[Hilana, Finn] Munda Cor

[Rickter]

Munda Cor
Ash 15th, 123rd Year, A.o.S.

Since that day when the sun finally returned there had been naught but silence here, though, echoes of what once took place remained for those who knew. The frigid structure of the tree which towered high into the sky glistened on places where light shone the most, giving the island a rather awe-inspiring sight to experience from afar. At the tree's base, however, still lingered the one place which a certain fellow had no real expectations to return to.

While silence remained the only constant here, the crackling of space soon took place near the cavern's mouth, before the gateway of a portal split open to allow the heat of the Atraxian sands to gush through. If only for a couple of minutes at the very least, as those on the other side of the threshold did not take long to walk through. It had been the majority of those originally assembled there, after he'd awoken back then, everyone of them equipped with gear to make the cold more bearable. Except for one.

The divine wolf only needed the fabrics found upon him when he initially awoke back then, donning the fur vest and leather trousers that were tucked into his boots at the shins. A small pack dangled over his shoulder as he held onto the strap with just a few fingers, carrying within it the only essentials he'd need to perform the task that awaited ahead of him.

As the group arrived at the cave's entrance and the portal closed behind them, Lykos' gaze became more melancholic upon witnessing the crystalline tree that stood above them. Even during the constant Frost the tree itself has lost a few branches, the ice having gradually melted off over the past four months they had been gone. But to breathe in that fresh crisp air from the mountains yet again, a sense of ease filled his mind as the lupine demigod averted his gaze from the structure.

"Never thought it'd feel this good... to smell home again." Lykos admitted with a soft tone of voice, as he felt rather sentimental even if he had no memory of what home was like before. "Well, the North at least." He then quickly reasoned with a thoughtful glance to the Vastiana sisters, with a bit of a gentle smile found loosely in the stoicism of his lips. Admittedly, he didn't know how to feel about where they were. He figured that for Finn it was a similar situation, being that they were both from this part of the world, but had also lived in Solunarium for a while.

If only because the last time they were here, he'd woken up feeling starved with no recollection of events prior. Though he'd learned afterward the tale of what took place, mystery still only surrounded what he did to sacrifice so much of himself. None of that really mattered anymore to him though, not when his packmates had planned on taking him to a place where he might've actually called home once before. To a degree it often stirred a reaction out of the wolf, whether it was excitement or anxiety though, remained difficult to tell each time he needed to slow his heart rate.

But first things first, Lykos had a rather important task to handle first. One that was of the utmost importance to him, and, given the location they were using it felt all the more fitting to serve purpose for that task. Brace yourself, Lykos. He confided with himself mentally for reassurance. What you're about to do is going to test everything you know about Negation magic. Yet somehow he felt less threatened by that realization than he expected it to be. Probably because he'd spent enough time corrupting and then purifying Aetherite shards before all this, testing out several different ways to establish the boundaries and parameters of his cleansing magic.

With Athalia though it would be much more different. What the lupine demigod would be doing was essentially cleansing her soul, eradicating the Void from it completely if he could anyhow. He did not doubt the extent of his abilities regarding attempting this, only, question the depth of limitations that he would soon discover when he finally made this attempt. He had all that he needed for the job, the scrivening tools in the back would carry out the procedures needed to make the attempt possible. All that remained, however, was whether or not he and Athalia both were ready to test each other to a higher degree.

And yet his feet almost didn't want to move, having remembered the very echoes of what happened here before. The memory of spiders crawling all over him gave reason to pause, and for a moment, Lykos visibly looked as though he did not wish to enter the dreary tunnel to this remote part of the world. "It's... surprisingly difficult to enter this place again. I'll be fine though," he reassured the sisters with a faint smile cast upon them, "There's little else that threatens us here now. And, I've more than enough power to achieve what we came to do." The wolf made sure of that before their departure.

Plus he wasn't alone in going inside either, and he felt confident nothing would surprise the group gathered here today. And at the very least, part of him felt a strong connection to this place rekindling deep inside. Perhaps there was more to the frigid tree that stood above the cavern, more than what the lupine demigod perceived when he awoke beneath its base. Though his confidence felt a little shaky, he looked all the more determined to accomplish what the group had set out to do on this day.

