As an initial assessment of their circumstances failed to bear fruit, doubt started to settle in on the three girls. None of the three girls could figure out a proper way to proceed.

The foremost idea was to simply scale back up, as they did have climbing gear handy. Riyxia was fairly certain she could make the climb, at least while enraged. In that state, she could also help both of the others to climb too. However, Sryine was worried about how such an onnes on Riyxia could make the situation very dangerous if she were to snap suddenly. Vwyx had even more insistence against the subject, as it appeared the height was a fearsome concept in itself. It was almost baffling that Vwyx was afraid of heights she had both caused and scaled without even blinking, but her trance could easily have made all the difference. Vwyx did take into account that this implied an obvious solution, if she were instead capable of controlling her own trance, she could simply get them all back up there, no problems at all. Either melding the ground to pick them right back up, or if that wasn’t exactly an option, at the very least she could scale the wall without concern like she had coming down. If she herself couldn’t even make the climb entranced, at least Riyxia could help and she wouldn’t be a screwball scared of the floor.

Other than up, their surroundings had two things in common, cold and dark. If they couldn’t go up, their alternative would be to find a tunnel or something around here. The beast that had previously attacked them, the same ones she had dealt with, seemed to be tunnelers by their own nature, so there was a fair chance of finding a passage if they looked hard enough. Riyxia might even be capable of opening up some tunnels too, if it really came down to it. All the considerations of what Riyxia would be capable of constantly just brought Vwyx down, she would too be so capable if she learned a measure of control. Everything had her troubled, mostly how both her and Sryine seemed to know instinctively to keep each other at a distance, and to keep Riyxia between them. Nothing about this situation was good, it actually made them feel quite helpless. The worst part was the cold and darkness and…

“I’m hungry, can we eat something yet?” “Ahh!” Vwyx noticed that her intentions even seemed vaguely like her entranced state, just with a voice behind it. With Sryine on high guard, and Vwyx still dripping blood from the shadows of her dark outfit while making such a statement.. it ended up seeming overly nightmarish. Even so, she could remember that other hunger, how it had felt consuming her. Technically, the impressions and comparisons only left her wanting food even more desperately, so that such a hunger would finally leave her alone. This put her into her own state of desperation, no longer letting Sryine’s arguments dissuade her resolve. Despite her best efforts, soon Vwyx was hard at work getting lunch prepared, trying to get a small fire prepared in a metal tray with some burnable scrap and flint. They didn’t exactly have wood available for this purpose, but they had a good stock of burnable plants that burned hot and slowly. She set everything up, eager to cook some lunch on an open campfire.

With things in position, Vwyx next needed to figure out how to get the fire burning. She scattered the plants into a decent mesh at the bottom and tried to strike up a fire, without much success at first. She flicked flint to generate sparks, Sryine shuttering with each attempt. Sryine honestly wished for Vwyx’s failure, that there was too much moisture for a fire or something. However, unfortunately for her, after several more attempts, the spark caught and a fire began. At first the sparking plants started with a soft amber light, but as it really started to catch the most flammable parts of the plant, that flame started burning blue. Vwyx set their lunch atop the flame, blue lights flickering in shadows from below, dancing out towards her. Sryine dove away in pure fear, utterly terrified. The others quickly discovered the truth about Sryine’s fears, how the night of the Astral Flame had left her afraid of such open fires. Vwyx was very apologetic, trying to support her in her fears. Riyxia tried to share in such comfort, noting another example of how ignorance led to problems that knowledge could have avoided. Riyxia sat with Sryine a fair distance away, while Vwyx tried to ensure food was prepared swiftly. Once done, she used a metal rod to shift the plants a bit so that they would burn out sooner, then brought the food over to the others. They all ate quickly and silently.

With lunch completed, they started packing everything up, the fire still trying to burn away what blue flame was left to it. The heat from the flame had also offered a lot of heat and light, and the three of them had adjusted enough to find a few options nearby for rather large tunnels. However, they weren’t the only ones to notice the heat and light, as the locals started to stir in response to such an interruption. Their approach began as simply a faint murmur, easily confused to be a faint breeze of the wind, but the growing intensity made it far less confusing. Riyxia stood up in alarm, still unaware of the nature or direction of an obvious threat. With a short opportunity, she took consideration too on the usage of her own rage. Given the circumstances, she might need to really consider an applicable solution, as a repeat of Vwyx’s trance could certainly make things difficult this far underground. At the very least she would need to hold a defensive line.

“Sryine, Vwyx, if we get attacked, try to keep a distance from any enemies, arrows and throwing stuff mostly. I’ll make sure you both stay safe in the meantime.” Riyxia could make some good promises, but it wasn’t saying much when she had no idea what they were actually up against. Skittering sounds got louder, but seemed to echo all around, making any sense of direction really difficult. Suddenly, their empty food container flipped upside down, crashing to the floor loudly. Riyxia turned to it suddenly, and saw a white thread extending from it.. to the ceiling. Right above them was an endless swarm of eyes, belonging to countless eight-legged beasts. They were more than just surrounded, they were almost enveloped. Riyxia grabbed both of the others and dodged towards the large opening in the ceiling, making it harder for her foe to simply descend upon them. Her foe took that into account too, as a vast number of them started to create white silk bridges spanning across the hole, decreasing what daylight was left to them. That would be bad as well, without any light at all they would be left to a horrible disadvantage.

