[SE] Will you run with the stream or will you run against?

// somebody told me that there's two sides to this life //

Water drip drip dripped from the high ceiling. The echo was a shimmer like distant music in the air, like a hundred prayers yet to be spoken, tied to tongues that would never speak again. The occasional scrape of a boot against rock sounded offensive in the stillness, crude and out of place - which tracked, because so too was the seedlings of void-cursed Spineblooms that had begun to grow in cracks and nooks all around the healing springs. If ut had been just one or two she could have ignored it or just yanked it up with the roots. But the more Maea looked the more of them she saw, until she finally couldn't take it anymore. 

"I know we came to search for lilies, but this just won't do," she murmured to Alys, already scrunching her nose against the unpleasant odor. "Will you help me? With our magic we shouldn't have to get close..." And perhaps she could get some practice in as well. There had been too many close calls lately and she had a feeling she could make better use of her gifts. 

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Spinebloom (Common): Once a vibrant flower with razor-sharp petals, the Spinebloom has succumbed to the influence of void energy. The petals now emit an eerie, dim glow, and their edges have become even sharper. Touching the Spinebloom now can cause an unsettling numbness, and the once sweet fragrance has turned into a foul, otherworldly scent.

Maea

// I think I might've chosen darkness over light //

Alys

Alys had never seen quite so many Void flowers in one place, and she very much hoped that she never would again.

They clung to the rock surrounding Frey's Breath - sometimes in clumps, sometimes just one or two - their sheer numbers sending a shiver down Alys's spine. The air was thick with a foul stench that the seer couldn't quite describe, but that festered on her tongue all the same - not quite sour, not quite bitter, but wholly unpleasant either way. She scrunched her nose as she considered the problem. At her feet, Sascha rumbled her discontent. The scent was stronger to her keen nose, and the little ursur swatted a paw at her muzzle as though to ward off the stench.

"I think we have to do something," Alys agreed, reaching up to tie her hair in a knot atop her head. "This is... terrible." She began to think through her plan of attack. Illusion wouldn't do much, nor healing - unless maybe they were pricked by the petals - but her air magic, however weak it might be, would be useful indeed. Calling upon it easily, Alys stepped close enough to slice with blades of air, then began hacking at the flowers. "Do you think it's enough to cut them down, or do we need to find a way to uproot them?"

---

Air manipulation (Abandoned/Hybrid): Can manipulate the air. Must be within a 5ft radius, control is weak and unstable and requires concentration.
Type: Grey | Rank: Basic

Oh, I had a dream that you couldn't hear me screaming
Trying to tell you everything but it wouldn't stop you leaving

// somebody told me that there's two sides to this life //

Normally scents didn't bother her much, but when it got this potent even she began to feel ill. Reaching into her bag, she withdrew a handkerchief and tied it around her mouth and nose, just in case the scent had any nasty side effects beside the general unease of void-taint.
"We can try a few things," she replied, "and see what works best." Between the weakening effects of bloodbane and the purging effected by scorching the roots, she felt confident they would be able to put a dent in the infestation.

Starting off by summoning fire to the palm of her hand, Maea scattered embers in a wide radius around d herself and watched the flames crackle and snap. The green (purple?) material required some serious heat to burn properly, and with a frown she directed Shii away from the worst of the smoke.
"Didn't think of that... Alys, can you help with the smoke at all? Just getting a draft going into another tunnel should help."

------- 

Scorch (Ancient): Can generate and manipulate flames within a 30ft radius, pulling heat from the environment or their own body.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered

Maea

// I think I might've chosen darkness over light //

Alys

Alys, too, could normally handle smells without much fuss, but this was something entirely repugnant, so potent that she could taste it. Copying Maea, the seer tied a cloth from her bag around her nose and mouth - not that it seemed to do much good. Well, hopefully getting rid of the infestation would prove to be helpful in clearing the air.

Speaking of, Maea's fire, while effective, sent smoke billowing through the cavern. Glad, suddenly, for the cloth around her face, Alys's eyes began to water as she nodded. "I've got it." Calling upon her air magic again, she abandoned the flowers she'd been hacking at and began to coax a breeze through the tunnels, clearing away the smoke by siphoning it off into another area. Hopefully it would disperse naturally soon enough, but for now, at least it wasn't in their faces anymore.

