[Hilana, Finn] Munda Cor

[Hilana Chenzira]

Lykos had nearly a full foot in height over her, but Lia kept her eyes on him all the same. When his chest rose, so did hers. When he released his breath, so did she. She understood what was at stake here, and how they needed to be as in sync as they possibly could be to have the best chances of success. The glow that came off of him was reflected on her own dusky skin, at least, what was exposed. "Take your time. Do it once, do it right. We will endure." It wasn't so much determination as it was faith in their friend. If it was possible to be done, then he would do it. It was that simple. She'd certainly prayed on it enough to He of the Sceptre and She of the Scourge. Through endurance, they conquered.

But when he warned her, it took all of her focus and ability with meditation for what came next. Even with Hilana there, clutching inkwell and brush, ready to grab onto one or both of them if she had to, Lia kept her focus on Lykos. The sensations felt strangely surreal, even for someone who had been in the Void like she had. She may have been Fire, but her 'nature', such as it was, was also that of the Void. And the Void was always hungry. Red fire threaded through black, like one of the opals the sisters crafted with Elementalism. Inasmuch as he was doing everything that he could to keep her as safe and comfortable in this process, there were some things that couldn't be cured, and as such, they had to be endured. And the unique agony of this was something she'd never be able to explain to anyone else.

She did not look down at his hand, but just kept her gaze upturned towards him. Her eyes were far away, focused more internally than externally. She breathed, bracing herself, in her head repeated the mantras that she had within her from years of meditative practice. She had the passages of the Radiant Chronicle. She had her sister, Lykos, even Sentinels Finn and Decius. Lia wobbled, breathing, before stilling herself and focusing her breath and inward. She was an Elementalist, she could grasp the teachings of Earth. She had to, if she wanted to be free.

[Finn]

Finn had known going into this that he was largely useless. Hilana had tools to bridge space. Decius was a competent Sentinel. And while he didn't know her sister well, Hilana was a friend and Lykos was fast becoming one. He wanted to be there to support them, and to support his fellow Sentinel should anything go awry. It was interesting to observe with his mundane senses, and try to understand more of what was going on through his arcane. But objectivity was difficult from him, and he could sense the suffering. This was not an intellectual exercise. There was risk involved, anxieties.

At first he was humming, not truly aware of it. When he became aware of it, he was able to identify the simple melody: a hymn to Aværys that he had heard among Hilana's people when he visited with his fiancé. It was the sort of thing one taught to children, but he found it calming.

Everyone here present had their protections, so he didn't attempt to push through them, but he began to sing, which always made his Mesmer more effective, more elegant. He offered calm and the reassurance he had found in Aværys' grace and wisdom. It was the sort of thing he imagined Lykos would develop as his years passed beyond those of mere mortals. His mesmeric melody melded with a literal melody, and his magic flooded the room, a calm and focus offered to whomever chose to accept it.

Finn hadn't intended to claim this space for his God, but his brow began to glow faintly. Perhaps he was hallowing the ground and the air with his song. He wasn't a priest like Vrædyn Princeps, nor was he as long-standing an Empyreal Lord. Eventually, he would know how best to use the divine bequest. For now, he followed his instincts.

[Rickter]

The fluctuations within Athalia's aura weren't concerning yet but Lykos knew, especially given the depths he had to reach just to coax her soul out forward. It wasn't intended to be a complete removal after all, just a means of bringing her core to the surface for him to perform the task at hand. Truthfully, he had never imagined himself ever capable of handling such an impressively genuine thing, and now that he finally did, the lupine demigod felt every bit of fire that coursed through the Vastiana's very veins as a result. A fire that burned as radiant as it was hot now that he'd managed to bring the core to the surface. Such fire felt intense through his own hand and forearm, and had he not forged the resonance between them, Lykos felt confident that she would've undoubtedly burned him in the process.

