It really did seem like Dyss was going to say something upsetting. He may have cut himself off before he had the chance to, but Aria still felt a sting in her heart. If it was about Attis, though . . . well, it wasn't undeserved. Attis was no Übermensch. Close, perhaps, but he was riddled with self doubt more often than not-- and so, he made mistakes even by his own ideas of morality. The Legionnaire, on the other hand . . . even by his own code of justice and morality, that was a man who made no mistakes.

Regardless, Aria sincerely didn't know what to do. She didn't know how she was here or for what purpose. There was something-- something she could attribute to "why" she was here, but she couldn't at all explain it. Still reeling from that and all she'd seen so far, she was sincerely at a loss. The most she could do, perhaps, was give Dyss the most advice possible.

"They say . . . said . . . that Legionnaire was the first Memory," Aria replied; she was trying to sound insistent, but that was ultimately lost. There was no change to her voice. "This would make him the strongest of all Memories . . ."

That was somewhat common knowledge back when Aria was alive, yet it had somehow fallen to secrecy in Dyss's time. Because the Legionnaire had become reclusive, apparently. He lost his two main enforcers and slipped off into the shadows. Perhaps he still controlled Memoria from there. Perhaps not.

"He can promote loyalty in us with just a touch," which would explain why Attis told Dyss not to let the Legionnaire lay a finger on him, at least, "If he knows of your rebellion, then he can-- and probably has already --turned the entirety of Memoria against you. You would never be able to fight him alone. Please, you cannot take that risk. You'll die if you do!"

Upon the end of Aria's verbal fears there arose a sound. Aria clearly didn't notice, but Dyss would hear it plain as day. It sounded like the pull of a tightly wound string, and the give of a thin wooden frame . . .

Dyss was starting to understand, perhaps, but the reality of it was... Terrible. To lose control just at the touch of the Legionnaire? Not to mention, he was quite a formidable looking person to start. What could Dyss do against not only the Legionnaire, but everyone else? Everyone but Attis must have turned against him, and Izumi was comatose or... He didn't even know. Aria was here, in a way, but she was in the process of fading...

He must have a we

Dyss stopped mid-sentence. His mind raced at this new sound, a sound he wasn't entirely familiar with. The only person in the world he cared to have know where he was was Attis, and that wasn't the right sound for Attis. Not at all. It was more like a weapon...

With that thought, the entire clearing would plunge into darkness. Dyss would simply stop allowing light to enter the area, or reflect out of it. His mode of seeing would quickly change back to the much more powerful normal style, and his body... There was little he could do in his somewhat awkward position. Reaching out, he grabbed his sword, leaning forward to throw his body over top of Izumi protectively, trying to find his attacker with his perception...

An arrow passed above the little bird and lodged itself within the bark of a tree not too far from it. The bird, however, let out a pathetic tweet as it lurched forward, off of the fallen tree and into the ground. What Dyss could neither see nor hear was the deaf girl laying upon the ground, gripping at her bleeding shoulder, and trying to reach blindly for any object she could use to pull herself up. Were Dyss unable to hear, he'd not hear the girl's whimpers or her incredulous and mortified exclamations. Aria was blind, confused, and afraid . . .

Though darkness lingered about them, there came another sound of high-test string being drawn back again. Another arrow had been notched.

In the distance, there appeared to be a being clad in a full suit of armor-- thin, shapely armor, to be exact. It almost seemed feminine with the way it curved. Dyss would have the same trouble with this that he had with the Legionnaire, though. He'd find it impossible to see through the armor, no matter how much he could possibly try. The armored figure carried a mid-sized bow with an arrow already notched and ready to be let loose. A dirk was also sheathed at the figure's hip.

There was another sound nearby-- though this one was not that of a bow. It was metallic and mobile, clicking with the frequency of a steady stride.

Dyss could hear plainly. He had no control over any sort of auditory phenomena. He was strictly able to control only light. So, Aria's cries were extremely worrying. Was she hurt? Dyss changed his vision back to the more limited vision that could see Aria, rather confused as to how the girl could possibly have been hit, when she was really just a ghost...

