Essentia Animus

34-Captivating Brilliance

Vwyx sat beside both of her unconscious friends, trying to wait with more patience than she had earlier in hopes that they would awaken soon. While waiting, she tried to consider what else could be done to help with the situation.

Riyxia's specter took a seat beside Vwyx, trying to wordlessly lend support. Of course, even in such turmoil costing Riyxia all consciousness, her specter would still be wandering around. Communication though was much harder, considering her specter could not talk. Such still was not impossible, dramatic motions towards the remaining flame of the spilled campfire were enough to compel Vwyx to ensure that the flame was completely extinguished. Neither of them knew what state Sryine would awaken to, but having her lose control again before Riyxia could wake up would leave Vwyx in a very perilous situation. Vwyx completed the task and resumed sitting down next to the spectre.

"So, I'm thinking Sryine's trigger was fear, just as your own has been rage and mine is pain. Sryine being terrified of fire, having her hand light up like that probably pushed her right over the edge. If that's true, I'm actually really worried. There would have been at least one other thing recently that has inspired fear in her, the fear of burning and the fear of losing control and hurting the people she cares about. She's just now done both, and I worry what state that will leave her in when she awakens. Will the fear of her own actions push her over the edge again? I know you've worked hard to make sure I don't lose myself to pain, but protecting Sryine from fear is going to be a lot harder." Vwyx contemplated this idea, Riyxia wordlessly listening. Riyxia actually agreed with most of what Vwyx said, though she would have brought up that Sryine had held on longer than Vwyx had in all technicality. She was also especially surprised at Sryine's sudden collapse, an action of defiance and will which would have taken a surprising amount of effort.

"Her destructive impulse was really surprising though, forging a nightmare of herself using her own illusion, even throwing around all of her illusionary flames like that. Sure, you could probably say more about it than I, having stood up to her like that and everything. When engulfed by her fears, she had that laughter.. that crazy laughter. I can still hear it ringing in my head too, like it was a part of her nightmarish quality. Honestly though, your feral howling can be kinda intimidating too, just to be fair. I guess I was probably something to behold myself, but at least I didn't make any strange sounds. ... well, I guess the dead silence might have been weird too, wouldn't it? Seriously, dead silence is awkward, especially when it feels like you're just talking to yourself. I know, I'm sorry, not your fault, you're kinda unconscious right now and everything. It's just.. I hope everything works out okay." Vwyx sighed, still concerned about this whole situation. Riyxia could understand most of her worries, even much of her spoken concerns. Nightmare Sryine was really hard to deal with, including that laughter. She hadn't thought herself to have made any weird sounds while enraged, but maybe she had just not paid attention to those moments, it was rather difficult to track certain things while enraged like that, after all. Even Vwyx had seemed strange in her emotionless silence, so it was much of the same idea. She also wished she could help more, but there wasn't much she could achieve just as a spectre.

It was at this point that Sryine started to stir awake, causing alarm for the other two. Sryine pulled herself up from the stone, sitting upright before breaking into a series of hiccups. She felt really dizzy at that point, but she was back in control. When the other two picked up on the same outcome, they started to relax a little. However, in the meanwhile, Sryine took account of the situation, both now and what had just happened. Riyxia was unconscious, and she could decidedly recall her own loss of control. Her hand had lit on fire, and the fear had taken over. In her fear, she had done some horrible things, unimaginable things. The memory of her playing with fire was itself unbelievable, the demonic terror she had inhibited by her own illusions couldn't possibly have been her at all. Her head spun as the memories all came back to her, all the things that had happened. No matter how hard it was to believe, they really were things she had done, that was how her destructive impulse expressed itself. The worst part were the thoughts and ideas that had flashed through her mind in the depth of her madness. With that madness, she had stood up against countless beasts, including the leader, and had toyed with their lives before mercilessly destroying them. After that, she had turned on her friends, laying injury into Riyxia. They were only illusions, but illusions affected the mind. Seeing her down like that would have instilled panic in Sryine right away, were it not for the specter's concerning gaze reflecting back to Sryine. Riyxia was alright, only resting to recover from her injuries.. the same injuries she had personally caused.