Was it possible for the weather to be so good it became bad? As a crystal clear blue sky bore oppressively down on him, the everlasting heat of the closest star radiating with immense power, Cain decided that no, this was also terrible weather in a wholly different way. Though the umbrellas formed by the massive fungi of Esuilus provided natural shade, there was an inexorably humid and stagnant sensation in the air. Each breath was unpleasantly moist, and his mane of midnight purple hair, which was majestic when tossed by the winds of tomorrow, was now nothing but a sweaty curse, warming his head so much that the muse was certain his head was boiling. But a quest was a quest, and regardless of how brutally unkind the environmental circumstances were, Cain pressed on. He was no wilting wallflower after all, no subterranean inhabitant unaccustomed to the rigors of travel. He was an adventurer, and not only that, he was an adventurer who was deeply involved in the matters of this particular quest. Oh, the apothecary didn’t know, but Cain sure did, in the aftermath of those shattered bottles and emptied vials, splayed out on the cold hard ground as his body processed all those oily concoctions, poisons countered by antidotes, medicines neutralized by toxins. And even after that binge, the midnight haired muse still recalled the taste of the Witch’s brew, the devastatingly nightmarish that persisted in his memories, in the roof of his mouth even now. To think an affliction could be so devastating. His guilt was something to consider for another time though, and for now, the muse busied himself with climbing up and over the mushroom forest that sprouted both above and below him. It was truly a strange place, Esuilus, a wonderland filled to the brim with brightly colored mushroom caps and think, fibrous stalks. Compared to verdant Brisshal and pastoral Pormont, Esuilus was an entirely different beast, almost as psychedelic as the phantom beast they were tasked with hunting down. The Rainbow Beast Kitaljre. A strange creature of unlimited color that left no tracks and had no consistent form. All those he had asked gave different accounts on the form of the beast, and though many did claim to have methods of ‘finding’ it, none of their methods were the same, and none of them were able to true ‘slay’ one. A true strike through a Kitaljre’s head or heart caused it to poof out of existence instead, leaving only its rainbow testicles behind. Almost a hilarious description, but at the same time…somewhat troubling. Cain wasn’t a hunter and neither was his Felis companion, and with no real idea of how to get about doing this, they had no choice but to scamper about the area, hoping that the prismatic existence popped up somewhere their eyes were looking. Well, it wasn’t like the muse lacked experience in walking around until he stumbled across what he was looking for either, but his companion? That was the question, wasn’t it? Even if ‘Lady’ Briar had a fairly high chance of just being a guy in real life, Cain was still totally willing to take a break from their punishing trek through the mushroom forest if the lady was tired. They had been hiking for the past several hours, after all. “How are you doing, Lady of Briars?” Cain asked, turning towards his companion as he crested another springy mushroom cap, “It has been an arduous hunting trip, and I must confess that the weather is not doing favors for my own stamina reserves. If you’d like, it may be pertinent to break for lunch and perhaps plan a more intelligent method of cornering this phantom beast.”
