42nd of Ash, 124 AS
The next several days passed much like the previous, but this time Lyra felt a sense of building anticipation. She continued to resist the draw on her aether with each and every cycle, and after each pass she would impart a portion of the saved aether into the blood crystal. It was slow to fill, but Lyra was not concerned. She would eventually need to experiment with the limits of her new storage mechanisms, but for now she simply enjoyed the security its presence brought her. In a moment of curiosity, during one of the passive draining cycles Lyra had left the crystal exposed, watching how it interacted with the magic of the prison. Perhaps expectedly there was a momentary draw on the outer layer of the crystal, but quickly the Veil she had carved into came into affect and the passive drain quickly shifted its focus elsewhere. In the end Lyra was delighted that, at least for the passive defenses, there was no loss of aether stored inside of the crystal itself.
It took some time before the next active drain came, but when it did Lyra was ready. As she had done many times before she cloaked herself in the Veil and began to resist the pull, but she did not disrupt the siphoning with a Hex immediately. Instead she watched the blood crystal and how it interacted with the active draw. At first it seemed as if the crystal would completely resist the stronger pull of the ward. The glyphs flared to life, wrapping the crystal in darkness that hardened to become a protective layer. The drain was persistent, however, and within moments the layer of shadows crumbled and was draw into the funnel. This Lyra had expected. Her own Veil could not resist the pull of the active draining wards, and she did not anticipate the one carved into the crystal itself would either. It was meant more as a stop-gap, a measure to give her other defensive means time to activate, but Lyra did not immediately step in to defend the crystal. Instead she watched, curious to see how the solidified blood do against the power drain of the prison. It did not take long for the first crack to appear in the crystal's surface, and with alarm Lyra quickly surrounded the crystal and threw up the strongest Veil she could muster. Once in place she sent out a pulse of chaotic magic, shaping it into the Entropic Ward which shattered against the offending funnel and halted the drain for a short time.
During the short respite Lyra repaired the crystal, bolstering its defenses and keeping herself wrapped around it as the drain sputtered back to life. It seemed that the crystal could not retain its form under the pressure of the active drain, possibly because the prison wards themselves were made to specifically target aether used in Vitalis related magic. It was very likely that, like Mesmer, her wardens knew of her rune of Vitalis and has included measures to counter its affects. Frustrating for certain, but not unexpected. It simply meant that Lyra could not leave her crystal out on its own during the active draining cycles. By wrapping herself fully around the crystal, and condensing to her slime form, Lyra created several layers of defense around the crystal. Doing so ensured that only her aether was absorbed, and none seemed to reach deep enough to touch the crystal itself. It was not a permeant solution, but with time Lyra would find a way to counter the active drain as well.
Despite the minor setback, Lyra was very pleased with the results of her Blood Crystal. In its current state she could push aether into the stone, and she had already tested and confirmed she could pull it out again as well. Its defenses were enough to fully resist the passive wards draining affects, and while it could not withstand the active wards it would hold long enough for Lyra to either disrupt the drain or wrap herself around the crystal to defend it. Certainly not perfect, but it was progress. Significant progress compared to what she had accomplished before now.
After her experiments, and confirming the limitations of her blood crystal, there was little else to do for a time than simply wait and fill the crystal as much as possible. So that was what she did. Day after day, cycle after cycle, Lyra pushed as much aether as she could spare into the crystal until she had enough for what she planned today. She had not held the power of Nyx for long, as it was a new magic, and her experience with the Mirror Realm was limited. She had not had much opportunity to explore it before she was captured, and the time before that she had spent preparing the Cradle for her her daughter... That was to say, Lyra was not very knowledgeable of the Nyxus and what it contained. She was certain it was a dangerous place, after all that creature that attacked the pup and his party had been partially from the void. She had also seen the shadow span which came from the shadows, linked to the Nyxus as well. It was dangerous, and unknown... and Lyra planned to step into it. Or rather, she planned to try. Thus far she had only attempted to throw her senses across the void into the neighboring shadows, but she had not attempted to step fully into the void itself.
Reaching into the crystal Lyra drew out enough aether to fuel the spell, and with just a moment's hesitation Lyra activated Passus. She felt as the darkness around her wrapped her fully, different than when she activated Fortis and created her veil. She felt a sensation similar to plunging into ice water, and then suddenly her world expanded.
Her body fell onto cold stone, spattering as her viscous state was slow to collect itself. She rose from the sludge, her body collecting and forming from the slime until she stood straight for the first time in seasons. Her physical body ached, and she felt the chill of the Void against her bare skin, but she felt... free. Lyra drew in a breath, closing her eyes and extending her arms out to her side and basked in the join of this simple luxury. She wiggled her toes, flexed her fingers, and then ran her hands over her skin... and froze in shock.
