Colin's posts

"I... Ebony?" he asked.

"Usually around when I'm...?" he muttered further, before shaking his head.

"Am I all right?" he then asked. "I... think so?" he mumbled.

"What I saw was... it... I mean... how...?" he stumbled over his words. "I can't... what I saw was... I can't even..." he went on, before leaning forward and grasping his head.

Even remembering it was too much for him, and she knew why.

He had glimpsed the unthinkable. The unfathomable. His mortal mind had seen an insignificantly small shade of what lay out there beyond the void... and even then, he couldn't comprehend it.

For the most part.

"One of them seemed... almost... like an inky amorphous... thing..." he managed to get out.

"........." Nate was silent again, before narrowing his eyes.

"I... Alicja?" he asked.

"Wait... no..." he mumbled.

"No, you're... not Alicja." he commented.

"You LOOK like her... you... well... kind of sound like her, but at the same time, not really..." he went on.

"But your life-force is CLEARLY different than Alicja." he stated.

"Who ARE you?"

Nate was silent for a moment, his pupils still irregular... until the woman flicked his nose.

He blinked a few times and shook his head after that.

"....AH!" he then yelled.

"WHA!?" he started to scream further, before looking around... and seeing where he was.

"Ah... ah... what the...?" he stammered.

"What in the world was...?" he started to ask, before seeing the woman in front of him.

"Oh." he said.

"Thank you." he commented, now noticing the water in his hand, opening it, and chugging about half of it in one go.

Nate didn't seem to react at first. At all.

However, soon, his pupils shrank... but quickly dilated again, but shrank again, and it seemed to go back and forth for a few seconds... which looked extremely unnerving... until one dilated, and the other returned to normal.

Which looked even worse, if they were being honest.

"Ah... ah..." he stammered.

"Ch-chest." he got out.

"Under... left breast..." he continued.

"Tiny..." he then managed further.

"Must be mana causing an extremely small wound to bleed like crazy." the male commented.

Nate's eyes widened for a moment, a VERY brief surge of panic going through him, but he quickly shook it off. Someone needed help, desperately, and it seemed he was the only one that might be able to help.

He quickly made his way to the room where he'd heard the voices, and knocked.

"Hello? It's me, Nate!" he called in.

"Come in!" a chorus of people rang out, causing him to almost jump back.

'...woah!' he thought.

"Right away!" he replied.

He then opened the door and stepped inside... where he saw 4 individuals.

One was Alicja, one was Angela, and the other two were a male and female that he didn't know. He'd never seen them before. However, before he could say anything, or anyone else could say anything, Nate's pupils dilated.

To an unnerving size.

"...shit!" the male exclaimed.

"He's the one the can see life-force!?" he asked. "As in... can he see... ANYTHING akin to... them!?" he asked further.

"All right, done." Nate said.

"Come on, Miss Hazel." he told Hazel.

"You need help and you need it NOW." he said sternly.

Ilias was silent, and looked concerned.

"Yes, please." he said to Hazel.

"We don't want anything to happen to you, you know that."

Nathan was almost immediately at Hazel's side now.

"We're going." he said.

"I'm calling ahead to make sure they're ready to receive you." he told her further, taking out his phone.

Ilias was silent for a moment, raising an eyebrow as Nate stepped away briefly to call the medical wing.

"Well, now." he said.

"Nate may be a bit flaky and naive, but it's clear where his passion lies." he commented.

"Best acquisition to the medical wing since Angela, I'd say."

"No, no, you're not." Nathan replied, talking to Hazel.

"Your life-force is crazy, but it's also weak." he told her.

"Even your strongest surges are weak." he continued.

"You need medical help, and you need it NOW." he insisted.

Ilias just smirked.

"Well, how about that." he said.

"The phrase 'I'm fine' won't work to dismiss concerns when Nate's around." he commented.

Nate looked over towards Hazel, before Ilias could warn him.

And what he saw... confused and horrified him.

Her life-force was... chaotic, to understate it. It seemed like there was no rhyme or reason to it. It violently flickered between strong and weak. But even the 'strong' looked to be pretty bad.

"Good heavens!" he exclaimed.

"Is... is she dying!?" he asked Ilias.

"Nathan, just... try to relax." Ilias replied.

"Hazel's bad, but... but it's not as bad as it probably looks."

"....oh right, those." Ilias mumbled.

"Wha...?" Nate asked.

"Don't-... don't ask." Ilias replied. "Just know that those'll get your head back on straight." he added.

"Right..." Nate responded.

He then popped one of them, and immediately they could see the effect.

"Oh, wow!" Nate exclaimed.

"Eh?" Nate mumbled.

"What are these?" he asked.

"Hm?" Ilias mumbled.

"Are those the mana blockers?" he asked.

"Because they look different." he said. "Different colour." he mumbled.

"You change up the formula or something?"

"Yeah, three." Ilias confirmed.

"And yeah, gorgons are all female." he told them.

"ARE?" Nate asked.

"They're at 1% of their previous population so long ago, but some still exist, and they're all female." Ilias explained. "As a male, I'm actually not a gorgon, there's no real name for what I am." he admitted.

"But suffice to say, I'm a half-breed." he finished.

"That... is actually really cool!" Nate said with genuine enthusiasm.

The snake, Helena, looked very comfortable and relaxed on Kiah's hand, closing her eyes and almost looking ready to go to sleep.

"Now, now." Ilias said. "No sleeping on her hand right now." he warned.

"And 4, actually." he answered Kiah.

"...stone... multiple snakes..." he mumbled.

"A... Medusa?" he asked.

"Technically wrong." Ilias responded.

"I'm considered 'Gorgon-Spawn'."

"Ah..." Nate mumbled.

"I think... er... well, hm..." he murmured further.

Ilias just chuckled.

"She's fine." he said, tapping his head lightly. As soon as he did so, a gorgeous green snake slithered out from underneath his hair, and opened its mouth slight. It yawned.

"Woah!" Nate exclaimed.

"A snake?" he asked.