Having followed a mysterious man for a mission in the name of chaos, Lady Briar certainly wasn't a fan of this flimsy weather, water regularly pouring when they managed to end up in cracks from the giant mushrooms that wove together as an overhang. She wasn't a fan of a lot of things, however, hard work included. Normally, she'd be trying to get a piggy-back ride out of her travel companion- but somehow, this man was a bit...More chaotic to her than herself. It was something about his use of words. Like a far more distressing Shakespeare, making her both intrigued and fearful for what she'd gotten herself into in the first place. How did I end up here anyway... Her internal monologue was a grumble as her small form, covered at spots with fur, felt weighed down by the rain that soaked her. When Cain, using his unusual way with words yet again, offered a break for lunch, she could only stare at him blankly. "You look worse for wear than I do, and I'm a cat in water." Her words were said with a mixture of a doctor's sympathy and an amused venom- she actually did have the ability to feel bad for people! It just also made her laugh, for some reason. "You say a break for lunch, but I didn't bring any food, did you? I thought this was supposed to be a fairly simple hike... Instead it's such a pain..." Still, their goal was far too chaotic to pass up. A hallucinogen of it's own category, it was only natural for a doctor to wonder about it, wasn't it? It was full of potential for mayhem! Just what she wanted to see! "If it's too hot for you, I can potentially cool you down. Well... Sort of, I suppose. I'm a living form of our little friend we seek, after all~ illusions are wonderfully healing, if used right, don't you think~? They can make you itch or calm, cold or warm~ The right hallucination can really do anything~"
“A cat in water?” Cain quirked an eyebrow at that strange phrase, wondering why the small Felis would use such a term when they weren’t nearly as sweaty as he was. Maybe an allusion to how foreign the terrain was? Discarding the detail without another thought, the midnight haired muse focused instead on the misfortune that was a cat without proper adventuring supplies. He already had the feeling that Lady Briar was a relatively fresh adventurer judging by her strengths and her equipment, and perhaps she was also the type who saw it more as a game than an experience, but still, neglecting food? “An adventurer should always be prepared for the long haul, Lady Briar,” Cain replied, clicking his tongue chidingly, “And we are hunting a beast that has infinite forms. Does it not make sense that this hunt would be far from a simple one? I must confess myself that I have few clues on where exactly we’ll be able to find the Kitaljre. But with guts, effort, and the fuel to last us, I’m sure we’ll be able to fell the Prismatic Phantom!” Finding a nice spot by a large, purple-spotted mushroom, the muse sat down cross-legged, motioning his party mate to do the same. It was easy enough to draw out a variety of preserved foods from his inventory, from jugs of clear water to cute sandwiches purchased from the Rocky Road. Though a bit lacking in meat filling, the crisp greens and juicy tomato slices more than made up for it, and Cain offered one to Lady Briar as he chewed away, relaxing. “Your offer is kind, milady, but alas, regardless of how torturous this clear summer sky is, I am Cain Darlite, Flagbearer of Miracles, and this environment is just another thing to enjoy to the fullest.” He grinned then, pouring himself a mug of water before downing it like a shot of vodka. “It would be dangerous, after all, if my body failed me while I was unable to recognize the warning signs that would precede such failures. Let’s keep the hallucinations targeted at enemies instead of each other, yes?” A couple apples were pulled out next, each crunchy bite eliciting a deliciously spicy burst of flavor.
"It's raining, isn't it?" She mused rather blatantly when the man seemed confused by her words. To Briar, there was a plethora of water coming down between the gaps of the mushrooms. A warm, humid rain- rain that made her fur feel like it was sticking together, making it itch a bit uneasily. "Cats and water are said not to mix. Right now, I think I know why." Though she was grumpy, she admitted to feeling some hunger- which, annoyingly, was a bit more realistic than she expected out of a VR game. It was the first of it's kind that the Lady Briar had really taken part in, so she didn't know it'd be quite so... Realistic, despite the acronym's meaning. "This rain is unfortunately familiar... It reminds me of my hometown. Much mild rain... Fairly boring in general, really." With a plop, the somewhat lacking-in-femininity feline happily accepted the offered sandwich, sniffing it to find it smelled odd to her. What she saw was salad, but what she smelled was fish- delicious fish. "I didn't even use an illusion, so why's this smell better than it looks?" Taking a bite, it tasted similar to it's scent. It really did feel like a dream. Still, no one said there wasn't a thin layer of tuna on the sandwich, she figured- and surely, a cat's nose was fairly sharp for fish, was it not? "Even if your body started to fail, I'd be able to tell you, you know. And I know ways to fix things. I may not appear it, but I'm a doctor~ At least, in the other world, I am~ I can fix all that ails you, if you let me~ Body-wise, at least." Briar was no therapist, and didn't plan to ever be one. The real man behind the mask was already in his forties and far from interested in social work! "Tell me, sir Flagbearer, what do you plan to do when we come across the beast? And how pray tell do you plan to recognize it when we find it's chaotically beautiful form?"
