[IC] ANKL Chapter I: As if a Dream

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

Esyllt gratefully accepted Anna's hand, as she grasped it to pull herself up. However, Lilith peeked over, sounding rather distressed. As Lilith began to reach for Anna, Esyllt thought she had seen something flash, followed by Anna dropping her.

Again? Esyllt whimpered to herself. But following that, Lilith started apologizing. Her focus was directed toward Lilith. Her eyes narrowed as she became more cautious. She had thought her eyes had fooled her, thinking that Lilith had launched electricity. But, given the cadence of Lilith's voice, Esyllt wasn't just imagining things. She did a kip-up to get herself on her feet, and straightened out her hair. As she glanced at Lilith, it was clear that she was flustered. The only way to figure out what happened was to calm her down first.

"Lilith, what's the matter? " Esyllt said, in her most calming tone of voice. It was confident, but not too pushy. She hoped that she would be able to calm down Lilith by talking her through her distress. "What happened?"

[Hiss13]

Sion

Was Lexi giving a look of gratitude to Sion?

Sion could not help but wonder what she had actually done to deserve being given any semblance of gratitude. All she had done was made the reckless decision to stay. She was not even sure whether what she did was fueled by a desire for self-improvement.

Even so, she was not going to deny the fact that she desired self-improvement. At the very least, being told that her actions would make Lady Layla proud definitely was enough to make her smile.

The desire for self-improvement fueled by the fear of being left behind by the world…perhaps Lady Layla truly would be proud of a follower for that kind of thing.

But with the bow, Alexus had divulged a fair amount of information. Sion just stood and let the information she heard properly digest in her head. On one hand, there was the talk of helping Alexus, a goddess she did not pay any mind to. On the other hand, there was the prospect of searching for Layla…something any self-respecting Laylite would be jumping into be a part of…

…and Sion was most definitely a Laylite…even if she did not have much self-respect.

"Fine, I'll help out."

[Sutoratosu]

Arya

Arya eyed Perditia with weary caution, the sudden snap of static still fresh in her ears as the younger girl flustered herself in apology. She had only managed to catch a glimpse of the small arc, but she was certain what she'd just seen as she played it back in her mind, slowed it down and let it come to crawl, just the same as she would with anything else too fast to process in the moment. That... had definitely been a rather large spark from the Laylite's fingers... more than an ordinary bit of static discharge from a carpet or something should've yielded; the vast majority of the time those were barely even visible, if even at all. Infact, if she didn't know any better... the source could only have been...

"What do you mean by 'I can't control it'?" She asked, voice clear and incredulous, "Just how many times have you zapped someone like that before?"

[Shamitako]

(OOC: Arya coming through in the clutch)

Lilith - Dorm Room A

Lilith held her hand closer to her chest and took another step back from Anna. Everyone watched her. Anna seemed unfazed, Esyllt seemed worried, and Arya was clearly suspicious again. Arya asked what happened, her words made it sound as much accusation as inquiry, and Layla couldn't find the words to respond. The air was just so heavy. This strange pressure around her threatened to suffocate her mind. She was quickly heading towards a state of shock and panic. She opened her mouth to try to speak, her lips and throat felt dry and didn't want to move; she practically had to force them open.

"I'm sorry." She croaked, "I don't know why it happens. And there's this heaviness, this suffocating pressure, don't you feel it? Everything hurts, it hurts so much. Why does he hate me? What if Arya hates me too? The world, the world is dying. Hopelessness, blank eyes, fear. Fear, terror, fear, dread, fear, terror, fear, dread."

Lilith clutched her head in pain as her speech devolved into utter gibberish. Her legs went limp and she fell to her knees.

"No, mom, I don't want to, I don't want to. Don't make me go in there. The things they do to me, they hurt." They muttered incoherently, "The fire, the fire, the lovely white fire. Alex is being ripped apart. Eden's curse is coming. Left, right. Left, right. Everywhere, it's all around. No, mommy, don't put that in there! It hurts! The ashes, the ashes, the dying black ashes. Up, up, up, up, up. It's all going up. The power, fear the power. Take advantage of everything, take the power. Eden, Eden, Eden. Hate, hate, hate. The smoke, the smoke, the empty grey smoke. Mommy, why do you let them do this to me? Don't you love me, mommy? She's dead, she's dead, the heartless bitch is dead! The mack, fatherly love, do you love your father? Mommy, mommy, make them stop mommy. I don't like it when they put their hands there. Black and yellow, black and yellow. Fear and power, fear and power. What is power? FIRE FIRE FIRE."

These last three words came as a screech of agony and were accompanied by a bolt of lightning shooting out of Lilth's back toward the rug, igniting the center of the yellow quarter

Her mental breakdown more or less over, Lilith sat there on her knees, quivering.

"Can't you feel the pressure?" She mumbled, "Eden's curse is coming."

She didn't know what it meant, but somehow she knew it was important. Part of her mind kept whispering it to her, trying to get her to remember why it was important. But to do that, she would have to accept the power which frightened her so deeply. And even then, she would still be nearly as broken as she was now

[Sutoratosu]

((Well yeah... I mean' it's kinda her thing...))

Arya

It was a blur, as everything happened and she sat there, utterly speechless at the girl's response. The demented ranting, the screaming, the disturbing implications laced all throughout... the bolt of lightning scorching the floor and burning the carpet....

