“ WAR? Will the Alliance March Again?

The situation on the Abenstadt Felmarch border is tense as recent reports from the front indicate an armed skirmish had taken place between troops stationed on both sides of the border. This extreme escalation of tension is unacceptable and has already seen the quiet assembling of private militias throughout Abenstadt and Arteria. Traxia’s armies have also recently halted the Carradorian advance and a fresh legion has been rumoured to be deployed to the conflict zone. While analysts favours the Abenstadtian defensive network, we currently have no clue what exactly the Traxian plans are and how they plan to punch through the staunch fast Abenstadt defences.

Our correspondents and attaches will continue to update us as the situation develops. But be prepared for a call to arms, dear citizens. The continent stands on the verge of chaos and we must persevere. Earlier today, the Minister of War's office had sent out a preprepared statement addressing the issue and detailing the council's plan...”

- Arterian Affairs, All Editions, “Front Page”

Sophie awoke from a dreamless sleep, her head throbbing with pain. Lights blinded her eyes and she had to strain herself just to open them. She groaned in agony as her mind grew fuzzy when it tried its best to remember how she had got here. By the stars, I feel like shit. Hells below, I can barely remember a thing. There was the apparition, it talked, we talked. Jealousy, doubt, and the tower. Of course, of all the things to remember, it also needed me to get to the tower. But why? Frustrated, she clawed at the sheets only to end up touching something solid. She forced her eyes to open and found a lump of red beside her. Examining the object further, she slowly realized that the thing was actually Aryana, and that Aryana was in fact holding her legs and by extension, holding her in place. What the?

She listened closely for a few moments, taking in the dull hum of noise outside the room. There were no sounds out of the ordinary and when she took a cursory glance around her, she surmised that she was back in the dorms. Her clothes too, appear to have been changed, now dressed sloppily in her nightgown with one of the shoulder straps dangling loosely next to her. Beyond the bed and next to her desk, she could see her chestpiece and attire that she wore to training hanging on what appeared to be a makeshift rack, all her kit evidently having been cleaned. I just hope it didn’t get soaked through or it might degrade a little. Still… does this mean I got brought back to my room? But why? And… She gently crawled her way out of Aryana’s grasp and leaned over the redhead, slowly pulling her nose closer to the top of the girl’s head. Tickled by stray strands of hair, she fought the urge to sneeze but got what she needed. Still smells like flowers and vanilla, so I doubt this is a dream or a nightmare. Does this mean I’m actually back in my room?

Sophie’s headache flared up once again, the pain making her physically grimace as she clutched the bed for support. Imagery and loud noises flashed within her mind, an unrelenting assault that seemed to sap what little energy she had regained away. The cascade finally came to an end when she remembered the crowd that had formed around her and the apparition waving goodbye as her body had simply shut down. Hells be damned, I remember now. The void and my body, it's all interlinked. I’ve had nightmares but none of the darkness or the entity lately. It means my connection to it is fading. Goddess above, what the hells is wrong with me.

“Neerrnoss.” A strange sound came out beside her.

“Ary?”

“Shooom. Marshua toey toe.”

“Ary?” Sophie asked again, this time leaning over to brush some hair out of the way, giving her a light prod in the process. The girl appeared fast asleep and Sophie saw no sign of her being awake

“Shonoss.” Aryana sprouted more sleepy gibberish, her hand now clasping at the air.

Sophie watched the strange display for another minute before she rubbed her weary eyes once. Fuck, what a mess. Eva was there too, dammit. Her thoughts were once again distracted by the girl wiggling around in her sleep, expanding after her body realised that she was no longer confined by Sophie. Amused but now fatigued mentally, Sophie carefully helped pull the girl up, inching Aryana upwards until her head could finally rest on the bed’s pillow. Having reached safe harbor, Aryana’s erratic movements gradually calmed down except for her hand, which had somehow latched onto Sophie’s wrist and refused to let go.

Surprised but not displeased at this turn of events. Sophie decided to join Aryana laying back down on the bed. She manoeuvred her hand so that she could stealthily hold onto Aryana's, their fingers gently interlocking as contact was made. A warm fuzzy feeling flickered within her and she couldn’t help but smile a little. She took one last glance at a clock on the wall to find that it was only five in the afternoon, a little over three hours since she started her training session. By the stars, the apparition and activity must’ve taken a lot out of me if I already feel this badly in such a short time. But if I did pass out… how did she manage to convince the people there to not just take me to the medics and back to the dorms instead? Watching Aryana’s sleeping face, Sophie felt a small sense of reassurance and struck the doubt from her mind. Could always ask her later, for now, I’ll just enjoy the moment. Quietly, Sophie could feel herself slowly sync up to Aryana’s breathing, the two matching pace as her own eyes closed. Night, Ary. Have a good nap.

