The process did not taper off, it ended abruptly. One moment, Nero was lost in physical pleasure the likes of which could shatter the ordinary human mind, and the next he was not.
Nero trembled. The pleasure that had rocked him was so immense, that its sudden absence, and the subsequent return to normalcy, felt like torture.
But it was not normalcy that Nero returned to. He had stabbed his hand into the crystal spike, and while such a negligible wound would not have even been worth mentioning to Nero before, which now was a world of agony worse than death itself.
Nero would have screamed, if he remembered how to scream. Instead he left his body limp, supported by the liquid which had, oddly enough, not frozen despite his freezing flames. He just lay there, floating, as his mind raced to adapt.
In the case of overwhelming trauma, the thing that the brain usually did was to seal off the traumatic memories in order for the consciousness to be able to exist, and so his brain did exactly that. It rushed to erase those memories of pleasure, as much as it could.
It was an instantaneous, reactive measure taken by his brain, and it could have even worked, possibly. Yet it never got the chance to. Through gritted teeth and reddened eyes, Nero forcefully pulled back his hand and then punched the crystal!
A wave of pain travelled through his hand and into his body, magnified beyond belief due to his recent experience. Even as his body convulsed, that is not what Nero focused on.
Absolute and precise self control of his body and mind was something he had ingrained himself through a lifetime of training, and especially through his actions the past few years since his brother was taken.
That was not the kind of thing he could just accept being taken away from him. His fluctuating emotions since his recent breakthrough was bad enough, but this ... this
Nero punched again, causing another wave of pain to travel through his body, and then again, and again, and again! If pleasure had softened his body, then Nero would strengthen it through a crucible of pain!
Cracks started to appear in the crystal as Nero’s bleeding fist smashed into it again and again, yet the cracks never went too deep. He didn’t mind. Nero wasn’t trying to break the crystal anyway, he was trying to break through his own weakness!
Yet even as his body slowly got used to the sensation of pain once more, it was too slow. His convulsing body enraged Nero so much that instead of a punch, he decided to headbutt! Nero smashed his head right into the crystal without holding back, jolting his brain and body through the pain.
He had not held back yet that was not enough to cause his resilient body to even begin bleeding. He prepared to do the same, but through the crystal, on the opposite side, his furious gaze fell onto Vanessa, and all his rage elapsed.
Nero was an Initiate. Regardless of how affected he had been by the pleasure, both his mind and body were far more resilient than a Neophyte. So if he had been so strongly affected, Vanessa’s state could be imagined.
Unlike him, who almost immediately recovered a hint of his awareness, Vanessa was just floating on the opposite side, her eyes vacant.
Nero would have cursed if he weren’t underwater, but he was, so instead he just simply used the crystal to pull himself towards Vanessa.
For whatever reason, Nero had managed to keep his mouth shut throughout the process, but as Vanessa floated in the water, her jaw was open.
Nero didn’t know if she had swallowed any water, and he didn’t have the time to find out. He grabbed her and swam as fast as he could towards the opening.
It was a testament, both to how disoriented he was after that experience and how concerned he was about Vanessa, that he did not notice even once the blue flames upon the candles in the room or in the hall. All he focused on was getting her out of the water.
Coming in, it had taken them a few minutes but going out, Nero crossed the entire length of the tunnel in mere seconds. The pressure of the water against his skin felt like an agony of ingenious design, one unlike anything he had ever felt. And yet, Nero hardly registered it.
He saw the stairs and quickly changed his posture, planting his feet on the steps and then launching himself out of the water.
The situation with Vanessa was urgent - he had no idea how long she had gone without breathing, and how much water she had absorbed. He needed to see to her immediately, less her brain suffer because of oxygen deprivation.
Yet as he erupted from the water, the sight in front of him caused his pupils to constrict and his heart to nearly freeze.