And Dyss couldn't really communicate with her. She never seemed to hear him, and she wasn't looking in his direction. Nor could he touch her... He assumed. And there seemed to be two figures approaching... Dyss remained hunched over Izumi, allowing much of the darkness to fade, but attacking, in a way.

Dyss unleashed a burst of ultraviolet light on his preferred target: the figure's bowstring. In seconds, the string would have the equivalent of days or even weeks of exposure to the sun, possibly slightly discoloring the string, and perhaps weakening it during a process that typically required the utmost performance...

There was something very strange about the bow. Dyss was doing something to it, but not at the pace he expected. The armored archer was able to let it fly without snapping the string. The launched arrow sang through the air, spinning rapidly and nearly finding purchase in Dyss's throat. It passed only inches from his skin. The darkness weakened the archer's arm, perhaps, but not by much. It slid the bow behind its back, however, and withdrew its dirk. Without further hesitation, it began a steady, cautionless approach.

One other body approached, however. Dyss would only have to look behind their position to catch the image of this one. Also clad in full body armor, albeit shaped in a more masculine way, this taller figure appeared to possess a longsword sheathed at its hip and wore a thick buckler over its left forearm. It wasn't too far away. Given perhaps thirty or forty seconds, it would be upon them.

Dyss would feel something on his foot-- something like a hand, followed in short by that feeling on his shin, then his knee, then up at his arm with a second hand. It felt like someone had truly been there, crawling up Dyss's body-- or, based on the shaky feeling those hands would provide, struggling to stand up and using Dyss for that purpose. The little bird by his feet made a frantic noise.

Dyss survived the arrow by no skill of his own; only luck saved him from a terrible death. Still, he was more surprised to feel Aria attempting to use him to climb up, her invisible body having purchase in the real world. Whoever the figure with the bow was, Dyss was pretty sure they were able to see Aria, and had terrible plans for at least himself and Aria, if not Izumi by extension...

The second figure wasn't difficult to guess. The Legionnaire was coming, too. The situation left Dyss little choice. Standing up straighter, he set the sword on the ground, moving back slightly to lay Izumi flat on the ground. He would look at Aria through the lens that enabled him to do so, He took his hands and clasped Aria's, taking what he imagined to be her hand on the injured side and laying it across Izumi's stomach, and her uninjured hand closer to her wound, which he didn't really want to disturb. He then looked her in the face, speaking slowly and clearly.

"Stay here by Izumi. We can't outrun them."

Turning to Izumi, he leaned in close, just above her face. He wasn't sure if she could see or hear, or if she was still in there at all. But if she was... Well, Dyss knew there was no way he could both carry Izumi and help Aria away, as tired as he was. Which really only left one option...

"I'm sorry to get you into this, Izumi..."

With that, Dyss placed his hand lightly on the side of her head, before closing her eyelids over her eyes. He didn't really want her to have to watch, paralyzed, if she could see. Grabbing the sword, he stood up protectively, keeping up the shield of darkness while he waited for the two figures to approach...

Pained as she was, Aria didn't resist at first when Dyss guided her back down, to kneel next to the girl, Izumi. She was hurt. It wasn't horrible, but all use of her right arm was fairly limited, and only created a stabbing pain through the right side of her body whenever she did anything with it. Her right shoulder was hurt; shot straight through, in fact. The already tattered cloth of her dress was torn at the entry and exit points, and blood continued to flow.

Strained though she was to pay close attention to anything in particular, Aria watched Dyss speak, took in his words, and when he stood up, felt a horrible sense of dread wash over her.

"Dyss, please!" Aria reached up to grab his arm again.

She hadn't protested at first, but she was certainly going to protest now. She couldn't see what was approaching her, but could make a reasonable conclusion: these were people under the Legionnaire's control. And since humans apparently couldn't be controlled by the Legionnaire, it stood to reason that there was a great kinship between Dyss, Aria, and these two unfortunate "volunteers" making way for them.

"You mustn't fight them. They are-- they are just Memories, they are Memories like you and I!" Aria insisted. "They are under his control. We should run."

Another problem-- one that she didn't express --was that if the Legionnaire knew where they were, and had more "soldiers" to send their way . . .

"Please!" she cried, the forced raising of her voice reducing her ability to enunciate, so much that this was almost completely unintelligible.

