>>5195261>>5195268>>519527610, 14, 11
<span class="mu-s"><span class="mu-g">!!TEST PASSED!!</span></span>
<span class="mu-i">+20 Sanity Gained</span>
The interconnecting tiles grow slick as the oily liquid of night creeps towards you. Catching the light of the frozen world and eating it until you were surrounded by the dark, the writhing imprisoned bands of light helped distinguish the encroaching abyss. Your body was stiff, just as the time around you. Your voice screams within your stationary mind willing your muscles to flex and urging your body to flee the mass. The fluid makes contact with you, tingles tracing up from your legs as they vanish into the swill inches at a time. A choir of voices rang out. Some in praise others in hate. You smell burnt hair on the wind. Sickeningly the thick smoke clings to your lungs. You want to throw up, expel the filth clogging up your body and mind. The feeling intensifies as it reaches your waist. However you were far from weak. You wouldn't crumble, you take a step forward.
Dead muscles screaming in silent agony as they are dragged back to life. Against the rapid water, against the crushing tide you strode. Nothing would stop you now, reaching out your hand ran along the alien metal and in an instant all was gone. The world returned. Static jumped between your fingers, finding a home within the dormant machine. For a moment you swore the Phobos trembles against your touch. But it may have just been a trick of your mind. A hand suddenly rests on your shoulder and you flinch. Spinning you find Haruki with a smile on her face, it fell the moment your eyes met. You quickly return your gaze to the Nightmare. It looms tall, almost touching the arched ceiling above. "Are you okay?" The girl's voice came bringing with it another chill, you bask in the ancient machine's glory.
<span class="mu-r">"The Waking Nightmare. I've… heard about it before, the pilot was a hero."</span> You can feel it preparing itself. The Nightmare stirring in your presence.
<span class="mu-r">"It fought valiantly while outnumbered. See, that wound on its shoulder, an Anti-Phobos missile did that. All those small divots that pepper it are from the intense barrages it withstood. It went toe to toe with the scum of the Elysian Isles."</span> You stop yourself from speaking about the events as if they were your own experiences. The Umbral Core sensing the intentions within you. Awaiting your command. But it wasn't your Phobos. The strange thoughts fading as the clouds cleared within your mind. It was far from alive.
<span class="mu-r">"The Pilot died in the arms of his lover... Have you ever heard of the Half Soul? That is what they called him."</span>
