With the verdict mostly seeming to be "it's up to you," Steven braces himself. Gongenzaka has a good point and he makes a note to try to verbally guide the others through the same process - besides that, though, it couldn't hurt to mirror the effort physically.

"Okay... Everybody hold hands. Maybe that will help make sure you come along with me." Which seems important since not going along is the whole reason these guys are here in the first place. "If we get there we might be in a completely different dream, and if the Red Beast really is being controlled by the Huntsman, it could be scary."

After they are all linked up, Steven will start focusing on the Blue Rose again, and try to forge a path forward to the Red Beast. The vines growing out of Steven and Syrlya will begin to thicken, growing around the group in a circle - not exactly trapping them, but enclosing them all the same. As it grows, the environment around them will fade from jungle to blackness. Soon, the shimmering blue vines are the only thing left with any colour at all, the blackness becoming cloudy and grey.

Wind rips through the cycle, and the cloudiness is quick to manifest as a kind of heavy dust - ash that still smolders as it whips across their faces. Steven yelps, trying to keep himself holding onto them even as the sensation alarms him.

"I think it's working," he says, his voice shrill with fear.