THAT ILLUSION || ONC 2021

~•{Chapter #13 (b)}•~

"Thank you, everyone. If not for you guys my soul would have been maimed." Her sleek sweet voice spilt the daggering words.

Replies were caught in the cage of awe and abstinence. Before they could discern it, she withered her disguise.

Or was she rewritten?

Her bruises and weakness were becoming a long last tales bygone the sail of centuries. Neither scars nor scabs were visible on her hands. The frail white cloth and the dried blood specks were perishing into nothingness. The crumbs of sand wobbled on the floors, making the shimmering strands retreat to their former place.

Her eyes were unusual, arduous but not full of vigour. Her slow yet graceful stride made them flutter. In fright or chaos? Not clear as crystals, but fiddling amusements smudged in the brink of uncertainty.

As she strode forward, the crude whiffs of coldness stirred the calmness, causing a calamity. A calamity that was enough to soak their convictions in the ocean of irony. What a misfortune

Amidst the pageant of dire satires, some bizzare spots of shine gleamed on her snowy robes, intensive enough to churn the seraphic peace.

Rohana's eyes grew wider, pleading to the mother of eternal force. She saw the colours form a sphere on her robe, akin to the visions she saw under the glints of pious moonlight. It slowly spread its streaks to silhouette her.

Purples, blues, greens, yellows... Reds! Her mind fueled her speculations.

The moment the red sparks joined to form a continuous orbit around the strange girl, the murky smokes, cold and frosty, robbed the earthly warms.

Within minutes her moist lively skins blanched slowly, flaking like the cracks on bergs while the other dews were frozen by crude illness. The smokes invaded her vessels, making them prominent and polluted with their iniquitous inks. Her smile was still prevailing, enough to hurt the witnesses.

Dazing storms of bewilderment uprooted the threads of calming claims. From the bewitched and appalling looks imparting them the barren accents, everyone stood frozen to their spot. Except for the one.

"No! We can't let this happen. Someone do something!" Her quivering cries weakened her more. She could understand, it wasn't within her limits but her pelting heart failed to accept the defeat.

"I will... Don't stop me, Hugh! Please let me save her. Please-" Her drenched earthly sapphires were unsettling enough to burn her soul.

"It's unstoppable Eir. Be pragmatic!" he yelled to deflect her.

"Hugh?" She gulped down her pain. She looked into his solicitous eyes looking for something that she had no clue of. But his ready mind read her right. He pulled her nearer and grasped her between his rippling arms, wading the barrens preying her.

But his eyes were glued to what was happening before them. Not just him but everyone was perishing in the ocean of irony.

The sourceless sphere of darkness sheathed her. Rattling hustles murmured some indiscernible sounds enough to make every neuron throb in peak pain. Some curled plugging their ears, some tried to lean on some support, closing their lids and ears to keep them sane. After all, it was the call of the abysm.

Rohana tilted her head to heed it. Kenna took some forward strides and twitched her ears to steady them.

Together, they saw the sphere predate the spirit. Unbearable cries and whines made them disimmune to mortifying chimes. Reflexively, every finger clogged the caverns of ears.

"Bewitching and bombarding!" Laurel yelled between his disgusting peeks while limping down to satiate his senses.

But, the diviners of Aetherth didn't retire. With time, sprouts of courage kept them alright. Through the clamouring noises, Rohana could infer something. If not for them her brows wouldn't be pleated to peck her temple. She wanted to be sure if they were a true sign. But how?