Colin's posts

Ash bit his lip when she said that... or rather, tried to say what she did, but found she couldn't.

"Ohhh, even I can tell this isn't good." he muttered.

He then knelt down and placed a wrist on her forehead to check her temperature, and found it to be normal. For her.

"No fever to speak of." he commented.

"So it can't be a high temperature causing this sort of... well... whatever this is." he went on, before he realised something. His mana was acting... strange. As though it were REACTING to what was happening to her.

"What the...?" he mumbled, looking at the small amount of mana that had come to the surface and coated itself around the hand that he'd put to her forehead, much like a thin transparent, translucent glove.

"Oh, geez..." he muttered, getting closer to her.

"You look like hell, and that's putting it lightly." he commented.

"Are you all right?" he asked. "How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"I can try and contact Emma, even though she's not in." he offered.

"If you feel you really do need her."

"..." he was silent as he read that, wondering where she was referring to.

"Hmmm." he mumbled.

"If I were to take a guess... then I'd say she went to her home abroad." he told himself, before getting up from his desk and moving to the middle of the room. He disappeared in a burst of black flames, appearing at the back of the house that the young woman called home.

He made his way to the front door, before knocking on it.

"Vicki!?" he called in.

"You there!?" he asked, using the spare key she'd given him to let himself in, to see if she HAD come here.

The one she had sent a text to read the words on his screen. They were few, they were simple, and it was a seemingly simple inquiry. However, he knew that such a question was probably not good, and there was more to it than there seemed.

He paused for a moment, before checking something, and then calling the medical wing of the guild he worked for. Upon confirmation of something he did not want to hear, he sighed and shook his head.

No, she isn't. he responded to her.

Why? What's going on? he then sent further, pausing again, and growing more concerned.

Are you all right? Do you need help? he asked her.

"...switch...?" her brother asked her, his voice a little confused, but he got it within the next second. "Oh! The... the swap!" he realised. "But... but that's not 100% guaranteed to work, considering your current state, and..." he started to protest, concern in his tone now.

"Please!" she begged. "It's either THAT, or risk whatever I turn into!" she stated.

"...freak chance is better than NO chance." the man agreed.

He then raced and grabbed a few crystals, placing them around her... before concentrating and stamping his foot down, creating a black rune that spread out around the young woman, and trapping her inside it. However, as soon as the rune touched the crystals, and their power flowed into it, she could feel the change.

Previously, she felt like her soul was about to be yanked away from her body violently, due to the rune... but now it felt like something else was pulling on it, more softly this time. It was still disconnected from her body, yes, but she felt... more at peace, now. She felt like, no matter what happened now, she would be fine. She wouldn't be trapped in a chain-link, THAT was for sure. She also felt like her world was fading as well, as things got a little blacker by the second.

"Good luck..." the man said, trailing off slightly.

" And goodbye... Vic." he finished, as she could see a tear or two roll down his cheek.

Savra looked at Eke, and then back towards the store.

"...wow..." they muttered.

"That was amazing." they said.

"You got so much taken off the price." they said further, as they walked towards the entrance of the mall.

"And you can do that all the time?" they asked.

Azazel fell to his front and struggled to keep himself from being crushed from the sheer strength of the mana, and managed to slowly but shakily get to his feet again, just as the errant mana finally absorbed back into the planet.

"Ugh, that was sudden." he muttered.

He then looked over towards Vanessa, who was also recovering from what happened, and sighed.

"24 hours." he told her. "24 hours to get your boy-toy and get out of here." he clarified. "And then we show up and fill this complex solid, so it can never be used by anyone again. Not that anyone would, really... but, it's a precaution." he said further.

"But of course." Vanessa responded. "I had no intention of remaining her, anyway. This place is now useless to me." she reasoned, and he could hear the bitterness in her tone over that.

"Figured." Azazel responded, before pausing.

"Oh, and I am finding that mute wood elf and taking her body with me." he told Vanessa. "So she can return to the soil properly, and her mana can cycle once more. And, admittedly, for Terra's piece of mind." he went on.

"Understandable." Vanessa responded, before telling him where her body should be located, considering she was there last when the smoke was released.