The bolt of lightning...

The carpet...

Oh shit....

Her attention immediately went to the small flames beginning to lick at the material. She didn't think, she just acted, was up and off the top bunk and acting on instinct as she swung her legs to the side and landed beside the rug. Her booted right foot was in a blurred furry of frantic force as it stomped the blazing square of yellow before it could spread to the rest of the small space and kill them all, coughing and choking on the smoke that had risen in the short span between the flames birth to their quick death, but letting nothing deter her course as she pressed on. Her body seemed to almost move on it's own, didn't stop until she was absolutely certain it was out, even grinding the smoldering remnant of fabric with her toe for good measure.

Her eyes drifted up to Lillith, then to the other two girls, wide as ever. She stood there with her jaw slack, still panting lightly, gaze passing back and forth between the three of them. She tried to go back, to piece through everything that had just come out of the Laylite's mouth at such breakneck speed. There were so many things she wanted to ask, so many things in just the span of those last few moments that demanded serious explanation.

So many she didn't even know where to begin.

[Jory]

Riv

The girl was shaken by the fact that she hadn't even noticed the yellow Laylte carpet. Her first instinct was to recoil. After all, her parents had told her all about the Laylites. How "it wasn't their fault they weren't raised right. Their parents learned from their parents, creating a cycle of disgusting heathens who, no fault of theirs sweetie, just aren't as good as us." Despite all their ranting and raving, however, Riv had never actually met a Laylite to confirm their suspicions or discard them entirely. But now, meeting a Laylite for the first time and even realizing she had to live with one, was a totally different experience. She was about to fly off the handle when she stopped for a moment. But... She's willing to help, just like I am. I didn't even realize she was a Laylite until Lexi... Alexus?... Lexi? Whatever. I didn't even realize until Lexi said something. She's really not that different at all. She was confused as she realized this. If Laylites were just like them, then why were her parents so aggressive toward them? Maybe Sion is just an exception, she thought. Either way, she's a nice girl. I don't see any reason to make a big deal out of it. The other girls probably will anyway. There's no need for it to happen in her dorm, too.

Riv then looked over to Lexi, deciding to just let the Laylite comment pass without saying anything about it. After all, her internal monologue had already delayed her response to Lexi's question enough. "Of course I'll help you, Lexi!" she said, smiling genuinely at her roommate. "Of course I'll help you, Lexi! Even though we were all thrown together randomly, we live together now. We're family, and family protect each other!"

[K_H]

Anna stepped backwards during the rant, face clearly showing how perturbed she was. Once Lilith had stopped, Anna turned towards Arya, her voice taking on a stern tone and her face taking up a clearly angry look.

"Now look at what you've gone and done. You were too quick to confront her on the subject, and now she's like this. I was hoping to avoid a situation like this by gently easing my way towards the subject to avoid shattering her fragile mind, but noooo, you just HAD to go and push her until she broke!"

Anna seemed to calm down after saying that, but then her face filled with alarm as she caught a whiff of smoke, eyes widening abruptly. She then rushed to the door and opened it in an attempt to let the smoke that had built up escape into the hallway. However, as she did so, she started to notice a faint pressure, like the air was denser... She ignored it, though, dismissing it as merely a symptom of smoke inhalation. Then, she walked over to her bed before sitting down again and placing her head in her hands, elbows on her knees out of frustration.

Edited April 22, 2016 by K_H

[Shamitako]

(OOC: Outfit rules. I'll be posting a revised version in the OOC later, but Riv and Sion will need it now)

Sharp - Nightmare

Sharp had indeed noticed the yellow herself, but chose to ignore it. She knew what it felt like to be outcast and had no wish to inflict that feeling upon others. And at this point it hardly mattered anyways, there were much more important matters at hand. Were it not for the flames that had launched from Sharp's own hands, she likely wouldn't have believed a word that Lexi spoke. She had already voiced her intent to stay, she didn't see why Lexi insisted on asking again. At the same time the goddess seemed very nervous, Sharp was beginning to wonder if perhaps the whole bit about them not being allowed to back out if she explained might have been made up. Or perhaps it wasn't, but Lexi didn't have the power to stop them.

"Tell me, Miss Lexi--or should I refer to you as Lady Alexus--if I were to deny you my assistance right now, what would you do?" She asked.

Alexus - Nightmare

"Well, I suppose I'd have to start chanting again..." She said.

"In the raging light of hope

With the flow of chance

Through the river of luck that is life

And the unwillingness to surrender

I lend you my power

That you may find your path"

This time the chant was spoken in a different language, the ancient Kallistle language in which holy books are written. As it finished, bright white and blue sparks began to travel up the length of Lexi's body. Her shoes transformed into sky blue ballet-like slippers. Ribbons sprouted from the tops of these and crisscrossed up her legs overtop tattoos of a bunch of randomly distributed acute angles colored in white. Her miniskirt changed into a much larger, multi-layered skirt; the top layer was white while the rest were light blue. The other end of the dress to which the skirt was a attached was a simple, white sleeveless top. This was worn over a light blue blouse. Lexi's arms were decorated with markings just like her legs, but were otherwise bare. Her fingernails were painted sky blue with white raindrops in the center. Her hair stayed mostly the same except for one of the strands of her braid turned sky blue. Finally, as thought to wrap up the transformation, a large white ribbon tied itself into a bow on her back.

