to cause the apocalypse, so I was responsible for seeing it through. I activated my most powerful magic, a curse that had been etched into my body as a girl. It bought me the time I needed to correct the spell. However, that curse has ravaged my body for years, and soon it will kill me.”

Ailing’s face darkened, and she reached out to grab Lyn’s shoulders.

“When I’m gone, you must rely on your second mother to keep you safe. We haven’t seen the end of whoever attacked us on that day fifteen years ago. Everlyse will keep you safe until you are strong enough to protect yourself.” Her words came out as a desperate plea.

The weight of her mother’s words finally settled down upon Lyn.

Mama is dying. She thought, the words feeling unreal.

Lyn’s mind raced for every sliver of denial and doubt that it could muster. She couldn’t believe it, and she wouldn’t accept it. This morning she had been excited about the beautiful sunny weather. But then, there was a bittersweet farewell with her best friends, and now her mother was ––

Lyn’s hands instinctively braced the sides of her head as she desperately cried out.

“No. No. No. No. No. No! Nooooo! Please, no. Mama, you’re lying again, right? Please tell me you’re lying…”

Her mother was the only family she had ever known. How could she leave her with some stranger? It didn’t matter that this Everlyse was related to her.

Lyn looked up at her mother, tears pouring from her eyes, and her mother leaned forward to embrace her.

“Mama, please don’t leave me.” Lyn wheezed out between sobs.

“I’m sorry Lyn. I’m just so…” Ailing stopped for a breath between her own sobs. “I’m not about to die this minute. I’ll be with you to help you adjust to the rest of our family. It will be OK. I know you’ll be OK. I’m your mother, and nothing is ever going to change that.”

The two sat embracing each other as they sobbed and cried without holding back. After what seemed like hours to Lyn and months to Ailing, the sobbing stopped, and Ailing addressed Lyn.

“It’s time for your final tuning session,” Ailing said as she placed a bowl of glowing blue liquid in front of Lyn. “This one will be a doozy.”