For today, Athalia would finally be cleansed of the Void.

[Hilana Chenzira]

They made for a small party, this group that was going through the portal set from Hilana's ring. Finn would have been the one to do it normally; but where they were going, he had not been. But once he had been there, once he was on Karnorian soil again, she was certain he could add it to his own lists of places and map it mentally for himself once he was in his homeland. But there was five of them now: Sentinel Decius, Sentinel Finn, Lykos, Lia, and Hilana. Decius had come along for the trip, at least this far, to supervise and observe and report just what was going to happen for Phocion. Finn would make his own reports, to be sure, but the senior Vigil could report from the aspect of Semblance and assist with Negation if it came to it. The hard work, dealing with the elder sister, was on Lykos. Assisting with the rest of it, or containment, or whatever else... Decius could handle.

To say that the sisters were nervous was an understatement. They did trust Lykos implicitly with this, but if something could go wrong... Hilana had to face it, it would go wrong. Where Lykos was in the same clothes - washed and checked over to be mended - as he had worn when the Vastii had found him, the women had more layers on. Master Elementalists though they may have been, with the aid and friendship of fire and air, Lia had a thick cloak on over her caftan, and Hilana sported one too. This was one of the rare times when her shirt covered her torso, and sandals were traded for calf-high boots. They may not have been the prettiest, but they were serviceable, and she inhaled, breathing in the scent of the northern air. Cool and crisp. The island still had its land bridge, and she glanced at Finn to see his expression when they arrived at the Crystal Tree. Hilana had described it to him before, when she had told him about the adventure that had seen many changes and twists and turns, but there was a surreal beauty that escaped the Vastiana's words that could only be seen in person.

When Lykos spoke up, Hilana found his hand and squeezed it, trying to push comfort and reassurance into him through that grip. "Not this time," she agreed, This time would hopefully be better. Lia followed them in, quiet, resolved. The elder sister was far more taciturn than Hilana was, far better at keeping her emotions to herself and her heart off her sleeve. While on the surface she held it together, internally she was all over the place. She trusted Lykos to be able to do this, she had faith in his abilities, but this was high-stakes for her. She had everything to lose, and everything to gain. She couldn't stay the way she was forever; her time at the Citadel was surely growing shorter and shorter. How long would Sentinel Phocion tolerate her presence, especially if another Voidspawn came for her?

Probably not very long.

She would have to take a page out of Hilana's book and bet it all on the Wolf Rathari who they had become so close with. Sometimes one had to take the leap, and risk the fall. Fall or flight, one way or the other. She looked around and listened for the wolves who had been here the last time when they had left it, and she only hoped that they would stay away a while longer lest something happen to them if something escaped the wards and barriers. "Hilana is right," she agreed. "We are more prepared this time, and there are more of us. And I think Hilana has learned not to touch things without checking them out first."

[Finn]

While he wore his Sentinel blacks, Finn's face was unveiled. Hilana, Athalia, and Lykos knew who he was, and it was more appropriate for him to be as much Finn as any Sentinel on this mission. It suited his Ambition, as well. He still found solace behind the veil, but a part of him fed upon the adulation of audiences and such.

In any case, he was all business at the moment: curious about Hilana's ring, doing his own arcane cartography so that he could link new points in space when the need arose. And when they got to Kalzasi, his was the face and the name that were known. A friend of the former Shinsei, as well as a guest at the new Shokaze's coronation. It felt strange, though, as Lykos far surpassed him in power; he would be, for a little while, the herald of Winter. Too bad he didn't write songs about himself as a figure of prominence; he only exhumed his own feelings to evoke them in others.

With a glance and a nod to Sentinel Decius, he wordlessly communicated that all was well on his end, and he received the same from his comrade. Lykos might be of Karnorian descent, but he belonged to the Divine Twins now. He wondered if the same would soon be said for another Karnorian deity as yet unknown by her people. But the Vigilia Argenti knew.

