"Uuuuuh! What's going on with ya Vivi?" Waving her hands Ashley would summon two revolvers out of thin air and aim them at Vivian. Her eyes trained on Vivian, guns aimed at her, her hands were steady. She didn't want to shoot her especially after such a good convo but it's either that or she potentially brings the entire ship down on all their heads. Vivian could feel the power surging throughout her entire being, it coursed through her veins, eyes completely encased in a blinding light, body glowing with a pink aura, hair rising up, and her mind beginning to be taken over.
"Sorry Vivi." Ashely began to pull the triggers but she stopped. Vivian's power began to diminish turning and facing Vince who was holding her hand.
"Relax. Breathe. You don't have to be afraid of it every time it makes contact." Vince seems to know what's going on, he knows this, he's experienced it.186Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyJw4Kusfdo
"You are in control. Not it." He began to slowly pull her down, closing his eyes and opening them to reveal his once golden eyes now crimson red. Vivian took a deep breath and began to slowly relax, her energy vanishing and the collar of chaos stopped flowing and coursing with power before reverting to being a regular scarf.
"Well, wasn't that heartwarming. Care to explain to a non artifact user you two?" Ashely looked at the two teens and waited.
"Sometimes the artifact gives signs to connect with its user. They're pretty bad early on but with enough mental training you can keep your wits about you. Didn't take me too long to do it. You've just got to find your center." Vince hugged his pillow and looked at the girls.
"So is yours a pillow hug??" Ashley asked while spinning her guns making them vanish.
"Nope." Reaching up he grabbed and shook his headphones which they could now see around his neck.186Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4T7nJWqGtJ
"Music."
"Find my center huh?? Yeah I think I can do that but can't this thing use it against me??"
"No? Wait. Why would you ask that??"
"Because when I first got this it spoke to me. I hear it vaguely doing so over and over again. Every so often, even just now I heard it."
"It must be picking at your trauma. If you don't mind me asking. Is something deeply bothering you that you know of?" Vince turned his head and jumped in fear when he saw Vivian eyeing him.
"You think I'd just tell you all that? No offense but I don't know you and I'm not that open to just telling people about me."
"Just trying to help..." Vince hugged his pillow and mumbled.186Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGNJzV6Mwa
"If you don't fix it it'll destroy you, the world, and everyone you love."
"I think I can keep my head together." She leaned up and walked off heading towards her room.186Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9UJjGvDkf
"Goodnight you two."
"Mhm..."
"Uuum goodnight." Ashely waved bye to Vivian. She leaned her back against the railing and looked at Vince.186Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvCmv4SNPUd
"No good huh? Like red flags kinda no good?"
"Yeah..better a red flag than a crimson one."
"Meatless feels a Green flag is better than either of those."
"Agreed Meatless."
"AAAAAHHH!!" Vince got scared by Meatless's sudden appearance. Meatless asked questions about what had just happened while Vivian went back to her room, eyes burning with energy, hair rising and falling, sounds becoming muffled as she grabbed the scarf and tugged on it to get a better look at it. It wouldn't be a problem from first glance. Then eyes began to sprout from the interior, within the interior the mask looked back at her, rows upon rows of eyes just looked back at her. She looked away and laid down in bed getting as comfortable as possible.
"Huh?" Vivian opened her eyes and looked around confused, examining the area she saw she was back where she had been before. The very first time she'd woken up. She was back in the flying city, everything was still in ruins, the statues still stared at her but for some reason it all looked worse. She walked around and took a deep breath coming to the statue that had blinded her before but for some reason it didn't do anything this time. It stayed as a statue.
"He's coming for you." On her left! She jumped and aimed her hands at the voice and the energy from her scarf engulfed her hands. She saw it, a faceless creature, an X on its face, it looked like a Ghost and it looked mummified.186Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoaFRDPnJZt
"Please...put your powers away, I beg of you. I-I-I've been here for so long. I-I've been alone here...trapped for so long for so..so very long. I've had nothing, no one, not a single thing...for ages."
"Who are you? You look just like that...thing. That scar-"
"No no no! Do-Don't say that! Don't say that.....information. It feeds off of information about it. Don't tell it that you're afraid.Always remember it is your fear, always remember it is your trauma, always remember it's the thing that hunts down your sanity, always remember it is... always remember..." The creature began to grab its face and make sounds identical to crying, it held its face and weeped over and over and over again. Vivian's powers went down as she walked over to it and gently placed a hand on its shoulder.
"Hey hey hey. Easy, easy. I-I don't know what it is but I'll do my best to try and keep it from finding out more. Just breathe okay?"
