Everything ached, pulsed, pulled at his very bones. The waves seemed to turn monstrous in front of his eyes, and he shied away from them with a short whine, ears pinning. Lanky pillars fumbled as he tried to move faster than his drugged body could take, sand flying everywhere as cloven hooves kicked wildly to keep himself standing. The touch and voice, distorted and funny in his ears, made Kipp turn wide sapphire eyes to the stallion at his side. Of course, what he saw was not his blind brother, but a demon with a twisted face and cracked skin, missing lips revealing a sharp-toothed grin. A scream rocketed from his throat, the comforting touch twisted in his mind until it was a sly advance towards death. Shrieking, he lurched away from his brother and went collapsing heavily down to his knees when legs tangled, crashing down into a pile of limbs. Tears built up, making azure eyes glisten. Pride and memories of hard-learned lessons from Mandrake kept them from falling, but the youth in him was desperate to let them free. Chest moved rapidly, heart a tiny caged bird fluttering in his ribs.

There was a brief moment of lucidity, where Casimir's face swam into his vision, hazy as it was. A dry sob echoed in his own throat, still managing to swallow down tears. Snowy leonine tail whipped the sand anxiously, and his touched-out eyes, clearly glazed from the spider bite, locked on his brother's form. "C-Cas-Casiii," he wailed, a choking and rather pitiful sound. "Help me, Casi, Casi!" And then once more it was not his brother, his sweet partner in nearly every adventure, but the demon once more, though looking quite a lot like Archibald this time around. Or was it Mandrake? The image shifted too fast for his hazy mind to follow. Crying out he struggled away, trying to get his feet beneath him and fight back, lashing his hooves out whenever he could afford to lose the balance of a limb. He needed to get away, away! Mindlessly he screamed Casimir's name, terrified. It was hard for his maturity to overcome such horrific images, though he handled it far better than any other yearling, wishing to fight instead of collapse and run, or cry. Archibald would be ashamed. Briefly he called for Evers, but Casi's name echoed far more from his lips. Casimir was the only brother her felt truly, irrevocably attached to, and he was frightened. Casi always managed to calm him, but he didn't think this would be one of those times. Kipp was no longer himself.