While the Sentinels waited for their charges to be ready to proceed, Finn contemplated the crystalline tree, comparing the sight of it to the vision Hilana's descriptions had painted in his imagination. Not only would he someday sing of it, but first he would report to Phocion, and to his God. Surely the Divine Twins were will aware of the situation, but he would be remiss in not offering his insights if he were one of the select few to see the thing up close and while another demigod was going to perform some great feat of magical purification.

Having been (albeit temporarily) maimed by the shadowspawn, which he figured was related to the voidspawn, he also had a keen interest in this work. It was unlikely he would be allowed any boons from Lykos as he hadn't been from Dæmon, but perhaps it was a sort of thing a mere human man could learn to do as well.

[Rickter]

It felt strange how oddly mortal he seemed right about now, only because of that innate fear that still resided in him from after so long. Never did Lykos believe he'd be so easily dismayed from merely entering a forgotten place, but then again, this was where it all began for him all those months ago. Nevertheless, the reassurances from his companion eased some of that burden, and the numbers they bolstered this time did instill smaller confidence in him. No matter how he looked at it they were thoroughly prepared for this, and all those evenings spent in his quarters experimenting on Aetherite shards weren't for nothing.

Admittedly he looked to Finn and Decius as they were both welcome companions, familiar enough that the lupine wolf not only felt comfortable, but able to quickly harmonize with them should things go south. Part of what he would be doing involved just that, as Athalia's soul would require his most delicate touch to pull this off. The older sibling's determination was visibly palpable to Lykos, but underneath, he could hear the quickening in her heart rate now that they'd reached the cavern entrance.

He did not wish to waste time. Not when her resolve was at its strongest, and when time seemed to be of the essence here. Still, he gave the Sentinel's accompanying them a warm if not modest smile, before chuckling at the fact Athalia made of her younger sister. Yes, curiously touching things here could still be risky in some way. Lykos knew not if any more traps or unusual structures could throw a wrench in their plan.

"We'll go in, perform the purification, and then be on our way." He assured the Vastiana sisters firstly, his eyes aligned into the darkness beyond the cavern's mouth. His wolven eyes could somewhat see the interior they'd left behind, and from the looks of it, nothing had changed at all since last they left here. "Sentinel Finn. Sentinel Decius. I cannot thank you enough for coming along, even if it's for the benefit of your own superiors and deities."

There was something poetic about this in his mind, how people from far-flung reaches of the world were coming together. Granted he was doing this to help them just as much they were with him, Lykos felt as if something larger were at play now that they were finally here. As resiliently heavy as his boots felt he finally lifted a leg, and pedaled himself into a slow walk with Hilana's hand entwined with his own. Immediately upon entering the cave, the crisp air felt moist compared to the outside.

The tunnel which led into the round chamber he'd first awoken in did not stretch very long either. Though for Lykos it felt like an eternity to his immortality, as they reached the area near the center where the fractured obelisk remained. It had felt like such a sorry sight to bear witness again, if only because of the sacrifices those here before had to endure in the end. Himself included. But now that they were within the chamber, Lykos visibly relaxed with a sigh through his nostrils.

His shoulders dropped more as he tugged the rucksack over his shoulder around, and pulled it to where he could start gathering the assembled materials he needed. Thankfully there wasn't going to be much needed here, unlike the cold room he'd worked tirelessly on in the citadel. Spellwright's ink was the main component that would aid with this endeavor, but as he pulled out the paintbrush and a few inkwells, the lupine demigod couldn't help but raise his head to observe the structural integrity of the ceiling above. Ice still lingered all around them.

Ice that he felt a connection to deep in his bones. "Sentinel Finn, Decius, I'll need a ward or two cast around the room. One to make the cool air bearable without warming the ice, and the other for containment of Voidsent." Just in case. Lykos had no way of anticipating how this was going to turn out, and while he could've easily focused on creating these wards himself, the wolf needed to keep all his concentration on Athalia and her alone.

