"So Ellie, like I said, I just want to get to know you a little bit. Don't worry, though. I swear on my creator's will that we aren't recording, and I will let you know when we start," Nyxie restated. "Though it will also be fairly obvious when this bad boy activates."

She gestured towards the violation of every single law of physics, both real and magical. That was sitting in the centre of the room.

I nodded quietly and tried to signal the other me for help.

The only response I received was her laughing at me. I shut her up by sending over an image of the way Nyxie's round face highlighted her dimples.

She got real quiet after that, but I could tell she was watching through my eyes again. I needed to get an update from her at some point later.

"Ellie?" Nyxie asked, which brought me back to reality. She gestured to one of the seats around the Plane spanning telepathic beacon.

"Y-Yeah? You wanted to know about me?" I asked in response and took a seat on one of the couches.

Nyxie sat directly next to me. I found myself shrinking into the couch, breathing faster than I should've been, especially considering I didn't need to breathe at all.

"Well, yeah, of course. You're the first person in all of Eternia to clear a Zone entirely on their own. I've been given some interesting information from up above. But I want to learn from you. What was your life like before you received this amazing opportunity? Who was Ellie Winters before she actually mattered?"

"Like 'mattered' in an Eidetic sense or…" I asked, trailing off as I noticed Nyxie's smile falter for just an instant.

"Yes," she replied curtly.

"Uhh, I don't know. I was normal?"

"Normal?"

"Mhmm."

…

After a moment of silence, she shifted, her tail unfurled and began rummaging around in a pocket. From there, she pulled out a sheet of charcoal-coloured paper similar to the ones on Ledger's desk.

"Do you know what the probability was for you to survive even the first day?" Nyxie asked, her eyes seeking mine.

"No?" I replied. Thinking back, it didn't feel that unlikely. Except that one niggling thought in the back of my mind… Why did Hazel never meet me in any other loop?

Nyxie just kept smiling at me as if waiting for an answer.

"Incredibly low," I guessed.

Her smile brightened. "So, given that you made it past those odds and kept surviving, would you say that a normal person could survive that?"

"Probably not."

"So you couldn't really have lived a normal life, could you? Something about you has to be a little bit screwed up. So what's your poison?" Nyxie asked. It felt like her eyes were digging into my very soul. Metaphorically, that is, I wouldn't be sitting here if she were literally stabbing my soul. I'd already had enough people, things, whatever, rummaging around in it.

"Why my poison? What if it's because I'm really good at magic?" I asked.

Nyxie burst out laughing and tossed the charcoal paper into the air, where it ignited in a flash of flame, "No, that isn't how this works. You don't achieve greatness without being flawed in some way. It's mostly about how you leverage that poison that determines whether you succeed or fail.

"Though obviously, you can't rely on yourself alone," she leaned in as if to share a secret. As she came close, I noticed she smelled like spiced honey and something smoky. "Something you learn when you live in this world for long enough is that nobody succeeds in anything entirely through their own merits. Nope. People win by getting a handle on their poison and rolling the dice right. And you, Ellie, rolled a nat twenty. So what's your modifier?"

"If you roll a nat twenty, you don't take your modifier into acco—Wait, you aren't even speaking English, are you? Was that a translation error? Do you even know what a natural twenty means?" I asked, growing more confused as I spoke. "Sorry, do you speak Rootspeech? I know you aren't a plant, but given the language's precision, I think it would be far easier."

"No, I don't speak houseplant," Nyxie responded. "As for the translator, the way it functions is by passing your intended conveyance through a filter of the listener's native language. What I said should make sense if you don't think about it too hard."

"Okaaay, uh, I think you were asking about a major flaw I have?" I asked.

"I think I already have an idea of what it is," she said with a wink, which I didn't understand at all. I was fairly certain I hadn't opened up about anything yet. "Also, we're live in three."

"What?!" My gaze travelled to the physical impossibility that was sitting in the centre of the room.

"Two," Nyxie continued, counting down.

There was a massive Mana buildup happening inside the artifact, and it began to vibrate. It looked as if I were staring into a star, given the immense mana the material held. Every root that had travelled through it, including the one attached to me, was suddenly pulled taut. How did I not notice that happen before?

"One," Nyxie pointed at the artifact and a strand of purple Mana shot from her body into the artifact, and with a thrum, she connected herself with the whole Plane. The room shook as the immense power channelled through the device warped the very fabric of space.

Then it suddenly stilled.

"Good evening, residents of Eternia. You're listening to the nightly broadcast, and yes, as always, it's me, Nyxie, your number one imp here, to keep you informed about the goings on all across the Plane." Nyxie began, her eyes flashing up as she spoke, and her connection with the artifact appeared to solidify, becoming more tangible. I felt something trying to force its way inside my mind, but I only noticed because it shattered against whatever the bracelet was doing to me.

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"As promised, with me here tonight is a very special guest! The one and only Runaspriggan found in Eternia, and the first individual to clear a Zone Quest on their own."

"Please welcome Ellie Winters!" Nyxie exclaimed. The room was suddenly filled with thunderous applause, and I nearly fell out of my seat in surprise. I knew that generating applause would have been a useful Skill to have.

"So Ellie, tell me, how have your first few days in Eternia been?"

"It's better than the alternative," I replied.

"Hah! Don't you know it!" Nyxie said, her chuckle was almost believable. "So the information I have here says that the Zone you decided to clear was the Ruins of Valsir. For the listeners, the Ruins are intended to be the site of a Maleficarum Hive. This means there were at a minimum, millions of world devourers crawling around. Can you give us any insight on how you dealt with the Queen?"

