A Game of Crystals

"This isn't the way out..."

"No, but it feels like the right way to go."

Y'hquezt's creepy words hung in the air behind her, but Krys was drawn by snatches of another song. One that was familiar and welcoming. The hall they were following ended with a locked door made of steel. Glancing over her shoulder, the way back was flooded with eerie light. She crushed the lock in her hands and opened the door. A winding staircase down was all she saw, but it was their only option at this point. Pulling the door closed behind her, Krys do what she could to fuse the door to the stone before continuing down into the depths of the stronghold.

The sounds of Y'hquezt trying to follow echoed down the passageway for a long time before it stopped. All the while, a soothing song, much like that of the witch crystals grew stronger. After what felt like a lifetime of going down and past landings with barred doors, with only Siteri's weakening breathing for company, the curve of the stairs became illuminated by the familiar golden light.

Stepping onto the last landing, the pair of witches found themselves faced with a gemstone easily twice as big as either of them. It was not witch crystal either, but an actual divine shard.

The song grew exultant as Krys carried Siteri to the shard and put the elder witch's hand to the gemstone's surface. The Hearth Witch drew a shuddering breath, but did not cough. Tendrils of energy wrapped around both women as the sound of chimes became a storm.

Up above, there was an explosion and suddenly Y'hquezt's song clashed with the stone's.

"She's going to take the shard," Siteri said weakly.

"Not if we take it first," Krys snapped back. How was the question. Even the shards she had broken off of the crystal pillar in Alannathea had only been a foot in length at most - and those had been witch crystal. This was a piece of the Goddess. How could one person contain so much power and not burn up?

"Krystala..." The voice that spoke was neither Siteri or Y'hquezt. Krys looked around for who else could have called for her other self. There was a loud bang, like the sound of a gong being struck and a ghostly form walked out of the crystal. The figure turned and Krys was hit with a wave of unexpected sorrow.

The apparition was a woman, with a face similar to Krys' own. Her build was less generous, but she was definitely more full-figured than most. A cascade of white hair hung like a veil of curls around her shoulders. Her expression was somewhere between resigned and sad, like the face one makes at a funeral.

"So you've come for what remains of me...I am...unsure how to feel about this." It felt like time slowed down as the specter spoke. Her words rung with the chime of the crystals.

"Come for you? Wait, hang on. Full stop. You're The Sorceress of Vandrei."

"You speak the truth. I am Jemenii of Vandrei, Star of the South and you are my sister, Krystala of Vandrei, the Covenbreaker...or what remains of her at least."

The ghost put her hand on her curved hip. "How did you escape the rule of three, sister dear? I figured you would be imprisoned until the world ended for the doom you placed upon the rest of us."

"I don't know either really and that's really starting to irritate me."

Siteri coughed and the sisters turned to look at her. Jemenii rushed to her side and put her hand on her forehead.

"How did she come to be this way?" she asked, turning to look at Krys. "How could you let this happen?"

"We were attacked by another ghost of Krystala's past. The dark witch Y'hquezt. She sucked the shards of witch crystal right out of us."

"Y'hquezt is free? Is our sentence ending?"

"That might be the case. There's certainly a lot of the past coming to life again. Whatever the reason, she's coming down here."

A shrill noise crashed over them. It had to be the elf's song, clashing with the temporal pocket created by...wait, how did she know that? Her head throbbed and Krys dropped to her knees as memories bubbled up and exploded in her mind.

She was standing in a room at the top of a tower, looking out at the valley. Jemenii was speaking with her.

[You can't trust her, Krys, Quez't is only looking for power.]

[She just wants to find the lost pieces of the Goddess. Isn't that a noble goal?]

[Those fragments are better left lost. There are enough witches in the world as it is.]

[That's unfair, Jem. The Goddess shattered herself so that she could be with us all. To view the world through our eyes, to feel life through our bodies.]

[Is that why you've gone so far? Your body is so perverse now, sister. I don't even know how you can live with such massive breasts.]

[I carry six shards in my soul, it was bound to happen.]

[Six?! Krys, that's suicide! I'm surprised you aren't flying apart at the seams!]

[It was the only way I could think of getting them back to the surface. Besides, the Goddess will protect me. I hear her now, sister. She whispers in my ear.]

[Encourages you to find the other shards?]

[Something like that. Oh did I show you...]

"Krys!"

She was back in the chamber at the bottom of the stairs. Jemenii's ghost was fighting Y'hquezt, keeping her trapped in another of her time distortions. Siteri had staggered to her feet, though she still looked quite old and frail. As Krys moved towards her, the battle between her sister and her rival ended explosively. Unsure what else to do, she pushed Siteri into the crystal and stepped into a double-fisted blow to keep the elf from touching the fragment with her taint.

Jemenii staggered to her feet. Her appearance was flickering and fractured.

"Go home, sister," Krys yelled as she pushed the dark witch back. "Return to the crystal. Keep Siteri safe! I will atone for my mistakes."

"Easier said than done, little girl."

Y'hquezt chomped down on her shoulder and the world went white. Dropping to one knee, she focused more energy into pushing the elf away. The sound of chimes washed over her. There was a feeling of someone's hand on her shoulder. Jemenii's voiced echoed in her ears.

[I forgive you, Krystala. I know now you just wanted to discover, to learn. Others took advantage of that and forced you to make a terrible decision. So fight and make things right!]

With a surge of strength, Krys shook the elf's fangs off and pushed her back with a wall of magic. The bite sizzled, but was slowly healing. For a moment all was still as she felt energy of the shard behind her infuse her. Power flowed through her veins as the song of Goddess soared in her ears.