"And after I chanted, I would think about a raging storm of water." As she said this a storm of water did indeed form around Lexi but immediately died down, "However I prefer to ask nicely."

"I was just curious." Sharp replied nonchalantly, "I hope it goes without saying that I still intend to assist you."

"It does." Lexi said gratefully, "However because you said it, I will thank you by requesting that you refer to me as though we were equals. Simply calling me Lexi will do fine."

Sharp visibly turned a few shades redder than normal at this comment.

"Lexi, very well." She said.

Done sorting things with Sharp, Lexi turned to Sion. Sion, the perfectly average Laylite girl. In all likelihood she had come from a family of those wretched cultists that dared to abuse Laya's name for their own gain. Lexi was loathe to think how they might have abused the poor girl. But Lexi decided to hold onto the hope that Sion was a true Laylite, one who seriously believed in Layla and not some poor girl who had been forced to follow a misguided cult. Although that likely meant her mother wasn't too happy with her choice of Line, so even then there's was no true happy ending. The Laylite cult made Lexi sad.

"Sion, I can't be certain what powers lie dormant within you, but my best guess is that you are an Ice Pulse, and I'm really good at guessing. To unlock them, assuming I'm right, say this chant:

By the soul of your being
By the strength of my logic
In a pulse of logic
And for the salvation of all humanity
Bestow upon me your strength
That I may understand the world

Don't worry too much about how weird it sounds, I promise it's better in ancient Kallistle. Although mostly they're just supposed to be easy to memorize, I'm unconvinced Nayru succeeded in that aspect of them."

She left Sion to her own devices for the moment and switched her attention to her last companion, the ever-cheerful Riv.

"And you... Uh, well you're probably a Light something or other. But I don't know what. We'll just go through in alphabetical order.

By the light of your heart
By the strength of my trust
To manipulate every aspect of faith
And for the salvation of all humanity
Bestow upon me your strength
That I may bring light to the world

That's the chant for a Light Adept. If it doesn't work we'll just switch out the modifier line. By the time we get all the way to Vine you'll have the whole thing memorized and I can just tell you the lines. Um, but, with any luck--and I have lots--we won't get that far."

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

Esyllt covered her mouth with her shirt, protecting herself from inhaling the rising smoke. She was rather relieved that the other two girls had acute reflexes, as they instantly took charge of the situation. Everyone was clearly shaken by the turn of events. But relations soon broke down, as Anna began to withdraw into herself. Esyllt was sure Arya wasn't any happier either, with Anna blowing up at her like that. She would just have to deal with those two later. What she really concerned about was Lilith. She couldn't decipher Lilith's torrent of illogical speech, nor the logic behind her ability to launch lightning.

But her incoherent words were becoming more quiet, as it reduced to a mere mumbling. All that could be heard now, was "Eden's Curse".

Eden's curse? Esyllt thought to herself. The hell is she talking about?

The poor girl. Laylite or no, what lay in front of her was just a broken shell. This girl was what, twelve? And here she was, just scared out of her wits. She wasn't sure if she was even responsive.

Esyllt knelt down beside her, and embraced the tiny girl in her arms. She quivered, ever so slightly.

Then, Esyllt began to sing.

Edited April 23, 2016 by Stalkerkain

[Sutoratosu]

Arya

"Really?" She shot a silent glare at Anna as Esylt moved to comfort the layl-... to comfort perditia. "The girl shoots lightning from her body like it's some fantasy tale or something, I ask her how many times it's happened before and you really think I'm to blame for her sudden meltdown, after all the stuff she spouted? Bull Shit, complete and utter bull shit." She voiced none of it though, even despite the urge to fire back at the fool welling within her. This wasn't the time or place, she could deal with it later.

She could not be sure, but... she was fairly concrete in her reconstruction of the gibberish. There a... there were definitely certain parts that warranted further investigation, parts about... things being inserted in areas and certain touches especially... the girl calling her (at least, she was very sure it was directed at her) a Mack- however the hell she might know anything about her, she didn't know -and then there was the part about the world being torn apart. But as she heard Esyllt start singing, cradling the trembling girl like the broken child she truly was... Arya decided that the crusade for answers may do better being placed on a halt for now. She had no idea what this kid went through or the things she saw... but one way or another, at this point she was obviously by no means the same as her Laylite foes of the past.

So it was time she stop treating her like an enemy. As much as the idea of it left a bitter taste in her mouth. She'd get it over though. Eventually. Maybe. Either way, what she had seen so far...wasn't an act, couldn't be an act, no matter how great a liar a person might be- there was no faking a mental breakdown like that one... and there was the strange feeling from earlier when the girl had mentioned 'trusting' her.

Speaking of strange feelings. There was one, right now, as she bent down to retrieve her materials and stow them in her jacket. Now that she wasn't so focused killing a fire, she could feel it beginning to creep in like a wave as she stood there, watching everything. It made her shiver, made her tremble until she got ahold of herself and shook the feeling away before it could set in any further. Absolutely repulsive, hideous even... whatever the hell was causing this, it couldn't have been good, couldn't have been good at all.

Only question was, what the hell was causing it... just what was this 'Eden's Curse'?

"Do you feel that?" She moved over to Anna, voice no more than a hoarse whisper from the smoke, whilst Esyllt continued singing. "That sensation just now, that's coming in waves? This must be whatever she's talking about... something's coming. Something dark and terrible."