Thus he looked to her after resting the rucksack on the ground, the first inkwell opened with a light pop of the cork. "This will be the easy part of the procedure, my dear, but I'll need to draw a particular schema underneath your clavicle." He gently urged with his eyes on the older sister, a hopeful look in his gaze as he dipped the brush's tip inside the spellwrights ink.

Part of Lykos debated how else he should set this up exactly. There was a mental debation on perhaps utilizing the room itself, or even drawing out a schema or two across the floor to divert any excess aether from the procedure. But no. There was no need to go the extra mile for something as personal, and intimate, as what he was about to do right now. Therefore, once Athalia exposed the area of skin he needed from her, the wolf started to paint the ink with a pattern dedicated to what he aimed to accomplish.

[Hilana Chenzira]

Like Finn, the other Sentinel had left his veil off for the moment. Another member of the Custodes Deorum, he'd assisted Lykos with his cold room on multiple occasions, and he had experience in Karnor when he had had a diplomatic posting. He could at least observe and assist with containing and restraining if something came to it, but there was a chance this could go drastically wrong. He returned the nod to Finn. May the Founders guide their endeavours.

"We will follow your lead," the other Sentinel nodded, and Hilana and Lia stayed quiet for the moment while they were in the chamber. Memories here, and plenty of them. Hilana's grip tightened almost imperceptibly in Lykos' hand, while Lia's hands vanished into the sleeves of her thick cloak. It made sense as to why they were here, and it was likely the best place to do this endeavour... and with luck... they would be able to continue to Kalzasi later on as a group in order to do some more research on Lykos and if anything could be found about his identity with regard to the fact that he was marked by Arcas.

At the Karnorian demigod's behest, the half-Re'hyaean, half-Vastian went to work. His first priority was protecting what Lykos wanted to be kept frozen, and he scrutinized it with Semblance. When the Vastiana had returned with the crew, they'd investigated this place before... but it was interesting to see what had changed and what hadn't changed.What was above was best not disturbed, and when he finished his initial setup with regards to the ceiling of the cave, he began to setting up the anchors around the room to make a box for them to work from with multiple layers. While they had their Sentinel Blacks that were warded to protect them, the other three were Elementalists, but they may as well make it comfortable - Finn likely had no problems, but for the Vastii... it was not painful or distracting, but it was definitely far colder than they would be used to. Athalia's being Arche to fire certainly helped her, and while Hilana was not attuned to that particular element at the moment, having chosen to attune to Shadow earlier that day, she would manage. Only once he got that done did he start the next layers for the creatures of the Void. The creatures that lurked for the unwitting surely would come hunting... but they would be kept outside the cave, allowing Finn and Hilana to take them out if it came to that.

With Lykos setting up, Hilana stood to the side, watching with keen interest as Lia undid the ties that kept her cloak fastened together and shifted her caftan to expose the right side of her collarbone. The open neckline of the garment allowed her to peel it down without needing to expose herself unduly - she was far more modest than her little sister, who ran around in tight, barely-there blouses (if one could even call them that) and great swathes of fabric that formed skirts that hung off of her hips. "Stay true," Lia told Lykos with a small smile. She trusted him. He would get it done. She stood as still as a stone, patient, grounded, and ready.

[Finn]

Finn smiled and nodded to the Drægir of Winter, his friend. It was a new friendship, but circumstances kept them together and he could only wonder if he had known the rathari previously. Strange things were afoot surrounding the wolf man, and he was glad to help investigate the mystery surrounding him. Once through the portal, he was largely irrelevant, but he deferred to Decius when the proceedings called for wardings and took up a place opposite the other Sentinel in the room. It was a habit now, Sentinel tactics. They always anticipated danger; that kept them ready for it. If they were ready for it, Vastian citizens like Hilana and her sister were safer for it. Lykos too was under their protection.

He often wondered what Semblance felt like, had pestered Arvælyn about it as it was one of his family's domains. But so deeply had he fallen into at least two of his Runes, that he often felt as though he could Semble the world around him, at least in certain ways. The symphonies of living creatures could leave resonances for him, and he could feel how the lines of the slipspace bent and stretched. Hereabouts, they were reverberating with the entrance they had made, by movements in the past. He wondered if he could track people through the slipspace: something to ask his arcane instructors within the Vigilia Argenti when he returned.

