Ivy raised her staff, preparing to face the Harrow with everything she could muster. Far from foolish arrogance, she knew her chances of an easy victory would be slim. It would be a close run thing at best.
The world around her began to shutter, and the horizon became alit with an ominous hue that descended upon the heiress. A solemn cry echoed throughout the plain, akin to the distant call of a whale. Ivy then knew the Harrow had accepted her challenge.
It sprung into action, backing away with its nimble legs as it too held its staff aloft. A sickly energy short-forth from its tip, causing the air around it to distort. The sound that emanated from both staff and creature was distinctly alien, like a broken record had been splayed out on strings.
Ivy used her Psionic grasp to raise a patch of the earth beneath her feet, blocking the attack with limited success. It seemed whatever the Harrow had casted could rearrange the very fabric of the dream, disassembling the soil it collided with before seeping through to the Heiress. Her Psionic Ambience did what it could to absorb the violent acid-like substance before she began to retaliate with her own spell.
Shards of reflective glass flowed around Ivy's staff, culminating in a focused onslaught that sailed towards the Harrow. It didn't even bother to move out of the way despite its long nimble legs. Instead, whatever matter composed its scaly flesh completely absorbed the energy, dissipating into a harmless spark.
"Oh." Ivy breathed in deeply. "If Lila was here..."
The heiress refused to let the Harrow cast another spell, crossing the gap between them with a Psionic leap before swinging her staff. She wasn't at all surprised to see the creature fight as gracefully as she did, sidestepping her move before swiping at her with the butt-end of its staff. Ivy performed a backwards somersault as the tip of the staff's edge scraped against the fabric of her dress, maintaining her composure despite the odds stacking against her.
Her only real play, in her mind, was to collect information on what her enemy was capable of. And sure enough, surviving the Harrow proved to be quite the mountainous task as it waved its elegant hand in preparation for another assault. Its fingers traced across the air, scratching against its invisible surface as an outline of yellow shapes trailed behind, forming a pattern akin to a layered double helix.
The swirling pattern suddenly molded into an elegant symbol, representing something distinctly floral before bursting into a deluge of vivatic death. Ivy was dumbstruck, unable to comprehend the power of her enemy before its power struck her head on. Whatever she thought she knew as a Psion was turned upside down as a thousand voices whispered into her ear, sending both her mind and body tumbling across the dirt.
Sonority. Plangency. A Resonant force.
That was what it bore upon her.
The Harrow looked at Ivy with silent judgement before uttering some foreign yet unmistakably agitated words. It was almost as if it expected better from her. Waving its hand across the air once more, the floor beneath Ivy's crumpled body began to shift and fold in on itself.
The ground then launched her like a catapult.
She was not the target. In fact, Ivy was just a curiosity to the Harrow judging by its relaxed body language. And once her frail figure slammed into the hull of the Lenora. Such was the strength of her impact that she phased right through the thick metal, becoming trapped inside its vast reaches.
The Harrow turned away before a hand of outstretched energy descended upon it, plucking it out of reality itself as the creature disappeared in a flash. Ivy was not conscious to see the departing act, though she would have been grateful of that fact. It was too soon to be reminded of Imura, and that thing she reached out for so fervently.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Sonera stumbled and fell to her knees, her gloved hands clawing at the floor as she tried to hold herself together. Her body was healthy enough, but her mind was in tatters. That presence she felt in the Crimson Forest had returned, placating her worst urges at every turn.
"You-." Sonera stared at herself in a pool of blood. "I-."
A shot rang out from behind as a bullet slammed into her Psionic Ambience before shattering into a thousand pieces. Sonera spun around in a panic, surprised to see how strong her power had become. The guard that stood over her was not so thrilled however, as even with his helmet on tightly, his terror was evident.
Or at least Sonera thought it was a man. Their short-lived struggle sounded a bit feminine. But she could barely hear it over the cacophony of voices that spun around in her head.
It wasn't at all unlike what Ivy had just experienced.
Sonera picked herself up and ran. But no matter how fast her legs carried her, she could not avoid the monster on her heels. Her fear lasted nearly as long as her breath did.
"Lunae-." Sonera gasped, calling out for her companion. "W-where-."
The assassin suddenly became invigorated as she lurched upwards, realizing she was surrounded by a crowd. She was trapped in the same slums Rena had rushed through not so long ago, though she hadn't a clue that was the case. What Sonera did understand however was her sudden bloodlust.
"They aren't real." She whispered to herself. "In my way. Blocking me. From her."
Sonera's rage had blinded her from the truth. Rena's waking memory, flowing like a river of dreams, was only as vapid as the insanity that brewed within her mind. She had changed history. Her face was plastered upon warning screens, and her deeds broadcasted over the intercom.
"I-." Sonera stuttered, looking on with horror at the group of disheveled "free-loaders" trembling at the sight of her.
The guards fought to hold her off. A monster they had no chance of containing. The people of Concord had run from one terror to another.
And that terror had broken through.
Sonera was fighting for hours, though she would never realize it. So soon and with such ease did she break. It was supposed to be a mission to save Rena.
To spite Yrix.
But she had lost. Sonera had torn though the upper half of the ship, cutting apart the rich and the fat, and would not stop as she reached the lower dredges. Nothing could stop her burning rage.
Go on. Do it. Become the Herald of me.
"No." Sonera shook her head, unable to properly address the entity that broke through the voices.
Oh. It feels too good. Go on then. Devour their fear.
Sonera tried to rationalize it to herself. She knew what was about to happen. And she could not stop it.
"It's just a dream."
If you were there.
"It's just a dream."
Sonera unsheathed her blade with one hand, clutching her revolver in the other and she stood tall and firm. It was as if she was holding the line against the Consortium once again, spiting their indomitable will with sheer might. Sonera honestly wished they were still there.
She wished she could fight them again, and not some helpless visage of Rena's past.
It was only then that she realized what Yrix had done. She was played like a fiddle once again. The girls were not sent to purge some Psionic horror.
They were lured into a trap. Another test. And this time, they would lose.
Yrix would have what she wanted, a harrowing experience for her broken little warriors.
"I'm sorry." Sonera tried to say the words.
She didn't mean it. She didn't even have the decency to hate what came next. She enjoyed it.
It was a duty to be fulfilled. Like she was made for it. As if fate had brought her there.
A pair of glowing wings sprouted from her back, shimmering with radiant energy, cast in the shadow of a butterfly.
Sonera had bloomed. Just like Ivy.
Ivy?
Sonera turned her head, barely able to react as the heiress came hurtling through the wall to her left. One would expect her to attack, or dodge carelessly. But Sonera remembered what she was promised.
More so than killing Yrix.
Her family.
"Ivy!" Sonera dropped her weapons, using her flapping wings to stop Ivy's momentum as she caught the heiress in her arms.
The heiress groaned loudly. "Sonera?"
The assassin peered into her mind, finding a familiar sensation brewing within. She found comfort in that, and mustered the courage to dig deeper. What she found managed to tame her urges, if only for the moment.
A lullaby. A song. Things her heart used to know.
"Ivy." Sonera smiled.
"Where's Lila?" The heiress coughed up a bit of blood as she spoke.
A warmth washed over her as Sonera held her tightly, using her radiant power for something gentle.
"Let's go find her."