56th of Ash, 120 AS
The organs removed from the snake were placed inside of a bowl, set aside for use later on. There was a lot one could do with the internal parts of an animal, and Lyra was certain she could speak to a certain alchemist to get a few ideas. For now she had more work to do.
The snake lay stretched out still on the table, everything from the stomach down removed and leaving a void inside the snake's body. A cavity that Lyra would be certain to make use of. The doll was stable for the moment. The soul gem still pulsed rhythmically, even as the heart slowed and finally stopped completely. This was expected, and Lyra waited several minutes to see if anything shifted. Everything remained intact, and the soul gem continued its steady beat. Lyra smiled.
"Soon, little one." Lyra whispered, brushing the snake's head with a tender finger, "I shall bring you back. Just be patient a bit longer."
The process of creating this particular soul gem was a bit different from others she had made in the past. She let it soak inside of ichor fully infused with her essence, letting it soak in a larger portion of her aether in the process. The ichor she had used still sat on its pedestal, waiting for the moment it would be needed. Due to this altered process, the soul gem gave off a slightly darker glow than was usual. This process is also what allowed her to use her own essence to capture and pull in the snake's soul, binding it even more firmly inside than normal. The gem was also linked to one of her soul totems which gave off a faint white glow, mist curling off its surface and flowing between the two gems. If she focused Lyra could feel it, the soul gem and the soul it contained. It was an odd sensation like she was looking at a part of herself that was separate, yet she felt she could reach out and take control of it at any time. There was a term for creation such as this, though it slipped her mind. It was a bond that was closer than blood. It was a linking of souls, or rather the binding of two souls together that was very different from the traditional binding. More intimate. On a creature like a snake, the link felt minor, but Lyra wondered what it would be like to bind a sentient creature in such a way.
Shaking her head Lyra cast aside the musings, looking down at the empty space in the snake's body and thinking of her next steps. These next steps would be very similar to the previous ones. Inserting the next gems, binding them in place, and preparing the pictographs. Not necessarily complicated, but tedious for certain. With a sigh Lyra picked up the carving hook, leaning forward and beginning. She carefully scratched away at the tissue over the vertebrae, clearing bits of the muscle away to reveal red-stained bone beneath. She did this in 3 separate sections, working slowly and carefully so as not to disrupt the muscles too much and potentially affect the snake's movements later. When she was done she carefully cleaned the hook, setting it aside and picking up the bone stylus once more. The next scripts would be of vital importance. They would link the dragonshards to the larger glyph, and even minor errors could spell disaster for her little creation. She inscribed the same symbol she had before. The coiled serpent within a circle. At the pictograph closest to the soul gem, Lyra drew a series of braided lines that linked back to the soul gem itself. She also added additional warding lines around the design, being careful to have them spread to encompass the entirety of the ribcage where the gem sat. That would be important later. At several points along with the ward and linked paths, Lyra made branch offs, adding stylized eyes that would connect with the failsafe pictographs on the aetherite shard itself. Should too much aether be drawn out they would activate, cutting off the flow. It would also give Lyra a more intuitive feel as to how much power she was actually using, in the hopes she could control it with more precision.
Moving down the line Lyra began working on the last 2 circles, where the storm gem and fire gem would sit. At the storm gem, Lyra added three additional wards, using curved lines to cycle leaked aether back into the pictograph in the event of a malfunction. From the warding circle, Lira created a series of pathways that traveled out to skin that was still pulled back. At each of these, she created an arrow-like pictograph, with a serpent's head profile at its center. A similar series of wards were created around the circle where the fire gem would be housed, and these protections were linked to the pictographs on the underside of the skin as well. This would be important in the event that too much power built up. The wards would activate, thanks to the eye pictographs along their path. The pictograph would switch paths, sending the power to the glyphs that would go along the outside of the snake's scales, expelling excess power. It might not prevent damage if the gem itself cracked, but for typical discharges or build-ups, it would let Lyra funnel out the excess aether in the hope that the doll itself would not be damaged. On the outside of the skin, Lyra etched a small circle over the place where the pictographs were on the inside. These would be useful after she finished and closed up the snake and began working on the external glyphs.
Now then... From each of the wards, Lyra began a series of simple lines, waving and winding that traveled up the entire length of the snake, ending once she reached the top of the incision. These connected back to the warding glyphs around the fire and storm gems, and would help to insulate the snake from both gems affects, and hopefully capture excess power inside the snake and expel it outside. In this glyph, however, Lyra created an extra path, this one straight where the protection lines had been winding. A line connected from each of the gems, ending at a pictograph under the exposed jaw of the snake. The leftmost was the picture of a hooked fang with a jagged line inside, linking to the storm gem. The other was a fang with a small flame inside, linking to the fire gem. These two pictographs were then slowly, carefully, linked back to the prepared pathways on the outer layer of the pictograph surrounding the soul gem.
When she had prepared the pictograph for the soul gem Lyra had been careful to add two very important pictographs. that linked to the larger pictograph of the soul gem itself. One was the curled serpent made with jagged lines like electricity, the other the serpent surrounded by a layer of flame. These were linked to their respective pictographs underneath the jaw. This, Lyra reasoned, would allow her to control the output and draw from the dragonshards through her strong connection with the soul gem. She could use as much, or as little, of the stored power as she wished. What's more the soul gem had a direct connection to the aetherite shard as well, which meant that not only could she use the power of the two elemental shards, she could supplement that power both with the aetherite shard as well as the power of the soul gem itself. It was potentially volatile though, and thus along with the connection between the soul gem and the output pictographs, Lyra added additional layers of wards and fail-safes, which would let her quickly cut the power and expel power at a mere thought.
As she worked Lyra began to truly realize the limitations of her art. The scripts, while powerful, were not autonomous. They were simply ways that she could use to control and manipulate the power of other creatures and items. They did just what she told them to do, and had no ability to think or act on their own. Even the failsafe was not truly independent of Lyra, as they could not function unless Lyra herself were there to activate the required series of glyphs. It was, for now, unavoidable, but she would need to find a way to work in more automation. For now, whenever she utilized the doll she would physically be present and in control, but she would eventually need something that she could leave to work on its own without her direct intervention. That, however, was a problem for another day.
The last step was simple, yet exceptionally important. She needed to create a link between the output pictographs to a discharge pictograph within the snake's mouth. There were several methods she could use for this, however, she needed something that would be stable and not easily disrupted. If this connection were to ever fail it would render her doll more or less useless. She struggled for several days to solve this particular issue, but an idea had come to her that, when she thought of it now, should have been obvious from the start. She did not need to create something to link to the discharge glyph. There was something already present inside the snake.
Smiling at her own cleverness Lyra worked the blunt end of the hook too underneath the snake's own trachea. Using her bone stylus she careful, oh so carefully, drew bands around the organ, warding off everything below the two output pictographs. This was a combination of necromancy and scrivening. She was turning the snake's own tissue into a pathway that would carry the power for her. To protect it Lyra extended the insulation wards up the length of the trachea to where it entered the snake's mouth cavity, binding it to the warding glyphs so closely that there was nearly no distinction. She then carefully put the trachea back in place and used sinew thread to tie the organ back in place once more.
"There now." Lyra said, still smiling, "Almost done."
