“It’s perfectly fine - I won’t spread what is not mine to share. You know that, Stare.” Nevin interrupted her - seeing Stare afraid for him, of him, did not sit right with the Alchemist. He shook his head slowly, and kept his hands in his lap - clearly not ready to move. “It’s been a suspicion in the back of my mind for a while, but it changes nothing.” And there was something wrong, something off - his eyes were burning, aching in a strange way. He lifted one hand and began rubbing at his eyes furiously as he spoke.
“You kept my secret when you learned it, Stare, Vitruvion. I would be a pathetic individual not to return that same consideration. Crimson!” He broke off, cursing as he grabbed his face in his hands. His eyes were aching, demanding something, pressure, but the rubbing did nothing at all to help. Desperate to stop the pain, he pushed some of his internal magic to his eyes, hoping that that would ease the pain - and it cut off completely, sweet relief making his shoulders slump.
Nevin opened his eyes and lowered his hands, and froze. There was something in the room that hadn’t been there before - and the other two seemed to not realize it at all. Stretching between each pair of people - Nevin and Stare, Stare and Vitruvion, and Vitruvion and Nevin - was bands of red, different thicknesses. Heavy red chains, a plethora of them, swung between Vitruvion and Stare, glowing a brilliant crimson hue on the end closer to the man - to the god. The end on Stare’s side was glowing a softer red, still bright, but shot through with brighter streaks and darker ones at random.
Between Nevin and Stare was a single, solid chain of links. On his end was a warm red - while Stare’s had a dark glow about it, and just looking at it sent shivers of fear into Nevin. He realized the emotions were not his own - Stare was afraid of him? How did he know that? And how did he know that Vitruvion was cautious, worried, and a bit mad at Nevin? He glanced in the other man’s direction - the connection between them was a thick rope, not as impressive as the chains connecting either of them to Stare - and nothing at all like the massive network of chains that bound Stare and Vitruvion together. He let out a soft exhalation, his eyes wide, focused not on anyone, but on the new things he was seeing.