Dyss was somewhat surprised when Aria grabbed his free hand, his vision turned towards the incoming threats. They were... Just memories, true. But right now, they were dangerous. Dyss didn't know what they were doing, and they had already shot Aria...

Looking to Aria with the appropriate vision, he faltered. He bit his lip in indecision, the faint blue glow behind his blindfold fading to nothing. He was unsure; he didn't really plan to kill them. The odds of that were low. One unarmored man against two armored soldiers? But what was he hoping? What was he trying to accomplish?

"Fine."

Dyss quickly stuck the sword into Izumi's belt, his makeshift scabbard. Whatever happened, it was really unlikely to help him, anyway. Taking Aria's hand, he would help to pull her up, before reaching down to scoop up Izumi. As much as Dyss didn't care for the way Izumi obsessed about her weight, a tiny part of him wished she weighed less. While he wasn't actually any weightier than she should be, Dyss had never recovered from the physical exhaustion he had experienced. He was going to be slow, but it couldn't be helped.

"Let's go."

Dyss could see the approaching figures, and hear them, while Aria could likely do neither through the images. Dyss tried to lead them as far from both figures as possible, not really having a location in mind. Using the normal filter, such that he could see Aria, had advantages. He didn't have to focus so much on analyzing the ground in front of him. As they ran, he left a present of sorts: all the ground they passed that the soldiers might be pursuing through, he left an impenetrable layer of darkness, several inches off the ground. The relatively small effect could be spread over a long distance, and it ensured the soldiers would have to move somewhat more slowly or risk twisted or broken ankles and other essentially invisible hazards...

Aria may have been hurt, but her legs still worked just fine. She accepted Dyss's assistance to stand, and readily followed by his side. It was tough for her, though. Running through the woods required her to mind her feet. She nearly tripped once, and it was by pure luck that she managed to grab onto Dyss in time before she fell over and gained a new, even more debilitating injury than her shoulder.

She felt the momentary urge to suggest leaving Izumi behind so they might go a bit quicker, but changed her mind for several reasons. In theory, Izumi was just like these Memories-- a pawn of the Legionnaire. She was more an ally to them than an enemy at this point, but there was no guarantee strong enough to convince either her or Dyss of that. Perhaps she was out this far for a reason. Aria didn't want to see harm come to humans or Memories alike . . .

Likewise, this girl did not slow them down by much. Aria was not a fast runner, even when she wasn't shot in the shoulder. Even with Dyss slowed down by carrying Izumi, Aria was still hard pressed to keep up with him. Even if they left Izumi behind, the only way to quicken their pace would be for Dyss to carry Aria, and truth be told, the Memory of Song was only twenty pounds lighter than Izumi.

"D-- do you know this area well?" Aria asked in exasperation. She certainly didn't know this place. At all. She'd wandered it a bit, but that'd only taken her to choice locations and choice peoples. Right now, she had absolutely no idea where to go, only that they needed to go.

Aria, thankfully, did not suggest they leave Izumi. Dyss would have been rather upset with her, not to mention completely unresponsive to any arguments she may have. As long as Izumi wasn't actively trying to stick a knife in Dyss's back while they fled, he wasn't going to leave her...

Dyss wasn't blocking the view of the forest floor in front of either of them. That was only for the sake of pursuers. He could have tried to create illusions to throw them off, but in woods such as these, the noise made by fleeing was enough to lead a pursuer in the right direction. It was worth maintaining his concentration to avoid breaking an ankle or dropping Izumi...

Dyss had to slow down temporarily to talk to Aria. Since she had to see him to understand, he faced her and spoke slowly with somewhat exaggerated mouth movements.

"I have no idea where we are going. The Legionnaire must control the town by now. And Izumi's home is a long distance away, but it's the only place we can go."

Really, Dyss had no idea what to expect. This town was dangerous. Toushikyo and any number of other Memories could be here at this point, all under the control of the Legionnaire. Milos, Recheov, and Illorex must have been under his control, too... Which left Attis, or Izumi's friends. That was every possible ally they had in either world, at this point. And so, heading for Attis' workshop or Izumi's hometown was the only real choice, distance be damned...

"But . . . if he cannot control humans . . ." Aria whispered.