“Raining in your heart, perhaps,” Cain remarked with a laugh, “I must confess though, that I rarely see someone as committed to the feline side of the Felis as much as you, Lady Briar. Most would have simply settled for ears and a tail, but seeing someone get fully invested in attaining a proper half-half ratio is quite interesting as well.” Further conversation, however, made it harder and harder for Cain to simply shrug off her much too erratic comments about the water. Hot and humid it was, but it definitely wasn’t raining. Taking another bite of his own spicy apple, the muse looked at her strangely, before stating the obvious. “Apologies if this offends you, but you are aware that it isn’t truly raining, yes? There’s a bright purple sky overhead, after all, and the sun may be burning a hole through my suit whenever we get out of the shade.” Really, with comments like that, he wasn’t sure if Lady Briar was a prankster or just utterly confused, and her offer to ‘fix’ him was met with an equal amount of doubt, thinly veiled behind a patient understanding. The question was a fair one though, and Cain considered that question for a fair ol’ amount of time, one hand grazing his chin. It was obvious that a monster was to be slain, but recognizing it to begin with… Speaking confidently despite the many gaps in his knowledge, the midnight-haired muse said, “Well, naturally, the elusive beast must be slain in order to extract his testicles from his body, but the point about its ever shifting form is a fair one, mistress. There is one point of commonality between all these sightings though, which will be our method of properly identifying it: its coloration. Despite being a shapeshifter, the Kitaljre nevertheless takes the form of all the colors of the rainbow, thus granting it the consistent title of ‘Psychedelic Phantom’. According to a witch doctor, it’s like a creature that walked out of a fever dream, a living hallucination that sheds no blood, and within this kaleidoscopic mushroom forest, such an odd pigment sadly would not be all that out of place.” A shrug, before he returned to admiring the purple sky, occasionally closing his fist over white sand and watching soft grains sift in between his fingers. The sound of waves roared in his ears, not sounding out of place despite his inability to actually see the seawater that must be coming in. “Still, to think that Esuilus had an ocean-side view. It really is a curious place, isn’t it, Lady Briar?”
Although Briar was aware that Cain was a muse, meaning poetry was probably just second nature to him, she did find his idea that the rain was 'just in her heart' quite weird. After all, she felt the water soaking the skin below her fur- and it was sticky like tar, somehow, trying to keep her fur clumped like paste. She tried to ignore it, and focused on his words instead. Was it really that strange for her to go for a pure half-half mix? What was the point of being a cat-girl if you didn't have any actual feline features? Tails and ears could be done with costumes. Actual feline feats were far less simple. Luckily, some of the feline side was still tame, however. She'd yet to experience a hairball, and she hoped not to ever have to. That'd just be too in character for her! "You're pretty in character yourself, 'Flagbearer of Miracles'. Only a miracle would leave you able to ignore the rain like this. And the only purple thing is that weird purring duck over there." She pointed at a vacant spot, where her eyes clearly mirrored to her a duck, feathers painted purple with spots coating it almost like a bizarrely colored calico cat. The mews and purrs only added to the effect. Though as she stared at it, she couldn't help but ponder. Why did it, too, smell like fish? Her sandwich was fishy enough as it was... But would it really take over her nose so much? "Say, Cain, what kind of sandwich is this, anyway? It's a little too tasty for a simple ration sandwich, don't you think?"
