[center][h2][color=9950ff]Iris Aderast[/color][/h2][/center] Iris remained silent until sister Lark came out. A girl she hadn’t heard much from in a while, she was well known but not very important, at least not as far as she knew. She got up and sauntered over to the pile of robes and threw a pair over her clothes, it was uncomfortable over her denim coat, but that’s what you get for trying to look nice. She fastened a few of the buttons to make herself look presentable, before taking off her charms. One was a necklace to help channel magic into an object, and the other didn’t come off until she sat Corvus down on her Golem Book. [color=9950ff]”Corvus. Stay here.”[/color] She said to the golem, she had to wait until he knew what to do before she took her arm band off, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to talk to him. She slid the dainty looking tanglement of flowers and vines off her wrist and laid it next to Corvus, who was resting on the book that he owed his existence to. Her phone was next to him, as was her earbuds. When Sister Lark lit the lantern, Iris fell in line towards the back, walking in silence. Finally, she’s become a witch. Iris has been running around the fields for years, but she never would have guessed that any witch would cast an illusion in the brush she walked by an unimaginable number of times, the wellspring was impossibly beautiful...Deftly dropping to her pillow and hearing Deborah tell them what to do, it made sense. The herbs in the bottles made. Iris recognized at least two or three of them thanks to her potions. Dragons Blood and Elicara’s Leaves. How did they get something like that to mix? She thought it was strange, the oils in Dragons Blood were acidic, so they had to be stored in water, but here it was in open air. Clearly someone was better with potions than Iris. Bleeding into it and adding water, Iris wasn’t terribly surprised by its taste, Elicara’s Leaves always tasted like a day old cigar after all. Elicara Tea would be great right now. [hr] [center][h2][color=cyan]Isolde Morden[/color][/h2][/center] [color=cyan]”I am honored to be here, Sister.”[/color] She told Lark with a smile, it really was an honor to be given the title of a true witch, and when Lark passed out the clothes, Isolde gracefully donned the robes with little regard for the flowing nature of them, she was used to clothes like this, clothes that flowed like water. She walked over into the soft grass and thrusted her staff into the dirt, slinging her backpack over it, it was waterproof, so everything inside would be fine, and she’s come back for it soon. She took a spot among the congregation up front, taking in the beauty of the land. She had never seen such a terrain, living in rocky mountaintops covered in clouds. The trick of the eye to hide the entrance was quite clever, and the whole time Isolde couldn’t tell the herbs by name, since she knew nothing of alchemy, but she trusted they would be safe. The air felt unnatural, it was almost as if you could breathe and make a flower sprout. Rolling up her sleeves, she made it a point to not cut her tattoo, and bled from her right arm. The water mixed with her blood and the herbs, creating an ethereal purple liquid that tasted like tar, it was the kind of thing a non-witch would have to hold their nose to drink, but Isolde managed, until she didn’t... [hr] Iris’ head began to swirl like a pound of brinks, she didn’t make a sound, but she blacked out into a hallucination unlike anything else, she had been in similar situations as a result of miscalculations from making potions, but this was unbelievable, she was alone in the wellspring, nauseated and at her feet, the water of the lake was gone. Bone dry. The only sign of life was Iris. [color=9950ff]”H...D-dako-“[/color] Her speech was slurred as she tried to call for her friends. Nothing. But the ground reacted, vines raised out all around her, in clumps of 3 to 7. The pale dirt cracked and gave away as trees twisted and contorted into humanoid shapes, fingers, eyes, arms. They outnumbered her greatly, almost like everyone being initiated brought a friend, but Iris couldn’t move. She’d fall over. Eventually, the shapes began to manifest bodies, the kind Iris recognized. How? She wrote the book on them. Golems. All around her. They all started at her, there were at least 20 in the wellspring’s absence and Iris was confused. None of them had a heart. A heart was meant to be glowing blue in their chests, none of them had one, not that she could tell entirely, but they were fully alive! [color=9950ff]”H-how...”[/color] It didn’t matter. This isn’t. Real. You’re not here. You know a real golem. Wake up. They were reaching for her, oaken hands outstretched like they wanted her. She couldn’t move. Meanwhile, Isolde’s head was in the clouds. Literally. She was floating in the skies, her body was numb and she couldn’t move in the thunderhead’s glory. All around her in the vast cloud were flashes. Blinding to anyone any closer than Isolde. Booming noises like a god clapping their hands sounding off at any time. It was lightning. She was in a lightning storm. Feeling slowly crept back into her weightless body, as she moved in place. She could see the bolts striking downwards, into the nothing mess. In reality, Isolde lay unconscious on her knees with her head fallen backwards. Small bursts of lightning arcing off her bleeding arm, but in her mind, she floated peacefully in a grand thunderstorm. To be so close to the cornerstone of her magic. To be in the eye of the storm...it was beautiful. The chaos surrounded her, she was the eye of the storm. She was at peace. Isolde, in her torporific stupor, drunkenly hummed an old song of her people in the middle of the raging clouds that swirled her. [color=cyan][i]On...the mountain’s tree For all the rain, that...you...can see I am on the...the mountain’s clo-[/i][/color] The thundering grew louder and the lightning grew closer, until Isolde could almost reach out and grab the lightning...of course, that was until she was struck. A flash lasting as long as the blink of an eye shot Isolde cleanly away with a light gasp, she took in here surroundings as another girl a little way’s away, Iris, shot awake more violently, heavy breathing and a racing heart as she fell forward on her palms, almost into the water she was staring into [color=9950ff][sub]”...It...it’s okay...they can’t do that...they need a heart...[/sub][/color] She reassured herself, only a stone’s throw away from Sister Deborah, who likely heard her words, did they mean anything to her? Did she have any idea what heart Iris referred to? Possibly, but Iris was too busy trying to get a hold of herself, admittedly, a golem without the restrictions of a heart would be quite worrying to Iris, mainly because she wouldn’t know how to stop such a thing, but also because golems require power. What kind of golem can get power without a heart? [right][sub][@canaryrose][/sub][/right]