[Shamitako]

Lilith - Dorm Room A

Lilith started to pull away from Esyllt, but the older girl wrapped her arms around her before she could escape. She gasped in surprise. She had been expecting admonishment or rage, but instead she had received something she had never been given before: A hug. It felt so warm, so warm and so strange. She leaned into it as Esyllt started singing. She ignored the words, simply listening to the hum of Esyllt's voice. As she listened, a pair of words popped into her head. Hope Vine. Lilith didn't know what it meant, and yet she did.

"Hope Vine." She mumbled.

Her mind was grasping for something, trying to tell her what to say. She nearly collapsed into madness again, but the warmth of Esyllt's arms and the sound of her voice held Lilith's fragile sanity together. And then she began to sing herself. She sang a strange chant in a language that could not be understood by any woman alive. A chant spoken in a language older than the world itself. The words were the purest melding of power and knowledge, a command to activate spoken using concepts rather than sounds. The dialect of the goddesses, one even older than the holy books of the Kallistles or the history documents of the Nayrists. It meant nothing, and yet meant everything

"In the raging light of hope
With the flow of chance
Through unleashing the rapids on the word
And the unwillingness to surrender
I lend you my power
That you may free yourself"

As Layla's soft chanting ended, Esyllt's feet began to sparkle white.

(OOC: Cue transformation sequence. Updated rules are in the OOC thread)

[Jory]

Riv
Riv scratched her head. "Light, huh?" She asked aloud. Truth be told, after she'd seen Sharp's flame fingers she'd kind of been hoping to control water. She knew it was far fetched to take requests, but she wasn't too mad. The only reason she'd wanted water in the first place was to match her name. She smiled at Lexi nodding. "Right!" she said, pumping her fist. "I'll try first, Sion! Wish me luck!" She remembered the words that Lexi had told her despite only a passing mention by the goddess in disguise. The words stood out to her, floating daintily around her mind. She felt drawn to them as she began to speak. Her voice wavered at first, but grew stronger with each word:

"By the light of your heart
By the strength of my trust
To manipulate every aspect of faith
And for the salvation of all humanity
Bestow upon me your strength
That I may bring light to the world!"

[K_H]

Anna

First, Anna felt the pressure once again, and noticed that it was seemingly pulsing, as if the air was alternating between becoming thinner and denser. Shortly after, Anna responded to Arya's question, apologizing for her outburst before answering.

"Sorry about blowing up at you back there, Arya. And to answer your question, is the sensation you're feeling something like pressure from the outside? because that's what I'm feeling right now, and I know it's not from smoke inhalation."

Then, she heard the chant being uttered, and looked in the direction of the sound just in time to see Esyllt's feet start to sparkle. She continued watching, the look on her face conveying complete shock and awe at the events transpiring in front of her. Her mouth was slightly open as she stood perfectly still, transfixed at the scene unfolding before her.

[Jory]

Riv
As the girl finished her incantation, a white light began to glow at her feet. Suddenly, words began spiraling upward out of the light and coiled themselves about Riv like a ribbon. Riv began to glow brightly, orange light radiating off her like a small star. The mystical words glowed the same bright gold-orange as Riv's eyes. It became difficult to look at her as the intensity of the light grew. Her feet lifted gently off the ground and her arms were thrown behind her, her head tossed back to look up as though gazing at the vast starry expanse above. Once the words reached her head they began orbiting her with increasing speed, going faster and faster around the girl with each passing moment until they were completely blurred. Once they resembled comets leaving long, tangerine trails behind bright orange balls of luminescence. All at once the words-turned-meteors flew outward, forming a circle as they all curled upward toward the sky and inward, all of them flying at each other on a collision course. Finally, they collided directly above Riv. A brilliant explosion of light burst forth, nearly blinding all those in the vicinity before a beam of orange light crashed down from the heavens and engulfed Riv entirely.

Once the dust cleared, Riv looked around. She felt different for sure, but she couldn't place it. It was as though she was filled with some kind of new energy that she had never felt before. When she looked down, however, she gasped. She looked completely different than she had just moments ago and her school uniform had been replaced by a totally new outfit. Her skirt had turned from a regular miniskirt into one that dropped down into more of an angular tip on the front. Immediately below the waist it was tangerine with the first verse of incantation that had just been surrounding her wrapping around the skirt in fine gold lettering. The tangerine section was bordered by another fine gold thread that gave way to a shiny peach-colored silk. Just along the edge of the skirt was a fine tangerine thread that spelled out the second verse of the incantation.

Her legs were covered by deep russet leggings that ended at the knees at a pair of high tangerine leather boots. They folded over in a cuff at the top and were only slightly raised in the heel. The trim on the cuff and along the buckles was gold, while the ancient language trimmed into the leather was done in a peach color. The back of the skirt was much longer, going down all the way to her ankles. It was the same peach silk as the trim of the front of the skirt. It had a tangerine border. A tangerine leather strap hung off the back of either hip, going down just past the knee on the outside of the longer part of the skirt.

