Wayfinding | Aaravos x Reader |

CHAPTER 21

With his face obscured, you couldn't observe much. But you knew that Harrow was struggling to compose a sentence. "It's just . . ." While the boy fumbled over his words, you snatched one of Seymour's devices from the ground and set it off behind you to buy you some time. "We didn't think much of it - he was walking funny from time to time but he said he'd be fine-"

"How long has this been going on for?"

Silence descended on the group. "Since last night."

After what seemed like minutes, realization dawned upon you. "Inyah . . . and the tree . . ." Your heart collapsed into the acids of your stomach. You turned your gaze to the blacksmith. "If you were injured - why not you say something? In fact, why are you here?"

"Because you're my little sister," as the plague mask shifted slightly upwards, you imagined Uzner smiling. "And injured or not, I will always be there for you . . ."

The worried pinch of your brows smoothed out. However, one began to form upon Harrow's face when he cried a delayed warning about a contender behind you. Before he could reach his scabbard, something peculiar happened. A vortex of infernal magic had encased the three of you. With blood as hot as ice, the boys craned their gaze towards you. They discovered a blue-ish mist radiating from your body, making you seem like a phantom of some sort. They weren't the only ones dumbfounded by your sorcery. Nearly everyone in the room had come to a pause - even Enox.

As you perched to your feet, you seemed unlike yourself.

In fact, those who knew of your magic felt that something was wrong.

The aura . . . it was not you.

With one hand faced towards the forcefield, you used the other to remove your mask. Harrow reached out in protest, but noticed the alchemist's fumes were sent outside the barrier with the flabbergasted ruffians. Caught in daze, they did not fend off the smoke that invaded their lungs. Instead, their orbs rolled into the back of their heads and allowed gravity to rule their anatomy.

"(Y/n)?" Uzner stammered, fretfully. "How - how do you know how to do that?"

You chuckled. But not with a voice that belonged to that realm or at least - not to you. You looked over at the lad with aureate irises and inky sclerae. "She doesn't."

As the boys were paralyzed with fear, Aaravos - in possession of your being - began his rampage with stifled magic. He started with expanding the diameter of the occult sphere, shrinking opportunities of escape for the black-marketers. He would have incinerated them had you not been so fragile, but while disappointed, he decided the physician's smoke would suffice. Speaking of which, at one point - even though he trusted you with his life - Seymour shrieked and scrambled out the path of the growing forcefield. Eventually, your guardian consumed the alchemist in his shelter. And one by one, your team was enveloped by the protective barrier while the ruffians were met with a tangible wall that forced them into subordination.

Finally - things were turning out right.

But there was a pit in Uzner's stomach that told him otherwise.

Meanwhile, your shenanigans blessed Enox with the perfect decoy to have an advantage over his employee and the blacksmith. Throughout combat, a nervous knot started to form in the back of his throat when he spotted the smoky devices that were thrown about. From the basic stench of the mixture, he knew it was not poisonous but deterring focus, even for a second, meant that he would likely lose his trade.

The trade he had worked his entire lifespan on - his pride and joy.

Knowing that the fog was fast approaching, the overseer devised a plan. Honing as much leg power as he could, he rounded on Inyah and blootered her. Slewing across the pavement, her own steel gashed her forearm. While she attempted at a recovery, Enox turned to Arkeus, hooked his sword with the Smith's and - while briefly and partially unarmed - threw a jab at the side of his face. The liberated plague mask met the earth along with its incredibly distorted owner. Slyly, the overseer spat at the Katolian and wore the item. Inhaling deeply, Enox was met with ample odors of lavender, mint and camphor.