Avaria stumbled forward, frantically looking in every direction. There was a surge of ether that happened, one larger than anything she normally ever felt. She was tapping into her own ether and enhancing her body with it while running forward. It admittedly felt amazing, like she was rejuvenated, but the fear that she would lose control still remained. Nonetheless, she needed to find Felicia as fast as possible.

She tried to focus, reaching out for any bits of ether, but she felt nothing. It was all blank, all desolate. Shaking her head, she kept running, past the trees, past the rubble. She had to be close, but Felicia’s ether signature should’ve been noticeable by then. Looking up, she caught sight of the sky. It swirled with colour, beautifully mixing and drifting like water. She took a second to breathe, craning her neck upwards to watch just for a moment. Shaking her head, Avaria returned to her run, feeling a pang of guilt wash through her. How many of the festivals did Felicia spend without her? Would she even be able to enjoy this one?

Her eyes flicking to the ground, she stepped into a courtyard with evidence of a battle. The ground was ripped out in a long line and pieces of stone were broken, littered all over. Avaria frantically looked at her surroundings, unsure of what to do. It was where the ether signature was, she knew that, but nobody was in sight. Kneeling down, she sifted through the grass, gasping as her hand ran over splotches of blood. Moving forward, she traced a line of red over to a long piece of bloodied cloth. Her hand shook as she reached over to it and quickly retracted as she realized it was an arm.

Avaria’s breath caught in her throat as she covered her mouth, knowing whose it was. She broke back into a run, searching around desperately. Felicia was strong, but not that strong. She needed to help her before it was too late. The blood looked like it was recent, it was still wet on the ground, but the amount was sickening. Felicia must’ve teleported, but to where she wasn’t exactly sure. There were traces of ether which pulled at her, but the end location was still unclear. Nonetheless, it was a lead.

She followed the trace, barely paying attention to her surroundings. It felt like she was hunting something, as if she was going to lose control any second. She had never tapped into her urges so much before, it was terrifying. She made her way into a grove of trees sparsely placed from each other. A familiar presence became noticeable and she slowed her pace. “... I know you’re there.”

A short silence followed before a rustling of leaves echoed outwards. Merrick stepped forward while staring at her intently. “You need to stay back.”

“We’ve gone through this already, I can’t.” She slowly moved, her hands gripping into fists.

“This is for your own good-”

“Stop, just stop.” She shook her head and pointed to him. “You attacked me before, you tried to kill Lianne, and I know you would do a lot more. I don’t care how much you want to protect me, I need to do this.”

Merrick stood firm and lowered his gaze. “... I can’t just watch you do this to yourself.”

“Merrick, please, stand aside.” She started her walk forward, keeping her voice quiet.

“No.”

“I don’t want you to be the first person I fight.” She gripped her hand into a fist, hoping he would just listen. His hand reached for the handle of his sword, but he hesitated, not drawing it. Avaria moved forward, her pace steady. As she moved past Merrick, she felt his hand grab onto her shoulder. Quickly reacting, she turned around and planted her palm against his chest, letting a tiny amount of ether loose. A blast erupted from her hand and into him, throwing him away. She grunted as everything started to blur and the pull of his ether clawed at her mind.

Trying to control herself, she stumbled away, murmuring an apology while catching herself against a nearby tree. Her body screamed at her to drain him, to take every bit of ether he had. Holding the sides of her head, she tried to regain control. If only she had learned to stay in balance with the urges before, if only she had done something about it all, if only she had found a way to stop massacring people. Whimpering and slumping back, she closed her eyes, trying to push onwards.

Merrick got to his feet, grunting in pain. “... I don’t want to hurt you.”

“S-stay away, please.”

He shook his head and walked over, his hand rummaging through his cloak. She felt him lean down and move his hand to her mouth, a cloth in hand. She instinctively grabbed onto his wrist and wrenched it outwards, pulling him away as she stood upright. He broke free and gripped her forearm with one hand and grabbed the collar of her shirt with the other. His foot swiftly moved behind hers as he pulled her off balance and then quickly swept her leg while pushing her downwards. She hit the ground hard and coughed a sputtering breath as his hand squeezed her arm tightly.