Sophie groggily opened up her eyes. She tried to move only to feel an intense stiffness coming from both her arms. The numbness sharpened her senses and her eyes opened wide to assess the damage. Not only had Aryana held firmly onto her left hand, she had also essentially formed a cocoon around it in her sleep, with her body weight. Being a back sleeper, Sophie’s other arm meanwhile was simply not used to sudden change in posture. Coupled with her vigorous swordplay earlier, she was now a little more sore than expected.

She carefully extricated her hand from Aryana’s grip, taking extra care to not wake the sleeping girl. Sophie stifled a yawn of her own and tried to roll off the bed, only realising a moment too late that her right arm was still incredibly numb and was still stiff as a board. A terrific thud echoed throughout the room as Sophie slammed her back against the floor. She was stuck frozen in shame and embarrassment for a moment before a guttural groan was let out. Her back now also joined the rest of her body in feeling sore and Sophie let her head rest against the crowd, still a bit too ashamed to move. She almost chuckled at her own misfortune, staring up into the ceiling and just wondering what exactly she should do.

The expedition to the Myndiri ruins was in a week and she had done a grand total of nothing to find out more about it. She only knew what the staffer had told her the other week and that there would be Academy pupils involved. Beyond that, she had also just learned that she was, in some sense of the word, dying. It was such a simple yet overlooked conclusion that made more sense the longer she thought about it. The Entity had made it clear enough that the void had tampered with her body to allow her free reign of its domain. She didn’t even know if she would qualify as a living being if she was dissected, though she wasn’t eager to find out.

“Sophie?” A curious voice queried from the bed.

She pondered her options for a few moments before deciding to stay on the floor, her dignity long since gone. “Down here.” She grunted.

Aryana stirred from her sleeping position and Sophie soon found the mop of redhead looking over the bed and down at her. She could see the concern written all across Aryana’s face and smiled reassuringly at her. Aryana seemed wholly unconvinced but shuffled off the bed anyway. Sophie now felt increasingly small as her friend loomed above her, the look of concern tinged with some noticeable bewilderment at the current situation.

“Rolled off the bed. Arm was super stiff. Now I’m sore all over. Fine though.” Sophie quickly headed off any potential questions.

“Uhh…”

“Here, help me up would ya?” Sophie raised her hands in the air.

Aryana pulled and Sophie immediately grimaced, the stinging numbness clearly not quite dissipated. She held back from making any noises and just nodded appreciatively at Ary before shaking her sore muscles back into action.

“Sophie…” Aryana began but hesitated, her eyes still holding onto the worried expression from earlier.

Sophie knew what Ary wanted to ask and rubbed the tips of her ears. She wasn’t sure how she could even explain what anything that happened was without sounding like a madwoman. She was certain they had almost all seen most of her erratic practice. Furthermore, the fact that they were there, meant that they were concerned about her. Passing out on the spot probably didn’t look particularly good either.

She let out a somber smile and pulled Aryana close, the girl’s eyes widening as they were now barely a finger length apart. For a moment Sophie could see herself reflect in Aryana’s eyes and she almost winced at the sight. Man, I look like a mess. She sighed deeply and for once found herself quite stumped. There was so much she wanted to say; to talk about her doubts, her fears, and her desires. Yet, whenever she tried to move her mouth she would always catch herself wondering if she should. Aryana cared about her, that much was true, but the more the girl knew, the more in danger she would be. Sophie was almost certain that whatever she mentioned, Ary would try to help or join her no matter what. Unless…

“Sophie?” Aryana whispered again. Sophie could feel the girl’s hand gently caress her cheek and leaned into it with a soft smile. She's not gonna like what's coming.

“Ary.” She stated matter of factly, watching as the girl in question stiffed up, "I'm dying."

"Huh?" Aryana looked baffled, looking almost expectantly for Sophie to continue, her face descending onto despair as the silence continued, “Dy-dying?! S-Sophie?” Aryana stammered.

Sophie paused before bursting out into a small giggle, too amused by Aryana’s shocked expression.

“Sophie?! If this is a joke it’s a very bad one!” Aryana started yelling and Sophie quickly held her tightly.

“Ary, it’s fine, hey. I’m alright. Figured I’d get the big news out of the way first.”