"By making sure I never had to," I replied, uncertain about what she was getting at. Did she not have any information about the Zone itself?

"From the information I have here, you would have had to avoid most threats. Only forty-six kills were tagged in your name. But in order to actually complete the Quest, you should have had to finish off the Queen at least, right?" Nyxie asked, confirming that she didn't actually know what happened.

"Ehhh, close. I think your number is off slightly because from what I can see in my notifications, I should have…" I took a moment to add up the numbers in my head. "Four hundred eighty-five million, seven hundred thirty-nine thousand, nine hundred forty-six more kills than the ones attributed to me. If someone didn't completely fuck up when nerfing my design, causing my Soul to fail when the system tried to attribute that kill count to me, that is.

"Do you know how many times my internal System has told me I have a 'Soul Attachment' error? Twenty-six thousand four hundred and fifty-two times, that's how many times I've been told that the developer who worked on my Species completely fucked up. It just keeps appearing! How do you even fuck up that badly?! When I get my hands on whoever put me together, I am going to make them wish they were sent to Hell. Also, oh my gods, don't get me even started on how poorly designed this shithole is in the first pla—Mhhmmhmmmhm"

I was cut off by Nyxie wrapping a hand over my mouth and ripping the band off my wrist. She then injected a massive amount of some kind of Mana into me. I had no idea what it was.

But it felt incredible. Like, holy shit, did I feel amazing. Wait, Nyxie's saying something…

Nope, can't actually focus on whatever it is. Oh my god, I want to hug a puppy and tell someone I love them. Wait, can't I tell Nyxie that?

I tried speaking, but realized I didn't have a mouth to talk with. This was just like what Ledger did to me! That's so cool. I wondered if I could learn how to do that. How would that even work with magic? It almost seemed like an innate ability that Imps had. Mouth removal. That didn't appear to be on theme with what Imps were going for. I should ask her how she managed to do it.

Wait, why haven't I just made a new mouth?! I could just do that! I'm so smart!

With a burst of Nature Mana, I moulded myself a mouth, then went to ask a question, only to realize I didn't remember what I wanted to ask. Oh right!

"Nyxie, your face is really. Wait—no—I mean like... your dimples… They are really good." I said, then realized that wasn't a question. It was okay, though. Nyxie turned and smiled at me!

Her eyes didn't match her mouth. But it was still a smile, so everything was fine. I smiled and waved back at her.

Someone nudged me mentally, and I looked around the room, trying to find the person who had connected to my brain. No, wait, I didn't have a brain anymore. That would be icky, haha. Who would let themselves use a meat brain? Gross.

[ELLIE]

"Yes? Wait, no, that wasn't a real person." I mused aloud.

"Yes?" I asked mentally.

[You don't have much time. Nyxie didn't like your little rant. She's trying to salvage the show, but trust me, you don't want to be there when she finishes.]

Looking up, I saw Nyxie was animatedly speaking about something, but it just registered as a dull hum as if my ears were clogged with water. I let out a giggle.

[FOCUS, gods, why the fuck did you add a thirty-second window before the circuit even begins cleansing your system. It'll be another minute and a half before it finishes, but by then, you're dead.]

"Yes, ma'am," I thought really hard in the direction of the voice. No, not quite a voice. A person? Wait, how did I know it was a woman? Is it a woman? Am I a woman?

[Do you see your root strand connecting you and the artifact]

I nodded. I would have to query the other thoughts later. They felt important for some reason.

[Okay, I need you to banish yourself through that strand. At the same time, whisper 'unwrap root' with as much Authority as you can muster. Directed towards the artifact in the centre of the room.]

"That doesn't make any sense. Banish myself where? I'm already here." I thought back.

[Did… Did you not notice that you left the Plane?]

"When did I ever get on a plane?"

[...]

"Hello?"

[Just try to do what I told you to. I'll walk you through it step by step, okay?]

"Alright." I didn't want to let the lady… Wait, no, they might not be a lady. Person… Wait, no, it might not identify as a person—thing, down by screwing up.

I blinked, and Nyxie had moved. Or maybe I had. Or maybe time did? Was there still time? Obviously, there was still time. Gosh, I could be so silly sometimes. If there weren't any time, then I'd be out of time.

[Okay, you need to begin blending your Authority into your vocal cords right now. Follow this memory.]

A memory of a smaller version of myself doing something unusual began playing in my mind. She was acting in charge of herself, but more in charge of herself than normal. Like she owned herself. I wasn't sure how to describe it. It was at the tip of my tongue, though.

[Ellie, follow the memory.]

Oh right! I forgot I was supposed to follow along. Okay, so I own myself, too. I own my own body because if anyone wants to touch me, they have to ask permission to do so. Wait, did Nyxie ask permission earlier? She probably did. She was a good friend.

Maybe I should ask Nyxie for hel—

[NO]

…Okay, sorry.

I took a breath I didn't need. Centred myself on the strand—on the idea of myself owning myself. Of having the right to command something.

I squinted at the root.

"Unwrap root," I whispered, following the directions exactly.

Nyxie's expression had dropped the moment I started speaking, then vanished from where she was standing, her foot on its way to step on my head. I felt like I should be really happy that was about to happen, it was just I thought she was going to step really hard, like way harder than it would be okay to step on me.

Then, the root that was connecting to me snapped taut in a non-direction, and I was pulled off the Plane.

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