Her eyes snapped open and she looked down at herself, shock transforming to horror as she beheld her body, which has begun to wither and decay. Her skin, once pale as moonlight, now was a sickly grey and looked like sundried leather. Dark veins pulsed visibly under the flaking and cracked skin which stretched tightly over bone. She could count each and every rip, and there was no ounce of fat on any part of her body. With trembly hands Lyra reached out to touch her gaunt cheeks and sunken eyes, traveling higher to grasp at thin whisps of hair that barely clung to her skull. Her mouth opened as if to scream, but no sound came out and she was struck by how dry her throat felt.
"Blood starvation." Lyra croaked, her voice unrecognizable. She felt a wave of emotions collapsing over her then. Fear, uncertainty, doubt, fury, sadness and most of all shame. She felt as if she would cry, but there was no moisture left in this corpse of a body, and she simply collapsed onto her knees and cradled her head in her hands. Lyra had known but... She had not realized how bad it would be. She could not have anticipated...
A small tugging sensation drew her attention back to a crumbled pedestal behind her. Through the pain of her newfound discovery Lyra could still feel a link to the Prime Material Realm, more specifically a link to her prison. In that moment a small, unlikely hope was crushed as she realized that the Prison still contained a small fragment of her inside of it. Small, too small to be noticed normally, but enough that it would always draw Lyra back into it no matter how far she ran in the Void. Even here she was not free.
Looking back down at her withered hands Lyra suppressed the feelings of despair that threatened to overwhelm her. Slowly she curled her hands into fists before placing them on her lap and looking up and around herself for the first time. She saw she was in a reflection of the lab. She could see the same structures, the outline of doors down the hallway, and much more. There was much she could learn from this place, and despite the state of her physical body Lyra knew intellectually that she could use the Void to her advantage. Suddenly she had a place she could go, and it was very possible that there were resources here she could collect to aid her escape. It would take time, and exploration, but Lyra would use this place to her own ends.
When she closed her eyes again Lyra felt the cold of the Void like a soft blanket draping over her shoulders. Looking past the horror of her own situation... Lyra felt the presence of her beloved in this place. She was certain she imagined it, but she thought she could feel him watching her even now. That more than anything else gave her courage.
When the pull on her soul grew stronger Lyra let herself be pulled away, whisper back into her Prison where her thoughts began to race with new possibilities. She did not notice the pair of eyes that watched her as she left, both intelligent and dangerous.
The next several days passed much like the previous, but this time Lyra felt a sense of building anticipation. She continued to resist the draw on her aether with each and every cycle, and after each pass she would impart a portion of the saved aether into the blood crystal. It was slow to fill, but Lyra was not concerned. She would eventually need to experiment with the limits of her new storage mechanisms, but for now she simply enjoyed the security its presence brought her. In a moment of curiosity, during one of the passive draining cycles Lyra had left the crystal exposed, watching how it interacted with the magic of the prison. Perhaps expectedly there was a momentary draw on the outer layer of the crystal, but quickly the Veil she had carved into came into affect and the passive drain quickly shifted its focus elsewhere. In the end Lyra was delighted that, at least for the passive defenses, there was no loss of aether stored inside of the crystal itself.
It took some time before the next active drain came, but when it did Lyra was ready. As she had done many times before she cloaked herself in the Veil and began to resist the pull, but she did not disrupt the siphoning with a Hex immediately. Instead she watched the blood crystal and how it interacted with the active draw. At first it seemed as if the crystal would completely resist the stronger pull of the ward. The glyphs flared to life, wrapping the crystal in darkness that hardened to become a protective layer. The drain was persistent, however, and within moments the layer of shadows crumbled and was draw into the funnel. This Lyra had expected. Her own Veil could not resist the pull of the active draining wards, and she did not anticipate the one carved into the crystal itself would either. It was meant more as a stop-gap, a measure to give her other defensive means time to activate, but Lyra did not immediately step in to defend the crystal. Instead she watched, curious to see how the solidified blood do against the power drain of the prison. It did not take long for the first crack to appear in the crystal's surface, and with alarm Lyra quickly surrounded the crystal and threw up the strongest Veil she could muster. Once in place she sent out a pulse of chaotic magic, shaping it into the Entropic Ward which shattered against the offending funnel and halted the drain for a short time.
During the short respite Lyra repaired the crystal, bolstering its defenses and keeping herself wrapped around it as the drain sputtered back to life. It seemed that the crystal could not retain its form under the pressure of the active drain, possibly because the prison wards themselves were made to specifically target aether used in Vitalis related magic. It was very likely that, like Mesmer, her wardens knew of her rune of Vitalis and has included measures to counter its affects. Frustrating for certain, but not unexpected. It simply meant that Lyra could not leave her crystal out on its own during the active draining cycles. By wrapping herself fully around the crystal, and condensing to her slime form, Lyra created several layers of defense around the crystal. Doing so ensured that only her aether was absorbed, and none seemed to reach deep enough to touch the crystal itself. It was not a permeant solution, but with time Lyra would find a way to counter the active drain as well.