For now, he focused on the task at hand, even though his task was merely to observe and to guard.

The blade gifted to him by HIlana's tribe was strapped to his back. It was impressive, but he was more likely to pull the longsword he had hidden in the aether until such time as he had the skill and power to bond with the blade and the soul inside. Either he would learn to partner with their fallen son, or he would learn how to release him to the Grimlord and the natural cycle of life and death.

[Rickter]

When Athalia expressed those very words a smile nearly came onto the wolf, were he not as resolute as she in maintaining the focus necessary to achieve this important task. He knew that his partners today had the utmost of faith placed in him, and he also knew, that he would do everything in his power to live up to that faith. He reflected back to the times he spent studying with Athalia at the citadel, during the days Hilana had to go into the city to deal with other responsibilities or work. Much of that time he spent with Athalia, he'd observed her while remaining studious to the subjects that remained his focus.

He still knew that much of what he was attempting with Negation remained out of the boundaries of possibility, at least, so much so that not a trace of an article or bit of research information existed about it. Yet it wasn't Negation that remained the core focus of his power here, it merely carried out the purpose of what his intentions were. The rest of the tools necessary, what Athalia had been showing him this whole time, had been the artistic tools in which Scrivening played a role in.

It was what helped him complete the foundation for the Cold Room, after all, another project that only further refined his knowledge of pictography. What he knew, what he understood, and what he believed, all of those coincided with every bit of purpose he made with each stroke of a brush. Lykos remained careful and practiced with each extension he painted on Athalia's skin, the core of the glyph etched out as he started to branch into the greater details of the work itself.

Convergence so that aether could flow between all the passage ways, what he would need as he coaxed that part of Athalia forward for him to observe and gaze into. Around all that though, paths that branched into four different passages, each balancing the other in polarity as he dressed on the next few pictographs of the glyph. Two continuums to allow both her physical and her astral body to remain intact, so that when the time came, his reach would not sever or damage any aspect of her when done.

Mirrors to crown and support the glyph in a way that would allow the aetheric energies to remain in place, to keep the energies between her body and her soul intact once he might finally grasp it. Every branch, stroke, and point he made with the brush served a very crucial and important task to the attempt he was about to make. With the glyph itself prepared, he then pulled the brush away so that he might hold it out for Hilana to take from him. "Hold, if you would please." He requested softly with the ink well still held in his other hand, the freed one now moved to where he could dip each tip of his fingers into the ink itself.

"What I've just drawn is a glyph that'll allow me to reach within you, Athalia, you may recall my theory on boundaries between the physical and astral body?" He inquired in hopes the topic might ease any tension in her, though, also as a means of harmonizing his own aura to match with hers in the process. The glow in his blue eyes glimmered to silver as he started the process, his chest steadily adjusting to the air in his lungs as he then handed the inkwell over to Hilana next.

Athalia's aura was something he'd studied quite a bit over the past few months now. He'd struggled often as he could never find such a boundary, but, he wasn't seeking it out at this particular moment either. The glyph would preserve that boundary for as long as he needed, at least until the deed was done anyway, but the bigger part of synchronizing his aura with Athalia's was to generate the resonance he needed between them. And so with Semblance, he observed all that was in her aura with patience, listening to the older sibling's answer as he slowly altered the fluctuations of his aura to match hers with synchronicity.

Meanwhile, the spellwright's ink gradually came to a dry on both Athalia's chest, as well as the fingertips of Lykos' left hand. He was ready and so far as he could tell so was she, now all that remained was for the synchronization to build between them.

[Hilana Chenzira]

Hilana had been close by; observing what was going on while attempting to stay out of the way of Lykos and the two Sentinels and be there to provide support for Athalia all the while. Lykos’ and Decius’ styles were different when it came to Negation; but the Vastiana didn’t know how much of that was his own personal style and how much of it was the wards that each Sentinel already wore that obfuscated those who wanted to observe. She wasn’t about to use Semblance, not with Lykos’ work and the fact that Hilana was not prepared to shoulder the crippling results of Semblance against the Divine.

