After arriving on the rock garden Chloe's vision had not
returned like it had previously. She could see faint lines, threads almost,
weaving through the air around her in all directions, crisscrossing and snaking
between the spires. As she had put the box away, she noticed Valma had gone to
sleep upon arrival. She knelt down to pick her up when, when upon touching
Valma's metal skin, her left hand slowly changed from flesh to a pale golden
crystal. A jewel, whose quality was as if imbued with the first rays of sunset.
It spread from her fingertips to her wrist. It was like she had done to so many
other objects, turning them from their form into amethyst. Without her instruction
the hand picked up Valma and threw her through the open window. She quickly
followed suit, bumping into Ecition and tripping over Sheba and she hauled
herself up over the stone windowsill. Her hand flexed a little and moved side
to side, stretching and tensing. The form her hand had taken was completely
numb to her. A foreign object bonded with her skin. She cried out in pain and
panic. It had to be removed before whatever force controlled it tried to use it
against her. She reached out and found a blade and readied herself to separate
the crystal from her arm.
Eryn's anger had been raised instantly when Chloe arrived.
Although he was a tiny bit relived that Chloe was safe, her sudden intrusion
and disruption of his interrogation was the final straw. He could feel his
hands ready to catch alight from the anger and considered the possibility of
his halo burning the floor above him but
she needed to be stopped. Chloe had stumbled into the room but had yet to speak
aloud, her head twitching this way and that, her eyes constantly moving. In a
sudden burst of agony, Chloe screamed and Eryn snapped. He pulled him arm back
to swing at her when Valma danced in between him and Chloe and would not move.
Valma would not give a clear explanation, causing Eryn to become increasingly frustrated.
Chloe fell to her knees her hands covering her face. She rocked slowly, before
removing her left hand and staring at it. She twisted it, examining it with
look of horror. Her breath shortened, her eyes widened and panic spread like
wildfire within her. She scrambled around on the floor for a few moments, crying
out about her hand not real anymore, not under her control. She shouted it was
going to kill her or that it was forever lost from her. She eventually bumped
up against Eryn, and without warning, grabbed his dagger and stared down at her
wrist. The three looked onwards with shock as she prepared to bear down with
the blade on her own flesh and blood.
It was a quick and clean cut, thanks to Eryn's consistently
sharp dagger, owed to its lack of use. Eryn without thinking, quickly cauterised
the wound before standing back in shock like Xera and Ecition. Xera offered to
put her into stasis for her own good while Ecition had taken a few more steps
backward and had his back against the wall. She burst into tears and angry
retorts, she would not be held imprisoned again, especially not in her body.
She tore away from Eryn's help and suddenly her feet were plated, as she jumped
out of the window. She intended to land of the wall of the building opposite
and to fall straight to her demise. Her landing was impeccable, her hand was
braced against the wall, her tip toes against the brick. She was prepared to
fall, willing it almost. In the split second she landed, the voice that had
wept earlier, with the chime of glass, boomed angrily in her mind. This vessel must be protected! Her head
was forced to turn around, to look straight back into the room. The balls of
her feet adjusted so that she could jump off. Her feet were not plated in
amethyst this time but the golden tones of what she had seen her hand transform
into. She was forced back into the room and landed as a heap on the floor. When
she had come to, she scrambled backwards, after seeing her hand on the floor;
flesh and blood, not crystal at all. She
burst out crying and as Eryn, in a brief moment of compassion for her tried to
comfort her, she struggled to break free. He was scared and confused. He
needed quiet, a time to think, and
without much thought kindled a few wisps of smoke to knock her out.
The room fell silent. The assailant from the shop no longer
seemed to care about his own wounds and feared more for his own sanity. He
jested that there was no way they were a threat to him, especially if Eryn couldn't
prevent the madness that had ensued. There was a slight twinge in Eryn's neck, which
rippled and surged its way to behind his eyes. His plunged his hands into the
halo above his head and with his index and middle finger of his right hand, slowly
burned his way through the flesh of the man's calf. He screamed out in agony
but with the threat of the other hand was muffled. Eryn asked what the man
knew. He winced, He is real! Eryn
questioned who, and almost in response
the maniacal on his wrist which he had forgotten nearly all about tightened
painfully. He could feel the tentacles wrap around his ear. The glint from the
blade that Chloe had used, showed a reflection he had seen before. The voiced
hissed Me. Eryn now panicked, tried
to question, reason, bargain and threaten the voice to which it did not
respond. The man no longer struggled to break free, believing sitting still was
the best way to avoid being crazy. Ecition was shaking his head slowly, as if
remembered a half forgotten fear, while Xera only watched on with curiosity.
The voice and its presence faded and Eryn pressed his fingered into the holes he
made once more with a warning for the man to never come back, and for his guild
to leave them in peace. Much to the
surprise of Xera, Eryn let the man go and watched as he hobbled out the door.
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