::Cadence had been quiet for days, kept to herself and away from others to avoid them, to not hear their thoughts, the voices whispering in her head were becoming louder and louder with each hour that passed. Darkness was like a veil that darkened her vision, night was always there yet sleep avoided her.... eluded her senses with the voices growing in number as the days moved on::

Yous said keep it safe, Bob. I can't... I'm sorry I just... can't keep it... don't want it.. too much, Bob, all those voices won't stop. Make it stop. I don't want this, can't make it stop.. no.. not strong enough to take this.. I can't do this.. I'm afraid of myself.. can't handle this.. please....

::It was late and she was standing on the edge of the roof, balancing precariously along the edge.... gaze was cast downward seeing the darkness as it kept gathering towards her like some beacon, calling home the darkness of the Abyss as it slowly and steadily drew its strength towards her, bowing to her as if she weilded its existance... as if she could crush the Abyss and all within it::

Please, Bob.. I can't...

::The power scared her, the darkness made her feel empty and yet the energy was like a seduction, drawing her into the darkness with caressing lies, stroking her ego, rubbing her soul, trying to seduce her every essence::

No!!!

::Dropping to her knees she wept, causing her once pretty blues to redden and become swollen from her tears, adding to the dark circles beneath. She looked pale, weak, drawn and even sickly::

--make him--
::the voice was clear over the din of other voices, laughing darkly. She knew what it meant in an instant::

No. It's wrong.

--test him--
::again that voice, tempting her::

Why?

--because you can--

::Silence. She knew it wanted her to trick the headmaster, make the amulet into an orange and give it to him. She knew it would consume and destroy him. But was it afraid of him?::

Leave me!
::her own voice scared her, she couldn't believe something so demonic could come out of her. The shade seemed to flow from her breath and disappear in the darkness from where it came from. Now she was freaked! More tears flowed. She just couldn't take it any more, didn't trust herself, was afraid::

Master Briarius.

::her wings extended and she hopped off the roof, spreading her wings to glide down to the Headmaster's private quarters. She landed ont he ground by the door, wings tucked back again, and knocked on the door relentlessly, fear in her voice pleading desperately::

Master Briarius! Oh Please! Yous gotta be there! Master Briari! Help me.. please...

::the whole thing came out in a rush::

Theron beat up Bob so now Bob went away and Bob dumped a bunch of stuff in my amulet, I think he saied the whole abyss.. and now I hear voices and these things come out of my mouth and they are gods that run in my head and they are all like childrens and see yous gots to believe me cause they dont stop and their voices get stronger and I can't make em stop and it's so dark and empty and it scares me and I don't know what to do cause i'm afraid for Bob and he's just been all nice to me and everybody says he just evil and he'll eat me and things like that and I don't want to believe them cause he's just been so nice to me and I'm afraid if I let go of it he'll be gone forever and I no want to destroy him and I don't know how to deal with this and I'm just so afraid.....

::breath::

Oh headmaster, please... yous gotta helps me. I dont know what to do.

::she pulled out the letter Bob gave her and held it out to Briarius::

::Then she felt something move in her pocket so while she held the one letter towards Briarius, she dug out another letter. Bloodshot blues so wide with worry kept her gaze on this new one as she pulled it out of her pocket to unfold it and began to read it over.. and over and over several times, each time tears would fall more and more from those innocent eyes. Cadence was indeed innocent in every way...... heart, mind, body and soul...... and her mind just couldn't fathom it all, seemed in awe as she handed that one to the headmaster and leaned up against the door frame cause her legs felt so very, very weak like they were just gonna give out on her. After he had time to read both, she spoke and her voice was her own soft and innocent but full of heartache::

I miss him.

Yous don't know the half, Headmaster.

::She stared after him as if he were insane. How was she gonna medatate when she couldn't even find the peace to sleep?......... what choice did she have......... she followed him deciding to use her wings to carry her instead of actually trying to walk on her wobbly feeling legs, she didn't trust them too much, and so she followed him to the gardens that she had never been to yet::

Thank yous, Headmaster, for trying to helps.. help me.

::she realized she had let her speech go lax in front of him and was trying to correct herself::

I knows it's late and all and I wanted to make sure you knew that I do appreciate what you are doing.

::she tried..... she really really tried to sit there and think of nothing, there on the rug, sitting just like the headmaster was on his, facing him, trying to do what he'd said..... but things kept popping in her mind like was her eyes still red and were they puffy and had she wiped the snot off her nose????????? SNIFF......... and that flower over there was pretty was that the sweet smell of honeysuckle? and could she help pick the flowers to put in the house?::

--push him--

No.