But as their souls remain interconnected, even entwined to a degree, Athalia's own soul would remain protected by the veil that was Lykos' own soul. For it was both the barrier as well as the medium between their auras. Now all that remained was for him to finish the task of purifying it, which left the demigod to ponder what method of approach felt the best for this procedure. In the beginning...

Lykos had learned to isolate substances that could be traced throughout the body, toxins that shouldn't have belonged could be contained so long as he identified their source. Athalia had it right in regarding that he needed to only do this one time, preferably the right way as well, which was why he felt it most important to reflect on the concepts he'd learned with approaching this cleansing ritual.

Thus when he learned to apply this technique to a more sentient soul, he realized at the time the difference in depths of auras and how intricate they were to the mortal coil. Afflictions of the body were different of the soul, this Lykos knew, and yet somehow they could somehow coincide with one another almost intricately.

Finn's humming kept him calm as Lykos' thumb lightly brushed over the surface of the orb, Athalia's soul still radiating through him as he felt his Divinity gradually lessen the heat in his arm. Now think, Lykos. Wherein are we going to find that boundary? It was an incredibly thin line that even challenged his mastery over Semblance, however, the wolf had not forgotten the trials of his experiments with the aetherite shards he'd performed a fortnight prior to the cleansing ritual.

The Void was corruptive of whatever it touched, however, when it changed the aspect of aether it didn't corrupt it. Merely converted the mystical energy within the crystal. He'd observed this from conducting energies with the Void into the Aetherite, turning it into Voidrillium as a result of the experiment he performed at the time. This made it clear that no boundary remained pertinent, but rather, the essence of the Void merely converted energy in a similar capacity.

Coaxing that energy would remain difficult at best, only because of how intricately tied it had been to the energy in turn. At the time this was only with the Aetherite shard, however, it was a less complicated signature of aether than what a soul possessed. Lykos nearly grimaced save for the fact he didn't want to discourage his companions, not when he knew the answer remained right before his very eyes somehow. Coaxing the energies out of her soul would take a bit longer and, quite honestly, Lykos truly felt that he didn't have that kind of time on his hands.

Athalia was stalwart and resilient but this was literally her soul he'd be breaching with magic, one wrong move and he could easily undo all the progress he'd made already, and that was not withstanding any long term damage he'd do to her once the attempt would be made. I've already reached pretty deeply in, but now I'll have to go even further with just my own aura. As he already knew, invading her aura would likely generate reactions that risked undoing the resonance they had built together, but to effectively remove the Void from her soul, it would require him to immerse his own soul into her for a short duration of time.

What would that entail afterward? It was difficult for Lykos to assume. But it had to be done otherwise all of this would be for naught, and they'd be back to square one or worse in the end. Thus he breathed in deeply through his nostrils with the closing of his eyes. "Athalia... You're going to feel something strange take place. Just remember to breathe, and let it fill you no matter what your instincts demand." He aimed to make it as noninvasive as possible but therein remained the challenge, just how much of his soul could he rest within Athalia before things grew drastic?

There was only one way to find out, thus with a slow and steady breath, the lupine draegir gradually directed his soul to course through her. Not with her astral body just yet, but more so her physical form, so that she would grow accompanied to the feeling before it seeped deeper within her. Undoubtedly she felt a rising cold creep over her, as he felt the radiant heat coming through him lessen impeccably as a result. Still, he paced the amount of aether his aura flowed through, allowing it to gradually fill her being while the violet ethereal flames radiating from them both brightened.

A cerulean light soon filled them as his witchmarks brightened across his features, his face and shoulders immediately alight with the specks of lights that danced across his flesh. It was ultimately now or never for him to perform the cleansing, as Lykos knew the prolonged exposure would only hinder the attempt if he waited any longer. Thus he remembered the finality of his experiments, and how the process of coaxing the corrosive aether required a refined sense of patience. Thankfully, that temperance had been well exercised thus far, and the last step in the procedure would not need such a lengthy attempt.

