It really wasn't supposed to wander too far from Draco, but Helion had never been one for following the rules. It was actually almost a surge of excitement to exit Pegasus and wander astray into a cave that it hadn't visited before. Where it didn't feel like the eyes of the Spire were weight down on it, or the ever-watchful presence of Master Vargas and his fucking minions would suddenly appear to reprimand its lack of control. It was getting tired and tired of hearing the same old shit over and over and over and over and over and OVER AND OVER AND OVER

It snapped its jaw shut, feeling a prick of pain and the taste of blood as a fang clipped the edge of its tongue. Whatever. It felt good.

Eventually it came to a stop next to a strange crystal formation growing out of the ground. The crystal itself was massive, almost reaching the height of Helion's chest, but it was thin. And glowing. Its eyes narrowed suspiciously. Why was it doing that?

It was a sudden, violent burst of chaos that had it suddenly gripping the beautiful pink-purple crystal formation just standing innocently there in the ground and forcing its own sickness out and into the stone.

It cracked, the color and glow flickering as veins of corruption raced across its surface, black coating the shine like ink dropped into water. Helion jerked its arm back and there was a loud cracking sound as the spell reached the base and severed the gemstone completely from its nest in the ground. It ripped the crystal away and held it out in front of it, watching as the corruption spread further and further until it was all consumed and the crystal was crumbling into shards of rough oily gemstones that clattered to the ground.

Helion stared at the needless destruction it had caused, the shattering of something that had been beautiful and...felt? Ugh, what the fuck was a feeling anyways? It let out a humorless chuckle and let itself fall to the ground, sitting back in the scattered remains of the crystal and just. Sitting there. Glaring at the empty space and stillness of Andromeda as if it was a personal offense.

@Esther

Esther's first reaction when they hear cracking is to approach - slowly. They don't know what's out there, but surely it can't be as dangerous as the dinosaur that nearly ate them that one time. Wings pulled close to their body, Esther begins to move slowly.

Andromeda has always been a strange cave to Esther - Different from the other caves in the system with glowing crystals. Beautiful, but unnerving. Too relaxing. The difference between this cave and Draco is startling. Polar opposites.

When a form comes to their vision, Esther has to squint for a minute. It probably takes them far too long to figure out who it is - a forge member - though not one they've spoken to a lot. Esther's always been slightly antisocial despite being in a group full of gembound.

Feeling awkward after staring so long, Esther approaches V-Ruby-One languidly.

@V-Ruby-One

It didn't really realize that its mind had begun to drift until it heard the soft sound of paws against crystal and realized a second later that it had been feeling eyes burning onto it for a quite a while now. Its head snapped to the side and immediately curled into a snarl at the sight of the beast approaching. It climbed into a low crouch, teeth showing.

It knew this one. Not well, of course, Helion didn't make a habit of talking to stupid Chaos Forge lackeys. But it had seem them around enough, and heard enough talk. Eyes narrowed as it took in the wolf's form, the dripping oil, the darkened gemstone. All the telltale signs of corruption. But this one had not been born with it.

For some reason, Helion took personal offense to them. Why in the fuck would anybody choose to be like this? For the power, for the violence, for the CHAOS. Fine, fair enough. But then they must not have known the consequences. The sleepless nights, the hot tickle in the back of the mind, the constant anger, the damage it caused to anyone that dared to think themselves capable of wielding it...

So lost in momentary hateful thoughts, it didn't realize it had been staring for a while, frozen, crouched as if ready to attack. It didn't relax, not really, put it placed a hand on the ground in front of it and sat back a bit on its calves. "Did you follow me from Draco or something?" Every bit of its tone was hostility, challenge, anger. They were not welcome anywhere near.

@Esther

When Helion dips down in a defensive stance, Esther's first reaction is to tighten their wings around themselves and show their teeth. They're not a weakling, they can handle themselves. When there's a distant whispering calling them to catch their groupmate on fire, Esther's draconic claws clench against the stones under their feet.

I do not fight my groupmates. Who're they trying to convince, anyway? The whispers are so indistinct - there's no way to tell if that's what they really mean. Also, you've fought your groupmates enough times for that to be a lie.

Inner pep-talk cut short by words, Esther moves into a more presentable stance - not so defensive themselves.