Despite the minor setback, Lyra was very pleased with the results of her Blood Crystal. In its current state she could push aether into the stone, and she had already tested and confirmed she could pull it out again as well. Its defenses were enough to fully resist the passive wards draining affects, and while it could not withstand the active wards it would hold long enough for Lyra to either disrupt the drain or wrap herself around the crystal to defend it. Certainly not perfect, but it was progress. Significant progress compared to what she had accomplished before now.
After her experiments, and confirming the limitations of her blood crystal, there was little else to do for a time than simply wait and fill the crystal as much as possible. So that was what she did. Day after day, cycle after cycle, Lyra pushed as much aether as she could spare into the crystal until she had enough for what she planned today. She had not held the power of Nyx for long, as it was a new magic, and her experience with the Mirror Realm was limited. She had not had much opportunity to explore it before she was captured, and the time before that she had spent preparing the Cradle for her her daughter... That was to say, Lyra was not very knowledgeable of the Nyxus and what it contained. She was certain it was a dangerous place, after all that creature that attacked the pup and his party had been partially from the void. She had also seen the shadow span which came from the shadows, linked to the Nyxus as well. It was dangerous, and unknown... and Lyra planned to step into it. Or rather, she planned to try. Thus far she had only attempted to throw her senses across the void into the neighboring shadows, but she had not attempted to step fully into the void itself.
Reaching into the crystal Lyra drew out enough aether to fuel the spell, and with just a moment's hesitation Lyra activated Passus. She felt as the darkness around her wrapped her fully, different than when she activated Fortis and created her veil. She felt a sensation similar to plunging into ice water, and then suddenly her world expanded.
Her body fell onto cold stone, spattering as her viscous state was slow to collect itself. She rose from the sludge, her body collecting and forming from the slime until she stood straight for the first time in seasons. Her physical body ached, and she felt the chill of the Void against her bare skin, but she felt... free. Lyra drew in a breath, closing her eyes and extending her arms out to her side and basked in the join of this simple luxury. She wiggled her toes, flexed her fingers, and then ran her hands over her skin... and froze in shock.
Her eyes snapped open and she looked down at herself, shock transforming to horror as she beheld her body, which has begun to wither and decay. Her skin, once pale as moonlight, now was a sickly grey and looked like sundried leather. Dark veins pulsed visibly under the flaking and cracked skin which stretched tightly over bone. She could count each and every rip, and there was no ounce of fat on any part of her body. With trembly hands Lyra reached out to touch her gaunt cheeks and sunken eyes, traveling higher to grasp at thin whisps of hair that barely clung to her skull. Her mouth opened as if to scream, but no sound came out and she was struck by how dry her throat felt.
"Blood starvation." Lyra croaked, her voice unrecognizable. She felt a wave of emotions collapsing over her then. Fear, uncertainty, doubt, fury, sadness and most of all shame. She felt as if she would cry, but there was no moisture left in this corpse of a body, and she simply collapsed onto her knees and cradled her head in her hands. Lyra had known but... She had not realized how bad it would be. She could not have anticipated...
A small tugging sensation drew her attention back to a crumbled pedestal behind her. Through the pain of her newfound discovery Lyra could still feel a link to the Prime Material Realm, more specifically a link to her prison. In that moment a small, unlikely hope was crushed as she realized that the Prison still contained a small fragment of her inside of it. Small, too small to be noticed normally, but enough that it would always draw Lyra back into it no matter how far she ran in the Void. Even here she was not free.
Looking back down at her withered hands Lyra suppressed the feelings of despair that threatened to overwhelm her. Slowly she curled her hands into fists before placing them on her lap and looking up and around herself for the first time. She saw she was in a reflection of the lab. She could see the same structures, the outline of doors down the hallway, and much more. There was much she could learn from this place, and despite the state of her physical body Lyra knew intellectually that she could use the Void to her advantage. Suddenly she had a place she could go, and it was very possible that there were resources here she could collect to aid her escape. It would take time, and exploration, but Lyra would use this place to her own ends.
When she closed her eyes again Lyra felt the cold of the Void like a soft blanket draping over her shoulders. Looking past the horror of her own situation... Lyra felt the presence of her beloved in this place. She was certain she imagined it, but she thought she could feel him watching her even now. That more than anything else gave her courage.
When the pull on her soul grew stronger Lyra let herself be pulled away, whisper back into her Prison where her thoughts began to race with new possibilities. She did not notice the pair of eyes that watched her as she left, both intelligent and dangerous.