The three girls had returned safely to the seclusion of their personal room, and in doing so left no room for further delays in explanations. Being all three in association to the Astral Flame, there was a general concern that any related discoveries in turn affected all of them.

Riyxia knew it was for this reason that she was currently possessing the blanket from her bed and having it float around to the private entertainment of her two closest friends. They both appeared generally entertained as well, though they were still not quite certain how she was capable of linking a connection between multiple objects as she had previously with the swords, it was that level of possession that had made a bit less sense to them. The shimmer they saw in turn left the impression that she was in multiple places at once as a result, making things much less clear. Riyxia could see how that conflict might have originated, but herself understood at that point that the shimmer they all saw was not because of her essence, but because of the influence of the astral flame. When she had been inside the five blades, her essence had itself personally waited within only one of them in a majority of its form, but to the other girls it appeared that she was in all five blades equally. She still wasn’t certain just how much she could link at once, but having the four additional links had proven to be a bit challenging. There was also always the chance that her limitations were greater if she linked together objects while enraged. This however brought her discoveries in a direction she was still a lot more uncertain about.

“Technically, that’s not all I figured out, but the rest I’m still not completely certain about. It’s also kinda scary to consider, honestly. Remember that beast I talked about earlier? Obviously I couldn’t do anything about it without having access to my rage, and by that point I was also making use of my spectre to help me get everything done. I had it in a suit of armor, even discovered that I could empower the object I possessed with my rage in the process, but that’s not the only option my rage brought to my spectre. When my enraged spectre came in direct contact with the beast, it felt something.. more than the physical contact between the beast and the armor. My essence could feel its essence, I could feel the.. texture of it.. I don’t know, not really. In that moment, empowered by the astral flame itself, I could feel a connection made by the flame to this other essence, like I had options to manipulate it, to do things with it, much like my gift can manipulate the potential of living bodies and Vwyx can repurpose inanimate objects. I felt like I had control over their very essence.. but in my hesitation to do anything with that connection, the flame itself took its own opportunity, doing what it did best. In that moment, the beast was covered in a faint purple haze, the color seeming to drain away from it, and I knew I had destroyed its very essence.” Riyxia went quiet at this point, generally aware of how bad all of this would sound to her current audience. Vwyx and Sryine had also gone quiet, the entertainment of the circumstances having been lost. A purple haze, like a muffled flame, with the victim having lost all sense of color from the burns.. it was something both girls remembered all too vividly for themselves. It was in similar circumstances that they had themselves died, or at least was the death of their original selves and the start of their new lives. To learn that Riyxia was herself able to kill someone else in much the same way, it brought a firm realization exactly what kind of flame actually still inhabited them to this day.

“I expect I have an obligation to let Ayzherie know about this too, and even Eqriuxzl is going to need to hear about it so that he can keep up the research Ayzherie has him on. I’m only worried about just how much this is going to prove his original statement.. right. Under all of this, I really am some kind of destroyer, with a flame capable of consuming lives, even eager to do so if given the opportunity. Honestly, just how dangerous are we to the entire world?” “With power comes responsibility. I mean, think about it, Ayzherie has to keep things going smoothly here, otherwise the beasts will overrun the city and kill everyone, maybe even go beyond the city and hunt down others. If she doesn’t keep things under control, a lot of people will die. For us, it’s something a lot similar. I mean, you keep saying that the shimmer we see isn’t even your true essence, only the traces of the astral flame, and you aren’t exactly the astral flame yourself. None of us are, we just carry it within us, a power that we have a responsibility to keep under control, else it will run rampant and take lives. In this way, we aren’t exactly the destructive force of the astral flame, only the ones responsible to watch over each of our respective traces, right?” Riyxia was surprised just how deeply Vwyx had been thinking things through, it was a level of insight that wasn’t often expected of her. Vwyx had a pretty good point too, but it did measure up with an immense feeling of responsibility. Vwyx had been left with considering plenty of details for quite a while, and in this way she was positively brimming with insight.

