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“Falin! Falin! It's me! Marcille!”Though she was well aware that this was not her friend anymore, not that present anyways…. This time around- this was different. From the years of knowing Falin and the many adventures they've had together… she knew when she stared into this monster's eyes- this wasn't Falin.The Falin she knew was kind, and gentle- she was generous and incredibly selfless, even with ghosts - she treated them like the living creatures they once were. She knew her best friend was somewhere in there… it kept on making attacks that were the definition of useless, batting attackers away, staring expectantly at the group, trotting around and standing idly- no vicious attacks, no long-range fire or tail swooshes, the monster was not exactly rampaging just yet, this one had the power to do much more than just squash them… even if Falin was no longer there- she fought hard to come back.Marcille looked around- this was beyond selfish.Falin was one person - one single person…And they were endangering too many souls. But that wasn't the point. She needed to do something to fix this. Give Falin her humanity back- and in order to do so- she had to lose something just as important too. It might have been too big of a sacrifice but- hey, wasn't that what life was about? Sacrificing things?“M-Marcille- I know that face. I know that you're thinking of doing something stupid.” She heard from her side- of course, he knew. Of course he knew. “Please Marcille- don't make any rash decisions.”Chilchuck was usually the voice of reason. He was the one who had managed to keep her grounded sometimes. There was no way he could predict what she planned to do, surely he knew that this wasn't going to end where he might think though, no one knew of this… this spell? She wasn't even sure it was in her spell book. It was in one her mother had, it was the Black Magic Guide she read as a child and what even got her interested in magic to begin with.What worried her though - was how he'd feel. Losing someone so important too.It wasn't public knowledge, Laios was too dense to notice, and their old group had mostly dissipated so they didn't know - and Senshi knew, he definitely knew but he kept it under wraps. Chilchuck and Marcille- they were together in a sense.That was the reason she knew it was okay to grab him for stuff, to throw him, to use him as bait. Because he trusted her, and she trusted him. That's why they always slept close, why Chilchuk would eat some things first if she was feeling unsure. They trusted each other like that and even if they lived life at different paces, time freezing for her and running for him-She knew that she would not be able to keep him for a long time but foolishly, she thought that whatever short time they had together was going to be enough for her to keep in her memories for her long life to come. Sure, she was a halfling when it came to that sense, just a hybrid that would live as long as her mother but would surely outlive her friends. Knowing this didn't make her any less afraid of the mortality of her loved ones.That was the main reason why she was so scared when her first friend, Falin, decided it would be a good idea to sacrifice herself and be eaten by the dragon. She had lied to herself, reassured herself, that they would be able to just go back to get her and get out of the maze because that was better than facing the reality, Falin died back then...It was not like that at all and they have been traveling here for a long time now. She was starting to believe that there was no way out. At least not with her constant problem with magic and - not without another powerful magic user like Falin.It would probably be easier for everyone if it was her instead of Falin. Why? Well - it was pretty obvious, she was a little bit useless when compared to her friend. Falin was the one usually handling everything in regards to healing and handling monsters, she knew how to take care of those things, and Marcille? She struggled with basic spells because her specialty was in another type of magic.“It will be easier if you have her on your side and not me. Considering I've been struggling with Mana this whole time…” that was a problem that someone with magic as strong as Falin’s would not really have.In reality, she was just looking for excuses to fix something she felt she caused. Yes, it was selfish to think of herself this way, and it was selfish to want to take the decision away from herself and pass it on to others. Knowing full well that what she was feeling was only going to be felt by her group now. But when she weighed the options, it was fairly obvious what the right choice was.Chilchuck would need to find someone else to spend his life with. If she was being honest maybe that was the best option for him, she knew that he did not want to live a long life span, She found it hard to see him as a fully grown adult at times and that was probably for the best, that they parted ways now and that he had no remorse for doing so. She knew he felt partially responsible for dating her, he was the older one when it came to comparing their ages with their lifespans, she was basically a young adult and he was already in his late 20s when it came to his age, He also considered himself to be much older than he was and she had a feeling that that has to be in regards to him already being a father.They did age much quicker than other races and even though they stalled at some point in the middle so he was considerably middle-aged when it came to his kind, even if that middle-aged lasted for a couple of decades in comparison to tall-man….