Cinched around her waist was a russet leather belt with a large orange-gold sunburst design in the center buckle. This gave way to a sleeveless peach silken bodice that clung tightly to Riv's body all the way up to her neck. Fastened around her shoulders and upper torso was a golden breastplate that depicted the lower half of a sunburst. Her bare shoulders gave way to tangerine armbands that hung loosely from a gold broach fastened to the bodice. Below the armbands were loose peach sleeves that continued all the way down to her hands. Under the sleeves were sheer tangerine gloves covering her palms but cutting off before the digits and extending up Riv's forearm. On each of her knuckles was a tangerine gemstone bordered by an orange-gold ring.

Riv's hair was no longer the dyed blue color. Instead, it was her natural raven color with navy undertones. It was longer than usual, out of her messy bun and draping down loosely until it hit her tailbone. There it became a small bun that ended only a few inches further down. On her head she wore a tangerine shroud that extended down like a cape or cloak. It had gold embroidery along the edges and in the front, where it rested just above Riv's forehead on top of her hair. Her eyes remained the same color, sparkling in sharp contrast to her fair skin and dark lashes. Despite her drastic change of outfit, her same glasses remained resting on her nose. Finally, her fingernails were all painted sunset orange. Her index fingernails each contained a painted-on golden sunburst not unlike the one on her breastplate.

On top of all of this, she was glowing softly, a luminous orange corona of light surrounding her. "That was... Unexpected, to say the least," she said, the normally bubbly girl at a loss for words.

[Chim]

Lana was relieved when the situation seemed to be solved so quickly and focused on her book again. She hadn’t even read a full sentence yet, when Haley said something weird and knocked over her seat. Lana could only watch in surprise how quickly the girl left. Did something happen? Her eyes briefly met Arturia’s as she also followed Haley. If the girl was in trouble she at least had to try and help.

[Shamitako]

Haley - Side Hall Thingamadoohickey

Haley walked briskly through the hallways. The area near the library was largely vacant, there was almost nobody around. What few people were there payed Haley no heed. She heard footsteps closing behind her, telling her that at least one of the other girls had followed her. She was happy, it would be nice to not be alone if she ran into the Other right now. She didn't know exactly where Natalie was going, but she had a guess. There was only one place that could possibly be lonelier than the library: The meditation rooms. Although their name sounded harmless, even spiritual, the only girls who went there were those who desperately wanted to be away from the world... Particularly those who wanted to die miserably, but Haley really hoped Natalie wasn't that far gone. Once a girl entered a meditation room, it was taboo (and in some places outright illegal) to disturb her for any reason until she came out. It wasn't entirely unknown for girls to lock themselves inside and deprive themselves of food and water. And it was actually fairly common for girls to at least start the process before coming to their senses. Even if Natalie wasn't feeling suicidal, the solitude provided would probably seem very welcoming, despite it being in a place as morbid as that.

Her worry growing, Haley picked up her pace. She rounded a corner and was stopped in her tracks by what she saw. Natalie Opium sat against a wall, straddling her knees in front of her face. Oh thank goodness she didn't make it all the way to the meditation rooms. Haley breathed a sigh of relief and the tension drained from her features. She slowly approached Natalie, trying her best not to spook her. The footsteps that had been following her slowed to a halt, stopping just past the corner. Twenty feet, fifteen, ten, five. Haley felt her steps slow to a crawl. What was she even supposed to say to a girl who had been heading where Natalie had? What was she supposed to say to a goddess who had been going to a place where girls killed themselves? At least OI was new and nobody had been given a chance to try. But that was the only consolation Haley could find. Unsure what to say, Haley simply used the one word most relevant to the situation.

"Natalie?" She said timidly.

"You came, I knew you would." Natalie replied.

"Yes, I, um, I came to talk." Haley continued, "You do still want to talk, right?"

"No, talking won't change anything."

"That's fine too. Is there anything you do want?"

"There is one thing..."

"Yes?"

"Die!"

Natalie rocketed from her position on the ground. As she moved her outfit transformed from its usual trendy self into a much stranger costume. A pair of pale green sashes crossed her chest, combining around her waist and then immediately splitting again at her thighs into a multitude of separate cuttings which flowed smoothly around her legs. Her glasses disappeared, revealing her piercing lavender eyes. Her arms and legs were covered fully in a lacy design which matched its color to her eyes. The nails on her right, for both her hands and now-bare feet, were colored in a pale green that was almost white, while the left was yet more lavender. She brought her hands together and thrust them forward towards Haley's chest. As she did so, a sword of pure ice formed within them.

Haley's eyes widened with shock and fear as the frigid blade struck straight through her heart. She had a mere moment to think that her life would end before her body went limp. Natalie withdrew her sword from the girl's body, its shining blade somehow completely devoid of the blood which now spilled onto the floor.

"I have seen what is to come." She said menacingly, yet with a hint of pain, "There is no point to life. The only logical conclusion is thus: Everything living should die."

The Eye of Hope - Nameless Hallway of Doom

Moments after Natalie's blade pierced Haley's chest, Arturia felt a pair of hands grab her shoulders from behind. Navy blue hair crept into the edge of her vision. And a pair of lips began to whisper soothingly into her ear left ear.

"Her soul is not yet gone." The Eye whispered, "You still have a chance to save her if you like. Simply say the following chant and her life will be in your hands. But do hurry, Nayru will turn on you once she realizes you're here.

