Closed To heal the plague.

[Paragon]

But unbeknownst to the Konti and the Ethaefal, something was amiss. The 'plague' that Nira'lia had sensed in Eridanus was not the same as the others. This was not a mere cold, exemplified by the Blight that had rocked their group. This was something different. Something alien. They walked for a while, talking and wondering. But it was not long before Eridanus felt something strange inside of him. It was like a pulse. Every few moments, it came, a wave of energy pushing itself across his body. It was getting dark when Nira'lia would begin to notice the strange light in the Ethaefal's eyes. This was not merely the celestial shimmer of his kind. This was a dark light. An old light. Something so totally foreign that lurked beneath him.

[Eridanus]

"You got it," Eridanus admitted sheepishly. "I didn't know which part to take so I just took the whole thing. Better safe than sorry, eh?"

The two of them made light conversation as they hurried back to the campsite, though they only truly felt safe once they were within the confines of the magical shield that surrounded the area, as well as the secure presence of the syliran knights currently on guard duty who were stationed periodically throughout the perimeter of the area.

Stopping every once in a while to pick up sufficiently dry twigs to store in the pockets of his robes (in view of Nira's comments regarding what they should do next), they finally reached the proximity of their tents. Eridanus stopped at what he thought to be a suitably comfortable spot in front of their neighboring tents where a bunch of rocks stood that could serve as a makeshift chair.

"Well then," He muttered, unloading himself of the toolkit and the twigs as he gathered the dry tinder in a pile before the rock formation that formed their makeshift chairs. Taking a seat on one of them, he took out the mortar and pestle set, handing them to NIra along with the jar of yarrow. For him, he retrieve the entire specimen of wormwood he plucked from the other jar, and began to separate the leaves from the rest as per Nira's instruction.

Turning to talk to her as he worked, he barely opened his mouth before he felt a strong presence emanate from within his body. Flinching as a low groan came out from him, he dropped the plant he was holding at the time, clutching at his chest as he felt pulses of strong energy resonating from within his upper torso. It was not exactly painful per se, but it felt like his ribs were closing in onto his heart and lungs, and there was a little difficulty in breathing.

It felt like a mild sort of cardiac arrest, though he could almost imagine seeing moving shockwaves spreading out like a nova from around his body every time his chest throbbed. It was probably his imagination though, or perhaps his mind trying to place an imagery on what he was feeling so as to express and understand that strange feeling better.

"I suppose I take back my words of feeling better," The scholar muttered in between jagged breaths. "Is that supposed to be a symptom of this plague?"

[Nira'lia]

After she placed the mortar and pestle on the ground, she started to pluck off the leaves of the yarrow. The leaves were distributed evenly along stems of the plant. The stems themselves were soft to the touch and it wasn’t difficult to separate the tiny leaves. They came off easily when she ran her fingers in a pinched motion across the stems. Nira’lia discarded the tiny leaves in the mortar, careful not to let any go to waste. There were some flowers along with the yarrow that she had taken. She put them aside and wondered if they could be used to make soap, a project that she would tackle on her own later on. The Konti was much too focused in what she was doing to notice anything else. When the Ethaefal groaned, she blinked and turned her head to look at him. “What’s going on?” she inquired curiously. Nira’lia could see him clutching his chest, but she had no way of knowing what he was feeling. His gestures and expressions did tell her that something terribly wrong was happening, and she quickly put the jar aside to stand up and hover by him. Since he wasn’t doubling over in pain, she was worried but not panicking. “Is it painful somewhere…? What exactly do you feel?” There was a strange glint in his eyes—but Nira’lia had learned to more or less ignore the changes in his Vantha eyes by now. But when she remembered that he wasn’t in his mortal form, the Konti looked even more confused. “Perhaps you should go rest, and I’ll see if there are any other more experienced healers around,” she muttered. While she was an expert in her field, these were symptoms that she couldn’t recognize. Plagues could bring about chest pain and difficulty in breathing, but these normally came gradually, and one’s body did not degrade in a split-second. She was also troubled by his peculiar eyes. At the moment, she had no idea that there was a deeper reason for to this. She didn’t know that he wasn’t suffering from a physical disease like everyone else.

[Eridanus]

The imaginary shockwaves Eridanus visualized that resonated together with the dullness in his chest faded away, leaving him gasping. He was not aware of the strange glint in his eyes, and that made his visage even more unearthly and terrifying as he stared straight into Nira's eyes as he sought for an answer to his question.

"I... seem alright now," He muttered, taking several deep breaths to calm his mind as he picked up the plant he dropped and continued plucking the leaves with renewed ferocity. "That means we have even lesser time than we thought, eh?"

Somehow hoping that the medicine that they were creating would have some sort of magical effect on him, he resumed his task with a new-found vigor, eventually finished plucking the leaves off the wormwood plant as Nira went to find the experienced healers that she mentioned.