... That was the clear difference then. At this point, he could no longer just joke around about seeing different things or about shit going on in the heart. A purring duck? Heavy rain? And now questioning a sandwich? It was less concerning that they had differences in what their senses were telling them and more concerning that they didn’t recognize these differences as ‘strange’ at all. “No…” Cain said slowly, “It’s not a simple ration sandwich at all. I bought these tomato salad and ham sandwiches from the Rocky Road in Stokbon. Cost me a pretty penny, but the fusion of fresh veggies and thinly sliced ham was worth it. There should be nothing at all about their appearance that implied they were anything but normal.” A pause, a breath, a path to take and a decision to make. “Lady Briar, let’s go over the details so far,” Cain said, turning to face the Felis fully, “You say that it’s raining, but all I see is a bright, purple sky. You say that there’s a duck right there, but I see nothing. Discard all your pre-conceived notions of how a virtual reality could be utterly lacking in common sense, and think it over slowly. Terrasphere is a world drenched in realism, outside of aberrations and errors in the coding. Do these occurrences really make any sense?” A dramatic silence followed, before a smile he had no control over crested his angular features. “Or do you believe we’re under the influence of another existence right now?”
Hearing him say that it was a ham sandwich, the cat got her tongue- an ironic adage considering her form, yet perfectly fitting as she nearly choked on her next bite. "H-Ham? But this tastes nothing like that. It tastes like tuna salad. Funny part is I normally would hate tuna. Good thing I'm a cat... Or I thought it was." Though she'd complained about it, she still ate it. In fact, knowing what it was despite her senses made her munch it down faster, as if to regain some sanity and fulfill the pit of hunger she hadn't noticed before. She wasn't sure if it counted as stress eating or not, but she felt like her stomach was becoming a black hole- like it was going to eat itself, or was. Then, he noted to stop and think. Considering she was a doctor offline, and considering her love of illusions, one would wonder why she hadn't thought it possible they were under a spell or psychedelic beforehand. Finishing off the sandwich in her hand, she jumped off the ground and moved to try to touch the duck her brain was claiming was there- and felt nothing but air, sighing softly. "Damn, and here I was thinking I could kill it to try to get a down pillow made. Whatever it is, it's giving us one heck of an acid trip." Her words were laced with sarcasm, but the thought really had crossed her mind. Turning to the man beside her, she gave a cocky grin and moved to pull her lance out of her inventory. "Well, better to poke at things we can't recognize for sure to be safe." She stretched a bit, thinking still, her free hand tapping her cheek. "So, I'm guessing our purrey's nearby. Think it'll make it any easier to spot it when we can't tell what's real and what's not? We'll have to make sure we both see it, I guess. Most people don't share the same trip, as we clearly can see from how different ours are."
“A down pillow made from a single duck?” Cain smiled, despite the strange illusion they found themselves in, “And yeah, as long as the illusion remains only as a visual and auditory effect, I suppose our journey won’t be impeded too much by this strange hallucination. Onwards ho then!” With his own fine flagpole spun around to face forwards, the muse and the mage continued on with their journey, both of them using their flagpoles to sweep in front of them like guide canes for the blind. Though their advance through the mushroom forest of Esuilus slowed drastically due to it, knowledge of the fact that neither of them was going to accidentally walk off a cliff and plummet to their death was a good one. There were surprises, of course, from a gigantic eye that split the skies and peered down onto the duo to toxically green rain that hammered down on them from the side, but no matter what sort of madness befell them, it was easy enough to check the HP values of their User Interface to determine that they weren’t actually going to melt. It was disturbing at times, of course, as the sensation of the mushroom beneath them turned similarly to warm, pulsating flesh, but…the focus was there, and neither of them stopped, even when their clothing turned into a squirming collection of live worms. This was a new experience for Cain, after all, and no matter how disgusting these hallucinations were, the very fact that he could enjoy such psychedelic events was a gift in and of itself. Climbing over a waterfall of frozen lava, he offered a hand towards Lady Briar, who had now become nothing but a furry, black mass in his eyes, distinguished only by the Felis’s voice and words. The closer they got to the source of the madness, the better, right? The midnight haired muse turned his gaze skywards once more, the purple sky having melted into a reflection of a city of concrete, as if two worlds were existing in parallel to each other. Curious indeed. With one hand on his hat and another grasping his flagpole, he slid down a giant bar of soap, stumbling a few steps as his feet grinded against top of a petrified bush before, smiling. Ah, they had crossed the threshold, hadn’t they? They were definitely, absolutely, no longer in Esuilus. The duo, through their continual traversal into this Phantasmal Beast’s territory, had finally landed in ‘Wonderland’, the center of the madness and, hilariously enough, the true home of the elusive prismatic beast. All around him were sandy dunes in a constant state of flux. All above him was a golden cathedral, its spires jutting downwards and exuding heavenly light. And before him was the seven limbed monstrosity that beheld the coloration of gasoline mixed with water, standing tall and spindly, twenty feet tall with drooping wings of wax. Instinct told him to prepare for battle, but his thoughts screamed at him to just throw up and log out Through grit teeth, Cain said, “Lady Briar, what do you see?”