“Oh, oh! That gives me an idea! It’s going to be a surprise though, so I would have to ask for you both to leave me to my work for a while. Sryine, I’m probably going to need your help with some finishing touches, so I’ll just call you when it’s time for you to get involved. Riyxia, I’ll also call you when everything is done for your grand reveal, please don’t try to sneak a peek before things are ready. Yes, the whole thing is going to be for Riyxia, also yes I’m not exactly confident in the quality of results I’ll be capable of, especially given such a short time to work with.. and with limited knowledge. At the very least, I’m pretty certain that I can at least make adjustments overtime, so we wouldn’t be stuck with any of my original mistakes. Anyway, yeah, I will need a while to at least come up with a decent enough prototype, so thanks.” Vwyx suddenly dropped a surprise project from out of nowhere, taking otherwise authority of the situation. Moments later, the two others found themselves kicked out of their own room, their curiousity brewing. Riyxia expected that after keeping everyone in suspense of her own surprise that this was then a fair return, but Sryine was already on her cell trying to get at least a few hints to work with from Vwyx.

“I guess the question now is what should we do while we wait. I had thought that my next responsibility would be to bring all of the same information to Ayzherie and Eqriuxzl, but in all consideration they would be both sleeping at this point, so that’s not even an option.” “Well, look on the bright side, at least that means Ayzherie won’t assign us any of her insane training to complete while she’s sleeping.” “Perfect, that’s a great idea. You had said you were a bit concerned about your own performance when faced against Liyuzhe, getting in some good practice might be a great way to kick off the day.” “Woah, wait, what? No, no, no, no, no, no…” Despite all protests, Riyxia and Sryine were soon found outside working on a lesson Riyxia had seemingly herself come up with on the spot. The lesson involved solving some mental problems and challenges, from memory challenges to mathematical equations.. each designed to be reasonably skill testing in their regular light, but always with a special stipulation. They would be resolving such while strictly in an augmented state, a point when thinking clearly is challenging at best.

Left laughing like a maniac as she tried her best to resolve problems she knew shouldn’t be so impossible, Sryine started to worry just how much of a terrible influence Ayzherie had been having on Riyxia. To Sryine, this honestly felt like something Ayzherie would have come up with.. except for the fact that Ayzherie typically shied away from any exercises that involved actually using their augmented state. Riyxia meanwhile recounted her own experiences in her recent captivity, trials that had her work while simultaneously manage both herself and her spectre, something which in the end was not only far harder than any related exercises she endeavoured with similar expectations, but also would have turned out far worse had she not had such practice before hand. On the other hand, she had also been left at a loss in many situations for making proper use of her augmented state simply because she couldn’t depend on her own mental clarity in the process. Sryine herself had been left troubled because she had been similarly vulnerable to the same flaws. Fixing such problems thus only made sense.

Such mental exercises continued after lunch, with Ayzherie actually showing up to watch for herself. By this point, they were challenging each other in competitive mental challenges, competing with the two hunters in a mental game called Daezhyn. It was a tactically challenging game played out with an assortment of chips, something Sryine even mentioned had a similarity to another game from the Terran Mythos called ‘Mahjong’. Both hunters played without any special stipulation, but the two others were expected to remain augmented the entire time. More than once, the whole table was flipped over as someone augmented lost their cool. When Nuiqhyx was forced to leave to focus on his other responsibilities, Ayzherie personally took the vacant seat for herself, putting herself next to Riyxia. The expert tactician, left with no stipulations clouding her head, the entire challenge suddenly built up to an almost impossible level. Riyxia knew it would have been challenging to have beaten Ayzherie had she been left with a clear mind. At that point, Ayzherie began picking up endless flawless victories, and things became more about trying hard not to lose quite as badly. After yet another crushing defeat, Sryine was all too thankful to have eventually suddenly received a notification on her cell, Vwyx having finally called for her help. Without hesitation, Sryine was gone, leaving Riyxia to confront Ayzherie. A short while after, the two of them were talking again in a private room, Riyxia sharing her recent spectral discoveries once again.