Taking the mortar and pestle, he placed his wormwood leaves into them, crushing them as he methodically ground the herbs into a paste. However, he only had one set from his toolkit, and was not sure if he was supposed to combine the yarrow and wormwood together in this phase. Instead, he just mindlessly ground the wormwood paste lifelessly, giving him something to do while waiting for Nira to return.

[Paragon]

Nira'lia walked away, leaving Eridanus alone. The pulsating seemed to dull somewhat, though his eyes were still aglow with dark light. As he ground the paste, the feeling came and went. As it returned cyclically, it became more focussed. As if it were trying to tell him something. Eventually, the feeling became a magnetism. A pull. He would look upwards, head snapping with movement unnaturally. His eyes grew fiercer. Dark gems, and whispered, stolen secrets. He rose from his spot, conscious, yet misguided. He was pulled from the clearing, through a copse of trees, and finally stopped walking abruptly before a small pond of murky water. He was suspended, limbs as if on puppet strings. Everything dropped. The strings cut. He was left hanging before the water, and as he looked, the Ethaefal could make out his reflection in the pond. It was a scene. In another life. In another world. Recognition twigged within him as he witnessed life unfold in the Ukalas. There was a beautiful temple. Cherry blossom leaves seemed to float to and fro. Eridanus stood in the centre, looking up at the building in reverence. Something stirred behind him, and when he turned round, he would find the image in the pond gone. The memories slippery, as if he couldn't quite keep hold of them. The shrubs rustled as someone passed through - either animal, or Nira'lia returning from her venture.

[Nira'lia]

Leaving the Ethaefal behind, Nira’lia approached some familiar faces that she knew were medics and healers as well. Knowing that that they were roughly on the same level as her, she asked about Irine Braklin. The Sergeant Knight was a Konti healer like her, but had more marks from Rak’keli. Nira’lia was sure her expertise would be of much help. None of the other novice healers knew where Irine was, thought they did guess she would be amongst the higher-ups within the main camp. Nira’lia scratched her head, deep in thought. If she had the luck to find Irine, and if Irine would listen, what would she even say? It made more sense to bring Eridanus to her instead of asking the Sergeant Knight to walk back to their camp. She thanked the other medics and went back to the Ethaefal. But once she arrived back to the spot near their tents, Eridanus was nowhere to be found. Blinking, the Konti saw the discarded mortar and pestle. The plants he had been working on were carelessly thrown on the floor as well. Worried, she peered inside his tent. It was empty, resulting to a frown on her face. “Eridanus!” she called out to nowhere in particular. No answer. “Are you looking for the Ethaefal?” asked one of the men in the camp. He was walking by with some firewood in his arms. Pointing towards the woods, he continued, “He went that way. He looked pretty out of it.” Going pale, the Konti rushed towards the direction the man had pointed her towards. She went at a straight line, assuming it would be easier for her to find her way back that way. The Konti only went around trees when she had to. Finally, she found him looking at a murky pond. “What are you doing!?” she asked, slightly annoyed as she stopped to catch her breath.

[Eridanus]

The entire scenario was dream-like. Conscious, yet not conscious, his body acted automatically, as if it was entirely natural to do so. His mind did not question his deeds, for it was dulled to some extent, and he only participated in content, lacking the critical questioning that he usually subjected his experiences to.

Thus, he walked, drawn to some unknown place for some unknown reason. The moon called to him, and the child of the night responded naturally. For Leth's wishes were his commands, and though he might have grown further apart from the moon-god with every year of non-communication and neglect, there was no question as to his origin. A child of Leth would always remain a child of Leth.

And so he found himself before the pond, still stuck somewhat in his hypnotic trance. Scenes from his past, the desired heavens of the Ukalas that all Ethaefals wish to return to, played itself out. As long-forgotten memories came surging back as a result of this memory-trigger, a sense of familiarity permeated every fiber of his being, filling him with a sense of bliss and content satisfaction. He felt like there was nothing abnormal about this situation; he was merely returning home.

This long suppressed desire led to him unconsciously leaning ever so dangerously to the pool, his yearning evident in his strangely expressive face, the nostalgic desire obvious in every subtle movement of his body. His home beckoned, and he would return.

Until, Nira'lia suddenly came in, breaking the trance that he was in. The strange state that he was in was violently broken, shifting him back to his usual conscious self. Yet, the feelings that filled his soul did not go away quickly, and the lingering emotions from before was still displayed clearly on his face, his body, his actions, and his very soul.

"Wha-what? Where am I? What was I doing?" The ethaefal responded in a confused manner, for the conscious memory of what he had been doing was beginning to fade. Just like how most people forgot their dreams when they woke up, so is his memory of that dream-like sequence disappearing when he was awoken from his hypnotic slumber. The only thing that remained were the emotions that would confuse him further. For an emotion without the context was like a question without the answer, or an answer without the question. Either way, one was incomplete without the other.

