"Are you finished yet?"

Astra chided Seth after he had continued to lay there, pretending to sleep, for another full minute. In that time she hadn't moved herself, still sitting with Omelette's head resting in her lap, a most enviable position, whilst she gently caressed and petted him.

Seth grumbled as he lay there, before eventually sitting back up again and stretching out his stiff muscles.

"It's not my fault you decided to sneak attack me with that."

"You're just jealous you didn't get to be the one who said it."

The pair of them chuckled slightly, Seth not bothering to give that a response as she didn't deserve the pleasure of being right. He run his hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face, only to feel that it was still slightly damp.

Frowning slightly, he patted his hair again before glancing towards Astra.

"So... What happened exactly? I'm guessing I landed in the river or something. Is that how we got away from those Hell Hounds?"

"You really don't remember?"

Seth simply shook his head and shrugged.

"Nothing after the crash. Well, I remember bouncing along the ground, so that was fun. But after that I'm pretty hazy."

"You happened Seth. We didn't escape them, you scared them away. I didn't see most of it, but from what I did see I don't blame them. You went berserk, slaughtered half of them without a care for yourself.

I'm surprised you're still even alive."

As she spoke, Seth's eyes trailed down and landed on his metallic arm. His mind accepted her words, but they were muted as he stared blankly at the holes in his arm, the metal around them rolled and melted from the heat of the Hell Hounds teeth.

Honestly, he could remember it. Not all of it, not in detail. But he remembered the pain, the anger, the sadistic pleasure. He remembered it, but his mind separated from himself so much in those moments that he had thought... he had hoped it was nothing more than an insane dream. A dream that could only be brought about from repeatedly hitting his head.

He traced his fingers over the melted metal, flashes of that time appearing in his mind. His previous screams and howls of rage echoing within his memory. With every flash of memory, he could almost feel his blood heating up within his veins. He could feel it churning faster, almost as if it was excited by the memories.

Clenching his fist tight, Seth closed his eyes and focused his mind. He focused on quelling the growing feeling, forcing his blood to cool down and return to normal. Only once he was certain he was fine, did he finally open his eyes. He glanced over his shoulder, noting that the other members of their group were a few metres away, far enough that they couldn't overhear their conversation.

While that might have been the main reason, he wasn't ignorant enough to believe that was the only reason. He couldn't help but catch a few glances his way, especially the ones from Erik, who seemed almost fearful of him.

Looking back at Astra with an ashamed expression on his face, his head still lowered ever so slightly, Seth spoke in an almost timid voice.

"Did I hurt anyone?"

"...No. By the time we found you, you had collapsed from exhaustion."

Seth narrowed his eyes ever so slightly at Astra, locking eyes with her as she spoke with the slightest hint of hesitation. Of course he suspected she was lying, but even if part of him wanted to root out the truth of the matter another part wanted to simply bury it and move on.

Letting out a soft sigh, he simply nodded and accepted her explanation for the current time. But even still, he couldn't just let this sit and fester. Slowly, he rose to his feet and brushed himself off, before making his way over to her and Omelette.

He knelt in front of her, gently stroking his hand against Omelette's cheek and feeling his dry, crumbling feathers at the same time. He could feel the trembling, strained breathing of the Wyvern underneath his hand, a sensation that caused new pangs of pain within his heart.

Raising his head, he looked deep into Astra's eyes with a morbidly serious expression.

"It's good to hear no one got hurt. But since that's the case, I need you to promise me something. No... I need you to swear it, swear on your life that you will do this for me."

"What would that be?"

She maintained the eye contact, her hand slowing her petting and simply resting atop Omelette as they stared into each others eyes, as if probing each other for their hidden emotions.

"I need you to kill me. If that happens again, and you think that I'm a danger to anyone else. I need you to kill me."

"What? You can't be... I couldn't do th-"

"Please..."

Seth's expression softened, his eyes trembling as he practically begged her to kill him. Instinctually, he reached forward and placed his hand on top of hers, squeezing it slightly in his grip as he leaned just a touch closer.

"Just... Please, swear to me that you will do this. If I lost myself and ended up killing any one of those people, or any one for that matter. I don't think I'd ever want to come back. I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

Not just losing myself to rage. If I ever lose myself to the position, if I become like that Lightbringer and start to throw these people's lives away. I want you to kill me, for them. If that is what I become for any reason then I certainly wouldn't deserve to be their leader any longer.

I refuse to be a tyrant of blood, but I know how much power corrupts. I just... I need to have someone I can trust to keep me in check. And I have trusted you with my life, so now I am trusting you with my death.

Do you swear to do this for me?"

Astra's eyes darted between his own, before trailing down to his hand resting upon hers. She seemed to linger on that sight for a few seconds, before raising her head once more. He could see a mixture of emotions within her eyes, so many feelings fighting for supremacy and for the right to come to the forefront.

In the end, she parted her lips and spoke those faithful words.

"I do. I swear it."

Seth let out a deep sigh of relief at those words, not even realising he had been holding his breath up until this moment. He nodded a few times, squeezing Astra's had before letting it go and standing up straight.

He glanced at Omelette, his eyes trailing over his body, before he turned on his heels.

"Now, I think I need to take care of a little business. We've been on the road for a while, after all and I haven't had a chance before now."

He chuckled softly as she rolled her eyes, before waving him away. Without another word, Seth moved away and started to walk to a secluded section of the field they were in, somewhere with a nice bush he could hide behind.

As he walked, he let his threads extend outwards and trail behind him. Although they had been tangible and visible for a brief minute during his fugue state, they had returned back to their ethereal nature. Invisible to all except those with the right eyes.

Once he was safely behind the bush, and double checked that no one was watching him, Seth didn't pull down his trousers to pee. Instead he clenched his fist, tightening his threads and dragging them towards him.

As he did so, they trembled and vibrated like a fishing line, paired with a fresh catch on the hook.

Seth although he appeared to be holding nothing at all, Seth raised his hand and at the same time lifted his 'catch' into the air. His iris' glowed white as he glared at the invisible creature that had been clinging to Omelette's back like a parasite.

Ensnared in his threads, with its limbs bound tight to its body, was a lizard like creature. The same one he had seen in his fugue state. He didn't remember much about that time, his mind intentionally blocking out most of it. But this thing... he remembered seeing this thing at the very end.

And if that time wasn't a dream, then this thing wasn't either.

It wriggled and squirmed in his ethereal snare, desperately trying to free itself. As the threads tightened around its body, it's figure shimmered. The pure white lizard in his soul vision shifting until it was nothing more than a blackened silhouette, just like all other people looked like.

With the shift in its body, moving from the intangible to the physical realm, it began to drop as Seth's threads now passed harmlessly through its body.

Such a shame for it that his reflexes were too quick to allow such a worthless escape attempt. Seth immediately lashed out with his foot, catching the little critter right in the gut and punting it across the grass like a football, bouncing a few times before it finally skidded to a halt.

Strolling over to it, Seth summoned his spear into his hand and lifted it above his head, turning it's point downwards towards the parasitic little creature.

"I bet if I kill you, He'll get better. Or at the very least, he'll not get any worse."

However before he could plunge the spear downwards, the creature rolled over and raised one of its hands, its snout moving as it let out a series of desperate squeaks that sounded a lot like words.

"Nid genaz, Nid Krii!"