"This again..."
Alia groaned loudly, her eyes drifting as she began to wake. She wasn't used to taking such tactical risks, especially not for the sake of another. Indeed, the Alia from a week ago would be calling her only the tallest of fools for engaging a member of the Harrow directly.
She wasn't ready yet.
"Damn thing's just a baby, too." The dancer grunted as she swiveled her waist around, trying to get an idea of where she was.
From what she could observe, Alia was floating in the vastness of space, touched only by a purple stretch of light off in the distance. Rena's dream was gone, taken by the Harrow while she was unconscious. All that remained in its place was the bedrock of the Psionic plane, high above where Yrix had introduced her to the art.
She was already a student long before she met that alien.
However, Alia was quite suprised to see the unique traits that Yrix had gifted her. During her youth, her talents were largely directed towards what many would call magic and sorcery. The concept of peering into another mind or using such aggressive forms of telekinesis was a bit foreign.
Whether or not she even counted as a Psion seemed to be a loose assessment from Yrix. Though to be fair, Lunae was in a similar situation. It seemed the Arch-Flayer had cast a rather broad net and was willing to settle for powers even just related to her brand of Psionic arts.
"They don't know me." She huffed confidently, crossing her arms as she floated around harmlessly. "And that Harrow can't keep me from Rena."
Alia was surprisingly calm in her predicament. She was, at the moment, trapped in the Psionic plane, ripe for consumption from that dreaded thing Yrix warned her of. But in her mind, she belonged in the midst of such terrible power.
Albeit with a bit more cunning than what she had been doing with Rena.
Alia's decision to stay in the foreground of Yrix's school was not at all spur of the moment farce. Moreover, she wasn't exactly shy or crass like the twins. She had better reasons than that.
Stupid Rena.
"You were supposed to stay out of sight, out of mind, idiot." Alia flicked herself on the side of her head. "Now look at you."
She had even managed to avoid Yrix to some extent, hiding her deepest secrets behind a barrier not even the Arch-Flayer could probe. Her efforts weren't at all in vain, it seemed, judging by how quickly she endangered herself the moment she stepped out of line. For all of the dancer's talents and mystique, she wasn't the best fighter.
Yrix had a lot to teach her. And for a time, Alia was content playing the part of student and seductive recluse, biding her time and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. And by all means, she still intended to do that.
Just not to Rena.
Like with everything else, Alia had her own unique reasons to care about that girl. She was older and a lot taller, but was far from a superior in any sense. Sure, she was attractive, and definitely Alia's type, but there was one particular reason she was so desirable in the dancer's mind.
She loved her child.
"Just focus," Alia reassured herself with a deep sigh, brushing aside her amethyst earrings. "You can do this."
She stretched out her skinny hands and, after a moment of concentration, began to project a swirling vortex in front of her. The portal wasn't at all unlike what the Harrow had created, only Alia's was much more organic and pure. It lacked the sickly flowers, nor the inverted symbols and double-helix patterns.
But it was the same power.
"Come on." The dancer groaned, her hands shaking. "Just help her. Then leave."
Her power coalesced, and as she pushed herself further, her memories began to flash before her eyes. She denied them, focusing on the only thing that kept her going. It was a bitterness that rivaled even the heiress.
Vengeance.
Yrix had no part in it. If anything, Alia was glad to have been taken. She could use the Aerie as an oppurtunity to grow stronger, abandoning anyone she met along the way. The possibility of it all coming back one day was abandoned in favor of her unending hunger.
But it was as she said. Even the mysterious dancer from the stars deserved a break every once in a while. And apparently that respite came in the form of helping a stranger with a beast from far, far away, where the light barely even licks the edges of the abyss. Ironically, such a place was exactly where Alia planned to go.
Just not with Rena. She deserved better.
"Maybe just a kiss." Alia chuckled to herself.
Her focus restored, she pushed through the border beyond the Psionic plane, creating a tunnel that almost instantly sucked her in. Stillness returned to the void, and Alia was well on her way towards Rena's dream. But unbeknownst to her, a deformed figure watched from a distance, its trembling eyes fixated on the dancer's path.
Not her. Where she went. Who she would see.
Sonera.
- - - - - - - - -
"Have you ever killed one?"
"Well. I don't like to boast."
"Oh?"
"It was difficult. A real one, I mean. My students face only a dream."
Yrix hid her pride rather poorly, letting the twins know loud and clear that she had indeed faced a member of the Harrow before. Mina and Dina seemed oddly attentive, however, as if curious to learn more about the monster. The horror of realizing Yrix was so potently strong seemed lost on them.
"You faced one alone?" Mina pondered as her sister nodded at her side, the two peering from behind Yrix with a curious gaze.
"I did." Yrix beamed. "Years ago."
"Where?"
"My first was in the outer rim, on a faraway planet filled with ancient ruins. A relic of the past. My second was aboard the emperor's floating palace."
"Oh?" Dina gasped.
"Accidents require cleanup, you see."
"Was the big monster trying to kill your emperor?"
Yrix almost laughed. "Oh, goodness no. He was trying to make one all for himself."
"Why?"
"You can ask him that yourself, when the time comes. I do plan for you all to meet him. My beloved students."