Riyxia leapt into the air to sunder some of the white strands, while a bunch others started to toss some of the same silk in the direction of her less mobile friends. These things were incredibly smart and devious, this would not be easy. As she landed back on the ground, a massive explosion detonated in the air above them, Vwyx having used one of her provided bombs. The air above them cleared once again, and a large number of beast carcasses fell in a circle around them. Riyxia caught another one sending it’s white silk in Vwyx’s direction, and countered it, the silk wrapping around her arm instead and throwing her into the air towards it. She took up the invitation and smashed into it, landing on another bed of silk. The beasts were working together to trap her, that wasn’t good at all. She struck against the silk barrier, only to find it quickly replaced. She was being kept separated from her friends!

Vwyx found herself the target of several more strikes, as she struggled to avoid them. Sryine realized the desperation of her situation, if Vwyx snapped again, she wouldn’t have Riyxia at her side to keep her safe. Another strike flashed towards Vwyx from behind her, Sryine lashing out at it with her rapier, the only thing she had that was capable of even pretending to block. It wasn’t even designed for that sort of motion, but she didn’t have a choice. The strike connected with the rapier, and began pulling her towards it instead. Realizing she couldn’t fight back, she let go of her rapier, but another beast took the opportunity of her moment of struggle by catching her by the arm instead. She was now not only deprived of her weapon, but also being dragged away. Vwyx tried to help her, only to find her situation really didn’t have any room for such a thing, being relented with attacks herself. Sryine called up an illusionary sword, slashing through the web. The beast let go in that moment, losing its grip in compulsion to the illusion, but another struck through the illusionary sword in the same motion, while yet another simply grasped the arm she had exposed in that motion. This sequence repeated, causing her foes to fail in dragging her up to the ceiling, but successfully pulled her away from the protective hole above.

One of the beasts lashed out with another strike to her arm at that point, and pulled her sideways violently, causing her to stumble even as she cut herself free. The motion caused her to tumble forwards, and another beast took the opportunity to catch her feet while she was upside down. She swung dramatically from that snare, while struggling to free her foot, but this time she had too much momentum for any follow up to catch her. Flying through the air from the momentum, she crashed into something metallic, her hand falling inside. It didn’t even take a moment to figure out what happened, she had just landed in the campfire, her hand where the burning plants remained. The oil of the plants spilled across her hand, and the blue flame caught against it too. Fear engulfed her just as her hand was engulfed in flame, the burning singe bringing back painful memories and reminders. Right, she might have actually died once, burning like this, or at least her predecessor had. Now she would burn in just the same way. Terror continued to fill her as she futilly tried to put the oil fire out.

She was burning, and there was nothing she could do about it. It was one of her worst nightmares that suddenly came to life, terrors that consumed her. The worst part was, there was nothing she could do about it, her fear would just consume her. She started to laugh at the irony, to fall to her fears with such a degree of futility, to have made all the efforts and still nothing could be done. Oh she was foolish, so stupid, it was hillarious. Her faint laughter shifted to hysterical howling, without even a semblance of sanity. She held her burning hand before her, appreciating its expression of nightmares come to life, it was indeed such a beautiful thing, the blue such a wonderful color. In her distraction, another beast striked her outstretched hand, the silk burning away from the flame. Ah yes, flames did that, didn’t they. Strange, this flame didn’t feel as if it burned her much at all, it hardly even hurt, it was such a pitiful, weak flame. Still, it was such a beautiful thing, a beauty that wasn’t getting the respect and admiration it rightfully deserved.

Still laughing, she dashed up to the ceiling, her flaming hand before her. The flame caught the beast that had attacked her, but the process and impact had the unfortunate effect of putting out the flame. No more, such a pitiful flame could do nothing more? It was a shame, but it didn’t need to worry, she would remember that terrifying image, burn it into her mind. In fact, with her ability, she could still give that beautiful flower life once again. She held both hands wide to the ceiling above her, and a massive illusionary flame erupted from it, coursing flames everywhere once again. The flames even curled all around her, igniting her completely. Ah, yes, the warm embrace of all consuming fire, it was a beautiful thing of her favourite nightmares. She laughed fervently, her eyes glistening in their madness. With dramatic movements, she threw flames all over the place, a flame that still managed to seem to ignite stone itself. Countless beasts were struck by this flame and died, their minds consumed by the intensity of the fire. She smiled at the carnage, it was truly such a beautiful thing.