He'd pointed out only the visual and auditory, but to Briar, there were more senses at play in this horridly unwanted acid trip. She'd tried drugs as a kid, sure- any normal kid did, especially with parents like hers and a family she wanted out of. She wanted an escape, and tripping sure did give her that. But this wasn't that kind of trip. It was the kind you only got when someone spiked your punch when you weren't looking. She felt like she'd been roofied, because her head hurt each time she tried to make sense of the illusions before her. "How much farther do you think it is?" She grumbled, holding her lance in a tight fist, her flesh turning white at the knuckles. Her knuckles were white, her face was red with a fever and her feet were chilly to the point that, if she took off her shoes, she was sure they'd be blue or purple. "I swear, I'm colorful enough to be the thing." The entrance to the sand dunes had caught her attention away from her pain, the sand swirling into her face on and off, distancing her mind from her body. They'd kept conversation mostly to recognize each other to some degree, as he helped her over frozen lave and and snowy sand that tickled her as they wandered further into the abyss of chaos. Chaos is my home, so why do I feel unwelcomed by it? She pondered. As they got close enough to the beast before them, she felt a little vomit in her throat, which she swallowed against her better judgement. "I see... Seven tendrils, each color of the rainbow... And a body made of sludge that looks like my mother's bloody cooking when she's had a bit too much liquor. It's either that or a prismatic octopus was cooked into a giant blood pudding for us to eat... But it doesn't look all that edible if you ask me. I love me some blood pudding, but not when it looks like a child's been throwing pool toys in it..."
Their delusions had synchronized. Good. They could take this then. If both of them were viewing the same eldritch monstrosity, then that meant it was the main target, was it not? The seven legged freak of nature that the two of them had to rip the testicles off of. Ah, this was certainly going to be one messy, disgusting job. The flagpole twirled in his hands as the midnight haired muse faced off against his quarry, his prey. Three steps brought him behind his shorter companion, the lance wielding Lady Briar, and musical words overlapped the hallucinations that created a gross mimicry of reality. “Never had a chance to eat blood pudding myself,” Cain replied, continuing to exchange words and confirm identities, “Glad to know that it’s just as ug-” A realization struck him like a levin bolt, his dark eyes widening. No, this wasn’t ‘ugliness’, nor ‘revulsion’. He sucked in a deep breath, trying to steady his hammering heart. This was a beauty that was so avant garde and foreign that it surpassed all the eye catching costumes that showed up on Paris runways. It wasn’t disgust that caused him to vomit, it was a true sense of lovesickness, towards the otherworldly phantasmal beast that would never gaze at him l- “FUCK!” A vulgar proclamation shook him out of that never ending chain of thoughts, the muse gathering his wits together once more. Words of power pealed out of his mouth as his silvered flagpole spun and twisted in his hands, the banner of meat streaming and steaming within the desert battlefield. All of Lady Briar’s parameters were raised with his words, attack speed, physical strength, reaction speed, endurance, health regeneration, energy regeneration, debuff resistance, casting speed, all of it rising dramatically as the war hymn continued. “We need to make this fast! Strike the Kitaljre down with a blitzkrieg, Briar! There some other malediction its imposing over our minds! Hurry u-” And that was when the ground beneath him opened up, into the gaping maw of a worm like being, a dozen hundred micro spears jutting out of its rancid gums as Cain plummeted straight down, screaming.