Find the boundary that exists between the souls, he reminded himself with the return of his gaze, use your own soul to establish the lines and create a proxy, Lykos. The rune on his left forearm started to glow as the energies of the Void soon radiated throughout their shared aura, the lupine demigod's silver gaze piercing deep into the depths of the orb he held to find those separate boundaries. There! A moment of surprise took over his determined gaze when he found the source, and where the boundaries between his soul and her soul remained intact. Now, forge the anchor, and then extract the energies within.

The crown of his Nimbus finally manifested as he breathed in deeply, the surrounding ice in the room suddenly alight with the Northern Lights that burned ahead of the crown. With the radiant core of Athalia's soul held over his palm the wolf generated another flow of aether, using his Negation to form a barrier around the outer edges of the orb with careful precision. With the ward soon instilled over the layer of aether he then started to coax his aura within, targeting the essence of the Void so that it's presence would be filtered from the rest of Athalia's being overall. There. His Rune of Nyx burned on his outer forearm now with a searing pain, one that slowly intensified as he gradually retracted his own aura from within Athalia's soul.

The cold that she felt deep within her started to diminish moments after, as the violet flames that burned off their shared resonance fluttered in response to the aetheric flow purging it from Athalia. The ice all around shone as bright as the magic Lykos cast, and as he drew that darkness of the Void into himself, he directed it's course toward the very black rune that burned violently upon his flesh. The aether particles that radiated off their souls soon brightened in response, and sure enough, every ounce of the Void's presence gradually seeped out of Athalia as Lykos drew it into himself. Utilizing Osmose to perform this feat had paid off far greater than he imagined, and insofar, the damage had remained little on Athalia's entire being throughout the process.

While his left arm which supported her frame at the low of her back darkened, the veins that coursed through it merely revealed where the inky blackness flowed to. Until finally every bit of which he'd siphoned from her soul merged to rest within his Nyx rune, where he transferred the energy back into the Void where it belonged, and found that both of their souls were no longer at risk of injury from the Void. Now that the procedure had finished, the lupine demigod eased his fingers just a little, and turned his palm so that he could gently nudge the core of her soul back to where it belonged. It didn't take but a second for that fiery sun to slink back within the confines of her body, where the radiant heat filled her being once more before the Resonance between them finally broke.

With the purification ritual complete, Lykos eased significantly in his shoulders and released his hold over all his runes, causing every bit of light in the room to cease when he briefly staggered on his heels a moment. He had been physically, mentally, and even spiritually exhausted from the ritual; spent in every way of the word he found possible. But that didn't stop his blue eyes inspecting the result of the procedure, from the darkened spots on his left forearm, to the very woman that he'd hopefully cleansed both body and soul. "Athalia? How do you feel?" He inquired earnestly in between pants, hopeful that she felt every part of her being intact and free.

[Hilana Chenzira]

Hilana was thankful for the hymn from Finn - she was certain that Lia would have appreciated it too, though she thought her sister was far more focused on keeping herself as still and calm as possible, and not, despite the urges and every sense that she possessed screaming for her to do something, anything, to make this stop. She mouthed 'Gratias' at her Karnorian friend, not wanting to add to the sounds around them otherwise. Athalia breathed, repeating a passage over and over and over, fighting the pain and sensations that were going on. She needed to stay centred and grounded, and considering her very soul was being worked over, her essence being changed as Lykos utilized his mastery in multiple disciplines to do what they had only theorized as possible.

At the edges of Lia's awareness, Finn's light shone and it was warm. Away from the cold emptiness of the Void... and to the warmth and light of this world. Divine Radiance, Argent Resplendence, give me strength. Please help me through this so that I may serve Your goals. She could not pray to Lykos as that was sacrilegious, but she believed in their friend all the same. She had faith in him and what he was doing. Orange and black entwined with blue, even as tendril after tendril of the black was stripped away, surgically excised with the precision that she would expect from a master Kineticist.