She continued to dance around, throwing flame all over the place, the illusionary flame both denying her opponents any means to attack or defend themselves, as they perished without hope. The nightmares, it consumed them as well. Sryine continued to laugh at the comedy of such considerations, bringing countless beasts down in the process. She even threw some of the flames in Vwyx’s direction, who had to flee her in the direction of the beasts simply to escape at all. Watching the carnage Sryine was causing, it was both obvious that Sryine had lost control over her destructive impulse, and that such an illusionary flame would end her instantly. If it didn’t kill her, it would at least hurt a lot, which could itself be a really bad problem. The beasts caught her as well in the process, but in doing so only brought her closer to Riyxia. Riyxia had also caught on what was going on, realizing that Sryine was letting lose herself. Riyxia turned all of her attention towards protecting Vwyx, the last thing she needed right now was for both of them to lose control together.

Another beast suddenly emerged from one of the tunnels, this time especially visible, being the size of the tunnel itself. This one could use it’s legs to grip both the ceiling and floor at the same time, giving it a very complicated movement. Sryine simply tossed it some more flame at its arrival, eager to share the nightmare with everyone. The beast was singed, but not burned, dashing through the flames and lashing out at her, not even using any of the white silk for itself. Sryine laughed at the comedy, the pack leader putting on such a brave face to be a better nightmare. It really was so very adorable, and so very naive. Of course the flame wasn’t the worst nightmare here, she was. She was a living nightmare, a terror that even terrified herself. That irony was probably the most hilarious part of it all. Wait no, she had better. Was she really a living nightmare, or a dead one? Alive, dead, what was the difference? What here was alive anyways, and what here was dead instead? So many things here seemed alive, but were actually dead. It was a contrast born from nightmares, it was beautiful perfection. It was a nightmare she needed to spread, so that it could grow and blossom into true ultimate terror. She even had a great candidate, the pack leader before her.

No longer throwing fire around, she just left her illusionary flame to burn along herself as she started to flicker into a black and red nightmarish illusion, appearing a demonic force, without a shred of natural form, several times larger than she really was. A ghastly claw ripped from the nightmare, tearing into the beast with considerable force. The beast tried to retaliate, striking forwards with a series of crushing legs. Wisps of smoke were torn away, but one of the legs were grabbed by claw grips in the process, pulling the beast inwards, the full body grabbed by another two clawed grips from both sides. Realizing the trap, the beast tried to pull itself free, only for all eight of its legs to be grabbed in the process. An echo of laughter rang from the nightmare, finding it amusing that a beast trying to be a nightmare with eight legs was struggling against a true nightmare with no fewer than ten arms. She was almost toying with her prey. With no other recourse, the beast snapped at her with a mandible jaw, snapping away at more of the smoky form before it. Now that wasn’t beautiful, trying to cling to vestiges of hope like that. Twin smoky blades appeared at the nightmare’s flanks, coming together before her in a scissor motion that cleaved her foe clean in half. The beast convulsed momentarily before dying, it’s mind destroyed in a final beautiful moment.

The other beasts present were intelligent enough to know that, between their foe’s ability to spread flame with considerable efficiency, and it’s ability to take on such a terrifying nightmarish form, they had no chance of survival if they remained. The entire remaining survivors of the pack fled in absolute desperation, leaving Riyxia and Vwyx to attend to their own fates. Vwyx took account of the demonic form before her, finding it incredibly difficult to even consider this being Sryine. Riyxia stood before Vwyx protectively, completely uncertain how she could hope to deal with this situation. She was certain this monstrous force was only an illusion, but it was an illusion capable of destroying minds in the damage it caused. Sryine’s laughter shook forth again, appreciating the two girls cowering in fear before her, a beautiful sight if ever there was one. She approached Riyxia and lashed out with a thrust, which she blocked, but was then followed by four simultaneous blades at once from different angles. Riyxia managed to block two, and did her best to apply her gift in slowing the strength of her foe, but the strikes still hit hard, the pain surging through her as injuries formed by the contact. Sryine repeated the same attack to similar results, causing Riyxia to start to feel light headed. Riyxia needed to do something fast, but she had no idea how to deal with this kind of threat. Out of desperation, she attempted the only recourse left to her.

“Sryine, please! Wake up!” Riyxia shouted at her friend.. called for her to return to them. This resounded in Sryine’s mind, a familiar line, one she had been waiting for instinctually. Sryine had held on to the one factor she could account for, the one thing she knew would signal her need to bring everything to a halt. Sryine’s mind started to cloud, rapidly becoming dizzy in the process, her own mind being affected by herself. As the last vestiges of her madness started to fade, she found one last humor in how being told to wake up had instead knocked her out. Sryine collapsed to the ground, unconscious by her own will, leaving her illusions to fade away afterwards. Riyxia rushed over to heal Sryine’s injuries, finding a hand marred in a burn less serious than it should have been, and her body slashed repeatedly from a number of different angles, probably the reality behind when the pack leader had attacked her. Riyxia’s own injuries from Sryine had vanished, being made only by illusions, but her head was still incredibly dizzy as a repercussion.

Riyxia held on as best as she could, but once Sryine’s injuries were healed, she found no alternative but to join Sryine in rest. This left only Vwyx to attend to the two of them, sitting there nervously worried about the multitude of dangers that could possibly result from this.