The day was progressing relatively smoothly, almost against expectations or reason, as the girls progressed with their current agenda. There wasn’t much clarity as to the time of day at this point, but such things could be worried about when the need arose.

Sryine had lost track of where the others had gone off to, but she was too occupied to go searching. Reports and documentation needed to be sorted and organized, she had people counting on her. She pulled up a file and quickly scanned it over, showing a list of resources that were well below quota. She would have to be responsible in getting that rectified too, yet another problem to worry about. She pulled out her cell, making sure to document such ideas in reminder, so that she could look into the matter later. Pulling up another sheet showed a similar request, mostly pending tasks. She was surprised at a few of the items at the top, they had a deadline of today, she would need to personally look into this, ensure it was taken care of right away.

She set aside the remainder of the documents and left the room, grabbing her cerulean blue beret on the way out. The first order of business was to go through the boxes that had been delivered yesterday, ensure that the foodstock insight hadn’t spoiled in transit. Later, she would have to organize a business meeting, get a few contract details worked out that were slowing down progress. Both could even come up with further complications if things went bad, adding even more obligations to today. She made a quick call to ensure the meeting would still be possible soon, then headed towards the boxes, over a dozen in total. She detached the lid to the first box, going through the mint leaves inside. Most were good, but some of them were a blue azure instead, highly irregular. Such blue did not belong here, it needed to be properly and carefully dealt with. She adjusted her beret and got to work sorting out the good from the bad.

Vwyx was busy working on another instrument assembly, the request form pinned to a board beside her. Things were quiet without the others around, but she knew they were all occupied with their own tasks. She set down another completed cylinder, picking up a few spare pieces of material to start working on them in turn. She turned quickly to her request, making sure she was aware of the details on this design. Oculars weren’t the easiest piece of work, but the ability to magnify one’s sight to see things from a distance was something a human like her could really appreciate. She pulled out her cell, flipping to a reference schematic for this next piece. The complicated requirements for this had to be precise, that was probably the worst part of this project. She went to pick up the performance regulator, a prism that provided most of the interface for the entire thing, only to find it missing. Wait, did she forget to get one? She went back to her supply of material, only to find she had run out of that particular piece.

This really wasn’t good, she would have to go visit the mall and pick up a replacement. This particular request was high priority, so she would have to put everything on hold and handle it right away. She closed up her workshop and headed to the bus stop, grabbing her crimson red beret on the way out. The bus arriving the exact same moment she did, her timing being just that perfect. She got on the bus and found a seat, the bus otherwise empty. Shortly after, she arrived at the train station, getting off and heading towards the platform. Once again she was fortunate in her timing, with the train arriving right away, much like the bus previously. This was all good, she was worried the delay would set her behind considerably, but it seemed things were going very well. She entered the empty mall, looking for the store she wanted. Finding it quickly, she started looking through the prisms to find the one she wanted. Most of the selection was ruby in design, something which was unfortunate because such red colors would be useless for any of her work. She continued her search through the store’s supplies, looking for something she could actually use.

Sryine finally finished sorting through the stock, returning all of the good ash leaves to their original box. It was ash which she was originally looking for, right? She brought the azure leaves to a trash disposal in the back, throwing its undesired contents away. Things were going rather smoothly, she was making some good time, everything was going better than expected. She headed to the meeting room, being the first to arrive. She pulled up a seat to wait patiently, pulling out her cell to find a book to read in her free opportunity. It was quite an interesting story, a story about heroes who were fighting to defend a tower from demons from another world. Flipping page after page, she was absorbed by the tale, how the demons were hard pressed by the heroes in a struggle of equal balance, neither side gaining any advantage until the heroes pulled out a secret weapon, an explosive that unleashed in a massive torrent, sending one of the demons flying from the window in a broken heap. It was almost unfair, how poorly things started to turn for the demons at that point, as the heroes started resorting to unjust and unfair tactics to belittle any struggle the demons attempted. In the end, the demons died, leaving tears flowing from Sryine’s cheek.

She put away the story, noticing she wasn’t alone any longer. Her company was dressed in a full black cloak, making it impossible to figure out any details about them. They didn’t speak either, holding out a contract form before her. She picked it up and glanced it over, frowning at her discovery. This contract was absolutely one sided, giving her client full control over all processes of the project. This wouldn’t do at all, she passed the contract back to her visitor in frustration, pointing to that part of the contract. Her guest nodded, setting the signed contract down to also sign for themself. Wait, she had signed that, she didn’t remember doing any such thing. Rolling up the document, her guest wordlessly started out of the room, leaving her to rush in follow to attempt her protests.

