The roars of the beast were more than enough to scare everything and everyone around it that could feel its presence, it had gone back into the forest, scaring Zed with every moment he couldn't find her, the presence of it began fluctuating, it began disappearing slower. As Zed continued pursuing, he noticed her presence elsewhere, however, it was clearly different. She was next to someone else… someone she missed next to her when her bracelet fell.
*****
This person wasn't a victim, at least not to Alloy's loss of control. She didn't even care to begin with, all she cared about, was what she was gonna do to make it right. She was still accepting the reality when her tears dried on her face in front of her dead friend's body. The next thing Lore saw… was the shadowy figure that held the most malicious presence she had ever felt before, it was worse than Perilius' smile… but it wasn't as dark. She could smell the damp grass around them both, she could hear the blows of the wind as the forest itself could not believe what happened that night. Her tongue was stale with the taste of tears that had run a lot more earlier. She no longer had blurry vision due to her tears… she could see everything but exactly what position she was in.
She watched as she saw the shadowy beast made small steps, each one representing something different with the power it released. They were all heavy… they just got heavier with each step.
Step… Anger… heavy Step… Sadness… Heavy
Step… Rage… heavier Step… Nostalgia… Heavier
Step… Blood lust… even heavier
Step… Loneliness… Even Heavier…
Lore knew… she felt it all. She knew the pain the shadow in front of her felt, despite its anger, she felt the exact same thing, forcefully stranded in a place without your closest people, without your closest friend. They had lost Trogan… and now…
"Ivy…" Lore began… slowly… it was the first word she managed to say without her tears getting in the way. She knew. She felt it. She could tell.
"That's you… isn't it, Alloy??" She added as she stared up at her. She was staring at Trogan's dead body… her shadowy self still stable, her presence reduced to that corner of the forest. Lore thought of letting Zed know through a signal… but she didn't want to startle Alloy, her head was down… still staring at Trogan's body. She then looked up to Lore as she was in her train of thought, she was startled before she called her name again…
"Alloy…"
Just then… Lore's voice echoed in her head, it echoed more and more before Ivy's voice began taking over.
"Alloy…" she called.
"Alloy…" Once more
"Alloy….!!" She heard Ivy's voice completely. The darkness she saw was suddenly filled with light, a bright one. Then… her entire environment changed. She saw Ivy calling out to her.
"Let's head back, I know you're hungry," she said.
"I… Ivy…??" She asked, her voice distorted.
She saw Ivy's hand held out, she held out hers to take it as well but… she couldn't reach it, she just kept going further and further from her, and as she followed, the real world had disappeared from her thoughts, she just wanted her back, and she would do anything to make that possible. So she ran, and ran, and ran.
Lore had seen her disoriented, but once she took off once again… she noticed she had grounded herself enough to return to her duties. She took out her comm-crystal, and once she opened her mouth to speak, she heard a voice ahead of Trogan. He had appeared in front of her.
"Zedlis-san!! I was about to call you!! Alloy… she…"
"She was here, wasn't she??" He said.
"Yes. She stood for a moment next to me… she's hurting, your Majesty, she's just looking for Ivy."
Just then, something sparked in Zed's mind, Alloy wasn't just rampaging randomly… she was going through the areas Ivy had been, looking for her in the traces of her drift and her wavering presence. "Which way did she go??"
"North."
"Thank you, Lore."
"Of course." She said. And he left, gone into the same direction Alloy had taken. Meanwhile, Lore began hearing the sounds of footsteps, they were quite many, but they weren't as heavy as the knights were, she figured who it was quite fast.
In seconds, no less, and certain trouble if more, Zed finally reached Alloy, her shadowy figure let out shadows that died in the air like flames from a fire. He stood a few steps behind her, he saw her watch the sea from the edge of the forest, the edge of the island. He saw how bad she wanted to leave, he saw how much she wanted to go after them, his thoughts were interrupted as he watched her take a step forward, she took another, and another, and the next resulted in part of her shadow figure dissipating, the excess leaving her body with every other step.
Her hands, her feet, then her torso as well as her head, it was gone, the entirety of it. Her hands were healed, the searing flesh that she smelled earlier was completely gone, no scar, no burn, nothing. While her clothes were torn up, the damage inside was non-existent. However, the last step she took, led her to fall down, she didn't, as long as Zed was there, she never would've. The wind blew sharply and instantly as he caught her and brought her back up. In her weakened state, he held her on his lap. Her eyes fluttered open.
"No matter… what you say… I'll get her back… I… promise…" she struggled. "Z… Ze…. Zed…." right then, behind him, someone had arrived. As she dismounted her horse, flawless pink hair, voluminous with the touch of royalty atop a face with soft, caring eyes different from her intimidating presence, she had a short but slightly sharp-tipped nose and medium-glossed lips. The last thing Alloy saw was her light purple eyes as they watched her from behind the king.
"Q… Qe…" she couldn't manage her full name as she passed out. Zed held her head carefully as he placed her on the grass and sat beside her.