---

Air manipulation (Abandoned/Hybrid): Can manipulate the air. Must be within a 5ft radius, control is weak and unstable and requires concentration.
Type: Grey | Rank: Basic

Oh, I had a dream that you couldn't hear me screaming
Trying to tell you everything but it wouldn't stop you leaving

// somebody told me that there's two sides to this life //

It did help, moderately, but to ensure she didn't suffocate them both Maea switched her tactics. Rolling up a sleeve to expose her arm, she drew several steadying breaths to brace against pain, and sank her sharp fangs into her own flesh. It was never easy, never pleasant until she was so done in by the dark magic that it got dangerous, but the reward of seeing swaths of those glowing flowers wilt before her feet was worth a bit of pain.

"I wish the Arcane Academy was a bit closer than Halo," she remarked in an off hand way, to distract herself. "Have you heard anything about it lately?" If not for the cold she would have joined up the moment she realized that magic was within her reach again. She couldn't recall if Alys was a student or not, whether they'd ever touched on the topic before. Not that it mattered any more than the answer or lack thereof. It was just small talk to pass the time.

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Bloodbane (Ancient): Can injure themselves for mastered damage to weaken others at a 1.5x their mastered level with a range of 30ft.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered

Maea

// I think I might've chosen darkness over light //

Alys

With Maea attacking the flowers with various abilities - the fire, first, and then with an attack that involved sinking fangs into her own flesh - Alys focused on continuing to clear the tunnel air. Dank and still at the best of times, it was a struggle to send the smoke on its way, but the seer persevered until it no longer smelled of burnt, sickly flowers and fresh blood.

"I haven't heard anything in a while," she said. "It was Hotaru's, and then Evie took it over; but I haven't talked with either of them in quite some time. I don't know if it even still exists, to be honest." Indeed, Alys hadn't had the chance to train her magic with other students in a while. It had been nice to be a part of something like that. She'd met friends she wouldn't otherwise have made, and strengthened herself in the process. "I wonder if something could be organized in its place."

---

Air manipulation (Abandoned/Hybrid): Can manipulate the air. Must be within a 5ft radius, control is weak and unstable and requires concentration.
Type: Grey | Rank: Basic

Oh, I had a dream that you couldn't hear me screaming
Trying to tell you everything but it wouldn't stop you leaving

// somebody told me that there's two sides to this life //

Allowing herself a pause to heal, another cut into the porcelain skin of her arm summoned Bloodboon to heal her injuries. Flexing her fingers to make sure no damage had been done to tendon and ligament, she eventually rejoined Alys in their weeding efforts with Lasracha wielded like gardening shears.

"I hope there will be. Having to leave the academy and losing my magic was the most painful things I had to do, second only to losing Shii." Wrapping one hand in cloth so she could grab fistfuls of the Spinebloom, she severed the plant clean along the ground. "Honestly, if I could make a living solely as a mage, I would. What I wouldn't do to still have access to my old abilities..." She tried her best to keep the melancholy at arm's length, but the potency of her longing was akin to a burn or an unquenchable thirst.

---

Maea used mastered Bloodboon to heal herself.

Bloodboon (Ancient): Can injure themselves for mastered damage, healing themselves or others at 1.5x their mastered level with a range of 30ft.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered

Maea

// I think I might've chosen darkness over light //

Alys

It was strange, how Ancient abilities worked, and Alys glanced over out of the corner of her eye as Maea made another cut - only for it all to heal as though nothing had ever torn skin and flesh to start with. With the air cleared, Alys redoubled her efforts, wielding her air as a scythe to cut more and more of the Spineblooms from their perches, slicing carefully around roots in an attempt to uproot them as cleanly as possible.

"I'm sorry that such a thing isn't possible," she said as she worked. "You know, when I was younger, I only had my illusion magic, and I didn't even know what to do with it. I used to think it wouldn't be so bad if it disappeared entirely, for all the good it did me. But now? I can't imagine not having the use of my magic." She shook her head. Was there truly nothing that could be done for Maea? "I can only imagine that it's like losing a part of yourself. I wish you hadn't had to experience that."

