Colin's posts

Ilias paused for a moment, thinking about it.

"You're pretty close to Azazel, and you know alchemical stuff more than I do." he told her. "I know you're not an alchemist yourself, but... well, yeah, maybe it'd be best if you had them explain to you." he admitted.

"...that or Gemini." he realised.

"Where IS she, anyway?" he asked.

"Haven't seen much of her lately, I think she was doing her own thing to try and find a solution for this." he mumbled.

"Anyway, you or Gem." he shrugged.

"...according to this, though... Ebony is still there." Ilias then said.

"Just... disconnected from the body." he went on.

"With others, it means they're effectively in comas, because when the body and soul are disconnected like this, they just... well... 'fall asleep', essentially." he continued, but then paused.

"...what does that mean for Aedan...?" he wondered, before shaking his head.

"Anyway, but because of your unique circumstances, you just regained control over your body when Ebony was... disconnected." he went on.

"If we find a way to disrupt the mana... then maybe we can 'wake up' everyone." he said further.

"...but that's a task that I don't think anyone here is equipped to do." he lamented. "Not without the information that... Cain and Azazel have..." he then said, trailing off at the end.

"I need to contact them ASAP and let them know what's happened, and what's happening."

"...Alicja..." Ilias mumbled.

"There's mana doing this." he said.

"The shocks are just a conveyance." he went on.

"If... this is to be believed, then Aedan used herself as a test subject, to see if mana was dislodging the soul." he continued.

"And... her note said that if I found her in the state I did, she was right." he went on.

"This... is a far more elegant and complex attack than we first thought, or could have ever imagined."

"...I... well...." Ilias stammered.

"I... don't know." he admitted.

"I just... I went to see her, saw her there, read the note, and brought her right here." he told her.

"I... should probably go back and check to see what else she wrote down." he continued, pausing for a moment.

"Or... check more of the notebook." he then realised.

He looked at the notebook, before flipping back some pages, to see if they gave any clues.

Ilias' mouth was agape for a moment.

"...E-Erica?" he stuttered.

"Yes." Alicja responded.

"....oh no..." Ilias mumbled. "That's... that's... oh no..." he said quietly.

"How... who...?" he started to ask, before gritting his teeth.

"Damn it all." he hissed.

"As if poor Erica didn't have it rough already."

Ryker seemed genuinely shocked when Eke said that.

"I... what?" he asked.

He then suddenly paused for a moment, before Eke saw his eyes change colour. The demon was now in full control.

"Blame me." he told him.

"I have an inherent distrust for magical beings like the Raiju. I've never liked them, and they've never liked me. But I suppose it's bleeding into Ry-guy a little." he explained.

"So if he starts acting suspicious or whatever, just say his darkness is coming through, and I'll try and tone it down." he went on.

"But don't expect me to change anytime soon. Old beliefs die hard."

"..." Ilias was silent for a moment, his brain processing this.

"Vanished." he said. "As in... they're gone. Missing. Nobody saw them leave or get up or anything." he said further.

"Yes." she responded. "That is what I am saying." she told him.

"...I..." Ilias stammered.

"Just when it seems like things can't get much worse." he muttered.

"This... I mean... but..." he stammered further, before shaking his head.

"This is chaos."

"Her line is the only one I know of that has any sort of dealings with souls." Ilias responded.

"So it's all I can do." he sighed.

"..." he was then silent, looking around.

"What's going on here?" he asked.

"There seems to be a bit of a panic happening." he commented.

"...is it something to do with the catatonia?" he asked her. "Have people taken a turn for the worse?" he asked further, before pausing.

"........what about Kiah?" he then inquired, concern in his tone.

As he finished reading the note, he let it drop to the floor from sheer shock and horror. He could only stare at Aedan's body for a few seconds, before violently shaking his head and then slapping his cheeks to get him back to reality.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" he cursed, rushing over towards her.

"Damn it, damn it." he growled, hefting Aedan's body onto his back, and grabbing the notepad.

He then trudged his way to the medical wing... where he noticed that things seemed to be in a bit of an uproar... which would be understating it.

"What the hell...?" he muttered, looking around.

"What is going ON here...?"

Ilias just sighed again.

"Fiiiiiine." he mumbled, before leaving.

Sure enough, he'd gotten 6 hours of sleep, as he said he would, before waking up to his alarm. He checked his phone, and saw that he had a message from Azazel.

Hey, we found some information for you guys, but Aedan's not answering her phone. She said she was going to concentrate on some experiments, though, and odds are she missed our calls and texts. Just let her know that we have info and get her to call back. it read.

He then saw it was about 2 hours old.

Sorry, was forced to get some sleep. I'll tell her. he replied, before getting dressed and making his way back to the lab.

"Aedan!?" he called in as he stepped through the glass door.

"Hey! You still busy!?" he called further.

Ilias was silent again, before narrowing his eyes.

"Fine." he said. "Six." he told her. "I will be gone for 6 hours." he said further.

"6 and a half." Aedan responded. "I'm giving you a half-hour to actually FALL asleep, so you can get 6 actual hours of sleep." she reasoned.

"UGH, fine." Ilias groaned.

"..." he was then silent again, before shaking his head.

"You really are a woman that gets what she wants, the way she wants it." he commented.

"...is it really that obvious, though...?" he then asked. "About my being tired." he clarified, completely unaware that his snakes were now slightly showing from beneath his head, as they'd all flopped down to sleep, save for one, which was a rotational lookout.

Ilias' eyes popped open for a moment, and he whirled around to face her.

"You wouldn't!" he exclaimed, before there was a moment of silent.

"...you would." he muttered.

He then sighed heavily, shaking his head.

"Fine, fine..." he said. "I'll go take a nap." he told her.

"But I don't want to sleep for TOO long." he insisted. "This needs to get done, ASAP." he stressed.

"So I'll go lay down and sleep for 4 or 5 hours."

"Here's hoping." Ilias replied, as Aedan's cell chimed.

It was a message from Cain.

Dad and I both got the clip, we'll be researching that and telling you as soon as we find something. it read.

With that, Aedan and Ilias were off to work, with renewed vigor and determination. However, Ilias's only lasted for another 3 hours or so, before Aedan noticed that he was starting to get VERY sluggish.

His writing was getting sloppy, his was hanging his head a little, and she noticed that he was legit starting to nod off once of twice.

He was gorgon-spawn, yes, but he was still a living being. And he needed sleep. Badly, at this point.

Once she sent the file to Azazel and Cain, Ilias looked back at the reaction that was still happening... though it didn't seem to be getting any stronger or weaker. It seemed like it was in a constant, continuous state of happening.

"Hmmm." he mumbled.

"Fascinating." he said to himself.

"Also, I must be getting a bit frazzled." he then said further. "It did not occur to me that we could unitise Cain and/or Azazel, with Cain's knowledge and Azazel's resources... it should help greatly." he reasoned.

"For now, we should continue observing this, and see if we can get any other notable reactions." he told her.

"Hopefully one that can directly lead us to finding a way to alleviate the mana within those afflicted."