"I don't make a habit of following other Forge members around." They say. "Saw you here and thought i'd say hi, but if you want me to go I can." They just barely manage to not roll their eyes at the other gembound.

@V-Ruby-One

Helion scoffed, glaring at the scratch of claws against the ground. Oh, it could feel it from here. The thrum of chaos biting at their heels. They wanted to fight, didn't they, just as Helion wanted to fight. Destroy. Consume! Violence incarnate!! Its teeth ground sharper and it looked away before it just started blasting.

Ugh it hadn't even been that long since it had stabilized or whatever. Why did it always have to feel on the very edge of losing it?

"Hi? Okay. Hi. That good enough for you?" It glared at Esther in its periphery and hoped they could feel the heat of it burning a hole in its face. Maybe you should burn an actual hole in its face! No that'd be a stupid waste of time. It didn't care about this one. Not at all!

"Do whatever you want, I don't care!" It didn't care. They could turn around and walk away and leave Helion to more silence, more...whatever. Nothing. Emptiness. Loneliness. Just like how lonely it was in Draco all the fucking time, fighting off sprees of violent urges and nightmares that made no sense and only made it angrier.

"Why the fuck would you do it?" It suddenly snapped, turning its head towards Esther, desperate for something to think about other then that fucking looming emptiness.

@Esther

Burning a hole in the face feeling achieved, Esther's scowl is back on their face. For someone who tries to keep friendly with the other gembound, they sure run into the assholes a lot. (Draconua comes to mind - but perhaps the creature was just running off of fumes). Or perhaps it's just... That. The little thing that nags the head making you want to hunt to kill. Esther feels it wiggle around in the back of their brain - itching, trying to crawl out. Helion blinks in an out of their vision as they fight the pull-push, regaining control.

Staying here is a terrible idea. They think, still not moving despite the gembound's words.

And then the question is popped. Esther's mind pretty much goes completely blank. The issue is that Esther's got no idea why they've done this. They stare for probably way too long before opening their maw.

"I don't know." A pretty shitty answer, but it's all they've got. "At first it was like having control over something, getting stronger. I didn't know about the side effects at the time."

They'd never seen anyone with magic like that before it consumed them - curiosity killed the cat. Or in this case, the hybrid. Even though Esther is most definitely still alive, the debilitating pain just from owning the magic can become too much. Especially when they've not stabilized. Of course, Esther stabilizes as much as possible so they don't lose themselves. Or maybe they're just in denial.

"The curiosity took over, and before I knew it - I changed." Now their stone is oily, their fur is charred sometimes - among other things. In the end, Esther is still themselves. With a little bit extra.

"But;" they shrug with their shoulders. "I'm making the best of it, I think."

Working for the Forge gives them something to do, Esther already knows they'd be at the quests with or without Vargas' instruction.

@V-Ruby-One

Helion has been in the same place Esther was struggling through enough times in its life to see the telltale signs, to sense that it wasn't the only one with chaos choking its throat. But this one could have been better. They didn't have to be like this. It brought so much anger and frustration to V-Ruby-One that it wanted to claw its own skin off, wanted to claw Esther's skin off. They had a choice.

It didn't even know it had risen to its feel, but it had. What a pathetic, useless answer. It bared its teeth. "CONTROL? Are you fucking stupid? You felt like, at any point, that this was controllable?" It knew the process enough, Azrael had told it about how chaos affected him - he was not consumed like some of them, like Helion was, but he had felt the effects of the Black Spire. Whispers of war and violence, dreams of battles and blood. How it was a slow process that he would not surrender to, and Helion knew that there were many many chances to get out of it.

But no. They let themselves go. Or were they too weak?

Before it really knew what it was doing, it pressed its magic forward to thrust deep into Esther's mind and extract the memories it wanted to see. What had occurred along Esther's path to corruption, why it had happened. How many chances it had to get out.

It didn't know why it was obsessing over this so much, but it was an itch that grew worse the more it scratched. Helion wasn't trying to push any will or thought onto Esther through the spell, but it was like radiation, hot and so intense it was almost tangible. The self-loathing, the constant anger, the lack of control in everything it did, the jealousy for something like Esther that could have chosen a different life instead of suffer this one of corruption and chaos and violence.

BEASTS LIKE US WERE MADE TO KILL VIOLENTLY AND DIE TERRIBLE DEATHS. YOU COULD HAVE WALKED AWAY.

