Essentia Animus

78-Astral Flame

After everything the girls had gone through, it was actually surprising for Sryine and Vwyx to suddenly confront the lake again so easily. After all the struggles they had endured, it felt like it would take quite a lot to simply get back there.

Sryine still felt like she had only blinked, which was strange considering how much her acceleration could achieve while others blinked. One moment they were in the halls of the fortress, the realization that they would be walking through it lost once again beset upon her.. and the next they were stepping back upon the sand of the beach. One quick blow, Riyxia had punctured straight through the wall, breaking a way out of the fortress. Vwyx had figured out at least what had happened, apparently there was a problem with pressure containment, a very careful and mighty blow could rupture the entire wall and blow a massive hole in it. This would have been seriously dangerous to attempt had the wall not led directly outside, leaving Vwyx worried about Riyxia's confidence in such actions. Vwyx had found she didn't even know where the map she had carried had vanished off to, worried that the phantoms of the fortress had simply taken it back. The place was so totally and obviously haunted, after all.

At the lakeside, the three girls took an opportunity to put together the sorts of things they would require. Vwyx and Sryine worked together to get a collection of small spheres made from ice, things that would be expected to carry her flame. Vwyx expected that the spheres would not last long once exposed, so they should save such a resource for once they got inside. Riyxia at least tested one, and found a way she could actually possess the infuriating little thing. Through such she also learned that possessing ice was not at all comfortable, the frost itself even felt so very draining. While Sryine was working with the winds to provide them some measure of a shared transport, Riyxia tried to apply her own gift again to at least make some improvements of the health for her friends. The vent was rough, any slight advantage would be important. It was for this reason too that Riyxia found her own injuries repaired, even if she didn't have many. Once such preparation was in order, the three of them began their descent into the lake, letting Sryine's wind settle into their own protection from the aquatic depths. With Sryine on the job, the waters of the lake weren't going to be a problem.

Instead, the lake had other ideas for obstacles and obstructions. The water itself rippled with the force and vibration of the ground below.. something had just happened. The depth of the water would have been a concern for visibility.. except for the fact that they were being followed by their own personal star. Riyxia's glowing intensity lit up the entire floor bed of the lake far below them, giving them the opportunity to witness the after-effects of such seismic activity. A hiss of steam was escaping from an obsidian formation of rock at the bottom middle, the obsidian having collapsed in the process. The three rushed to investigate, concerned to discover that there was no longer any viable passage inside. Vwyx tried to manipulate the obsidian itself, the void stone being completely unresponsive to her gift. She had shaped void crystals before, but this obsidian was diamond strong, its own integrity boosted by the heart of the world itself. Vwyx simply wasn't strong enough, her flame simply could not compare to the heart of the world. Riyxia touched the rock preparing to crush her way through, only to find that the void itself became ravenous for her own flame on contact. After all, the world was fully capable of feeding off of a flame such as Riyxia.. the source would even only be even more eager to do the same as well if it too had the chance. Sryine looked upon the situation carefully, the escape route for the steam having caught her attention instead. Looking into that a bit more carefully, she found a rather small opening leading inside.. the stones having fallen into a formation similar in shape as a crescent moon. Sryine sighed, feeling about as lead to her discovery as the blossom in the fortress, they really had started to follow this shape everywhere, even in the strangest of circumstances.