Abyssal Awakening

'What the hell is going on?!' Alyss shouted, unsure of what was going on around them. Alice suddenly disappeared from their mental space and she was forced to take over the body. Tossing and tumbling through the chaotic mish mash of realms colliding, Alyss jumped from debris to debris, making sure she wasn't crushed in between. [Both the physical and the spiritual are being dragged into the fabricated realm. But because your situation is unique in that there are technically three souls in one, the transfer process isn't a smooth one.] Cayla replied, reading through the details of the ritual and everything she knew. [IF Alice follows everything I say, and hopefully doesn't get baited by the voices and hallucinations, she'll return to her physical body without any issues. You're also here so the chances of 'seeds' being planted is lower than usual.] 'And if she was to get tricked?' Alyss questioned as she activated the second Sigil, creating a blood blade and aimed it at the giant debris flying towards her. Void Flux – Cleave! Twisting her body, she activated her Phantom Shift, launching herself at the debris and cutting it in half. [In the chance that she gets tricked, she'll lose a portion of her soul to whoever activated this ritual. With the scale of things, I can only assume it's a high ranking member or even an Apostle at that. [And let's just say if she comes back after losing a portion of her soul, this place won't just be the three of us anymore. There will be a fourth, the Call of the Eclipse. The Voice and extension of Enris to some degree.] Cayla frowned. However, that's only if this was the normal version of the ritual. Already, she noticed some discrepancies as the energy flowing through the pillars and the land around them was different to what she remembered. In fact, there were even traces of Eldrich energy within this calamitous storm. 'So what you're saying is we're gonna have to get another bed in here?' [. . .] Between the two of them, Alyss was never the joker. Feeling Cayla's blank stare, she could feel embarrassment flooding her cheeks as she quickly coughed, not wanting to suffer this feeling any longer. Shaking her head, Cayla glanced at the realm around them. They could see the walls of this realm slowly consolidating as an Eclipse hung in the sky. From the ground, countless blades of varying sizes burst out, acting almost like gravestones. Some lwere larger than even the biggest building they saw. Tattered flags with unrecognizable emblems, flaming ruins, corpses of giant beasts acting as mountains. Giant floating islands with broken chains, crashing into the ground and creating drag marks. It was clear who was responsible for this at a single glance. [So it's War. Hide yourself. You don't want to let them know we're still able to move freely. For now, let's wait for Alice to come back.] Cayla suggested as Alyss nodded her head. Placing her hand against the surface of the debris, Alyss conjured blackened limbs to grab at the loose pieces around them, forming a shell of rubble. Just as she was about to say something, she felt the markers that Alice had placed for the people she wanted to protect. From the ground, the limbs of civilians burst out, clawing open their graves as their maniacal screams echoed through the sky, shocking Alyss. The ghastly cries sounded like an orchestra of pain, paired with the squelching of flesh being torn, eyeballs being crushed and crazed victims snuffing out their suffering. Seeing all of this, Alyss felt chills like no other. One moment everyone was enjoying the festival. Then all of a sudden, it came crashing down. [Their mind is broken. . .] Cayla frowned. If she were to reference her outdated information regarding this ritual, this shouldn't have been the case. They would've been driven insane, yes. But to this extent? To the extent where they wished to reject everything they see, everything they know? It must've been the Eldritch power within the ritual. After coming to this conclusion, doubts began to sprout within Cayla's mind, a subtle worry regarding Alice's safety. Were the old rules still applicable? What else did she need to avoid? How could she get Alice to come back safely? As this doubt took root, Cayla's entire body froze up as she noticed darkness spreading on her limbs. Little by little, the darkness parted to reveal an eye staring back at her. At first, it was one. Then it multiplied into two. Her fear, her doubts, it was delicious fuel. 