Chapter Text
"I fucking hate rock slimes!" I wince as I shout out to my party members. I finish cleaving the slime on top of me in two and reach down to help Azraelia as she knits my bones together in turn. We take a moment to smile at each other, she reaches up to touch my cheek and then—
Alicia's eyes snap open, her mind foggy. She's in complete darkness, a strange weight on her face. Her body feels heavy in a way she isn't used to — she shakes her head — none of this matters, all she can think about is Az.
Why can't Alicia remember her face? Every time she tries to bring it into focus she just sees hazy shapes with the vague pale coloration of what she knows she's supposed to be seeing. Forget Azraelia, why can't she remember her own face? More importantly why does it feel like her thoughts are being cast through a mesh before they reach her? They feel more.. impersonal, in a way.
"What the fuck?" her voice is so deep and scratchy, the words feel like they're being choked out. It sounds like she's been ill for longer than anyone she's ever heard of, her voice far rougher than should be possible. "What the fuck?!"
She smacks at the weight presumably blocking her vision and hits a solid block of an alien material she knows is plastic. Wait, how does she know what plastic is?
You don't. Stop being stupid. You're wearing goggles.
The voice echoes in her mind, it sounds like how she did when she spoke out loud: rough and sad.
Rude.
"Uh, hello?" Alicia calls out in her strange new heavy voice. There's no response. She grabs the sides of the object like she would one of those massive pairs of goggles magical tinkerers wear; sure enough, it lifts off her face with ease.
A barrage of prismatic colours assaults her, she screws her eyes shut in pain and tries to leap off the chair she's sitting on. Her knees slam against the underside of the table she didn't realize was in front of her and she goes tumbling towards the swirling rainbow.
She cries out for Az to heal her as her head cracks against a solid object and her vision once again fades to black.