While Athalia was resolute, Hilana was glad of the ink well and brush that she held, because if she hadn't had those, she might very well have been wringing the fabric of her cloak while they observed this ritual. At Lykos' warning, though, she looked to Lia, biting her bottom lip. "I understand," the elder of the two women murmured. The way the Rathari's Rune of Nyx was glowing, Hilana half-wondered if he was sending that energy that was being stripped from Lia back to the Void. That cold was not as horrific as the other sensations, but for someone who was Arche to Fire, it was unpleasant indeed. But with her soul in his head, her legs did waver until she checked herself, her breathing resuming as her hands relaxed. Calm, peace. With every breath, she was letting go of the sensations, and she was inside, bathed in the light.

Decius observed the whole procedure through Semblance - as young a demigod as Lykos was, that didn't discount his power. The experience of the Sentinel helped with keeping his own sanity intact while he observed this procedure. He would need to make the report later, and this way... if they ever needed to do this again... it could, perhaps, be replicated. Or, well, have him do it again. But with luck, there wouldn't be a reason for this to be done again. This was also a chance to see Nyx in action, and considering how new the Rune was... it was another valuable opportunity for him and the order to be prepared for it later on.

When the lights seemed to flicker, Hilana was not about allow the darkness to envelope them, though it stabilized without her needing to do something about it. Decius observed Athalia and Lykos to make sure that there were no traces of the Void leaking from either, and was well-satisfied with the results. The wards had taken a bit of a beating around them, but he turned his attention to layering the ceiling once more, less concerned about the others. That mess was the only worrisome part of this place to him now that the worst of the ritual had passed. Now it was about recovery, and hoping that the Void hadn't stripped out chunks of Lia with it when it was being excised.

Hilana focused on the earthen floor around them, and the golden floral rune that filled her right palm became active while she formed chairs from the ground for Lykos and Lia to sit on and rest. With the ground rising to meet her, Lia sat, her chest rising and falling raggedly. There was a scar under her clavicle, where Lykos had reached into her being. She took a minute to answer his question, needing to think about it. "I am warm," she said slowly, with a small smile. "Risen from the ash anew." She was also exhausted, but she was no longer cold - the fire within her roared anew, surging from the top of her scalp to the tips of her toes to the ends of her hair, and her hands found the demigod's. She squeezed them, though her grip was not as strong as it usually was. Hilana set aside the inkwell and the brush, getting out her star thistle restoratives for the two of them. The pale purple liquid was offered to the two of them in vials, and Athalia only released Lykos' hands so that they could take them. "I thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Gratias," she bowed her head and shoulders to him respectfully. She would hug him when they had had a bit to recover. But for the first time in what felt like forever... she felt free.

Freedom, true freedom was a lie, as any Varvaeryn devotee knew, as there would always be a master. But for now... for the first time in forever... that master was no longer the Void. That pull, that tether, that horrible corrosion... was gone.

[Finn]

Finn might have done more had he been sure it would have helped and not hindered. He had told Lykos months ago that he wasn't adept at complex magical rituals, so while he had considered pulling aether through his emblem to invoke Aværys' Presence, he didn't know if that would throw Lykos for a loop, even knowing many voidborn cowered from the God's light. And so he provided his musical anchor and observed with eyes and runes, the better to add his supplementary report to Decius' own when the time came.

Not fully understanding what was happening, not fully being able to even sense it, was quietly nerve-wracking. He didn't release his breath when all was complete; his song had maintained better breath control than that. He did, however, feel tension release across his broad shoulders.

His eyes met Decius' briefly, and they shared a nod. They remained upon the same page here, and Finn continued to sing from his side of the room while Hilana urged the others to sit. Finn had no need to rest, and his hymn urged them to relax, to release, and to rest so that they could recover and move on. It was a momentous thing Lykos had done, even if it only affected those in the room, and Hilana's family. Further incursions on their realm from the Void would bring harm, but that could be mitigated with Lykos' ritual.

As much as he wanted Karnor to be safe, it was likely his immediate family would stay in Solunarium after visiting, and he rather hoped Lykos remained a resident of the Atraxian empire, the better to protect those Finn cared about. He could understand, he thought, why some drægir and moritasi opted to remain in one place, protecting one people. Those Gods ascended higher, farther from mortals, might not feel so bound to their people.