@Esther

Esther bares their teeth when Helion speaks, anger boiling up their throat in a show of defiance.

"At the point when I even got access the damage had been DONE already!" Of course it's not controllable, but Esther didn't know back then. There was nothing for them to base this magic off of. It was basically unheard of at the time.

The thoughts of carnage and fire were already in their head long before the magic took over. Long before the spells changed their body fundamentally. Even if they catch fire at random, or the shadows in their vision dip in and out -- they were already somewhat violent from the start. The process from 'normal' to 'new normal' didn't feel honestly that much different.

You've forgotten what normal feels like. flitters through their head. Maybe it's true, and even if it is.... Esther had become like this so many cycles ago -- it's been so long that there's no point even dwelling on it.

Something clicks in Esther's head as they stare at Helion - there's no obvious sign of magic use, but when the sudden feeling of absolute dread hits their gut, they know something's happened. It's like a wave, flowing from their nose to the tip of their fuzzy tail - a sudden sharp, painful LOATHING. A pulse so strong they've been convinced it's from their own head.

Along with it comes waves of the other things, too. The anger and confusion that comes with being unable to control the side effects. The urges to KILL. They feel the jealousy, too. The words blip into their head - it's a tidal wave of things their head almost cannot handle.

"EVERYTHING dies!" They're snarling, claws tearing at stone underneath them. There's a distant whispering in their ear, a poke at their shoulder - ignored. "If I wanted to live a soft life, I would not be in the Forge." They had their chance leaving that, too. Esther chose to come back, chose this life. Vargas let them leave once upon a time.

Esther wants to show Helion the good this magic can do. The assistance with destroying a Hive nest, completing the Black City quest - There's so many times this magic has been oh so helpful to Esther in the past. As they pull their magic forward, something goes wrong.

The shadow is next to them.

It curls around their body, teeth gnashing in their ear, circling around the gembound and the glowing crystals around them.

Something inside snaps, Esther's teeth face to the shadow instead - a claw swipe into nothing. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" They aren't sure who they're yelling at, at this point.

It just moves to a new location, circling Helion - taunting.

Esther shakes out their fur. "What is your intention with this? To make me feel bad about things that have been long finished? Your hate does not have to expand to everyone around you." Esther snaps at Helion, already too worked up.

@V-Ruby-One

Helion didn't need Esther to tell it, it could see those memories. The Black Altar and the days spent before it. Its teeth gnashed with frustration. How. Fucking. STUPID.

It didn't know why it was so angry about it, why it couldn't stop itself from choking on the chaos now. But the urges were now so hot and intense in its head and its hatred for Esther was mounting by the second. They didn't understand, they didn't get it. THEY HAD A CHOICE. Helion had not been to the Altar, but it knew about it. It was as bad as sitting before the Black Spire itself. The whispering of violence, of chaos, of the power it could offer, and Esther had been so fucking stupid to fall for it.

Seeing Esther getting worked up too, knowing that their own chaos was affecting it, gave the beast a sick satisfaction. Yeah, let them feel their own agonizing power, let them suffer their own consequences. It did not actually care if Esther ever felt some kind of regret from it, nor could it answer the question they posed. What was its intention? It didn't have one.

It stepped forward, looming over the maned wolf and bared its teeth wide. "The Forge is for fools. There is no control over Chaos! You made all the wrong choices!" Chaos thrummed like a drumbeat in its skull, pressure increasing by the second like a balloon with too much air. It clutched at its head with one claw, but continued to glare. It was going to lose control any second now. Any second. And it didn't care because this felt disgustingly good. There was no Vargas here to tell it to temper itself, no overbearing father-figure with his disapproving gaze. No other valkhound around to police it from releasing its own chaos. No, just V-Ruby-One HELION and this fucking idiot in front of it writhing in their own mistakes.

MY HATE WILL DEVOUR YOU ALL came the scream as the magic finally exploded from its body and poured into Esther, burying the words as deep as possible and spearing out chaos through their limbs. It wasn't trying to read their mind or impart their own thoughts or anything. It just wanted. Them. To FEEL. Agony shredding their nerves, devouring their brain cells in black flames and violet maws. The chaos spreading through every part of their body, like the Black Spire had opened wide and crushed them within its boiling jaws. There were no other words to pass along. Just V-RUBY-ONE Helion's hatred destroying them from the inside out.

@Esther