She kept an eye on the mouth of the cave until she figured that she had better delegate. She wanted to be present and observe what was going on with Lia and Lykos, and she wanted to watch for the voidsent, but she wasn’t able to do both at once - Hilana ended up asking the shadows to alert her of any impending company. That they could do, and she returned to Lia and Lykos’ sides. Just out of the way, but close enough. She took the brush as requested, making sure that nothing dripped, observing the assortment of pictographs that Lykos had drawn and continued to enhance.

“I do remember, yes,” Lia nodded. When they’d discussed it, she had offered him her own input from what she could remember from her formal schooling, and Hilana had been sent to get what books could be found on the subject. Lia, in turn, had translated passages for the discussions and conversations on theory that she and Lykos had had. “That one can step beyond, obviously with the Traversion Rune.” The elder sister added. “Which they obviously can, since Astral Projection is one of their skills… but using Slipspace for it.” She was calm, letting her breathing match with his. This may have been where her ability in meditation helped. “So we shall see it played out,” she smiled up at him.

When the inkwell was offered, Hilana took that too. Decius checked his wards, and checked in with Finn with a glance as if to make sure that he was good, too. He could, after all, detect Symphonies that the other Sentinel could not, and Decius also intended to supervise the work being done now. Each of his different layers and spells would alert him if something was tripped, and the room was much more comfortable. The frozen Sundered aether above was secured, and with luck, what was taking place within the wards would go smoothly. No good Sentinel banked on that, though, and the man was well-prepared for disaster.

[Finn]

When his brother Sentinel glanced askance, he merely nodded, confirming that he was ready - come what may. His arcane senses were attuned to symphonies and slipspace, ready to react on a hair-trigger. Even his rune of reaving was primed so he could have his blade out at a moment's notice. Depending on how one gauged these things, Lykos could overwhelm all four of them with regard to power, but if he was interrupted during something delicate, he would have to rely upon them to keep his space under control.

Finn was ready, and while he didn't truly consider himself a mage, he was curious to see what he might be able to see of the magical undertaking. Of course, he had been warned that a great deal of the flashier magic was a lack of elegance, chaotic energies not kept in line by a will of steel, but... even if he wasn't on stages much anymore, he did love a good show.

Hopefully, there would be down time in Kalzasi and he could ask a million and one questions of the Drægir over pints at the High Hopes. It was his job, sure, but it was also quite interesting, and he had only been partially joking when he mentioned writing epics about Lykos, God of Winter in the future. Of course, they would have to be slightly less good than those he wrote for Aværys or, well, Daddy might get mad.

[Rickter]

The lupine draegir gave a soft smile to the older sister as she regaled him on some of their shared theories, and the principles that would allow him to achieve this sort of cleansing. Indeed, Traversers were capable of separating their souls from their bodies, astrally projecting them across space to explore areas from afar spiritually. Though Lykos knew himself as no Traverser, there wasn't any denial in his familiarity with the concept either.

And truth be told, he didn't need the Rune to be able to influence Slipspace either. The boundaries within his barriers were oft thought of as his own 'realm' of influence, so to speak, and though he'd hardly practiced with it himself; Lykos had seen how portals work in action thanks to the sisters before him. Slipspace was there, tangible enough for him to perceive, yet just out of reach when it came to the powers that be.

This was why he'd resolved to use Scrivening as part of this elaborate process, to create that separable boundary between flesh and soul, to allow him to reach within in a manner that would not harm Athalia. "Correct." He rewarded with warmth in his sharp and direct tone. "It oft begs the question as to what confines the soul. The mortal body is merely a vessel for it, but of course, we've already brought up these questions with one another."

