Kyralie had never felt closer to crying then she did at that moment.

Everything they found kept pointing to one fact only, that Phantasm was just as his name suggested and would one day vanish when the Dome decided he was no longer necessary. And who was going to remember him? Hunter had never met him and she had no idea if he had been sent to any other occupants of the Dome to aid them before her.

Despair was a companion she had traveled with for a long time already, but when it came to despair over Phantasm’s fate… it had a more bitter taste that any she had felt before. She needed something, anything to help her cope with it all… one good thing to try and bring balance to her world so she could think clearly.

Blinking, she suddenly realized the room had fallen into an uneasy silence. The Prince was scanning his book fretfully, and Kyralie caught him as he sent a worried glance in her direction.

“Milady…” He began, when their eyes met, his full of the endless compassion she knew he had, while hers were filled with the heartache she felt.

“Prince Merridale…” she gulped, her hands clutching the book tightly before lowering it slowly, a trembling half smile on her lips, “I can’t… I don’t know what to do. All of my waking life I’ve spent distancing myself away from people, only having the barest of interactions with them so as to not antagonize my curse. Now, when I’ve finally opened myself up to actually start befriending others… I find that he might possibly not even exist at all…”

She looked at the Prince, a weary smile on her face and a blue glow brightening around her, “I don’t know how to cope with his troubles when I’ve only ever been plagued with mine alone.”

An icy breeze stole past the Prince and a sense of foreboding gripped him tightly, his mind whirling at what Kyralie was saying.

“Kyralie, I’m here to help you. His troubles aren’t yours alone-“

“I can’t stand it.”

On those words a swirl of frost spiraled at her feet, blocking her from the Prince’s view as he staggered back from the icy winds. When it cleared, Kyralie stood where she was, her skin paler than ever and her hair a frosted blue. Her eyes when they opened looked at the Prince coldly and with no feeling what so ever, a sapphire blue that was as cold as the frozen tear on her cheek.

“What happened, milady?” Hunter managed to ask.

When she spoke it was coolly, “Suffice it to say, the Kyralie you know was overwhelmed by the current circumstances and retreated within her. In her place you have me.”

Raising an eyebrow at him, she lifted the book in her hands and gave a delicate shrug, “She couldn’t deal with what was plainly before her either. If she had bothered to pay attention when she met Phantasm she would have known he had no soul what so ever. Therefore it lends evidence that he is indeed a Guide created by the Dome and, speaking of the Dome, did you ever wonder how it was you became Kyralie’s teacher? You who have no experience with magic what so ever. Perhaps it is more of the Dome’s nefarious plans to test you… or break you as Kyralie has already retreated.”

OoC: Now we have the Sadist here to coldy analyse everything that happens~ and throw another curve ball to Hunter >_> I feel bad for him

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RIP Duke
BA Characters:
Joker Kyralie Calista
Artwork - No requests =(