Colin's posts

He staggered to his feet, and nodded.

"Y-yes... of course." he replied.

He then started to slowly leave the room, just as someone else quickly arrived.

"Mistress!" the member of her tech team exclaimed, before looking at Chris.

"...uh..." he stammered.

"Ignore me." Chris said, before leaving.

Azari nodded in response.

"Yes, Ma'am." he replied, before turning and leaving.

As he did, the one that was injured tried to get up, but it was clear that he would have trouble.

The knife was, indeed, Landon's, as it had special runes carved into the blade, meant to immobilize and slowly kill the target... however, Chris was different, due to what he was. Or wasn't.

He was weird that way.

"I failed you." he repeated.

"Do with me as you will. Discard me if I am now complete and utter garbage to you." he added, sounding like he had learned his lesson from their previous encounter, at the very least.

He winced slightly, the knife in his back still hurting him.

But he looked over towards her when she spoke to him, asking her question.

"L... Landon..." he stammered.

"Caught me off guard." he went on.

"I think... I think he caused the woman to escape. The one that the duplicate was created of." he continued.

He then paused, before coughing up a little blood, and covering his mouth.

"My apologies for my failure, Mistress..." he said quietly.

Lindsay made his way over towards her, and sighed.

"We'll work through this." he said.

"I promise." he told her.

"I know it'll be hard." he went on.

"But I know we can do this."

Lindsay paused for a moment.

"Protection from... Chris...?" he then asked.

"Why would...?" he started to ask further, before the last part of what she said registered fully.

"............oh." he mumbled.

"Oh, that's not very good at all." he commented.

"I... should call my aunt, have her make something that will help greatly with this."

Lindsay was silent, before sighing.

"To start, let me say I will not force anything." he said.

"This is all about YOU. And YOUR recovery." he told her.

"Is there anything in particular you wish to open with?' he then asked.

"Anything you feel I should know before we begin?"

Lindsay shook his head.

"It sounded like it was an emergency." he said.

"...and... I can tell that it is." he went on.

"Which is to say, I can tell that you seem to be pushed to your limits." he clarified.

"Please. Sit down and get comfortable." he then offered her.

Ash just nodded in response.

"All right." he replied.

"Mom, I'm gonna come back after dropping Erica off." he continued.

"I... really wanna talk." he finished.

He then paused for a moment, and snapped his fingers.

"Oh!" he exclaimed.

"Tell Aunt Rocky to start brewing up some tea." he told her.

"The, uh... the 'PTSD' blend, as we've come to call it..." he mumbled further.

When she nodded, both he and Erica disappeared in a burst of black fire, appearing at the door to Lindsay's office, which was open, and had Lindsay looking out at the two of them.

"All right, in you go." Ash told Erica.

Ash was silent for a moment, taking that all in.

"I'll process all that later." he told her.

"But I can see that you are starting to break down." he commented.

"Also, that duplicate thing sounds like a hell of a story." he went on.

"Regardless, you need help, and it's plain to see." he continued, checking to see if his mother HAD heard him.

".....oh dear." Ash muttered.

"Uh... MOM!?" he then called out to Rowena, figuring she could hear him.

"CALL LINDSAY!" he yelled. "And tell him that he's got an emergency patient on the way!" he added. "Lemme know when he's good to receive her!" he finished.

"All right, calm down." he then told Erica.

"I can see what's happening." he said.

"....my brother can help you."

Ash just sighed heavily when the last traces of it disappeared.

He slumped forward slightly, as though a giant weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

He looked at Erica, and took a short breath.

"Thank you." he said.

"Now... I ask again. Are you all right?" he asked.

"And I DON'T mean from just my rune."

Thankfully, before her soul was completely disconnected, her mana caused Ash to be able to get control over himself once more. Enough to cause the rune to suddenly dissipate, anyway.

And she started to feel her soul return to her.

It wasn't pleasant, but it was good.

"Oh geez, are you okay?' he asked her.

"No!" Ash exclaimed.

"Please!" he yelled to her, before looking over towards Erica.

"Stay back!" he called to the newcomer, panic in his expression.

However, no sooner had he said that, his rune exploded out from him.

It didn't affect Rowena, even though she was still within range of it... but how Erica would react was a different story...

...as the rune approached her at an alarming speed.

Azazel paused for a moment, before opening up a portal beside Erica.

Once she looked to it, she saw a beautiful forest on the other side.

"Just keep going forward." he told her.

"...and don't panic if... you feel you soul start to get a bit... ehm... loose." he continued.

"Rowena's keeping it at bay pretty well."