And as their exchange reached a point of draw Lykos felt the flow of aether between them change, the very air of his own aura fluctuating a little as warmth suddenly washed over him. He could feel her. Athalia's presence. Her very aura had synergized with his after building such a connection, and he let it fill him with that very warmth while he drew closer to the woman. With the ink dried he lowered his free arm to rest on the middle of her back, to support her from where they stood close, with the ink-covered fingers held inches away from the glyph on her chest.

"And now comes the difficult part, my dear." Lights of his Negation rune danced across his arms, as aether flowed down into his hand to cause the spellwright's ink to glow on his fingertips. "I don't doubt your resolve with this, but you must proceed with the utmost patience. Remember to breathe, and I'll make this as quick as I possibly can." He assured her with a hopeful tone now, though, his eyes grew more stoic now that he had to brace for the next step in the process.

Channeling the aether through his Negation rune he charged the ink on his fingertips with the same potency, causing the glowing ink to spread into an array of swirls along his skin. They proceeded to branch along his digits, across his hand, and further up his arm as he then instilled the first layered tasks within the ward. Slipspace negation. The ward that would allow him to manipulate the forces of the physical and astral boundaries, for Slipspace could not be coaxed in living organic matter.

Second layer. Tasking the ward to integrate the aetherial signatures of Athalia's aura, so that while his hand might reach through flesh, it would avoid damaging her both physically and astrally in turn. With the wards in place, he proceeded to alleviate one of the wards within his own aura, allowing the synchronicity between them to finally sing out into the room. Though hardly audible to the perception of a mortal alone, the nature of their harmonized aura began to show seconds after.

It was a soft but warm flame that radiated off the pair, warm with violet hues due to the harmonization of their souls. It did make sense, of course, fire and ice were complete opposites and yet, they composed a rather melodic harmony for Mesmers such as Finn to hear. With his glowing hand posited near the glyph on Athalia, the pictographs immediately lit up with the same vibrant colors that glimmered up Lykos' arm. "Brace your self." He gave one final warning as a means of her knowing he was about to make his move, and with the touch of his digits across the glyph, Lykos' hand brightened before it finally made the plunge into her chest.

He felt it right then and there. The sudden discomfort that fluctuated throughout their shared space of harmony, the pressing within Athalia's being as he went in slowly to avoid causing more of a reaction. The demigod held his breath with scrutiny of his silver eyes, piercing the veil of flesh before him to scour the depths of her soul. He needn't reach so deeply within, just enough to coax the center of her being toward him, enough to where he could hold it himself once he finally felt it within grasp.

Lykos did not doubt Athalia's determination one bit as her resolve and will were both strong, however, prolonged exposure to this part of the procedure would only whittle that away bit by bit. He knew. He didn't have as long as he would like to scour every depth of her soul, luckily, he didn't need that amount of time to make it happen. Because once he found it, Lykos would be able to purge the Void from every fiber of her being... straight from her core.

"Steady on," he murmured to her gently, "we're there." He finally assured her as he felt the intensity of heat within her, the fire that burned throughout her entire spirit as it coated his fingers. Such a heat would've undoubtedly burned any mortal who threw caution to the wind, but, Lykos had instilled that second layer on his hand for this very reason. For while it was his own hand the aether of Athalia was what allowed him to brush and even coax it, and with the recognition of her signature, the heart of Athalia's very soul slowly came to rise from its depths.

Lykos slowly eased his hand out from where it had plunged, until at last, he brought out what looked to be a miniature sun at the surface of Athalia's chest. A sun that burned brighter and hotter than any other flame Lykos beheld, though, a sun he could also see was intricately coated with blackened flames in turn. His glowing hand remained near her flesh where the glyph still resonated, to maintain the connection between her body and soul while he worked.

"And now, we set you free." He promised the lady before him, proud to see her remain ever so strong through all the pain and discomfort he likely inflicted. Yet no part of her would remain damaged to his knowledge, as Lykos covered every faucet he conceived with this plan. Even now the brilliance of her soul radiated throughout their shared aura, as the core yearned to be returned to where it belonged within Athalia in turn. Lykos understood that yearning and knew Athalia herself likely felt that same innate tug, all that remained however was the final step of purifying her soul.