Essentia Animus

46-Taking Possession

Once through the phase gate, Riyxia stumbled into the barrier acting as her cage. The room around her somehow faintly reminded her of her father's laboratory, just several times larger and many times more cluttered.

Riyxia took account of her immediate area, a small metal platform trapping her inside a large barrier. It was also the same barrier as Liyuzhe, sturdy against physical and gift force. The clutter of instruments made seeing much of anything beyond her area impossible, most of such instruments were attached to the ground or stacked in shelves, like a giant warehouse or workshop. The most impressive part was how everything appeared to be working, even while no one else was present. With that considered, while having drained herself bashing around some barriers already, it was quite clear she would not be escaping this cage with direct force. With that in mind, she let her rage fade, finding a spot to relax.

Once her mind was clear, she immediately had an idea she wanted to try. Neither physical nor gifted, she stepped from herself spectrally and walked towards the barrier, quickly finding herself on the other side. Only there as a specter, there wasn't much she could do, but looking around was more than she could manage otherwise. As she embarked, a gate suddenly opened beside her spectre, causing her to stumble as Ieqyisa stepped forth from it. Ieqyisa took the opportunity to embark from her armor, the entire unit folding into itself to be stored on a shelf. Ieqyisa left on the more regular armor underneath it, plates that would take more than a couple moments to remove.

"Sorry about keeping you waiting like that, was a few things to look into before I could follow along. So, my name is Ieqyisa, I'll be your Doctor today.. well, more like Researcher I guess. I hear they call you Riyxia.. Khyzaxliehriyxia.. quite clever, really. So often, you seem exactly like our dear lost friend, and other times you seem like someone who is just really similar. Today, we'll be exploring the facts hidden behind you.. feel free to help out with the process, it makes things much easier, really. To start, let's take some in depth scans, see what we can see." Ieqyisa started manipulating some of the nearby instruments, while Riyxia started to explore. Beyond her confinement was much of the same, an endless corridor of instruments she really didn't understand. While it didn't give her much opportunity to discover information she could use, Ieqyisa was having similar luck with her own research.

"Okay, nothing here is making sense. Any signs of that power from before, gone. Scanning for vital signs says you're okay, but also that there is also no one inside the barrier. A normal weight, but with all zeros in nutrition. Exact same blood type as Khyzae, a rested pulse, full zero for so much else. Oh, that's promising, a perfect match of Khyzae's living signature. Wait, can I even trust that, when nothing else makes sense? Maybe you need a short nap, in case you have a gift for this sort of thing. Healing, lots of body modification options could be similar to that. Not detecting any gift usage, but.. can't chance anything at this point. Sorry, it's getting late anyway. Might as well have you sleep, get some overnight scans, check things in the morning. I was told we can't keep you for longer than dawn, so it can't be helped. Don't worry, I'll make sure you are taken care of, I don't sleep properly myself." Ieqyisa adjusted another instrument, then started redoing her previous tests. Riyxia stopped by to watch, her body instantly falling asleep in the process. Seeing the display for the same tests as before leaving the same confusion, Riyxia's spectre smiled as she resumed her searching. Ieqyisa would be in for a long night if she just kept thinking Riyxia was organic and that her Astral Flame essence was still trapped within the barrier along with the rest of her.

For the first time ever, Riyxia wasn't compelled to wander ethically, the terms of her containment convincing her to feel free in looking anywhere she could reach. Even with the expanse of her options being little more than a warehouse, she quickly found a messy space that was clearly used to attempt rest for an occupied mind, even the bed present was filled with clutter. Such made it clear that Ieqyisa wasn't about to be talking much of a break tonight, much like most nights before. As she was already intruding on privacy, her own privacy out of her hands too, Riyxia took the opportunity to investigate some of the documents scattering the bed. Lunar exploration, gateway instrument, all in her writing.. or more specifically, written by Khyzae. Without the ability to pick up such documents, she was stuck looking them over as they were. Piecing notes together, it was clear Khyzae had actually attempted her trip to the moon.. and the gate never opened. There were notes about the location being wrong, needing somewhere with less interference. This would have been the notes then about an aborted attempt before the village, clearly not where it had been actually attempted. Recalling the rift damage within the abandoned observatory, she had a pretty good idea where these notes might have been taken from.