"By the light of your heart

By the strength of my trust

With the raging fury of the believers

And for the salvation of all humanity

Bestow upon me your strength

That I might bring light to the world"

As soon as she finished whispering the words, Riley closed her lips over the edge of Arturia's ear, biting down just ever so slightly. A sadistic giggle escaped her throat, as though she were enjoying the horrific scene playing out before her.

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia was about to let off a loud string of shocked curses when she was grabbed from behind, and then whispered to in a way that someone other than herself might find seductive, causing her to get halfway through the first curse before it turned into a sort of strangled, unintelligible angry noise. Her emotions ran through virtually every negative one could think of; rage, shock, fear, horror, disgust, and the sudden urge to throw an elbow in the general direction of the girl speaking to her's gut. Her already pale complexion was rapidly approaching a shade resembling a sheet of paper at the sight in front of her, though some color returned to it as the girl took the liberty of biting her goddamn ear like they were sleeping together, causing more than a little revulsion.

After a moment that felt like an eternity, she regained her composure enough to sort through a rapid series of thoughts. Natalie just stabbed Haley. She did it with a sword made of ice that came from nowhere. This is like a fantasy novel, or something, what the hell? This creepy chick just told me I could save her. If there's magical shit going on here and I'm not just hallucinating all of this because of some sort of mental break, she might actually be telling the truth. If she's telling the truth, then it's worth a try.

Instead of performing some sort of physical violence upon Riley, she simply jerked away reflexively, and spoke. "Alright, whatever, this is fucking insane but you get what you want." She spoke rapidfire, trying to get the entire chant out as quickly as possible before Haley passed away or Natalie decided that she wanted Arturia to decorate the floors with too.

"By the light of your heart,

By the strength of my trust,

With the raging fury of the believers,

And for the salvation of all humanity,

Bestow upon me your strength,

That I might bring light to the world."

As she finished the last line, the girl felt a strange sensation as power started to surge through her, starting at her toes and moving upward. A shimmering effect started their and moved upward, first replacing her shoes with boots made of a silvery-white metal, coming to slight points after the toes and protecting her shins. As the sparks moved upward, they replaced her jeans with pristine white leggings, and a somewhat short skirt with three layers that briefly appeared to attach to nothing at all. The violet bottom layer appeared first, succeeded by an orange layer and a white one. It extended upward into a white dress, this coming with a chestplate that matched the boots. The sleeves of her shirt were replaced by a set of similar bracers, these with orange bands around each end, and her now-exposed arms were covered with a large number of seemingly random triangular patterns consisting of two lines, along with her normally unpainted nails being violet. The short sleeves of the dress that now covered her were also banded with orange on the ends. As the transformation reached her shoulders, a cape appeared and extended downward to just past the backs of her kness; this a deep violet, with an orange band running halfway back up it with fringe to match this.

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

Esyllt had reached the end of her song, but something told her that she should keep singing. She didn't know where the words came from this time, only that she somehow knew how this particular song went. Her voice trembled as she continued, but the rhythm of it all began to feel natural. Her voice steadied, becoming stronger, more confident. A soft light began pooling at her feet. It made Esyllt a little unsettled, but it didn't seem to be harmful.

"In the raging light of hope

With the flow of chance

Through unleashing the rapids on the word

And the unwillingness to surrender

I lend you my power

That you may free yourself!"

The pool of light began to emanate small orbs, which rose to the ceiling and slowly dissipated. The light was gentle and pleasant to look at, much like snow. Some of the orbs began attaching themselves to Esyllt, gradually bathing Esyllt's body in light. A warm feeling spread throughout her body, making her feel completely at peace. Whatever was happening, she could get used to this. Once enough orbs collected, her body glowed pure white, before settling down. Looking down at herself, Esyllt was clad in a completely new outfit. Her entire school outfit was replaced with a plain halter neck dress, which revealed her bare shoulders. The dress extended all the way down to her ankles, with slits at both sides starting at her hips. They revealed her long, slender legs, which were now covered in white markings akin to tattoos. Her shoes transformed into stilettos that opened up at the toes, with the leather material criss-crossing across her ankles. She had sleeves that were held just below the shoulders and the wrists by pairs of snow white bangles. As well as a necklace and a belt to match, all of these ornaments were adorned by the vine motif.

Finally, her nails had changed to white. She wasn't much of a fan of this particular change, though there didn't seem to anything she could do to change it. The orbs weren't rising as much in quantity as before, but the occasional one or two would rise from her feet. Esyllt stared down at her transformation, a little embarrassed by how revealing her legs were. She looked around, to see if anything else changed. Nothing, other than the fact that she was now the center of attention now. She blinked several times, trying to process all of this all once.

"So, um, is anyone else getting an outfit change? Because I'd hate to be the only one," Esyllt joked, trying to lighten the mood. She turned to look down at the girl in her arms, and was glad to see that she had more or less returned to normal. Whatever normal was. Compared to before, she seemed a lot calmer. Esyllt had so many questions. What in Alexus just happened? Why did her clothing change? Who exactly was Lilith? The only way to find out was to ask the girl herself. "Lilith, are you back with us now? I have a feeling that you have something to do with this."

Edited April 24, 2016 by Stalkerkain

[Hiss13]

Sion

Family? How can you call someone who is not even at your own level family? Sion clenched and unclenched her fists. After all, I'm just a no good person who blends into the background. I don't have some outgoing personality or anything worth looking at. But…I still want to at least be able to at least… She let smile relax even further. I still want to be able stand on that level where I can agree with full honesty.

