Never had something as private as her own thoughts been so crowded and vociferous. The newly forged link was disorienting enough to keep Abra from scrambling to free herself as she was snatched close to this creature's chest. That and the newfound knowledge of loneliness and of sorrow. It was desperate, she realized, for connection. Overwhelming emotions had caused magic to reach out and cause- well, whatever this was.

None of this helped figuring out what she was supposed to do. What was there even TO do in a situation like this? As the other's emotions became worse, and as memories both horrible and pleasant flooded through the link, Abra tried to provide comfort. Tried to make calm it down. But there was an underlying sense of overwhelming, of confusion and panic.

There was someone else here, they realized. Not linked directly to Abra, but linked to the one who had linked to them. They could feel the reactions to this other being, this other thing. It was the source of these emotions, they realized. The loneliness, the sorrow. Pain and fear. "Break the link! With the.. Other thing!" This was practically yelled, both through voice and the link. "It's the one causing this! The sadness, the fear. Get rid of it!" Abra had no idea if the other gembound was capable of removing the link, but they were the one who had created it, so surely they could destroy it as well?

@Aethereal

The link continued as it had, mostly unchanged; the horror at flesh and bone and weakness roared up stronger, flaring like fire.

It was not disgust. It was terror, a hand drawing back from the flame; it was intertwined inextricably with that strange and hollow sense of failure. Tangled, unrelenting, with the pain.

FL϶SH WILL FAIL

the voice said; and with it came an unspeakable sense of loss.

@Aethereal

Fear and agony flooded through the link, seeming as if it would never stop. Aethereal struggled to differentiate it, to recognize it as the Spire's and not her own, but there was just so much.

Break the link! The sound seemed distant compared to the unrelenting horror and loss, the thought a mere trickle among an unending tsunami of emotion. But it was distinct enough to cut through the Spire's contributions.

You feel it, too, Aethereal realized with dawning horror of her own. Her magic had done something--perhaps grasping randomly for others, in the throes of loneliness--and the fear, the pain of failure was shared among all three of them now. Guilt welled up, adding to the torrent of negative emotion. She'd had no right to drag the small one into this. Aethereal let go of the lemur, scrambling back away from the creature.

She tried to pull back the emotions, pull back the magic, do whatever was necessary to break off the link between them--but nothing happened. The sharing remained. Whether it was because of the unreliability of magic, or because she wasn't focusing hard enough, Aethereal had no idea.

I'm sorry, she wept through the link. I tried. It didn't work. Her own sense of failure, adding to the Spire's--no, she couldn't, she couldn't, she had to keep it all to herself, she couldn't burden the lemur with more. Aethereal shoved those emotions down, pressing them away into the pit of her stomach.

Please, she thought to the Spire. She didn't know what it had failed, what had caused it so much sorrow, or if it could even control the intensity of emotion felt through the link but--I don't want to suffer, or for her to feel this. If you can do anything to break the link, or dull the emotions, please help. She didn't know if the Spire even could break the link, if it was her magic that had done this, but her magic wasn't working and she just wanted it to be over.

Aethereal's emotional pain seemed to feed into the cycle of despair.

Failure--it was failure. It was failing. She was failing.

Pain. Pain...

Distant memory without substance bloomed black through her mind. The knowledge, without detail, of it is happening again.

She would not be enough.

Flesh was not enough-!

@Aethereal

Second-hand pain and agony reigned supreme, already beginning to overwhelm Abra, and most certainly a million times worse to the one she was linked to. What can I do to help? Magic? Can magic help? But floating lights? Knowledge of the past? Pretty Patterns? None of those things could help. She couldn't help. Only try weak, failing attempts at comfort.

"No- Wait- That's not what I meant!" Speaking aloud- because it was what she was used to, and it skipped her mind that the gembound she was linked to may not be able to hear her- whether because they were preoccupied with the emotion turmoil or simply lacked ears.

"STOP!" She yelled, and thought, as hard as she could. Hoping that whatever horrible monster was causing all of this would be able to hear her. "STOP IT!" Desperate, and unsure if she was even being heard at all.

@Aethereal

Her pleading had no effect. Aethereal might have drowned, buried by the feedback loop of guilt and pain, had it not been for Abra's singular voice cutting through the darkness. Stop. Stop it, came the words, and she echoed it in her thoughts. STOP IT. STOP IT. STOP IT, over and over until the cry was amplified by her own magic, pressing against the Spire's presence in her mind.

She did not wonder what it is happening again meant, or what exactly she or the Spire would fail at. There was too much pain, too much emotion, for her to even process the thoughts. She only knew that it was causing her pain, and that this small creature--they only wanted to help!--was suffering too, and she NEEDED IT TO STOP. If she couldn't break the link, perhaps she could impose her will on the Spire, and force it to just... stop thinking for a while.

Yes--YES!

MϘRE MAGϯC-!

MORE MAGIC-!

THE FLEϤH IS WEαK!

PURGE THE FLESH. CONSUME THE MAGIC!

There was an almost ecstatic thrill pouring through Aethereal, feeding into her innate chaos, urging her to more. She should BLAST THE SPIRE WITH HER POWER. She should DESTROY THE CREATURE BESIDE HER. She should PURGE THE FLESH and BECOME MAGIC!

THE FLEϤH IS WEαK!

@Abracadabra @Aethereal

The chaos surged through the link, terrible and unstoppable, and a roar rose in Aethereal's throat. She would take control, PURGE THE WEAKNESS, MAKE IT HURT FOR HURTING HER--

Is that really what you want? Wings flared out, the gill-like vents on her sides still heaving, the valkhound slowly lowered herself back onto six legs (when did I rear up?). The emotions were still running wild; her blood was roaring with yet-untapped chaos... but it wasn't her. All the Spire. And the 'gift' that I never asked for. Bitterness, now, and fury at the Creator and his chaos for wanting her to harm someone who had ONLY TRIED TO HELP.

Taking advantage of the thrill that sang through her veins, Aethereal directed the magic inward instead. Put the barrier back. Close the adit that the Spire reaches through. And to the chaos raging through the link: SHUT. UP.

She would not be controlled. She would not be made to hurt those who had done her no harm. Mother had not controlled her, and she would not allow the chaos to either.

@Abracadabra

The roar, the growing sense of anger, it was terrifying. It made Abra scramble back, tail fluffed like a bottle-brush. The other reared up, wings flaring out, gills heaving, and Abra didn't want to abandon them but it was coming more and more apparent they were going to lash out and-

The no-faced creature calmed. Not on the inside- nowhere near calm on the inside- but they lowered onto all six limbs. The fury was directed wholly at the other, the spire (spire? a ROCK was doing this?) the cause of this second-hand rage.

There was a sensation like a door trying to shut- not on her, but on the other, the one who had caused all of this horrible mess. She was out of her depth, but she could help? Push the thing back, close the link? She hadn't created the link, she wasn't even directly connected to the spire, but she could help, right? She had to try.

@Aethereal

The link slammed shut. There was a split-second sensation, a dizzying one: one of realization. Of horror. Of terror. And the voice managed the briefest scream along the link, cut off as though with a blade:

"DòN'T LEAVӞ Mĉ ĄLѲNE-!"

It left Aethereal with a fading sense of horrific desperation, of sudden, apocalyptic loneliness. And then-...

Nothing.

Polaris sat quiet, the distant Generator churning as it always did, the Spire shining on in silence.

@Aethereal