Hundreds, no maybe even thousands, of undead, their ancient armors shining with a haunting majesty under the light of the blue flames in their eyes, were kneeling all around the opening in the ground, their weapons resting neatly on their knees.
Lina, Bael and Noman stood at the very edge of the staircase, their weapons drawn, but they did not attack. In fact, they stood just as still as the undead kneeled, almost as if they were all statues.
Nero’s body erupting from the water disturbed the stillness of the room, threatening to break a careful balance. Yet the undead did not move. They continued to kneel, as if paying allegiance to something down below.
He tensed up as he landed, just as the others tensed, ready for the undead to move, act, attack, anything. Yet nothing happened.
Seeing that they were not attacking, Nero didn’t waste any time. He turned Vanessa over and slapped her back, hoping that would help her somehow. It did not.
"Do you know CPR?" Nero asked, looking at Lina, who shook her head, denying it.
Nero wanted to curse, his emotions raging as his mind tried to maintain calmness amidst his rising panic. Why the hell didn’t a bunch of kids, training to become soldiers, know basic first aid?
That was really an unfair request of a child, considering their training had not officially begun, technically speaking. But, Nero himself knew CPR so it didn’t matter.
The only reason he had asked Lina was out of consideration for what Vanessa might have preferred. The fact that he had even asked such a thing was, yet again, a testament to how unusually panicked he felt. If Nero were in his normal state, he would not have wasted precious seconds asking such a question.
Nero lay Vanessa on her back and put both his hands in the center of her chest to–
As if waking from her stupor, Vanessa slapped Nero across the face, acting on pure instinct. The slap caused Nero to freeze, yet Vanessa began fidgeting as her body reacted to the pain caused to her hand by the slap.
"Why the hell is your face so hard?" she asked through gritted teeth as she glared at Nero as if he were her worst enemy.
"Are you okay?" Nero asked, not minding the question at all. "Can you breathe normally? I thought you had taken in water and were drowning."
"Well obviously that’s what you thought," Vanessa spoke, her entire body still twitching uncontrollably. Her entire back arched as her muscles tensed up for a few seconds, before they finally relaxed and she fell down. "I obviously didn’t think you were taking that opportunity to cop a feel."
Though Vanessa’s words sounded like she had understood Nero’s situation and intentions, the tone of her voice and the glare in her eyes said quite otherwise.
Nero suddenly remembered that his jaw was hurting a lot from her slap, and that thought made him laugh. It was as if the thought of feeling pain from a slap were the funniest thing in the world.
Internally, though, Nero finally relaxed now that he knew she was safe. He realised that he had lost the calm he always maintained, and that this was something he would need to fix as soon as possible. But before that, leaving Perilith took priority, and maybe capturing Dave.
"If you’re fine, then recover on the way. We can’t stay here. Who knows when these guys might change their attitude," said Nero as he picked up the still twitching and fidgeting Vanessa.
"Gently!" she exclaimed, still through gritted teeth. "I’m very sensitive right now."
"Vanessa, look around. I think this moment calls for urgency more than gentleness," Nero said, though nothing about his voice or body language betrayed any tension or worry.
Vanessa looked around, and then clenched her teeth even harder. She didn’t even try to walk herself. Instead, she grabbed Nero so that her body wouldn’t move too much while he walked. She couldn’t endure any kind stimulus right now.
"Just, get me out of here quick," she finally relented.
Nero turned to look at the others.
"Let’s get out of here," he said, and began to lead the way. Lina followed promptly, but Bael and Noman looked towards each other, an unreadable expression on their faces.
"Why does it look like they’re on a date?" Noman finally asked, unable to hold himself back.
"Shut up and let’s get out of here," Bael said stiffly. Unlike Noman, he couldn’t risk pissing Nero off, and he couldn’t afford to antagonise Vanessa.
Besides, who the hell said that a battlefield wasn’t a good place to flirt? That’s where his parents met - the officer and the doctor. Maybe he should take notes.