Though he did not know why, but a sense of despair began to fill his being, his unnaturally expressive visage reflecting this change. The pulsing in his eyes flared with intensity as if mimicking the shifting gaze of Morwen's children, and a depressing aura of sorrow emanated from his very being. It came from a small seed of his subconscious that still remembered what happened, but with the fading memories it only served to confuse him further.

A single tear rolled from his eyes. Though he did not consciously know this, it was a mark from his long suppressed misery at being wrung from the eternal bliss in Ukalas, and of being away from his original patron deity Leth. It was the tear that represented the grief of being violently wrestled away from his one true home, and of the many centuries of suffering and experiences in the mortal world.

"I don't... I don't know what's happening anymore," Eridanus croaked, raising his eyes to the night sky as the pure-white moonlight glinted surrealistically off his horns. The single tear drop shined with the reflection of the moon as it made its journey down his unnaturally beautiful face, enchanted with otherworldly glamor, leaving his chin as it sailed downwards onto the ground.

[Nira'lia]

He was… crying? Nira’lia had just noticed the one tear, but she was surprised nonetheless. This was the most emotion she had ever seen in him despite knowing him for a few years now. The Konti fidgeted uncomfortably as she watched her friend. The despair was evident in his expression, and she had never seen him look this way. While there was a certain kind of aesthetic splendor to what was before her, she couldn’t help but feel utmost sadness for him. She wanted to ask him about what was happening, but he had already answered the question. Forcing a soft smile, she walked over to him. As if it would help, the Konti looked over to the murky pond, as if searching for a clue. Nothing but her own reflection stared back at her, and she wondered what was in this plain pond that had caused Eridanus to react this way. Nira’lia stood in front of him and looked straight at his eyes. Frowning, she could still see the strangeness in them. “Did you see your eyes in your reflection…? Does that happen often?” Daintily, she put her hand on his shoulder and pat him. The sigil on her right shoulder tingled as she felt Rak’keli’s power surge forward. One of the abilities of her mark was to cure depression, and she thought it wouldn’t hurt to try. Since the depths of his despair were much deeper than any of them thought, it most likely was not going to fully go away. But the mark would help, she knew that. It would at least clear his mind a bit. She chose not to tell him about what she did, and she didn’t know if he would realize it. Nira’lia took her hand back and grinned at him. Confusion was still on her face, as this was all a mystery. “I’m worried about you,” she said simply. “What can I do to help?”

[Eridanus]

Nira'lia went to stand in front of him, gazing into his eyes while disrupting his stagnant view of the pond. The physical appearance of his friend served as a refreshing contrast to the monotony of still water. Her eyes spoke of compassion and emotions absent in the coldness of the shallow depths. Even as she tapped his shoulder to express her concern, he felt a rush of warmness surge through his body. The scholar was unaware of the mental healing that Rak'keli's gnosis was capable of, only knowing that it was able to heal physical injuries. Therefore, he associated this oncoming calm with the presence of his friend.

The lost child blinked. Then he smiled.

Perhaps it was not entirely the power of her gnosis, for it was her companionship that mattered. Just as her Call placed her trust and faith in his vision, so had her constant reliability by his side caused him to become increasingly dependent on her support. His mind clearer now, though the memories no less hazy, he raised his eyes to meet the konti's, speaking properly for the first time.

"I... might have worried you a little, didn't I?" Eridanus muttered with a crooked smile, using his hand to wipe away the singular trace of his weakness. There was a time for a man to show it, but that momentous instance was over. This was the time to be resolute and to gain strength from their camaraderie.

"I didn't know what happened," He began after a moment of hesitation. "I vaguely recall, being in some sort of dream as something called me. Then something happened to induce that... flash of emotions within me. And you know the rest. Guess it wasn't a dream after all, huh," He finished with a minute trace of bitterness.

As he spoke he angled his face slightly, breaking their eye contact and that split instance of electric intimacy, to once again gaze at the reflection of the moon on the murky surface of the pond.

"Something strange is afoot," The scholar added simply, unknowingly mirroring what he said back in Alvadas which signaled the start of their region-wide journey and quest.

[Paragon]

Moments after Nira'lia touched the Ethaefal, in a tender effort to cure him of his despair, the Konti herself fell back. A vision came at her in a flurry. She began to witness what Eridanus had seen too, though it meant less to her - she could not fully comprehend the burdens of an Ethaefal - and then it flashed again. Different scenes, in which she was different people, garbed in different clothes. And in all of them she felt a queer sense of deja vu. There was one man throughout every vision. Eridanus. It was him. She felt it so intrinsically, it was undeniable. His eyes flared again, and she began to remember. A little first. A trickle. Eridanus would begin to remember too. They knew each other... they had known each other for a long time indeed. What possessed the Ethaefal, and what strange history tied him to the Konti?