Solve Et Coagula

“Ultra!”

Caesar’s voice soared through the Sanctum, filled with desperation and excitement.

“Where are you?”

Some time had passed since they had returned from the auction, ordered to rest and heal. But while Umbra had fallen into slumber, Caesar had spent all his time tossing and turning, trying to figure out the missing pieces of the puzzle.

When an idea had hit him.

“Hush, Caesar, don’t wake up my sister. With all that energy, you seem to have recovered in record time.”

Ultra sat hunched over his worktable, screens lit and gadgets blinking. Even though he had been adamant about the other’s tending to their wounds, he himself had not left from his work.

“My ability, I can go to Lucius! When we first met I stopped him from falling off the roof of Kizumo, I grabbed him. I’ve touched him so I can use Ender Realm. If what you said is true about him being too out of zone, then maybe he doesn’t have to come to us. I can go to him!”

Caesar’s face was flushed with elation, his eyes sparkling like an excited child.

Ultra sat straight up at Caesar’s words, considering the weight of every syllable.

“That could…no, no. It’s too dangerous. I will not allow you to enter into that place.”

“What do you mean ‘that place’? Even before, you seemed so certain that you knew where he was. That our resonance wouldn’t work. How do you know? If you know where he is, Ultra, then why are we just standing around here?!”

Caesar’s excitement had turned to agitation, his angst slowly building towards eruption.

Ultra frowned in return, realizing the time had come to explain.

“Yes…I do know where Lucius is. Or rather, I highly suspect…”

He turned his body away from Caesar, unable to maintain eye contact.

“Deep in the depths of this world, there’s a place called the Serious House, a horrible, horrible place. Its only purpose is to break you, to take you apart and put you back together piece by piece. To create something…new.”

Ultra couldn’t remain seated any longer, he felt his blood pumping through his veins at his reminiscent thoughts.

“Have you heard of the term solve et coagula?”

Caesar stood partly stunned by Ultra’s forthcoming, but was intrigued to learn more of what he had to say.

“...no, I haven’t.”

“It’s an alchemical phrase, meaning to ‘dissolve and coagulate.’ It describes a process of breaking something down into its fundamental components, then reassembling those components into something new, something…altered. It’s tied directly to our resonance, our own burning beings. Nothing new can be created without the dissolution of what already is.”

Caesar’s face showed complete confusion, but he kept on listening.

“The world is caught in an endless rhythm of solve et coagula. The sun dissolves into night, coagulates into dawn. A flame dissolves into ash and smoke, then coagulates into shadow on the wall. A mind dissolves in madness, then coagulates into prophecy.

“The Vatics uphold this philosophy, enforce the central ritual of dominion over resonance and soul. They dismantle those who go to them with sacrifices, dismembering them piece by piece, stripping them of themselves until they are nothing but pliable essence. Only to bind the fragments back together, into constructs to serve their will and the will of the King. To them, every soul is just a pound of clay, a thing to be molded and formed.”

“Okay hold on a second, what does this have to do with anything?” Caesar cut in.

“To break down, and rebuild. At the Serious House…that is exactly what they intend to do to Lucius,” Ultra simplified, with a sigh.

“I…I still don’t get it. How do you know all this, about the Serious House and this…this process?”

Ultra now had his back fully turned to Caesar, staring off into the distance at the white walls, eyes half shadowed, voice low.

“I know…because it has been done to me. I have been in grasp of the Serious House, strapped under its black star. I am a product of its formula.”

He pressed two fingers against his temple, as if holding the memory inside.

“They broke me down, second after second, minute after minute, hour after hour. My thoughts bled out, scattered like ash in the wind. I could feel myself dissolving, breaking into dust. Every heartbeat pulled something else away. Until finally, nothing was left, only raw essence.”

His hands trembled, though he hid it quickly out of Caesar’s view.

“And then, coagulation. The pieces came back, but not as I remembered them, not as they originally were. When I reopened my new eyes for the first time, I saw that I wasn’t alone.”

Ultra exhaled hard, but pressed on.

“Umbra is my twin, yes, but more accurately she is my…clone, my equal. She is me and I am her. Like the story we were all told as children, she came to be from the marrow of my rib. ‘This is now bone of your bones, flesh of your flesh, essence of your essence. She shall be called Umbra, because she was taken out of Ultra.’ That is what they said to me when the process was complete, when I had been completely dissolved and rejoined.”

The air felt heavy around the both of them, like a weighted veil had been cast upon them.

“But…then, Lucius…what do they want with him? How does he even fit into any of this?”

Ultra lowered his head, and with a subtle whisper he muttered. “I don’t know.”

The two stood in silence, the words had carried enough substance that it’d be a while before they could fully digest.

Either way, Caesar broke the silence.

“I…understand this is painful for you, and I’m not asking you to help me. But if there’s a way I can get to him, even in that dangerous place, I have to try. If Lucius can be saved, I have to try.”

Ultra didn’t respond, his head held low, in thought or exhaustion Caesar couldn’t tell.

But Caesar’s mind was set, he was ready to leave the table and prepare for his breach.

“Wait,” Ultra called out, his eyes locking with Caesar. “If you’re going to do this, then we do it properly. I won’t allow you to risk becoming a captive as well.”

Caesar gave him a sly smile, appreciative that even in the darkest moments, he could still count on him.

“Great,” he replied. “How do we start?”