Vwyx finally found the part she was looking for, obsidian in color. She picked it up, quickly purchased it, and started out of the store. Boarding the train again on time, she looked upon her purchase, turning it carefully in her hands. Suddenly, the sharp glass sliced into her fingers, drawing blood and catching her off guard. She dropped the prism, shattering at her feet. The prism wasn’t what shattered, it was the ground itself, spilling a view of the ground several hundred Uyn below her. She reached out for a hand hold of the train, to brace for support, only for the spikes of the rail to slice into her hands once again, the red painted steel of the rail being turned black by her blood. Throwing herself to the side, she found the train suddenly come to a stop, leaving her room to escape. She fled from the platform, descending down an endless stairwell towards the ground far below. Along the way she found two thugs concealed by a black cloak, who drew knives as she approached.

She took some of the railing, forging herself a halberd from it’s metal, and slashed down towards her threatening foes, both of them evading her strike easily by backing off farther down the stairs. As she started after them, the railing behind her gave way, splitting off and swaying in the wind. Now cut into a corner, she pressured her opponents forwards, crashing into them with wave after wave of her own much longer weapon. One of them however drew a fan of extra knives, throwing a volley in her direction, all of them striking her successfully. Black blood dripped all over her red outfit, tainting it’s color as she tried to press forwards. Another jump slam caused a shockwave of force, dismantling the stairwell behind her foes as well. Now they were both trapped.

“Stop! I didn’t sign anything, how did you forge my own signature?!” “Forgery, mockery, illusion debasing reality. The irony, how utterly hilarious, to hear such a thing coming from you. Rest your mind, things couldn’t be any more real if you tried. Oh, now that’s a good one, like the broken illusion could do real.” Sryine stopped cold as her guest pulled down her black hood and put on her black beret, laughing maniacally. “Really, it really real-y is real, couldn’t be any more real, in fact. You did you like you are you, couldn’t expect it any other way. I mean, how could you not sign something of such beauty, a novel idea for a novel person, a person with a novel, I should add. How exciting, how heartwarming, how distracting. It is real, but how real are you, or are you just an illusion. Yes, yes, illusionary illusions, I’m only talking to myself. Oh, so beautiful.” The insane Sryine waves back in departure as Sryine fell behind, starting to fade away as she fell beyond the range of her gift, like she was nothing more than an illusion herself.

“Such perfection, such profound realization of dread and terror, terror and dread being made perfectly real. This is a grand occasion indeed, one that needs to be celebrated with friends. Yes, yes, friends need to be included in this momentous occasion, a moment of all moments. What better way to celebrate fear than with more fear, right? Taking control, that was amazing, but why stop there, right? Right way, left way, wrong way, no way, what other way would there be but to weigh in with more and more. Some more, what more, oh of course, the best sale, a two for one. One control, two control, no control for two controllers. She just needs pain, doesn’t she, then you won’t be alone anymore, then I won’t be alone anymore, a two for one special! Why stop there either, more pain for more fear, destroy more lives to bring even greater despair! Such terrifying, beautiful despair!” Insane Sryine continued to rant as the.. Illusionary Sryine continued to disappear, as her world faded to a blanket of pure black nothingness.

Vwyx lunged towards her foes, a slashing sweep that would be difficult to dodge, one of her foes dropping her weapons in the assault, leaving her empty handed. Even without weapons, her enemy would not give up, taking up a ready pose to attack fist and knuckle if required. Her other opponent drew out a longer weapon, a sword, obviously in order to fend off strikes from Vwyx’s halberd. Vwyx lunged towards the sword, her weapon passing through like the weapon did not even exist. Being momentarily caught off-guard, Vwyx gave an opening for the sword wielder, who slashed into Vwyx’s arm, drawing even more of her dark blood. The pain was agony, leaving Vwyx hanging on by a thread. In a rush of desperation, she crashed forwards, forcing one of her opponents to step back, losing their balance. The thief tried to hold on, their cloak falling way to expose Riyxia’s face. Before Vwyx could react, Riyxia lost her grip and fell down into the depths distantly below, plummeting to her death. The second foe whipped down her own coverage, exposing Sryine face as well, who began laughing without sanity. Sryine lunged towards Vwyx again, stabbing wound after wound in turn, Vwyx’s outfit being so covered in blood that it was starting to look black instead of red. Vwyx slumped against the railing, her muscles so worn down that they would no longer respond, Sryine breaking into more laughter.

“Slicing and slashing, slashing and slicing, you’ve made it so hard for me, so very, terribly, painfully hard. Wasn’t it painful, isn’t it painful? Is there anything that isn’t painful, or are you just painful? Full of pain, pain, pain, what isn’t pain? Can you even remember what anything was like without pain, or do you no longer care? What is there to care about anyway, you don’t care anyway. No care, hung-gar, oh so much hunger, right? Don’t worry, there shall be a feast, a feast of destruction, beautiful destruction. Together, we shall dine on a bounty of blood and destruction.” Sryine held out a hand, an unnatural smile gracing her face in the process. Vwyx took the hand, pulling herself up and brandishing her weapon, searching for more people to kill. Blood would be spilled, for she was so very hungry.