She tried to push him away, but he easily overpowered her and turned her body downwards. Face grinding against the dirt, she cried out as he put a knee on the middle of her back and wrapped an arm around her throat while putting a hand against the back of her head. She felt her throat constrict as he put on a chokehold, holding her still. As much as she tried, her normal strength wasn’t enough to stop his movements. Her plea came out a sputtering gasp as he held firm. Closing her eyes, she let a little bit of herself loose.

A surge of ether coursed through her and she quickly ripped his arm off her and pushed herself upwards, throwing him to the ground. Her vision blurred again as she rushed forward faster than she could control. All of her movements were near autonomous as she sluggishly watched herself slam a hand into Merrick’s throat. She felt a sudden warmth flood through her arm as Merrick clawed at her, screaming out. A blue light swam from his body and into her. It was entrancing, it felt so good. Through her almost blank eyes, she saw his pained gaze.

With a gasp, she quickly dropped him, trying to pull herself back to reality. He fell to the floor limply, crumpling to the ground. Avaria slowly knelt down to his side, rolling him face up. “Merrick? Merrick!? I’m sorry, please, stay with me.”

He laid motionless, his breaths strained and distorted. Laying a hand to his chest, she let her ether flow into him. It burned her as the strands flew from her fingertips, slowly healing him. Cutting off the connection, she looked down to him once again, regret slowly creeping up on her. She had just fought him, hurt him. The one person who had cared for her as long as she could remember, the one person who could pull her back when she lost control, she had almost killed him. Almost intentionally killed him. Getting up once again, she returned to the trail.

The lights above lit the way as the canopy grew thinner, signaling her departure from the forest. She shielded her eyes from the moon as she brushed past a tree, feeling a gust blow through her hair. Lowering her hand slowly, she looked around, blinking slowly. A sudden pang of foreign reminiscence hit her as she gazed at a field of flowers as vast as the eye could see. It was so out of place yet it felt right to be there, she felt right to be there. She shook her head, trying to find the ether trace again. The origin felt close, but the trail itself was weaker than before. Staring at where the flowers and the sky met on the horizon, she kept moving.

With her eyes straining, she tried to look where Felicia could be. She should’ve been close by, but she wasn’t in view despite how large the field was. Moving over a batch of crushed flowers, she started to second guess herself, wondering if she followed the right trail. Her thought was interrupted as her gaze drifted down. Felicia laid motionless, her head leaning to the side and her eyes closed. Avaria fell to her knees, reaching a hand out. “... No, no, no, please, no.”

Her whole body shook as she placed her hand onto Felicia’s wounds. She was too late, far too late. Wrapping her arms around her body, Avaria lifted Felicia up and cradled her, burying her head into Felicia’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.” Hugging her tight, she let her tears fall and rocked back and forth, unable to think. It wasn’t right, none of it was right. Avaria shook her head, laying Felicia back down. There was only one thing that she could do.

Focusing, Avaria prepared herself and placed both her hands to Felicia’s chest. After a deep breath, she let everything loose, not just her pure ether, but the corrupted infusion as well. Her vision flashed and her body gave out as everything expunged from her.

~

Felicia’s eyes fluttered open as she groaned, pushing herself up. She fell to her side as only one arm responded to her commands. Looking down, she remembered what had happened; she died. Quickly looking around, she saw the field of flowers, but nothing was right. Looking down to her remaining hand, she sat up straight, staring dully.

“Felicia?” A voice interrupted her thoughts, pulling her away. It took her a moment to process the silver hair and grey eyes which moved closer to her. “... Mom?”

Avaria slowly reached out for her, touching her face. “... I’m here.”

