[Center][h1]Sylia[/h1][/center]

[hr]

"Come." 

The word caressed her senses like an enveloping and unwelcome hug. Engrossed as she was, she'd deal with it in a minute. Still, anxiety began to well in her chest, her brows furrowing at what lay before her. Black jumble and jargon splayed out on white. A growing pain was beginning to spread from behind her temple. Maybe if she just ignored the summons…?

"Come."

The voice said again, like a simple touch upon her shoulder. Yet that touch brought a coiling warmth that spread from her shoulder down her arm. This was enough to jostle her to full awareness. Synapses began to fire into motion within her overworked and aching brain and she glanced over her shoulder to see…

"God, you keep spacing out. This really isn't healthy. You should really come out with us. I think it'd do you some good." The woman smiled softly at her, concern in her eyes. She knew her name but why couldn't she remember it? 

Ugh. It didn't matter. She had to finish her… Project?

She jostled her shoulder, annoyance overcoming her anxiety and the woman’s hand fell away. Her own voice broke from her lips, "It'll be my head on the firing board if this isn't finished." Noting the harshness in her tone she quickly added, "Thanks but I'll be okay." She gave her best smile but it felt wrong. The pounding in her head was getting worse and the woman was blurring. Well, she just needed to get back to work.

But the woman reached out to her again and this time the concern was plastered all over her face. The woman said something but it was as if no coherent words came forth. She tried to turn away but her body betrayed her and the woman held her firm. She couldn't do anything and it looked like the woman was yelling, frantically looking around. There was so much pain now. Her ears were ringing like a church bell glitched on a loop.

A soft whisper broke through the chorus of her mind.

[I]"Come."[/i] 

She didn't want to go anywhere. She just wanted to finish the project and go home. Could she go home? Her head began to slump, blurry vision going dark. There were other people now. Distant faces. Unknown names. Someone began to pick her up, like a giant hand plucking her from the sky. She could just make out her desk and amidst the clutter was the small colored pot her niece had made her at school. She had used it to hold pens.

And the thought struck her for the first and last time, wouldn't pottery have been nice?

[b][i]"Come!"[/i][/b]

[hr]

It had been a silly thought. A past echo really. Even there, in that empty place, where she had always been of course, the memories were fading. If they had been real at all. What was real anyway? Was she real? She scrunched her nose and looked down at her hands. She could see through them but that didn't really bother her, strangely. What lay past her hands was more intriguing. That was indeed a [i]strange[/i] thing.

It had always been there, she knew this instinctively. Yet why? Why had it called? It [i]had[/i] called, right? A summons from this empty place. She furrowed her brows, no longer able to recall what had been the past or if it had been the future. But she was there at present and… She reached out to the thing- No, not a thing. The Khodex. 

A simple parchment of gold, at least it looked gold. Luke a light in the infinite dark. It was smooth to the touch, made of a material she could not fathom. Ornate yet lacking. Grand yet small. A repository for a foundation yet painfully blank. Why?

A shaky breath escaped her lips and she said to it, fingers trembling slightly, “You are so… Useless!” and she tossed it aside, not even deigning to watch and see where it went. She grabbed the sides of her head and began to pace upon the nothingness, pulling at her hair. The Khodex was infuriating! It could be so much more! Yet it was that unassuming little thing? 

Preposterous! 

She could not stand for it! She wouldn’t! For she was Sylia and this was her [i]purpose[/i]. She would break the damn thing and then craft it anew, better than before. And all of the coming creation would thank her. It was the least she could do.

So Sylia summoned to her what little material there was in that place before places. From those that had already imprinted upon this unborn universe. Most of it was worthless and could not be used for what she had in mind, so she cast them aside until she was left with broken bits of metal. Upon a closer inspection, Sylia determined that the shards [i]could[/i] be used. Power had broken them apart, severed the connection that would have been used only for confinement. She looked out then and wondered who had escaped? Some of the pieces oozed with a dark substance and Sylia filed it away for later. It wasn't important.

Besides, she had a task that required her immediate attention. 

When Sylia reached the Khodex once more, she began to smirk. “Worry not! I shall free you from this state, friend!” She exclaimed, arms stretched outwards as she began to work the metal. She began to concentrate, ignoring everything else that was occurring. 

The coalescing metal warped, becoming liquid under extreme heat. Next once it began to cool she began to bend in on itself, heating and bending, like dough being kneaded with a baker's eye. When the lump became workable she formed from it a pair of scissors. Small, shiny and sharp. Not an object of great praises but a tool. One that would not fail.

Satisfied with this, she took the scissors in her fingers, the metal warm and inched them towards the Khodex. She could not contain her giddy laughter, "There’s nothing to worry about, sweet dear one! Just a quick snip and the real work can begin."

The scissors crested over the fabric of creation, still as all could ever be and… she hoped to hear a magnificent snip, instead Sylia heard a small tink and the scissors exploded into shards. She gave an audible gasp and then broke into a wicked smile. She discarded the scissors and exclaimed, "A challenge!"

Of course scissors wouldn't have worked, the Khodex was deceptive. Too strong for such measly means and she doubted anything else with a cutting edge would be able to make a dent. Thus she endeavored again, gathering more metal shards and working it first into a hefty shaft, for there was no other material for a shaft, and then a large head. Rectangular, smooth and built to hammer. The pieces intertwined, becoming one forevermore. Another tool made for a purpose.

Once this was done, Sylia raised the hammer high above her head. Anticipation welled up like a font inside of her and unable to hold herself anymore, to think about anything other than the task, she brought the hammer down upon the Khodex.

There was a resounding boom that exploded forth. A showering of golden sparks glinted and arced outwards, bringing a burst of illumination to the darkness. The Khodex was, however, unharmed. So Sylia swung the hammer and again a boom echoed across infinity. Nothing. Again. Nothing. Again! Lighting screamed after every explosion. The hammer was becoming warped, its once dark color bleaching away with every swing. A great hum began to fill the air, Sylia kept hitting the Khodex. 

Harder and harder. Each hammer swing began to leak into the next, so was Sylia's determination and resolve. And again there would be nothing. The hammer began to glow white hot. Warmth raced up her arm and then when her swings would have shattered worlds, the Khodex began to swirl. She didn't stop, she couldn't!

With each swing the Khodex began to reveal itself to her. Swirls of runic letters, veins of infinite colors, maddening hieroglyphics, unknowable equations, eldritch diagrams- the source of creation at her fingerti-

There was a loud crack and reality shuddered. In an instant, the hammering ceased, for she drew back only the shaft. Next came a rush of light that erupted in her face and the shaft of the hammer was ripped from her grasp and consumed into the Khodex, along with the embedded head. Eaten away into the very same insanity she had witnessed. Then all became dark, the Khodex revealed no more and Sylia… Hummed. 

She had to admit that she had been bested. Anger would do no good. She had at least seen results, a glimpse of potential and the future. Perhaps in time one would be able to fully break the Khodex. It would be something to think about. Still, she was slightly disappointed. A sigh escaped her lips.

"You got what you wanted. Now hurry up." She said to the Khodex, voice reserved, "This place is boring."

[Hider=Summary]
Sylia comes into being after stroking out in a past life. She immediately decides that the Khodex could be better and attempts to break it. Goes about as well as one could expect.
[/hider]

[Hider=Might]
Starting 4

-4, Given unto thee Khodex- the Divinium of our lives.

Ending 0

[/hider]