"Much appreciated." Azazel said, as he started to walk off.

"I'll leave you to lick your wounds and continue to slowly die." he told her, as the dark elf approached Azari's now-unconscious form. "At least that pathetic worm did SOME good in his life." he added, referring to Chris.

"Just fuck off and take the mute elf with you." Vanessa snapped at him.

"Yessim!" Azazel laughed, before heading off, finding the body where Vanessa said it would be, and leaving the complex with it. He sighed as he stepped out into the fresh air again, before taking out his cell phone and calling Sharp.

"Mission accomplished. Returning to base." was all he said, before he and the elf he was carrying disappeared in a burst of infernal fire.

"I am ready." Adym confirmed.

"Suppose I ought to just step out of the way, then." Azazel responded, backing up to what he deemed to be safe distance.

He then looked at the bracelet that Callie was still holding and shrugged.

"Keeping it at a souvenir?" he asked her.

"Admittedly, not sure how it and your world will react to each other, but... if you're willing to find out." he went on, smiling slightly.

"Regardless, have a good trip!" he called to them with a wave.

Azazel nodded in response.

"You're welcome." he said.

"I might not be the best representative for this world, but... we're glad we could help." he told them.

"Considering the equivalent we have to your kind are void-dwellers, I'd say you made a very good impression." Adym told him bluntly.

"Heh, fair." Azazel chuckled.

"Well, all right then." Azazel responded.

"Good enough." he told them.

"Safe journey home, then." he went on.

"...and I certainly hope HE won't be too much of a problem when you guys get back." he added, gesturing to Vyran.

"The nexus energy SHOULD leave him as he hasn't fully bonded with it yet, but I know he's strong." he reasoned.

"You guys'll be ok?"

Adym nodded in response.

"Yeah." he said.

"Before you go." Azazel chimed in.

"Two things." he said.

"Firstly, that bracelet is... probably something you shouldn't take back." he told Callie. "It was made in this realm for your father, so that his magic wouldn't leak out at such a quick rate. So it's probably best if it stayed here, mostly because he probably won't need it back where you're from, and I don't know how it'll take to a foreign atmosphere, or vice versa." he explained.

"Secondly, will HE be all right to travel?" he asked further, gesturing to Ciroc.

"He seems pretty bad right now. Do you want us to try and get him to a more stable state before you attempt travelling with him? Or you think he'll be good to go?" he inquired.

"...I'm not sure, but... I THINK he should be fine?" Adym answered, admittedly unsure, himself.

Adym paused for a moment, and thought about it, pondering the proposition for about 10 seconds, before snapping his fingers.

"Ah!" he exclaimed.

"I think I do!" he told her.

He then stepped forward and concentrated, clapping his hand together for a moment and taking a deep breath in, holding it, and then exhaling it. He then knelt down and placed one of his hands on the floor, causing a flower to erupt from underneath said floor. It looked deep green at first, as it rose up to about a foot high, before the bud opened up, revealing what looked like a sunflower, but with rainbow-hued petals. It then let one of the petals fall into Adym's open-palmed hand... before it vanished into thin air, as though dissipating into nothingness.

"Here." Adym said, handing Lyrei the petal.

"Eat this and you'll temporarily be able to use the magic that Vyran has within him. For about a minute." he explained. She could also see that doing that had been a massive strain on the elf, as even though he was putting up a solid and steady front, he was sweating pretty heavily.

Adym looked at Vyran, before sighing.

"All right. Here we go." he said.

He then entered the room, and looked at where Lyrei was placing her crystals. He knew that she would be the first to do it, followed by him, and then Callie would finish with her own.

However, he also noticed that Azari was in the corner of the room, and looked to have been keeping a very weakened Ciroc submissive... looked like by stepping hard on his head.

He also saw a bracelet was knocked off to the side, and wondered if THAT was relevant, too.

Azazel listened to all they had said, and Adym nodded in response.

"Got it." the wood elf said.

"All right then." Azazel commented, as they got close to a door, and Adym mentioned his headache was the worst it had every been, and suspected it wouldn't get any worse.

"Looks like it's your time to shine." he told the cruxes.

"You know how to deal with him, so... do what you need to."