"I-I can't. I haven't been able to breathe in so long, it's been choking us, holding us hostage, taking everything of us..until..until."
"Until what?"
"Until we have no more to give...but now. Now it has you. Such life, such vitality, such vigor. It'll eat away at your mind, then your body, and finally. Your soul and then..you'll end up like me." The creature would raise its hand and Vivian would see a table nearby with cards on it.
"Hm?" She walked over to the table with the creature floating beside her, grabbed the cards, and inspected them.
"I don't remember the name of the game...it's been so long but I remember it was popular with the younger ones." The creature spoke.
"Yeah." Vivian sat down and looked at the man. It felt odd to feel so calm but she needed all the information she could get, anything and everything, as much as she could.
"Shall I shuffle it?" Vivian nods and hands over the cards. The creature tapped the deck on the table and began to shuffle before it finished and looked around, every movement was calculated, every time it did something it jittered, it shuddered. It was scared. It placed down two cards and she saw that both cards had a red eye on it. She was..confused.
"This is-"
"Is something wrong?" The creature cut her off, its voice, its voice..the sound of it. It was shaken, quivering, and worse yet it sounded as if the being couldn't breathe.
"Nothing. Nothing at all." She looked at the cards and another one was placed down and she began to breathe heavily. Alexander. It showed Alexander. He was on the ground, somewhere, she couldn't say she knew the place but he was there, on the ground. Dead.186Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmqgRn3JQh1
"Alex..." She began to cry and within seconds she heard the man screaming and crying. His screams were horrible. So much pain in his voice. He kept shrieking out and then his face trained on Vivian and in a blinding light his screams drowned out and then she awoke.
"....This is just like some kind of show...so I guess..th-that's the future.." Vivian tried to calm herself down, there was no point in crying, none at all. If she didn't figure something out then there wouldn't-
"Did you know anomalies often mess with the balance of things??"
"OH CRAP!!!" Vivian looked to the side and saw Mina standing beside her bed.
"Good Morning. Did you have a nightmare? Your heart rate was rather high, would you like to talk about it??" Mina asked with a genuinely comforting smile, definitely much better than the one she had before, it seemed much more lively.
"What's that smell?" Vivian smelt something so familiar but at the same time it wasn't exact.
"Oh right, apologies." Mina would roll over a cart to Vivian's bed. It had a charger plate on it, a large glass with a green drink inside along with a small cup beside it, and finally it had napkins to cover her mouth. Mina waited for her to sit up and then set her up to eat.186Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnh6FEqp0vg
"I remember your desire for crabs so while we flew above these vast beautiful waters on our way to Salaren's main capital I dove down and captured some sea crustaceans. I cooked them just like your grandfather loved them and then I made a drink. Since you are an Artifact wielder I've got to take care of you as I did him. I offer all the wisdom he's imparted to me to you."
"How do I get this thing off of me?"
"By dying."
"........I'm going to eat now."
"Please enjoy." Silverware began clinking against one and another as Vivian began eating, it was weird though, Mina stood there the entire time she was eating just staring at her.
"Can you..please stop staring at me?!" Vivian's voice grew a bit deeper and her eyes slightly shined with energy.
"Ms. Omoth your scarf is in control of you currently. Here please have a drink." Mina leaned forward and poured Vivian a glass and held it close to her. Vivian went to slap it away but Mina swiftly pulled it aside, she kept pushing it close and tugging it back over and over whenever Vivian tried to hit it.
"Ugh! Fine!" Vivian grasped the glass and drank it down, she would suddenly feel her entire body just ease up. Any anger, any pain, any malice just washed away and in seconds her body returned to her original visage. Her eyes changed back to a sky blue, her hair a beautiful blonde, her skin fair and pure. She looked like herself again.186Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2oET5telG
"Wh-What was that?"
"A remedy of old Harbingers your late grandfather cooked up. It works the more vigor you have within you, the artifact changes you does it not? You saw it too, didn't you??" Mina pulled up a plate and Vivian noticed her look had come back..however she didn't see herself. She could only see her mother.186Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvN4Xf5sUA
"It calms your head and your heart making it so the artifact doesn't consume you so early."
"If it does that, why didn't you just give this to me sooner?"
"I did. When we first had our clash, the explosion, I used this remedy to clear your mind. However I didn't use it for a little while you slept because it would throw the bad people off of our trail. We aren't in the best of standing with the Orch, Urlkak, and Elvish people so if we give them different looks to chase down things will be easier going through their territories." Mina proudly said with a bright smile.
"Heh..thank you Grandpa." Vivian went back to eating, gathering strength for the journey ahead.
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