Felicia scrambled upwards, almost falling over as she tried to embrace her mother, but was only able to limply wrap one hand around. They held onto each other, keeping one another as close as possible. Felicia broke away, stuttering. “B-but why are you here? Are you also…”

Avaria smiled sadly and shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe I am, I don’t really know.”

“But why? Where are we?”

Avaria looked around them, examining the misty flowers. “In a place between life and death.”

“... Have you been here before?”

She tilted her head to the side. “Once, the first time I woke up.”

“The… oh.”

Avaria started to brush Felicia’s hair out of her eyes, but she hesitated and stopped, sheepishly retracting her hand. “... I’m sorry Felicia.”

“What?”

“I… I wasn’t there for you.”

Felicia felt her tears well up as she shook her head. “No, that’s not your fault, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

Avaria gave a sad smile before gently holding Felicia’s hand. “I wish I spent so much more time with you.”

“... Do you remember?...”

She paused and then shook her head. “I’m sorry, no.” She looked back up, her smile still present. “But I knew you were special to me when I first saw you.”

“I… Oh god, I thought you were dead. I thought you were dead for so long.” Felicia closed her eyes as she cried, unable to keep her composure. She felt Avaria wrap her arms around her and gently hold on, comforting her. “It’s okay, it’s all going to be okay.”

“But how? I… I died.”

“... You’re going to be alright, trust me.”

Felicia shook her head, realization slowly dawning on her. “... What did you do?”

“I infused my ether with you.”

Her eyes widened as she quickly tried to hold onto Avaria. “N-no, you can’t-”

“I already did-”

“But what will happen to you? What’s already happened to you?”

“I… I don’t know. But you’ll wake up.”

“I don’t want to wake up without you.” She leaned in closer, still off balance without her right arm. Avaria ran her hand through Felicia’s hair, softly caressing her. “I’m sorry, I don’t know if you can.”

“I can’t live knowing you died for me.”

“Felicia, I’ve lived and died more times than I remember. I’m okay with this being my last, especially since I know that I was able to raise you in one of my lives.” She placed her hands on Felicia’s cheeks. “You deserve better than what you were given.”

“But why can’t you be there with me? Why does this have to happen?” Her voice was a whisper, more of a plea than a question.

“I don’t know, the world works in mysterious ways. I know how painful this must be, but you have others to look out for as well, right?”

“... You mean Ray?”

Avaria smiled and nodded. “You care for him, don’t you?”

“I do.”

“Hold onto that, because I can tell he cares for you as well. It’s going to be scary when you wake up, but you’ll be okay.”

Felicia nodded back, feeling her body grow lighter. She looked down, seeing streaks of blue and purple light tug at her. “... What’s going on?”

“You’ll be back soon.”

She shook her head, trying to hold onto Avaria as tight as possible. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“I know, and I wish we had more time to catch up, but you can’t stay.”

Felicia reached out to Avaria as her consciousness started to slip. “... Mom… Please…”

“I love you Felicia, I always will.”

~

Felicia gasped for air as she exited the darkness and looked up to the night sky above which still beautifully mixed together. Her chest heaved with heavy breaths as she raised one hand up, finding the other still wasn’t there. Sitting up straight, she glanced over to where Avaria laid with her eyes closed. She scrambled to her side, breathing a sigh in relief that she was still breathing. “Hey, wake up.” She shook Avaria’s body, trying to rouse her. “Please wake up.” There was no response as she tried again, feeling nothing as she grabbed on tightly. Looking down to her hand, she paused, watching a purple mist swirl beside it. The sound of cracking ice dully rang out as dark crystals started to form, moving into the shape of her missing arm.

She marveled at the jagged crystalline surface, the black sheen brightly reflecting lights. She had never been able to solidify ether before, but somehow it had come naturally. Pausing for a moment, she lifted the arm, uncomfortably watching it respond to her movements. She couldn’t feel anything it touched, but rather sensed everything around it. Her whole body reacted to it, the ether inside pulling and turning. She took a moment to let her body figure out what it was doing, becoming confused at the sensation. There were parts of her which felt normal, but for the most part, it all was a completely new experience. Parts of her were still crawling, prickling at her skin.