“Big news… out of the… so you are dying?! It's not a joke?! Sophie! Why?!” Aryana shook her violently, as if trying to expel the very thought from her bones.

“Hey, hey. It’s fine. This is one case of death that’s actually quite slow acting and almost completely curable.”

“What? What does that even mean? Sophieeee.” Aryana wailed.

“Easy there, how bout this. Give me a moment to explain everything, yeah?”

“Explain… everything?” Aryana cocked her head, “But dying…”

“Trust me. You do, don’t you?”

A furtive little nod.

“Alright, then…” Sophie sighed, “Come on, let’s sit. I just need to formulate my thoughts a bit.”

“But dying?”

“Eheheh, yeah. But it’ll make sense, kinda.”

“So we need to get you to void energy? Or at least expose you to the darkness?” Aryana asked once again, “Then you’ll be fine?”

“Something like that.” Sophie replied.

Aryana breathed another sigh of relief and flopped back onto the bed. Their talk wasn’t long but it had been tense, and Sophie could see that the girl was expecting for her to perish at any second. She was ultimately thankful that Aryana proved to be a good listener, or at least adept at hiding how confused she was in this moment. Sophie too felt a bit of that when a sudden burst of inspiration explained the likely cause of everything.

Arteria was the economic heart of the continent, a city state protected by the best mages and enchantments that money could buy or that the Academy could train. This meant that whatever protective wards were in place were ones that likely shut out most if not all hostile influences that might have designs on its people. Which also meant that the months she had spent in the city and the Academy would be devoid of such influences. One of which being the Entity and the void. After all, it was the very same Entity that made it clear it could not directly influence much of anything without a medium to access this realm of existence, that the void was locked in some distant prison and could barely contact her in the first place. It struggled against whatever was keeping it in place, much less the protective wards that defended most cities and estates, even less so against some of the best Cyndralia had to offer.

When she had told Aryana her theory, she herself felt quite stupid as she spoke the words. It made sense, an Entity that struggled to pierce through worlds in the first place and was limiting its presence wouldn’t actively engage with large scale protective barriers. Sophie felt almost as if she had stumbled into the most obvious explanation to the problem and couldn’t help feeling a little miffed that she hadn’t noticed any of this earlier. Though she knew that there had also been no reason that would make her suspect this train of thought in the first place. At least she had been relatively free of nightmares, that much she could appreciate.

“So? What do you think?” Sophie asked the now silent Aryana.

Aryana frowned and Sophie watched her shoulders sag. Before she could offer words of reassurance, Aryana had launched herself at her. Surprised, Sophie couldn’t stand her ground and the two tumbled into a small heap as Aryana wrapped her arms tightly around Sophie.

“Don’t die.” Aryana let out a hushed whisper.

“O-oh? Don’t worry, I won’t. At least I don't plan on doing so. Glad to see you care.” Sophie chuckled.

“Good… good.” Aryana let out her own relieved sigh, “You better not or I’ll be really sad. Really, really sad.” Aryana hunched up against Sophie's Chest, "And I do care. A lot."

“Heh. I don’t plan to. Not for a while, at least.” Sophie nuzzled the top of Aryana’s head, “‘Sides, who would ever leave you alone? You’re like the cutest little puppy, can’t ever abandon that.” Sophie joked.

Aryana glared up at Sophie and pouted but Sophie saw through the act and the little twinkle in the girl’s eyes. Heh.

“All I’ll have to do is head out of the city and replenish at the ruin. Worse comes to worse I’ll just sneak into the main hall and up to the Myndiri tower. Just might get expelled. Simple enoug-oof.” Sophie’s words stumbled when she felt a surprise punch in the gut.

“Don’t joke about that.” Aryana growled, “You’ll be fine. Things will be okay.”

Sophie smiled and gave Aryana a cheeky little poke in the cheek, “Alright, alright. I won’t. But still, it’ll just be a quick excursion out of the city, I’ll try being a part of the group. If not, I’ll just have to shadow them, no biggie.”

Aryana snorted but didn’t press the issue, pulling away from Sophie to help her off the floor. With their clothes thoroughly ruffled, the two shared a quick glance and giggled before they nodded. A silent agreement was reached and they would try to enjoy the rest of the day however they could before the next week began.

Letting her eyes follow Aryana move across the room, Sophie couldn’t help feel a little guilty. Besides the immediate issue of her health, she had hidden the true reason she had originally went to vent at the training grounds. But when she watched as Aryana’s expression had descended into despair, she reckoned that the poor girl had enough on her plate. As I always tell myself, a problem for another time. But… I wonder… ah, whatever. A problem for another time.