"If you're going to ask me to speed up the fight, the least you can do is do it in bloody English!" The cat growled behind her, though pleased by the soothing feel of her parameters growing stronger. She let one hand open and close, feeling the rush of energy like a wave of cocaine in her blood. Not actually used to it despite her known 'less-than-stellar' lifestyle to her family, the energy made her numb for a moment before she was able to grip her spear with a grin. "You say some strange things, but you're one heck of a dealer," She mused with a laugh. Purring as her knuckles went white around her lance, she moved to glance (or rather, glare) at her prey, before preparing her attack. Axel Disaster With a flick of her wrist, she began to spin the spear in her hand like a drill, rushing head on to close-range bore into the colorful disaster before her. Its tendril legs tried to grab her, but she managed to break free thanks to the added strength in her body. She felt herself continue her assault, her drill-like spinning keeping at it. "Whatever knob designed this thing did it to disturb... Oi! Flagman! Think you can use that flag to get the loot while I keep 'im busy? I can't swipe and-" Hearing him scream, she was distracted from her attack and thrown with her spear right in front of the shrieking muse. "You pillock, get your head back into reality! I don't know what you're sensing but it's not real! Focus on the wanker we're trying to get the knob off of!"
Oh god oh god oh god, they were both falling further and further down the gullet of this monstrosity and no matter how useful his Arcanamantic teleportation was in this scenario, Cain wasn’t able to reset momentum if he didn’t have any idea of WHERE the ground was. His limbs flailed wildly as the wind rushed all around him, unable to even comprehend the screaming words of Lady Briar as his bone white knuckles clutched against his flagpole. When was it going to end? When would he see the bottom? When w- Cain’s back struck the sandy dunes of the illusionary plane of existence once more, violently coughing out grapefruit juice as he ‘landed’ where he was once more, the sand around him disturbed with his random flailing. His vision was…becoming normal now. Things were making as much sense as they much as they ever would, and the tendriled abomination, no matter how dramatic Lady Briar’s attack had been, appeared unharmed. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to take this contract as a pair. If this was what they were dealing with, they needed much more than just a DPS and a Support. Two supports at least, to constantly create a Dispel Zone, and a tank to draw its attention away. “I’m good now,” the midnight haired muse said, pulling himself back up to his feet, “Hard to deal with its Phantasmia though. Can totally understand why this is a troublesome phantom to chase down now.” Before his eyes, the sky opened up next, that same massive eyeball peering down as the skywards cathedral split, spires crumbling down all around them as the onyx iris widened. Magical power flowed upwards, concentric rings of magical script appearing in front of the ocular instrument, as the Kitaljre, for the first time, roared. It grated against the canals of his brain, a horrifying screech akin to a high pitched tuning fork ringing against a blackboard as it scraped downwards, the tone modulating into a nightmare melody. Clutching his ears, Cain prepared a counter spell, a method of silencing the hellish noise. A pale blue bubble expanded from him as his steps created its own rhythm, a zone of silence covering both himself and the spearwielding Felis. It brought the two of them enough of a moment of respite to witness the Eye of the Cathedral complete whatever spell it had prepared. The onyx iris turned blood red as a rain of fiery rhinos plummeted from the heavens. Oh SHIT! Cain mouthed, but his silence zone had served to extinguish that proclamation as well.