“I see. Well, in all tactical recognition, this doesn’t actually make you any more dangerous than before. You might be able to destroy an essence with your spectral self, but your physical self could already take lives at a whim wielding your augmented ability. The fact that you just have another way you can take a life only means just that, that you now have more resources and more options. Of course, you know that this is going to lead to a lot of training involving possessing many different objects, but considering your willingness to challenge yourself of your own volition, I suspect you might already be making such plans for yourself. My concerns lie however with any training regarding your essence manipulation, especially since your only practical application so far has been to cause death. This makes it especially difficult to prepare any suitable training environment, considering we don’t exactly have an expendable wellpool of essences for you to practice with.” “No, we don’t, but there is at least a viable application. The mountains are swarming with beasts, beasts that we’ve often been left with no alternative but to kill as is. You said it yourself, dead is dead, so a confrontation with a beast that leads to its death is almost simply assumed. Much like the original discovery of this ability having only been achieved through the riskiest of circumstances, further progress and refinement of it would require similar risk.” Ayzherie really didn’t like the direction Riyxia was bringing everything. Practicing in a safe recluse was one thing, but toying with beasts was ludicrous at best.

“I’m not exactly sure if it is even worth it, to be honest. Throwing you into such danger just doesn’t…” “No, you’re wrong. Something like this has to be done. You’ve avoided having us refine our augmented selves too, out of concern of its risk, and that’s already been proven to have placed us in extra danger as a result. When confronting a high risk threat with a high requirement for intelligence, our augmentation is both required and a liability. The past span of a day had been filled with countless problems caused simply because none of us are capable of keeping a clear head while augmented, because we’ve not even practiced such an idea before. As a result, we’ve got an opponent that has used their sheer might and intellect to steal information from us, actually kidnapping me in the process. Meanwhile, my escape was incredibly challenging because countless situations against an overpowering threat still left me unable to sufficiently use my rage.. because I needed to keep a clear head in the process. It is becoming a haunting concern, one that is starting to appear to have growing risks if we continue to avoid it.” Ayzherie didn’t have a counter reply for Riyxia. It was instead getting easier to see that Ayzherie simply couldn’t hope to understand a responsibility she yet remained distant from. Instead, Riyxia was aware that rejecting the presence of the astral flame within them wasn’t going to lead to anything good in the long term.

“In much the same way, you can almost count that the position we’re left in, carrying the astral flame like this, there will almost certainly be a point where my learning to properly make use of my ability to manipulate essences.. or the lack of such knowledge.. will have dramatic consequences that will have a considerable impact on future events. Carrying the astral flame has left the three of us with a considerable responsibility, one that even Vwyx is apparently keenly aware of. The magnitude of this responsibility just comes with some pretty hefty risks, but that’s just something we’re going to have to live with. I’m going to have to put myself in danger, simply so that I can be less of a danger to others. In fact, if I work hard at it, maybe I can turn my fate around and actually make some good use of this ability, actually save people in the process.. instead of just being a source of destruction.” Riyxia had effectively turned the whole situation around, a destroyer determined to become a saviour. In that moment, Ayzherie could almost feel a presence that had originally lived with the goal of saving lives, before itself being lost to death. It was a monumental will that Ayzherie was certain she wouldn’t be capable of keeping contained, but it also left her uncertain in how to properly prepare any future lessons. Quite simply, Riyxia had grown out of Ayzherie’s league at this point, the most she could do was to provide support and encouragement for whatever goals Riyxia set out for.

The conversation was brought to a close when Riyxia herself got notification from Vwyx via Riyxia’s cell that the surprise was ready. Leaving Ayzherie to the depth of her thoughts on the previous subject, Riyxia left to make her own way back to the room everyone was waiting for her. Suddenly faced with the onset of such a surprise, she realized that she wasn’t even certain what sort of surprise might be waiting for her, not having even left herself any time to consider the idea before that moment. Knowing Vwyx, it was probably something she had crafted, something to settle a concern in some regards. Sryine’s gift could have then been useful for other touches, although the illusions might not have any lasting effect, so it would have been her other gift that might have gotten a lot more time to shine. Other than that, she had nothing to go by. Such was why she ended up surprised in the end, confronting an almost shadow of herself.