'Begone!' Alyss shouted, feeling a foreign entity trying to invade their mental realm. Violet Flames burst out, wrapping around Cayla like a protective blanket while blackened limbs tore away the shadow and extinguished it. Feeling the grasp of the Eldritch power disappearing, Cayla stumbled back in fear. Her hands trembled while cold sweat filled her back. This… Invasion. This corruption… [What has War done…] Cayla couldn't help but mutter, fearful of the true goal behind War's intentions. This was the Eclipse at its truest. An unpredictable force of chaos sweeping the lands. A sudden calamity with no sign of appearing. And in its wake, countless victims lay buried beneath the broken earth. As this fear gripped Cayla's mind, Alyss couldn't help but frown, trying to think of a way to dispel this doubt. But she had to admit, even she was beginning to falter. She could feel her own belief dropping. Even though she had absolute faith in her twin, her mind wandered, worried and doubted the survival of Alice. Taking a deep breath, she engulfed the entire mental space using her Violet Flames, blocking out the external influence. Immediately, the shadows of the mind started to disappear and she could think properly again. However, Cayla was still suffering from the shadows as Alyss could only focus on reality right now. While quite a few of the civilians chose to… escape from the insanity, many of them slowly stopped reacting. They all stared up at the eclipse with a blank expression. Furrowing her brows, Alyss noticed a few sentries roaming around the place. Beasts that look like the amalgamation of tendrils, tattered flesh and arms. They glide across the floor using their tentacles while the arms hung around its body, holding desperately onto its mutated form. A single, giant eye housed itself in the centre of this mass. Walking past the corpses of those who departed, the sentries would pause for a moment before capturing the corpse within its gaze. After not even a second had passed, a tentacle would shoot up from the ground, dragging the corpse away. Concluding that it was probably not the best idea to come face to face with the sentries, Alyss slowly made her way out of the rubble. There was a mark not far from where she was and it was moving. Therefore, Alyss could only assume that the person Alice marked was still alive. At least she hoped so. Phantom Shift! Crossing the gap from her debris to the next pile of rubble, Alyss quickly dove into the cracks and hid herself. 'Three sentries are patrolling this arena. Their view is around 160 degrees sweeping from left to right in 1 second intervals.' Alyss analysed as she could feel her own heartbeat against her chest. She was feeling nervous. Her palms were sweaty and it was hard to fully calm her breathing. There was something about these creatures that unnerved her. She could not, did not want to stare at them nor did she want to be captured in their gaze. Sitting still for a moment, she began to identify the pattern of their movements and dashed across the gap once more. Peeking past a giant sword that acted as her cover with some rubble, Alyss spotted the first marker. Hualing. There were tears streaming down her face as she glanced up at the sky blankly. Just as Alyss was about to move towards Hualing to pull her own, Cayla grabbed her sleeve within the mental realm. [Don't… Don't move them.] Cayla was still feeling the aftereffects of mental corruption but tried her best to hold on. [Look at their back and behind their head. They're now connected to something as a whole. Remove one and you could risk the sentries coming in an instant.] She pointed at the barely visible tendril connecting to Hualing's body. 'What can we do then?' Alyss frowned. [I don't know. Originally, you'll need to kill whoever is hosting the ritual and then figure out a way to get rid of the Call of the Eclipse. But now? With Eldrich in the mix? I don't know. There's too little information to go off of.] Cayla frowned, clutching her head. Gritting her teeth, Alyss cursed under her breath before leaving another marker. A drop of blood that could be used as both a teleport point for Alice and as a cleanser. If needed, it'll burst into Violet Flames and get rid of the shadows affecting Hualing. Since there was nothing else she could do here, Alyss could only make her way to the next marker. ### Looking down at his hands, Jin was silent. There were no chains, no confinement… Yet he felt bound. Beside him, Ye Shen didn't say anything either. He simply led Jin towards the summit of this realm. "What happened?" Jin asked, letting out a soft sigh. He wanted to glance back but there was an invisible force pushing him forward. "I was found. No more no less." Ye Shen replied, not saying anything else. Glancing down at each of his steps, he soon reached the top where a single throne existed atop the summit. A woman hidden by a shadow sat casually. Her smile curved up upon seeing Jin.