Essentia Animus

60-Venting Malice

Having completed their objectives, the three girls were faced with the obvious next recourse of finding their way back to safety. With their supply of flasks running low, and even their masks starting to fray, the situation was growing quickly desperate.

One thing that remained fortunate was that Riyxia's full abilities had been restored, an additional resource that would be essential in their escape at this point. Liyuzhe however was being kept out of the loop at this point, so even Ayzherie was unaware of their success.. all that she knew was that Riyxia had found something and they were now going back. Given the terms of their circumstances, there wasn't a good opportunity to ask any questions either. This had Riyxia in a position of silence, but she was actually surprised how calming the air around her felt as a spectre. What was also strange was how tangible the purple stone appeared to Riyxia's spectre, she could neither possess it with her spectre nor could she even pass through it. The stone almost seemed like a tangible and solid fragment of astral essence.. maybe it even was.

One very obvious issue was that the path back up was a lot more complicated than their original descent, mostly because of that explicit shift in direction. This was even more concerning when in contact with the surfaces around them tended to inflict substantial injury. Any gear they had been wearing to protect their hands was already long destroyed by this point, and their footwear wasn't exactly doing very well either. Walking at least minimized contact with their surroundings, but climbing tended to cause some considerable injury. The rare occasions where they had needed to climb down so far had already left its mark on the three, climbing up would be an agony that could put them in peril. This was the sort of quandary that had left Riyxia perplexed the moment they had faced their first significant climb. Liyuzhe however wasn't hesitating, waiting would put them in even greater danger, so she was doing her best to press forward despite the fear of pain.

"Oh hells, whatever." Riyxia sighed, coming to her own decision. She suddenly picked up Ayzherie with one arm, grabbing Liyuzhe with the other before she could begin her direct climb. With both of them carried securely, Riyxia leapt up the entire distance using her augmented strength. After being set down, Liyuzhe turned a perplexed look towards Riyxia, wondering why a solution like that hadn't simply been attempted far sooner. Riyxia was even in some pretty bad shape at this point, it would have even been less painful to do this before her arms were left this injured. Liyuzhe even reflected upon all the records she'd been exposed to on the same subject, the original conflict on the sands, Riyxia's escape from the floating fortress, even any public display of events occurring afterwards... Riyxia had always freely made use of her augmentation with no worries of consequence. Liyuzhe had noticed that Riyxia had been keeping things rather normal while in the cavern, but Liyuzhe had just expected that there were either issues with the climate that impaired her reckless usage, or that her augmentations were denied to her much the same as their instruments. But it appears her assumptions were wrong, something else was at work here, something else had changed. However, the only thing she could think of was...

"So, that's why your search was so important, something had happened to that little flame of your's? I can see why you were hesitating at that climb then too, it's smart to worry about exposing information to people you can't trust. It seems our meeting was more than just coincidence, we actually had a very similar vision in mind. Make sure you take a moment to comfort your subordinate, she was probably having a hard time keeping quiet with worry, and it's always important to have your team properly organized. I might actually also recommend carrying her in the future when she needs rest after those flasks of her's, it would save us considerable time in the process. At this point, I would actually feel ashamed for having the one gift present that has the least return in this situation.. if not for the fact that I know it remains my one backup solution to ensure I wasn't abandoned down here. Why I remain in your care is anyone's guess, in all honesty, I only hope that your reasons have more to do with an understanding that holding on to your own will is far better than having it taken from you.. rather than a blind ambition to just keep helping out someone who is in need." Liyuzhe stepped away for a moment, checking her own thoughts to ensure she knew the exact path to retrace their steps, providing an opportunity for Riyxia to talk with Ayzherie in the process. Liyuzhe hadn't gone far, the cool effects of the flask discouraging that idea, but it was still something.