I sit and I wait
Like a loyal dog, I'd be here anyway
My words excavate
Age-old feelings, boring, fleeting, all the same
Shadowed whispers shake the ground beneath
And fall on ears who've grown numb to everything
- Hounds, The Flatliners
In the years following the two boys' separation but preceding Fray's willful annihilation of his memories to become the Onyx Shade, he had conjured life into thought.
The "Lucient" that accompanied him in his teen years was nothing more than a figment of his imagination, he knew that at first. A friendly face to help him deal with the stresses of life at the bottom of society, a voice that sang only of hope and curiosity. "He" narrated Fray's every action with the chipperness of the boy "he" was based off of, and gave voice to the lighter parts of Fray's soul that he'd hidden away for his safety. Clothed in a prince's garb of feathers and light, just like the symbol of their friendship love.
Over time, however, his dependence on the construct grew. His fear of interpersonal relationships born through his Echo revealing the darkness inside others' hearts, the horrors he witnessed in the Brume, the soul-straining rigours of training to be a Dark Knight, it all chipped away at his sanity little by little. While in front of Ompagne and/or Sidurgu he could remain masked, when alone he would retreat into the arms of his make-believe prince.
The praise and kind words his younger self assumed were just mantras like prayers to the Fury now were seen as a genuine soul-to-soul communication with Lucient. Then the words began to twist, sometimes encouraging Fray to isolate himself, sometimes shying away in fear of Fray's intensity. All of Fray's repressed desire and longing for love was projected onto this idol of his friend, driving his mentor and fellow apprentice away with his sheer devotion to this invisible god, further making him spiral into self-destructive escapism...
