Eyes fluttered open to black. Yue was washed along eddies of ideation, emotion, and color. Invisible figures slithered around her, brushing against the curtains of [Silver] surrounding her. Coils of [Crimson] drifted out lazily from her core, drinking in the [Silver]. She inhaled... but could not breathe. A pang of panic lanced through her, as she found she could not move. Was she dead? Tendrils of [Crimson] connected her loosely to... something in the distance. There was no up or down: direction had no meaning. She wrestled with her body to turn and look around, to blink, to breathe, anything. Wraiths behind the curtain writhed hungrily, groping and pawing at her. A spike of fear drove through her, only serving to incite further frenzy in the wraiths. All at once everything went silent: a pulse of [Strength] turned the wraiths to what she assumed was dust. Something took her gently and turned her, sliding the massive luminous surface of the moon into view... except it was "wrong" in a way she couldn't describe. That is until it opened a massive, luminous yellow eye and stared down at her. The surface of the moon began to shift ponderously, lifting its gleaming silver-scaled head and stretching its wings to encompass the "sky." It breathed power and grace and all she could do was lock eyes with it... if she still had eyes. It reached down towards her, and with one single talon, gently pushed her back towards the [Emotion] and [Noise] she'd been drifting away from. [center][h3][color=#b8d1d1]Not... Yet...[/color][/h3][/center] The force was unreal. The gentlest of grazes catapulted her away, throwing her thousands of miles in an instant. Motes of light streaked past dizzyingly and just as she felt solidity rushing up on her back... [hr][center][h3][b][u][Paradox - Forges Region - Ignis Citadel, Texas USA][/u][/b][/h3][/center][hr] Yue suddenly gasped for breath. Something was over her eyes, pressure on her shoulders and chest. Wisps of [Crimson] flared out of her skin and she grabbed reflexively, sitting up and lifting someone off the ground. An instant stretched into eternity, and in her hand was this fragile thing, tentatively held together like wet sand that would crumble if she just closed her fist. The cool cloth slid from her face and she locked eyes with the Citadel medtech that had been tending her, paralyzed by the intensity of her gaze, grasping desperately at her wrist. Everything started to come back. The warm glow of [Creative Intent] emanating from the displays of weapons, armor, tools, and machinery spread throughout the room stabbed deep into her retinas like a bright light she could not block out. She exhaled slowly, gently lowering the medtech back to the ground, and feeling something rigid relax from the corners of her eyes and brow. She pressed her palms into her eyes and drew her knees up to her chest as Forgemaster energetically explained to her what was happening. Muted pain signals tingled throughout her body deep under her skin like something inside her was ripped clean out of her body and then shoved haphazardly back into place. His words drifted in and out of her consciousness while she shifted herself off of the table she'd been laid upon until something he said prickled down her spine like icy water. [b][color=#CE2B95]"Wh-What?!"[/color][/b] Yue turned towards Forgemaster sluggishly while massaging her temples. [b][color=#EF3F16]"He's out there fighting a dangerous giant monster! BY HIMSELF! How many times do I gotta say it before it gets through that thick skull of yours?!"[/color][/b] Yue found a mix of emotions swirling in her chest, a few familiar: Anxiety, fear, excitement... a few that were too alien for her to identify. She found her eyes drawn towards the sword still embedded in Citadel floor. [b][color=#CE2B95]"C-... Can I borrow that?"[/color][/b] She asked, pointing at the sword. She heard Forgemaster suck in air for what she at first thought would be an indignant refusal. Who would want a priceless artifact swung recklessly at monsters in a pitch battle, after all? [b][color=#EF3F16]"You mean you actually want to [i]USE[/i] it?!"[/color][/b] He exclaimed, with childlike glee. The whiplash sent a spike of numbed pain down her neck as her head snapped back towards him. The excited Tinker was already rustling waist deep in a crate full of heavy sounding metallic objects, and his sudden enthusiasm cracked the corners of her mouth into a smile. [b][color=#CE2B95]"I mean... does it kill [i]Kaiju[/i]?"[/color][/b] [b][color=#EF3F16]"Oh, enthusiastically so."[/color][/b] [b][color=#CE2B95]"Do we have time to make a minor modification?"[/color][/b] [b][color=#EF3F16]"What did you have in mind?"[/color][/b] A sly smile spread across the Tinker's face as he drew a scabbard out of the crate. [hr] In the distance, [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk-h6gSocnU]a glint of silver[/url] atop one of the Black Citadel's spires tinged orange by the lavafall behind the Citadel superstructure dropped towards the earth. A plume of dust rose up, slowly fading into the faintly glowing mist of the distant Forges. The Hydra's discordant shriek echoed over the rocks as it brought down its talons heavily onto Aegis' barriers, sending a spiderweb of cracks throughout the hardlight. Before he could recover, the bone-spiked tail whipped around and caught him in the side, throwing him roughly into the dirt. It was over him in the blink of an eye, crocodilian heads darting down to clamp down on his torso. As Aegis was preparing to shield himself with a barrier, there was a flash of silver between him and the beast. After a very tangible pause, a deafening clap of thunder and shockwave roughly buffeted him with coarse metallic dirt. The Hydra's center head had become a stump with arcs of lightning cauterizing the wound and raking down the creature's back, interrupting its attack and staggering it backwards several paces. The plume of dust that had appeared to his side at the end of three deep scars in the rock flickered electrically as a pair of red eyes gleamed menacingly. Fang flicked the sword of Justice, as though to clear the blood from the blade, sending electricity dancing over the rocks and snaking up the metallic surface of her Drachenmail as she slid the blade home into its scabbard with. Still glowing like smoldering embers, the runic script running throughout the seams of her armor sizzled lightly as they slowly faded. Yue lowered her stance, holding the scabbard behind her while she prepared to [Godspeed Slash] with the other.