“Marcille-” Chilchuck had already tried everything in his book to get her to stop with any idea that she currently had, it was dangerous for her to think like this and he was positive that she was about to try something stupid, she was already feeling guilty about what was falling over their shoulders right now and even if on the inside he did kind of blame her a little bit he knew that it wasn't her fault.She had always been really careful when it came to casting her spells, and it was not usually that she did something of this magnitude, she always managed to keep them all safe and protected when it came around to being her turn to protect them, unfortunately, this time everyone around them was seemingly hunting her down.Even Shuro was angry with her when she knew full well that he would have been the first person to do what she had done or to beg her to do what she had done if he had gone with them... If he had not ditched when he did he would have been the first person to gather the things she needed for her to revive her friend. It was a little hypocritical of him to be blaming her for this now.“Hey, Chilchuck…” She said, the half-foot looked over at her with something akin to confusion in his eyes. Considering that she had been almost unreadable up until this point, beyond the anguish and the ‘I am about to do something stupid’ face that she had that was, he seemed confused at her sudden calmness over this. “Do you know anything about alchemy?”It was not a practice that was even done so much anymore, considering they now had magic why would they do alchemy? Especially since they had to give something of the same value in return when in reality, if you cast a spell nothing would need to be returned in technicality. “Yeah- you give something and get something back of the same value-” he did not like where this was going, “Why?”“I- I want to thank you, not bad for my first boyfriend not boyfriend,” That was a term that both of them had jokingly used for him whenever they were alone because they were essentially together but never really put any labels on themselves it was almost as if they were each other's partner but not really. Especially considering that Chilchuck was currently in a separated marriage, she wasn’t even sure if they had officially divorced or not... From the sounds of it, it seems like neither he nor his wife were even in contact anymore.Marcille knelt, took off her shawl, and placed it over his shoulders, It had a hood so she pulled it up and as she did so she pecked his lips in a way that she had never done before, they had kissed before, it was something that they did in frequency whenever they were alone, it seemed like Chilchuck was quite touch-starved and even if it was nothing sexually-natured it did feel very intimate for both of them…This Kiss felt different though, it felt almost like a goodbye.“Marcille-”“Please remember me by- you were a nice adventure,” He tried to convince her to change her mind, but there was nothing he could say that ever would. She thought that this way they could all get rid of the person who caused this and save the innocent person in all of this as well. Falin was innocent- The only person who was at fault right now was herself. She did something that was already deemed unethical, way before she even tried it. She was well aware of the risks and it was only her selfish actions that got them to this point. She was well aware of that and she refused to let anyone else be harmed because of her mistakes. That was it.“Creatura meum mandatum audi,” Creature hear my command, that was the start- as she began chanting, everyone stopped what they were doing, even Laois and Shuro- it was obvious, she was now using black magic, “cum creatori tuo permuto,” swap places with your creator- “do quod a te,” I will give back what I took from you- “ablatum est - audi me - nunc obedite mihi!” Listen to me! Obey me now! It was an exchange spell…She was going to give back what she accidentally took from her, her Humanity that was….As the chanting came to an end, she slammed her staff into the floor which only cemented the circle that had started automatically forming at the beginning of her chant, her staff seemed to split from the force of it, but the strength of the magic coursing through it was not about to let it happen, it was quite a show to watch as the circle enveloped both her and her friend and it's inside before quite literally grabbing her with its black tentacles to prevent her from escaping before the ‘transaction’ could be completed.“MARCILLE?!” Laois yelled. They were trying to get her attention and maybe get her to react, but it was already too late. Enough time had passed that they would not be able to stop the spell even if they wanted to…“Marcille!” Chilchuck tried to go over but Mickbell was quick in holding him as still as possible. He held him with all of his strength. “Hey! Let me go! She is about to-”“No! Marcille!” The next one to attempt something stupid was the group's party leader of course, Laios was doing his best to keep his title of the most reckless person alive intact… he tried to sprint over and push her out of the circle but it wasn't possible to do so, and not even because someone stopped him but because the circle itself was not letting him get close.“S-sorry- Falin!” Marcille looked at her confused friend, who little by little seemed to be regaining some of her cognition as her eyes focused a little more on her shaking frame, “I will not have you blaming yourself, okay?!” Marcille managed weakly to look back at the group before giving them one last smile - After that, a bright light was produced from the middle of the circle and slowly expanded as it enveloped both Chimera Falin and Marcille…By the time it cleared out, Falin was standing in the middle of the circle while another beast now lay in the middle of some torn clothing- a broken piece of staff hanging at the foot of the creature.