Eight Intertwined

54 - Shadow

Once Ophilia had found Therion and talked to him (or at least talked to him as much as she was going to be able to for the time being), the pair started to make their way back in the direction of the Ravus estate where the others were waiting. Given the size of Bolderfall, it would be easy for the group to get lost, so the silent agreement was for everyone else to wait back at House Ravus for when Ophilia returned with Therion.

Ophilia could sense the thickness and anxiety hanging in the air around all of them. Nobody seemed to want to look into Therion's eyes after all that he had said. He was still confrontational and on edge from his conversation with Cordelia and Heathcote, and he didn't see to want to yield any information about what exactly had caused him to behave in such a way. Pushing him on it would only upset him and lead to rifts in the center of their group, and giving him the space he needed seemed to be the best option. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't as if they had all that much else to do to fix the issue at hand. 

Ophilia frowned gently at the other members of the group before turning her attention to Cyrus. "Alright... I guess we should head back to Noblecourt now," she announced. "We can get back there and then start moving toward Goldshore before midday if we leave Bolderfall and use the Warp Staff now. Unless we have something else to do here in Bolderfall, we should head out."

There were no objections to that, and in fact, everyone seemed all too happy to get as far away from Bolderfall as possible. If they were traveling to Goldshore, then they would likely be able to get away with going silent for a while as they tried to figure out how to work their ways into Therion's issue. His actions of self-sabotage and internalized self-hatred ran deep, and all of them wanted to do something to help him out of it. That wasn't going to be easy, but they had to do something. 

As Ophilia was turning on her heel, she felt a sudden wave of nausea slam into her with the force of a tidal wave. Before she could register what was happening, an empty wheeze of a breath was pushing itself free of her lips. The world seemed to spin around her as the ground was stolen from beneath her feet. All of a sudden, the gentle winds of the Cliftland crags were gone, and Ophilia's vision went dark for a few moments. She was vaguely aware of the fact that she was falling backwards, but she had no idea how or what was happening. Fear overwhelmed every part of her body, and she felt like she was going to be sick to her stomach.

Ophilia was distantly aware of hands wrapping around her upper arms, and she blinked rapidly as she tried to get a grip on her surroundings once again. The world still felt like it was crumbling around her, and it took a long moment for her to figure out what was happening around her. All of a sudden, she was back in Bolderfall, the wind gently pressing itself upon her features as she stared up at the blue skies overhead. Just as quickly as the rush of weakness had come, it was gone. 

"Ophilia? Art thou alright?"

Ophilia realized upon hearing that voice that H'aanit was the one behind her. The huntress had grabbed her as she was on the way to hitting the ground, and H'aanit was the only one who was still keeping her somewhat upright. Ophilia glanced at H'aanit carefully as she tried to gain her footing once again, pushing herself back to her full height slowly but surely. She was still shaking because of how suddenly her moment of vertigo had come upon her, and it felt like the Ember was screaming from its place at her hips. She didn't know why the lanthorn seemed to be reacting so strangely and strongly, but she was confident that she was going to completely lose her sense of self if she was left alone for much longer. 

"Yeah..." Ophilia whispered, the words a faint trace of a whisper being swallowed by the wind. She knew it was a lie, but she couldn't figure out for the life of her why this was an issue to begin with. Her stomach was doing flips in her stomach like it was trying to burst free of her body thanks to her anxiety and fear. She didn't know what was happening to her or why this had happened, but she was certain that there had to be a reason for it... Right?