Colin's posts

"Of course." Vincent responded.

He then proceeded to tell her where the various plants were, and gave her containers to hold the samples in.

"Just don't take TOO much of the Luminous Lily." he said. "Remember, they're very delicate, and need 80% of themselves to remain intact, or else they die." he warned her.

"....but odds are you knew that." he then muttered.

"Anyway, we'll meet at the front of the greenhouse when we've collected all we're going for." he finished.

"What is normal?" Ryker asked in response.

"It's what you make it out to be." he then answered.

"Eke, you can't go through all your life thinking what you CAN'T do." he then told him. "Start focusing on what you CAN." he went on.]

"Remember... you have Aly and I." he said.

"We're here for you." he said further.

"And I like to think your father would want you to push forward, no matter what." he then reasoned.

"...even if it requires a little help." he smiled, extending his hand.

"Come on, I'll help you find the exit."

"....actually, you'll be required to collect one." Vincent told her, gesturing to one of them.

"These are temperamental, and they wilt unless an elf gathers them." he said.

"Ashley's been helping me with them as of late, as the plant seems to accept her as an elf." he then explained.

"Beyond that, you can grab these 4 as well." he added.

"That work for you?" he asked her.

Vincent wiped his brow and looked at the note.

".........wow." he said.

"This is an extensive and... difficult list." he commented.

"But let's see..." he mumbled, going through them all, one by one.

"I can get... 8 of these." he told her.

"Wait, no, 9." he corrected himself.

"The Detox Daisies literally just finished blooming yesterday."

"In the back!" she heard him call out to her.

She then headed towards the back end of the greenhouse, where she saw Vincent using his ice mana to wrangle, tame, and cultivate a vine-like plant with black and red thorns on it.

And he seemed like he was doing a really good job of it.

"Hello Syraene!" he called to her.

"Give me a moment to calm this fella down!"

Illias' eyes widened for a moment, and his face reddened, before he shook his head quickly.

"Right, yes!" he said.

"She's strong. She's tough. She'll get through this." he agreed.

He then took a small breath, held it for a moment, and released it slowly.

"Anyway..." he said.

"As I said, I'll get what I can together, and I'll be here around noon." he told her.

"I hope you can find... well, half of them would be amazing, even." he admitted.

"All right." Illias responded.

"In the meantime, I'll get together what else I'll need." he said.

"......" he was then silent, and sighed.

"I wish Kiah was here." he mumbled.

"I really miss her..." he said quietly, before snapping back to reality.

"And she would be amazing help!" he quickly added.

"That's the main thing!" he insisted.

Illias nodded again.

"Thank you." he said.

He then grabbed another sheet of paper, and listed about 15 different things.

"These are what I need that we don't have here." he told her.

"...yes, it's a lot." he then said.

"But this is going to be a very finicky and difficult process." he mumbled.

"But if I'm right, I can see salvation in sight." he went on, before pausing.

"....rhyme not intended..." he added quietly.

"....kid... everyone dies..." Ryker responded.

"....most people die..." he then mumbled, remembering his own rather... unique... situation.

"Life isn't about trying to make it last as long as possible. It's about getting the most out of whatever time you have." he said further.

"The question is... do you want a long life, or a good life?" he asked.

"Do you want to stay here, alone, or do you want to be with people that genuinely love you, and care about you?"

Illias just sighed, and started.

They spoke for close to 3 hours, before they finished what she could explain.

".....I think I have something..." Illias said.

"Oh my lord, I think I know how to stop this from getting worse, and purify the sand!" he exclaimed.

"I don't know if it can save those in the Order that are infected, but I can save the sand, itself." he went on.

"...but I'll need ingredients..." he muttered.

"Ingredients that will be hard to get. We might need Guild help..." he added.

Immediately, Illias grabbed a pen and paper.

When he did, he started writing... as though his hand was working independently of his brain.

A good many things were written down, showing JUST how much Chronos had shoved in there, but after a couple of minutes, he finished writing them down.

"...ok, good." he said.

"That's all of them." he told her.

After about 2 minutes, Illias' eyes came to life.

"AH!" he exclaimed.

"Wh... what...?" he mumbled.

"Woah." he said.

"That was... trippy." he groaned.

"And now I have SO many questions." he then told Syraene.

"Specifically, what some of the terms and numbers in my head MEAN."

Again, Chronos just shrugged.

"I don't really care." he replied.

"Good luck fixing the Order." he told her.

"If you fail, I'll just make a new one." he added.

"It'll be a pain, but... oh well." he finished, before dissipating into nothing.

As he did so, Illias twitched a bit, seemingly starting to come back to his senses.

"....................." Illias didn't respond at first. He was just silent, and his eyes were severely glazed over.

"Give him a minute." Chronos said.

"His brain's overloaded with information." he told her.

"So he needs to take a minute to try and at least organize it." he went on.

"...well... a minute, maybe 2. Or 5. Or an hour. Or he'll collapse under the weight of the info." he shrugged.