She was given a chant and she watched the other two transformed. Sion's eyes widened as she watched the process. No matter how much she watched it happen, it was never going to seem normal to her…

…and yet, she was about to take part in it herself. "Ice, huh…" Sion could not help but wonder what such an element would say about herself. She repeated the words in her head. Sion tilted her head slightly, wondering why Alexus had said that those words were not easy to memorize. With a single sigh, she let the aria reverberate from her mouth.

"By the soul of your being
By the strength of my logic
In a pulse of logic
And for the salvation of all humanity
Bestow upon me your strength
That I may understand the world"

With a the end of her aria, a single spear of ice grew out from her chest and her back. From there, a one spear became two and two became four. The icicles multiplied at tremendous speed as they continued to spread all over the surface of her body and encased the entirety of her. For a couple of seconds, time seemed to stand still as the figure in the ice seemed to stand, immobile, until with the ice started to finally crack and shatter with movement.

First was the right hand and arm, which shattered the ice around it, leaving the visage of a bare arm with lime green nails and four equidistant lime green ring markings on her arm, extending from her wrist to her elbow. With the subsequent forward motion of her legs, the remainder of the ice shattered. What emerged from that frozen chrysalis was a silver-haired girl with lime green eyes. Her dress was nearly identical to what she had before the metamorphosis with the exception of all black being replaced by the lime-green color of her eyes and markings and a large black bow on the back of her dress.

In contrast to her hair, her feet were a pitch black pair of boots reaching above her ankles and sporting a pair of green laces tying them up and a pair of knee-high striped socks with the same color scheme as her shoes.

With her metamorphosis finally complete, she held up her hands and stared at them.

[K_H]

Anna

Anna subconsciously stepped backwards, shocked speechless at the transformation that had just occurred. When she finally found the words to speak, she spoke quietly, the fact that she was awestruck by the events clearly evident, but understanding was starting to dawn on her as she remembered hearing the two girls perform their duet at around the same time that she saw the sparkling at Esyllt's feet.

"I think I might have a faint idea as to what's going on here. Arya, did you hear their duet as well?"

[Sutoratosu]

Arya

"I... yeah, I did." She nodded, still taken aback herself by the sudden spectacle of light and transformation. What the hell was even going on in this school anymore? It was literally only day 1 for Goddess sake... "She shoots lightning, knows strange things without explanation, and now can apparently do... whatever the hell just happened to Esyllt... lend her power, I guess, if that song was to be taken literally. I don't know about you, but unless we've suddenly fallen right into the plot of a terribly bad fantasy novella... there's only one real type of entity that comes to my mind who could do this type of stuff... question is though, if you're thinking what I'm thinking and we're both right, which at this point... we probably are, why and how?"

[K_H]

Anna

Anna nodded, acknowledging Arya's statement, and then spoke.

"An additional pair of questions also spring to mind: what next, and who else?"

She then placed her chin in her hand, resting her elbow in her other hand, and went deeply into thought about the four questions that had been posed.

Edited April 24, 2016 by K_H

[Shamitako]

Alexus - Nightmare

"Oh snap, three for three." Lexi said, amazed at her own luck.

So now she had a Light Adept, a Fire Adept, and an Ice Pulse backing her. She had to be honest with herself, not the most amazing combination. But it was better than nothing. And besides, she'd escaped these nightmares on her own, no exit could hold all four of them inside.

"Alright, so, now that you guys are transformed, we can go fight the exit and get out of this place." She said happily.

She marched off in a random direction, knowing that with her luck it would either be straight towards the exit or the exact opposite direction. But since these nightmares were infinitely repeating, the opposite direction just meant a little more walking so she'd get there eventually.

Sharp - Nightmare

Sharp watched the other two transform just as she had earlier. Their outfits seemed so needlessly complicated to her. Even Lexi's outfit seemed like it wasted effectiveness on frills. Her own outfit had actually become less complicated upon transformation, removing her glasses which might have otherwise impeded her combat ability. She hope that Nayru's outfit was more practical than Lexi's, she'd hate to worship a Goddess of Reason that didn't even have an outfit that made sense. Sharp's own outfit had little more use than to cover up as much of her abhorrent body as possible. Covering everything from her ankles to her upper neck to her wrists. And she certainly would never... She stared in shock at her hand. Nail polish. She had on nail polish. Bright red nail polish. Sharp absolutely hated nail polish, much like he hated letting his hair grow out. Both were symbols of femininity that he couldn't stand. Further, it served absolutely not practical purpose, there was zero point to having it in his combat outfit. He trudged forwards anyways, but continued to stare in disgust as he followed Lexi to an unknown destination

Lilith - Dorm Room A

Lilith whimpered in fear. She didn't mean to change Esyllt, she didn't want anything to change. But she also wanted everything to change. She wanted to live her life again, to not have to deal with the hardships she faced. To have to fear herself. She had already lost her mother. A mother who probably didn't love her despite her claims that she loved Lilith more than anything in the world. Yet, the bond between a mother and her daughter could not be severed merely by pain and hatred. The only way Lilith had found to destroy it, was to wish her mother away. And then her wish had come true.

