[TWFNE] Week 226: Inner Light

[MoonlitRain014]

Diamantus crossed the floor in a few powerful strides. She put a burly muscled arm under Cassius' arms and held him up as if he weighed little more than a child, supporting him with her bulk. Looking down at Aeria, she sighed. "What a Vis-damned mess! Are you alright, Aeria, can you hear me?"

A faint voice drifted up from where the spurii lay on the floor. "Fuck. It all hurts. It all fucking hurts, Diamantus."

The velen nodded, still supporting Cassius as healing energy flowed from his body to hers and Aeria's, as a brief smile twisted her lips. "You'll be alright. Once you start swearing, it's a good sign."

With difficult, the spurii turned to look Diamantus in the eye, neck feeling like a spear of agony. "Remind me...not to get hit with fucking meteors in the future. Vis-damn it!"

Laying on the ground, Aeria's face began to soften in its set lines as Cassius' healing magic went to work, flowing over her and causing her entire frame to start also relaxing.

 

[Mystydjinn]

Aelflead herself said nothing.

She'd somehow thrown Keydis harder than she'd meant to -knocking herself on her ass in the process- and judging from the small flames dancing on her fingertips, the softened stone cooling beneath her feet, and her the stinking mess of charcoal that used to be leather covering her feet; she had done far more than that too.

Kicking off her ruined boots removed any suspicion of the meteor's lingering heat being the culprit, -the ground was ice cold- and even what she could make out from reading the runes carved on the pillars did little to suggest that any kind of old magic had been the culprit. The only thing close to an explanation that she had were the flames still lingering on her fingers at that moment, and the familiar heat that was still coiled in her limbs at that moment.

The redhead had questions, but considering the circumstances, a detailed string of experiments would have to wait. No shambling horrors right now merely meant: No disgusting rotting mess that I can fucking see. At least, as far as she was concerned. Instead, the surly woman surveyed the room.

Aside from widening the chasm in the chamber further than the spurii thought should have been structurally possible, most of the damage that had come about as result of the brawl seemed to have been inflicted primarily on the fighters themselves. As Aelflead took notice of the two strangers tending to Aeria, then Aeria's battered form, her mind drifted towards Gwendolyn. Hopefully, she thought, that nut is still lying on the gurney talking those medic's ears off.

For a moment then, she considered the look of excitement and wonder that would stretch across the campfire patterned girl's face at word of fact that she had just exploded for no reason. Aelflead felt herself smile.

Then the redhead's mind turned to the unsettling image of Gwendolyn's severed leg, and the girl's stupid insistence that she delve into these unholy ruins in her place. She berated herself for listening, ashamed of her judgement being addled by her past fury, for giving her word to a promise so stupid instead of dragging the kid away somewhere safe. The woman's smile disappeared and her jaw set, her fists clenched.

Aelflead imagined for a split second, the small girl lying broken, and in place of the woman before her.

Then Aelflead opened her eyes again. She was burning hotter now and her fingertips were still bright, but at least she was angry. That would be enough to get her through the rest of this mess focused. Or at least, as a smaller voice drove her to pick up the daggers that the rogue had left behind and take up watch nearby Keydis mused, that's what she hoped.

Final WC: 469 out of 1,662