She stood there right before the fire, the intense heat of the area tearing through and sending a warming feel throughout anyone who stood in the nearby area. Whether they were right on top of the fire, standing a mere few inches away, or if they were as far as a couple of meters away, the fire's intense heat was felt throughout. Even for Leyaria, who had begun to lose the sensation of feeling with her hands and other parts of her body from time to time, she couldn't help but appreciate just how tranquil the area was. There was a sense of peace and calm near the large fire pit, and while the night life of the festival could have been heard throughout Orchidia, and though this place was no exception to that, here it felt different. To an extent, the people who surrounded the fire pits were in their own world.

Leyaria held out her hand, wondering if she could feel the flames. For the better part of the day, she felt as though she were going through one of two stages, either having feeling in her body or not. To say it would be unexpected, it would be an understatement. When she first noticed this, she was terrified. Something as simple as making a clenched fist felt as though it was completely alien, as though her arm was completely asleep, with nothing, no motion, no sensation, or anything of that nature to register that it was happening. It was brief, lasting only for a few seconds before which the sensation of feeling returned. But throughout the remainder of the day and well into the night, it had become more and more common, almost to the point where she was getting used to it.

It wasn't as though she would have had a choice. Though she initially panicked over what happened, it became quite clear to her after a short while, realizing that was another affliction from the demonic taint that was killing her. Once that came into her head, there was a moment where she worried what else was going to happen before end. Though she feared what would happen next, there was no pain yet, which she was a bit thankful for.

However, she knew it was only going to be a matter of time before it was no longer her temporarily losing her sense of feeling. There would eventually be pain, and probably a great deal of it, but at least for now she was able to disregard that reality. So long as she was able to at least enjoy the fire and imagine herself amongst the people nearby, all of whom were enjoying themselves, that would be enough for now.

Seated there by the fire, Leyaria felt at peace, if not for only the fact that there was nothing really to worry about. Everyone had been so consumed with themselves that a person coming or going would not have been noticed except by those who had been actively searching for someone. She wondered if that was how most people were treating things, as though their own world was the focus and everyone else, unless they sought out that interaction, they were just background to them. She figured that there might have been more to things than she figured, that her ailments, though painful and ones in which she was suffering from, were truly her own to consider or worry about. Certainly to a degree, but maybe she had given too much credit to the people, or perhaps valued herself too much such that people would think that they had to care.

The warmth of the fire felt nice, though it also felt odd that it seemed to only get hotter and hotter. She held out her hand as though to ensure that her mind was not playing tricks on her, but then a shock of pain radiated through her arm and the rest of her body. She fell back off of the makeshift chair she had been seated upon, her mind rushing through with what might have been that caused this. An immediate fear rushed into her head and it was too frightening for even her to truly believe. Wasting no time, nor caring at this point what others who had been there might have thought, Leyaria departed, quickly making haste out of the region, not just that of the fire pit that she had been staying near, but also that of the Festival grounds as a whole. If she were going to suffer from what she thought she was, it would not have been here. It would have been in private.

[Exit]