To wake up and find the charred remains of your lifelong tormentor was relief. But to find out that she had somehow been killed by a bolt of lightning, in the basement, on a clear night... There was only one conclusion. Discovering that you had killed your own mother, no matter how much you hated her, it was the most sickening feeling Lilith had ever experienced. Lady Opium had been so kind to take responsibility for the orphaned Lilith, to bring her to this wondrous school which she swore would be safe. Yet Lilith once more found herself hurting others with powers she couldn't control.

"I- I did do that..." She told Esyllt, "I don't know h-how I did it, not exactly. The second soul isn't completely awake and I don't want it to be. It scares me, I'm worried that if I let her wake up then I'll hurt more people. Or worse, I'll simply stop existing. One mind isn't supposed to have two souls."

She heard Arya and Anna's discussion, somehow it seemed they knew something she didn't. Or perhaps it was one of the things she wasn't willing to remember.

"Miss Arya, Miss Anna, do you know what's ha-happening to me?" She pleaded, "To find the answer alone is to risk sentencing myself and those around me to death. So please, tell me, wh-what have I become?"

[Sutoratosu]

Arya ((Giving Morgan Freeman a run for his money...))

Arya passed a single glance to Anna before answering "Uh... well, this would probably sound crazy if not for all the crap that's already gone down in the last few minutes, but... You seem to have control over electricity. And Thunder, along with the very obvious Darkness, are the elements attributed to none other than the Goddess Layla. Not only that, but earlier on when you were rambling you mentioned something that as far as I know, none of the three of you should have any way of even knowing. After that point, I thought maybe you were a... prophetess or something, strange as it sounds now. But after seeing... this-" She waved a hand in Esllyt's general direction "And hearing that chant you were singing... I'm pretty sure that whatever you are, it goes beyond the scope of that. Even further, your proclaimed Line is Laylite... a Line is like a legally binding contract, of sorts, when one takes that oath, they are expected to behave either as social and cultural norm, or the formally laid out doctrine of said chosen Line dictacts. For Laylites, that means using others, abusing others, not caring who gets destroyed so long as it furthers them along in the path to acheiving some archaic and vague idea of "Power"... the very reason why I hate each and every last one of them- they are like a disease upon society wherever they exists... people fear and ostracize them for good reason. Ergo, logic would dictate that my initial suspicions of you would be more than well founded, and I'd have more than enough reason to regard you as yet another one of my mortal enemies... and yet, Logic has been further defied, because for some reason, you act like nothing like any Laylite I've met before, and trust me, I've met alot of those manipulative, selfish bitches. You're just plain timid, where they are heartless and ruthless. You apologize with a sense of genuinity where they would go to no such length to appease a wrong. And you haven't told a single lie this entire time as far as I can tell. My suspicion might have blinded me earlier, made me quick on the trigger, but I never once had an actual gut feeling about it, now that I think back."

She paused for a moment, beginning to pace before the three of them as she sorted through it all, trying to find the best way to break the results that had formed. "All that added up, your confirmed control... or lack of control, over the element of Thunder, your ability to know things that to my knowledge you should not," Her voice seemed to harden into an edge at this particular point, however she went on, passing over it as if naught more than a bump on the scientific road. "your behaviour which runs in staunch defiance towards the modern Laylite Status Quote... well, the only remaining explanation I personally can even consider at this point, one that comes anywhere even remotely close to hypothesizing what the everloving hell is going on in this room right now... is that somehow, someway,

you are the Goddess Layla herself... That, or at least you somehow have been endowed her powers. I mean, I really can't think of any other way that the laws of reality, and physics for that matter, can apparently be thrown out of the window so easily, or that you could somehow be such a relatively poor example compared to what an ideal 'Paragon' of a Laylite 'should be'... except by Divine Influence."

With that said, she stopped altogether, letting all the little implications of that one statement sink in for a bit. She was wrong though, what she had said in the beginning. This shit still sounded crazy even to her, even after everything that had happened. But... like she had said, it wasn't like she could come up with any other explanation at this point. Which begged the question... if this girl was really Layla... how had it happened? Were the Goddesses not immortal? Had whatever occurred also affected the others as well? So many things, so many details missing... it almost drove her crazy. She hated missing details... they made things blurry, sloppy, implied laziness on the hands of the creator.

[Jory]

Riv

"It doesn't seem like a good idea to fall behind here. Let's go!" she said rather cheerily for someone trapped in a demon-filled nightmare of a literal goddess. She grabbed Sion's hand and skipped forward quickly, doing her best to catch up with Lexi and Sharp and dragging her roommate with her. She looked back at Sion, offering the girl a big smile. "I just love your outfit, Sion! Its simplicity is perfectly matched with your tattoos!" she gushed, complimenting the green-clad Laylite. "By the way, I wonder what we can do. Should we ask?" she asked Sion. Despite their differing religions, Riv was beginning to feel as though she had a lot in common with Sion.

While the other girl didn't seem as talkative as Riv, they were both going through a major reestablishment of their norms. It was nice to have someone to share her feelings with, and although Sharp was also going through the same things she had looked at Riv with distaste upon seeing her transformation. It's not my fault that my transformation has a little more flair than hers, she reasoned. Even if she's mad, I shouldn't let that affect how I treat her. After all, I can just as easily make her my friend by being nice as make her an enemy by being an asshole. Riv smiled to herself as she waited patiently for Sion's response while they gained on Lexi and Sharp, satisfied with her evaluation of the situation.