#divineshadows

"Hey, Emil... where are we?" The mist around them had shifted, giving way to a space that, while sort of unfamiliar, felt eerily like he had been here before.

He's careful not to fall as they advance, taking a few steps ahead of his companion.

'We've heard that a new tree has been born.'

"Is that... me? And look, Emil, Richter's up ahead!" He keeps walking, then hesitates, looking back toward his friend.

"I don't remember this happening, so, it must have happened after I was brought here, right?" He closes his eyes... it feels like he's got a headache coming on.

Lloyd tenses at the sight of the boy before him as he steps into the next room, by the look of sheer terror on his face alone-- this wasn’t a place he should have ever been taken to, no matter how strong he was, no matter what else he’d endured in his life. As horrible as the memories were for Lloyd here, for Emil.. to see remnants of the tree that was once his own, corrupted and broken across the tower.. he couldn’t imagine how that would make him feel.

But the vines were dangerous, even if parts of them seemed dead, unresponsive to those around them-- memories of Sheena fighting against them, of Presea being pulled away by them immediately making Lloyd’s frame shudder. He reached out, grabbing Emil by the shoulder; trying to hide the pain on his own features.

“Emil, look at me. It’s not safe here-- we have to leave,” it was clear that it was taking everything in Lloyd to keep himself together; knowing he could fall apart at any moment if he gave himself the chance, but the end goal of the tower was keeping him grounded for the time being. He needed to be strong for Emil, too-- knowing if he couldn’t be, his friend might not be able to find the courage to keep going. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know, but we have to get out of here first. We're running out of time.”

“I’m in the back!” Ismael calls out from the backyard. The door that leads to the backyard is open and so she hopes Emil can hear her when he enters the house. Maybe keeping the front door unlock wasn’t a good idea, but it isn’t like she left it unlock all night. The moment she had shot Emil a text was when she unlocked the door. She’s responsible! 

“Hm? Emil?” Kay had come to the big tree in Cotes for the shade-- it’s usually a pretty quiet place to think. But even despite the sunlight, she was able to spot someone up in its branches. That’s pretty high up to climb, how’d he even get up there?

Even without low-hanging branches, a quick spider-climb was able to help Kay climb up to reach him, swiftly scrambling onto a branch beside him.

“Hey.” Now that she’s up here, she realizes she doesn’t really know what to say. He looks kinda pensive, maybe she’s interrupting. “Is now a bad time? I can go if you wanted to be alone, and, um...”

...

“This tree... does it have some significance?” Her hand is surprisingly gentle as she touches the trunk of the great tree, gazing up at its leaves.

In her exploration of the Cotes, she was surprised to see such a tree actually in the city. It’s something she had considered for the world she wanted to build so long ago-- nature fusing with the cities themselves.

...though she knows now a world like that is an impossibility.

✿           she’s not used to this. it’s like having a turning reaction to something once so natural. although having been conservative in how often she resorted to casting offensive artes, she’d always been capable of handling her own-- she was proud of that. but without an exsphere, the remnant of crystalized mana burned from the flux of mana leaving before she could properly rest and recuperate. 

she’d done too much, too quickly.

instead of cautiously babying the feeling, martel found herself blind in a tunnel, unable to even think. her lips felt numb, her next step painful, and then everything disappeared as she stumbled another step forward before collapsing to the gravel.

“Aster?” It has to be, this time, with those green eyes. “Hey, good to see you’re doin’ alright after the, uh, the storm, the other week.”

This is the second time this has ever happened and she doesn’t feel she’ll ever get used to it. That feeling of just BRIEFLY being sent home. JUST for that short amount of seconds being home only to be pulled away and dragged back here. She isn’t angry. In fact, this place has become quite like home to her.