---

Air manipulation (Abandoned/Hybrid): Can manipulate the air. Must be within a 5ft radius, control is weak and unstable and requires concentration.
Type: Grey | Rank: Basic

Oh, I had a dream that you couldn't hear me screaming
Trying to tell you everything but it wouldn't stop you leaving

// somebody told me that there's two sides to this life //

They were making actual progress. Maea only noticed because she had to stand up and rest her back. A pleasant sight to see, it was, all the burned and wilting weeds left in their wake - this was just the kind of destruction she could get behind. Possibly there was a place for the void to exist even in this world, but it was not here.

Listening to Alys, the little ancient nodded slowly. "The way gods have explained the magic to me, when I asked, it was like a spark of something other, some element that was not of them. The Voice told me it couldn't be removed, but after I died... when I returned in an ascended body, it wasn't there. Or at least I couldn't reach it. Part of me clings to the hope that I can still reclaim it... which is probably why it's still eating at me." Shaking her head with a dry smile at that unwelcome bit of introspection, she went back to weeding.

"But illusion... that sounds like a fun magic to me. When did you start to like it?"

Maea

// I think I might've chosen darkness over light //

Alys

Their progress, when Alys looked up to check, was immense; the seer was pleased to find that in their wake lay hundreds of burned and sliced and wilted weeds that would no longer trouble the caverns with their presence. And there were only a few more left. Alys stepped away from the wall, lifting her arms over her head in a stretched that made her back pop! as it arched. Then she was back to work, cutting and carving at the remaining plants.

"Hmm... I'm not sure there was a singular moment," she admitted as she worked. A light sheen of sweat was beginning to bead on her temples, a testament to the concentration required to wield her air magic. "It was more like... one day, I looked back and realized that I'd used it so much that it was a part of me. That I could imagine so many more uses for it than I'd ever thought of before. But it's also saved my life several times now, so I'm sure that's a contributing factor."

---

Air manipulation (Abandoned/Hybrid): Can manipulate the air. Must be within a 5ft radius, control is weak and unstable and requires concentration.
Type: Grey | Rank: Basic

Oh, I had a dream that you couldn't hear me screaming
Trying to tell you everything but it wouldn't stop you leaving

// somebody told me that there's two sides to this life //

Choosing to try again with the fire, once the act of hurting herself for the sake of power grew too much to bear, Maea guided it in low streaks across the stone, this time more intent on severing root from stem than burning the plant as a whole. Encouraged by the lessened smoke as a result, she amused herself with drawing patterns with the streaking flames, swirling and dipping along cracks and crevices to the furthest stretches of her domain.

"Got any favorite tricks?" she asked, grinning over at Alys like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar; half mischievous, half embarrassed to be seen playing with what had always been touted as a flaw and a sin. "Looks like we're almost done, so now's the time to show off!" That is to say - please show her a trick. The bigger and bolder, the better. It wasn't every day she got to see others work their magic, and air was a comparatively rare ability.

Maea

// I think I might've chosen darkness over light //

Alys

Alys had tricks in abundance with her illusion magic, but with her air magic was something else entirely. The newest ability in her arsenal, she'd yet to really use it much, and when she did, she'd found it weaker than her other magics. Still, for Maea, she would try to come up with something.

Where she'd previously been using her magic to craft blades out of air, now she shifted her technique, pulling air away from the plants remaining in the cavern walls to create a small vacuum. It took a great deal of concentration to maintain, but the results came quickly: plants shriveling as they were deprived of carbon dioxide and oxygen, and the water within their leaves boiled off, leaving only husks behind. When she was satisfied that they were well and truly dead, Alys released her hold on the magic, and the plants disintegrated into ash.

Smiling to herself, the seer glanced sidelong at Maea. "How's that for a trick?" she asked, satisfied in a morbid way. "Come on, I think we're done here. We've earned a bit of rest!"

fin

Oh, I had a dream that you couldn't hear me screaming
Trying to tell you everything but it wouldn't stop you leaving