She tried to scream, but she couldn't- and without being able to make sound, she couldn't use her own Phantasmia right back. Then again, using illusion magic against another illusion wouldn't matter. Ugh... I-It hurts... I can barely hear myself think... It was like a hangover, but worse. And Briar knew hangovers, thanks to her rather heavy love affair with whiskey. The feeling of a hemorrhage in her skull made her want to vomit blood, but all that could come out of her lips was air, dry and hot as the sand dunes surrounding them in their messed up fantasy. If she could, she'd tame this beast- but it was too strong, and she wasn't quite the beast tamer she wanted to be yet. Irritation marked her face, pallor lowering in time, a hand covering her lips as another tendril caught her, lifting her near the monster's mouth. Ugh...What does it eat, pure sulfur!? Sadly, she couldn't support- not that she ever really planned to. Though she had tanking and DPS skills, she had no interest in either at the time. All she wanted was chaos, but not quite this kind of it. She wanted chaos of her own creation. She wanted to be the one harming other's minds, not having her own. She would gladly admit to being a hypocrite because of it. Chaos was fun, if it wasn't surrounding her herself. Her thoughts lingered on medical practice- or rather, malpractice- since she lacked the ability to make Narcan or anything similar. What do you do when you want to snap someone out of a daydream... When you want to remind them of reality... When grounding doesn't work... With a grin, she figured it out and mouthed to the muse to jab her with his 'pointy stick'- because why bother calling it a flagpole at a time like this? At the same time, she moved to strike him herself- only enough to cause mild pain that was real, and not in his head. Enough to try to drag the man out of his hypnotic nightmare, and into the reality, which she hoped he'd do for her. If he didn't she'd just jab him harder and then herself in anger, either way hopefully breaking the spell enough so she could hear him and vice versa once more. "Pain breaks all mind control. Every doctor knows that. It's as purrfect a remedy as Naloxone."
Everything was a fiery, shitty hell as Cain ducked and dove and weaved and bobbed, burning horned beasts cratering the sandy dunes, glass shards exploding from their points of impact and digging into his silken clothing. The injuries accumulated had only been irritating at the moment, but his legs were tiring, his lungs were burning, and overall, the midnight haired muse was heavily regretting the fact that he had invested a grand total of zero into his Mobility mastery. Who would have thought that dodging would be so important? Who would have thought that not having a tank would seriously, violently, heavily cripple his ability to not die a horrible death amidst the burning dunes of this incomprehensible monster’s habitat. Ah, this was hard. Difficult. But it hadn’t yet bordered onto ‘impossible’. As the Kitaljre continued to keen, wailing silently due to the effect of Cain’s own magic, the muse quickstepped around the fiery impacts, covering his face to protect it from glass shrapnel, his smile hidden beneath his arms. It was all just illusionary pain, of course, his HP bar never budging an inch, but perhaps that made it even scarier. After all, if it was merely ‘fake’, then it could reach an amount far surpassing his HP bar and his pain tolerance, crippling his mind with agony before leaving him nothing but a shrivelled up, screaming invalid. And that, that wasn’t a good time. Cain had an image to uphold, after all, one that didn’t involve pissing and shitting his pants while crying tears of blood as his hair turned white from Marie Antoinette syndrome. So there had to be an opening, a path, a way o- A flash of pain, almost alien amidst the torrent of flame and glass, caused Cain’s vision to flicker, exposing a scene of the mushroom forest of Esuilus he once was at, that he still was at. It was just a blink, but it was there, and Lady Briar’s voice carried as the zone of silence was dropped. “Astute observations,” the midnight haired muse cried, dodge rolling out of the path of another plummeting giant anvil of icy death, “Though I’m uncertain of what sort of doctor would prescribe continuous pain to exsanguinate illusionary demons from their minds, I’ll show you an even better way of inflicting continuous but insubstantial pain!” With a hop and a skip, the bombastic bastard slid down the steep side of a dune, explosions trailing behind him as hellfire descended. Surfing on sand, he took in a deep breath, before belting out a poisonously hateful song, filled with self loathing and regrets, the heartbreak of a sheltered youth tossed out to the wild. Poison afflictions arose on the status of both the Felis spearwoman and himself, each one second tick of damage revealing the reality of the mushroom forest and the alien object that was simply projecting this vast surreality. It was a constantly flickering mess of scenery, like a flipbook constructed of entirely different scenes, but… Now, the cat had a clear target to go at.