::her gaze darted around looking for the voice, a different one from the last time, and then gazing upwards as if trying to find an excuse::

uh.. I mean no rainclouds, so it's not going to rain. Sorry..

::she looked down to force her eyes shut tight, trying so hard to concentrate on ..... nothing, which really wasn't working because that just made her mind think of something even more!::

--He tests you. Push him!--

::her face became angry, eyes shot open and her voice demonic again as it growled::

No!

::She felt pain in her head two pressure points on top where two points were pushing their way up through her skull, horns to be exact. Something was forcing their way...........::

::It was in motion. Her head began to split open at the top as this entity continued to pushed its way out, horns were piercing through her skull. Though the spell had no effect on her, as it appeared she was dead from being split open, even before Briarius had finished saying the word. However, whatever it was, pushing it's way out of her, did get affected after it struggled against the strength of his spell but by then, the entity had her head splitting open to reveal red scales and one peeping glowing red eye. Then it stopped moving as if it were in a trance. It was in a trance::

::A moment later and it began to convulse and shudder as it seemed something else was pushing its way through it! Bones cracked, scales twisted, blood squirted as the whole of whatever it was .... was split and pushed out of Cadence's splitting body. Both were pretty much turned inside out by the thing that was now coming through. First a bloody human hand appeared out of the mass of insides, then another as the two seemed to rip both bodies apart revealing matted bloody hair, smeared wings and a petite form emerged....crawling out from the gore was Cadence, shivering, traumatized, bloodied and shaking::

Th...th...the v..v..v. voices sss...ss...stt...top....pppp....ped..... I .. I... think I win.

::laugh or cry, she could have done both but somehow managed a grin. The thing had challenged her as the other had, but this one had been stronger. she gave the headmaster a nod of thanks, and then she relaxed laying down, her head touched the ground. There was peace in her features but she knew it would'n't last forever. Others would challenge and she needed to be ready::

::she was going to tell him but he was too fast to move off for where ever he was going or she was too tired and didn't move fast enough. It was after he had gone that she whispered and he heard it in his mind as if he were there::

A High Lord from the Abyss, Briarius... He wanted to take over something that wasn't his. I think I changed his mind.

::Cadence laid there and let her mind go numb. It wasn't comfortable on the rug, but the warmth of the blanket was soothing and the voices were virtually silent, only a little bit of background noise like a distant rumble from an approaching storm some distance away. she looked down to the amulet still hung round her neck on the thin leather strap and the round shape of it lay between her breasts. It was the only thing she had. Everything else had gone with what was left of the other corpse. Yet she was that corpse. She felt... different somehow but didn't ponder this too much. Her mind needed that break, that reprieve and so she closed her eyes and slept::

::sleepy eyes peered open after several hours. She felt like days had gone by. The dream she'd had seemed so real. In a way it was. She'd been there the whole time and at the same time she had also walked the streets of RhyDin and down into the Glen. She had a talk with Theron and it had been peaceful. She had saved a world far far away from the meteor that had been flung at it. And she could only hope that she had made a way for peace to prevail over all. Her eyes opened slowly and they seemed more coherent then she had been before::

Mistress Sha'uri how long have I been sleeping?

::she took the glass and a long sip to quench her dry throat::

Hungry?

::Cadence repeated the question as if she didn't comprehend. But at she thought about it, she realized her stomach was as empty as a bee's nest after a family of bear got to it. She was starved!::

Very much so. I feel like I've been sleeping for days.

::pretty blues looked to the teacher in earnest::

If you were gifted with something that was beyond the most powerful thing you'd ever heard of what would you do with it?

::she sipped her water some more::

::The woman had hit the nail right on the head with those words. It wasn't just Sha'uri who was quiet, it made Cadence really pause and think for a long time. Sha'uri was gone a long time when Cadence finally pulled herself out of her deep thoughts and started to eat the food the Mistress had provided. For the rest of the day, Cadence stayed in her room and stayed in bed, thinking.... just thinking.. and really pondering. Laying her head back down as the sun dropped low in the sky, Cadence stared into the light as it faded and she thought about her conversation with Theron once again. Hope is all she had left. She could only hope::

Be good, Bob. Be well. G'night then.

::she picked up the amulet and left a gentle kiss to it, letting the item drop back down to lay between her breasts. Then she closed her eyes and let herself ... dream::