This was all beyond wrong.<br/><br/>And… it wasn’t real. Right? People didn’t just… fall apart. Not literally, anyway. And if they did, they hadn’t ever done it in front of her before.<br/><br/>Caught between fear and fascination, she could only watch the Lucian-that-wasn’t degrade, his skin peeling away as if he were rotting. At some point, she decided that she didn’t really like what he - or<i>it</i>, really - was saying, and its words floated darkly around her without making any real sense. She’d never been very good at listening when she didn’t want to. She wasn’t sure if that made it better or worse.<br/><br/>No, it definitely made it worse. Now it was just her and the wraith of not-Lucian in a shroud of darkness full of words that didn’t make any sense, except for the one she hated the most.<i>Prophecy…</i>What did he know, anyway? Anger bubbled up within her, rising and falling with the ebb and flow of her magic through her veins.<i>I’ll blast him away, and I’ll… I’ll cast aside this stupid darkness, and…</i><br/><br/>“It does not require your belief or participation...the prophecy… shall happen…” All that remained of Lucian exploded into a piercing light, with a sound like the ringing of silence amplified a million times.<br/><br/>“Shut up shut up shut up!” she growled. But he was gone, and so was the horrible sound, leaving her with darkness and silence again.<br/><br/>But… it wasn’t so dark, really. She could make out something in the distance, although her eyes were still adjusting to the dark again. Were they another illusion? Another tale of people she thought she knew?<br/><br/>Verita’s scream, a song of untold suffering, was all the answer she needed.<br/><br/>Magic surged outward, wreathing her in a pulsing silver glow. It was barely restrained, barely controlled, a display of raw and beautiful power. But there was no small danger to it, either. It was not the mana of a collected mage; it was a power fuelled by a desperate and all-consuming rage. Reason flickered out, a small candle in a storm of magic as she rushed toward the figures in the distance. She didn’t even know if she<i>could</i>get to them, but that didn’t matter anymore.<br/><br/><i><b>I’ll make a way.</b></i><div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>