“So I was thinking that your nights probably suck because you’re left with only your spectre and no way to interact with the world. Your latest ability to possess objects though would lend new options, if only you had something suitable to work with. I mean, it really doesn’t compare in craftsmanship, your father’s work is probably way closer to the authentic experience, but this would be like possessing an actual doll while you otherwise slept, giving you many more options overnight. Most of it is almost just ornamental, the whole thing doesn’t even breathe, and you still won’t need to eat with the thing. The eyes are generally fake too, but they at least move in case you want to have some control over your expression, even let people know you are actually looking at them. I was looking into if it might be possible to at least provide a way for you to talk, but considering any usage of the gift would be out of the question.. I haven’t been able to figure out a decent solution for that problem. If I figure out anything later, I’ll be sure to provide such an option for you. As is, because it’s just a massive meld of my own gift, with a few finishing touches provided by Sryine’s conjurations, it wouldn’t be that hard to make any adjustments over time. If you end up breaking it, we can even fix it pretty easily too.. well, unless you lose parts, then it might take another day of work. What do you think?” Vwyx clearly had worked hard on this sudden inspiration, even if it was even more a doll than her regular body. She sent her spectre into it, and tested out its rigid movement. A doll for a doll…

“No, no, not like this.” “Wait, what?” “The idea is neat, don’t get me wrong, but there is one glaring problem. You made this thing look exactly like me. I’m already like a shattered existence that already looks like someone else, the last thing I want to work with is something so perfectly familiar. My concept of identity is a mess as is, not only because of being a doll made to succeed someone else, but because I’ve got two essences capable of doing their own thing. I was really feeling that too back in Ieqyisa’s lab. The only place I should be able to see myself is within my own reflection. So, this would work, but let’s be a bit more creative, give your creation a bit of its own personality. I’m already the shortest here, so maybe we can give it a bit more height. Make the hair black, make it really thick and fluffy, probably longer too. Eyes should be green.. stuff like that. I’ll figure out her outfit for myself, I can play dress-up-doll perfectly fine. Just make your creation more unique, no more replicas.” “Oh, sure.. I guess.. just give me a…” “Ah! Not while I’m still inside it, thank you. Reshaping it while I’m still inside it kinda hurts in a weird way. Do you need any help making such changes, I really don’t want to look thankless for all of your hard work, it’s just something I feel is important?” Riyxia had clearly gone through a bunch of weird experiences within the perspective of her own artificial existence, Vwyx knew that perfectly well. None of them even had a chance in perfectly understanding the terms of Riyxia’s existence. However, in hindsight, the whole thing sorta made a lot of sense. A lot of Riyxia’s original grief was from her reaching for a personal sense of identity, all while everyone expected her to be the same person she was based upon.

From such, the three girls worked together to complete Vwyx’s idea to Riyxia’s expectations. Sryine had almost been compelled to come up with a name for the doll, but Riyxia turned that idea down as well. There were plenty of odds that Riyxia would find need to possess other objects in the future, especially when this creation wasn’t exactly very portable, and as such she didn’t want to suffer memorizing the name given to every single object she ended up possessing. It had taken even after the passage of dinner, but finally everything was completed. With the slight changes made, the doll really didn’t look anything like anyone they knew, it didn’t even fit any of her usual clothes, being a bit closer in height to Vwyx. Vwyx’s clothes weren’t a perfect fit either, but the three girls were at least able to mix and match something that fit. Riyxia knew she would have to spend time at first actually preparing something more than a mix of hand-me-downs for this creation, the blend of colors didn’t mesh quite as well as things stood. They could have used the pure black outfits, but Riyxia didn’t like the impact that had left behind. It was still a good start, she could figure out the rest from there.

Riyxia decided from that to spend the rest of the evening adjusting to trying to do things while possessing the doll, so that she would be sufficiently adjusted by the time she would need to sleep. This whole possession thing was still kinda new for her.. for all of them.. and it was probably going to come up a lot more in the future.