She knew nothing of what was happening, her broken neck keeping her rendered in a state of deep unconsciousness. Her dreams were nightmares, haunted by hideous images of rotting flesh and broken beasts, yet her sanity remained buried beneath layers of the demon beneath her peeling skin. The first thing she felt was water lapping at her body, and her broken neck snapped back into place with a hideous crack as the healing properties of the pool worked its magic on her body. Her eyes snapped open, black turning to blue and the missing iris growing back into the empty socket to replace the gory orb still rolling around outside. Ripped skin healed itself, ribs and bloodied bones hidden behind a thick layer of muscle and flesh as her rotting body repaired itself, bloodstains washing away to expose the steel grey of her fur beneath.

Inside her mind, the infection recoiled with a bloodcurdling scream, and Nyx rose from the ashes.

Suddenly she was self-aware again; suddenly her limbs were hers to control, no longer held captive by the demon inside. She was underwater, liquid pouring into her eyes and nose, and with a gargled string of bubbles the soldier began to panic, unable to tell which way was up despite the shallowness of the pool. At last her hoof struck stone and she used the solid ground to boost herself upwards, her horn, skull and then shoulders breaking the surface and her nostrils flaring as they dragged great gulps of air into her starved lungs. She was in the caverns, but couldn't remember how she had got there, save for some vague memories of demonic cackles and gruesome insults. There was her father, along with a mare she didn't recognise and a painted stallion; tears glistened in the grey girl's eyes as she left the water and flew towards Nato with wild abandon. He was coated in blood and looked absolutely wrecked, and Nyx couldn't even contemplate what he had been through. "Father!" she exclaimed, seeking to embrace him with her muscular neck and find solace in his strong form, as she had done when she was a filly. "I'm so sorry," she added in a whisper meant for his ears only - sorry for not listening to him and running, sorry for forcing him to watch her transform into a beast, sorry for everything he'd had to do to heal her.

She pulled away, fur wet against her body as she looked to the other two. "Th..thank you. All of you." And she looked again to Nato, gratitude evident in her newly-functional eyes. Without all of them, she would still be naught more than the basest creature in Helovia, sworn to do nothing but roam around and inflict her misery on any who came near. She shifted back to her father's side, his loyal minion and most gracious child; she would never forget what he had done for her to save her from the disease.