Tay let out a throat tearing scream as her maou once again failed to condense.

It itched! Her soul was aflame with burning instinct. Her mind was nothing but the desire to succeed, the need for relief. It was going to tear her apart from the inside out.

But no matter what she did she couldn't get a single drop of maou to condense.

She had begun trying from the moment she woke up. Skipping work in favor of obeying the instincts that screamed at her.

She couldn't tell how much time had passed or how many attempts she had made.

All she could think of were the sensations, The Intoxicating highs, the crashing lows of failure, The impossible peak that her soul knew existed in the arms of success.

There was nothing else in the world, nothing else she could possibly care about.

This was all she needed, not food, not sunlight, not water, but just to condense one drop of maou.

The desperation, the mind melting need, it would all go away if she could just do that.

She began another attempt, time blowing by in what could have been seconds or hours. When she failed letting out a howl of despair she tried again only ever taking a break when she ran out of maou, and even then only long enough to let the tiniest bit recover.

But it was during one of those short rests that she heard the sound of the front door opening and felt a distant twang from her vinsnare's at the door.

"Tay! Sorry, I'm late. But Resh made me work an extra hour because- well, I'll explain that later. But you'll never guess what I got today."

She could barely recognize the voice. Her mind was fuzzy, any sensible thought coming as if muffled by a layer of cotton.

The click of chitin covered feet walking up the stairs, "Tay?"

Whoever this voice belonged to they surely couldn't condense her maou for her so they weren't worth listening to.

Her core had refilled, just a few droplets, but it was enough to be condensed, she was just beginning to cycle, her mental barriers now only ruins against the sensations, when the door to her room opened.

A bronze skinned face, cheeks covered in a navy-black shell poked its head in and peered at her with fractured amber eyes, "Tay?"

Suddenly a bit of recognition snapped into place and with it a second long sliver of clarity. "C-Chis… I can't- " and then the spiral of her maou became too much and her voice was lost.

***

Chisson stared at Tay, confused, as she suddenly cut herself off "Can't what? What are you trying to do?"

The only response Tay gave was a whimper like a hurt beast.

"Tay, are you okay?" Chisson said concern replacing confusion "Tay!?"

Chisson looked over at her, trying to see what could possibly be wrong. There had to be something that he could do.

Her face didn't look like she was in pain, not quite. Her expression was desperate, almost feral. Like a starving wolf, a hunk of meat placed just out of reach on its chain.

It was that fact that made it click for Chisson

"Oh my gods! Tay are you that close to evolving? Why didn't you tell me!?" The main challenge of the evolution to Nascent was supposed to be a trial of willpower against the id, the subconscious Instincts all people had to evolve ramped-up exponentially, it was said that by its very nature it could drive someone Mad if they spent too long trapped in this state. "Tay. Tay! I need you to talk to me. How much have you been able to condense? How long has this been going on?"

Tay whimpered, "l-last nig...ht." It didn't answer his first question but the fact that she was able to get out a statement at all was a testament to her impressive willpower.

Since last night. That was...well, not bad but too long to be good. The stories often had people spending weeks like this and ending up fine with a little time to recover. But if the stories were true, that was dependent on one thing. And it was what worried Chisson the most.

"One last time, Tay. I just need you to answer one more question." He put his hands on her shoulder looking into her pained, pleading eyes "How many times have you been able to successfully condense?"

The moment of silence was long, Tay taking in laborious breaths. Chisson couldn't imagine what she was going through, as she gritted her teeth and stifled cries. Finally the answer came out in a sob of frustration, "None…"

Worse case scenario.

"Tay you need to condense. It will only get worse if you don't condensing some of your energy will soothe your instincts I promise

Usually he would assume that she knew that better than he did, a lot of it she had told him, but he wasn't sure if the state she was in was coherent

She grimaced "you think.. I d-don't know that... I'm trying. I'm trying... but I can't. I just- whenever it gets close... I just- it's too much"

Was there anything he could do to help anything at all? He couldn't even scan her to see what was going on he was blind and deaf but there had to be some way he he could make things easier on her help her get past this

"Would an Elixir help?"

Tay stared at him like he'd just suggested they saw off her arm, "NO! No mo-more maou. It's too much. Already too much."

Chisson wasn't sure what else he could do. Maybe there was an enchantment or construct that could help. Maybe he could go back to Dorias' shop. If only he knew more about this whole process. He should've done more research.

Research. The library.

'Oh, your lady friend? If you succeed her lessons will be free as well, if she wants them. Call it a two for one special.'

Kamel.

But no. He couldn’t trust Tay to some stranger in this state. Could he..?

'I will be at the entrance to those woods from five to… let us say, eight, evey evening for the next two weeks. If you meet me there we will begin immediately.'

No!

He had to figure this out himself. He had to help her.

He stayed up with her that night. Powerless to do anything to ease her through watching her struggle for hours until she passed out from exhaustion. And then hours later he followed.

The next week was hell. Watching the person one cares about most suffering was not an experience Chisson would wish on anyone at all.

Every day he would leave for work with Tay in her room and when he came home she'd be in the same spot. He was lucky that she could photosynthesize, at least he didn't have to force her to eat as long as she sat near the window. He did make sure to bring her a large pitcher of water everyday though. It was always empty by the time he got home so she was definitely drinking it.

He also made multiple trips to the library trying to learn something new about birth-stage evolution. But he wasn't really getting anything that he didn't already know.

Most of it boiled down to, 'Resist and do it,' which was obviously already being tried.

He also went by shops such as Dorias' and an alchemist's, the latter said that they had something that might make the first evolution easier but it was way out of Chisson's price range. And far beyond anything he could scrounge up in time for it to be any help to Tay.

The first day he had come home to her trying.

The second day he came home to her struggling.

Third day it was cursing.

Then screaming.

Then sobbing.

She just lay there sobbing, frustrated and in, if not pain, something very much like it.

No tears ran down her smooth brown skin but Tay wasn't one to cry.

Not from Fear, not from suffering.

Not for the looming threat of Madness that existed if she couldn't get past this if she couldn't condense at least one time.

Oddly it was the lack of tears that broke him.

Broke his fear, broke his denial, broke his hesitation, broke his procrastination.

Tay had saved him so many times this might be his only chance to go out on a limb and save her.

It was time, Chisson thought, go find the man in the forest and ask about some training