[center]A moment...or no time at all? It was hard to tell how much time had passed, if any, since the fledgling Prophet had touched upon his shoulder and set an incomplete set of swords dancing about the air; held by specters Crosos Granz was not wont to see again any time soon, wispy and vague though their forms had been. The scene had since faded, leaving the Golem Knight and Prophet aspirant standing atop a distant mountain.

 Luna was heavy, but not full, above them, her glow a malicious orange. A strange swathe had been cut through her center, and from that wound poured a liquid umbrage that swam in the night air...much different from the night its self. It was a seething serpent, wriggling free of the afterbirth of calamity. Panic swelled in Crosos' chest, as he observed. A gentle touch drew his single eye from the phenomenon. It was Alyosha Grey, his hands laced before him; his position seemed strange, given that Granz [i]knew[/i] he had felt something.

 [color=DBE6E0]"To the south, Ser Crosos Granz."[/color] Alyosha was quiet, as usual, but seemed unperturbed. Such, Crosos thought, suited his peer very well. Still, it seemed amiss. He did as instructed, slowly turning his head and pushing aside thoughts of Luna's silent hemorrhaging. They stood, he assumed, on Mount Tinilit; tallest of Gnara's Locks. Before him stretched a landscape of ruin and ash. All of Tantas seemed to be crying out in pain, the distant noise now apparent to him. Earth sundered and cracked open, belching out gouts of flame that rose like towers into the spreading darkness. [color=DBE6E0]"This is"[/color] he, too, turned to observe; as calm and collected as the Golem had come to expect, [color=DBE6E0]"the result of Strife's triumph. This,"[/color] as if to accent his words, the very mountain groaned, [color=DBE6E0]"is the world [i]he[/i] wishes to create."[/color] 

 He drank in the chaos, his Core aching with the sheer malign force that now permeated the world he had come to love. Were he able, he thought distantly, the Golem Knight may have shed a tear for his beloved home. For it was certainly Vaald he saw in the ruinous expanse, a conflagration that far surpassed the pyres that had once been various hamlets and cities. Despite the horror before him, something seemed amiss. The emphasis on the word 'he', uttered by the usually reserved Alyosha revealed an inadequacy. Suddenly, the Golem Knight turned and looked down on his companion.

 Granz's gaze was met evenly, without the slightest shift in the Prophet's stance. The feeling of knowing was there, an instinct born from years of battle and playing along with Deladish politics; something he had honed with Serpera for what felt an eternity. [color=778899]"Who are you,"[/color] came the question, raspy and metallic, as he pointed a finger at the figure, [color=778899]"and what is the meaning of-"[/color]

 Alyosha's form did not shift, nor was there a great upheaval of the vision; but there was a distortion. A flickering of static around them, something akin to a dome that surrounded them. It was disorienting, but moreso was the chuckled that escaped the form of his new friend. Light and airy, completely uncharacteristic. 

 [color=808080]"You are correct! I am not the Prophet's son. I am someone else, entirely."[/color] The false-Alyosha unfolded their hands and opened them toward him in apology. [color=808080]"I did not mean to deceive. His was merely the most easily accessible face to portray in this situation."[/color] Granz shifted uncomfortably, sliding metal against slick ice, crossing his arms and letting his free hand slide to [i]Headsman[/i]'s hilt. [color=808080]"Please,"[/color] said the other with Alyosha's voice, [color=808080]"allow me to explain."[/color]

 [color=778899]"I would have demanded it of you. By all means, continue, stranger."[/color]

 A nod. [color=808080]"I can not tell you my name, here. We are currently inside the realm of visions created by Alyosha. I have re-purposed his connection with you to allow us time to talk, before you must set about preventing the catastrophe at hand."[/color] The other took a few steps, closing the distance between them. Where Alyosha's eyes were normally a lambent blue, what stared at him were of a darker hue; gray and somehow uneven...as though the color sought to escape their halo. [color=808080]"What you see is not what he is seeing. You are here because you are of the few in Aedrasil who I can reach out to, in my current state. Your father knew that you-"[/color]

 Crosos reeled back, letting his hands fall to his side. His Core pulsed with irritation and his body was beset by coarse, electric confusion. [color=778899]"What do you know of that old man? What has he to do with,"[/color] he swept an arm out over the scene behind him, [color=778899]"the madness you say is to come?"[/color]

 [color=808080]"You have not fulfilled your [i]true[/i] purpose, Crosos Granz. What I know of Illixion the Mad is of little relevance, right now. Please, time is growing short."[/color] The impostor shifted uncomfortably and cast a glance around, as though something were to attack them at any moment. [color=808080]"I have borrowed you, denying you the visions Alyosha sought to impart. I have brought you here to warn you of what can not yet be seen."[/color] His face-plates ground together, small sparks falling to ash-strewn snow. [color=808080]"I have brought you here to tell you the truth. Elise, the Silver Glint, is in danger. You must make your way to the Crystalline Chamber. Take the unconscious Prophet with you. Along the way, you will find others. Others who..."[/color]

 The vision began fading at the edges, the same strange static from before surging over them. The fake Alyosha broke into pieces, scattered suddenly to the wind as one scene overlapped another.

 Again, he stood in his room. Alyosha Grey, the [i]real[/i] one, or so he assumed, splayed across the floor; his swords slowly sheathing themselves...scraping across the ground. Frost had formed at his joints and on his armor...on the window. [color=778899]"Poor Nef,"[/color] he whispered, stopping to gather the Prophet once his armaments were safely away. He lifted the Elf and placed him over his shoulder, grim determination settling in. Elise was in danger. Whatever it was that warned him...whatever it was that had changed the vision he was to receive...he did not know what to think of it. It had felt familiar. As though it, too, had been a part of him.

 Thoughts of what it had said rampaged through his mind as he made his way out of his chambers and into the hallway. He would have to tell Alyosha what he had seen, and ask the same of the Prophet's son. First, however, came their trek to the Crystalline Chamber. Something undoubtedly dire awaited them, the Golem knew...yet felt emboldened. They had a chance to change things.[/center]