Lunae's eyes quivered, her pupils dilating with a frenzied energy as her entire body began to tremble. She bit her lips before clutching her skull with both hands. Something was whispering into her mind, egged on by the blood that stained her vest.
"Lunae!" Sonera called out, ignoring her wound as she rushed over to her fallen friend.
But as Sonera reached down to offer a hand, she shrank with hesitation. Lunae had, for the briefest of moments, looked up at the girl, revealing how utterly alien her eyes had become. Her iris had become almost reptilian in nature, shrinking and enlarging with each tired breath.
She was not human.
Lunae's tattoos then began to glow all at once, flickering in hues of red and pink as she cried out in agony. Sonera could only watch in horror as her friend writhed on the ground like a wounded bug, her pale legs frantically kicking at the ground in vain.
She may have saved Sonera's life. But she had evidently endangered her own.
"That...kill." Sonera muttered, unsure of whether to judge or feel pity for Lunae. "Is this why you refuse to fight?"
Lunae had no response. Within her mind, a Euphony of shrill voices called out to her, pleading and begging for her to feel empowered by her heretical act. She chose to resist them with all her might, causing an overwhelming sensation of pain as her own senses demanded her execution.
Her skull was about to burst.
Finally setting aside her uncertainty, Sonera wrapped her arms around the girl's shoulders, rocking her back and forth as she tried to ease her agony. Her mercy had a limited effect, causing Lunae's screams to become a distant whimper.
"I'm here." Sonera bit her lip, igniting her arms with a gentle bath of warm energy. "Lunae. You're here. Right here. Listen to me."
Lunae's whimpers became ragged breathing, as her eyes finally began to recede to their normal state. Looking at Sonera with a pitiful expression, she began to cry. Pushing back a bit of snot from her nose, her lips quivered as she spoke.
"I'm sorry, Sonera. I just...can't."
"I understand," Sonera replied with a weak sigh. "At least...I think I do."
Lunae's so-called cowardice had been exposed for what it really was. She was a flower waiting to bloom, desperate and hungry for a serenation of blood. To imbibe in the sweet nectar of death was to her, a suicidal notion - so long as she refused to accept whatever horrid role she had to play.
Perhaps then, at that moment, Sonera finally began to realize why Lunae had chosen her. It was never really about her strength or her fiery sense of justice. It was about her crazed mind, and how only she could even begin to accept Lunae for what she really was.
Sonera was many things. Manical. Resolute. Distant. But most importantly. She was loyal.
Any other soul would have abandoned Lunae for the monster she had nearly become. The way her flesh writhed and boiled would have forced anyone else to puke. And her eyes, teeming with an alien energy that made even the Consoritum look human, would have most certainly caused a friend to doubt her.
Sonera did none of those things. She offered Lunae a hand and smiled.
"Thank you."
Lunae called her staff into her hand before taking Sonera's offer. The way her limbs trembled as she was dragged onto her feet had only the most dire implications. In her current state, she wasn't doing much better than her wounded friend.
"I had to." Lunae whimpered.
Sonera nodded in approval. "I know. You saved me."
"They...didn't expect me to do it. I...didn't expect me to do it. That's the only reason it worked."
The alien markings on Lunae's flesh continued to flicker violently as she spoke, as if even the mention of her deed had stirred something within her.
"Here." Lunae grabbed Sonera by her wrist with unusual strength. "This will get infected."
As if using her sins as a catalyst, Lunae shut her eyes and began to coalesce her Psionic power into Sonera's wound. It was an oddly relaxing sensation for Sonera, her skin vibrating as goosebumps rose up along her neck and forearms. By the time she figured to look down, her hand was healed. Nothing remained of her wound save a splotch of darkened red right where Lunae had used her power.
"How did you-."
"I...can't say. I'm sorry."
Now more than ever, Sonera knew for a fact Lunae had her reasons. She trusted her judgement and her pain, and resolved to carry on without further questions.