At worst, there was a whole village of people in serious danger awaiting them back there. An entire collection of souls whose minds could not be found; a whole village of wide eyed and slack jacked bodies laying limp and useless at the feet of a man who wished to kill them.

That . . . that was a horrible thing to imagine.

Dyss and Aria were running blind, at first. Their only direction had been "far from the soldiers." It took them parallel to the path, running towards Galaens, but ultimately arcing to the right once both figures were on their trail, crossing the road Attis and Dyss took to Hillcrest, and darting into the woods again.

Nearby, a twenty minute run perhaps, was a decent sized lake, set in the midst of a wide cut-out clearing in the woods. There appeared to be no individuals lying in wait there.

At the very least, though, they were making pace on the two armored figures. Dyss was leaving behind a trail, though. They knew exactly where to go, even if the path was more treacherous than before. The figures had never run for them, though. Upon meeting up and continuing the chase, they had little more than a jaunt at best.

Then it happened-- the second jolt. It nearly took Aria off of her feet. She fell into Dyss and grabbed hold of his arm to keep her footing. It was another spiritual quake, this one even stronger than the last. A wind rushed through the trees, a southern breeze, rising from Galaens and rushing up north through Hillcrest, that would leave behind a horrible feeling in the pit of Dyss and Aria's stomachs. A dark, foreboding feeling . . .

Dyss didn't say anything; nothing seemed important enough to stop and talk about. The entire town, it seemed, was already comatose... In a manner that may have been similar to Izumi. The Legionnaire could have been the cause of the events Dyss didn't really recognize? They still didn't know why everyone had been so torn up...

Reaching the lake and the seeming respite from pursuers, Dyss kneeled on a relatively soft area, looking for a grassy spot near the lake to lay Izumi down, temporarily. He was worn out; half walking and half running with Izumi was tiring, and Dyss had already been through a lot today... It seemed. Aria, he imagined, was going to take a chance to pause, too, and he would wait for her to get somewhat settled and watching him before talking.

"I'm going to look at Galaens. That's where that... Wind... Seemed to come from. I'll be back soon."

After a moment to receive some sort of confirmation from Aria, Dyss would lay back, next to Izumi, moving his perception rapidly towards Galaens. Galaens was, after all, the only safe spot he was aware of... For now. Once there, he would try to focus on anything of interest...

Once they reached the lake, Aria slowed down to a stop, before ultimately collapsing to her knees in the sand. She panted, wheezed, and winced, but felt more relaxed here than she did back in the clearing. This place had an ambiance. It felt like it was special, if not to her, than to someone else. Perhaps to a number of people. And she could see why.


There was, however, a new experience for Dyss. A new vision, to be precise. This one had no spoken words, but the boy he'd been seeing so often was there-- perhaps a constant with these visions. He was forced out of the forest, literally thrown from the woods at a bone-breaking pace. He struck water fast, creating a large wave that engulfed a fair eighth of the lake. A man Dyss would recognize as Toushikyo broke from the woods with a purposeful stride. He made way for the water's edge, and without hesitation, took a step upon the lake. The very second his foot touched the surface, the lake began to freeze rapidly, and it took all the willpower the boy had to get out before he was frozen solid . . .


The softest spot lakeside happened to be the shore. This lake's beach was a mixture of dirt and sand. It would feel cool and relaxing against Dyss's back, even in the warmth of this summer night. The lake reflected the moonlight above, attracting Aria's attention without fail. She'd never seen it before. It took looking down to convince her to look up-- and suddenly, the girl felt minuscule. She saw the moon and the stars and looked out into the endlessness of it all. It was so different than the fog of Purgatory. Even beyond the walls of Memoria, Aria always felt restricted. She always felt like there was an end somewhere. But here, in this world, staring up at a cloudless sky . . .

There was no end to it.

Ozrik would have loved this.

The thought of him brought Aria down, though. She trailed her eyes to the water, then back to the sand, then back to Dyss, who she found was about to try getting her attention in the first place. She watched his lips and nodded her head. Like it or not, she had to turn around and face the woods, if only to keep a look out for Dyss. She didn't quite understand the full extent of his powers, but by the way he laid down, she expected he was only going to be here in body for a little while.

