With her nerves taut, Emily yelped in surprise, released Erik's shirt, and jumped back, "Who said that?!"
At the same time, the lingering elemental darkness in the room began to stir as Erik noticed how Emily drew power towards her hands in an instinctual desire to protect herself despite her earlier conviction to die.
The same voice, obviously Elora's, sounded again as it giggled, "Look at you, jumping to defend yourself. Not yet ready to die, are you?"
Unable to find where the voice was coming from, Emily looked at Erik with panicked eyes, "Are you hearing that voice?!"
Erik briefly considered pulling a prank on the girl by pretending not to but quickly discarded that thought as he reminded himself not to let Elora have too much influence on his behavior.
So he answered honestly with a nod, "That's my partner, Elora. If you want someone to thank for your current situation, you should look to her, as she did most of the work."