For now.
Lunae bit her own lip, cursing at herself silently as she completed the ritual. Long had she wished to enact such a kindness without the power of blood. But in her deepest moment of shame, she had no choice but to rely on what she swore to disavow.
"Thank you." Sonera smiled.
She yanked Lunae by the arm, using her rejuvenated state to continue their trek towards the river. It didn't take a strategist to infer what the Vesper's presence had meant. The Consortium was bearing down on them, and quickly.
"Sonera." Lunae panted. "I...I can feel something."
"I know," Sonera replied as the pair became enveloped in mist.
"Wait...stop!"
Lunae used her Psionic grasp to freeze Sonera in place, as the two held their breath. Something was out there, watching them, and Lunae could feel it.
"More Vesper?" Sonera asked using her Psionic connection.
"Worse," Lunae replied with a tinge of despair in her voice.
Lunae may have been unable to clearly survey her surroundings, but she could still feel the presence of something indomitable. Their minds were many, and their minds were blank.
A creaking sound came from behind the girls, followed by a guttural squelching noise of unknown origin. Their backs faced each other, waiting for their enemy. As if the situation wasn't ominious enough, an entire chorus of creatures began to replicate the same noise as the first, forcing Sonera to clutch her ears.
"Left!" Lunae warned with an outstretched figure.
A lanky beast of sorts lunged out at the fog towards Sonera, using its long claw-like appendage to swipe at her face with enough force to topple a boulder. Even the air around the creature trembled at its speed, bolstering the importance of Lunae's warning.
Sonera snapped to her left, unholstered a radiant revolver, and fired a single shot.
She hit the creature in the eye.
The beast fell to the ground, giving the girls only a moment to examine its corpse before it burst into flames. From what they could tell, it was an arachnid mixed with a hound, with long human-like limbs covered in sharp spines. Its face, covered in fur and warpaint, contained a chaotic mess of writhing eyeballs held high above what appeared to be a sinister set of razor-sharp teeth.
It was smiling at them.
- - - - - - - -
"Coward!" Omizen slammed his fist against the display panel, its shattered screen displaying an image of Lunae. "I hope the Xenquar tear her apart!"
Yrix stood behind the Psion with a far more relaxed posture, clicking her fingertips togethor as she watched with curiosity painted over her eye.
"So then...she CAN commit a violent act. How curious..." Yrix muttered as the crew of the vessel shrank in response to her presence.
Omizen threw up his hands. "She dishonered herself! The blademaster had initiated an agreed-upon duel!"
Yrix chortled. "You're a fool if you think she would value anything of the sort."
"What exactly have you been teaching your students, Yrix?" Omizen argued, as if forgetting who he was speaking to.
"To survive."
"The Consortium is not a feral band of killers."
"The Emperor would disagree. And besides, who are YOU to judge? They destroyed your artillery, and now...let's be honest, they are about to survive your pack."
"I have something else in store for them, Arch-Flayer."
"And they have something in store for your comedic assumptions."
Omizen reeled back, knowing full well what Yrix was implying. If he did not rise to the occasion and give the students a proper challenge, then he might as well have fed himself to the Infestare.
"I will pick a target," Omizen reassured the Arch-Flayer.
"Good. Don't hold back." Yrix continued to play with her own fingers. "But do be warned... you're running out of time."
"And here I thought you valued a patient plan." Omizen hissed as he pointed towards his map. "They are all convening right where I want them to be."
"They could be stronger togethor."
"Will they?"
Yrix squinted, thinking back to Rena. It would have been deviously simple to inform Omizen about her plans to kill the heiress. But that would make things too simple.
She wanted something far more chaotic.
Using her Psionic gaze, she wasted no time at all locating Rena, who could be seen crouching through the woods. Yrix knew full well what kind of combat she had preffered in the past. And to see her draw closer and closer to an unsuspecting Ivy was, in Yrix's mind, a sweet delight.