"I will watch," she replied, "And alert you if anyone comes."

Of course, putting a deaf girl in charge of watch duty might not be the best idea in the world, but Dyss didn't really have any alternatives right now.

Fortunately, it seemed their pursuers had found a new direction. Were Dyss to examine them, he'd find that they'd stopped at the road, turned down towards Galaens, and began a steady walk towards the city. Aria and Dyss had entirely lost the soldiers' attention . . .

Further on in the distance, however, Dyss would find something even more troubling. To the east from Galaens, there appeared to be a powerful, lingering, and pulsating darkness, one that Dyss could in no way penetrate; he could neither alter this darkness nor add to it-- but it wasn't alone. Clashing with this was another color of almost equal color: what appeared to be a wide, emerald flame, covering much of the flora around it, slowly eroding all life away, but kept from touching Galaens-- blocked by that foreboding darkness.

Dyss was confused by the image of the fight on the lake: Toushikyo hadn't seemed too bent on combat today. Or, perhaps as normal, he was just seeing something strange... Images of someone else. Really, that wasn't an entirely new experience, given his existence as a Memory, but they usually weren't like this...

Seeing the soldiers going towards Galaens was both heartening and disheartening. Heartening because they were leaving, at least for the moment. Disheartening, however, because that was really the only thing even resembling a safe haven for them, and it was certainly lost to them. The darkness that seemed to almost be clashing with the destructive green flame was perhaps no better for the town... But he certainly couldn't bring Izumi there...

And thinking of Izumi, he turned his attention to the town of Hillcrest. He had seen the building where Milos had taken all the comatose villagers, but he had never really inspected any of them. Were they awake? Were they acting like Izumi? Did the situation offer a clue of helping her? Dyss didn't know, but with Galaens lost to them, he needed to try to do or learn something useful before returning his consciousness to the lake...

Milos had only taken one villager anywhere-- that of Mayako Takamine, a girl he had saved from the shadows that overtook the village of Hillcrest. He'd taken her back to her home, or what he thought was her home, based on the fatigued and shaky directions the girl had given him.

Nonetheless, back at Mayako's house, the girl was sleeping soundly in bed. She was the only one getting quite that level of sleep, though. Her mother and father, in bed together in an adjacent room, were less sleeping and more . . . unconscious. They did not stir like a sleeping person. And beyond that, within other homes, everyone else appeared to be in the same state. Their eyes were shut and their breathing was steady; they laid in bed and looked at peace, but they did not stir the same way a sleeping person did. If they weren't breathing and their blood wasn't flowing, they might have even looked dead.

More worrisome, however, would be the image in the center of town. Milos was no longer anywhere to be found, at least not in Hillcrest, but the Legionnaire, Toushikyo, and Recheov were all present and accounted for. Toushikyo was not speaking, though the Legionnaire and Recheov were talking. It seemed to be a more serious conversation, though. Recheov wasn't grinning. He wasn't even smiling. He smoked a cigarette and looked ahead somberly.

They weren't the only Memories active in the area, though. Toushikyo, too, looked into the distance, and like Recheov, stepped aside and gave the Legionnaire the space to address it.

In the distance, two Memories dragged Illorex by the arms. He was barely conscious. He twitched his fingers and parted his lips to pant, but he was badly beaten and barely had the strength to lift his head. The boy and girl that carried him waltzed him down through the main drain, through the village and ever closer to the center.

The two that dragged Illorex were two that Dyss knew personally. They kept to themselves, but they were good people. They were no older than how Dyss, Izumi, and Aria appeared-- fifteen or sixteen by human standards. They both had black hair; the girl's was long, down to the middle of her back, and the boy's was short, down to his ears. The girl was thin, wore a casual tank top and jeans. She carried a crossbow at her hip. The boy, too, was skinny, but tall, and wore a black jacket, zipped up, and jeans. He carried a dagger at his hip. Dyss knew them as Kyla and Hugh-- the lovers, content to spend the rest of their days together and happy than hopelessly search for a cure for their temporary lives. They could accept the bleakness of Purgatory because their counterpart was there.

But now, Kyla and Hugh were different. There was an emptiness in their eyes and their breaths were far too steady. Far too controlled.