fortunefail

Entry tags:

- 74

[Accidental voice]

[The recording starts with a smashing sound, as the journal takes a nice snapshot of the ceiling and part of the underside of a kitchen table. Yuan's voice can clearly be heard nearby. He sounds rather disturbed.]

W-What the hell is this?!

[Action]

[A short while later, Yuan can be seen striding through the village with great haste. Every so often, he stops to cough mildly, before continuing on his way. His hands are buried deeply into his pockets and his gaze is stubbornly locked on the ground before him.

He's headed straight for Raine's house. Feel free to run into him before he gets there.]

Edit: [And after paying a visit to Raine's house, he'll head for Kratos' place. He's a busy man today.]

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... If you prefer. I was just finishing up, anyway. [She rises, frowning faintly.] Shall we?

[He bows his head lightly, waiting for Raine to lead the way into the house. Though, even as he does so, he raises a hand to his mouth to stifle a mild cough. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume he has a cold.]

[She frowns at that cough. It seems strange that an angel would catch an ordinary cold. Especially in this season. But regardless, she leads him inside to the sitting room.

And waits for this explanation.] ... All right, we're inside. What's going on, Yuan?

[He isn't entirely certain where to start, as he isn't sure which symptom is most pressing, or whether they're even related at all. After a moment of silence, he takes off one of his gloves to reveal his right hand- the one that doesn't have a Cruxis Crystal embedded on it. A pitch-black stain is spreading from the back of his hand towards his palm and wrist. It might seem like ink at first glance, but sadly, it's not something that easy.]

This.

[Well. That certainly wasn't what she was expecting. And the black... after her startled look, she leans in to take a closer look.]

It... almost looks like geostigma. How long has this been a problem?

A few days. It's progressed more rapidly overnight.

[And he knows it can't be Geostigma. When's the last time he was in contact with Kadaj or his brother? Those two were sent home weeks ago.]

Have you come into contact with anything... strange?

Nothing too recent. Though I never retained my memories from that last... Shift. [Or whatever the hell it was.]

You don't remember anything at all? How strange. [She does examine his hand however, frowning at it. And perhaps prying a bit with some magic to see if there's any way to determine what it is.]

[Sadly, the stain doesn't seem to respond to normal healing magic at all. Yuan clenches his hand into a fist for a moment, before flexing his fingers again. Ugh, it itches a litte.]

I was told I'd been turned into an old man. Physically.

I hadn't spoken to you directly myself, but that did seem to be the case. Nearly everyone experienced a different form of reality.

Did you?

[Personal question, yes. But he won't know until he asks. What could be worse than being old?]

I ... did, but I suppose it wasn't so much of a drastic change. [It's not really an answer, though she attempts to brush it off in favor of the examination. Raine frowns when nothing seems to be working. If it's not geostigma... but there's something very strange about it.]

[Hint received, loud and clear. He's silent for a moment, before he coughs again. Damn, his throat is sore.]

I don't suppose a cold could be related, somehow?

... How long have you had the cold symptoms?

About a week, if not more. I've had it ever since things in the village appeared to be fixed. [And thus possibly longer, because if he had that cold during the experiment, then he won't be able to remember it.]

And that's when these other symptoms began appearing as well... strange. You're not normally prone to colds, are you?

Not at all. [He pauses for a moment, then his eyes fall on the black stain again. It's sort of ridiculous, but...]

The only other time my lungs were giving me trouble was after Kratos and I defeated Aku. That was over a month ago.

Aku... I see. And he was a being of darkness, wasn't he? [She frowns, looking at Yuan's arm.] There could very well be a possibility of some connection. Do you recall the exact details of that battle?

... Aku was causing landslides by the mountain range. Kratos and I went to investigate, and were immediately under attack. Aku was a formidable opponent. He could shapeshift at will and he was fast; at one point, he grabbed my leg and flung me into a mountain. [He stops talking for a moment, mulling things over. It's been a while.]

Neither standard magic nor physical attacks had any effect on him, so Kratos resorted to a holy spell. I gave him most of my mana to increase its potency. Just before the spell hit, Aku managed to run Kratos through, but it wasn't fatal. ... There was an explosion. The shockwave didn't hit Kratos, but I was slammed into a rock, myself.

Yes... I remember Kratos's wounds now. I tended to him when he was at the clinic.

Giving Kratos most of your mana would have left you in a very vulnerable state.

I suppose. My lungs started acting up after I crashed into that rock. After a week or so, the symptoms died down again.

But now they're back. I wonder why the gap ... perhaps your body recovering from its mana shortage helped stave off the symptoms in some way.

Either that, or being a frail old man worsened the symptoms before they'd disappeared completely.

I suppose you'd just have to ask anyone who might have talked to you if you seemed ill. Though if you had supposedly removed your cruxis crystal to reach a state, it might have made you vulnerable ...

- 74

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