Moving the crystal arm up to the moonlight, she looked at her own reflection only to see two red lights staring back. She almost screamed but stopped herself, realizing what had happened to her. Whatever her mother was before, she had passed on that power she had to her. Her fake arm kept on pulling more and more ether, but it wasn’t fatigued at all. She watched it respond to her movements once again, unsure whether to be fascinated or disturbed. It wasn’t a fluid motion, but rather a rapid reformation of the crystalline structure into a new shape to accommodate for her normal limb’s movements. Curiosity taking over, she bent it backwards, past where her elbow would’ve stopped. She shuddered at the movement and quickly reverted it, feeling uneasy with herself.

Shaking her head, she quickly returned her attention to Avaria. She was still breathing but not waking up. Felicia paused as she realized she felt nothing coming from her. Her mother, the one that seemed to always emanate energy, had fallen silent. Pressing her hands to Avaria’s body, she tried to give some of her ether but it latched onto nothing. She quickly picked her up, surprised at how light she felt. A presence made itself apparent in front of her move and she reflexively backed away, but saw nothing. Straining her vision, she saw movement come from the trees and towards her. They moved out into the field of flowers and stopped in their tracks once they saw her.

It was a man who looked familiar. She was sure she saw him before, but was unsure of where or when. He briskly walked closer, his eyes locked with hers as he closed the distance. His presence was odd, unnatural even. She glanced down to his right arm which was wrapped in bandages and noticeably felt different from the rest of his body. He stopped in front of her, looking down to the body in her arms. “... She already did it?”

“I… Yes.” Felicia held on, still wary. “Do you know her?”

“... Do you not…? Yes, I do. Let me carry her, I can take her someplace safe.”

“I-I don’t trust you.”

“Then follow me, you have enough power to obliterate me on the spot if you wanted.”

She stared at him, surprised by how straight forward he was being. “Where have we met before?”

“We haven’t really met, but I know who you are.”

“... Alright.” She slowly handed him the body, watching him gently hold her. He turned around and motioned to her arm before quietly walking forward. “You have a handle on that?”

“Um, yeah, I think so.”

“Good. Learn to control your ether and impulses.”

“Sorry?”

“You’ll get what I mean.”

She nodded and followed him, still not fully understanding what was going on. “Where are you taking her?”

“Somewhere aside from here.”

“You don’t know exactly where?”

“Do you have a place?”

“I… no.” She continued following him, racking her brain for where she should go. Trying to break the tension, she spoke up again. “I didn’t catch your name.”

“... Merrick.”

She nodded. “I’m Felicia.” Her own name sounded unfamiliar to herself, like she wasn’t saying it properly. “I… There’s someone I need to get back to.” Her mind flashed with blurred images as Merrick nodded and glanced back. “What’s his name?”

“I… um… R-Ray, it’s Ray.” She cursed herself for stumbling, realizing she must’ve been really out of it.

“... Felicia.”

“Yes?”

“The woman I’m holding, what’s her name?”

“That’s…” She stopped walking, staring blankly. “I… but I… just now...”

He turned to her, his eyes burrowing into her. “... Avaria. She’s your mother.”

Felicia stepped back, holding her head as her voice quivered. “W-what’s happening to me? What’s going on? Why… why is everything…”

Merrick gently placed Avaria’s body down and moved over to her. “Focus. The person you need to get back to, what was his name?”

“Ray, it was Ray.”

“Good, hold onto that and don’t let go.”

“Why is everything disappearing?”

“You’re a conduit, that’s a side effect.”

“A what?”

“That doesn’t matter, we need to move, people will be hunting you.” Merrick picked Avaria’s body back up and continued walking. “Just hold onto something you won’t forget for now.”

She nodded and continued forward, repeating his name over and over in her head, suddenly terrified of everything around.