“No-” Chilchuck stuttered, looking between both women, it was fairly obvious that Falin was still confused, But sooner rather than later she reacted, and just like everyone she was confused and appalled over what had happened.“What have you done-” the woman shakily asked the huge form of her friend- now lying in a differently colored monster.While Falin’s Chimera had been a mixture of a red dragon and a chicken? Was it an actual chicken because of the color of the feathers?- It was fairly obvious that this chimera was not - something to be taken lightly.The body was a mixture between a blue-colored dragon and an aquatic one at that, and the tail itself was of a sea serpent, the reason they were able to tell how it was supposed to look was because they had recently battled one in the floor that Kabru’s group had died a couple of times in- the wings had more or less remained the same except that now they had a blonde feathers instead of white ones…And at the top of the head, the creature now had horns, not any horns mind you - these looked like they were actually….“She fused with her staff-” Chilchuck cried- trying to get closer only for Mickbell to keep him in place, “WAIT! SHE NEEDS-”“She’s gone now!” Mickbell yelled, “She is gone! Dead! She exchanged her soul for hers!” As much as those words hurt to hear it was what had just happened. The Marcille that all of them knew was gone… What remained was this monster that had just rampaged around and was currently lying in a pile of its feathers after the metamorphosis it had just gone under. The only thing that had changed was the soul that was bound to the creature. That was it…“H-Hey- Marcille is an elf- surely she can withstand this way better than Falin!” Chilchuck was throwing every excuse he had under the carriage, but it was futile, they all knew it was not possible. Even if that did by some miracle have something to do with it, she was still only half-elven, it was not going to be the same as if she had been full-blooded. Unfortunately, they were going to have to look somewhere else- for a solution that was.“I will- I will switch back!” Falin stammered, “I-”“The spell she did was very dangerous it seemed, it even broke her staff- you are not trying anything, or her sacrifice would be useless-” Laois whispered, He was not sure if what he was saying was correct but he was not about to let his sister do something stupid, “if I am not mistaken, what she just did is a soul exchange and if you do it again you are going to obliterate both of your souls, the only reason that she could do it was that in a sense, she created you. She swapped places with you and now someone else owns her soul… and that someone is not you.”Laios had no idea what he just said, he just hoped it made sense.Before the group could even discuss things further, a loud shaking was heard around the dungeon, maybe it was only in the room that they were in but it was loud, and it was strong. The Chimera was waking up- Marcille stood on shaky legs- eyeing her surroundings before focusing on one person-“Ma-Marcille?” Chilchuck stuttered, walking past Mickbell and Falin who were both petrified - “It-It’s me… Chilchuck- I-I know you’re in there- you can fight it- right?” So this monster seemed to be a lot calmer than the one they had just finished battling was it was still not okay for them to let their guard down, “Marci-”“Ch-Chil…” She began, which almost filled everyone with hope- that was until Falin realized what was happening and grabbed everyone she could, first Chilchuck, then Laois, Mickbell, Senshi, and the other Magic user from Kabru’s party…“Hey! She was about to recognize me!” He yelled, She had always had a distaste for how small he was, it usually did not bother him that much- but when someone could quite literally grab him, run with him and kidnap him with ease (when he was a full grown adult) he started to have an issue with it. Their friend did not reply and instead Falin covered them with a protection spell as quickly as she could, “Hey! Let me-”“Once she realizes she has some cognition back she’s gonna take that away!” Was all Falin managed to say before Chimera Marcille, upon not seeing Chilchuck anymore began getting more and more distressed, distressed and confused- searching for him with her eyes only for this creature to decide that it had had enough- and release a pained scream- a desperate roar- Because most of them had their eyes closed they were only able to feel the shakes beneath the ground and the rumbling that was caused by the monster when it climbed the walls to flea.For the party members who knew Marcille- that scream was going to be echoed in their minds for all eternity… it was beyond painful to listen to. Marcille sounded so- so confused…“...” When the barrier finally came down, Falin let everyone out, Chilchuck stayed where he was- a lone feather falling near his feet. Looking up, they managed to catch a glimpse of Marcille flying away.“We need to kill that thing!” Someone said, Chilchuck had no mind to pay- he simply stared at that feather. Blonde and soft- “It is like two birds in a stone! The corrupt elf and the Chimera!”“You are not killing Marcille!” That must've been Laois- but that was beyond the point. Chilchuck had no mind to pay- he simply stared at that feather. Blonde and soft- Blonde- Blonde and- “We can turn her back to normal! Right Chil-” Laios looked to him for support, It definitely would have been a lot better if he had backed his leader up but could not! “... Chilchuck-” Nothing that anyone was saying to him right now was making any sense.It surprised him when a pair of arms pulled him into a strong hug, he did not notice who it was but by the texture of the person, and by all means he meant that with the lightest of intentions, he immediately knew that this was Falin… in her Embrace tears immediately started to flow down his face. The silence that was newly found in the room was broken by the sound of his sobs.