Act of Love

Formless Actor

"Ah Y/N and Furina, I welcome you both to the Sanctuary of Surasthana," Nihida says.

"Greetings to you, Buer, god of wisdom, we have come here to see if you have any clues as to the cause of this Curse of Chronofreeze," my Girlfriend greets.

"Yes, I do. And I have a feeling it is the same one subtly manipulating our emotions," Nahida says.

"What!?" We both say at the same time.

"I'll rephrase. Someone or something has been stealthily changing our emotions and thoughts against our will, it doesn't seem to be outright against us, but I also have a feeling it's the one causing this 'Curse of Chronofreeze' as you called it." Nahida elaborated.

"Ah! *Ahem*, do you have any evidence to back this up?" Furina demanded.

"It's best for the both of you if I don't say anything, as I fear for your relationship," Nahida said quite uncharacteristically. I chose not to question it.

"Then if you won't give any evidence then-" Furina started but I cut her off.

"Wait, don't you find it weird that she just dropped the topic right as she brought it up?"

"That's... Uh... Grmm... Mhm... This headache, where did it come from?"

"I think I understand," Lumine chimed in, "You're saying that she isn't explaining because whatever is manipulating us is stopping her."

"Exactly... But now comes the question of how we are going to catch someone we can't even think about?"

"Can't we think about it?" Lumine asks.

"Yeah, you're right! it seems we're unaffected by... whatever's going on, how did I not see that?"

"I- I'm confused..." Furina said.

"Don't worry love. While I don't like it, it seems that you aren't allowed to think about... whatever is going on... heck I can think about it and I can't figure it out."

"That's despicable! If what you say is true then... Ah, the headache's back..."

"Come on let's get you on the ground," I say gently helping her to the ground to help her with the headache.

"T-thanks..."

Then Nahida says something that I never thought she would say, "What's that?" she's pointing at the entrance behind us. We turn around and see... Nothing...

"What's what?" I ask.

"It was... just there..."

"Lumine, I think we need to go... If I know anything, it's that when people start seeing things, something's wrong, get us out of here!"

"What's wrong!? What's happening!?" Furnia said.

Instead of answering I grabbed Furina and ran to Lumine who already had Nahida as time seemed to slow to a halt. Before I could reach Lumine and Nahida a pitch-black... thing got in our way. It looked like a bunch of people were mashed together into a horrific spaghetti pile, constantly writhing with what seemed to be fingers and toes all over its body.

I instinctively used my vision to try to burn it, but instead, it reached out to a finger-covered arm and manipulated it into some sort of cage around me and Furina, then thousands of white teeth, ranging from molars to canines appeared all around us pointing inwards. I tried to protect us with a pyro shield and while initially it seemed to work! It was holding back the monster. But it soon succumbed to the pressure. As I began to panic.

"Ah! What's that!? It's here to kill us! Please let us go! I don't want to die!" Furina screamed, burying her face in my chest. I was too stunned to move... I'm going to die... Well, whoever's manipulating our emotions can't do it if we're dead, right?

Just then Lumine charged in and cut off all the limbs surrounding us, tuning them into piles of black goo, that quickly started to drip back towards the main body. "Come on!" She yelled.

"Y/N! Come on! Let's go!" Furina yelled and pulled me towards Lumine, after a moment's hesitation came to my senses and began running with Furnia.

Why is this happening, one moment we were talking about the culprit of an interesting development and the next we are being chased by a Formless Horror. Where'd it even come from? Why is it here? These questions ran through my head as I ran for my life.

Lumine created a rock wall in between us and the Formless Horror, and, with Nahida, ran with us outside. Looking I spotted the ramp that led down to the waypoint. But it was covered in a dark green substance writhing with anticipation. I look behind us at the Formless Creature, it's silently sprinting towards us. 

Lumine then created another rock barrier at the entrance of the Sanctuary using her geo powers. But this is almost immediately consumed by the creature.

I used fire to try to burn the dark substance, setting it ablaze. The dark green liquid quickly burns up, opening a path for us to reach the Teleport Waypoint. Adrenaline pumped through our veins, allowing me and Furina to keep up with Lumine, who was carrying Nahida in her arms, though we were still far behind them, due to our inactive lifestyles.

The dark green substance turns into a wave, extinguishing the flames and quickly closing in on us. I feel a hand on my leg, and without much thought, I burn it off, making my leg numb as the nerves are fried.

Lumine and Nahida have reached the Waypoint and are waiting for us behind a giant black wall, squirming with appendages which is presumably the monster.

I lift my hand up and fire comes gushing out in a bolt that prices the writhing mass creating a hole just big enough for us to jump through before closing behind us with a snap. I reach for Lumine and she grabs my hand and teleports us away.