Finn definitely wasn't so highly evolved.

[Rickter]

All of his immediate concerns had been wavered when Lykos heard the voice of the older sister. Athalia's very being had been touched by his own aura, his aether, just so that he could separate the Void from Athalia entirely. That particular approach would only reveal repercussions born from those consequences later, but for now, he at least found peace in knowing all of his continued hard work had truly paid off. "Good..." He mused at her expression of feeling reborn anew, having understood the concept behind it given his disposition in the endeavor.

In a roundabout way, he was indeed carrying out the will of his Deific powers in truth. Frost always marked the end of something, as well as the imminent rebirth of life soon after. Whether this was a mere faucet of his own power or a hint at what his Domain allowed, he would think on that later, for now his weary gaze remained on Athalia as he gauged her for every meaning of the phrase. And she spoke truly. He needn't even the use of Semblance to scry into her soul, not when he could see the color return to her cheeks and the fire rising in her eyes.

Death had drawn close but she had shed those parts of her that He would claim, and in hindsight, the Void itself still reclaimed that which it yearned to return to the abyss in the end. "Good." He finally remarked with a very hearty curve to the side of his lips, his legs finally ready to buckle as he plopped right into the surface of the stone chair. Hilana had always remained considerate of those around her even toward the end of a strenuous task, never once failing to remind Lykos of her incredible capacity for kindness even with the chains of domination heavy clasped on her.

He'd studied enough Varvaerynism under the tutelage of the sisters themselves, and therefore, knew how integral the influence of their faith remained to the Twins. Though he had yet to meet them for Himself, Lykos knew that day would be drawing upon him rather swiftly. Bearing that in mind though, he allowed his upper shoulders to ease when he finally relaxed, and took note how the others in the room remained now that the ritual had been completed. Both Finn and Decius had been incredibly helpful in supporting them here, even if they had only played the roles of guards during the scene of event.

For a moment, the Lupine Draegir had dreaded the possibility of a different scenario playing out, in the event his aether couldn't have siphoned out the Void from Athalia. How drastically chaotic things could've developed then... Regardless, he did not wish to dwell on that thought. Now, now was the time for celebration even through the sense of weariness, because the one thing that Athalia deserved more than anything had finally been given to her.

She could truly taste her own sense of freedom again. She proceeded to thank him as phials of lavender-like concoctions were soon posed at the both of them, the wolf returning Athalia's generous affections with warm yet simple squeezes of his fingers between her hand. Of course, his left side had remained blackened and less reactive to his twitches than the right, but the Draegir could still feel the painful twinges that burned through his fingertips when that happened. Such was a well enough sign that his hand would heal over time, and with these restoratives Hilana made for them, perhaps even lesser than usual since Lykos slowly regenerated on his own.

"Tis per my thanks to you," the wolf then riddled to the older sibling in response, "your gratitude is the same as I've felt for you. Every one of you." He gently remarked as he accepted the tincture with a restful grin. "I woke up a stranger to myself and the world here, and afterward, all of you have helped me understand what I am. Who I am." That sense of clarity remained prevalent in Lykos' gaze even now, as he peered around the stone room before appreciatively glancing at everyone present.

"I'm proud to have met you. To have worked with you. And, I am proud to support you in any way I can." He expressed before raising the phial as a gesture of a toast. "I'll definitely drink to that." Lykos mused as he meant every word, hoping that it relayed the depth of gratitude he felt in return. If healing a person in the manner he did meant expressing that gratitude, he'd certainly express it a thousand times over so long as it remained in his power. When he downed the substance and tasted a tangy serum with a tinge of bitterness, Lykos then grinned wholly at the four people present in his room.

Every single one of them... Someone he'd considered rather close to a living pack.

[Finn]

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Notes: Looks like this one has run its natural course. Reviewing to make room for more contemporary shenanigans.