Nice Byx

"Lumnus"

     For the second time I opened my eyes and was level with the ground. I really hoped that this wasn't about to become a recurring thing, because I was getting tired of having to lift myself back up. I straightened my neck, the crick in it causing me to move slowly, when I was met with a powerful acidic smell. Once my head finally was straightened, I found the cause of the smell; only a few inches away from where I had just been laying was a puddle of vomit.

 The deep purple chunks in the pile of bile could only be from the Skrill petals. They weren't glowing like how they'd been before and there were clear signs that they'd been chewed and swallowed. My mind struggled to connect the dots between what had actually been real and what hadn't. I guess I hadn't really vomited that flower, but what did that mean for everything else I'd seen?

  I lifted myself up from the floor and the extreme feelings of lightness returned instantly. I gripped the cave walls for support and began to slowly make my way out the room. I paused in the doorway that led to the main room, once I stepped in, there'd be no going back. Right now, Sage Syn was still living in my mind, but if I went in the room and saw his dead body, it would be real. The image of the Dravons approaching the Conservatory flickered through my head and I knew that I had no choice; I had to find out what was real.

 I timidly stepped into the room my eyes were cast down purposefully so I was only taking in the dark brown floor of the cave. I swallowed and raised them until the rest of the room was in my vision. They were instantly drawn to Syn's body which was still lying on the floor clad in the same outfit as the unknown Byx skeleton lying in the other room. There was an abundance of emotions quarreling inside of me, but the main one was confusion.

 The glowing flower had been a hallucination, and now so had Sage Syn's revival. What else wasn’t real? Had I just imagined that light from the conticurl? That had been the most powerful feeling I've ever experienced, it had to have been real. What about the Dravons? Were we really in any danger or was this all some hallucination? 

 I racked my brain, trying to think of what Sage Syn would advise me to do if he were here. He'd probably just say something vague and slightly revealing that would ultimately leave me with more questions than answers. Either that or he would say something cliche and corny like 'just trust in your Syte'. I chuckled lightly because it sounded like something that he would definitely say.

 "Hmm...trust my Syte." I repeated aloud. It was definitely something he would say, and there was a part of me who knew that there was a reason I had seen what I had seen. The Conservatory could be in danger and I was the only one who could actually stop it. Even if I was wrong, I had to let someone know.

 Glancing over at the water that I would have to swim back through to get out of here, I shuddered at having to go through the icy temperatures again. It had been unpleasant enough the first time, and this time I'd have to brave it alone. Another shudder racked my body as I thought about having to venture where Sage Syn had died again, but I had to, there was no other way out. I knew that I had to act fast with information like this, but my respect for Sage Syn wouldn't let me just leave without properly putting his body to rest.

  As I leaned over and picked up his body, I thanked Kya that as our Ky depletes so does our vitality. It would have been much harder to pick him up had he not been so Dull when he passed, but now he was light enough for me to just hoist over my shoulder and carry. His body was cold and still damp, although that didn't really bother me at all. The limp way it flopped back and forth completely devoid of life was the most unsettling thing about the short walk to the room that I assumed must have been for the next Sage's burial. 

 I set him down body down softly on the open rock and he just lay there awkwardly angled with his legs not all the way on. I gripped him feet and straightened his legs out so that he was completely on the rock now. No sooner had I let his feet go than I heard a tiny 'click' sound ring out from somewhere behind me. I whirled around, and was surprised, to say the least, to see a large piece of the cave wall begin to shift. An indistinguishable piece of the wall that had once been connected to the rest of it, was now moving down into the cave floor, and revealed a large dark passage.