Riyxia’s specter was pulled back to her body as she awoke with a start to a sudden loud crash. Looking around, she found Sryine standing over Vwyx, brandishing two illusionary swords that both seemed to drip with blood. Blood dripped from Vwyx’s fresh wounds on her legs and arms, wounds that only sliced deep enough to be painful, exceedingly painful, but nothing more. She dismissed both illusionary blades as she broke into an insane laughter, leaving behind illusionary wounds that didn’t really exist. Vwyx continued to lay there, silent and still as death, not even breathing. Riyxia rushed past Sryine, who was laughing at Riyxia’s visible despair, running to Vwyx’s side, trying to heal the bleeding injuries. As she tried to tend to such wounds, to mend something that resisted her gift by its own design, Vwyx’s arm casually took up a nearby stone and re-melded it. Formed into a warhammer, Vwyx brought it down hard towards the threat looming over her, throwing herself to her feet in the process. Riyxia barely dodged in time, her rage having been ready at hand due to Sryine’s obvious insanity. Sryine continued to laugh at the comedy as Vwyx moved rigidly towards Riyxia, clearly entranced. They had both turned, leaving her to deal with both of them at the same time.

Worse was even the consideration that they were still within the hunter’s shelter. This was exactly why Ayzherie had been concerned and alarmed with their discoveries from the day before, that having things grow any worse could have either of them turn almost without warning. She just never expected it could occur while her friends were sleeping peacefully. Her first priority was to get both of her friends away from here, before they started destroying the place. Even her one exposure to their behaviour exposed some of the quirks related to them. Vwyx would be almost mindlessly pursuing destruction, careless of anything between her and her target. However, Sryine craved chaos and despair, she would look for new ways to make things worse. Riyxia lunged towards Sryine, still caught up in her own laughter, and grabbed her firmly. Then, she dashed towards the exit, knowing she needed to break distance as fast as possible. Sryine tried to fight her way out, but even her augmented strength was left hampered slightly by Riyxia’s gift. This did not last long, Syrine being herself unnaturally skilled at resisting even Riyxia’s augmented gift. A short distance away from the shelter, Sryine broke free, as Vwyx charged through the doorway, smashing the exit wide in the process.

“Oh, oh, escaping, fleeing. It was just a ploy, a feign, a distraction. You just wanted to take away the danger, threat, to make things less interesting, less beautiful. Shameful, despicable, but so like you. Sryine would probably approve, wouldn’t she, wouldn’t I? Of course not, disgusting.” Sryine broke into another round of laughter as smoke started to form around her, gathering and covering all over her. Riyxia had seen this before as well, this was another illusionary form, to bring her gift to bear in increasing her available abilities. Vwyx meanwhile also continued to approach, slamming her hammer into a nearby pile of rocks to add the material to her own weapon. Dealing with one of them at a time had been really challenging, working with both at the same time was going to be a huge problem. Her largest concern was regarding both their capabilities, worrying that Vwyx might choose to reshape the surrounding ground again, which would lead to additional problems from its collateral damage. Sryine wasn’t comforting either, not if she took actions to inspire further despair, or any other clever tactics she might think of in this insane mania.

This really was a bad situation. Not only did she have to deal with both of them in this state, but she couldn’t afford to leave either of them to their own devices for any period of time. The worst part was that she wasn’t sure how to bring them back to their senses either. Vwyx she had restored before by soothing and curing pain and injuries, a feat which already done nothing in this case. Sryine.. she wasn’t even sure exactly how things had worked out before, leaving her at a loss for how to repeat her previous accomplishment. Riyxia’s foes weren’t providing much of an opportunity for reflection either. Vwyx rushed at her, swiping through the air towards her. Riyxia evaded the attack, only to find a series of smoky blades slashing at her through her escape path. These strikes she was less fortunate with dodging, getting slashed forward in the process, and leaving Vwyx an opportunity to catch her in a follow up strike. Vwyx’s hammer smashed into Riyxia from above, a blow that drove Riyxia onto her back. Riyxia punched through the hammer, shattering it into small pieces, pieces which were repaired only moments later. Riyxia stood up once again, staggering from the poor beginning. This really wasn’t a fair fight.

Vwyx didn’t especially care to fight fair, and Sryine was enjoying laughing at Riyxia’s misery, there was little hope she could have in expecting a fair fight here. Her friends were typically a lot nicer than this, but neither of them were in control right now, everything was up to her to deal with.