Like when she first became a witch again, she grew. As her bust increased, so did her stature and it soon felt like she was nearly to the ceiling. She put her hand to her chest and took a deep breath. It felt like something slid into her grasp. The handle to a weapon perhaps?

Exhaling as she withdrew her hand, her breath was eclipsed by the steely sound of a broadsword being drawn. The blade sparkled and shimmered in blues and golds. It felt great in her hand. The weight was just perfect. She realized idly that her bust had shrunk dramatically. Was this what all that magic being stored was for?

The dark witch was getting up. Her tails lifting her off the ground. She grinned broadly, as if amused. "Really? That sword? That fact that you can draw it is proof of who you are!"

"Don't care, going to kill you now."

Bolts of lightning flashed across the room, blasting holes in the floor, walls, and ceiling. However, they bounced off the glowing blade of her weapon and she advanced towards her foe. Y'hquezt's attacks grew more frantic as she backed up the stairs. She tried to attack the crystal, but Krys was always there to stop the blast.

Finally, she screamed. "This is not over, Krystala. When next we meet, I shall be more powerful that you can imagine. That is...if we meet again."

Her tails lashed out and cut into the stairwell. There was a rumble as the stonework came tumbling down and Krys retreated to the shard. It seemed like the whole place was going to come down. Faced with no other choice, she pressed her hand to the shard and slid into it.

-*-

The space inside the crystal was warm. A wide open field over rolling hills dotted with sunflowers spread out before her. Clouds floated above in the bluest skies. Siteri and Jemenii were sitting on a rise not too far away. Krys dropped the sword and it faded away before hitting the knee-length grass. Her bust line began to creep outwards once more. It probably would not be long before her boobs were back to the size they were before the day went completely off the rails. The feeling of them growing was more pleasant than she remembered, as if the realization that her absurd size served a purpose had made them less of a burden.

As she approached the others, Siteri was on her back with her eyes closed. She was breathing peacefully, but it was obvious that she was not simply resting. Jemenii was no longer ghostly, but a living breathing person. She rose and embraced Krys.

"She's fading fast. You might want to say goodb-"

"I refuse."

"What? Why?" Jemenii stepped back and the air crackled around her.

"Hear me out. I haven't even gotten to know her and yet, I can feel my heart breaking. So I refuse to simply let her die. I want to get to know her. I want to come to love her the way she does me - and you can help me. Use your time magic. Rewind her life."

"That is not how it works, Krys. Even if it did, the her I would go back to will not be the Siteri you know. That Siteri might not even know who you are. She might not love you."

"What if you had more power? Could you do something?"

"It's possible," she said, rubbing her arm. "But I'm not sue what."

Krys focused on the shards within and found the fragment of the divine that had resided in Siteri before. She pushed it out of her body to float over her palm. It was about as wide as a blade of grass and a couple inches long. "Here, use this then."

"I will not absorb any more fragments of the divine than the one I received as part of our initiation, nor will I utilize power from the souls of my imprisoned sisters. I have no interest in being you, Krys."

"And yet you're keeping yourself alive in the largest fragment of the divine I have ever seen!"

Jemenii glanced away. When I knew that you were going to cast the spell to stop "Y'hquezt, I took shelter with others of my council. Many have left, I alone remain to stand watch over this precious fragment."

"Okay, so all that about being imprisoned was...?"

"A lie, yes, but a necessary one."

"We'll deal with that later. I am going to return this shard of the divine to Siteri. It should stabilize her enough for you to attempt to restore her."

"I cannot promise that won't have side effects."

"At this point, I don't care. Make it happen."

Jem nodded and Krys knelt next to Siteri. He floated the shard over her friend's body and then gently pushed it into her skin. Her eyes snapped open and Jem put her hands on the Hearth Witch's chest.

"Live again, dearest love. Find the strength to return to us."

Siteri's body jumped off the ground and floated in the air between the sister witches. Her hallowed look reversed as her body regained mass. It seemed like everything was going to turn out alright.

Then there was a nova of energy.

Siteri's frame stretched taller and wider, easily putting her over six feet tall. Muscles from before grew larger and more defined, each of them straining her clothes until seams began to fail. Her bust quickly grew to a size that covered her ribs and forced her shirt to tear open, which only facilitated further expansion as they swelled towards her waist. The long blue braid became a pair instead, making the Hearth Witch look a little more youthful - easily the same age as Krys.

The pair of witches scrambled back as Siteri settled back to earth. Up close, she seemed even bigger. Krys wondered if the spell had somehow taken Hearth Witch further than before. She certainly could believe this woman was strong enough to build a stone house by hand - alone. There was still that feeling her being older, but it had softened a little or perhaps Krys' perception of her own age had changed.

Siteri blinked and sat up. "Krystala? Jemenii? What happened? Where are we?"

Krys lept forward and threw her arms around Siteri's muscular neck. "You're okay!"

"Of course I am. I have to be to keep you two safe." She got to her feet and while there was not much difference in height after two growth spurts of her own. Krys felt small standing next to her revived friend.

"Okay, what's next then, Krystala?" Jem asked. "What other thing are you going to do to subvert the natural order of things?"

"We get out of the stronghold and make our way to Wisteria. Illuna of the White should know what has happened."

"We?" Jem looked confused.

"Yes, we. I am going to need all the help I can get to prevent Y'hquezt from achieving her goal to become the Goddess. Now...how do we get out of here?" (5976)